Archive | Travel Stories

Wherever you go in Alaska, there’s one two-word phrase that you hear from Alaskans when you complain about how the weather changes on a dime or how you need rubber boots to take a hike in the woods because a dry creek bed might be overflowing or a bear might have left a steaming deposit […]

I’ve just returned from an eight-day visit to two health-conscious ranches in “the middle of nowhere,” British Colombia,  where I went on  long hikes, rode horses, fly-fished in a pond full of uncooperative rainbow trout, flew in a small plane over a pristine mountain range to view glaciers from 2500 feet below, played disc golf, […]

Who would have imagined that adding a few exotic ingredients like Peruvian chili paste, yuzu citrus juice and grape seed oil to the sushi standards–garlic and soy sauce—would make a struggling despondent suicidal sushi chef into the most successful and well known Japanese restaurateur in the world? It wasn’t just the ingredients, of course. Having […]

When I heard that the water level was rising in Lake Powell, located in northern Arizona,  and that passages that previously had to be circumvented could now be traversed, I thought with rising gas prices and low motorboat gas mileage, now was as good a time as any to explore the second largest made-made lake […]

Can dropping everything on the spur of the moment be the best solution to life’s dirty problems? When, fueled by anger, frustration, and depression, one realizes it’s either that or explode?  I wasn’t sure, but I was counting on it. Let me back up. I’ve been putting the finishing touches on a book I’ve been […]

“What do you think about when you think about love?” my bachelor friend Mark asked me, paraphrasing the title of a book of stories by Raymond Carver, though I don’t think he knew that. “For me, that’s easy: Hiromi.”  I’ve been married to my wife for 28 years, and we’ve been together for 36. She’s […]

If one ever needed a reason to go to Vancouver, eating at Tojo’s new restaurant at 1133 West Broadway is reason enough.  Tojo, you see, is not just a master sushi chef, he’s the veritable Picasso of sushi chefs. He can bend a slice of raw fish over a rectangle of rice in a way […]

When you mention walking in L.A. to people who don’t live in L.A. the most common reaction is: Ha!  And then, “Are you kidding, nobody walks in L.A.” That’s not true, of course. Nobody jaywalks in L.A. Or, if one does, there are cops waiting to pounce. A friend and I once crossed two feet […]

You’ve fallen in love, again, with your mate, or you’ve just met a new mate, and you’re wondering what you can do for the two weeks vacation time coming up. It’s a long plane ride to the west coast of the U.S. but what the heck, you’re looking for romance, and why not take the […]

I never wanted to be a cowboy. I prefer sneakers and sandals to calf-hugging leather boots. Baseball caps to Stetson hats. Horse power under the hood to horses under a hard saddle. Restaurants with waiters to cans of pork and beans over a campfire. I’ve never fantasized throwing a lasso over a calf’s head and […]