The Grande Colonial Hotel in La Jolla has it all: history, charm and an incredible waterfront location. Add to this a walkable town with tasty restaurants, and beaches with seal lions and leopard sharks, and you know why the hotel is one of my favorites in the San Diego area.
It all began in 1978 when John Colclough, an avid reader with a quick wit who is blessed with a rare photographic memory and enough intelligence to share with an army, began exploring the history, culture, and traditions of Ireland. Following his heart and with a profound affection for the island, Colclough explored the untrammeled backroads lined with ancient hand-designed stone fences that appear as if they were created by a master artist and designed for horse-drawn carriages. He negotiates postal lanes that carve their way past rolling grass fields with the most brilliant green on the planet, dotted with elm and lime trees, and glorious castles that appear like an astonishing vision in a landscape bordered by blankets of green and stands of leafy trees.
Is there anyone who doesn't know you don't put Baby in a corner? Or who doesn't automatically hum along to "The Time of my Life"? Imagine revisiting "Dirty Dancing" at its original locale - and visiting the site where Baby and Johnny practiced "the lift" - possibly the most famous dance routine ending ever? Welcome to Mountain Lake Lodge in Pembroke, Virginia channeling the Catskills hotel -- AKA the Kellerman's Resort.
Johnny 'V' was just thirteen when he got his union card to play music professionally. Thirteen! There seemed to be little doubt on his direction in life. His father and uncle both played music and the Vernazza's were living in the Bay Area…it was the early 1960s. Johnny would begin his journey by playing every teen center and Moose Lodge that would have him. By the late 60s he would be on stage at some of the most legendary venues of that era; Winterland, Golden Gate Park, the Carousel, the Fillmore and Wumper's Old Man. His musical runnin' buddies included some the best that ever were; names like Elvin Bishop, Toy Caldwell, Jerry Garcia, Norton Buffalo and Janis Joplin.
Located beneath the Treasury building in the Whitehall area of Westminster is the Churchill War Rooms. Previously called the Cabinet War Rooms, this where leading government ministers, military strategists, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and a dedicated staff of 500 people conducted war operations during WW II.From this network of underground rooms, you’ll see how they lived, where they strategized and survived unimaginable attacks by Hitler’s Nazi Germany. When World War II ended, the staff simply walked away leaving everything just as it had been, which included maps, phone banks, typewriters, signs that said ‘No whistling inside,’ and sun lamps for staffers who never saw daylight for months.
After my arrival at London's Heathrow Airport, I was whisked away in one the city's famous Black Cabs. I was relaxed and feeling carefree, well aware that a London Cabbie knew every part of the city like the back of their hand. Unlike U.S. taxi or Uber drivers where the gig is often a part time one, its purpose to stretch out incomes like a waiter or parking valet while waiting for that big break. But in London to be a Black Cab driver is nothing less than a proud full time endeavor. Three and a half to four years of training requires the driver to be one, which includes person-to-person non online tests. By simply naming an address, establishment or even a landmark you will be transported to your place of interest without any form of hesitation. The drivers can be chatty, too; interested in who you are and where you're from, and most importantly serving as an ambassador of London.
So there I was in my white lab coat examining the 40 different vials and trying to determine which combinations to mix to get the best outcome. Admittedly, I wasn’t enacting some important scientific discovery or creating a medical breakthrough but it felt almost that significant. What if I screwed up, made ridiculous choices as to the most effective ingredients and came away with an awful smelling product. Yup, I was making perfume at the Tijon Parfumerie & Boutique on the French side (obviously!) of the Caribbean island of St. Martin.
When you grow up in a family where your father is known as Lil’ Howlin’ Wolf, the chances are pretty good that you may end up as a bluesman. If you come of age on Chicago's Southside and your band is forced to practice in the basement laundry room of the projects, you may end up as a bluesman. But when childhood memories include your dad taking you by the hand into some of the Windy City's most legendary bars and you witness B.B. King live for the first time at the Burning Spear on State Street, damn you have to be a bluesman!
After 45 minutes on the water, we wanted to explore beneath the waves. So when the boat docked, we walked a couple hundred yards to the world-famous Aquarium of the Pacific for another ocean adventure. It was a memorable and educational day in Long Beach, California.
Desert Hot Springs has long been a destination for rest and rejuvenation. Situated 20 minutes from Palm Springs’ expansive golf courses, artistic rows of palm trees and desert estates, rustic Desert Hot Springs feels a world away. It is one of the few places on the globe with naturally occurring hot and cold mineral springs. The Mission Creek Branch of the San Andreas Fault bisects the wellness getaway where one side is a cold-water aquifer while the other a hot-water aquifer, naturally heated to temperatures as high as 180 degrees by geothermal forces thousands of feet below the earth’s surface.