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Six Things to Do and Places to See Before Climate Change Swamps the Party

Get out and view a wild polar bear and visit Tuvalu and other low-lying islands while you have a chance

In Mendocino County’s backwoods redwood country, litterbugs drink both Bud Light as well as the locally brewed, locally loved beers of Anderson Valley Brewing Company.

An Unofficial Guide to the Breweries of California’s North Coast

From the Anderson Valley Brewing Company to the irreverent Lagunitas brewpub, in Petaluma, here are several breweries worth pedaling for

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The Best Backroad Bike Rides of the California North Coast

Cycling the West Coast is easy, whether you’re riding from Canada to Mexico or Portland to San Francisco

Sunset just south of Humbug Mountain, where Spanish explorer Sebastian Vizcaino laid the first European eyes in 1603.

At a Glance: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of the Oregon Coast

The coastal Highway 101 route, through rainforest and redwoods, is as beautiful as it is popular

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Your Unofficial Guide to Portland, Oregon’s Many Brewpubs and Breweries

In parts of Portland, Oregon, one must hardly walk three blocks before running into another bar that pours its very own beer. Locally brewed?

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Where Has the Heat Been Most Oppressive This Summer?

This year is shaping up to be among the warmest on record—not only in the United States but worldwide. Here are a few of the hottest hotspots

Heirloom tomatoes will star at the Sonoma Heirloom Tomato Festival this September at Kendall-Jackson Winery.

Great Food Festivals of the World

To sample the best foods and flavors of a region, head for a festival

I Put Ice in My Wine Because You Don’t Serve it at the Right Temperature

Is there one perfect temperature to serve red or white wine? Perhaps not, but here are some good guidelines

Seemingly benign bovines and other livestock eat soybeans from the deforested tropics, emit clouds of methane, pollute streams and gobble up 30 percent of the world’s grain production. It makes one wonder whether the world might taste better without them.

Is the Livestock Industry Destroying the Planet?

For the earth’s sake, maybe it’s time we take a good, hard look at our dietary habits

A list of more great books to read while traveling

More Great Books and Where Best to Read Them

A continuation of last week’s list of the author’s favorite reads

What puts the buzz in energy drinks?

Energy Drinks: Wassup With Supplements?

The effects of energy drink supplements like taurine, guarana and ginseng have been studied prolifically, and some of their benefits are rather surprising

Figs are a great prize of roadside foragers—a fruit unwanted by many landowners and as available as it is delicious. The green figs shown here are desert kings, a variety that produces a large first crop in July.

Hungry? Pull Over. Here’s Your Guide to the Best Bets of Roadside Foraging

All along the roadways of America—and the world—there’s figs, avocados and wild berries ripe for the picking

Cork oaks recently harvested of their bark are a common sight in the southern Iberian Peninsula. These middle-aged trees are growing in the Spanish province of Extremadura.

Cork Trees: Soft-Skinned Monarchs of the Mediterranean

A cork tree stripped of its bark will be harvested again in nine years—if people are still using cork by then

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The Hunt for a Bottle of Asturias Cider and the Stories of More Drinks From Northern Spain

In this part of Europe, a glass of rioja is nice, but nothing beats apple cider, a way of life

Lapis lazuli cylinder seal

A Sip from an Ancient Sumerian Drinking Song

A newly analyzed cuneiform hymn accompanied a drinking song dedicated to a female tavern-keeper

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Elderberries, Liqueurs and Meat Stamps

These elder-containing concoctions, credited with reviving a taste for liqueurs, came about as folk remedies

Follow the arrows, find the cheese. This sign led to a sheep farm in the village of Tilhouse.

On the Cheese Trail in the Pyrenees

Make a fuss in the road and someone will appear. Spit out some gibberish about “fromage a vendre,” and that should do it. You’ll get your cheese

Century-old casks line the winery’s restaurant, built inside its 1940s redwood wine tank room.

Saved From Prohibition by Holy Wine

In downtown Los Angeles, a 95-year-old winery weathered hard times by making wine for church services. Now connoisseurs are devoted to it

The author was recruited very temporarily by this traveling team of cyclists from Corsica when he arrived at Col du Soulor (1,474 meters/4,724 feet).

Where Lance Remains the King

Among the peaks, cirques and summits of the French Pyrenees, the greeting call to an American on a bike may always be “Armstrong!”

The table is set with a heaping salad of beets, soft-boiled eggs, orange and avocado. Dressed with a zesty walnut oil vinaigrette, this dish goes exceptionally well with an anonymous red Gascogne blend from a wine shop bulk barrel.

Sleep Like a Pauper, Eat Like a King

Between grocery stores, wine shops, artisan bakeries and farm stands, I regain each calorie I burn in style and taste

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