Travel Stories, Cruise Reviews, and Cultural Adventures

Rock Creek Resort has an Old World charm, enhanced by its owners' European roots and sensibilities. ROCK CREEK RESORT OFFERS OLD WORLD CHARM, REVISITS A GENTLER TIME OF HOTEL HOSPITALITY A columbine at the lobby entrance trumpets your arrival. STORY By CHRISTENE MEYERS PHOTOS By BRUCE KELLER Bikes are a leisurely way to enjoy the scenery at Rock Creek Resort. WHEN ROCK CREEK Resort began to create the legendary place it is today, owner Pepi Gramshammer drew from childhood m

Master builder Bruce Keller, whose specialty is high-end La Jolla, Calif., projects, is spending part of his summer in the Beartooths, helping Cookie with their summer home. REMODELING POINTER: YOU WILL EVENTUALLY HAVE BEAUTY,BUT AT A PRICE! PATIENCE IS A PREREQUISITE Expert framer Tom Giamanco traveled from San Diego to help. STORY By CHRISTENE MEYERS PHOTOS By BRUCE KELLER WAAAAAAAAH. RICKY. I've been making my own personal "I Love Lucy" home movie. I'm thinking of the fam

Costa Rica's allure includes howler monkeys, old trees, sky bridges. This well educated country attracts ex-pats from abroad for its natural wonders.

St. Patrick's Day delights: corned beef, music and a bucket list with mum

The Queen Mary has a long, proud history and was saved from the scrap heap by the city of Long Beach. The revelry aboard the Queen Mary includes vintage dress for special events. WORLD'S ONCE GRANDEST LINER LIVES A LIVELY LIFE IN LONG BEACH Keller and Cookie flank Commodore Hoard on Queen Mary. STORY By CHRISTENE MEYERS PHOTOS By BRUCE KELLER ABOARD the Queen Mary, there's always adventure. If you want to schedule it, you can, on a series of entertaining tours which take in

UP, UP AND AWAY WITH SOME TIPS FOR A QUIETER, HEALTHIER TRIP STORY By CHRISTENE MEYERS PHOTOS By BRUCE KELLER "The Carpe Diem Kids" Once you're up, up and away, a few pointers can help you arrive not terribly exhausted, and perhaps even rested! NOW THAT we can work on our tablets and read our e-books during many phases of flight, the airways are increasingly user friendly. But if you're flying "across the pond" -- over either ocean, East or West -- or over the Rockies, mayb

NEW 'PRE-CHECK' OPTION LETS YOU THROUGH WITHOUT REMOVING SHOES! STORY By CHRISTENE MEYERS PHOTOS By BRUCE KELLER "The Carpe Diem Kids" Options DID YOU know that you can greatly simplify your transit through the airport TSA by purchasing a pre-check screening option? It costs $85 but lasts several years and is worth its weight in platinum. NEARLY 100 airports participate in this expedited arrangement. We found out about this by chance, when we were randomly selected to t

A BIT OF CONTROL HELPS AND YOU STILL INDULGE ON YOUR HOLIDAY Dining and drinking are pleasures of travel, here new friends! STORY By CHRISTENE MEYERS PHOTOS By BRUCE KELLER "The Carpe Diem Kids" SO YOU'RE loving your Caribbean cruise, Spanish parador, Rio hotel, Mexican casita, or Cotswolds B&B. Maybe you're with your favorite cousins exploring San Francisco. Hiking across Spain. Or enjoying a theater marathon in New York. Eating is one of the great pleasures of life, and

TRAVEL LIGHT: DON'T LUG BOTTLES OR TAKE WHAT YOU CAN EASILY BUY 'OVER THERE' Nearly everything you might forget can be easily purchased, usually cheaply, while on holiday. So don't stress. This ship stateroom may be furnished with duty free beverages, so avoid bulky, heavy bottles in your baggage. Pick up a bottle or two of wine at your destination. STORY By CHRISTENE MEYERS PHOTOS By BRUCE KELLER "The Carpe Diem Kids" REMEMBER , the globe is shrinking with technology and t

Economize, pack light, think layers, develop a color theme STORY By CHRISTENE MEYERS PHOTOS By BRUCE KELLER You'll want clothes that look...

Europeans love the Alpenhof Lodge, tucked against the spectacular Grand Teton Range in Wyoming. The inn has the ambiance of a Swiss or Austrian chalet, with flowers in the window boxes, a full hot breakfast, and Old World hospitality. It even has a yodeling website!

Take a walk in a garden to cure what ails you Dahlias recall the photographer's childhood with his mother painting and arranging flowers and his dad growing them. STORY By CHRISTENE MEYERS PHOTOS By BRUCE KELLER "The Carpe Diem Kids" Apples and sunflowers glisten in September sun. MY PARTNER and the photographer for our essays has a soft spot in his heart for flowers. No surprise. His mother, Jean, painted them -- lilies, tulips, chrysanthemums, daisies, the exotic orange

Catalina Island

Child born with Down Syndrome sparks love, unity, courage in Cosgriffe family Christena's auntie Misha bestowed a pretty new dress!...

GLIDING BUFFS are fit, trim and healthy looking. And if you're looking for a romantic adventure with your sweetheart, you can fly tandem. What a thought! Keller could nudge me to consciousness if I fainted from terror.

HORSE HAS BEEN AROUND LONGER THAN WE THOUGHT STORY By CHRISTENE MEYERS PHOTOS By BRUCE KELLER and JANE MILDER This scene, of horses in pasture framed by the Crazy Mountains, epitomizes the grandeur of Big Sky Country to many Montanans. No horsing around. The horse goes back farther than we imagined. So an homage seems in order. With Fourth of July parades and the horse the star of the rodeo, we have new scientific information about his history. But first, allow me so

Jazzercise was born in California. This group works out in San Diego. That's Debbie Walters in the center, one of Cookie's Jazzercise coaches