ramblings of a Seattle travel, food and photography hound
The Monterey Bay Aquarium is one of the world's best. You could spend an entire day there if you have the patience to tolerate hordes of people who come from all over. My grandson did, as he is fascinated with sea life. The exhibits of jellyfish and tentacled creatures are superb, matched by the famed underwater 28-foot kelp forest... Continue Reading →
At roughly 250 years old, the much-photographed Lone Cypress sits on top of a granite rock that overlooks the Pacific Ocean. You can see it along the 17 Mile Drive that circles the Monterey Peninsula.
For the past several years, it was a goal of mine to sample barbecued beef in the Santa Maria Valley along California's Central Coast. But, the opportunity never came for one reason or another during the long drives between Seattle and Los Angeles. Either the timing was not right or we were in a hurry to get... Continue Reading →
Prompted by a list that appeared on fivethirtyeight.com, my daughter and her fiancé decided to go on a burrito quest (with me in tow). And why not, since Southern California has one of the highest concentrations of the best burritos in America. One of the restaurants that made the list was La Azteca, which technically is... Continue Reading →
I thought I was in the wrong area, looking for Luigi's Italian Sandwiches, surrounded by Macy's, J. C. Penney, The Gap, Sports Authority, and the like. A neighborhood joint was what I was expecting. Then, I saw it, a small building sitting on the corner of Ohio and N Riverside, across the street from the... Continue Reading →
Craft breweries are springing up almost everywhere. The Pacific Northwest has seen its mini-explosion start business only within the last decade. It's fun when the beer is served in a pub setting, even more so when there are noshes, too. Most of these places are content to sell burgers, fries and pizza, maybe chicken wings. It's the rare... Continue Reading →
The drive down through Oregon wasn't the downpour that I had braced myself for. By the time we got to Salem though, it was drizzling and there was enough pall in the sky to call it gloomy. The atmosphere completely changed when we walked into Los Temos, a return visit to an outstanding taqueria after... Continue Reading →
Every holiday season, Seattleites can look forward to the Gingerbread Village, sponsored by the Seattle Sheraton Hotel (on 6th Avenue, between Union and Pike Streets). Architects and chefs combine their creative talents to design and construct large gingerbread creations. This is the 22nd consecutive year of the event. While all of them were worthy of admiration... Continue Reading →
Seattle's Ballard neighborhood has a stellar group of pizzerias, several of which opened only recently. Delancy, Veraci, Ballard Pizza, Stoneburner and Pagliacci come to mind. The latest entry is Patxi's Pizza serving a Chicago-style, thick crust pie. It originates from the San Francisco Bay Area, where the chain has nine outlets. There is great effort to use quality ingredients. The... Continue Reading →
It was the second time in less than a week that I'd seen meerkats, the first at the Los Angeles Zoo. The image above was taken at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. At first, they looked like taxidermed specimens until, bodies perfectly still, their heads swiveled one at a time in the way that meerkats do.... Continue Reading →
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