All Recreation & Leisure Articles
  • America’s 10 most walkable cities

    Dave G. Houser Recreation & Leisure

    A recent government study found that more than 37 million Americans rated walking as their favorite recreational pursuit. Stepping up to serve all those strollers is a group called America Walks — a national nonprofit organization that leads a coalition of advocacy groups sharing the vision for a more walkable nation.

  • Health worries about artificial turf gain footing

    Bob Kowalski Sports & Fitness

    When it comes to athletic field surfaces, artificial turf has gained ground on natural grass. In recent years, synthetic turf has replaced grass on municipal and school fields that bear nearly year-round traffic of football, soccer, field hockey, lacrosse, baseball and softball games — not to mention the daily workouts for which those teams use the fields.

  • My journey to IDPA Master

    Eric Lamberson Recreation & Leisure

    As IDPA began adjusting classifications earlier this year, I committed to the goal of shooting CCP Master and eventually becoming a 6-Gun Master — quite a goal for someone who had never shot better than Sharpshooter on the IDPA Classifier. I was shooting local IDPA matches and often dropping only a handful of points. However, my times were not good, and I never finished the match much higher than middle of the pack.

  • You can still get your kicks on Route 66

    Dave G. Houser Recreation & Leisure

    Nat King Cole famously crooned in his 1946 hit song: "It winds from Chicago to LA. More than two thousand miles all the way ..." Yes, Route 66 — dubbed the "Mother Road" by John Steinbeck in his novel "Grapes of Wrath" — is so quintessentially American that it has become a permanent part of our cultural memory.

  • Understanding the leading edge of shooting clay targets

    Irwin Greenstein Recreation & Leisure

    When it comes to shooting clay targets, the best piece of advice you can receive is to be "counterintuitive." Smashing clay targets with a shotgun requires an intense amount of visual and mental focus. As you watch the target sail away at some 45 miles per hour, your intuition screams at you that you should watch the whole target — giving you a larger picture of the small, fluorescent disk.

  • A new beginning: Why the full-time RV life is worth it

    Steve and Diane Owens Recreation & Leisure

    Diane and I have been on the road for nine unbelievable and incredible fun years. We have traveled more than 100,000 miles, visited every state in our union as well as many Canadian provinces. Yet we remember our first days as if they happened just yesterday — time has a way of passing so quickly.

  • 8 great American lighthouses

    Dave G. Houser Travel, Hospitality & Event Management

    Down through the ages, America's lighthouses have served mariners as welcoming beacons. These landmark sentinels also possess a magical attraction for visitors who come in droves to witness their solitary majesty. More than 750 lighthouses dot the nation's coastlines and lakeshores.

  • What should you do when your pistol fails to go into battery?

    Eric Lamberson Recreation & Leisure

    ​I have always been somewhat skeptical when I've heard stories of rounds detonating in the ejection port — no longer. In the past, a common response to the slide of a pistol failing to go into battery was striking the rear of the slide. However, as we see in this case, that may not be a good idea and indeed could be dangerous.

  • Halloween safety: Reflect on it

    Dr. Denise A. Valenti Law Enforcement, Defense & Security

    ​During night and dusk hours, what you wear as well as where you wear it can be crucial for visibility to drivers. This is especially important this time of year as drivers need to see the pint-sized Halloween ghouls out and about seeking candy in time to stop.

  • Deer hunting in eastern Washington

    John McAdams Recreation & Leisure

    I've been waiting for deer season all year long, and last week I was ecstatic to finally be able to go on my long-awaited deer hunt in eastern Washington. I bagged my first blacktail deer in western Washington last year, and I was excited to take a mule deer or a whitetail on the other side of the state this year.