Beignets themselves are not that strange a food. We certainly ate stranger things when we were in New Orleans like alligator paté and pizza fish. But the trip to the famous Cafe du Monde produced some of the better pictures. Beignets are basically a deep fried dough covered with powdered sugar. What caught my eye [...]

This is a transcript of an episode of the Amateur Traveler podcast focusing on traveling to the Molokai and Lanai in Hawaii

Travel to Molokai and Lanai in Hawaii – Episode 206
More blogs posts about Hawaii
More podcasts about Hawaii

Chris: I’d like to welcome to the show Pam Mandel. Pam Mandel is a travel writer at both [...]

Endymion Parade (01) – 21Feb09, New Orleans (USA)
Originally uploaded by philippe leroyer
It is less than a month before Mardi Gras which starts on February 16 this year so it is time to start making your plans for New Orleans. I asked my friend Dave who used to live in New Orleans while he worked for [...]

I am not all that satisfied with the composition of this photograph but I do like that the giant LCD at the bottom of this picture of the Paris Las Vegas captured two lovers kissing. Vegas is a very different city at night. While my son (the film maker) and I were in Las Vegas [...]

Some Las Vegas Hotels have roller coasters, some have gondolas but only Treasure Island has two pirate ships outside that do battle nightly. Of course this is Vegas so some of the pirates look more like show girls but it is still one of the best free shows on the strip.

No, this is not really the Eiffel Tower and this is not really Paris… at least not the one in France. This is a view of the Paris casino in Las Vegas. Some would say that you don’t have to go to Paris, Venice, and New York because you can find them all in Las [...]

Since I am driving back from the Consumer Electronic Show at Las Vegas I have Vegas on my mind this week. Here is a game to play for your next visit to Vegas: count how many Elvis impersonators you see. This picture is with Yavuz, our former Turkish exchange student, and Mark who showed me [...]

Another interesting piece of public art in San Francisco. This one is also on the Embarcadero and is of a large bow and arrow. It is as if some giant cupid got tired of San Francisco and gave up the job on the spot.

I have been doing a series of pictures on odd public art this week and this large statue of a spider off the Embarcadero in San Francisco qualifies for me.

This Giant Glove at AT&T Park, the home of my San Francisco Giants, is one of my favorite pieces of public art. You can almost feel the weathered leather of this glove. This is one of reasons I think that AT&T is one of the best ballparks in the major leagues. Standing in front of [...]