Travel Blog

“Now that’s amazing.” Those three words were immediately identifiable to anyone who is a loyal fan of PBS and lives in California. Huell Howser, who came to California a quarter century ago to be “a TV guy”, passed away last week, leaving behind an incredible library of stories about our state, which he brought to [...]

It was President John Kennedy who set the stage for one of America’s most reluctant heroes. During his too brief time as our nation’s leader in the early 60’s, he challenged us to put a man on the moon. Before the decade was out, Neil Armstrong was that man. I remember it as a quiet [...]

Andy Griffith passed away Friday. To anyone under 30, that might have gone unnoticed. To those anyone older than that, well, could we see the hands of all the people reading this who feel a little like they grew up a bit under the influence of the characters of “Mayberry?” I thought so. Personally, I [...]

“Hey Ernie, tell the folks about the time Colonel Sanders stopped by the Pig Hip.” “Ah shucks Mark,” Ernie would drawl, “I’ve told that story so many times.” “Come on, once more,” would be my reply (I’d played this game with Ernie a few times over 15 years). “Well, OK. You see, one night back [...]

My occupation sometimes gives me opportunities I’m grateful for. Not all of us are bright enough to see (or hear) opportunity knocking. I had to learn that lesson the hard way. For years, you see, I’d wanted to see the late John Denver in person. Twice Sports Leisure Vacations took groups to see him in [...]

Open publication Sports Leisure’s 2012 Tour & Vacations catalog has hit the streets. After a nearly picture-perfect Tour Preview Day on Saturday, August 27th, at the Marriott before a crowd of over 600, the catalogs hit the post office and have been delivered to the nearly 8,000 Travel Club Members who weren’t a part of [...]

College football is one sport I’ve never been a huge fan of. No special reason. I’m not a big fan of professional football either. Perhaps the fact that colleges basically serve as a free minor league for football is something that doesn’t seem quite right to me. The landscape is littered with college football players [...]

After a weekend exploring my favorite Farmer’s Market in Vancouver, Washington; and the Saturday Market in Portland; it’s back to Sports Leisure world for just a day, until a business trip takes me to Pittsburgh. If you ever have the opportunity to visit Portland in the summer, be sure to find room for Vancouver on [...]

Our once proud newspaper is a shell of its former self. When I saw this, the first thing I thought of was, “After all the layoffs, I didn’t think there were 44 people left in the building.” I see this and I think of Marco Smolich the sports editor, and the guys upstairs who helped [...]

I never tire of visiting Hawaii. For all the commercialism that has come to the tourism industry there, there is still a sense of wonder and discovery. You can still find places and things others have overlooked, or just walked past too fast to really see. Hawaii is changing, becoming more self-sustaining and friendly to [...]