That month I took my last drink and my last drug. In September, 2008, I celebrated 25 years of continuous freedom from drugs and alcohol. Family and friends joined me in my back yard in Seattle for roast salmon and fresh corn.
We all toasted the occasion with home-pressed apple cider from Forsberg Farm, Port Angeles, Washington.
My stepdaughter, Kirsten
I do not write about wine, beer or any other alcoholic beverages. Many other excellent writers do so, and if that’s your interest I’ll be happy to refer you to several.
For more about my journey in recovery, please go here.
In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an eternal summer. --Camus
Foundations:
My dad, Peter Lucas, discovered a $5 billion oil & gas field for Shell Royal Dutch; he has survived terminal cancer for the past six years, and is one of my heroes. My mother, Therese Lucas, is an urban planning economist who did the site location for the New Orleans Superdome. My great-uncle, Vincent Impelliteri, was mayor of New York City from 1950-1953; I had Thanksgiving dinner at Gracie Mansion in 1953. My grandfather, Kurt Lubinski, was a European journalist who escaped Nazi Germany and took my grandmother on a round-the-world trip for their honeymoon. My great-grandparents died in Theresienstadt concentration camp in 1942 and 1944. My sister, Kristin Lucas, is a world-class folk dancer; in 2006 we visited Theresienstadt together and lit a memorial candle in the crematorium. My other great-grandparents emigrated from Sicily and the Carpathian Mountains to the United States in the late 19th century. Five of my forebears have plaques at Ellis Island.
Philosophy:
I embrace personal responsibility, truth-telling, sustainability, stewardship, working hard, and getting my hands in the dirt to grow my garden.
Details:
My articles have been translated into 10 foreign languages and republished around the world. I am the author of five books, including Michelin Guide to British Columbia and Michelin Must-See/Vancouver, as well as Hidden British Columbia and Seattle Survival Guide. I am the coauthor of numerous other titles, including No Excuses: Be the Hero of Your Own Life; Michelin guides to Canada, Western USA and the Pacific Northwest; and Best Places Northwest.
I have been a staff editor at Paradigm Communications Group and Seattle Sidewalk.com, and have contributed to the Boston Globe, Westways Magazine, National Geographic Traveler, Sunset Magazine, Virtuoso Travel + Life and Fodors Travel Publications. Before that I was a newspaper editor and reporter with, among others, the Gannett Corporation. I’ve won more than 50 writing prizes, but couldn't buy a cup of coffee with any.
I was educated at schools in New Orleans, New Mexico and Colorado; at EMJD Sheet Metal, Inc., in Denver; and on the North Fork of the Cache la Poudre River in Larimer County, Colorado. I live in Seattle’s Ballard district, where I grow and sell organic garlic, loganberries and mulato isleno chiles.
Just for Fun:
I am an expert gardener, wilderness
fisherman (right, Ruby Mountains,
Nevada) and hiker, downhill skier
and racquetball player. My golf
handicap is impatience. I prefer
canoes to kayaks. I cook curries and
stews. My favorite flower is phlox. I
can't abide basketball.
Influences:
My heroes are Viktor Frankl, Eric Clapton, Martin Luther King, Jr., Winston Churchill, Bill Wilson, Katharine Hepburn, Robert Redford, John Denver and especially my neighbor, Hans Mueller, who at 91 still tends his yard and goes for long walks every day.
If you want to meet real heroes, please read Man’s Search for Meaning and Clapton: The Autobiography.
My favorite writers are John Steinbeck, Raymond Chandler, Albert Camus, Graham Greene and Thomas Friedman. Please read The Plague, East of Eden, The Honorary Consul and The Long Goodbye. The world’s greatest mystery writer is Robert Wilson; read The Company of Strangers and The Hidden Assassins. My favorite magazine is The Economist. I detest Ernest Hemingway.
My favorite composers are Mahler, Ian Tyson, Richard Strauss, Michael Hoppe, Rachmaninov, Puccini and Gram Parsons. I despise Andrew Lloyd Webber. My favorite artists are Bill Reid, El Greco and Frederic Remington. My favorite movie is The Man Who Would Be King.
Being There:
I have visited all 50 US states, much of Canada and Mexico, and 20 foreign countries in Europe (11 countries), Asia and the Caribbean.
The first thing people ask a travel
writer: What’s your favorite place?
I’ve a constitutional right not to
answer that question directly.
Instead, my favorite places include:
Vancouver Island, Canada; Harney
County, Oregon; Mendocino County,
California; the Big Island, Hawaii;
Michoacan, Mexico; Stockholm;
Krakow, Poland; Steamboat Springs,
Colorado; Sitka, Alaska; and almost
anywhere that has palm trees,
mountains and chile peppers. Las Majahuitas, Mexico
The keys to traveling well are: Use your feet and walk; taste the water; learn to say please and thank you in as many languages as you can. Every language has a thank you, but did you know that several have no ‘please’?
I abhor Las Vegas. Please don't go there.
September 1983
Who I am.
People & Places
Partners:
• My wife, Leslie, is the world’s most compassionate, cheerful and bright-spirited person. Former magazine editor and public relations professional, she is an expert dancer, the world’s best pie-maker, and my best editor. Leslie is also an excellent writer; she’s the coauthor of a guidebook for traveling with children and is an excellent photographer as well. She speaks Swedish. Leslie does not fish or play golf.
Vancouver Island, February 2009
• My mentor is David Neenan (please see No Excuses on the “Thousand Words” page), founder of The Neenan Company and creator of the Business & You personal growth program. David’s philosophy is that only you can be the hero of your own life. For more about him,
please go here. David is not
responsible for my political
predilections. He taught me
racquetball.
• My colleague Jay Sorensen is the world’s leading expert on ancillary revenue in the airline industry, and an expert on many other aspects of commercial aviation and loyalty marketing.
I contribute writing, editing and proofreading to Jay’s company, Ideaworks. Jay is not responsible for my political predilections, either, and he has so far resisted my urging that he run for Congress to save the world from Jim Sensenbrenner.
