I love this week’s travel challenge by Ailsa: Waves. So many memories come to mind, but here are five favorites. Smooth waves of petrified sand at Antelope Canyon, with its neighbors Owl and Rattlesnake Canyons easily the most breathtaking landscape I’ve explored, ageless and intimate 2. Sinuous streaks of lava on Hawaii’s Big Island — … Continue reading
Los Angeles, for me, is a constellation of remarkable places, separated by a spider web of terrible, soul-killing traffic. The Huntington Library is an oasis well worth the drive. Gardens? Check. Art? Check. Books? Check. I loved it. We began with the gardens. There are 12 of them. My favorite (in, admittedly, dull, uneventful March) was the Garden of … Continue reading
Los Angeles behind us, we headed to Las Vegas and its neon. But, first, a detour: a brief eyeful of Death Valley National Park. One spring, I mean to return and better explore its 3.4 million acres–this is, after all, the largest park in the contiguous United States. On this trip, I fell in love with the … Continue reading
Our Los Angeles visit could not end without a nod to the city’s cinematic heart. On this trip, this meant watching a movie at the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre (now the TCL Chinese Theatre). One of the most opulent “movie palaces” in the country, it has hosted many of the grandest film galas since its debut in 1927. The 1939 premiere … Continue reading
I first saw Griffith Observatory as we pushed our way through the wall of Los Angeles traffic: It looks down on the city from the slopes of Mount Hollywood. Climbing up there was a must. The observatory is a spectacular public space, built expressly to bring the heavens to the unwashed masses. Come here on a clear night and enjoy … Continue reading
With the haunting beauty of Point Lobos behind us, we headed north to the Diablo Range and Mount Hamilton, a four-thousand-foot giant overlooking Silicone Valley. A domed structure crowns the mountain–our destination, Lick Observatory, the oldest mountaintop observatory in the world. Stargazing since 1888, the observatory is a monument to James Lick, an eccentric millionaire who wished to immortalize his … Continue reading
If the cozy views of Carmel-by-the-Sea get too saccharine for your taste, head four miles south to witness “the greatest meeting of land and water in the world,” Point Lobos State Reserve, 554 acres of cliffs, meadows, and forest trails and over 700 acres submerged undersea (a scuba diving, snorkeling and kayaking haven, I learned too late). The quote belongs to Francis McComas, … Continue reading
Our home base on the Monterey Peninsula was Carmel-by-the-Sea, a town so storybook cute I had to remind myself that this was not, after all, a realm of wealthy hobbits. I mean, just look at it: These Epcot-village views aside, the town is a venerable old lady, by American standards. A Carlmelite friar claimed this area … Continue reading
Growing up in a dry, landlocked country, I was spellbound with Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. For months, I was Professor Aronnax, exploring the undersea wonders with Captain Nemo and his submarine, Nautilus. Many of the book’s most memorable discoveries were figments of Verne’s imagination. At the Monterey Bay Aquarium, I was startled to … Continue reading
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