Category Archives: California

“We couldn’t get anyone else to do it . . . so after a few glasses of wine, I said I’d do it. Being a very determined person, I decided to win.” ~ Clint Eastwood, on his decision to run for mayor of Carmel in 1986. Carmel-by-the-Sea is nothing if not quaint and quirky. First […]

I have found that when you are deeply troubled, there are things you get from the silent devoted companionship of a dog that you can get from no other source. ~ Doris Day I’m staying at the Cypress Inn in Carmel, a two-story white brick structure in the middle of town. I chose the hotel […]

That’s the nickname for Morro Bay, referring to the gigantic rock that sits in the bay and three smokestacks from a defunct power plant, both of which can be seen from almost anywhere in town. Morro Bay is a small fishing town (population 10,234) on California’s Central Coast.  It’s about 120 miles north of Santa […]

Julia Child, who lived in Santa Barbara’s Casa Dorinda in her later years, once mentioned La SuperRica on “Good Morning America” as her favorite taquería, and lines are still forming around the block today because of that. SuperRica does not have fish tacos . . . but it has the best tacos– and the best […]

Somehow I have never minded dining alone. Instead, I find it is a rare opportunity for relaxing and collecting my senses, and I have always made each occasion something of a ceremony. ~ James Beard It has been a while since I sat at a table for one in an upscale restaurant. A few days […]

I’ve been in San Diego for for five days, and I’ve yet to tire of the view from my hotel window. I’m on the seventh floor of the Hilton Hotel on Harbor Island. When I lived in San Diego, I would come here to walk the path that runs the length of the island and […]