Page 14 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL WINTER SPRING 2022

82 OAXACAN ADVENTURE
Never having eaten an insect - on purpose, any-
way - I screwed up my courage, selected a fried
“chapuline” (grasshopper in the Nahuatl lan-
guage), dropped it onto my tongue and bit down.

90 ALISAL RANCH

It wasn’t the first time I’d ridden a horse.
Pretty sure it’ll be the last.
The problem wasn’t “Bear.” He was kind of
cute. A 15-hand bay Quarter Horse with black
mane and tail. Sometimes he’d start eating
trail-side brush but one kick and he’d dutifully
giddy up.

98 COWGIRLS DON’T CRY

Led by a wrangler, a frightened five-year-old
walking round and round the corral on a horse
suddenly started to cry. His hat had fallen off.
For me, that was the last straw. Fulfilling a
childhood fantasy inspired by watching Eliza-
beth Taylor in National Velvet, I was on a horse-
back riding vacation at a guest ranch in
northern California.

Alison DaRosa

Alison DaRosa is a six-time winner of the Lowell Thomas Gold Award for travel writing,
the most prestigious prize in travel journalism. She served 15 years as Travel Editor of The
San Diego Union-Tribune and was the award-winning editor of the San Diego News Network
Travel Page. Alisonwrites a monthly Travel Deals column for the San Diego Union-Tribune
and is a regular freelance contributor to the travel sections of the Los Angeles Times, USA
Today and AOL Travel. Learn more about Alison on her website, www.AlisonDaRosa.com

Carl H. Larsen

Carl H. Larsen is a veteran journalist based in San Diego. He now focuses on travel
writing, and issummoned to pull out his notebook whenever there’s the plaintive cry of
a steam locomotive nearby. In San Diego, he is a college-extension instructor who has
led courses on the Titanic and the popular TV series “Downton Abbey.”

14 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE WINTER/SPRING 2022