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City Guides, Travel Planning and Dream Vacations
‘Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans’ – John Lennon
My favorite quote. And with all the travel disruptions over the past two years, this never rang more true.
However, with restrictions easing worldwide, it seems that our pent-up wanderlust is kicking in big time. Carla’s travel bookings are soaring with trips being booked everywhere from Hawaii to Egypt. So, great news for those of us longing to get back on the road.
This particular trip was to check off a bucket-list experience. For a die-hard Yankee fan like Carla, a trip to Tampa for Spring Training promised to be a major event. So what happens? The players and owners get into a contractual dispute and the Spring Training games we planned to see were canceled!
So…a not so bad plan B. A trip to sunny Florida to set out and explore the Best of Tampa and The Gulf shores.
Crossing the heart of New York State is one of the most scenic, serene and breathtaking landscapes in America: The Finger Lakes. Carved by glaciers over 30 million years ago, Mother Nature blessed the region with 11 beautiful lakes. The lakes themselves are quite deep, up to 600 feet, and with this immense volume of water, temperatures remain moderate allowing grape varieties such as Riesling and Pinot Noir to flourish. Add just the right soil and drainage and you have over 100 wineries producing some of America’s finest wines.
That alone is enough to fill days of exploration and relaxation. But there is so much more to take in…waterfalls, hiking, museums, restaurants, water sports…quaint inns and lodges, rolling hills and valleys, farmland and forests… So here is a long weekend itinerary of great finds we experienced and a plan to take and make your own.
“All water has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was.” – Toni Morrison
From the minute you approach the first of 832 stone steps of the Gorge Trail, the sound of rushing water transports you to another world…one that can only be created by Mother Nature.
Hospitality: ‘the activity or business of providing services to guests in hotels, restaurants, bars, etc‘…or better yet, ‘given to generous and cordial reception of guests‘.
Some places get it and some don’t. Jimmy Buffett gets it. The Margaritaville Resort in Pensacola Beach gets it. On our first visit seven years ago we fell in love with the place. From the friendly staff who can’t do enough for you, to the bartenders who make you feel right at home…and personalized text messages throughout your stay, just checking in to make sure you’re relaxed and happy. Plus the setting on beautiful shores of the Gulf of Mexico and the surrounding area that offers something for everyone. That’s why we came back a second time, and loved it even more.
There’s no denying that the connection we have with water runs deep to our soul. The deep blue stirs our emotions, evoking calm and serenity.
Water is the source of life itself, making up more than 70% of our bodies. So it stands to reason that just being in proximity of a lake, river or ocean is where we can return to a naturally calming state of mind and embrace gratitude.
Nestled in the Pocono Mountains of Eastern Pennsylvania is a sparkling gem: Big Boulder Lake, located in the town of Lake Harmony. This laid-back getaway is the perfect place to recharge and relax. There’s nothing quite like a peaceful paddle in your kayak around the calm waters. And the surrounding area has is filled with adventures for hikers, boaters, foodies and all around nature lovers.
“Life is a combination of magic and pasta.” -Federico Fellini. And a perfectly paired wine completes the experience.
We compliment those creative entrepreneurs who have re-invented themselves during these days of social distancing. They have found ways to provide virtual escapes, and bring us together to enjoy life’s simple pleasures.
Lindsay and Gabriel’s Food and Wine Events turned our Saturday at-home date night into a truly memorable evening. It was wonderful to invite them into our home as we spent two hours together, enjoying preparing our meal just as much as eating and drinking.
Gabriel started us with a crisp, sparkling wine that set a festive mood.
If you’ve been missing travel, think about Henry David Thoreau.
Thoreau was born in Concord, Massachusetts on July 12, 1817, and died there on May 6, 1862. And except for just a couple of brief excursions to nearby states, he pretty much spent his whole life in his native town…and he found great inner peace and happiness there. He was quoted to say: ‘…I have been nailed down to this my native region so long and steadily, and made to study and love this spot of earth more and more’.
So, during this pandemic we’ve been essentially ‘nailed down’ as well. To keep sane, happy and healthy, we’ve rediscovered our local natural wonders and have logged in miles of trails over the past year. This Winter we braved the cold, and got outside to marvel and appreciate the beauty around us as we wait for better times ahead to explore further. Here are just a few thoughts on why we love walking in nature.
A river runs through it. How beautiful is the sound of rushing water as it travels along its bed, bubbling over rocks and branches? Creating pools and eddies, one can sit, stroll and hike along the riverbank and watch it for hours.
Rise early, when the sun is just peaking over the horizon and the water is smooth as glass. This is the time when the calm, peaceful serenity on the lake puts your soul at ease.
Whether you enjoy all the activities the lake has to offer, or simply choose to relax with the gentle lap of waves against the shore, an escape to a lake holds the promise of a return to simple pleasures. This Summer we discovered a destination with so much to offer we could barely fit all we wanted to do in the time we had.
With a cancelled trip to Europe in July and no return to travels afar anytime soon, we needed to keep our much needed Summer getaways close to home this year. So here we are at the beginning of Fall, thinking back to this years trips to peaceful, relaxing destinations filled with long sunny days making memories with our family.
The Jersey Shore. Anyone hailing from the Garden State has grown up jam-packing the family car for a trip ‘down the shore’. Pick your exit on the Garden State Parkway beginning from Sandy Hook (117) all the way to Cape May at exit 0.
If you grew up in Jersey, the shore is part of your culture. As a kid, you remember family trips in station wagons, sand castles and seashells. As a teen, you remember shore houses with friends, bars, bands and parties that raged. As a parent you remember dragging chairs, blankets, umbrellas and toys and constantly watching the little ones not get pummeled by waves. And now, in later years, it’s time to relax, spending long days reading, napping and just gazing at the relentless surf, taking a much needed break from the every day.
If you’re planning a visit, come see why we love the Jersey Shore…
The Beach…(duh)…New Jersey beaches are beautiful. Most have grassy dunes protecting the soft, white, shifting sands, and the water warms up to refreshing levels in the high 70’s during July and August. The waves change with the tides and weather, but are usually big enough for surfers – body or board.
Some beaches are wider than others (like the five hundred yard walk to the water in Wildwood), and some get congested around boardwalks and bars but you’re always sure to find a comfortable spot, far enough from your beach neighbors, to make your circle of friends and family.
The Bay. Most Jersey beaches are on barrier islands that protect the coast. This creates protected waterways lined with houses and eateries, and filled with all sorts of watercraft on sunny days.
On our vacation we rented a house that backed right up to the bay, and every morning we took our kayaks and standup paddle boards our to the grassy islands, where egrets, herons, countless seagulls and even osprey make their home.
Seafood is of course fresh and plentiful. New Jersey fishermen land more than 100 varieties of finfish and shellfish from six major commercial fishing ports: Atlantic City, Barnegat Light, Belford, Cape May, Point Pleasant and Port Norris. Most notable are the sea scallops, blue crabs and oysters – don’t miss the must-try the Cape May Salts, harvested right from the Atlantic’s intertidal flats on Delaware Bay.
The Boardwalk(s). Starting with the world’s first, built in 1870, Atlantic City is rich with history, and still reigns as ‘America’s Playground’ (in usual times) complete with gleaming lights, flashy shows and beach bars reaching out from the casinos to the ocean.
Other favorites include Wildwood’s funky, retro vibe (38 blocks long, with five amusement piers), the home of NJ’s best live music in Asbury Park, family-friendly Ocean City and our perennial party place, Point Pleasant…it isn’t Summer without a trip to Jenkinson’s and Martel’s Tiki Bar for one of the shore’s best beach scenes.
Boardwalk food. Feast your way through the best Cheesesteaks – loaded with peppers, onions and mushrooms (sorry Philly, ours are the better), huge pizza slices (Joe’s on the Wildwood Boardwalk is a whopping 28″), funnel cake and zeppoles (we’ll deep fry anything, especially dough),
And don’t forget Kohrs Ice Cream…the iconic orange sherbet and vanilla ice cream swirl is a must.
History – yes, there is plenty, starting with America’s First Seaside Resort: Cape May (click for a full blog on this charming destination).
And all you lighthouse buffs shouldn’t miss Barneget, Absecon and Sandy Hook, the oldest operating in America. It is there you’ll also experience Gateway National Recreation Area in Monmouth County. The barrier peninsula forms the other side of the “gateway” to New York Harbor.
Fort Hancock served as part of the harbor’s coastal defense system from 1895 until 1974 and contains 100 historic buildings and fortifications. Sandy Hook contains seven beaches, including Gunnison Beach, a nude beach by custom, as well as salt marshes and a maritime holly forest.
The Asbury Park Boardwalk was founded in 1871 as a seaside residential resort in a prime waterfront location. Shortly after the city’s inception, the beach boardwalk was constructed, featuring an orchestra pavilion, public changing rooms and a pier extending into the Atlantic Ocean, capitalizing on the opportunity to attract visitors beyond the local region. In the 1920s, the Paramount Theatre and Convention Hall ushered in a new era of music and performing arts that still exists to this day.
Music – yes, the Jersey Shore is home to world-renowned artists with a sound that take you right to the boardwalk the minute you hear it.
Born in iconic venues like the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, many of the world’s most popular musicians have played at the venerable clubs and concert halls which today are considered some of the greatest rock & roll venues of all time.
From Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band to Bon Jovi to Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes The Stone Pony, The Wonder Bar, Paramount Theatre and Convention Hall not only helped launched careers but put the Jersey Shore sound into music history.
This was a year like no other, but we still had our fun in the sun. For a week that went way too fast our family came together to spend long sunny days at the beach, paddle on the bay, enjoy spectacular sunsets and escape for a bit.
…cos down the shore everything’s alright…
Tell us why you love the Jersey Shore!
We haven’t felt like writing in a while. What’s left to say about the crisis that put our travel dreams on hold? So let’s look forward and summon our creativity to make the most of the present.
In that spirit, we virtually gathered some of our closest friends for the closest thing we could do to experience a wine tasting tour of beautiful Sonoma, California. It was a wonderful escape, letting the wines take us away, sparking our imaginations.
Thanks to the expert guidance of winecubetours.com founder and Sonoma Wine Tour Guide, Raymond Rolander, we were virtually whisked away to rolling hillsides, foggy coastlines and windy plains. In my mind’s eye I could recall several amazing trips to the California wine country and falling in love with Sonoma, the quieter, more laid back neighbor to world-renowned Napa, populated with many smaller and lesser known vineyards. Our highly anticipated ‘trip’ began with a lot of preparation. After an initial consultation of our particular likes and dislikes, each couple who participated was shipped four full carefully wrapped and numbered bottles, concealing the labels to enable the ‘blind’ tasting experience. The wines were stored as instructed and opened at precisely specified times before the tasting.
Our virtual event started with an invitation from Raymond to let the wines take us on a sensory, imaginary journey. Just as music always does for me, wine and food conjure memories of magical moments, and we associate those sounds, tastes and smells with times and places stored away in our mind’s treasure chest. And sure enough, with each new glass poured, the wines did just that. We were soon chatting away about remembered trips to the California, Oregon and Washington wine countries, as well as more distant travels as far away as Tuscany, Germany and France to relive those experiences.
Now, our goal here is to not be the spoiler who tells you the end of the movie! So, we will not reveal any specific wines here on the blog (sorry friends). But imagine this…the fun of a blind tasting was in the total focus and discussion of each varietal. We guessed as best we could, and were most often wrong at identifying what we were tasting. So Raymond would expertly guide us through, and lead us to the ‘reveal’, where we were told the wine and producer. From there, the screen share that followed pinpointed each vineyard on the map of Sonoma where he described the area and its climate, giving us a behind the scenes story into each family-owned vineyard.
As the night progressed, so did the wines, moving from from crisp whites to lighter reds, to the full-bodied varietals that typically complete a tasting. We discussed our favorites and went back for seconds (and thirds, etc…) and continued our virtual party far into the evening.
One day soon, our blog will once again be filled with adventures near and far, and Carla will be to back booking dream vacations for all of you (shameless plug…feel free to start as soon as you’re comfortable). But for now, we tip our hat to entrepreneurs such as Raymond who are keeping our wanderlust alive in creative ways.
Until next time, open a bottle of your favorite vintage and allow yourself to be whisked away to the warm sun, cool breeze, and the manicured hills of a distant vineyard, gazing at the rows of vines that fade into the horizon.
Carla is standing by with travel advice, ideas, recommendations and the best deals you'll find anywhere. Reach out now to make your travel dreams a reality! Email Carla@vacationkids.com or call 973-370-5584