A safari from West to East   The 410 units of the National Park Service are as varied as the United States itself and an incredible legacy for Americans. The Los Angeles Times Travel section continues a yearlong look at some of those units, why they matter, how the park

Alzheimer’s: It’s Not What You Think   Claudia Kawas turns the study of the disease on its head, leading other researchers to change their assumptions   Mindful Art The painting on this page was created by individuals with Alzheimer’s dementia who took part in Memories in the Making. The program,

Where tourist crime happens the most   You’re eating tapas at an outdoor restaurant in Barcelona, your iPhone on the table a few inches from your right hand, when a woman bumps your left arm and spills a drink on you. She apologizes profusely and walks away. A few minutes

Follow in Frank Sinatra’s footsteps as Palm Springs toasts Ol’ Blue Eyes’ 100th birthday   Did I ever tell you about the night Frank Sinatra and I had drinks? More about that later; right now we need to discuss a much more important event: Sinatra’s upcoming 100th birthday celebration. On

Seeing firsthand why Olympic National Park is one of the nation’s great wilderness areas   The bald eagle was soaring on an air current above frosty Lake Crescent, its wings spread wide, white head and electric-yellow beak tilted slightly down. It was hunting, and a few seconds later it rocketed

On the Andaman Sea in Thailand, a putt-putting boat will carry you to travel-poster fantasies   Fantastic shapes dotted the horizon — craggy limestone spikes that soared hundreds of feet into the cloudless blue sky — as our long-tail boat skimmed across the Andaman Sea off southwestern Thailand. The afternoon

The rush is on to make golden memories in the Klondike   Summer days are endless here. I opened my eyes to sunlight streaming in my hotel window before 4 a.m. It didn’t disappear until after 10 p.m., leaving more than 18 hours for epic sightseeing outings. Enough playtime to

Live like royalty — at least for a few days — with a getaway aboard a liner on a world cruise   An around-the-world cruise is something other people do — and by other people, I mean lottery winners, trust-fund babies, one percenters. I’m none of those, but I recently

You know about Florida’s alligators, but there’s so much more to see at Everglades National Park   Spotting an alligator in Florida is a lot like spotting cattle in Texas. You don’t need to look very hard because they’re everywhere. There’s even a toll road nicknamed Alligator Alley where the