“… blogging about life, travel, books, food and the outdoors”
Parent company of Warren Miller movies pulls the plug
As a teenager growing up in the Bay Area, seeing the latest Warren Miller movie meant the start of ski season. My adrenaline would be pumping watching those skiers—and they were just skiers then, no snowboarders. Their ability, their antics, there personalities—all so...
Snow depth grows; good sign for flatlanders who need water
Live in snow country and you have an opinion about all that the white stuff that keeps falling. By now snow is not a nice four-letter word for many people. As someone who no longer owns a snow shovel or blower, my opinion is that is so incredibly beautiful. I had the...
Paradise Lake beckons those wanting a mountain experience
It doesn’t take long to get out of the flatlands of Chico and be surrounded by pines. In 20 minutes it’s like you are in a different world. Welcome to Paradise—elevation about 2,000 feet, with conifers the dominant flora. Walking along Paradise Lake it’s like being...
Parent company of Warren Miller movies pulls the plug
As a teenager growing up in the Bay Area, seeing the latest Warren Miller movie meant the start of ski season. My adrenaline would be pumping watching those skiers—and they were just skiers then, no snowboarders. Their ability, their antics, there personalities—all so...
Sierra Nevada Barrel-Aged Beer A Special Treat
Sometimes the bottle is so fun you don’t want to open it. Sometimes it’s too big for one person. Eventually, though, it’s time to open that big boy to see what all the hoopla is about. Such was the case with a special bottle of my sister gave me at the holidays. A 750...
Migration of birds fill the sky, waterways of NorCal
It’s not your imagination. As the sun sets, bird calls do get louder. If only I knew what these animals were saying. They seemed to be enjoying themselves as much as the people who were watching and listening. A spectacular sunset danced along the wetlands at Llano...
Tiny napkins a wasteful dining experience in Baja
Cocktail napkins should not be used as a dinner (or lunch or breakfast) napkin. They are too dang small. That’s not the belief in Mexico, though. Well, at least throughout the Baja peninsula. Restaurants in Baja are known for their penchant to provide napkins that...
‘Sleeping with Strangers’ book reading in S. Lake Tahoe
Everyone seems to have an opinion about vacation rentals. But what is it actually like to live in the same house with these travelers? I answer that question and so many others in my latest book Sleeping with Strangers: An Airbnb Host’s Life in Lake Tahoe and Mexico....
Glorious waterfalls spill forth from Table Mountain
It won’t take much effort to search for waterfalls this year. Water is flowing in some unusual places thanks to all the rain that has been dropping on California and points east. Table Mountain’s magic was on display Jan. 15 and will likely continue for weeks to come....
Book Review: Stasiland captures life behind the Berlin Wall
What happens when everything you know no longer exists? What happens when you had control and now you are on the wrong side of history? In Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall (HarperCollins, 2002) author Anna Funder answers those questions to some extent....
Walters a trailblazer in journalism whose legacy lives on
It’s hard to find the news on cable news networks. That wasn’t case when there were just the three big networks—ABC, NBC and CBS. Those were the channels I was brought up on, with the PBS News Hour a later addition—and now the only TV news I care to watch with...
On Twitter
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/02/01/right-to-disconnect-laws/
