Category Archive: Themes

Postcard from Roses

On rainy Seattle days, I enjoy thinking about how lovely the coast of Spain is. Roses, located on the north end of the Bay of Roses, is a great beach getaway spot. And the Hotel Vistabella, where I stayed, provides a lovely view of the sand and surf.

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Postcard from Nickelodeon Universe

A theme park inside a mall? Yep, that’s just what you’ll get with Nickelodeon Universe at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. Located near the Minneapolis-St Paul airport, this was the first stop on my theme park getaway weekend.

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Do This Weekend: Great Backyard Bird Count

Sometimes creating a great travel experience isn’t just about decide where you’re going to take a trip. Sometimes it’s about doing something to ensure that others who travel can experience things you might take for granted. This weekend, February 15-18th, 2013, you have a chance to enjoy a weekend and home, while at the same time performing a valuable service to the environment and future travelers to your home town. The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual 4-day event that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are. While here in the Pacific Northwest it’s easy to look outside and see birds in every tree, this environmental initiative is a worldwide event. As a bonus, you can count wherever you happen to be – even if you’re traveling. […]

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Talking Travel at the Seattle Golf & Travel Show

Beautiful and exotic, Japan often seems like a destination that will overwhelm travelers. The language, both written and spoken, is not easy to follow along in a guide book, the capital city of Tokyo is home to around 12 million people (in the greater Tokyo area), and food may be different that what we’re accustomed to at home. It’s understandable that some travelers may not want to rise to the challenge of visiting Japan. And as my recent trip to Tokyo proved, letting the myths of traveling to Japan get in the way of traveling there is a big mistake.’ I’ve written about the things that I didn’t know till I got to Japan, some of the things that surprised me, and later today I’ll be speaking at the Seattle Golf & Travel Show about how you can create a […]

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Romantic Travel: A Blog Roundup

For some people, February is the most romantic month of the year. For others, romance is a year round event. Travelers find the beauty of romance is a variety of ways. And locations. Just take a look — and if you have a romantic travel post that would fit our theme, please add it to our link round up below.  Loading InLinkz …   Photo credit:  shutterstock

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This Week in Travel: Dreamliner Declared too Young to Smoke (#131)

Over the weekend I had the opportunity to be a guest on This Week in Travel. It was an opportunity to dish about some of the latest in travel news with a few bloggers that I’ve grown to have the utmost respect for – Gary Arndt, of Everything Everywhere, Chris Christensen of the Amateur Traveler, and Jen Leo of Best Kids Apps. The program was recorded using Google Hangouts. Clearly I have to master the art of best camera angles and staying in the shot, as well as dressing for the fish eye on my computer, but cut me a little slack on that, and instead enjoy an informative, and often irreverent take, on the week’s travel news. This Week in Travel is available in iTunes.

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Postcard from Fort Vancouver

Located in the southern part of Washington state, Fort Vancouver was a 19th century fur trading outpost for the Hudson Bay Company. Today it is part of the National Park System, with living history events and a world-class archaeology collection. In the blacksmith shop, a top-notch nail maker could make one in 12 seconds flat.

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Postcard: Cypress of Big Sur

Along the Pacific Coast, south of Monterey and north of Carmel, you’ll find these iconic Cypress trees on a point near the Pebble Beach Golf Course and Resort. Make time for this gorgeous scenic drive.

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A Month of Sonoma Winery Visits

Any time is a good time for a visit to country. While many people first think of Napa Valley wineries, don’t forget to think of the other side of the bay, and the wonderful wineries in Sonoma County. Wine related travel is a popular part of a visit to Sonoma County.  With 13 American Viticultural areas, each with distinctive characteristics, the Pacific coastline, redwood forests, fertile valleys, and mountains,  all add to a success mix that creates outstanding wines.  It’s a beautiful spot for a weekend of wine tasting or an easy day trip from Oakland, San Francisco, or Sacramento. Everyone has their personal wine preferences, and with over 250 Sonoma-area wineries to choose from, coming in all sizes and flavors, the task of choosing where to visit and what to taste can be overwhelming. To simplify the process, I’ve […]

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Jersey Shore: Lucy the Elephant

I love offbeat and quirky kinds of places – for just the reasons that they are offbeat and quirky. I’ve been known to drive out of my way to see the “biggest,” “smallest,” “world’s only,” “oldest” thing or place or whatever. Why not?! Although the Hurricane Sandy did a lot of damage on the Jersey shore, it didn’t harm one of the shore’s iconically quirky attractions – Lucy the Elephant. Lucy is a six story, 90 ton elephant made of wood and tin sheeting. She was put up 1881 to attract tourism and development to the south Atlantic City area, and while she was architecturally unique at the time, she soon became merely the first of several zoomorphic (animal-shaped) buildings. Did you even know there was such a thing a zoomorphic architecture? Since she was originally constructed, Lucy has been a […]

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