I'm Speaking Soon on a Pacific Coast Cruise!

"Madams, Miners, Merchants and Mozart" is the title for my talk on San Francisco history for Celebrity Cruise Line's Millennium ship departing Vancouver Sept 28 for a cruise to LA, tracing the Pacific coast. The second talk will be on "Great Wine Families in California," outlining the dreams, drama and in some cases disfunction of famous names such as Gallo and Mondavi. I'll give "Facing the Sea: M0nterey's History from Ships to Sardines to Steinbeck" just before we call on Monterey.

Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach

Spent a delightful monring at this aquarium, where an 88' replica of a blue whale hangs over the lobby. A friendly docent told us the whale's tongue alone can weigh 10,000 lbs! We saw bonnet head sharks, an olive ridley turtle nearly four feet long, swimming languidly by the glass, and sea apples, with red and green stripes. We learned sea apples are in the sea cucumber family. Many children were visiting and one of their favoirtes seemed to be the lionfish, which clearly looks like its namesake. For more on this terrific living museum, go to www.aquarium of the pacific.org.

Speaking on Cruise Ships

In the last year I've been the destination/cultural lecturer on four cruises on ships such as Royal Caribbean's Serenade of the Season on an Alaska route, and Princess Cruises' Diamond Princess and Sapphire Princess on cruises to the Mexican Riviera. I usually gave three to four talks during each one-week cruise. On the Alaska cruise talks were about Glaciers, the Gold Rush and the history of Skagway and Juneau. Along the Mexican coast the topics were Pirates of the Pacific, the Old Town of Mazatlan, the Pleasures of Puerto Vallarta and a final talk on Old Hollywood as we steamed back to Los Angeles. Guests fill out a trivia questionnaire at the end and get prizes for the most answers--including gold coin chocolates for the Pirate talk.

Seafood Foraging

One of my favorite outdoor experiences is a two-session seafood foraging class given by Adventure Sports in Santa Cruz, CA. Another is scheduled for April, and includes an instructional meeting, then a day of gathering wild food: mussels, limpets, sea vegetables and other delectables at low tide in tidepools along the Central Coast. The day ends with everyone creating and sharing a gourmet meal they make with their catch. For more info, go to www.asudoit.com.

Travel Writing Class April 25-26

I'll be teaching a two-day Travel Writing Workshop on Saturday and Sunday, April 25-26, 2009 10 am to 4 pm through UC Berkeley Extension, in San Francisco at their South of Market Center. Go to http://www.unex.berkeley.edu/cat/course1518.html for more information or to sign up. The class EDP is 016691. We'll write in class and have a draft article by the end of the weekend. Come join us!

Going to Long Beach

They say you can go around the world in eighty blocks in Long Beach, CA, as there are so many ehtnic neighborhoods. I'll be there next week and let you know.