Travel in city Tucson

On an otherwise unremarkable Saturday in Tucson last month, I visited the intersection of the Harlem Renaissance and romance lit with Netflix darling Tia Williams, brushed up on global security threats with MSNBC contributors Barbara McQuade and Frank Figliuzzi, got an easy Roman-Jewish cake recipe from cookbook wunderkind Leah Koenig, and caught a dramatic reading by National Humanities Medal winner Abraham Verghese. All before lunch. And tens of thousands of people around me were doing much the same thing: making the rounds at the famed Tucson Festival of Books, where I’d decided to spend a few hours on a trip to see my parents. As I began to realize the more people I met in line, many had come to town just for this.

Canyon Ranch is one of the world’s greatest spas – and as a luxury and wellness writer, I have had the privilege of visiting – and reporting on – this award-winning destination for the past 25 years. And I never tire of it. Every time I go, it is a new thrill – whether it’s a new class that I take, or a spiritual seminar that fortifies me, or, in Lenox, the absolutely wonderful lectures on miracles, gratitude and positivity that have been given there for more than 30 years by a fabulous speaker named Jerry Posner. I always leave refreshed and renewed and strengthened in this journey that we call life. (Oh yes, and I always get the dreaded bodyfat-assessment test that keeps me motivated.)

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