Can I get a “woo hoo” for the foodies? A walking food tour in Chicago is a MUST DO for foodies and for people who just love amazing food. Chi-town is a city over flowing with all types of incredible bites, fun cocktail bars and delicious snacks.
On my recent trip to the Windy City, I was excited to join a small group of food lovers on the Second City Classic Walking Tour created by Chicago Food Planet.
I have a great story for you! A social media story with a very happy and delicious ending. A fellow foodie named Susan, who lives near where I live, connected with me on Instagram. She found me and followed me and I followed her in return!
I could tell that she and I had a lot in common through her posts. She loves going to outstanding restaurants and eating great meals and she is also very innovative in her kitchen. Recently she posted a gorgeous photo of a lunch dish she was having at an Argentine restaurant in Pasadena called Malbec.
Location, location, location. This “restaurant without walls”, farm to table dinner feast was in Lillywaup, WA at the Hama Hama Oyster Farm. Just imagine dining on the west shore of the Hood Canal where the water was so close you worried the tides would rise too fast. It wasn’t scary, it was dreamy.
Although the was dinner was located in the state of Washington, notorious for rain and grey skies, we experienced none of that. Just bright blue sky and vivid green grasses and trees, with white puffy clouds sprinkled on top. Goosebump scenery. You know that other worldly feeling of discovering a new place that you can hardly put in to words how incredible that moment in time feels? This is how I felt and most likely everyone sitting at the one long table set for 150 food loving diners did as well.
How about a sneak peek inside a Presidential Suite at the Grand Hyatt, San Francisco? What is a Presidential Suite exactly? Do presidents stay there? Rock stars? The Dalai Lama? How about a travel blogger and her business traveler husband? Check, check, check and check.
We are offered upgrades to suites of this kind because my husband spends half of the calendar year in Hyatt Hotels. Think of how many days that is. These upgrades are a type of thank you for his continued support and loyalty. It is a lovely perk for the sacrifices he (and I make) when he is far from home so often. Upgrades to this level don’t happen often, but when they do, we are very impressed…and grateful!
I have always suggested that sticking with one hotel chain and building loyalty points for future travel is so beneficial. This strategy helps us build hotel points and has allowed us to stay in many extraordinary luxury hotels. Craig and I just returned from a stay on the island of Mallorca at the incomparable Park Hyatt and we stayed there using points. Many of the hotel chains have credit cards where you can earn points for future stays as well.
It was a big, fat, glorious Labor Day Weekend. We hit the family bonanza when both of our grown children and their significant others could fly down from Seattle and San Francisco to be with us for the holiday weekend. The Empty Nest was full to the brim and no one could swipe that silly grin off my face for three days!
If you have been following our adventures, you may remember that we have downsized in the last year and now our current home is not the spacious dwelling where the kids grew up. No, we are living in about half the square footage with fewer bathrooms. Everyone is a good sport and sleeps where we can find room. Rocco (our dog) was beside himself with joy because he could not decide who he wanted to lay by and cuddle with next!
“Truth is life
Good friend, around these
hearthstones speak no evil
word of any creature”
Frank Lloyd Wright
I am absolutely fascinated with Frank Lloyd Wright and have been for years, but I actually never knew that I could tour his home! While I was in Chicago, I wanted to divide my time between the more touristy places like the world-class museums, Cloud Gate, aka “The Bean”, shopping on Michigan Avenue and Millennium Park, as well as satisfying my passion for architecture. There is a long list of architecture tours to enjoy directly in the city, but on this day I was trying something different.
Summer is still here and the daytime sun is blazing. I know that doesn’t make Los Angeles sound too enticing, but come anyway we have air conditioning! Or if you live in So Cal – Get out and come visit! Maybe wait until the kids go back to school (which is like, now.)
How come they go back so early now? When we were kids we had the luxury of enjoying much more summertime because we returned to school after Labor Day.
A visit to Los Angeles includes a HUGE geographic area. From Disneyland to the South to Venice in the west and Universal Studios to the Northwest. It doesn’t just include Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA). The traffic is awful so you may want to break your time down in to day trips or stay in a centrally located spot and venture out like spokes on a wheel.
The travel year is barely halfway through and we can already pick the Park Hyatt Mallorca for the luxury resort of the year. It is five star and beyond amazing. When we decided to plan a relaxing retreat in Mallorca, we knew it would be special, but it was not only special it was probably our favorite hotel experience of all time.
Where on earth is Mallorca? Mallorca is the largest of Spain’s Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean. It is known for beach resorts, sheltered coves, limestone mountains and Roman and Moorish remains. It was just a forty minute plane ride from Barcelona and is truly the quintessential Mediterranean postcard. It’s gorgeous.
Adventures in Montana can come in all shapes and sizes. It is a place of great beauty, outdoor activities, lots of meat-eating, wild animals and tons of fun. Our friends were excited to show us “their Montana” and create a once in a lifetime first experience. They accomplished their goal with flying colors.
We traveled as a foursome with our longtime friends, Troy and Brad, who were accomplished fisherman and knew how to have fun. Craig was already a camper and he has fished and shot guns before we traveled to Montana. Although he hasn’t participated since his teens, he was still familiar with what was going to happen. However, my experience with fly fishing, shooting (any type of gun), off roading and horses was just about nil.
Princess Suzanne was in for a new awakening, a HUGE new Montana adventure and I was embracing it. I think all three guys were pretty impressed and amazed that I didn’t complain and just stepped up to try all of these new activities. I even peed in the woods…twice!
Our Montana vacation included two of our oldest (40 years +) friends, some great Bourbon, a couple of huckleberry pies, a visit to the shooting range, a rodeo, a farmer’s market, boat rides around two lakes, fly fishing… and today’s AMAZING photos of our time in Glacier National Park
I have only been home for a couple of days and I have been struggling with what to share with you first! Our ten day trip was so packed with activities that it is a challenge to organize my thoughts. Montana is without a doubt one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. Big statement. Big state. Big sky Montana. Seriously, everywhere you look is a picture perfect postcard, a page in a calendar, an oil painting.
Get updates on new podcast episodes, blog posts, and travel news that I'm excited to share with you!
