My home state of California has seen its share of issues the past few years; most notably with fires. The recent Camp Fire in northern California was especially devastating. The fire near Thousand Oaks/Malibu also was extremely damaging. But folks in California are a resilient bunch, and the state consistently bounces back from whatever issues pop up. I was in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara (an area hit by fires last year) a few weeks ago and everything was pretty much back to normal. Of course, most areas of the state weren’t affected in any way. And the areas that Read more
Los Angeles
THIS ITEM APPEARED EARLIER THIS WEEK IN SUN MEDIA AND POSTMEDIA PAPERS AND WEBSITES IN CANADA You know about San Francisco and Beverly Hills. Not to mention Palm Springs and San Diego. But there’s a lot more to California than the big names. Here’s one former resident’s look at some of the other great places in the state. CAPITOLA This might be the best California town never mentioned in a Beach Boys’ song. The beach features soft, golden sand with a good-sized wooden wharf with a restaurant and colourful locals out fishing. The west end of the beach has a Read more
THIS ITEM ORIGINALLY APPEARED JAN. 11 on POSTMEDIA AND SUN MEDIA SITES IN CANADA. The loonie remains in the doldrums. But winter’s getting you down and you’re dying to hit your favourite U.S. getaway spot. Lucky for us, there are still some great American destinations that aren’t too expensive. There also are ways to save on visits to cities and places you might think of as outside your budget. Here are some suggestions. ST. PETERSBURG/CLEARWATER This is a favourite area for Blue Jays fans, as the Jays play their spring training games in nearby Dunedin. Dunedin is a great spot Read more
I was one very lucky guy in 2015, checking out magical places all around the world from Easter Island to the beaches of Lake Huron and tea plantations in The Azores. It takes a lot of work to travel this much, and there are a lot of people in the business who make it all happen for me; tourism boards and airlines and hotels and tour guides and more. So thank you to those folks. I’ve been compiling some of my favourite travel moments for year, and here’s another version of the annual Jimmys; awards for just about anything from Read more
KEY WEST – The Florida Keys have always been a favourite for me. I’ve always driven down from Miami in the past and enjoyed watching the colour of the water change and checking out the odd tiki bar along the way for a beer and a blackened fish sandwich. Usually I drive, but this time I flew in with some other Canadian travel writers, landing on the short runway at the airport in Key West. Someone on our very short bus ride into town was telling me they find it hard to describe the feeling of coming from a cold Read more
