Travel

JOSHUA TREE – Deep in the desert, searching for enlightenment at a spot called Samuelson's Rocks that is unmarked on any map, all I find are shaggy, gnarled trees that give this area its name, bulbous monzogranite rock formations and the triad of cholla, creosote and prickly pear that scar my legs and test my resolve.

LANDERS – So, apparently, my body, or "carbon unit," is running dangerously low at the cellular level. Unless I "change frequencies" in my electromagnetic field, I will die, someday.

Head to Half Moon Bay for the Pacific Coast Dream Machines Show, a tribute to the internal combustion engine, featuring cars, tractors, airplanes and military equipment.

My husband and I rented a car from Hertz in Munich last summer. The rental process was incredibly time-consuming but we finally received our vehicle.

A guide for what you need to buy, read or consume to enhance your recreation and travel experience

While in Istanbul, Turkey, for a sightseeing trip, I saw a rare opportunity: The view is overlooking the spice market in the foreground, the New Mosque and the Bosporus.

CHARLESTON, S.C. – Charleston, founded in 1670, is awash in history and Southern charm and also becoming widely known as a culinary town. Each year it hosts major events ranging from the Spoleto Festival USA and the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition to the Family Circle Cup Tennis Tournament.

This one goes out to the little ones, the ones strapped into the back seats, the ones getting all fidgety and smacking their siblings, the ones who really need to stop for a diversion on a long, long road trip.

Come celebrate John Muir's lifelong commitment to conservation at the John Muir National Historic Site in Martinez on April 20.

Stockton is a city that carries on, that makes the best of things, that tries to have a few laughs and some good times amid the adversity.

I took this photo while cruising through the Beagle Channel in Alberto de Agostini National Park, Chile, with my wife, Carol.

ROSS ISLAND, Antarctica – Across most of Earth, a tourist attraction that sees 35,000 visitors a year can safely be labeled sleepy. But when it's Antarctica, every footstep matters.

We booked a 10-day vacation package in Cancún, Mexico, through Hotels.com that included airfare, hotel and a rental car. Taxes were included in the price of the rental car.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A fast-food burrito chain in Albuquerque has become an international tourist attraction as people come from all over the world to see the spot where a fictional drug trafficker runs his organization. A pastry shop sells doughnuts topped with blue candy designed to resemble crystal meth. A beauty store has a similar product – crystal blue bathing salts.

A guide for what you need to buy, read or consume to enhance your recreation and travel experience

We left behind the distinctive aromatic blend of maple bars and marijuana wafting through Donut World on Seventh and Market streets, side-stepped a supine homeless man moaning softly and dodged a swarm of loiterers later identified as fencers of stolen property.

A guide for what you need to buy, read or consume to enhance your recreation and travel experienceBUY

These shots were taken in the early morning out in the sand dunes near Stovepipe Wells in Death Valley National Park

GRASS VALLEY – She didn't call me "Hon." This was disappointing. All waitresses of a certain age and sunny dispositions use that sobriquet with diners. It's in the job description, isn't it?

Return to the gold mining era, as Columbia State Historic Park near Sonora gears up to celebrate the 163rd anniversary of the discovery of gold at the site first called Hildreth's Diggings, later Columbia.

I recently booked a hotel room for a three-night stay at the DoubleTree Beach Resort by Hilton Hotel Tampa Bay – North Redington Beach through Expedia. I opted to pay the higher rate of $239 a night to guarantee a beachfront room. The lower rate of $199 was refundable but would not guarantee the ocean-view room.

People migrate here the first Sunday of each month, tote bags and shopping carts in tow, reveling in a nostalgia for times they are too young to have experienced in the first place.

Spend the day at Daffodil Hill in Amador County where you can get a breath of fresh air and take in the beautiful daffodil blooms.

This city's oddest "movie theater" – and the reason for the quote marks will become clear shortly – sure isn't easy to find.

The journey east on Amtrak's California Zephyr train is as good as the destination. Riding the rails from the San Francisco Bay Area to Reno offers beautiful views and a tangible sense of history as it crosses the Sierra Nevada mountain range on a route that helped bring America together after the Civil War.

A guide for what you need to buy, read or consume to enhance your recreation and travel experience.

My husband and I recently flew from Mexico City to Fiji for our honeymoon. One leg of our flight between Los Angeles and Fiji was canceled by United Airlines. We booked tickets on a different airline for that portion of our trip.

My wife and I have visited East Africa and South Africa four times. The 2011 trip was the most spectacular.

Sacramento International Airport just got ranked fourth best in customer service out of 43 airports in North America, thanks in good part to its new terminal.

There were many bucolic scenes on a recent October motorcycle trip across Washington state's Highway 2. Quite compelling was that of this retired farm truck, knee deep in sage and wild oats, patina deepening with each passing day, positioned to monitor the east-west traffic outside of Creston.