Tag: California

Exploring the Bayside of the San Francisco Peninsula

Adventures, Family, Food & Drink, History, Lifestyle, Stories, Travel
by Barbara Redding
Filoli Gardens

As enticing as the cable cars and cioppino of San Francisco can be, California’s Bay Area is stacked with other options for travelers seeking more rural or small-town adventures.   On an excursion south from the city along the bayside of the San Francisco Peninsula, I explored several not-to-be-missed sights. At the serene country estate of Filoli, I enjoyed a wine tasting hosted by the prestigious San Francisco Wine School. Dinner followed in the walkable town of Burlingame at an inventive plant-based restaurant started by a...

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Séc-he: New Palm Springs Wellness Center Offers Tribal Healing Treatments

Adventures, Lifestyle, Luxury, Travel, Wellness
by Barbara Redding

“Taking of the Waters” is a sacred healing experience practiced for centuries by the  Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians of Palm Springs, California.   Today, visitors can soak in the steaming water of the tribal hot springs at The Spa at Séc-he, the tribe’s new luxury spa in downtown Palm Springs.   The tribe began sharing Agua Caliente Hot Mineral Spring with settlers in the 1800s, making it Palm Springs’s first tourist attraction–and namesake. The first bathhouse was a rough-hewn wooden cabin.    Séc-he...

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Barton Family Wines: Crafting Innovative Wines and More in Paso Robles

Adventures, Family, Food & Drink, Lifestyle, Luxury, Stories, Travel
by Barbara Redding

California’s Central Coast wine region was in its infancy when the Barton family bought an old farmhouse west of Paso Robles and started a family winery in the 1990s.   Today Barton Family Wines includes a winery, a farm-to-table restaurant, and a spirit distillery. Modern indoor tasting rooms and shaded outdoor patios with stunning vineyard views welcome visitors to the original farmhouse.   No longer a sleepy inland community, Paso Robles is the state’s third-largest wine region behind Napa and Sonoma.   Please read my...

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Time Traveling Aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California

Adventures, Family, Food & Drink, History, Hotels, Lifestyle, Luxury, Stories, Travel
by Barbara Redding

Pictures of a robust Winston Churchill and a young Queen Elizabeth decorated my art-deco stateroom aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California.   The iconic 1930s ocean liner, now permanently docked on the Pacific Coast, has harbored movie stars, British royals, and prime ministers–as well as more than a few ghosts. In fact, Time magazine designated it one of the most haunted ships in the U.S.   I was thrilled to be one of the ship’s first overnight guests when she finally reopened in...

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