Stuart Thornton

Researching a travel guide yields many memorable experiences, and I have had several while working on the Moon Monterey & Carmel, Moon Coastal California, Moon Santa Barbara & The Central Coast and Moon Spotlight Cambria & San Simeon books. These include paddling into the glowing sea caves of Santa Cruz Island, surfing the waves of California’s northernmost coastal community, snacking on gold dusted appetizers at Michael Mina, spending the night in San Francisco’s Mandarin Oriental with its pulse quickening views of the city and fleeing from a remote Lost Coast campsite at 3am due to gunshots erupting nearby.

My years writing articles for National Geographic Education, Relix Magazine and the Monterey County Weekly have also resulted in many moments that I will always remember. Some highlights include interviewing filmmaker and National Geographic Explorer James Cameron in person after his record-breaking submarine descent and getting some inside knowledge about the acting life from screen legend Gary Oldman in a fancy San Francisco hotel room. It has been good fun having the pleasure to be one of the first writers to do a feature article on blues guitarist Gary Clark Jr. in a national music magazine and being able to do a piece where I got to trace the journey of a condor egg from the backcountry of Big Sur to the Los Angeles Zoo. Anyway, the writing work I have done has always been enlightening and interesting to me.