The Polite Traveler

Dear Polite Travelers, We had limited time during our last outing, so we chose to stay close to home and focused on the Santa Rosa area.  Lucky for us, Sebastopol is a close neighbor, and we were thrilled to visit, if only for a few hours.  Tucked away in an interesting set of what had been apple warehouses, is the Barlow, right off Highway 12.  We stopped in at the co-op style market, which sells only the freshest organic foods and natural products.  Besides the market, there are various other shops, breweries, and restaurants sprinkled around the property.  One exceptional example is Sarmentine , and just as its name implies, it’s all about French pastries and bread.  Yum.  Our choices were so scrumptious , that I scarfed up most of it before realizing I needed a picture.  They also serve excellent espresso beverages.  This is our new must-stop when traveling south.  I hope you do too! Happy Travels, my Polite Travelers...

  Hawaiian Airline Lounges, Honolulu: Crowded & Limited Refreshment Choices My dear polite travelers, Two lounges welcome the few departing passengers who qualify for entry when flying Hawaiian Airlines from Oahu. This qualification could be the price of the ticket, a specific credit card, or a daily/hourly fee.  Both lounges are accessible, non-smoking, and offer newspapers, free Wi-Fi, restrooms, and televisions.  Welcome to The Plumeria Lounge Well...hmmm...  The Plumeria Lounge is a tossup of good and yikes.  If arriving early, it’s not terribly busy.  But it’s also not incredibly interesting— food selection is limited.  By 10:00 am, this small space is packed, and noisy, as hot food and wine finally arrive.  Yes, it’s pleasant to have a semi-private place to sit with a computer, and a restroom nearby.  Still, I’m not a fan of small, crowded   spaces in the never-ending pandemic age.   Not a fan. Premier C...

Join me in a Favorite Waikiki Memory

Viva The Pink Palace My dear polite travelers, Welcoming tourists for nearly 100-years and a member of the Historic Hotels of America, The Royal Hawaiian Hotel is a paradise fantasy come true.  The 528-room oceanfront resort has it all: luxury, history, pool, restaurant , bar, and glitz. As of now, we’ve never stayed here, but we always drop in.  We’ll sit and enjoy the surroundings while breathing in the ocean breezes.  Pour yourself a Mai Tai while checking out my pictures.  Aloha! More by The Polite Traveler  Two Waikiki Restaurants to Try & One to Skip What to Know Before Visiting Honolulu’s Hawaiian Airlines Airport Lounges Look Closer at the Hilton Garden Inn, Waikiki

  My dear polite travelers, Ah, the allure of the open road...  Uh-huh, considering the lighter traffic of past decades that adage seemed positive.  Today?  Not so much.  Still, sometimes magic appears beyond a mountain ridge.  Sometimes, it’s just another detour.  Our most recent road trip north from Davis, CA through Oregon, and Washington to Port Angeles—the northwestern tip of Washington—was tiring but rewarding.  There were plenty of surprises on this rushed eight-day journey.  Most of which was spent in hotels and on the highway.  What follows is a snapshot of our trip.  Note Our ultimate goal was to see, at least some of, the Olympic National Forest before returning home.  Due to our ‘seasoned’ age , it is uncomfortable to travel more than 5 to 6 hours each day, resulting in staying one night in each city.  The only exception was Port Angeles—our only two-day stay.   Note A list of hotels and ...

Probably best known for its connection to Cannery Row, made famous by John Steinbeck’s novel of the same name, Monterey is a delightful blend of funky, sublime, and an ode to the working class.  Funkiness abounds on Cannery Row with its quaint, stuck-in-time business facades simmering in a cannery atmosphere.  There’s no escaping it nor would anyone wish to.  It’s just downright fun. Of course, there’s much more to Monterey than that one street with the cannery influence and that is why we chose this area of Monterey, and more specifically, Pacific Grove.  We chose Pacific Grove for its quiet and focus on nature , which excelled excellently.  As for this small portion of Monterey, well... Recently while watching Obama’s new docuseries, Our  Great National Parks , we learned that the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary is the largest in the continental U.S.  It’s a mind-blowing 6,094 square miles with 276 miles of shoreline.  As a native C...

  How to Survive a Long, Monotonous Road Trip My Dear Polite Travelers, Ah, the open highway.  The wind in my face and the long road ahead full of adventure.  Traveling for business and pleasure can be exciting, but it can also be exhausting.  This is exactly what I found on my last trip.  The trip consisted of driving through two-thirds of California from north to south and then east clear across the state.  We then drove across most of Arizona to our destination of the most Northeast tip of the state.  Driving from our hometown of Davis, CA to the farthest northeast corner of Arizona can be beautiful but challenging.  This is especially true due to the many road-construction zones.  Collecting License Plates Even though I enjoyed seeing the landscape change from California fields of green to the vast, mountainous desert, I didn’t enjoy the endless road construction which contributed to even more congestion than usual. ...

Dear Polite Traveler, The initial indication that this museum would be first-class was outside its doors.  Fenced and crawling in front of the museum are ten world-famous David Černý's " Babies " created to draw our collective attention toward how we dehumanize ourselves.  Within the same area is The Fault Line Meditation by Everette Solomon aka JEVPIC .  Ingeniously, his installation reflects CA’s San Andreas Fault while also helping us understand that “the fault is just a fault” and not to dwell on our mistakes, but to understand them, learn from them, and move forward.  Beautifully lit up at night, this brilliant art installation spoke to me as none has in quite some time.  Is that a car resting on its front bumper? A car balanced on a pool of water, Gonzalo Lebrija’s  History of Suspended Time (A monument for the impossible) is a wonder.  It’s a must-see, if just for the fun of it.  Whoa!  Marilyn is Ginormous! Forever ...

The Tale of Our Trip to Palm Springs Dear Polite Travelers, At least 5000 years, the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians inhabited Palm Springs before white people came to claim large portions of it for themselves.   Due to presidential decree, they are—again—considered the largest landholder of the land they previously roamed unincumbered.   This back and forth of the land, people, and culture are just three of the unique qualities of this majestic, dramatic site.   And I couldn’t resist a visit, especially since tourist information boasted its measures to curb Covid.   For me, this was a let’s-travel-slam-dunk.   Information Stop Our first stop was the visitors center right off highway 111.   It’s a small historic building with a dramatic San Jacinto Mountains backdrop.   I was looking for information about the Rat Pack I grew up with from the early ‘60s.   Yes, I’m that old.   We learned their influence was everywhere, es...

My Dearest Polite Traveler, Our coastal journey to the lovely Albion River Inn begins on a warm July morning in Davis, CA.     It was an exceptionally pleasant 80 degrees and was warm for most of the day, not realizing we would end bundling up as if it were late autumn once we reached our destination.   Tip: When visiting north-coastal CA at any time of year, pack warm clothing.   We decided to travel from our home base—100 m east of San Francisco—west through the Napa Valley and then onto a more northerly procession through Sonoma and Mendocino Valleys.   Driving through these world-renowned wine countries, it was tempting to stop for a taste.     But, hey, a girl has got to eat—or indulge in a hot chocolate beverage.   I love Starbucks !   Okay, I’ve said it.   I just absolutely love it, with mochas as my absolute favorite.   Consequently, around lunchtime, and with the long freeway ahead of us, we pulled up the Starb...