Good Taste is the Worst Vice

The Place, Anguilla

We're back from Anguilla, and the less said about the single-digit temperatures here in Chicago, the better! *** This year we added The Place back into our beach rotation, because this view is just too good to miss. Finding The Place is a bit tricky - you need to drive through metal gates and ... continue reading...


Next: French Laundry

Recently, D and I had dinner in Yountville without leaving home - at Next: French Laundry. Next has done homage menus before - like El Bulli and Trio 2004 - but this is the first one where we've been to the real restaurant in question.  In fact, during my first visit to the French Laundry in the ... continue reading...


Fat Ptarmigan, Anchorage AK

One final post from Alaska - our departure day meal. I'd done some research on Anchorage restaurants, and it was honestly tough to choose just one.  In the end, we chose Fat Ptarmigan, a wood-fired pizza place that's open all day, perfect for a very early dinner to tide us over for a red-eye ... continue reading...


On the park road, Denali

Most animal sightings in Denali are from the park road, during a drive in or out, which partially explains why a 90 mile trip takes around six hours.  (The one lane dirt road, complete with occasional hairpin turns and steep drop-offs, explains the rest!) Everyone on the bus keeps a close eye on ... continue reading...


Fairbanks to Anchorage on the Alaska Railroad

The train isn't the fastest way to get between Fairbanks and Anchorage (it takes twice as long as driving!) but it offers some uniquely Alaskan experiences - spotting moose and trumpeter swans at the side of the tracks, looking straight down from a narrow bridge to the rushing river at the bottom of ... continue reading...


Dining at North Face Lodge, Denali

Our first North Face Lodge "dinner" was actually a picnic buffet, served in about the least optimal conditions imaginable: in a muddy lot on the side of the park road in Denali, during a torrential downpour, beneath a tarp stretched between two buses. Given how luxurious that turned out to ... continue reading...


Three days in Denali

Despite persistent rain, we had an incredible experience in Denali during our three days in the park. Day 1 North Face Lodge offers three levels of daily excursions: a "foray" that's pretty relaxed, a moderate hike, and a strenuous hike.  We chose the foray on the first day, figuring we'd ease ... continue reading...


North Face Lodge, Denali Alaska

Most people only see Denali National Park from the windows of a bus - that's how I first experienced it as a child.  An all-day trip may get you only to the Eielson Visitor Center at Mile 66 of the park road and back, 4 hours each way.  But 30 miles farther along, there's some private land with a ... continue reading...


Among the glaciers in Alaska

Our little fleet of zodiacs launched from the Sea Lion and headed towards Dawes Glacier, weaving among ice floes on the way. It was the final day of our Lindblad / National Geographic trip, and we were off on one last adventure.  The glacier itself is beautiful to see, a mile-wide wall of ... continue reading...