Savannah's haunted cemetary in the center of town

HILLS NEWSPAPERS: October 29, 2010

Ghosts are good for business. That’s what an innkeeper in San Diego once told me. She was referring, of course, to friendly ghosts — not specters who misbehave.

Truth be told, she had apparition envy, as many hotel owners do — especially when they’re living in the shadows of one of America’s great haunted properties, the Hotel Del Coronado. Continue reading →

HILLS NEWSPAPERS: October 15, 2010

America’s beautiful people are alive and well and living in Fort Lauderdale. One visit to this yachting mecca in autumn and you see that gold runs through the veins of their waterways.

An incredible spectacle of money amasses each year at the end of October. It’s the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, where the most opulent yachts in the world are on display. Continue reading →

HILLS NEWSPAPERS: October 1, 2010

There are days when I feel like nothing is mine — not the towel on the rack, not the change on my vanity, not even the half a burrito I was saving for later. But when I visit San Francisco in autumn — I feel like I own the place.

Consider a city so loved, it’s practically strangled in summer. But as the days shorten, so do the lines at the cable car turnaround and other popular tourist attractions. That’s when I feel like Herb Caen. That’s when it’s my city, baby. Continue reading →

HILLS NEWSPAPERS: September 17, 2010

My son had never been to Disneyland. Did that make me a bad mother?

No, it just made me a busy mother, with an active, well adjusted kid. So why did it seem like I was keeping my child from a magical rite of passage? Why did I feel, for lack of a better term, like a “Mickey Mouse mom”? Continue reading →

HILLS NEWSPAPERS: September 3, 2010

Wrigley's Casino

When chewing gum magnate William Wrigley Jr. built the Casino on Catalina Island (circa 1928), he wasn’t thinking about gambling. It was music this visionary had in mind for the elegant circular structure by the sea.

Wrigley would no doubt be proud to promote one of the island’s most elegant events, the upcoming JazzTrax Festival, Sept. 30-Oct. 17. With more than 40 artists on three consecutive weekends, the old Art Deco structure is sure to be swaying again. Continue reading →

CONTRACOSTATIMES.COM: August 26, 2010

It’s a fact of life when you reach middle age. You spend a lot of time going back home.

By home, I mean the area where your parents live … where your childhood memories are, where you went to school, rode your bike, hung out with your friends and had your first job. Continue reading →

     CONTRACOSTATIMES.COM : August 6, 2010

Wild Horse Sanctuary co-founder Dianne Nelson

When you think of Northern California, cowboys and cattle drives are probably not the first things that pop into your mind. But there’s a place outside Redding that perfectly captures the romance of the old west. It’s the Wild Horse Sanctuary near Shingletown, about a half hour’s drive from Lassen Volcanic National Park.  Here, on 5000 acres of mountain meadow and forest, 300 wild mustangs roam freely across a rugged land with soaring vistas and sky as big as a Montana sunset. To see these magnificent creatures kick up dust along the ridgeline or graze in the shade of a sprawling oak – is nothing short of spectacular. Continue reading →

HILLS NEWSPAPERS: July 23, 2010

Paddling near Drakesbad on Dream Lake - photo by Rick E. Martin

It’s not easy being a trail angel. You’re at the service of others from early dawn until sundown — and beyond. It’s a calling, something John Muir would have deeply appreciated.

The sign outside Drakesbad Guest Ranch proudly proclaims its locale as 1,348 miles from Mexico and 1,410 miles from Canada. Smack in the middle of the Pacific Crest Trail, Drakesbad is truly an angel for adventurists making the arduous hike across one of America’s most challenging National Scenic Trails.

My daughter and I are exhausted as we pull in. Weary Bay Area travelers, we’ve run out of bottled water, and our trail mix is down to the last nut. Continue reading →

HILLS NEWSPAPERS: July9, 2010

THERE COMES a time in every girl’s life when she just needs to get away. Men, it’s been said, are the reason.

My getaway started innocently enough — just five gals and me in Montana. “It’s Glacier National Park’s 100th anniversary!” one girlfriend wrote, and we thought it a grand place to visit. We didn’t plan on Mother Nature, who is — after all, a woman — to get snippy with us.

Our rendezvous point was Missoula, known for its mountains, rivers and hippies. I know this because Missoula is home to the University of Montana, the arch rival of my own alma mater, Montana State U. Even back in the ’70s, we knew that Bozeman had cowboys and Missoula had hippies. A cowboy will always trump a guy in a tie dye. That was our motto and I’m sticking to it. Continue reading →

Café Kandahar’s Premier Chef Andy Blanton

     CONTRACOSTATIMES.COM: June 25, 2010

     Montana…there’s nothing here. Playing on a common misconception about the Big Sky state, this is Montana’s tourism slogan.

     Turns out, the joke’s on us. Montana is on the leading edge of luxury accommodations and the slow food movement.  At the epicenter is Whitefish, Mt. – population 8,000. The Western Governors’ Association meets here this weekend and with good reason. Named one of the “10 coolest small towns in America” by Budget Travel, Whitefish has a chic country vibe and is blissfully close to Glacier National Park (celebrating its 100^th anniversary) and Flathead Lake (Montana’s largest lake and playground to the rich and famous).  It’s also got its own world-class ski resort (Whitefish Mountain Resort) and a mountain lake of its own – Whitefish Lake. Continue reading →