My January is half melancholy, half relief. I slip back into well-worn patterns, and find comfort in the familiar. There is beauty there, and surprises too. Ailsa’s Travel Theme, Routine, made me think of these — glimpses of other people’s ordinary moments. 1. Early commuters streaming to work in São Paulo. An hour earlier, I ambled through the sleeping city to São … Continue reading
As you explore the Big Island, several names keep coming up. Kamehameha the Great, the king who united the Hawaiian archipelago, and Ka’ahumanu, his formidable queen, are the island’s most dominant mortal protagonists. Among gods, two sisters lead the way: Poli’ahu, the goddess of ice and snow, and her perpetual nemesis, Pele, the goddess of fire, a pretty big deal on terrain … Continue reading
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
When as a child I imagined America, the mighty Niagara Falls, along with Times Square, the Grand Canyon, and the Golden Gate Bridge, were my frequent backdrops. So when work brought me to Toronto, it was an easy decision to make: A day trip to the Falls, as soon as I could manage it. We … Continue reading
If you find yourself on the Big Island’s dry Kona side, don’t miss the Pu’uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park, the Place of Refuge, where all sins and crimes were once forgiven. It is a magnetic place. Surrounded by a centuries-old mason wall — porous lava rocks assembled in the 1500s like a puzzle with … Continue reading
This week’s travel theme, “Below,” made me think of the serenity I felt while looking down on Harpers Ferry, where the Potomac and the Shenandoah rivers meet. It was a fine autumn day, and we decided to explore Maryland Heights, the highest of the mountains overlooking the town. Here’s what we saw: Your journey can begin … Continue reading
President Theodor Roosevelt called it “the most beautiful place around here.” Great Falls, shared by Virginia (today the Great Falls National Park) and Maryland (part of the C&O Canal National Historical Park), is our Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls, rolled into one and scaled way down. It is a spot where the normally sleepy Potomac rushes … Continue reading
Thirty miles north of the tranquil Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park is another hidden gem, the Puako Petroglyph Archaeological Preserve, one of the largest petroglyph fields in Hawaii. Over 3,000 k’i’i pohaku (images in stone) are tucked along the trails of the 233-acre preserve, quite a sight. It all starts modestly enough. From Route 19, enter the manicured Mauna Lani … Continue reading
We stumbled on it accidentally on our way to Mauna Kea and its dramatic sunset. A highway sign off Route 19 announced the Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park. It didn’t look promising — the Kona side of the Big Island is filled with large hotel developments, and this looked no different from afar, so we almost didn’t … Continue reading
Tucked away along the Big Island’s southeastern tip (Hawaii’s rural Ka’ū District, just off Route 11, between mile markers 55 and 56) is the Punalu’u Black Sand Beach, the most accessible of black sand beaches on the island. The sand really is jet black, remnants of lava shattered as it touched the ocean — you will only … Continue reading
When all is said and done, and I look back on my life, I think I will remember that evening: watching the sun set over Mauna Kea, Hawaii’s dormant volcano and the highest point in the Pacific Basin. At over 13,700 feet (4,200 m) above the sea level, we were giddy from altitude and the view. An ocean … Continue reading
After soaring over lava, our afternoon in Hilo was a bit of a blur. I remember the rows of colorful, two-story buildings, frayed, but cheerful, many dating back to the sugar boom of the 1920s; the smell of rain over the pavement; and lots and lots of leaves, primordial in their size and hues. Next … 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
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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