Eight Great Things to Do in North Myrtle Beach
While there are hotels of various sizes here, the shoreline along Ocean Drive through North Myrtle Beach is lined with beach houses rather than resorts and attractions. Some of these beach houses are mini-mansions with swimming pools, elevators and lush landscaping, while others are modest single family-style dwellings. Ocean Drive through this town isn’t as full of traffic slowing down to look at amusement parks and other...
Inside the Arizona Biltmore
Phoenix doesn’t rise from the ashes of itself, but from a sun-drenched desert that draws visitors from around the globe for its warm winter days and sultry nights. It rose also from the imagination of people who visualized a city where people could live year-around in the shadows of the rugged mountains surrounding it. Savvy marketers branded it “The Valley of the Sun” in the 1930s and the label sticks today. Even before the Valley of...
Bring It On In Tucson
Tucson is a bad-ass town. There. I said it. From the early days farming the desert along the Santa Cruz River, to later years fighting off Apache raiders, to recent years battling drought, the people of Tucson have had to face up and knuckle down. The bring-it-on attitude shows in everything from the street art to the symphony, from the barrio to the ballet, from the tacos to the theater. Nowhere is this Tucson badassery more notable...
Fall is for Food Festivals in the South
Taste of the New South September 4-7, 2015, Pinehurst, NC Over Labor Day weekend the legendary Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina will host Taste of the New South, a food and wine celebration to focus on traditional foods prepared with contemporary flair. The village of Pinehurst was designed by Frank Law Olmsted, the landscape architect of Central Park. Even without the dozens of championship golf courses and picturesque horse farms...
New in Napa Valley
Hotels Renovate to Enhance Guest Experiences Craig and Kathryn Hall have renovated La Residence in Napa and rebranded to SENZA Hotel to reflect the hotel’s new modern design and added amenities. The property re-opened in October 2014. SENZA Hotel features 41-modern guest rooms including 18 luxury suites, an outdoor pool and hot tub, state-of-the-art fitness room, full spa, meeting area and a contemporary art collection. Website: ...
A Visit to Eagle Island
Take a quick tour with TravelOvations to Eagle Island, a private island and lodge off the coast of Darien, Georgia.
Spectacular Southern Food Served at Durham’s Taste 2015
Durham proved once again what an amazing food city it is becoming at the recent Taste 2015 events. The three-day food event kicked off with a VIP reception on Friday, April 23, 2015 hosted by 2011 James Beard winner Andrea Reusing. Proceeds from ticket sales went to the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina. I attended several of the Taste 2015 events as a guest of event producers, Shannon Media, publishers of Chapel Hill...
In Awe of Asheville
When I announced five years ago that we were moving to North Carolina, my writer and artist friends assumed we’d move to Asheville. “It’s the creative capital of North Carolina,” I heard repeatedly. While a creative capital sounded good, due to my husband’s job, we wound up in a small town called Hillsborough. Turns out Hillsborough is the literary capital of the South with more writers living here any...
Southern Food Makes Great Gifts for the Hard to Please
As yuppies get older their kids–even their grandchildren–struggle each holiday season with what to buy them. By this time in their lives, many yuppies have most everything they want and can afford to buy what they don’t yet have. They have rabbit-ear wine openers, their golf clubs cost more than their college education, and their televisions take up a wall once covered with pictures of children. For the record,...
Any Day in Puerto Vallarta
It could be any day along the Pacific coast of Mexico, but on this day it’s Puerto Vallarta. The morning broke with a puff of clouds lolling upon the Pacific, casting a veil across the fishing boat dropping anchor in Banderas Bay. Tourists drop their lines into the water, prop their poles on the side and pop open a beer. These tourists are hoping to catch fish—dorado, bonito, yellow fin, mahi-mahi, even marlin—but I...
TerraVita Serves Up the World in North Carolina
The capstone of the TerraVita Food and Drink Festival in Chapel Hill, N.C. was called the Carolina Table–East Meets West. As apropos as that sounds, it could easily have been called South Meets the World. There is no doubt that pork is still king in the South, but pheasant, bison, lamb and duck are reaching for the crown. Same goes with barbeque sauce–that legacy souse of the South that differs from region to region....
Try the Sandcastle Café and Grill for Breakfast Buffet
St. Simon’s Island, Georgia There’s a reason why certain restaurants in tourist areas are always full. They’ve learned to cater to tourists, while satisfying the year-around residents who would never return if the food wasn’t good. St. Simon’s Island is one of those places where everyone knows everyone. If a restaurant served trendy, bloated, overpriced grub, these people would talk. Let’s say you’ve risen to watch the sun rise from...
A Legendary Hotel Reborn: The King and Prince Beach and Golf Resort
The legendary King and Prince Beach and Golf Resort on St. Simon’s Island, Georgia recently underwent a multi-million dollar renovation. View the beautifully redesigned resort in the slideshow here.
Lynchburg: Gateway to the Civil War Trail
Central Virginia is spectacular any time of year. In the spring, the hills look like Monet paintings dotted with dogwood white, red bud fuchsia and forsythia yellow.
Year-Around Activities at California’s Big Bear Mountain Resorts
Southern California’s Inland Valley is presided over by the mountain patriarchs called Baldy, San Jacinto and Big Bear. These giants are as much a part of the daily experience to valley residents as the ocean is to those who live on the coast. Valley residents watch the sun coming up from behind them, enjoy the magnificent clouds that form at their peaks, play and explore them every month of the year, and navigate by them. The...
Sophistication and Culture in Mexico City
Mexico City infuses the ancient with the contemporary as if the two are the yin yang of Mexican culture. Spend three days in Mexico City with a trio of Americans who have never been there and you’ll blow some minds. Americans don’t expect the spectacular architecture, the clean streets and sidewalks, the abundance of museums and cultural centers, the fabulous gourmet dining, and the friendly people anxious to show you the heart of...
Explore Georgia’s Golden Isles
It’s not hard to understand why this stretch of the Georgia coast is known as the Golden Isles. Miles of marsh grass wave in the breeze, carved by streams, rivers, and inlets to form a jigsaw puzzle of islands. The sun rises like a glittering coin over the Atlantic and blankets the marshlands in gold and amber as it sets over the isles. Poised on the mouth of the sound leading up to the bustling port city of Brunswick is St. Simons Island, the largest of Georgia’s Golden Isles.
Lynchburg: Gateway to the Civil War Trail
Central Virginia is spectacular any time of year. In the spring, the hills look like Monet paintings dotted with dogwood white, red bud fuchsia and forsythia yellow. Summer’s lush green hillsides sparkle with magnolias and a rainbow of crepe myrtles. Even the stark bare branches of winter and the glistening snow bring stunning serenity to the farmlands, towns and rolling hills.
Welcome to Travel Ovations
As a child growing up in California’s Inland Valley, we could get just about anywhere by freeway in an hour (or so). My stepfather kept our old cars running in tip-top shape for weekending away from the sidewalks of suburbia. When you don’t have the money for tickets to Disneyland or even nosebleed seats at Angel Stadium, you get creative. Back then, gas was cheap. We took rides in the car just to see what was out there....
The Spirit of Charleston in Food and Drink
One of the first things the driver who picked me up at the airport told me is that Charleston is the second-most haunted town in America. “That’s good,” I told him, “I’m searching for the spirit of Rhett Butler.” That he’s a fictional character makes no difference, I explain. “He’s the essence of southern hospitality and that’s what I’m here to find.” The driver dropped me off at Charleston Place, a Belmond Hotel in the heart of...
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