November 17, 2023 Travel California, Destinations, John Leave a comment

On the Mendocino Coast, A Frolic on the Rocks On the Mendocino Coast, a Frolic on the Rocks April 14, 2023 Travel Destinations 1 Comment Story and Photos by John Sundsmo. In 1850, Frolic, a sailing ship bound from China to San Francisco with cargo for the Gold Rush, ran on the rocks near Point Cabrillo on the Mendocino…

Story and Photos by John Sundsmo Gold country in the Sierra mountain foothills had been a neglected bucket-list destination for my wife and I. Foregoing the allure of international travel for pandemic-safety in road-trips, Calaveras County was just a two and a half hour drive east from San Francisco. It is hidden away in the foothills…

Story and Photos by John Sundsmo Once a destination refuge for Inca nobility, Machu Picchu is located on a narrow mountain ridge at the far end of the Inca’s Sacred Valley. The “road” to Machu Picchu is not a road, but a footpath in the sky on the ancient Inca highway, or, for my wife and…

Story and Photos by John Sundsmo A Yangtze River cruise was never high on my list of travel options, but it should have been. China in my mind’s eye was distant, elusive and ancient — yes — but also under-developed and an emerging second world country. Oh, how wrong I…

Story and Photos by John Sundsmo Taking a page from Anthony Bourdain: “Travel is not reward for working, it’s education for living.” For me, someone who had never visited the Yucatán, my notions of luxury beach resorts or dense jungles filled with vine-encrusted Mayan pyramids and relics of lost civilizations…

Story and Photos by John Sundsmo. Exploring the Cheshire Ring Canals: “Wheer yo’ fro’?” said the man in tweed as he and his spaniel blocked my canal path. Quickly twisting the words in my mind, I deduced he either properly identified me as a foreigner or he thought I was…

Story and Photos by John Sundsmo Croatian Islands Cruise: “There are more than a thousand Croatian islands in the Adriatic sea” our Katarina Line cruise director told us, “but we only have time to visit Korčula, Hvar and Brac. For more, you have to come back.” By the end of our short four-night Croatian islands cruise…

Story and photos by John Sundsmo. As our plane came in for a landing at Reykjavik Keflavik International Airport in Iceland, I looked out over the rocky volcanic landscape onto the unforgiving North Atlantic Ocean. From my reading of Iceland’s maritime heritage, I knew Icelanders fished year-round. As a sailor…