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Brighter Days in the Big EasyMarch 2011
Just five hours down the road from Houston, New Orleans is a world away in terms of culture and ambience. While Houston enjoys the Cajun influence of neighboring Louisiana, its sprawling modernity stands in contrast to the compact, antique French Quarter, the side-by-side, hole-in-the-wall jazz clubs, the family-owned restaurants and boutiques, the street performers and artists and all the rest … Travel Buzz – Utah: A Year-Round AdventureFebruary 2011
Utah has justly been called the home of the world’s best snow – the crisp desert air and the abundant snowfall in the mountains create conditions for some of the world’s finest skiing. With more than a dozen ski resorts to choose from and the convenience of a small city, Utah offers visitors the chance to fly into Salt Lake … Travel Buzz – Chicago for a ChangeJanuary 2011
If there’s any city in the north that shares the friendly, can-do, internationalist spirit that characterizes Houston, it’s Chicago. The Windy City, which ranks just ahead of Houston in population (No. 3 to Houston’s No. 4), is a similar melting pot of culture, with sizeable communities from nearly every country in the world. Like Houston, Chicago is an engine of … Travel Buzz – Top 11 Destinations for 2011December 2010
2010 was a big year for travel among Houstonians. In this column over the last year, we explored destinations as exotic as Singapore and Japan, as nearby as the Texas Hill Country and Big Bend, and as all-American as Washington, D.C. We traveled by train and by boat, and this being a nation of immigrants, we explored our roots, from … Travel Buzz – Pura Vida in Costa RicaNovember 2010
Costa Rica changed my life. Costa Rica, that tiny postage stamp of a country that lies between Nicaragua and Panama, caressed by the Pacific and the Atlantic in the narrow waist of Central America – Costa Rica, home of smiling Ticos and pura vida, the pure life. Costa Rica, the happiest country on the planet. It was my first real … Travel Buzz – Making Memories in MaineOctober 2010
“All I could see from where I stood It’s been nearly a century since Edna St. Vincent Millay, native daughter of Camden, Maine, penned these lines. But they could still describe the dramatic natural landscape of a state known … Travel Buzz – Best of JapanSeptember 2010
Houston’s connections with Japan run deep. We have Houstonians studying in Japan, Houston-Japan marriages, Houstonian military personnel stationed in or on missions in Japan, and, of course, a whole Japanese-Houstonian community to draw from. This month, because of the number of responses to our call for stories, we decided to do a little survey of our Japanese travelers and give … Travel Buzz – Hill Country GetawaysAugust 2010
Clear flowing rivers; towering cypress trees; Texas two-step in western dance halls and lazy summer days in the shade of the live oak trees. There’s something about the Texas Hill Country that brings out the country girl in me – and I do mean girl. Take, for example, the first time I went tubing down the Guadalupe River. It was … Travel Buzz – Washington, D.C.July 2010
The cradle of our democracyEvery American has at least two places to call home: a birthplace and the cradle of our democracy. That’s what I felt, at least, when I first saw the marble monuments of Washington, D.C. It was a city designed to inspire awe and respect, and that mission struck home. I was lucky to live here … Buzz Eatz – Road Eats for Your Summer TripJuly 2010
Growing up, summer vacations meant piling into the Chevy with pillows, car bingo and, most importantly, snacks, as we zipped down miles of highways toward such exotic locales as Yellowstone National Park and Cripple Creek, Colorado, where we saw a two-headed calf at the ghost town museum. Today’s families still hit the road for summer vacation. AAA Texas expected more … Travel Buzz – Isles of WonderJune 2010
Houstonians mark a rite of passage in the GalapagosFew places on Earth awe the spirit like the Galapagos Islands. Here is a place where smoldering volcanoes pulse with red-hot rivers of molten stone; where penguins from the frigid south cohabit with sea lions from the balmy north; where cartoonish creatures, from the bright red Sally Lightfoot crabs to the … Travel Buzz – The Love BoatMay 2010
Phillip and Virginia Moyers are perhaps the only Houston couple who can measure their romance in nautical miles. The couple met online in 2003, and it’s been an adventure ever since. Phillip was living on a boat at Blue Dolphin Marina in Seabrook, as he had for the past 15 years. Virginia had put the pieces of her life back … Travel Buzz – Homeland JourneysApril 2010
You can’t go home again, wrote Thomas Wolfe, and in this immigrant nation, it’s especially true. Whether your ancestors immigrated to the United States in its early days, or you came here yourself to find the American Dream, the unraveled strands of family and history can make returning to the homeland a poignant experience. For Sophia Mafrige, a long-delayed trip … Travel Buzz – Big Memories in Big BendMarch 2010
It’s hard to exaggerate when it comes to Big Bend National Park. This rugged expanse is at once savage and gentle. Its brilliant sunsets, desert wildlife and wide-open spaces can soothe the soul, and yet its intense heat and scarcity of water can mean quick death for the disoriented and unprepared. This is the place where the Rio Grande dips … Travel Buzz – Travels by TrainFebruary 2010
The good, bad and uglyIf you miss the train I’m on There’s nothing like a train ride to put you in mind of the good old days. Old-timers wax nostalgic when they recall the times they could climb aboard in … |
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