Practical travel information for practical travelers
The USS Potomac was used by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt as his presidential yacht, and to this day it is affectionately referred to as the “floating White House.” The ship was a 165-foot Coast Guard cutter before it was commissioned by the US Navy in 1936 and put to its new purpose. FDR hated to [...]
In San Francisco’s Pioneer Park (map), atop Telegraph Hill (map), stands the 210-foot tall, art deco, Coit Tower. The tower was built in 1933 with funds donated by Lillie Hitchcock Coit. Folklore claims that the tower was designed to look like a fire hose nozzle, and was a tribute to the firefighters of the 1906 [...]
As the second largest city in the United States, Los Angeles gets it fair share of visitors attracted by the ocean beaches and sunny days. Home to Hollywood, Disneyland, and museums and parks galore, LA is as distinctively west coast as New York City is east coast. It is also a major city for sports, [...]
In any survey and list of things that people enjoy while on vacation, shopping always makes a prominent showing on the list of top vacation activities. Whether it’s scheduling a trip for a specific shopping experience, like Christmas Shopping in New York City, or merely buying some meaningful souvenirs of a fabulous vacation, shopping figures [...]
A trip to Napa must include some wine tasting, and with the Downtown Wine Tasting Card you can maximize your tasting experience while minimizing your capital outlay. The tasting card lets you visit 14 wine tasting rooms, exposing you to more wines than you could possible count, and your first tasting at each location is [...]
Over the past decade or so, Palm Springs and the surrounding desert communities have been working hard to change the stuffy image that they have long suffered from. No longer just a haven for the retired, blue-haired geriatric set, the Coachella Valley has broadened its appeal and you’ll now see families and couples of all [...]
For one block, San Francisco’s Lombard Street is the crookedest street in the world. You may have seen that one block in photographs, movies, or on television, but the full length of the street is much more than just that one block. The street runs east and west, and starts at The Presidio, runs through [...]
There’s gold in them thar hills, and in 1848 one of those hills was located in Coloma, California on the bank of the American River. It was at this spot, while building a saw mill, that John Sutter and James Marshall found nuggets of gold. This discovery launched the California Gold Rush, and the great [...]
If you’re looking for a romantic spot for Valentine’s Day, the newly re-opened Riviera Resort & Spa offers several options that are worthy of your consideration. The Palm Springs resort covers 24 acres, and was once the playground for the famous and infamous. Elvis Pressley and the Rat Pack spent time here, and back in [...]
The Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles is one of the largest museums in the world dedicated to chronicling the evolution of the car and exploring our love affair with them. The museum was founded by Robert E. and Margie Petersen in 1994, and was originally located within the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles [...]
In addition to traveling, Mary Jo likes lingering over a cup of coffee, wandering in a museum, sipping wine at a cafe, enjoying a relaxing massage, and sharing it all with friends and readers.
Her most recent travels were to Portugal and Italy.
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