A visit to Joshua Tree National Park and the town of Joshua Tree will take you away from everyday stress and introduce you to a desert landscape that is so incredibly different from city life!
Recently I have written about finding adventure in woodsy, pine-smelling forests with vast lakes like Lake Tahoe and charming towns like Jackson Hole where the Grand Tetons impress and welcome you. So today, along with my partner Hotels.com, I share one more destination inspiration! It is time to seek the sandy, rock-climbing terrain of Joshua Tree. We loved it!
Let’s go to the mountains where there are fewer people, fresh air, blue skies, exceptional deep blue water, and views to make you weep. Let’s escape to Lake Tahoe! I am once again working with my friends at Hotels.com to bring you more travel inspiration.
We started visiting Lake Tahoe when our children were little, we traveled there in the winter to ski and in the summer to hike, but with Fall around the corner, it’s time to plan for the leaf-peeping season! It is best to reach out to local hotels to learn about their new COVID protocols and safety guidelines. However, it is getting easier to travel every week that passes by. Fall in Lake Tahoe could be a wonderful first step back toward our love of travel.
Are we dreaming of a tasty trip or virtual vacation Maui Style? We cannot travel across the vast Pacific Ocean to the island of Maui, but we can pretend like we are! Virtual Vacations can transport us to a place we can’t get to for one reason or another. This Maui Style Menu will help you bring all of the essential elements together!
Last week, in my first post for How to Create a Virtual Vacation Maui Style, I introduced you to the general concept of creating a vacation at home. The Coronavirus has hijacked travel, and we need to have a way to at least pretend to be in a tropical destination. Don’t we?
Creating a path to explore a Maui Staycation was my way of getting past the indisputable travel obstacles we are facing.
Imagine the cold-sweet sip of a tropical Mai Tai, Seared Ahi Tuna with Vegetable Fried Rice, and a mound of ice cream covered in chocolate fudge in a decadent slice of Hula Pie. Yes, please! Tell me more. This delicious list is just the beginning of an authentic and tasty Maui Style vacation you can create at home.
The COVID 19 pandemic has all but ruined our travel calendar and certainly curtailed any type of air travel over the blue Pacific. Many people have underlying health conditions that prevent any possibility of travel no matter what is happening in the world. Maybe a Maui vacation is not in the budget at all?
Well, my non-traveling friends, I have a solution. Disappointed by my lack of travel options during the Stay at Home mandate, I needed to change my thinking. I had to look at my current situation and determine just how to move forward when I could not write about future travel or plan any of our own adventures. Just like you, I couldn’t enjoy a Maui vacation if I wanted to!
Our little video Cocktail Adventure has been moving along and catching speed. You all have been so supportive with your comments and enthusiasm, and we aim to please! Even our non-drinking friends are enjoying this little escape as well!
We began this adventure six weeks ago to connect with everyone stuck at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many people are baking amazing new recipes, letting their creative juices flow, and investigating new personal talents. Also, liquor sales have gone up dramatically! Hello? You are making cocktails too!
Not exactly sure how we could contribute, we created Cocktail Adventures, where we film a short 4-5 minute video and offer a little cocktail history, our favorite recipes, and a travel memory that is enhanced by this drink.
My husband Craig does some research, we include our signature recipes, and I add my friendly spin on our travel memories.
Today you are in for a treat! A tasty trifecta of the perfect ingredients and stories as well as the three videos we filmed in one take. Yep, one take. Why waste time on perfection? There’s no such thing!
This road trip to Nashville was originally published the day of the recent tornado. Not the perfect time to be dreaming of a trip to this amazing city. So, I decided to re-publish in order to bring it to your attention. When a city deals with a natural disaster of this magnitude, it is up to the travelers to come to visit and flood the city with revenue! Consider planning a trip to Nashville, Tennessee, you will love it, I promise!
A trip to Nashville should be on your adventure list!
It’s official. A trip to Nashville is a fun-filled, tasty tour of music history and fantastic live entertainment.
It seems like virtually everyone has been to Nashville, Tennessee, and then well, maybe not. I have done a little research and have found some intriguing information. Several other fantastic travel bloggers have been to Nashville, toured the city, dined at great places, and written entertaining and informative articles. But… it seems that on this trip we added some other places to experience as well. We had a blast in Nashville.
This only demonstrates that a destination can entertain its visitors in a myriad of ways. So with that being said, here is what we chose to do!
Holding a partial tray of pistachio macarons after filling
Travel offers so many types of learning experiences
Is learning how to make macarons a worthwhile life skill? To some, not so much, but to the rest of us, baking challenges enhance our culinary skills, create BIG smiles and a happy sense of accomplishment!
As I write this post, we are in the middle of the Coronavirus pandemic, and flour is at a premium. It took me two weeks to find five pounds of white flour, and I only have it because my stepfather found it for me! Whoever thought that finding baking flour would be a problem?
However, during this small window of time, many of us are turning to baking as therapy as well as a way to learn a new skill. Some are honing our baking chops to see if we can up our game as well! So far, I have tried my hand at Foccacia and Blueberry Scones – Successfully!
Just a few months ago, when flour was an ingredient I took for granted, I learned how to make macarons. I traveled to Seattle to see our daughter and included this culinary adventure. The class was held at The Pantry and was taught by Marianna Stepniewski, a skilled pastry chef, who showed us many special techniques and offered tips and tricks. After she demonstrated what we needed to do, we tried it ourselves and took turns. We divided into four groups of three and each made a flavor.
Can’t travel now, but we can dream – The Plantation House – Kapalua, Maui
Got travel challenges?
Are you wondering what to do now that we can’t travel freely? I know we all have to do our part and therefore, armchair travel is best for now.
Traveling is my passion, my career, and what lights me up. I am always thrilled to hear about your latest trip and the vacations of others. I can live vicariously or better yet; I can find adventure too. Since we are not currently traveling, and many of us have chosen to cancel or postpone travel arrangements, maybe now is the time to dream about your next trip?
Life is busy and we don’t always take time to enjoy the process of the hunt! To create the perfect trip or vacation, a carefully researched itinerary is the best way to go! Now is the time to get down into the teeny tiny details!
A celebratory Piña Colada on a sunny afternoon in Maui
Tasty Dishes & Enticing Cocktails
I began my search for the tastiest dishes of the year by sifting through my photos starting in January. However, by the time I reached the month of June, I had already chosen 30 different tantalizing feasts for the eyes! How to choose?
Be honest, do you want to see that many of my “highlights”? I don’t believe so. Therefore, I carefully looked for colorful, unique meals and surprisingly incredible drinks that are worth celebrating once again. A few of them are favorites due to their unique nature or element of surprise!
I have narrowed down this list to a more manageable number and I hope you enjoy revisiting them as much as I do!
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