We review as we travel… destinations, lodging, cruises, resorts, you name it.
There’s something to be said for direct flights to out of the way places. We are taking Jet Blue’s new nonstop service from JFK to St. Lucia, a small island near Martinique and Barbados. But instead of taking all day with connections in Miami or San Juan, we arrive in a little more than four hours. Nice!
Check out the lights! Four million–really–blue and green and clear ones on trees and buildings. Welcome to Dollywood. Of course it is named for star Dolly Parton who grew up in a two room cabin not far from here, pigeon forge, TN—you can even see a replica of the cabin where she grew up with 11 brothers and sisters and it seems one bed.
I haven’t stopped eating—corn fritters made from corn meal milled at the historic Old Mill that is on the National Register of Historic Places–continuously operating for 170 years. I started the day at The Log Cabin with country ham and fresh biscuits.
Trivia question: What is the most visited National Park? (Hint: It isn’t Yellowstone, Yosemite or the Grand Canyon) It’s Great Smoky National Park—more than 550,000 acres that straddle Tennessee and North Carolina that attracts more than 9 MILLION visitors a year.
The Living room is beautifully decked out for the holidays with greenery, wreaths and a tree in all its glory. On the mantel in my bedroom, Santa shares space with golden elk and garland festooned with bright red holiday balls and ribbon. Even the lamp is tied with a big red and gold holiday bow and there’s a poinsettia (albeit a silk one) in the bathroom.
Life is too short to waste a minute, I think. We say goodbye to Bermuda and Hamilton’s Town Hall (click image to enlarge) DAY 5—I wake up on board Royal Caribbean’s Explorer of the Seas
We learn it is the only place—and the place—for a traditional English Tea. In the 1840s, Anna, the 7th Duchess of Bedford, wanted a snack for tea and thinly sliced bread and butter.
Not sunny, but not raining. Just 66,000 people live on this pristine island—actually a series of about 360 small coral island, which is part of the British Commonwealth. Yes, we see businessmen wearing Bermuda shorts, knee-high socks, and shirts and ties to work. Hedges are manicured and lawns mowed. Houses are painted a rainbow of colors—bright orange, green and blue, pastel pinks and yellows.
It’s not the weather we imagined on our trip to Bermuda. The seas are rocking. It’s pouring and the waves are high. We get sprayed standing on our little balcony.
The cruise was long planned and then a week before tragedy stuck…
We drive to Healdsburg, a small picturesque town where, around the Plaza Park square, are tasting rooms, restaurants, antique shops, and more. My 23 year old daughter Reggie is excited because she scores a cast iron frying pan for $15. I’m excited because it is a perfect sunny fall day and I’m spending it with my husband and daughter.
DAY 4 — Five year old Rivers Klopson is turning cartwheels on the rocks next to Yosemite’s famous Vernal Falls. It’s sunny and everyone sitting…
Here’s the chance to give your kids a lesson — without them even realizing it — in San Francisco’s seafaring past and the people who made their lives sailing in and out of San Francisco Bay, hauling lumber, canned fruit and more. Five vessels — the Alma, Balclutha, Eureka, Hercules and C.A. Thayer are designated National Historic Landmarks.
We’re at the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco which in the year since it has reopened has emerged as San Francisco’s top cultural tourist attraction, drawing more visitors than even Alcatraz.
The Hotel San Francisco atop Nob Hill was getting ready for its grand opening when the city suffered its devastating earthquake April 18, 1906. The hotel survived and a year later, opened, celebrating the city’s renewal. The hotel has hosted celebrities and presidents. Tony Bennett first sang “I Left My Heart in San Francisco “here.
It’s impossible to go hungry in New York—not with vendors selling hot dogs, pretzels, kabobs and more on every corner. It’s also impossible to get bored eating in New York, whether you want to head to China Town or Ninth Avenue for good ethnic eats, great burgers, pasta, pizza or more gourmet fare.
We saw the penguins and the puffins, the sea lions and polar bears Ida and Gus, the Red Pandas and the Snow Monkeys. The Snow Leopards — new to the zoo — seemed to be hiding. The Wildlife Conservation Society, which oversees The Central Park Zoo as well as the Bronx Zoo and others in NYC (www.wcs.org), is a leader in the care and conservation of these creatures.
This is my four year-old cousin Hannah Sitzman’s first Broadway production and she loves every minute of it — from the costumes and sets to the music to the black tee shirt which spells out “Shrek” in pink sparkly letters. I especially loved the magic of the costumes.
“HONK! HONK!” They are really whales—eight to 10 of them right in front of the boat alternately spewing water high in the air, honking and “fluking”—diving for food and showing us their magnificent tails. We watch them “blow” spewing water high into the air. It’s fun to watch them!
There are seven kids aged 11 to 16-six of them boys — in our group. And in Alaska, of course, we don’t let the rain stop us whether we’re kayaking to a glacier and ice caves, looking for bear on the beach or trying to track them as we bushwhack our way through old forest.