Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Lee Daley has been producing award-winning travel articles and photographs since the early 1990s. With print and radio media experience, she contributes features on local and international travel destinations to a wide variety of publications, from in-flight magazines to lifestyle and travel periodicals to internet travel sites and radio travel shows.
Story and Photos by Lee Daley. When traveling solo or with just one friend, I love to plot out time to refresh in a local public garden, whether large or small. On a recent getaway to Ft Bragg, I…
Story and Photos by Lee Daley In Japan, at dawn on the first day of January each year, hundreds gather at the base of Mount Fuji to witness the maiden sunrise ushering in the new year. The Ainu tribe, Japan’s…
Review by Lee Daley. Photographs by Robert Holmes. Famed photographer Robert Holmes has published PASSAGES a collection of his favorite photographs from the past fifty years along with the stories behind them. Despite having photographically illustrated well over fifty books,…
Story and Photos by Lee Daley. Upscale shoppers will want to travel to Vietnam’s capital city with very little in their suitcases, leaving lots of room for the distinctive range of designer clothes, handicrafts, and local fashions they’ll find there.…
Story and Photos by Lee Daley. Vermont boasts more than one hundred still remaining covered bridges, the most in New England and a testament to America’s golden age of craftsmanship. Often spanning rivers and streams in mountainous regions, covered bridges…
Updated August 25, 2023. Story and Photos by Lee Daley. When it comes to year-round activity, Calaveras County, a 2.5-hour drive from anywhere in the San Francisco Bay Area, has it all. Truly a place for all seasons, this is…
Story and Photos by Lee Daley New adventures await at the San Francisco Presidio Tunnel Tops Park with a recent large-scale mural installation of creatures like coyotes, monarch butterflies and colorful exotic birds.The exhibit is now on show at the…
Story and Photos by Lee Daley. I first ran into Jimmie Dale Gilmore while on a writing assignment in Cambridge, MA, when a friend excitedly told me the singer, composer and guitarist was performing that evening at a local blues…
STORY AND PHOTOS BY LEE DALEY. What is it about the Greek island of Santorini that captivates all who visit? It’s easy to credit its beauty to the shimmering blue Aegean, the drama of its whitewashed cube dwellings built atop…
Story and Photos by Lee Daley Now is the time to indulge in a getaway to Mendocino County. It’s all there, breathtaking beauty, surf, sand, a rocky coastline, world-class botanical gardens, and an oceanfront artistic village. A destination worth flying…
Story and Photos by Lee Daley. San Francisco Top of the Mark atop the InterContinental Mark Hopkins Hotel is now celebrating the hotel’s 50 year anniversary.. The iconic 19th-floor sky lounge has updated its live music roster to include acclaimed…
Story and Photos by Lee Daley. San Francisco’s Redwood Room at the Clift. Welcome to the Redwood Room—an unforgettable San Francisco destination just steps away from downtown Union Square. Whether at the bar, crafted from an 800-year-old redwood tree. or…
Story and Photos by Lee Daley. Claremont Club & Spa: Create memories to treasure with a celebration of this year’s Holidays in the Hills at the Berkeley-based Limewood Bar and Restaurant’s outdoor dining deck. Here is where you’ll find stunning…
Story and Photos by Lee Daley. “For me, people come first. I have tried to assert the dignity and eternal importance of the human being.” – Alice Neel Throughout People Come First, Alice Neel’s paintings reflect both her radical personal…
Story and Photos by Lee Daley, “Where are we eating next?” became the favorite game my husband and I played during our brief four-night cruise from Ft. Lauderdale to Nassau aboard Holland America Line Nieuw Amsterdam. Breakfast, lunch and dinner…
Story and Photos by Lee Daley. While traveling from Hanoi to Saigon during the month of December, a time of warm and balmy weather, I felt completely immersed in the diverse cultures of Vietnam. On show everywhere, from art galleries…
Story and Photos by Lee Daley. Update: Date night Winemaker Dinners to go: Executive Chef, Joseph Paire of Berkeley’s Limewood Restaurant, in partnership with leading winemakers, will present a series of unmatched 4-course wine-paired dinners for two to-go. Each winemaker…
Story and Photos by Lee Daley. Editor’s Note: This is an update on current conditions for Utah’s parks: Often overlooked for New England or the Smoky Mountains, Utah’s national parks and woodlands–combined with local live performances, museums and galleries–offer…
Story and Photos by Lee Daley. In Prague, my husband and I were searching for the John Lennon Wall. “Just turn down the path along the river and follow that road over the bridge for about twenty minutes,” a local…
Story and Photos by Lee Daley. in Varanasi, as the sun’s glow edges the horizon beyond the River Ganges, the local boatmen are already up and about, readying their craft for visitors to the holy city. I sheepishly scan the…
Peggy Guggenheim at Home in Venice: Collector, Patroness, Lover. Story by Lee Daley. Photos by Lee Daley unless otherwise noted. On the Grand Canal of Venice if you look carefully, you will see-–almost hidden, overshadowed as it is by the…
Reviews by Carol Canter and Lee Daley. (Review by Carol Canter) “Curtains up, light the lights, you got nothing to hit but the heights!” Well, everything did come up roses opening night for Bay Area Musicals’ fabulous production of Gypsy,…
Story and Photos by Lee Daley. The Hawaiian island of Kauai serves up cuisine that is both hot and cool. Hot as in haute and cool as in food trucks. New to food truck dining on Kauai, the lushest of…
Story and Photos by Lee Daley. When I think of the perfect Maine getaway, Ogunquit immediately comes to mind. It’s all there, breathtaking Maine beauty, surf, sand, rocky coastline and a small artistic village. A destination worth flying to from…
Story and Photos by Lee Daley. If, like me, you’ve more than once viewed a painting and wished you could walk right into it, you will find Topiary Park in Downtown Columbus an art lover’s dream come true. Ensconced in…
Copyright Story and Photos by Lee Daley On a recent trip to China, I visited Black Mountain Valley, a place of untamed raw beauty, full of mystery, lush vegetation and silver-hued waterfalls. The two-hour drive from Chongqing on a narrow…
Story and Photos by Lee Daley For a soul soothing stay in San Miguel de Allende, Hotel Matilda, the “hotel different,” is an eye-opener. When you travel to a Mexican colonial city that has been designated a World Heritage Site,…
Story and Photos by Lee Daley. Chongqing in China is well known worldwide as the gateway to the Three Gorges, the jumping off point for a three-day cruise on the Yangtze River. Chongqing is also renowned as the nation’s hot…
Story and Photos by Lee Daley. Update 1/21/2020: Victory Cruise Lines has now announced this Mexico cruise as “Roundtrip Cancun/Puerto Morelos, Mexico Cruise”. Once accessible only by sea, Mexico’s Yucatán is a place steeped in history. Here, both Mayan traditions…
Exploring South Africa’s Cape Winelands Story and Photos by Lee Daley You’ll find no better way to round out a trip to Cape Town than to ramble out to the Cape Winelands. Less than an hour’s drive away, the countryside…
Story and Photos by Lee Daley. In Croatia, aboard the Katarina Line Futura: As we watched deckside, our small cruise ship anchored alongside the Dalmatian Coast shore of Brač Island and its Golden Horn Beach, known as one of Europe’s…
Story by Lee Daley. Photos by John Sundsmo and Lee Daley Sonoma County is known for its excellent Chardonnay wines and those produced at Sonoma Cutrer Winery are no exception. Tucked away on a lush hillside in Windsor, Sonoma Cutrer…
Lake County: Northern California’s Sweet Spot Story and Photos By Lee Daley Drive a few hours north of downtown San Francisco and a different world awaits. On a recent weekend getaway, my city stress lessened and lessened, almost in layers,…
Story and Photos by Guest Columnist Stephanie Levin. Snippets of independent, quiet conversations from our little band of hikers erupted as an umbrella of oak trees narrowed to a dirt trail that ascended, descended, twisted and ascended again before leveling…
A mythological wine tasting with Georgós Nu Wines Story and Photos by Lee Daley. “Come.Taste my wines and experience the glory of Greece.” So said Georgós Zanganas, company founder of Georgós Nu Wines. And so our small group of wine…
Story and Photos by Lee Daley. Approaching Palm Springs, that desert oasis nestled between two mountains–the Santa Rosa to the south and the San Jacinto to the west—I knew a treat was in store. The scent of sagebrush carried on…
Story and Photos by Lee Daley. It’s early morning and I have spent the last 10 minutes admiring the light and shadows on a small brave bush somewhere alongside the road to Furnace Creek in Death Valley, a place my…
Story and Photos by Lee Daley. I’ve always known the Pacifica coastline boasts just about the best and most diverse five-mile span of beaches in Northern California. I thought I knew it well. Until I extended my usual day-trip to…
Story and Photos by Lee Daley. A true Epicurean knows when to save and when to splurge and it’s easy to do both in Copenhagen, one of Europe’s most elegant cities. By seeking out free and affordable opportunities, without sacrificing…
Story by Lee Daley. Photos by Lee Daley and John Sundsmo More than five million years ago, Mother Nature swept over the Pacific Ocean and in a burst of hormonal ecstasy. created the first of the Hawaiian Islands, that green…