Happy independence day, America! They say it takes leaving home to appreciate the beauty of your own backyard, and in my evolution as a traveler, I’ve found that to be true. There was a time when not a single one of the fifty states seemed adventurous enough to quench my thirst for all things exotic, but…

Oh, my monthly roundups. They are so ridiculously out of sync with real time now that I’ve considered axing the entire series, as I did recently with Photo of the Week. Yet I know this series has some loyal fans — and I’m one of them! Apologies for the delay, but I suppose better is late…

Have you ever wished that the whimsical destinations dreamed up by Dr. Seuss were real, and you could visit them yourself? At Joshua Tree National Park, you kind of can.  Last summer, I was bit hard by the national parks bug. I bought the America The Beautiful Parks Pass while visiting Grand Canyon and the Glen…

As a pretty recent convert to the cult of California, there are almost endless options of new destinations for me to explore in the Golden State. Yet still, when planning out my two weeks there last fall, I was itching to return to Palm Springs. I’d loved my brief stay there the previous year, and vowed…

Pretty much from the moment I got certified seven years ago, it’s just been a given: when I’m traveling near or around a body of water, I’m looking up the local diving in the area. Once I realized I was heading to California for two weeks and would have a dive buddy in the form of…

I think I’ve had a pretty wide breadth of experience when it comes to travel. I’ve traveled alone, I’ve traveled with friends, I’ve traveled with family, I’ve traveled with flings and serious boyfriends. But until recently, I’ve never traveled with the love of my life: my eleven-year-old cocker spaniel, Tucker. Regular readers know that Tucker is…