First, I want to apologize to The Wife for going to San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Morelia and other wonderful spots in colonial Mexico without you. I know these towns were right at the top of your list of places you have always wanted to see, and I went alone while you were stuck in the snow, and for that I am truly sorry, even though it was a work assignment and therefore my boss’ fault.
Boy, did you miss a good one.
Next, I want to remind The Wife that this was the year I treated you to a couple of thousand miles of riding and bouncing and sleeping across America in a rented recreational vehicle.
So the way I figure it, we’re even.
For the rest of you, here’s what I’ll remember about 1999:
Best natural wonder: Hopewell Rocks, New Brunswick. Or Hawaii’s volcanoes. Or the Grand Tetons, in Wyoming. Or Yellowstone’s geysers. Or South Dakota’s Badlands.
Scariest road: Old Route 66 from Needles to Barstow, Calif. A sloppily paved minefield through stark desert — a test of axle, tire and nerve. Why do it? Because it’s there . . .
Best street meal: Menudo, from a market food stall in Morelia, Mexico. Slight edge over a fabulous street-vendor tamale in Guanajuato and meorav yerushalemi, a mess of a sandwich found in Jerusalem.
Best restaurant: David Paul’s Lahaina (Maui) Grill, Hawaii. Or Mama’s Fish House, near Paia, also on Maui. Or Jameson’s By The Sea, on the Big Island, Hawaii. You’ve probably detected a pattern here.
Favorite restaurant: Dan Tana’s, West Hollywood. Steaks, pasta, booze, movie shoptalk and veteran waiters who know the drill.
Best celebrity sighting: Milton Berle, in Dan Tana’s.
Most intriguing but nonetheless untried menu item anywhere: Knish parmisiano, Bartolino’s, St. Louis.
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Most dazzling ancient wonder: Petra, in Jordan. Nothing prepares you for the reality.
Silliest photos: Of tour companions floating buoyantly in the Dead Sea.
Silliest activity: Floating in the Dead Sea.
Friendliest people: Mexico.
Surliest people: Israel.
Best flight: Chicago-London via British Airways Boeing 777. Good plane, good food, good service, good movies — even in Economy.
Worst Economy meal: “Steak,” American Airlines MD-11, Chicago-London flight.
Best Roman ruins: Jerash, in Jordan. You can almost hear the trumpets.
Best beaches: Siesta Key, Sarasota, Fla., and the beach at Kona Coast State Park on the Big Island, Hawaii.
Best sunset: Along the Mississippi, approaching Grafton, Ill. True. Ask anyone who’s seen it.
Destinations I want to revisit to see what I missed: Jordan and Israel, for the southern deserts; and Mexico City, where 18 hours just wasn’t enough.
Destination I didn’t think I’d like but did: Biloxi, Miss.
Destination I hoped I’d like but didn’t: Tel Aviv.
Destination I never get tired of: New York. No city anywhere has as much of what makes cities glorious or loves itself more.
Another one: Mexico. Anywhere in Mexico. Even border towns.
Best potato pancake: Nate ‘n Al Restaurant, Beverly Hills, Calif.
Best play: “The Lion King,” London.
Best casino: Paris Las Vegas. They take your money in French. I’m serious.
Best seafood outside Hawaii: Whole fried catfish, The Roadhouse, Bremen, Ill.
Best lodging: A. Hiram Walker Estate Heritage Inn, St. Andrews, New Brunswick.
Most expensive lodging: Amangani, Jackson Hole, Wyo.; $550 plus 10 percent service charge, plus tax, plus gratuity. Breakfast not included.
Best small hotel: Ruebel Hotel, Grafton, Ill.
Worst small hotel: The Lodge at Volcano, Volcano Village (Big Island), Hawaii. All the charm of a dormitory, for $94.71.
Best giant thing, fake: World’s Largest Lobster, Shediac, New Brunswick.
Best giant thing, real: Devil’s Tower, Wyo.
Best breakfast: Loco moco (ndash) slices of Spam over white rice, covered with brown gravy and onions and topped with two fried eggs, in a bowl. Ken’s House of Pancakes, Hilo, Hawaii’s Big Island.
Worst breakfast deal: The $25 daily breakfast buffet at the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua (Maui) offers bagels, cream cheese — all the makings — then charges an additional $8 if you want lox to go with it.
Best museum: Kamuela Museum, Waimea (Big Island), Hawaii.
Most expensive taxi: Heathrow Airport to Covent Garden in central London, $82.50.
Favorite musical moment: Hearing a rousing “Guadalajara” in Guadalajara.
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Favorite personal moment: A nighttime visit to the Western Wall, Jerusalem. No crowds, no cameras, many thoughts.
Road best traveled: The Beartooth Highway from Red Lodge, Mont., to Yellowstone. And so many more . . .
. . . Which brings me to my Wish List:
India, but I’m not sure why. Sicily, because Franco the Barber is from there and keeps telling me how terrific it is. Any highway in Texas or down a coast.
And back to San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Morelia and other wonderful spots in colonial Mexico — this time with The Wife.
In an RV.
———-
Meet the staff
Alan Solomon has been a Tribune travel writer since 1994 after more than six seasons on the baseball beat, which means he has been flying around and getting fat on the company buck for a long, long time. His 1999 travels included expenses-paid trips to Israel and Jordan, Mexico, Biloxi (Miss.), New Brunswick, Las Vegas, Hawaii, another bunch of Great American Drives (including an RV trek to Yellowstone) and four round-trip flights to London on four airlines just to see who does it best. His e-mail: [email protected].