One of my favourite times to visit Yosemite is in the Spring, and one of the best ways to discover Yosemite Valley is with a guide. Last April, we met naturalist Michael Ross for a 4-hour nature walk to catch some key Valley floor highlights, plus learn some of the …
Americans are used to navigating the highly subjective world of tipping. Like it or not, it’s how their famous “service with a smile” culture is funded. Most service jobs pay less than $10/£6.30 an hour (minimum wage in California is $8.35/£5.30). That’s not very much if you consider the knowledge of say, …
We can’t be at the #Ghirardelli50thTreeLighting on Friday, but we’ll be there in spirit! This annual lighting in Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco is what I remember as child. Are you going to a tree lighting this year? What are you memories? A photo posted by Susanna Scott (@amodernmother) …
Go Ape in Aberfoyle Wow, what an adventure! The girls have been keen for a while to give Go Ape a go. Our opportunity to fly down zip wires and leap off Tarzan swings came on a recent trip to Scotland. There are 28 Go Ape courses across the UK, and …
The Victorians were fascinated with Scotland’s Trossachs, primarily because it was the setting for Sir Walter Scott’s epic poem “The Lady of the Lake”. They would travel by train, then steamer and horse and buggy to admire the misty lochs, walk amongst the purple peaks and mingle with the …
This weekend a friend asked me to bring an appetiser dish to a party. I agreed immediately, not fully clocking how much I had on over the two days. I needed something simple and easy, that would look festive too. I decided on an American party favourite: Mexican 7-layer dip, which …
The first time I heard the apocopation Cali I cringed. I almost broke London etiquette and corrected the offenders on the tube. They had smart Prada bags, looked like they were in PR, and were discussing a recent trip to “Cali”. Erm, no one in California would actually use the term Cali. They …
This summer Visit California suggested we stop in Santa Maria on our trip from San Francisco to Surf City USA. It is about half way, and a nice place to break up the 6 and 1/2 hour drive. My ears perked up at the suggestion. My mother grew up in Santa …
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