THERE COMES A time in everyone’s life when serenity trumps the party scene. When following the crowd is no longer cool. When, as Huey Lewis put it, it’s hip to be square.

As a skier, I figured this out a few years back at Sugar Bowl. Carving my way down a popular run, a whistle stopped me dead in my tracks. Two hotshot patrollers were marking an obstacle. We’re the fashion police, one of them yelled. You’re under arrest! I blushed as it dawned on me that my hot pink ski pants might no longer be in vogue.

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CONTRACOSTATIMES.COM – DECEMBER 19, 2008

AS WE GET ready to welcome Old Man Winter, we can be thankful we don’t live in Northern Minnesota. Or can we? We might just be missing a heck of a lot of fun in the form of a sport called ice-fishing.

On the surface, the idea sounds kind of wacky — fishing on ice in the dead of winter. But then a 10-pound walleye tugs at your line, and things get hot in a hurry. Or did someone just turn up the thermostat?

That’s right. Ice fishing has evolved from the days when folks sat on stools with wool mufflers wrapped around their necks and transistor radios by their sides. Continue reading →

12/05/2008 CONTRA COSTA TIMES.COM

I’VE NEVER UNDERSTOOD why the birthplace of California Cuisine is nicknamed “Gourmet Ghetto.”

But mine is not to reason why. It is to eat — and eat is what I did on a recent culinary tour of the famed North Shattuck Village in Berkeley.

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CONTRACOSTATIMES.COM    NOVEMBER 21, 2008

Has the economy forced you to put this year’s Hawaiian getaway on hold? One solution is to island-hop closer to home. Some of my favorite boat-only destinations are here in the Bay Area – just a stone’s skip from where we live. Continue reading →

11/06/2008 CONTRA COSTA TIMES.COM

TWO OF MY neighbors have recently moved south. Yes, they were boomers and no, they didn’t retire in Palm Springs or Phoenix. They picked a place with affordable property taxes, low utility costs and no state income tax. They picked a place with mountains, lakes and southern hospitality. They picked Tennessee. Continue reading →

Livable Pittsburgh steps from haze

Name the most livable city in America. If you said ” Pittsburgh,” give yourself a hand. The distinction by Places Rated Almanac reflects an almost unimaginable turnaround for a city once known as the Steel Capital of the U.S. Today, Pittsburgh is not only one of the 10 cleanest cities in the world (Forbes Magazine), it’s a great city to explore on foot, bike, Segway or kayak. Continue reading →

IF THERE’S one place on the nation’s radar right now, it’s Alaska. Politics notwithstanding, the state is still a mystery to many Americans who haven’t explored the small coastal villages and rugged interior towns that make up our 49th state.

It’s autumn in Alaska right now — but the season tends to pass rather quickly. In Denali National Park last week, the landscape was ablaze with auburn and gold — framed by a snow-capped Mt. McKinley against a cornflower blue sky. Yet, the first hint of winter was revealing itself in the crisp Siberian breeze, creating a sense of urgency as the land prepared for the cold, dark season ahead.

Our trip to Denali was as spectacular as the park itself. We traveled with Holland America via the famed Alaska Railroad. The sparkling glass-domed cars, dubbed the McKinley Explorer, allowed us panoramic views of the wild rivers chiseled through Black Spruce forests, punctuated by an endless expanse of mountains and meadows.

On the return trip from Denali, we took the train to my favorite Alaskan city, Anchorage. With its compact downtown tucked along Cook Inlet, we were able to bike or walk almost everywhere, with some surprising results. We spotted a moose on the town’s Coastal Trail. (Between 200 and 300 moose live in town, so I guess it’s not that unusual.) We watched as fishermen (and women) pulled wriggling salmon from nearby Ship Creek. And we feasted on reindeer sausage for lunch (grilled at Famous Mike’s sausage stand outside city hall) with a four-star dinner at the popular Glacier Brewhouse.

Like most visitors, we took time for the scenic coastal drive south on the Seward Highway. Our Holland America/Gray Line trip included a rental car and accommodations, which in Seward were at the picturesque Seward Windsong Lodge.

There’s plenty to do in this charming port town, but a must-see is the boat trip (part of our package) to Kenai Fjords National Park to see whales, dolphins and dozens of clown-faced puffins perched in the craggy rocks. We cut our engines within yards of the Hubbard Glacier, the largest tidewater glacier in North America. Unlike most glaciers, which have thinned and retreated in recent years, the Hubbard Glacier is actually thickening and advancing toward the Gulf of Alaska. As our ship bobbed serenely in the slushy waters, we’d hear the thunderous roar of the ice as it “calved” off in sections, tumbling in a cloud of crystal dust to the waters below. This experience alone was like none other on earth.

In stark contrast to Seward is the rugged inland town of Talkeetna. Once a supply station for miners and trappers, it’s the closest town to Denali and a staging area for climbers who want to tackle the high peaks of the Alaska Range. It was at our hotel, the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge, that we got our best look at one of the world’s most impressive mountain — McKinley.

One thing that sets Alaska apart from other states is the consistently stunning scenery. Every mile of every highway or rail line you take offers postcard views of the mountains and waterways. Eagles still soar overhead and bears lumber through rain-soaked meadows to feast on salmon and berries.

And while many of Alaska’s tours and travel-related businesses shut down in winter, it gives natives a chance to enjoy their own quiet time with nature, only to welcome the onslaught of visitors in spring.

In the words of a native Athabaskan I met on my trip, “it takes spirit and desire to make the journey to a distant land and understand its people and culture.” How lucky we are to have someplace so different, just a few hours north by air.

The best times to go on the Holland America/Gray Line tours are in May and September, when both crowds and prices are down.

City of Angels is golden again

LOS ANGELES has never been high on my list of livable cities. In the great urban decay of the 1970s, I would drive to L.A. for live theater, then hightail it home to my place in the suburbs. Downtown after dark seemed dangerous.

But in the words of Mark Twain, the reports of her death were greatly exaggerated. Los Angeles is back, baby. She’s golden again.

In town for a campus tour with my college-bound daughter, we wanted to stay in downtown L.A., near the University of Southern California. Our goal was to never set foot in a rental car, using the bus and the metro and those two things called “feet” at the stumps of our legs. Call me crazy, but driving in one of America’s biggest cities wasn’t on my bucket list.

“It’s an easy walk just one block up Flower Street,” offered our hotel concierge, explaining how to catch L.A.’s bus system — DASH. We were staying at the Biltmore Millennium, a short jaunt — even in heels — to the world-class Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Mark Taper Forum, Walt Disney Concert Hall, REDCAT and the Ahmanson Theatre.

But flats and flip flops were the footwear of choice on the first leg of our tour. We grabbed a seat on the bus next to an eclectic mix of students, hipsters and tourists and traveled the 20 minutes to Trojan territory and the campus of USC.

In a neighborhood that was once considered risky, the school has done much to gentrify this part of town. Run-down Victorians have been purchased and restored into off-campus housing. Cafes and sandwich shops are sprouting on once-shuttered corners.Complimenting campus is the nearby L.A. LIVE complex, a glittery performance venue including the 7,100-seat Nokia Theatre, host of the Primetime Emmy Awards Sept. 21. Luxury condos, two hotels, movie theaters, a night club and a 40,000-square-foot outdoor plaza are slated to follow. Even historic Exhibition Park is enjoying a renaissance of sorts as a new generation discovers its stately rose gardens, museums and other cultural offerings.

But it’s the theater that really sets the city apart. On the night we were there, we saw the Broadway hit “Sweeney Todd” at the Ahmanson for just $20. It was an amazing offering, available two hours before show time with what the theater calls “hot tix” (discount tickets for same night performances). That, coupled with the $2 appetizers at a hip nearby eatery, made for an affordable evening for my daughter and me.

It also left us money for shopping, which is legendary in this city. With L.A.’s famed Fashion District a short DASH ride away, we were able to pick up some chic back-to-school clothes and have money left over for a bite in one of the neighborhood’s popular ethnic restaurants.

“Look up, and you’ll see something most folks miss,” offered one of the city’s longtime residents. He was talking about one of L.A.’s real treasures — architecture. From Thomas Mayne’s futuristic Caltrans building to Broadway Street’s fabulous old movie palaces, the wealth of this city is still evident in its architecture. I especially enjoyed seeing the soaring Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, the third largest cathedral in the world.

But arguably, the most iconic attractions in town are Hollywood celebrities. Almost everywhere you go, crews are shooting shows, films and commercials. Star-gazing, as we used to call it, is one of the perks of staying in L.A. Even the Biltmore boasts row after row of celebrity photos, harking back to the days when the grand hotel hosted the Academy Awards.

That’s Los Angeles, a melting pot of entertainment, culture and history that defines today’s urban environment. The city that seemed so cold in the 70s is a hot property today.

A grand weekend ‘staycation’ in SF
The Happy Wanderer/Ginny Prior
Article Launched: 07/31/2008 10:56:00 AM PDT-Contra Costa Times

GIVE IT UP for high-priced gas. It has created a new pop-culture phenomenon — the “staycation.”

The idea of vacationing near home may not seem titillating to someone, say, in my birthplace of Eureka, S.D. “Gee — let’s hop in the family truck and see — more acres of soybeans.” But for those of us blessed to live in the Bay Area, a “staycation” is a way to reconnect with one of the most vibrant cities on earth.

San Francisco is a Mecca for tourists and the weak U.S. dollar (especially against the Euro) makes it seem more cosmopolitan than ever. Here are two ways to have a grand weekend in the city — one with frills and one without. The one constant is the hotel room. Never skimp on this. Always insist on a luxury room with a pillow-top mattress and high thread count on the sheets. You’re worth it.

DAY ONE — WITHOUT FRILLS: Pack one roller bag and have a friend drop you off at the nearest BART station. Get off at the Embarcadero station and take one of the popular antique street cars along Fisherman’s Wharf. You will meet people from around the world as the wheels of your luggage roll over their open-toed shoes. Use this as an opportunity to learn some colorful new words in a foreign language. Get off at Pier 41 and walk two blocks to the Hyatt Fisherman’s Wharf for check-in.

DAY ONE — FRILLS: Drive into San Francisco. (You may be surprised at how light the traffic is, as everyone else is rolling their bags on BART). Pull up to the Hyatt for check-in and pay for your car to have a “staycation” too.

Now here is where the itinerary melds, no matter what your budget. Walk west from your hotel to Ghirardelli Square for the happy hour from 3-6 p.m. at McCormick and Kuleto’s. Sit in the bar and sip a glass of wine while you sup on tasty $2 appetizers like sweet potato fries and chicken wings. They don’t skimp on the portions, either — so you come away feeling like the savvy traveler you are.

Speaking of savvy, before you left home, you went online to www.citypass.com and bought a San Francisco CityPass. For $54, ($44 for kids) it gives you six free attractions and unlimited Muni and cable car rides for seven straight days. People come from across the globe to ride San Francisco’s cable cars. You flash your card and ride them for free. So walk across the street to the Hyde Street cable car turnaround and grab a seat for one of the world’s best thrill rides.

Past the snug rows of painted Victorians, the neighborhood markets and tiny cafes, you climb Nob Hill to California Street, the transfer point for a cable car to the Financial District (Battery and Clay) — for your 8 p.m. show at the Punch Line Comedy Club. One of the best bargains in town, for $19 and the cost of two drinks, you get 90 minutes of side-splitting laughs from three top-notch comedians. At the intimate venue, you may find yourself sharing the room with the likes of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom or former Mayor Willie Brown. After the show, catch the cable car back to Hyde Street for an Irish coffee nightcap at the famed Buena Vista Café — then walk to the hotel for a night of dreamy sleep.

DAY TWO — WITHOUT FRILLS: Wake up to complimentary coffee in your room and a bagel at any café along your walking route. You’re headed to Pier 39 for one of your free CityPass attractions, the Aquarium of the Bay. While this isn’t the Monterey Bay Aquarium by any means, its still fun to see silver sardines swim in a vortex and giant rays skim over scuttling crabs. When it’s time for lunch, grab a bite here or walk back to the In-and-Out Burger, just a few blocks west. Then it’s back to the hotel for a nap. (Did I mention the pillow-top mattress?) See below for dinner.

DAY TWO — FRILLS: Wake up and head to the lobby for the breakfast buffet at Knuckles, the popular hotel restaurant/bar at the Hyatt. It’s a hearty offering that will probably hold you over till dinner. Here, you will head for the same attractions as above, since you already have your CityPass and aren’t afraid to use it.

Dinner is at the landmark Franciscan Restaurant, the building shaped like a ship at Pier 43½.

With an enticing menu that doubles as a cookbook, you can spend as little or as much as you want here, taking in a priceless view of the waterfront and Alcatraz. We started with a smattering of succulent appetizers including crab fondue with swiss chard and an order of lightly battered calamari. Then we split a chicken arugula salad and spicy seafood cioppino. The rest of our order was a gluttonous feast that I’m still trying to work off today. I hope you will have more will power.

DAY THREE — WITHOUT FRILLS: This is the day you cram everything remaining on your San Francisco CityPass into a few fleeting hours, so as to get the most for your tourist dollar. All the attractions — the Blue and Gold Fleet Cruise, the De Young Museum and San Francisco MOMA — are accessible by cable car or Muni. Be sure to leave plenty of time for transfers and try to secure late check-out on this day so you don’t have to use your car.

DAY THREE — FRILLS: Enjoy breakfast in bed (by day three you’ll be married to your pillow-tip mattress anyway) and ask for late checkout. Then catch an attraction or two on your CityPass before reuniting with your car for a drive across town to the Orpheum Theatre for the 2 p.m. matinee of “The Drowsy Chaperone.” Hands down — this is the funniest Broadway play I’ve seen. Its clever storyline will have you cheering in the aisles.

There you have it — the San Francisco “staycation.” Simple, yet intoxicating, it’s the new way to travel. Best of all, you won’t have to shut off the mail and the paper before you leave.

Still Cool in Surf City USA

People talk about defining moments. For me, it was an ad for Southern California on the back of my Superman comic. The swaying palms, the wispy sky and the bronze bodies were an irresistible image for a girl growing up in Minnesota in the 1960s. I moved west right after college.

It didn’t take long to find the California dream. I bought a blue beach cruiser, a skate board and a lemon yellow surf board and spent almost all my free time trying to master these rides.

Fast forward to last weekend when I got the call to drive my daughter and her friends to Southern California. They must have heard about my cool younger years and wanted me along.

“You’ll find your own things to do, won’t you?” my teenager asked in the sweetest voice possible. Ego slightly bruised, I started coming up with a plan. We’d head for Huntington Beach — Surf City USA.

Little known fact: Huntington Beach was first dubbed “Surf City” by the pop duo Jan and Dean in their 1963 hit by the same name. It’s still a big part of the culture today with over eight miles of sand and surf along a wide stretch of Pacific Coast Highway.

Few things in life are as freeing as surfing. The idea that a person can tap into nature with little more than a board or a body is mind boggling. And we would be surfing in a prime spot, in front of our hotel at the 4-Diamond Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort. Everything would be at our disposal: the beach, the bikes, the surf lessons — even the fire pits for roasting marshmallows at sunset.In my day, we’d have bonfires all night on the beach, playing guitars and burning everything but the kitchen sink to keep the flames going. Then one night a guy actually threw a kitchen sink on the fire — something he’d found in a dumpster nearby. Sans the porcelain fixture, I wanted the girls to have this kind of experience.

“Just have the cruisers back by dark,” said the hotel’s concierge, who was obviously charmed by three college-bound beauties. They were biking to town, just a few blocks away, to scope out the surf shops, burger stops and bikini boutiques. I grabbed the last available cruiser — lime green with a basket — and took the bike path up to Dog Beach, a section of strand where the people watching was primo. Sure enough, some guy was surfing with his dog, a terrier with a blue bandana and sun glasses perched on his snout. In fact, it was the same pooch I saw earlier that day in the elevator at the Hilton. His owner made a point of telling me his dog had a bed in the hotel for $50 a night. “Cheaper than a kennel,” I recall him saying.

About this time, my cell phone chimed with a text message. The girls, who were concerned I’d be “cramping their style,” were checking in. “We’re at the beach. U?” I fired back a cryptic answer: “Going to surf museum, Main & Olive.” I’d heard this museum captured the essence of Huntington Beach with an impressive display of old photos, surf and skate boards and even Jan and Dean’s gold record collection.

Looking at the old album jackets of those surf music icons, it was eerie to think how Jan’s fate so closely paralleled his hit “Dead Man’s Curve.” He’d crashed his car racing on Sunset Boulevard. Dean, on the other hand, went on to be the town’s most celebrated artist, both with music and his graphic designs. And while he hasn’t been spotted “shooting the curl” lately, his band still plays gigs in the area.

Speaking of music, Surf City was heating up. The sidewalk cafes touted Wednesday night specials and even the downtown IHOP was putting out a vibe. About this time, text No. 2 appeared. “We’re hungry. U?” I took that as a cue to meet the girls at Dukes, a popular spot on the pier where we shared a mountain of nachos that had us swearing off food for the rest of the trip.

I’d forgotten, however, just how hungry you get from surfing. An early morning lesson at the Hyatt, next door, had left us ravenous. The girls took off for the Dairy Queen and I headed up the strand to a place I’d heard great things about: Slow Fish. The California Korean fusion didn’t disappoint, with succulent braised short ribs that fell off the bone and a crisp seaweed salad that added just the right amount of tang.

Then it was back to the Hilton for a dip in the pool and wine-tasting on the outdoor patio at Shades, the hotel’s hip beach restaurant with fresh, eclectic offerings like baba ghanoush — roasted eggplant served with grilled vegetables and dipping bread.

As the palm trees danced in the evening breeze, I caught a glimpse of the flickering lights from dozens of tiny bonfires. The girls were out there somewhere, roasting marshmallows and making memories, not unlike the memories I’d made in my youth. I guess that’s why they call it California Dreaming.