Story and photos by April Orcutt Wiggling my toes into soft white sand while lounging on crescent-shaped Anse Lazio beach framed by massive reddish boulders and looking out at a turquoise bay with verdant jungle behind me, I couldn’t help but think that the 19th-century British officer known as General Gordon of Khartoum was on to…

You might think it’s all that crystal or the fireworks that make Prague in the Czech Republic shine, but it’s something else — something deeper. — Story and photos by April Orcutt I suspect that on a clear day, when seen from the moon, Prague glitters like a sparkler. It seems like every Old-World store window gleams with crystal: bowls, bottles, bells, boxes, baskets, trays, vases, ladles, plates, jugs, wine glasses, brandy snifters, beer steins, cups and saucers, napkin holders, atomizers, and…

Isolated Café Fills Empty Spaces with Life — April Orcutt Bleak mountains, empty valleys, sage dust, nary a creature in sight — the isolated, lonely landscape gnawed at our psyches and cooked our brains in 100-plus-degree August heat in our non-air-conditioned VW Vanagon camper, rolling along Highway 50, the “Loneliest Road in America.” Brown desert and barren ranges of Nevada…

If you want to get far, far away from the hustle-bustle of the world, Jarbidge could be your spot. — Story and Photos by April Orcutt The easy way to reach Jarbidge is to leave the interstate, drive 85 miles on a U.S. highway, 40 miles on a country road and 17 more miles on a narrow dirt road. But my husband and I did not take the easy way.

Cross-Country Skiers Lose More Than Their Way Near Diamond Peak — By April Orcutt My engagement ring must have fallen off in my bulky ski glove. The diamond ring wasn’t on my finger after seven-hours of cross-country skiing north of — I swear this is true — Diamond Peak ski area near Lake Tahoe along the California-Nevada state line. Rooting around in the hollow…

Crazy Mix of Activities on an Adventure Cruise Along the Coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador in Eastern Canada Story and photos by April Orcutt “Polar bear off the starboard bow!” boomed the voice on the ship’s loudspeaker. I grabbed my binoculars and ran to an upper deck.

The California Cheese Trail began as the Sonoma Marin Cheese Trail. — Story by April Orcutt Just north of San Francisco in vast, rural parts of California’s Marin and Sonoma counties, the Sonoma Marin Cheese Trail weaves for 100 miles among green pastures, oak- and chaparral-covered hillsides and narrow canyons of redwood trees. …

After two years away, she was (maybe overly) anxious to get home to California. April Orcutt When I approached California’s Sierra Nevada mountains from the east on Highway 80 in Nevada — alone in my beat-up, blue, 1968 VW camper-bus — it was late October and late at night with…

Little Green Men — and Women — Aren’t Always Green — April Orcutt Until this trip, I hadn’t realized how far you could travel on a bus. The cosmos had been my ultimate wanderlust goal, but I wouldn’t get into space in a car so I applied for NASA’s Journalist-in-Space program. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration was seeking a writer to convey…