By Doug Hansen June 20, 2022 As America began to emerge from many months of pandemic restrictions, interest in travel, cruising in particular, soared. But many travelers continued to worry about the potential health risks in the post-COVID-19 period. My wife, Sharen, and I, wanting to see for ourselves what conditions were like in this…
Delightful Door County Has It All
Cherry pie, cherry pancakes and cherry pastries galore. Lavender fields with 30,000 plants. Twenty-four county and state parks with endless miles of hiking trails, 53 swimming beaches with pristine water, 11 golf courses and 9 wineries. Welcome to Door County, Wisconsin, one of the state’s most popular tourist destinations. With a year-round population of nearly…
Seeing eye to eye with Gray Whales in Baja, Mexico
It’s a chilly morning and the orange face of the sun has just poked above the horizon, casting sparkling diamonds of light across the gently undulating waters of Magdalena Bay in Baja California Sur, Mexico. As my wife, Shirin, and I stroll down the narrow, sandy beach, our tranquil scene is transformed by a large…
Visiting Millions of Monarchs in the Mountains of Mexico
In late February, 2020, my wife and I journeyed to Mexico to witness one of the greatest mysteries of the animal kingdom–200 million monarch butterflies overwintering in the high-altitude forests of central Mexico. Many of the butterflies’ gossamer orange and black wings had carried them nearly 3000 miles to the mountains of Michoacan, Mexico. Miraculously,…
Rafting the Grand Canyon
I find myself fulfilling a lifelong dream as I float down the Colorado River on a large inflatable raft with 13 other adventurers and two guides. The air is hot but cool breezes intermittently arise from the cold river water to deflect the heat. Beneath us, the olive-green water rushes through the greatest geologic chasm in the world, the iconic Grand Canyon. All are silent as we absorb the majesty of this natural spectacle…
With or without snow, Mammoth attracts visitors year round
High on a mountainside near the Mammoth Lakes ski resort, I stood without a care as a breeze gently tussled the pines surrounding me, creating a sweet but melancholy melody among the trees’ needles. My sense of peace at that moment made me grateful to be in Mammoth that summer day, and later again in the fall, discovering what this world-famous ski destination offered without snow…
Searching for the Danube River’s best Christmas markets
As our ship glided slowly through Austria’s famed Wachau Valley, a silhouette of a Medieval town gradually emerged from the soft, white mist at a bend in the river. Near the tip of the peninsula a blue Gothic church spire rose high above a set of timeless, gray buildings; a thick fortress wall snaked up…
Surprising China delivers an unforgettable hot springs experience
Tucked away in the bamboo-shrouded hills next to the Wentang River, 60 km/ 36 mi from downtown Chongqing, China, is a hot springs jewel called Tongjing Hot Springs Resort. Being avid hot springs fans, my wife and I were delighted to find ourselves off the beaten track in an award-winning hot springs wonderland, which provided…
Hike of a lifetime in northwest Spain’s wild coast
Serendipity—an unexpected delight–is the word that comes to mind when describing the seven- day hike my wife and I recently did in the wild and undeveloped northwest coast of Galicia, Spain. Simply put, anyone who is adventurous, loves traveling to Europe and is fit enough to do 10-mile hikes should seriously consider doing this hike….
Surprising St. Lucia offers natural beauty and friendly people
“I want to go to somewhere nice in the Caribbean,” my wife asked me maybe a thousand times. So finally, for her birthday, I arranged a five-day visit to Saint Lucia that, I’m relieved to say, exceeded our expectations. Even though getting there required a couple of flights from our home in Carlsbad, CA, it…