My family and I really like dogs, so we went to Alaska at the start of this month for the start of the 1100 mile Iditarod Sled Dog Race.  A few months ago I found out from my aunt and uncle in Anchorage just how easy it was to go from being a spectator (watching the action over the temporary wooden fences that line 4th Avenue in Anchorage) to being a dog handling participant (right in the thick of it helping to move dog teams to the starting line) just by emailing in a volunteer application and then showing up [...]

Last month I wrote a column about time I spent in Rome recently. That column received a lot more response from people than I usually get. I guess writing about one of the most extraordinary places in the world, a place layered with over two thousand years of art and human history, will do that. I really like the place, despite its flaws, but I hope I didn’t sugarcoat it too much in my article. I don’t like it when some place or some thing gets described to me in glowing terms without mention of its warts, creating a sort [...]

If the world didn’t have an Italy, we would have to invent one. It’s just too amazing of a place for us to do without. I recently had the pleasure of a nine day sight seeing trip through Italy with Melody. When traveling there, keep the following in mind: Wear shorts that cover your knees Sometime between now and 1982 when I last visited Europe, the churches gave up on trying to make people wear pants and dresses when they step inside to visit a church. But they do require long shorts that at least go to your knee. This [...]