A Tale of Two Hotels in Santa Barbara, California

Santa Barbara Sunset

In my last hurrah of travels before my self-imposed "rest time" at home in November and December, I spent three nights in Santa Barbara, California, right before Halloween. First, I attended the Alaska Media Road Show at the Four Seasons Resort The Biltmore [Read more]

Best Romantic Getaway Hotel in North America

Suite living room at San Ysidro Ranch

What can you get for the proverbial "man who has everything?" My husband has a gratifying career, happy kids, and enough consumer electronics to keep his geeky self busy for a while.  So for his big birthday recently (let's just say it's a number divisible by [Read more]

Fun Travel Activity in Santa Barbara, California – Land Shark!

Sailboat in Santa Barbara, California

The Santa Barbara Land Shark is an amphibious bus - that is, it's a Hydra Terra tour bus that takes passengers around the streets of Santa Barbara and next-door Montecito, then goes right into the harbor and continues the tour on sea. I've been to Santa [Read more]

Wildfires Spread in Los Angeles County, Southern California

Fiery Sunset at 4:30 over the Pacific Ocean (Jennifer Miner)

The wildfires aren't getting better in Southern California; in fact, they're getting worse. What started out as one fire up in Santa Barbara County yesterday, has turned, today, into four fires up and down the Southern California Coast. Check out this [Read more]

Fire Destroying Homes in Santa Barbara County, California

Fire Destroying Homes in Santa Barbara County (AP/Mark J. Terrill)

Fire Destroying Homes in Santa Barbara County (AP/Mark J. Terrill) There's trouble in paradise again. One of my favorite luxury vacation towns, Santa Barbara, is in the midst of powerful, raging fire. It's already destroyed over one hundred homes and caused [Read more]

How To Have a Budget Vacation in High End Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara California Beach

Santa Barbara is my favorite vacation town along California's Central Coast. It's right along a gorgeous stretch of the Pacific coastline, with the Santa Ynez Mountains framing the town's landscape vista. Obviously, hiking the Santa Ynez trails and splashing [Read more]