Travel Stories, Cruise Reviews, and Cultural Adventures

Five versatile actors deftly portray 42 colorful characters in a delightful production of "Around the World in 80 Days" held over at...

Tucked deep in northeastern Montana, Sioux Charlie Lake is a quiet escape reached via the scenic Stillwater Trail #24. With sweeping prairie views, pockets of forest, and the kind of stillness that’s hard to find anymore, this hidden gem rewards those willing to wander a little off the beaten path

The Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles is the perfect venue for a beautifully staged "Bright Star," with a bluegrass band on stage, and a full pit orchestra in the traditional place below.  The show is spectacularly staged. MUSICAL EARNS BRAVOS, STANDING OVATIONS IN ITS TOE-TAPPING REINCARNATION  Carmen Cusack's lovely leading lady role makes the audience laugh -- and cry -- in "Bright Star." The actress played the role of Alice on Broadway. STORY By CHRISTENE MEYERS PHOTOS By B

A gathering --  family, friends, doggies -- in Bozeman, for coffee enroute to Yellowstone National Park. From left, Bruce Keller, Rick...

NOTHING LIKE a Yellowstone geyser to make you feel small, insignificant and aware of your "lowly cog" status in the  the universe. Yellowstone, mostly in Wyoming but claimed by Montanans as ours, is the world's best place to see geysers. Oh, sure, they exist in Chile, Iceland and New Zealand, but not on the spectacular scale as the Yellowstone geyser bonanza.

A few blocks from Las Ramblas, tourists usually take in Antoni Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia. GLOBAL CITIZENS MUST STAND TO HALT TERRORISM,...

North Coast Repertory Theatre ends its 35th season with a bang. "At This Evening's Performance" is a thoroughly likeable tale about a troupe of actors in a Soviet bloc-like police state, struggling to make magic on stage. Cygnet Theatre's acclaimed production of "Animal Crackers" offers unadulterated fun. DELICIOUSLY FUNNY, FAST-PACED TREATS KEEP US ON OUR TOES AND ENJOYING A LAVISH GLUT OF THEATER  CONFECTIONS STORY By CHRISTENE MEYERS PHOTOS By BRUCE KELLER and theater mark

SMALL BUT MIGHTY La JOLLA AQUARIUM CHARMS WITH ITS FINE COLLECTION, EXCELLENT DISPLAY, WITH USER-FRIENDLY CONSERVATIONISM SHOWING OFF LOCAL SEA WONDERS

When Cookie first set eyes on this bridge -- one of several on King's Walkway, not far from Malaga  -- she nearly turned back..... ...but Cookie persisted and joined Bruce Keller and our amiable Viator guide Jose to scale the walkway and survive to climb again. Kings Highway hike near Malaga We recommend the fun and safety of Viator's tour of this astonishing place. RECOVERING COWARD FINDS HER METTLE TESTED  HIGH ABOVE THE TREES IN SOUTHERN SPAIN STORY By CHRISTENE MEYERS PHO

Mary Tyler Moore's show featured an independent, confident, funny woman. GROUNDBREAKING TV SERIES CHANGED THE WORLD'S TAKE ON CAREER WOMEN STORY By CHRISTENE MEYERS PHOTOS courtesy Larry Mayer, Billings Gazette and CBS THE DEATH this week of Mary Tyler Moore brought a flood of bittersweet memories of the early 1970s when I was establishing my career as a journalist. While Moore's fictional Mary Richards was fighting for the modern woman, I was a young reporter in Montana, on

Debbie Reynolds and Gene Kelly in the film, "Singin' in the Rain." Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds will be featured Friday, Jan. 7, in a lauded HBO special which was moved up for airing after their deaths.  ON SHOW BIZ, MOTHER-DAUGHTER RELATIONSHIPS, ADDICTION, COURAGE, HUMOR, MENTAL HEALTH Good morning, good morning, We've gabbed the whole night through..... Good morning, good morning to you. Good morning, good morning, Sun beams will soon smile through                    

Discover why the Welk Theater in Escondido delivers one of the most charming and intimate live performance experiences in Southern California, blending nostalgia, talent, and comfort.

Cookie and Keller enjoy the view from high atop the trees on "Cliffwalk," one of several adventures at Capilano Suspension Bridge Park in Vancouver, B.C. The bridge has attracted crowds for a century plus. STORY By CHRISTENE MEYERS Tourists from around the world visit Vancouver's Capilano Suspension Bridge Park to commune with nature via bridges, trails, tree houses. PHOTOS By BRUCE KELLER The Capilano Suspension Bridge Park offers a full day of adventures, climbs, walks, tot

WE WERE delighted to discover that remains of the prehistoric culture can still be found, with artifacts and fossils in the ranch house named after those lovely "little cliffs" on the hills. A plaque denotes Rancho Santa Maria de los Penasquitos, with parts of the original walls. The ruins of stalwart structures of adobe are fascinating, and the splendid canyon and walking trails wind through 4,000 acres of the Penasquitos and Lopez canyons. It's one of the largest urban

On a half-dozen visits since 2010, we've found Lake Tahoe's scenery some of the most beautiful in the western United States. Dixie II offers a fun night on the lake, even on a recent rainy evening. "It is a vast oval, and one would have to use up eighty or a hundred good miles in traveling around it. As it lay there with the shadows of the mountains brilliantly photographed upon its still surface, I thought it must surely be the fairest picture the whole world affords.” --  M

Good-bye Marlee: We will miss your sweet smile, music and precocious wit. SATURDAY MEMORIAL CELEBRATES BRIEF, LOVING LIFE OF MARLEE CLUFF...

Actor Ron Campbell gives a brilliant performance as R. Buckminster Fuller in "The History (and Mystery) of the Universe" at San Diego Repertory Theatre.  'HISTORY, MYSTERY OF THE UNIVERSE' GLITTERS:  A STAR-SPANGLED, BEAUTIFULLY ACTED, THEATRICAL WORK The real Buckminster Fuller by his famous geodesic dome. STORY By CHRISTENE MEYERS PHOTOS By BRUCE KELLER and courtesy San Diego Rep and Scatena Daniels FASTEN YOUR  seat belts, and prepare for a wild, wonderful ride. You're ab

Kick hell out of your bucket list in 2016.  Have you always wanted to see Egypt?  Don't let fear of travel stop you. Here, Cookie and...

Looking for a destination beyond the ordinary? The Faroe Islands deliver dramatic cliffs, scenic hikes, puffin colonies, and peaceful Nordic charm.

Paradise Point Resort is less than seven miles from downtown San Diego, and offers a tropical world of pleasure. STORY By CHRISTENE MEYERS PHOTOS By BRUCE KELLER AT PARADISE  Point Resort, time truly stops. The beauty of the sea, the peacefulness of the waves, the suspension of time, all create a beautiful, insulating serenity that calls one back again and again. So it was with a summer sailing from the Point with our friends, Dawn and Phyllis. We four began a calming day