Blog

Snorkeling with the Masses at Hanauma Bay

“At Hanauma Bay,” the concierge at our Waikiki hotel told us, “you’ll see more people than fish.” She advised us to skip this popular Oahu snorkling destination and take a kayak or catamaran tour instead. But the tours were pricey and Hanauma Bay, a thirty minute drive southeast of downtown Honolulu, was only $7.50 each

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Pieces of Heaven

Flipping through the Turkish Airlines magazine on our flight home from Istanbul last summer, I came across this quote by turn-of-the-century French writer, Jules Renard, emblazoned across a full page photograph of a luxury villa development on Turkey’s Aegean Coast: “On earth there is no heaven, but there are pieces of it.” While I wouldn’t have

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Fear and Regret at Alamere Falls

Alamere Falls, located on the southern end of Point Reyes National Seashore, spills over the edge of a thirty-foot cliff and into the Pacific Ocean below. A “coastal waterfall” or “tidefall,” it is a fairly uncommon natural phenomenon, with only twenty-five of its kind sprinkled around the globe. San Francisco, where I live, is just

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Wining & Dining Among the Vines

It’s a cool evening in mid-August, and I’m in the Russian River Valley vineyards of Sonoma-Cutrer, chatting with the winery’s head winemaker, Mick Schroeter, about his recent trip to Talon Fish Lodge, in Sitka, Alaska. While there to host a wine and food pairing event featuring Sonoma-Cutrer wines, Mick had the chance to go fishing,

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