Swimming with eight-metre-long whale sharks is the highlight of a vacay to Mexico's Baja Peninsula. In my periphery vision, slowly and steadily, a hulking, dark and indeterminate shadow appears. My heart quickens and there's an involuntarily sharp intake of breath on my snorkel mouthpiece. I first focus on an elaborate pattern of white dots on a gl...

Dog travel writer borrowed for a half-day now has a forever home. Tail a waggin', Simba leads the way like he knows where he's going. It's the first time this Chihuahua-terrier cross has been on the Koloa Heritage Trail, but that doesn't damper his ears-perked, tongue- hanging-out canine enthusiasm. My wife, Kerry, and I happily follow, hardly beli...

New Orleans is a city that has donuts without holes. It has horse drawn carriages that take you past a beautiful white church and into one of America's oldest neighborhoods where you can hear music nearly all the time. Jazz was invented here.​ It has sternwheelers that ply the river to antebellum plantations where you walk under a canopy of Oak tre...

The western US state of Colorado Colorado is known for its mountains, forests, high plains, mesas, canyons, plateaus, rivers and desert lands. The state takes in most of the southern Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains. It was named for the Colorado River, which early ...

The Olympic Peninsula of Washington State contains some of the most wild and beautiful places anywhere in the United States.​ The weather can change in minutes from beautiful sunshine to pouring rain. In a matter of hours, you can travel thru a Victorian town to alpine meadows dotted with wildflowers with views of snow-covered peaks to shimmering w...

Father-and-son trip to Dallas proves everything's bigger in Texas. In this case, a hot mess is not the condition you left your last girlfriend or boyfriend in upon breakup. It's the signature dish at Dallas' hottest barbecue joint. Pecan Lodge's Hot Mess is the most tender and moist, low-and-slow-cooked brisket shredded atop a baked sweet potato. I...