The strong personalities of the different home architecture line up as I stroll through Venice. It's like looking at a family portrait of the California family. The colorful houses reflected in the Venice canals under a bright blue sky. If the definition of beauty is symmetry and lighting, well, I just captured the perfect beautiful day.

Convincing my teenage daughter to hike Pinnacle Peak Mountain turned out to be more than family travel, it was a mother-daughter moment that brought us together.

Sipping morning coffee in the mountain air at Half Dome while watching the sunrise in Yosemite is one of the greatest moments I've ever had. I've written previously about my goal not just to see Yosemite, but to experience Yosemite. There is nothing like the experience of mixing fresh, hot coffee, with cold pine air, watching the light bounce off the icy needles in the trees.

I'm just a Chicago Gal experiencing the California Wildfires. First,it was the Sand Wildfire that began just weeks after we moved from Chicago to California. The Sand Wildfire was merely miles away from us.

Life Lessons Carson Valley teaches my kids on Spring Break: "Don't wait," he said. I can't remember his exact words after that, his wisdom mixed with the wind, the nay of the horses, the crunch of earth beneath our boots. It was along the lines of life is short. People put off their dreams, or traveling for too long. Sometimes, you just have to go for it. This is a man who truly follows his passion.