I hit the jackpot recently at Pala Casino Spa & Resort in San Diego County. I didn't win any money, but I did stay in an awesome hotel room, dine at a couple great restaurants, and experience the resort's stunning, new pool area.
While everyone seemed to be relocating north to Seattle, I bolted from my home town for the bright lights of Los Angeles. But I would return to my ancestral home often. While visiting, I would frequently kick myself for never exploring the amazing attractions outside of the western part of the state.
In the 1840s, the population of California was only 14,000, but by 1850 more than 100,000 settlers and adventurers had arrived from all over the world – and they came for one reason: gold. James Marshall had discovered the first gold nugget at Sutter’s Mill in El Dorado County, creating the largest gold rush in history.
I never met a kid who didn’t love Legos. The toys are simple, durable and inspire creativity and imagination. So when LEGOLAND California opened in 1999 as an entire theme park dedicated to the little, plastic building blocks it was major news. And now today, as it celebrates its 20th birthday, the destination is more popular than ever and still welcoming families and exciting new attractions.
The Palladian Traveler goes back in time to Colonial America as he walks the brick-lined pavement of historic Annapolis, MD and savors a fresh catch-of-the-day pulled right out of the Chesapeake Bay.
On first sight, the American Duchess charmed me with her white, wedding-cake exterior adorned with gingerbread trim. The big, red paddle wheel on the back paid tribute to her steamboat lineage, a descendant of the legendary vessels that began plying the Mississippi River more than two centuries ago.
The Palladian Traveler meanders around the town that George Washington envisioned, stopping long enough to smell the cherry blossoms, soak in the history, marvel at the art and architecture and inhale the aromas of epicurean delights as he files his latest dispatch from the US capital.
They came by the thousands. It was not the first time, nor would it be the last. These were young Americans, many of whom who had never lived more than forty-miles from their place of birth. This all changed with the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Most of the U.S. military bases were located in California and the recruits were shipped to an unfamiliar landscape of wide-open spaces, eternal sunshine, crystal-clear ocean waters and groves of citrus trees...
The Palladian Traveler joins the masses around the Tidal Basin as Washington, DC rolls out the pink carpet during the National Cherry Blossom Festival.
Though it was just a segment along the way, Arizona loomed long and strong in my memory. Its striking, forbidding landscapes, so different from the lush agricultural land of eastern Kansas, were imprinted on my young mind. The Grand Canyon, the Painted Desert, the Petrified Forest, each rolled into memory as we rolled through them.
