Northwest Travel

Tons (and tons) of fun

May 19, 2013 4:00 am

PORTLAND — When Packy the Pachyderm was born at the Oregon Zoo in 1962, the event reverberated through the international community of animal lovers. Packy was the first Asian elephant conceived and born in North America since the waning days of ....MORE

A taste of the wild in Big Sky country

May 19, 2013 4:00 am

BIG SKY, Mont. — This place is absurdly misnamed. That's not a complaint, but it does require an asterisk. If you want truly big sky, head east of here, to the flatter, slightly more mundane plains of this state (or, say, eastern Colorado,....MORE

Lady Liberty is worth a look

May 19, 2013 4:00 am

Q: With the Ellis Island Immigration Museum not reopening in 2013, what is there to see on the island? Is it worth the expensive ferry trip?A: The museum has always been the high point of that trip for me, and you are correct, it’s not....MORE

Oahu, Hawaii

On the hunt for pigs that tear up paradise

May 19, 2013 4:00 am

Our plan the first day was not to kill the beast but to follow him, to observe his home and habits, to see the evil that he did and maybe get in his face. For this, Sonny took me to Maunawili, a neighborhood tucked beneath the razor-ridged Koolau....MORE

Northwest Travel

Raptor Country Birds of a feather

• Spring is the time to visit Idaho’s desolate, half-million-acre birds of prey preserve

May 12, 2013 4:00 am

BOISE — The Snake River Plateau is a desolate place. It is, by all appearances, an arid wasteland where tufts of cheat grass, and parchment-like lichen bonded to ancient rocks, are the only vegetation for miles around. Coursing through this....MORE

Tracking down a heady and elusive beer

May 12, 2013 4:00 am

WATERBURY, Vt. — For someone in pursuit of a Heady Topper — the world’s top-ranked beer at the moment my plane touched down in Vermont — I made the mistake of arriving on a Sunday. I had driven directly to a bar in Burlington....MORE

Greece’s gems, rural England and economy ‘plus’ seating

May 12, 2013 4:00 am

Q: My husband and I are planning a seven-to-10-day trip to Greece this summer. We want a culturally focused trip, but we don’t want to travel around too much, as I’ll be about five months pregnant. Do you have any suggestions for an....MORE

Keeping up with slow food: tips for the traveling locavore

May 12, 2013 4:00 am

Sarah Elton is a regular at the farmers’ market near her home in Toronto. She religiously checks labels and menus to make sure her food hasn’t traveled far before arriving on her plate. Yet, while traveling to organic farms in India,....MORE

Smaland, Sweden

A midsummer party not to be missed

May 12, 2013 4:00 am

“Bring wine? To Midsummer? That is a funny joke," said my Aunt Anna-Greta with a hearty peal of laughter and a knee slap. “Maybe you think you are in Italy!"Eighty-two years old, with thick white hair and a face weathered by years of....MORE

Northwest Travel

A sailor’s life at the Golden Gate

• San Francisco prepares for a summer of America’s Cup yacht races

May 5, 2013 4:00 am

SAN FRANCISCO —Our bow cut through the water as we port-tacked beneath the Golden Gate Bridge and stirred up a froth on the waves of San Francisco Bay. A school of dolphins off our starboard bow was left in our wake as we crossed between the....MORE

Taormina, Italy

Shaking the crowd in Sicily

May 5, 2013 4:00 am

We spotted her simultaneously. But it was my friend Jessie who bounded down the street after the young Sicilian woman whom we had just seen pull a golden arancino from a white paper bag.“Scusa!" she called after the woman, before catching up....MORE

5 free things in Portland

May 5, 2013 4:00 am

PORTLAND — Two decades ago, the city of Portland’s Yellow Bike Project put hundreds of canary-colored two-wheelers on the streets for public use. It was an earnest effort, utterly without bashfulness or diffidence. Then, of course, human ....MORE

Miami, my way

Staying uncool amid the new hotness

• Ignore the trends and discover what the area has done well for decades

May 5, 2013 4:00 am

We stood on the Everglades boardwalk, an hour south of Miami Beach, squinting in the sun, looking like fools. He was as white as milk and as gangly as Napoleon Dynamite, with a gaudy beach towel we’d bought at a Kmart tied around his neck. I....MORE

Cycling in the tropics of St. Croix

• History and nature collide along a 12-mile bicycle tour of one of the U.S. Virgin Islands

April 28, 2013 4:00 am

FREDERIKSTED, St. Croix, U. S. Virgin Islands — Sandy Point is one of the prettiest beaches in the Caribbean. It is also home to endangered sea turtles that come ashore from March to June to lay eggs in the powdery white sand on the....MORE

The Gems of San Juan

Tasty treats and savory dinners in Puerto Rico

April 28, 2013 4:00 am

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — This island offers so many visual treats — gorgeous beaches, rugged hills, beautiful churches and majestic historic forts — that dining becomes a virtual afterthought. A hunk of meat or fish, some sides of....MORE

Lost bags at airlines have decreased, but is it true?

April 28, 2013 4:00 am

The number of lost bags has declined in recent years, according to the recently released Airline Quality Rating 2012 report compiled by Purdue and Wichita State universities. In 2007, the airlines lost seven bags for every 1,000 passengers and in....MORE

Sunshine, rustic lodging and sea lions in Mexico

• Cabo Pulmo is a village on the coast with a bond to the aquatic life and ecosystem nearby

April 28, 2013 4:00 am

Something big zoomed by in my peripheral vision. I whipped around for a better look, but whatever it was had disappeared into the permanent twilight of the underwater world. Was it a gigantic grouper? A small whale?Either was possible, 30 feet below ....MORE

American has yet to reveal source of glitch

April 28, 2013 4:00 am

Nearly a week after a computer glitch grounded hundreds of its planes, American Airlines has yet to disclose the exact cause of the problem that frustrated passengers stuck in crowded terminals across the country. American’s chief executive,....MORE

Northwest Travel

A town tied to the sea

• Port Orford and the surrounding coastline are steeped in marine and maritime heritage

April 21, 2013 4:00 am

PORT ORFORD —If you ever want to hypnotize a fish, the first thing you must do is turn it upside down. I know this because I was told by Tom Calvanese, a man who has performed this sorcery upon 30 ocean dwellers in the past 2½ years. Calvanese....MORE

Burlington, Vt.

Funky little city does things its own way

April 21, 2013 4:00 am

BURLINGTON, Vt. — There was a McDonald’s downtown in Vermont’s largest city for years, but then Vermont’s largest city decided it didn’t want McDonald’s anymore. So the McDonald’s closed. A McDonald’s....MORE

Parisian pickpockets, Seattle and hurricanes

April 21, 2013 4:00 am

Q: I’m going to France this summer, my first overseas trip in 15 years. I keep hearing about scammers and pickpockets in Paris. I’m a careful traveler but wonder if there is something specific that I should be doing. A: I’ve....MORE

Let nature be your vacation guide

April 21, 2013 4:00 am

The simple pleasures of family life can be found at lakeside retreats. Here are five places to enjoy gentle breezes and a book on the porch:• Lake Powell. Page, Ariz. Spectacular red-hued rock formations rise from the water’s edge. Sunny ....MORE

Europe, feet first

April 21, 2013 4:00 am

So much of the travel experience involves the schedules and deadlines of airlines, trains, buses and cabs. But there's another way to see the sights: at ground level. Here are eight suggestions for appreciating the bustle of the city and the....MORE

A fantasy of flowers

• In Washington's Skagit Valley, the Tulip Festival lasts all April long

April 14, 2013 4:00 am

MOUNT VERNON, Wash. —The Skagit Valley is stunning in April. Field after field of brilliant blossoms, red and yellow, purple and pink, stretch almost as far as the eye can see across the floodplain of northwestern Washington. The greatest tulip ....MORE

Troncones, Mexico

Authentic beach town on verge of trendiness

April 14, 2013 4:00 am

Planning a return trip to my favorite beach in the world, I was almost as apprehensive as I was excited. The last time I visited Troncones — a town of some 600 people pushed up against the Sierra Madre del Sur mountains on the Pacific coast of ....MORE

Soccer in Brazil

Where ‘the beautiful game’ is king

• In Brazil, futebol is a national drama, best appreciated before or after the World Cup

April 14, 2013 4:00 am

The banner-waving, anthem-singing fans of Rio de Janeiro’s Flamengo club formed a billowing mass of ruby-and-black-clad humanity. They moved not only in reaction to the ebbs and flows on the field far below, but also to the samba beat pounded....MORE

Forget about the must-sees, it’s the must-eats that matter

April 14, 2013 4:00 am

By some people’s definition, I’ve never been to Paris, even though I’ve traveled there a half-dozen times. That’s because if you handed me a list of the city’s must-see attractions and asked me to check off the ones....MORE

100 mountains in Japan: a mountaineer’s journey

April 14, 2013 4:00 am

When Akira Chiba reached the top of Mount Yarigatake a dozen years ago and stared out into the volcanic gas clouds that wreathed its peak, it was the realization of what for some is a long-held dream. He had just summited the last of the 100....MORE

American adds more nonstop L.A. flights

April 11, 2013 4:00 am

DALLAS — Redmond isn’t the only airport being added to American Airlines’ new nonstop flights from Los Angeles, where it’s battling United, Southwest and other airlines for dominance. American said Wednesday that it will begin ....MORE