Travel and Adventure from Creators Syndicate

Raising a Toast to the Russian River Wine Road for 10/12/2008

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Born in the Redwood Valley of Mendocino, the Russian River meanders south into Northwest Sonoma County, carving through some of the richest wine growing areas in the world. More than 200 wineries call Sonoma County home in a valley that is only 52 miles wide and 47 long.

Pinot noir is king and chardonnay queen in the Russian River Valley, but 30 other varietals also reach their full pote ...

Updated: Sun Oct 12, 2008

Authentic Australia: Off the Beaten Track for 10/13/2008

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

As I stared into the horizon, the sky cast an intense purple glow around the ruby monolith, which changed colors like a chameleon to bold orange and brilliant blue. It was a balmy evening in this arid bushland as my group honored the 800-million-year-old Ayers Rock with a champagne toast at sunset.

Surrounded by miles of barren wasteland in the center of Australia, I felt as if I had lan ...

Updated: Mon Oct 13, 2008

Dining in the Dark: A Sensory and Awareness Adventure for 10/18/2008

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

I placed my hand on Ugne's shoulder, and behind me, Byron placed his hand on mine. We followed her single file, her soft voice leading the way through a curtain, round a corner, and then another, and into complete blackness. The dark was absolute.

We were in the Unsicht-Bar Restaurant in Berlin, one of a growing number of dining-in-the-dark restaurants worldwide, a hot trend offering a j ...

Updated: Sat Oct 18, 2008

History Runs Through Utah's Park City and Deer Valley Resorts for 10/19/2008

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Funny, for someone born and raised in Southern California, winter is my favorite season. It all started when I fell in love with alpine skiing, a sport I took up in my early 20s. Decades later, there is still nothing more invigorating than to feel the cold, sharp air whipping across my face and to hear the swooshing of my skis as I sail down the slopes.

Of the many mountains I've skied i ...

Updated: Sun Oct 19, 2008

Hidden Gems in the North of England for 10/20/2008

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, England — "Many Americans don't know about this area," commented Tom Keating, my Newcastle Blue Badge tour guide. "So many do London, Cambridge, Edinburgh."

And when most folks think of the North of England, it's Liverpool and Manchester that come to mind. But there are other cities, towns, and villages in the heart of this region that are d ...

Updated: Mon Oct 20, 2008

Hidden Gems in the North of England for 10/20/2008

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, England — "Many Americans don't know about this area," commented Tom Keating, my Newcastle Blue Badge tour guide. "So many do London, Cambridge, Edinburgh."

Picturesque Julian: Wild West Shows and Apple Pie for 10/25/2008

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Traveling an hour east of San Diego and 4,450 feet above sea level, we found ourselves in Julian, a historic goldmining town famous for apple pies made from locally grown fruit. We came for the pie, but found a place rich in the history of the West.

The signs of the 2003 wildfires that for a time threatened Julian's Main Street can still be seen as you drive the two-lane road into town. ...

Updated: Sat Oct 25, 2008

Set Sail With Your Kids, and Without Them for 10/26/2008

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

If you've ever wanted to take the family on a cruise vacation, this is the time to do it. Family travel is the latest trend in cruising, and cruise lines are trying to outdo each other with bigger, better and more creative programs for toddlers through teenagers. Babies are also invited. That handsome couple sipping champagne on a moonlit veranda or dancing cheek to cheek, as seen on television ...

Updated: Sun Oct 26, 2008

Hurling Shakespearean Insults at Sea for 10/27/2008

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

When my mother invited me to go on a cruise, I winced. Normally, I'd jump at the chance to travel, but cruising, as it's been said, is for "the newly wed, and the nearly dead." I don't fall into either category.

So where does the ship dock? What are the destinations? I asked her, anticipating adventures at exotic ports of call.

"Nowhere," my mom said. "It ...

Updated: Mon Oct 27, 2008

Fort Lauderdale Sails World's Largest Boat Parade for 11/01/2008

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The 112-foot-long Carrie B floated by, its decorations paying homage to the great movie Westerns. The yacht was bedecked to represent a floating Old West town with scenic flats on port and starboard sides. Two dance platforms held 18 dancers in Western costume, performing to music made famous by the Western movies. On the bow, a two-deck stunt show featured six stuntmen and —stuntwomen. T ...

Updated: Sat Nov 01, 2008

Extreme Eating in Greenland for 11/02/2008

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Whale carpaccio? Saddle of reindeer? Yes, and musk ox tartare, too. Greenland is taking imaginative steps toward a distinctive modern cuisine.

For the last few years, chefs in Scandinavia have been rolling out indigenous cooking all over the Nordic map. In fact, in 2004 they gathered in Copenhagen to announce a "Manifesto for a New Nordic Cuisine" based on seasonal food, loca ...

Updated: Sun Nov 02, 2008

Christmas in the Desert for 11/03/2008

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

The dry, desert terrain would be the least likely place to celebrate the Christmas holidays — so, I thought. Christmastime to me conjures up caroling, colorful lights, festive meals and music — all of which I delightfully discovered in the arid Arizona desert. I soon realized that one can find the spirit in spas and holiday colors in nature's spectacular setting of red rocks and suc ...

Updated: Mon Nov 03, 2008

In Quebec, They Embrace the Cold for 11/08/2008

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

If you like cold weather vacations, or even if you don't, Quebec is the place to be when snow flurries fall and people bundle up. Never mind that the rest of the continent may stay inside during the coldest and darkest time of year, Quebecers ignore the inconvenience and think nothing of it. In fact, they celebrate the winter like no other place.

Quebec is Canada's largest province, and ...

Updated: Sat Nov 08, 2008

The Alps Give Charm to Christmas in Switzerland for 11/09/2008

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

GENEVA — It was December and snow was falling in the Alps. Throughout Switzerland, Christmas markets were preparing to celebrate the season. The air was full of aromatic spices wafting from the large pots of steaming red, mulled Gluehwein, which the Swiss drink to chase the evening cold. The scent of fresh-cut evergreens and wood smoke mixed with roasting chestnuts, frying sausages, chees ...

Updated: Sun Nov 09, 2008

Kick Up Your Heals on a Dance Cruise for 11/10/2008

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

My brother-in-law asked me if I had gained weight on my last cruise?

"No," I replied. Perhaps that was due to my fairly good metabolism or the five hours of dancing I did each day. I was on the annual Cajun/Zydeco Dance Cruise on the Carnival Conquest. 2008 marked their 10th anniversary of dancing in a warm Caribbean breeze at sunset and under the stars at midnight.

Wome ...

Updated: Mon Nov 10, 2008

A Visit to Palau: Stingless Golden Jelly Fish, Fruit Bat Soup and Little People for 11/15/2008

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Through my dive mask, I saw that I was surrounded by thousands of undulating golden living globules. They caressed my entire body with their gentle touch. It was like swimming in warm yellow Jell-O.

Recently my husband, photographer John Montgomery, and I spent one week on the island Republic of Palau, where we swam with stingless golden jellyfish in an inland lake, left there from an an ...

Updated: Sat Nov 15, 2008

Autumn in New Brunswick for 11/16/2008

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

My seatmate on the plane from Los Angeles to Toronto was Pamela Anderson. She's Canadian and was presenting at the annual Toronto Film Festival. I was continuing on to New Brunswick, an hour and a half farther east. Some flights are longer than others.

It was mid-September when I arrived and a chill was already in the air. The wind was up and summer didn't have much time left. The maple ...

Updated: Sun Nov 16, 2008

Holiday Glitter in Delaware's Culture Corridor for 11/17/2008

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

America may be missing monarchs in its heritage, but there are a few places where the wealthy have left us some royal sites. One is the Brandywine Valley near Wilmington, Delaware, a real treasure trove of European-style opulence and higher brow.

The Du Pont Family emigrated from France in 1800 and built a corporate empire as well as gardens and homes along leafy, winding Route 52 out of ...

Updated: Mon Nov 17, 2008

A Visit To Cardiff Bay for 11/22/2008

Sat, 22 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

CARDIFF, Wales — Before there was OPEC and oil, there was Cardiff and coal.

In 1913, on the eve of World War I, this city reigned supreme as the biggest coal port in the world, explained Blue Badge guide Bill O'Keefe.

From mines that dotted the nearby valleys to the north, the coal was brought by an endless parade of trains to be loaded onto ships to power the engines of an ...

Updated: Sat Nov 22, 2008

Pearl Harbor: Home of the Brave for 11/23/2008

Sun, 23 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

The second time the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor it was during a raging tropical storm in March 1942. It was the best of battles: nothing was damaged, no one was injured or killed, and everyone went home to tell the tale another day. In this case, it was decades before the public learned there had even been a second bombing.

About 2 a.m. that stormy night, radar detected two approaching ...

Updated: Sun Nov 23, 2008