art at balboa park

When you live in a place, and you see an attraction so often, you start to become immune to what’s really there. I’ve visited Balboa Park dozens of times in my eight years in San Diego, and I try to keep my eyes open, because there’s so much to see, especially when you’re not looking. This is a mural that used to be on the way to the restroom between Panama 66 and the San Diego Museum of Art. I loved that, even in a hallway, a transition point, the museum had filled it with beautiful things to look at.

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Technology is important to me, so I’ve honed my travel tech down to a fine art. I wanted to share a few tech tools with you that I’ve either used or plan to in the future that make traveling a little easier. 1. Accessories Organizer If you’re like me, you have your phone and tablet chargers shoved in your purse…or were they in the suitcase? Truth is, I’d stash them somewhere different every time so I could never find them when my phone died on a massive layover. I got this Porteplay Foldout accessories organizer and now I know exactly where…

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One of my absolute favorite things to do when traveling is go to the grocery store. Even in the US, you’ll find such diversity in products that you’ll feel like you’re in another country. That’s the case in Louisiana, where red pepper, pickled pig’s feet, and frozen Cajun dishes fill the shelves. Where else can you buy pralines that someone’s aunt made at the checkout? I always stock up on Tony Chachere’s Cajun seasoning, Zapp’s potato chips, and maybe an Abita Beer Turbo Dog.

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buena vista resort

For the first 12 or so years of my life, my family trekked from Houston (and later Fort Smith, Arkansas) to Hot Springs, Arkansas, for vacation. We stayed at Buena Vista Resort, a throwback to the 1940s when this lakeside oasis drew people from all the neighboring states. Even in the ’80s, the place was booked in the summer, and we’d often see the same people year after year. I made friends with the resort manager’s daughter, Wendy, and every summer I’d run up to her house, and then we’d explore the property, playing mini golf and rolling down what…

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