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TURKS AND CAICOS

Somewhere - Beach bar and snorkel reef

Infiniti - nice fancier restaurant on the beach within Grace Bay Club

Grace Bay Club for lunch along the beach

Coco Van for casual delicious dinner

Coco Bistro - sit down, delicious dinner

Da Conch Shack - sand floor big fun restaurant and bar

The Palms hotel - for fancy dinner or casual poolside lunch

Magnolia Restaurant - dinner up high overlooking harbor

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NAPA VALLEY, NOVEMBER 2020:

Our Trip: We did 5 nights. Flew into SFO, drove to St. Helena for 2 nights, spent 2 nights in Yountville, then an overnight in Sausalito before a flight out the next day. If I did it over, I would spend 2 nights in Sausalito, too. On the drive from SFO to St. Helena, we stopped for lunch at Oxbow Public Market (highly recommend – lots of fun to walk around the different venders and really good food – we ate at Hog Island Oyster Bar – excellent food, nice sitting outside on the patio looking out at the valley.

Because we were there for a short time and because we wanted to get a big bang for our buck, we visited (and did tastings) at 4 wineries each day! It was a lot but also a lot of fun! We rented bikes and biked around all day – didn’t drive. I’d recommend electric bikes. We had regular bikes which was fine, but e-bikes would make the biking between wineries much easier/faster/relaxing.

I used this website to find wineries and also relied heavily on recommendations from friends. The website shows you all the Napa Valley wineries, and you can filter on type of wine, which have tastings (by appointment only vs. walk-in), etc.

St. Helena

Hotel: Harvest Inn – beautiful setting right among the vineyards, we enjoyed walking the grounds. Each room is kind of like its own little cottage. Very quaint, good location, hot tub was nice way to unwind after drinking wine all day 😊. The hotel has discounts and free tastings at some of the neighboring wineries.

Bike Rentals: St. Helena Cyclery

Wineries:

• Rombauer – Beautiful scenery up on a hill, great tasting, pretty garden to walk through, fantastic staff and service.

• Duckhorn – One of our favorites, did a little food tasting pairing cheese and snacks with the wine tasting! Highly recommend! Gorgeous grounds. And great swag shop.

• Prisoner – more new-age which was a cool change of pace. The wines were incredible (and they gave us a lot of wine), but the environment/setting wasn’t anything super special compared to the others. Didn’t get to go inside because of covid, so maybe the inside is a more special setting. Of the 4 St. Helena wineries we visited, this was the least special.

• HALL Wines – This place was just spectacular! An amazing way to end the day as the sun was starting to set. Set facing the hills of St. Helena, the gardens and vineyard fields are gorgeous and just an incredibly relaxing and beautiful setting. Great service!

Breakfast: Station, The Model Bakery

Lunch: Gott’s Roadside Eats (beautiful setting, casual burgers and awesome milkshakes – good hearty meal when you’re slamming wine all day).

Dinner: Harvest Table (at Harvest Inn), Cook St. Helena (amazing authentic Italian spot!)



Sonoma

Hot Air Balloon: We had ours scheduled for St. Helena / Yountville area, but due to weather it got cancelled so we audibled to Sonoma (drove there for a half day).

Wineries: La Crema – Another one of our favorites! Really nice setting right among the vineyards, had the coolest server who treated us great, and we shipped some cases of wine home! Only place we ended up buying wine from – super tasty and had good Black Friday deals 😊.

Yountville

Hotel: Hotel Yountville – Luxurious!!! So so comfortable and over the top nice! Amazing pool area next to the spa (great massages). Rooms are top notch – everything was amazing! So glad we stayed here second as it was a significant step up from Harvest Inn which was already really nice. The hotel had complementary bikes for us to use, too.

Wineries:

• Silverado Vineyards – Absolutely EPIC! The estate house is set way up high on a hill with an amazing view overlooking the valley. We did a paired food (snack) and Cabernet tasting which was awesome! Amazing wines!

• Robert Sinskey Vineyards – Just down the road from Silverado. A newer-age, organic winery, but super cool. Very neat estate house with a great patio also overlooking the valley. I walked by a mother-daughter duo wearing a Cardinals hat and said “Go Cards!” to them. Ended up talking for a bit about our mutual love for the Cardinals, and she was a wine club member, so she said Bridgette and I were her “guests” so we got our tasting on the house!

• Robert Mondavi – We had an incredible (and surprising) experience here! The facilities and everything about Robert Mondavi were grand and beautiful. We did a winery tour first which was awesome (highly recommend), then I had booked a lunch tasting. Somehow (I’m not sure how), I had booked this private lunch that apparently they don’t do all the time. We were seated JUST US in this beautiful private garden, where the chefs harvest fresh vegetables, fruits, and herbs for their restaurant. Then we were waited on hand and foot while having the most elegant lunch and rare, delicious wines – all at this single table intimately set for two in the garden. The chef even came out and spoke to us. It was called the Vineyard to Table Lunch and we were sitting in the Margrit Mondavi Vineyard Room Patio (I took a picture of this elegant lunch menu from that day). I have no idea how we just sort of happened into this one, but it was incredible. Highly recommend trying to do something like this!

• Stag’s Leap – We weren’t able to get a reservation here, so we didn’t go, but I’ve heard it’s awesome.

• Chandon – Ended up cancelling our reservation there to have some downtime at the hotel before dinner after our two tastings, but I think they had a fun Happy Hour thing (maybe live music) that we were excited about – could check it out!

Breakfast: at hotel

Lunch: Robert Mondavi Winery, French Laundry (we didn’t go, but it’s super famous and right in Yountville)

Dinner: Lucy – Incredible, luxurious food and ambiance in the hip Bardessono hotel! We did our Thanksgiving dinner here and it was memorable!

Sausalito

Hotel: Cavallo Point Sausalito – We stayed here as a sort of stop over on the way back to the airport from Napa Valley. Really wish we had spent a couple days here! The town of Sausalito is nearby and it is super cute – almost reminds me of the Amalfi Coast in Italy. The hotel is nestled at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge. Old school, but still nice, quaint rooms – almost reminded me of Nantucket. We ate dinner and breakfast the next morning at the hotel – really tasty. Before flying out that afternoon, we rented these cool retro electric bikes and cruised up onto the Golden Gate Bridge and near the harbor for an epic view. Highly recommend staying here and exploring Sausalito vs. staying in San Francisco – very relaxing and fun.

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ALASKA, AUGUST 2019:

Anchorage

- Bubbly Mermaid: oysters and champagne

- Kobuk

- 4th and 5th street: Alaskan made goods

- Tia’s: reindeer gyro 🥙

- Weekend market with lots of artisans with food trucks and eateries

- Sevigny Studio for art or souvineers

- Wild furs limited

- Alaska crepery: get the salmon crepe!

- Jared: Anchorage culinary tours

- Glacier brew house

- Wild scoops handcrafted Alaskan ice cream

Talkeetna: West Rib restaurant

Seward

- Harbor creamery

- Crab shack

- Train rec smoke shack

- Summer ale house

- Pitt’s Bar

- Thorns showcase lounge

- Sea bean cafe

- Trading post: snacks

- Harbour 360 hotel

- Pit bar

- Rays Seafood

- Chinooks restaurant

Denali

- Denali National Park

- The Grizzly Bear Hotel (log cabin feel, right by the river)

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WHISTLER, CA 2019:

- Smile gift (touristy shop in the village - great for gifts or trinkets)

- Lululemon (slightly discounted rate due to USD/Canadian dollar - equates to about 20% off)

- Fresh tracks 8am skiing option available

- Bobsledding

- Ridebooker for bus from Whistler to Vancouver airport

- Tappan village (not the best habachi ever, but a fun experience)

- Il Cammineto for awesome Italian food

- The wildflower (fancy, high end food, gastronomic)

- Longhorns for apres ski

- Buffalo bills (energetic nightlife bar scene and dancing)

-Merlin’s: Also great apres - over at the bottom of Blackcomb vs Whistler, but short walk

- 21 Steps: Super tasty dinner, not fancy but intimate, nice setting, cozy. Not sure if you’re going with a girl or not, but would be a great date spot. Get the gourmet chicken tender starter! Also had awesome trout!

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Cartagena, Colombia ~ February 2019

La vitrola for lunch

La cevicheria

Castillo de San Filipe

Juan del mar for lunch

Zaitin for dinner

Lucy for emerald shopping

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Cartagena, Colombia ~ February 2019

La vitrola for lunch

La Cevicheria

Castillo de San Filipe

Juan del mar for lunch

Zaitin for dinner

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Santa Barbara, California ~ April 2019

- Hotel Californian and Majorelle Spa

- Blackbird for dinner

- Blue Door antiques

- Isla boutique

- The Boat House for Lunch

- The Goat Tree for breakfast

- San Ysidro Ranch

- Inspiration hike

- In & Out Burger

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Nashville, Tennessee, March 2019

Desano pizza

Kung Fu saloon for drinks

City fire for lunch in the gultch

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Portland & Freeport, Maine

August 18, 2018: We visited Portland and Freeport for Ted and Kelly’s wedding at Cunningham Farm in New Glouster. Absolutely LOVE this state and all that it has to offer.  

Scales - upscale dining, ALWAYS booked so be sure to make a reservation months in advance, right on the water, semi-fancy, pricy (traditional whole maine lobster dinner, $37). 

J’s Oyster - awesome local bar with amazing seafood and classic/traditional lobster dinner served with corn and steamers ($32), great happy vibes, oysters shucked i in front of you. 

In Freeport, we went to a lunch place called “Lobster Cooker Grill and Sports Pub” that had an amazing lobster roll with hand cut fries and slaw. There isn’t a ton to do in Freeport, outside of visiting the outlets, which is a huge deal there. They have great shops like Cole Haan, Vineyard Vines, Patagonia, J. Crew, Polo and of COURSE the famous L.L. Bean store. The L.L. Bean store at the very least is certainly worth visiting and it’s like an entire campus with separate stores for fishing, hunting, water sports, etc. 

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Mexico, 2018

Saturday: Today we got acclimated to the beautiful UNICO resort in Mexico! We had an awesome Mexican dinner, followed by a delicious sushi dinner next door!

Sunday: pool all day followed by couples spa treatment

Monday: Trip to Tulum, Mayan ruins, El Honorio for local tacos, La Eufemia, Casa Malca (Pablo Escobar’s old property), Cenote, bubble bath and thunderstorms, Netflix and chill

Tuesday: sitting by the pool, spa hot stone massage, emerald ring

Wednesday: custom hats, arrival to Excellence sitting on the beach, French dinner

Thursday: sitting on the beach

Friday: sailing, authentic Mexican dinner

Saturday: leaving Mexico

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Saturday: Today we got acclimated to the beautiful UNICO resort in Mexico! We had an awesome Mexican dinner, followed by a delicious sushi dinner next door! Sunday: pool all day followed by couples spa treatment Monday: Trip to Tulum, Mayan ruins, El Honorio for local tacos, La Eufemia, Casa Malca (Pablo Escobar’s old property), Cenote, bubble bath and thunderstorms, Netflix and chill Tuesday: sitting by the pool, spa hot stone massage, emerald ring Wednesday: custom hats, arrival to Excellence sitting on the beach, French dinner Thursday: sitting on the beach Friday: sailing, authentic Mexican dinner Saturday: leaving Mexico

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CHICAGO, IL, July 2017

Buckingham fountain Tiffany garden for weddings The field museum Planetarium Navy pier Tempo cafe

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MICHIGAN, July 2017

Elk rapids Jet skiing Shower in the lake Sleepy bear dunes Transverse city   Jolly pumpkin Bonobo winery

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MAINE, August 2017

Kennebunkport Captain Fairfield Inn The clam shack Hurricane restaurant The tides beach club for lunch Goose rocks beach Earth for dinner Portland head light Fort Williams park Portland Lobster Co. for lunch

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MONACO & NICE, July 2015

MONACO, FRANCE:

We were in Monaco for two nights, where we stayed at Hotel Hermitage. When you are in Monaco, there is the casino that is really famous (Casino de Monte-Carlo), which is worth visiting. One of the James Bond movies was filmed at this casino.

·      Prince’s Palace - http://www.palais.mc/en/museum-and-visits/the-state-apartments-1-26.html

·      Walking around the city

·      Exploring the harbor where the yachts are

·      Water taxis

·      When you are there be sure to look out for the cars – EVERYONE there drives a super nice car. I have never been to a place where there were so many amazing vehicles…one after the other.

NICE, FRANCE:

We were literally only here for an hour or two, and walked through the central market where we stopped at a simple and local sandwich shop. If you get the chance to go through the central markets they have on weekends – they have great artwork for good prices. They also have a big array of spices, keepsakes, snacks, dried goods – your typical European market. About 20 minutes from Nice (between Nice & Monaco), Teddy & AP stayed overnight in Eze, France, at Chateau de la Chevre d'Or which was super scenic and peaceful. We had dinner there and it was incredibly charming and picturesque.

We also walked through the old city of Nice, which was very cultural and cool to see so I would suggest doing that if you are in the city.

Saint Paul de Vence – ancient and medieval walled city that we visited on the way to the airport from Monaco to Nice

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Moving back to the USA, November 2017: 

Last stop before the airport, oysters, cheese, champagne and beer at Flagey. That’s a wrap! 

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Moving back to the USA, November 2017: 

I cannot believe how quickly the past year and eight months have passed. I am so sad to be leaving our amazing European home and it’s hard to believe that the time has come. We loved it here so much and today has been really bittersweet. We had to say goodbye to all of our friends, pack everything up and move out. The last thing we did in Brussels was our favorite thing – oysters at the Flagey markets. We said goodbye to our friend Wim and he said he might be going out of business without us buying all of his oysters! As you can see from photos, we smuggled our fair share of European cheese back with us to the USA. Oopsies! 

I am extremely grateful for the amazing experience we have had and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. It’s been the best time of my/our lives. Because I am so sad we decided to add a little comedy to the situation and wore our German outfits from Oktoberfest for when Teddy picked us up at the airport. Goodbye for now and see you soon, Belgium.