September 2019 (4 min read)

At the Top of the Mark bar in San Francisco, a chip is not a chip, it’s a crisp, the kind you get in a packet. We were salivating at the thought of the hot fat variety with the truffle dip, but so be it, the panorama is what matters in this stalwart of the San Fran cocktail scene since 1939.

September 2019 (5 min read)

With only one full day in San Francisco, Linda the Loquacious (LL) and I intend to start early, despite getting to bed so late and after so many samples of the excellent Californian wine and a gin martini. But it’s not until 12.22pm that we raise our sore heads off the pillow and begin the afternoon with a Berocca.

September 2019 (4 min read)

“San Francisco is gone. Nothing remains of it but memories”, wrote Jack London on April 18, 1906. The author of Wild Fang and Call of the Wild was born in the city in 1876, and experienced the earthquake that struck at 5.12am on Wednesday.

January 2019 (6 min read)

Barrego Springs is a small town in the middle of the Anza-Barrego Desert State Park that is often ignored in favour of the more famous Joshua Tree National Park, a 90-minute drive north.

January 2019 (4 min read)

There’s a louche feeling to Palm Springs, even if it’s raining so hard the road is starting to flood and the water is threatening our parked car.

January 2019 (2-min read)

Before our visit to the Californian town of Palm Springs, I rashly and naively envisage it as a centre of glorious Modernist architecture in sandy isolation.