BOONVILLE, Calif. A romantic getaway calls for something extravagant. Celebration travelers are talking about Hwy. 128, a world-class route du vin and cuisine two hours north of San Francisco. Fresh-cracked crab with Pinot Gris or Riesling—a highlight at Anderson Valley’s Alsace Wine festival— is a bright start to a food and wine weekend. Anderson Valley wine […]
Bracebridge Dinner: Yuletide Revelry in Yosemite
Once snow has settled on Yosemite Valley, a flurry of activity transforms the Ahwahnee Hotel into a 17th century manor for the Bracebridge Dinner. You have to think in technicolor to imagine the visual opulence, pageantry and 7-course feast of one of America’s most enduring Yuletime traditions. More than 60 professional singers and court characters […]
Totem: Cirque du Soleil Is Evolving
Wherever your travels take you this holiday season, a Cirque du Soleil show may be playing nearby. You can catch “Varekai” in Brazil, “Iris” in Los Angeles, “Alegria” in Germany and “Zaia” in China. For a special-occasion evening, Cirque productions transcend the ordinary. Recently in San Francisco, I saw “Totem”, a surreal depiction of human […]
Billy Elliot The Musical
Billy Elliot is growing up in a gritty mining town, the youngest son of a fiercely proud coal miner. In 1984, when the musical takes place, a storm is raging. Striking coal miners and their families survive on the generosity of neighbors. At the end of the strike, steel doors clang shut on the miners […]
