Elise Parker from Walk Into Luxury tours is guiding my wife and I along the coast of Western Australia near Injidup Beach. The ocean is an achingly bright shade of blue the Benjamin Moore people haven’t created yet, and is crashing against spiky, orange-brown rocks on a pale golden beach. As we walk, she points out native plants that can be quite useful if one knows the secrets. The nectar from a Melaleuca can be licked, or collected and made into a sweet drink. Some grasses that don’t look like much can be eaten raw, or roasted. Being more of Read more
biking
I had some great visits outside of Canada and the U.S. this year, visiting Sydney, Tasmania, Western Australia, Dominica, Puerto Rico, Martinique, Scotland and England. Here are some highlights. BEST RENTAL CAR EMPLOYEE My reservation was all messed up and the Budget Rental Car counter was closed when I landed at the airport in Esperance, Western Australia. I called the phone number for after hours help and reached a very kind woman named Hope. She was about to head off to a gender reveal party but said she could drive out and get my car set up for me, which Read more
THIS IS A REPOST FROM A TRIP TO FLORIDA A FEW YEARS AGO. NOTE THAT SOME BUSINESSES MAY HAVE CLOSED IN THE MEANTIME, SO PLEASE CHECK BEFORE YOU MAKE PLANS DUNEDIN, FLORIDA – It was the spring of 1993. I don’t remember the weather in Toronto. I only remember that I was heading down to a town called Dunedin in Florida to cover the Blue Jays in their spring training games for the Toronto Star, where I was one of a trio of baseball beat writers. I’ve always had a strong liking to warm weather, palm trees and casual, walkable Read more
MUSKOKA – We’ve just finished a fabulous picnic lunch at a table set two meters from the shore on Beausoleil Island in Georgian Bay Islands National Park. We’re watching small waves lap against a sloping, deep orange rock under a sky so blue it would make a robin’s egg jealous. We suddenly hear the cries of small children, and see a gentleman and three young boys walking along this massive slab of exposed Canadian Shield. We learn he’s the grandfather and that he and his son are taking the boys, a six-year-old and two four-year-old twins, camping for a couple Read more
With summer right around the corner, people are beginning to plan their summer trips. Here are a few reasons why Milwaukee should be on everyone’s list for a summer escape. The city has a deep dedication to the arts and history. Like the first-of-its-kind Saint Kate – The Arts Hotel that broadly celebrates arts in its many forms (including an entire culinary experience) and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra’s new symphony center that was achieved by only completing a historic construction feat on a nearly 90-year-old theatre. I can’t forget to mention the iconic Pfister Hotel that continues to be the Read more
