Travel

Rome resources

Rome is remarkably walkable, with delights – art, ancient ruins, great food – at every turn. You could easily enjoy days of aimless wandering. But for targeted strikes, I followed the advice of these great resources:

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Rome's five best gelato shops

We arrived in Rome dreaming of victory – and chilly treats – thanks to a delicious competition. My three companions and I each chose the gelato shop we thought would be the best in the city, based on advance research. When our wanders brought us near one of our picks, we'd stop in for scoops, one for each of us and another to share. Then came the taste-testing (the best part), and the scoring (the tedious part, using an elaborate formula devised by the lawyer among us). We added a fifth location after discovering its wonders near our rental apartment.

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45 days, 400 miles: Hiking the new Jordan Trail

On Day 38, the temperature hit 106 degrees Fahrenheit.

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High on Rome: Walking tours await in Italy's ancient city

Like hordes before us, we entered Rome through its northern gate.

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Rare day to ride high

In the Eastern Sierra near Bishop is a mountain route unofficially known as the highest motorable road in California.

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Creative vibe helps Paducah thrive, drawing tourists to crafty Kentucky town

In this riverfront town in western Kentucky, art isn't just a luxury. It's a lifeline.

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Minnesota island retreat takes on a different tone in fall

As the vintage wooden Chris-Craft shaved a path into the still lake, shades of coral, cherry and lime rippled in the trailing wake.

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North Carolina's Crystal Coast offers quiet beach vacation with pirate adventures

Sitting on the beach, watching the waves roll in off the Atlantic, it's hard to imagine the Queen Anne's Revenge, a 17th century frigate notoriously captained by the pirate Blackbeard, slinking along the horizon with a flotilla of smaller sloops.

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Maui's heavenly Hana is more than just a road trip

Hana, on the east side of the island of Maui, might not be literally a one-horse town, but it is tiny, with a population of 1,258. We saw only one horse, looking over the fence at us next to the Hasegawa General Store. The horse blinked and chewed, not much interested, then returned to mowing the verdant field, mouthful by mouthful. My friend Sarah and I stood in the sun and watched awhile.

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Myscha Theriault: Asheville's best places to chill out and chow with your dog

Having enjoyed the few days I was able to spend in Asheville, N.C., years ago, I made sure to jump quickly on a two-month pet sitting opportunity when it arrived in my inbox earlier this spring. This extended visit has provided me with an insight I didn't fully appreciate the last time I was here. This place has virtually barrier-free access to the region's rural amenities.

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Monument to myth or history? Museum of the Bible to open in Washington, D.C.

Three blocks from Smithsonian exhibits depicting the Big Bang and evolution, Washington's newest museum will tell a different story of the creation of the universe.

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Wine lovers strike it rich wine tasting in Sutter Creek

The Gold Rush brought a flood of argonauts, gamblers and adventure-seekers to California's gold-flecked hills. But modern-day visitors are wooed by something else – a taste of the Wild West, yes, but one washed down with barbera and rose, perhaps with a little charcuterie or fried Brussels sprouts on the side.

Most of the Pan-American Highway wasn’t paved in 1963.

Outdoors

Adventurer of the Week: Ruston man writes books about motorcycle trips to Chile

Keith Thye rode his motorcycle to South America twice, 50 years apart.

Breadfarm bakery in Edison sells delectable house-made bread, rolls and cookies.

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Artist haven, foodie heaven: The tiny paradise of Edison

Edison nestles into the watery-green Skagit County farmlands like a lazy bend in the slough. At 11 a.m. on a Friday, you could be the only person walking around the old-fashioned storefronts and tangled, art-filled gardens. But foodie journals and lifestyle blogs have been discovering Edison for years now: a tiny hamlet (it’s not officially a town) filled with more artists, artisans and chefs than you’d think possible, yet still keeping its offbeat, dusty-saddle charm.

Elevated view of the seawall path at Stanley Park in Vancouver, B.C.

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Canada’s First Nations return to Vancouver

Wearing a woven cedar headband that distinguished her from the other boots-and-backpack-clad hikers, Candace Campo guided a walk in Stanley Park in Vancouver, British Columbia, last fall, pointing out path-side huckleberries and blackberries. She stripped a soft piece of bark from a fraying cedar trunk to demonstrate how it can be used as fiber for clothing, and detailed how to extract vitamin C from western hemlock needles by steeping them in boiling water.

A pair of M group chimpanzees groom each other in the Mahale Mountains National Park. Visitors come to this remote area of Tanzania to observe the chimpanzees in their natural habitat.

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Searching for chimpanzees in the Mahale mountains

The dhow slowly makes its way south down Lake Tanganyika, the Mahale Mountains in the background. The captain keeps the boat moving extra slow, and his crew hands me sodas to combat my motion sickness. We are halfway through an adventure trip trough Tanzania — and I am focusing on the horizon to squelch the queasiness.

Hippos seek respite from the heat in Katavi Park in Tanzania. The limited amount of water and mud available at the end of the dry season in late September is a problem for the large mammals.

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Tanzania trip gets up close with elephants, giraffes in natural habitat

The Cessna Grand Caravan circled the dirt landing strip as I peeked out the window. Giraffes bound across the arid ground below. A herd of elephants picked up their pace as we came closer. As the bush plane touched down, it finally sank in — I was in East Africa.

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Drone project works to stop animal poaching in Tanzania’s parks

Catching and stopping animal poaching is a top priority and passion project for Tom Lithgow and his partners at Bathawk Recon Limited. Based in Arusha, Tanzania, the partners saw a need for unmanned aerial vehicle surveillance that could get into Tanzania parks and stop ongoing illegal activities.

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