Western USA

November 21, 2017

Columbia River Gorge is Open for Business – and as Beautiful as Ever

The beauty of the Columbia River Gorge in November 2017, two months after the fire. September 2, 2017, started off wonderfully in the Columbia River Gorge. It was the beginning of Labor Day weekend in one of the nation’s most beautiful scenic areas. Located just an hour east of Portland, Oregon, this was a busy […]

July 16, 2016

On the Trail of Kit Carson in Taos

“I don’t know if I did right or wrong but I always did my best.” Quote by Kit Carson on a placard in his home in Taos, New Mexico Teepees near Taos Few people in history have received as many mixed reviews as Kit Carson. The larger-than-life mountain man, trapper, scout, soldier, and Indian fighter […]

May 15, 2016

Riding the Rail Runner Express to Santa Fe

The Rail Runner Express leaving Santa Fe’s Railyard, near the Plaza There are few sounds more romantic than a train whistle as it pulls out of the station starting off on a journey. Unless, of course, you’re riding the Rail Runner Express. This unusual 96-mile- long railroad runs between Albuquerque and Santa Fe, NM. The […]

March 17, 2016

Keep San Luis Looney

The San Luis Valley of southern Colorado is the largest alpine valley in the world. Covering an area the size of Massachusetts, this flat, sandy valley floor receives less rainfall than the Sahara. There are only 40,000 humans living here, making it one of the most isolated, quietest and darkest places on the planet. And […]

August 1, 2015

A Wild West Weekend in Cheyenne, Wyoming

Frontier Days (the center window is where Tom Horn confessed to murder) Now that Cheyenne Frontier Days 2015 is over, it’s a wonderful time to spend a weekend in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Not that there’s anything wrong with Frontier Days, of course. This 119-year-old rodeo, the “Daddy of ‘em All,” as they like to say, is […]

February 27, 2015

The Great Adobe Castle of the Santa Fe Trail — Bent’s Fort

Traders and guides on the Santa Fe Trail at Bent’s Old Fort during one of their many re–enactment events. Few roads in history have conjured up romantic images like the Santa Fe Trail. It lasted only 60 years, from 1821 to 1880, but for that short time it was America’s first international highway. And the […]

December 27, 2014

San Francisco — the City in a Park

From Presidio National Park Most cities have parks inside them. But San Francisco is a city inside a park. And an 80,000-acre national park at that. Along the coast, in the bay, on the other side of the bay, and even right through the heart of the city, San Francisco is surrounded and cut by […]

March 8, 2014

A European Weekend in the Desert of Las Vegas

The dancing fountains of Bellagio. It was winter and I’d had enough of America. Too much snow, too much cold, too many chain stores and too much traffic. I needed a summer in Europe. I needed to walk in twilight past splashing fountains, to linger over a good meal at an outdoor cafe, to feel […]

January 29, 2014

Unlocking the Mystery of Custer’s Last Stand

“Call of the Bugle,” by J.K. Ralston is one of the more accurate depictions. On the afternoon of June 26, 1876, on high bluffs above the Little Big Horn River, Col. George Armstrong Custer halted the 7thCavalry and dictated an order. “Benteen. Come On. Big Village. Be Quick. Bring Packs. P.S. Bring Packs.” The order […]

November 29, 2013

Walking and Drinking Beer in Yosemite

On March 27, 1851, a gold miner named James Savage, led a group of militia into the rugged Sierra Nevada mountains of central California in search of Tenaya, chief of the Ahwahneeche people. The tribespeople had burned Savage’s trading post, so in revenge, Savage formed the Mariposa Battalion and ordered his armed men up the […]

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