Category: travel

Mexico City 2025

On March 23, 2025

Jason and I traveled to Mexico City in late February. It was my first time visiting the massive and ancient capital—home to more than 20 million people and with a history stretching back over 700 years.

Growing up, I was told a consistent narrative about Mexico in general and Mexico City in particular: that it was poor, dirty, scary, chaotic. But on this trip, I discovered just how far off the mark that was.

Mexico City is, in fact, one of the most civilized, welcoming, beautiful, and culturally rich places I’ve ever been.

Here are some highlights from the trip.

We stayed in the charming La Condesa neighborhood, where I fell completely in love with the Hipódromo area. Originally a horse racing track, it was transformed in the 1920s and ’30s into a ring-shaped marvel of Art Deco and International Style architecture, bordered by lush parks and tree-lined boulevards.

I could have spent the entire week walking the loop along Amsterdam Avenue, sampling each of the dozens of tiny, delicious coffee shops and bakeries.

Just a few blocks west of us lay the vast Chapultepec Park—a 1,700-acre wonderland of museums, gardens, and historic sites. Its centerpiece, at least for me, is the National Museum of Anthropology, which documents nearly 1,000 years of regional history and is itself a masterpiece of mid-century modern design.

We also loved exploring the excellent Museum of Modern Art, which focuses on Mexican artists of the 20th century, and the imposing Chapultepec Castle, once home to Emperor Maximilian I during his short-lived reign.

Another day, we hopped on cheap city bikes and rode along the surprisingly bike-friendly streets to Coyoacán, where we met up with my mom and cousin Susie for a tour of Frida Kahlo’s family home.

Equally fascinating was our walk to the city center, where I was floored by the murals of Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and other Mexican greats at the Palacio de Bellas Artes—an Art Deco gem in its own right.

I could keep gushing, but instead, I’ll just let some additional photos from my reel do the talking.

Palm Springs 2024

By Mark

On March 27, 2024

In golf, travel

Jason and I made our annual sun pilgrimage in March, returning to Palm Springs for the first time in a few years. Palm Springs may not be the most adventurous choice for a getaway, but it sure is easy — just a two-hour direct flight from SeaTac.

This time, we splurged on a neat William Krissel-designed house with its own pool and hot tub. On the south side of town, it made a great home base, with easy access to the city, hikes, and golf.

Somehow in our prior visits we had overlooked the fantastic Indian Canyons hiking area, which was nearly walking distance from our place. It boasts a network of trails, many of which feature streams cascading down the mountainside and collecting in clear, palm-lined pools.

We also did an ambitious loop of the city, taking the South Lykken trail directly out the door of our Airbnb and heading north until it descended back into town near the art museum.

Our rental had a spare bedroom, so we invited friends over from LA to join us for excursions to watch the famed Indian Wells tennis tournament and play golf at the nearby Indian Canyons golf course, a lovely old Billy Bell layout lined with midcentury houses.

The Palm Spring sunshine seemed to follow us home, giving us an incredible view of the city from the airplane on our final approach.

Here are a few more snaps from the trip.

Christmas in Moclips

By Mark

On January 3, 2024

In travel

Once the terminus of the Northern Pacific Railway, Moclips in the early 1900s was home to large mills and opulent beachside hotels.

But it’s the rare place where economic development has largely gone backward for the last century. Today, there’s not much to it other than some modest houses along the shoreline and a charming old country store.

That makes it a terrific place for a quiet weekend with the pups.

We loaded them and all our gear into the old E36 hatchback, which seemed happy to make the trip, especially once we hit the two-lane blacktop west of Olympia.

Not a white Christmas but a rather wet one, complete with simple meals, long walks on the wide, deserted beaches, and warming up by the fire.

Here are a few more snaps from the trip.

Estes Park 2023

By Mark

On September 9, 2023

In golf, travel

My friends Josh and Phil met me in Estes Park for a little golf and hiking getaway. We stayed at my family’s cabin, which was built in the early 1900s by my great great grandfather, William Smedley. He was a dentist in the Denver area but came up to Estes Park in the summers to take care of miners who needed some teeth pulled. In fact, the structure was actually a dental office before it was converted to a cabin in the 1920s.

Like many in my family, I had been coming to the Estes Park cabin for at least a few days almost every summer from childhood through my 30s. Somehow, life got in the way, and more than a dozen years has passed since my last visit, when my husband Jason and I drove out from Santa Monica with our daughter, Rosie. She’s pictured below hiking with my mom and grandmother, representing three generations (four if you count me, the photographer). My grandmother was 92 years old at the time.

I can hardly believe it took me so long to come back. I suppose I wanted to explore other locales. But also, having visited so often throughout my childhood, I may simply have failed to recognize just how special the place is.

That magic all came roaring back these last few days. The mountains seemed more majestic than ever, the cabin more charming, and the local muni golf course more challenging and fun than I remembered.

Even the town, which had always seemed to me a kind of kitschy tourist trap, boasted a surprisingly level of culture. I’d never had a memorably good meal in Estes Park in all of my prior visits. But on this trip, we enjoyed several terrific outings, including one of the best pulled pork sandwiches of my life from a local food truck.

This was my first visit to the cabin since my grandmother passed away in 2021 at age 106. Going through her things, I found an old photo of her and a friend standing by the shore of Gem Lake, a picturesque pool of snowmelt hemmed in by the rounded granite of Lumpy Ridge.

On this trip, I dragged my friends up the unexpectedly steep trail to the same lake, where I took a rare selfie, not too far from where some of her ashes are scattered.

We also enjoyed hikes to Mills Lake, Dream Lake, and Emerald Lake, all of which are pictured below.

As I write this, sitting in the Denver airport, I’m already looking forward to my next visit.

Ozarks National Golf Course

By Mark

On August 12, 2023

In golf, travel

In August 2023, my brother Matt and I played Ozarks National Golf Course, an interesting and surprisingly challenging layout by my favorite contemporary golf course architects, Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw.

Here are a few snaps from the round.