This month we celebrate the glories of Mother Nature with articles on gardens and nature's beauty throughout the world – both ones that have been masterly crafted by people and those created randomly by nature. If you prefer your nature wild and untamed – Botswana’s Okavango Delta, the national parks of the United States or the cloud forests of Costa Rica – our hosts can he...
Tour Host Review
Every month we feature a different national park, so it seems only natural that for an issue on gardens and nature our Tour Host Pick should be the National Parks and Conservation Association, an organization whose membership carefully tracks and cares for all of the 388 designated sites in the U.S. national park system.
The ancient remains of dinosaurs and Indian settlements, sand dunes and r...
Host of the Month
I grew up in Los Angeles in a neighborhood four miles from downtown Pasadena. Once I became a teenager, one of my great goals was to be allowed to join my friends in sleeping overnight on New Year’s Eve somewhere along Pasadena’s main drag, Colorado Blvd.
Festival Pick
What began more than three centuries ago as a small family garden has grown into the largest collection of plants in the world. Kew Gardens, located at a bend of the River Thames between Kew and Richmond in the suburbs of southwest London, include more than 40,000 varieties of plants and 40 historically significant buildings. In 2003, the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew were added to the list of UNES...
World Heritage Site
No other nation on earth comes even close to Italy in terms of possessing a casual, almost effortless, abundance of art. In almost every detail of life – architecture, food, clothes, tools – Italians live among splendors both ancient and modern.
So it’s really no surprise that the Italians would have conjured up an extravagance like Florence’s Boboli Gardens &nd...
Museum Pick
John Kennedy had little inkling of the effects his action would have when he signed the measure that created the 71,000-acre Pt. Reyes National Seashore in September 1962.
The legislation extended federal protection to a triangle-shaped peninsula, northwest of San Francisco, that ran from Bolinas Lagoon in the south about 30 miles north to the western end of Tomales Bay. The peninsu...
When I was 7 years old and the pediatrician asked if me I knew where carrots came from, I answered with the blithe certitude of my age and inexperience that carrots came from the vegetable aisle in the Acme market. The pediatrician then invited my mother to drive me to his house one day so he could show me something important. It was a long drive into the deep...
When I was 7 years old and the pediatrician asked if me I knew where carrots came from, I answered with the blithe certitude of my age and inexperience that carrots came from the vegetable aisle in the Acme market. The pediatrician then invited my mother to drive me to his house one day so he could show me something important. It was a long drive into the deep...
What began more than three centuries ago as a small family garden has grown into the largest collection of plants in the world. Kew Gardens, located at a bend of the River Thames between Kew and Richmond in the suburbs of southwest London, include more than 40,000 varieties of plants and 40 historically significant buildings. In 2003, the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew were added to the list of...
Every winter, Arizona hosts thousands upon thousands of people, affectionately called “snowbirds,” who follow the sun southward to escape the north country’s blanket of snow. They come to enjoy the moderate climate, desert landscape and hospitality of the Southwest.
Likewise, the Verde Canyon plays host to another great migration of “snowbirds,”...
Like the quality of mercy, Ireland is thrice blessed as a gardening destination. Not only are we directly in the path of every depression that has been collecting moisture all the way from Cape Hatteras via Sable Island, but we have a long tradition of horticulturalists who have thrived on the challenge of making the post-glacial rocks flower...
Have you ever heard the flap of a butterfly’s wings? Imagine the sound of thousands of them filling the air around you. Have you ever seen beasts the size of small cars fighting for dominance? Imagine them tearing into each other right in front of you, looking close enough to touch. You don’t need to travel to the far ends of the earth...
Are you a hiker considering a trip to the beautiful canyon country of southern Utah this year? Are you seeking a place to get away from the crowds, yet see a rich diversity of natural beauty and learn about interesting local history? Make sure that you don't make the same mistake that the famous explorer and historian John Wesley Powell made in...
The Antebellum South, one of our more popular tours, allows travelers to enter the history of Dixie as they ride through eight states on a train holiday. The rail journey takes them into the heart...
I grew up in Los Angeles in a neighborhood four miles from downtown Pasadena. Once I became a teenager, one of my great goals was to be allowed to join my friends in sleeping overnight on New Year’s Eve somewhere along Pasadena’s main drag, Colorado Blvd.
Our ostensible reason for doing this was “to get a good spot” for viewing Pasadena’s...
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Every month we feature a different national park, so it seems only natural that for an issue on gardens and nature our Tour Host Pick should be the National Parks and Conservation Association, an organization whose membership carefully tracks and cares for all of the 388 designated sites in the U.S. national park system.
The ancient remains of dinosaurs and Indian settlements, sand dunes and r...
What began more than three centuries ago as a small family garden has grown into the largest collection of plants in the world. Kew Gardens, located at a bend of the River Thames between Kew and Richmond in the suburbs of southwest London, include more than 40,000 varieties of plants and 40 historically significant buildings. In 2003, the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew were added to the list of...
Every winter, Arizona hosts thousands upon thousands of people, affectionately called “snowbirds,” who follow the sun southward to escape the north country’s blanket of snow. They come to enjoy the moderate climate, desert landscape and hospitality of the Southwest.