Is a romantic weekend for two on your travel list for this year? If it isn’t, you may want to think a little harder, be a little more creative for your sweetheart. Don’t have a significant other? Grab a friend or a grown child and go, because everyone deserves a bit of me time.
My friends at Hotels.com asked me to share a few fun things to do in Miami Beach! The whole world will be watching the vibrant city of Miami, Florida on Sunday February 2, 2020, because Super Bowl LIV will be played at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. Families, empty nesters, couples and friend groups will travel away from the winter blues and down to where the sun shines virtually every day. Travel to Miami is red hot right now.
Wow, to narrow down my top travel highlights of the year was truly a challenge. 2019 was one heck of a travel adventure full of eclectic destinations, firsts and second time visits, discovery and nature so big it takes your breath away. Literally.
January began with a relaxing but rainy week in Maui and then the travel wheels got moving very quickly! No time for resting, extraordinary destinations were waiting for us to arrive.
I know that you are super busy and you cannot always make time to read every single one of my posts… so here are some of the top travel highlights and links to their respective posts. I once again want to thank you for being here and for reading and commenting on my adventures. I truly appreciate you.
Pasadena is only ten miles from Downtown Los Angeles (aka DTLA) and is a popular place to visit all year round. I grew up near here and moved back to the Crown City five years ago. Historic Pasadena boasts incredible architecture and now the downtown area has been completely revitalized and has changed a great deal for the better. The shopping, dining and activity options are stellar and most people already know about the famous Colorado Blvd. This is the street where The Tournament of Roses Parade marches for 5.5 miles every year on January 1.
Travel in Japan! Riding on the Shinkansen or bullet train you will find that it is extremely clean, super fast (199 MPH) and just as cool as you think it might be. I sat there like a bullet train geek anticipating this transportation adventure as I watched many locals just chill out and read the paper. No big deal, they ride it everyday!
Does a trip to Japan seem a little intimidating? I think so too, but I just returned from my second trip to this intriguing country and I believe I have the hang of it now. Or at least the cities of Tokyo, Hakone and Kyoto!
As a guest of two Japanese companies Odakyu and Keihan, rail companies who offer many kinds of transportation as well as hotels and restaurants, I discovered how much easier it can be to get around Japan, if I actually knew about these helpful ways to get there. Once introduced to these options, I now can share them with you for your next trip to my new favorite place to visit. All opinions are my own honest observations and any enthusiasm you feel from me is genuine. My trip to Japan was unapologetically fantastic.
I traveled to three cities I have visited before, but this trip was entirely different as we saw new things, stayed in new hotels and ate delectable local cuisine in totally different restaurants. However, even though I have been to Japan twice in less than two years, I still feel like I have only scratched the surface of possibilities. I am ready to go back!
We discovered unique handcrafted cocktails at The Mockingbird Lounge, artisan popcorn at Velvet Creme, the BEST tacos, and authentic family owned and operated established restaurants that will wow every single visitor. All coupled with the nicest people I’ve met in a very long time!. Have you made it over KCK? (BTW, all the cool people call Kansas City Kansas, KCK)!
A trip to the Bourbon Trail… is this on your list too? Ever since our grown kids came home from college loving this delicious brown spirit, I have been paying attention. Truthfully, at the time of their discovery, I was still favoring the ubiquitous Cosmo. I then moved on from the Cosmopolitan to a vodka martini which was made up of “Chopin, up, two olives and a twist.”
However, in the last year, my favorite adult beverage is now a Manhattan or Old Fashioned, because I love the aroma and smooth flavor of a good quality bourbon.
This leads me to the story of our most recent vacation, an adventurous trip to the Bourbon Trail. We began our tour in Louisville, Kentucky, traveled over to Lexington, KY and then finished our trip in Nashville, Tennessee. Not surprisingly, it was one of our favorite trips in years!
Our road trip through South Dakota was way bigger and way grander than we ever imagined it could be. I was in Medora, North Dakota (another place you should visit) to attend a travel conference. So because the Dakotas are so close to each other, our vacation plan was to visit Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, explore the other areas of the state we were familiar with like Custer State Park and enjoy the beautiful panorama.
What we didn’t realize was just how spectacular this South Dakota scenery would be! The sheer size (242,756 acres) and vastness of the South Dakota Badlands absolutely blew our minds. Located in southwest South Dakota, this national park protects buttes and pinnacles along with the largest mixed grass prairie in the United States.
I kept thinking, “Why didn’t anyone ever tell me about this place?” Nearly speechless, I stood silently in awe. I knew the landscape was created by nature, but it was just so unusual, with the staggeringly huge rocks, so smooth and perfect it looked like a ride at Disneyland. How could this be real?
In addition to being blown away by the natural elements of the shores of Sylvan Lake, we also arrived just after a small rain shower and the sky was mostly clear and the lake like a mirror, not a ripple. The mirror image of the enormous boulders above and below on the water was magical.
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