First Lake of the Season — Fishtrap or Clear Lake?
With the arrival of spring, kayakers remove boats and equipment from storage and turn their thoughts to lakes. Which lake is best for the inaugural run? As a general rule of thumb, lakes to the west and south of Spokane are…Continue reading→
Arbor Crest: Winery with a View
The first winery I visited in Spokane was Arbor Crest, a site known for spectacular views and whimsical historic structures as well as fine wines, located east of downtown in Spokane Valley. Seen from a distance, its Italianate house perches on a basalt…Continue reading→
Puerto Rico, Goodbye to Hurricanes
To anyone who lives in Puerto Rico, even just a few years, hurricanes become a fixation. In other places, it could be earthquakes, tornadoes, blizzards, life-threatening diseases or, as it is here in the Inland Northwest, wildfires. Perhaps true of most…Continue reading→
Old San Juan: The Scaffolding of Iglesia de San José
In spite of hurricanes, economic crises, births, deaths, and other milestones in life, some things in Puerto Rico never seem to change. Sadly, one of them is Iglesia de San José in Old San Juan. When I left the island in…Continue reading→
Puerto Rico’s New Niche in Tourism
When I wrote for travel magazines about Puerto Rico, a few decades ago, tourism in San Juan consisted mainly of high-end hotels and resorts. There were few offerings for budget-minded travelers. It seemed a shame the island wasn’t courting those of…Continue reading→
Old San Juan: The Ships of San Cristóbal
No return visit to Old San Juan would be complete without a look at the ships. I don’t mean the large cruise ships that dock in San Juan Bay. I mean ships on a much smaller scale, artistic endeavors created under…Continue reading→
Trendy Loíza Street
I lived in Ocean Park for many years. A small seaside neighborhood, it is wedged between the better known tourist districts of Isla Verde and the Condado in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Skirting the edge of Ocean Park is McLeary Street,…Continue reading→
El Yunque’s Transformation
Puerto Rico’s El Yunque National Forest is the only tropical forest in the US Forest Service system, a small (28,000 acres) but rich patch of land featuring hundreds of species of trees, ferns, orchids, and bromeliads along with impressive numbers of lizards and…Continue reading→
Back to Puerto Rico
My first novel (The Irony of Tree Ferns, as yet unpublished) starts off in a rain forest on the island of Puerto Rico in the year 1942. A teenage boy discovers the body of an American woman in a remote section…Continue reading→
Pulse Growing on the Palouse
Every August (this year, the 16th and 17th), thousands of visitors flock to Reaney Park in Pullman, Washington for the annual National Lentil Festival. While there, they stroll through the garbanzo garden, buy from marketplace vendors, sample the world’s largest bowl of lentil…Continue reading→