On our way to Reford Gardens, we stop to pose for photos with what may possibly be the largest Adirondack chair in Canada. This shot on the left makes me look like some sort of grotesque shrunken doll; a Mini-Me in shades. To tell you the truth, I don’t why the monster chair was sitting there, but [...]
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We’re headed toward Rimouski on Route 132 and the discussion has once again turned to food, specifically moose meat, or viande d’orignal as its known in these parts. Moose meat is a popular dinner item in Quebec, even though you can’t buy it in stores. In 2006, hunters legally killed 1,800 of them in the province. [...]
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We are in a boat chugging toward a group of islands in the St. Lawrence River. The ride is a little rough and the wind is blowing hard, but it is exciting to be out on the open water. A young Quebecois guide is doing her best to describe the setting in both official languages as the [...]
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It is still raining, but not quite so heavily, a distinction that is probably lost on the soggy cyclists that we pass, struggling east on Route 132. This stretch of highway, hugging the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, is known as the Navigators’ Route. The cylists could use a navigator today. A heavy mist has descended, [...]
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Ah, the life of a travel writer. I leave Vancouver on a spectacular day, the city bathed in brilliant sunshine and nary a cloud in the sky. I’m catching a plane to the La Belle Province to take a tour of the Quebec Maritime region and to attend a tourism conference in Quebec City, which is celebrating its 400th anniversary. My guide [...]
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The hunger pangs hit as we arrive in Georgetown, capital of the Malaysian island of Penang. We have been exploring the “Pearl of the Orient” all morning and it is now time to refuel. I suggest we stop for lunch. My Malay guide, Jacky, is momentarily taken aback. “Where?” he asks. This is novel, a tour guide [...]
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We have one more day in the City of Angels, just enough time to do some leisurely sightseeing. Mid-morning finds us in a taxi heading to the Farmers Market. We roll down busy Wilshire Boulevard and past the imposing, black-glassed Flynt Tower. On the sidewalk outside the highrise is a massive, six-ton statue of John Wayne [...]
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A cowboy in a brown Stetson is singing beside a fully outfitted chuckwagon, his voice carrying through a room that is jammed with conventioneers filling their plates with pancakes and bacon. Both the musical entertainment and the breakfast have been supplied by Travel Alberta. God knows how much it cost them to ship the chuckwagon [...]
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When I arrive in a foreign destination I like to plunge headlong into the street life. Although Los Angeles may not exactly qualify as a “foreign destination,” I’m still eager to walk. However, from the Beverly Hilton my options are limited. Turning left on Santa Monica Boulevard takes me to Rodeo Drive, while turning right leads to Century City. [...]
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We descend through a veil of poisonous brown smog and alight on a runway lined with a fiery explosion of red and orange marigolds. It’s a fitting entry into a city that combines extremes–fantasy and reality, wealth and poverty, beauty and ugliness–like no other. We have come to Los Angeles to attend Canada Media Marketplace, [...]
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