Travel

We all have our favorite vacation spots.  I love to travel and below I have listed some of the best places we have gone.  If you are thinking of heading to any of the destinations, please don’t hesitate to call me – I can give you a lot more detail! 

  • Long flight, but a beautiful destination. We took our three children and spent 12 days – staying at huge resorts, inns and bed & breakfasts. Hawaii

    Grand Wailea Resort Hotel and Spa: This is where grand becomes grandiose. A mega-resort that includes an amazing pool with water slides, waterfalls, rapids, and a water-powered elevator to take you up to the top. By far the most elaborate spa I have been to anywhere. Nothing but oceanview rooms that are outfitted with every amenity you could ask for.

    The Plantation Inn: Located in the shopping town of Lahaina, this quaint Inn is just off the main drag, but well worth the short walk. A peaceful bed & breakfast with a refreshing swimming pool, extensive breakfast, and exceptional restaurant – Gerard’s.

  • This tiny island is just a short boat ride from Lahaina. There are no stoplights and barely 30 miles of paved roads. Unspoiled by progress, except for a small 1920s-era plantation village. There are two hotels with reciprocal privileges for use. We stayed at the Lodge at Koele, a 102-room hotel resembling an opulent English Tudor mansion. The hotel by the beach, where we snorkeled and swam with multi-colored fish in the lava-rock pools, is the Manele Bay Hotel. The Lodges has it all: world class golf, horse stables, spa, pools, lush gardens, afternoon tea and crochet, and even an executive putting green with a creek running through it.

  • One of my favorite coffee shops, where they roast the beans, is on the North Shore of Oahu. Coffee Gallery Hawaii can also be found at www.coffee-gallery.com if you want to order online and have their beans delivered.

  • Before our Rhine River cruise to celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary, we spent 3 days in Juangrau Region of Switzerland. If you have to choose one area of Switzerland to visit, I would highly recommend this one. Lauterbrunnen is set in a valley featuring rocky cliffs and roaring 300m-high Staubbach Falls, among others. The views were perfect from the Restaurant Schutzen. However, we stayed in Wengen, which is a short train ride up from Lauterbrunnen. It is a quaint, walking only town, which I would definitely stay at again as my home base. We bought a 3 day travel pass that allowed us to take unlimited gondolas, trains, buses, and even a boat ride. You can travel to ‘the top of Europe,” as Jungfrau calls itself or like us, go to the top of Schilthorn, where they filmed the James Bond movie “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.” Other towns I would recommend visiting are Murren, Grindelwald, and Gimmelwald. The views from lunch out back at C&M Café Und Mehr in Grindelwald were spectacular. The last stop before our cruise was taking a boat across the aqua waters of Interlaken to Thun. This quaint town sits on the western banks of Lake Thunersee (one of the two lakes on either side of Interlaken. Amazing views from Rathausplatz Square to Thun Castle.

  • The Lodges at Deer Valley embodies the western spirit with a rustic lodge style ambience. Elegant suites with numerous rooms, fireplaces, and luxurious amenities looking out at the Deer Valley ski runs. Just a 2 minute shuttle ride after an extensive complimentary breakfast. Park City skiing is across town. The difference between the two is that Deer Valley does not allow snowboarding and closes around 5 pm to allow for the runs to be groomed. Great ski schools for the kids and gourmet dining for the adults!

  • I typically get to the Denver – Colorado Springs area at least once a year. I’m an Elite YELP reviewer, if you want to follow me, so I am always looking for unique places to eat. If you are in The Springs, then you should try to make reservations at The Rabbit Hole. You enter this Alice in Wonderland themed restaurant from a subway like entrance on the street, then descend into the old city morgue, which has been carved out into a special dining experience.

    Another high-end dining experience is The Broodmoor Hotel. Get there early to walk around and get a drink at the Hotel Bar or a coffee & pastry at Café’ Julie’s in the main lobby. There are several places to dine, and reservations are a must, especially if you are staying at the hotel. There’s The Summit, Golden Bee, The Grille, and where we ate at La Taverne (The Broadmoor’s legendary steakhouse).

    If you want a very unique place to get beverages, try the “Ivywild School,” at 1604 S Cascade Ave – www.ivywildschoolmarketplace.com. It’s not well marked as to what it is, but when you pull up to the location, it looks like an old school from the 1960s. You can step back in time and wander the halls past the Principal’s Office to Bristol Brewing Co, go to the Coffee Shop, or head downstairs to Axe & Oak distillery.

    While you are in the area, head to the top of Pike’s Peak, the Air Force Academy, or go ballooning.

  • So much to do here, so I just decided to throw in a few things that are off the beaten path. Katz’s Delicatessen (Corner of Houston and Ludlow) is where “Harry met Sally,” and is the ultimate Jewish Deli. Guss’s World Famous Pickles, is located at 85-87 Orchard St. You haven’t had pickles until you’ve been to Guss’s barrel cured and kosher pickles. Carmine’s – Huge portions, family style, right in the heart of the Theatre District. Junior’s – this eatery was a hit with the kid’s and a pretty good value for NYC, before heading over to the shows. Wicked – don’t miss this Broadway production: you’ll never think about Oz the same way again.

  • There are so many things to see and places to stay when you travel to and around the Grand Canyon. Here are a few places that you won’t go wrong with. Sedona, AZ - Sky Ranch Lodge is located right in the middle of everything in this artsy town, on the way to the Grand Canyon, from Phoenix. As you follow highway 89A north, out of Sedona, you will pass Slide Rock State Park. Take the kids in for a picnic lunch and slide down this natural formation. Cold, but they will remember it!

  • Yes, it’s right in our backyard, but worth the stay. My recommendation is to upgrade to the concierge level. At the end of the level is your home away from home room to relax either inside at the couches and tables or out on the balcony to enjoy one to five daily “settings.” We came in for breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner appetizers and desserts – not to mention the “cookie humidor!” Well worth the upgrade since we never made it to a restaurant. Oh! And did I forget to mention the spa? Paradise right here in town to rejuvenate and pamper yourself.

  • Easy direct flight on Frontier Air from Orlando to Liberia (the Northwest corner of CR). We were in the Ocotal region and stayed in a great, mostly glass house on cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean (VRBO). We checked in the first day, relaxed, then went to a local grocery store. We assigned cooking dinner to one of the kids each night and ourselves and ate out a few nights. Day one we drove to Playa Flamingo. The roads in this part of the country are terrible, so what looks like a 30 min trip could take over an hour. Great beach, surf, and relaxation. Day two we went to Diamonte Eco-Adventure Park. An all-day affair, with 4 zip lines (including the 1 mile long “Superman” where you are flying like superman along the zipline). They have a great animal sanctuary and an educational area on the making of coffee and chocolate. Lastly, we went to their beach area. Day three we went to the Llanos de Cortes waterfall. It is not well marked out and we ended up with a guide to take us through the forest to get there. Awesome swimming area and you can go right up to the falls. After lunch we went to the Rio Celeste falls at the Tenorio Volcano National Park. Magical teal-colored falls and river. The hiking here, in the rain forest, is steep and uneven, but well worth it. Day four was road ATVs and hit the local beach. Day five, we had a boat captain take us snorkeling in a few coves on his power boat. Very relaxing and eventful trip that I would definitely do again as a family or just a couple.

  • In 2008 we travelled out to the Great Northwest. We landed in Portland then headed up to Seattle. The kids enjoyed The Pike Place Market, but right around the corner, down post alley, was the wall of chewed gum. Not sure if this survived Covid, but it was very colorful! Of course the trip wasn’t complete without eating ice cream (complete with smoke pouring out across the table from the dry ice) at the top of the Space Needle. From Seattle we headed East to the German town of Leavenworth. We continued East into Idaho and ended up at Elkins Lodge on Priest Lake. There are lots of great places to stay via VRBO or Airbnb. We chartered a boat to take us fishing for lake trout and then grilled them that night. Picking Huckleberries the next day renting a boat to go tubing were more highlights. The trek continued East to Whitefish, Montana, where we stayed at the Bar W Guest Ranch (dude ranch) for 3 days (www.thebarw.com). Our last day at the ranch, I rented 2 helicopters to fly in and pick us up. Kyler and I headed over Glacier National Park, while Kim and the girls tracked moose along the rivers. The last event was going white water rafting in Glacier.

  • Summer 2014 had our family headed up North. We flew into Boston, rented a car and headed to Newport, Rhode Island. My son, Kyler, was looking into applying to the Naval Academy and I wanted to show him the Naval Academy Prep School that I attended, back in 1983. We then headed up the coast to Ogunquit, Maine. The town’s name literally means, “beautiful place by the sea,” and it was. Definitely worth visiting. We continued to Portland and visited several light houses as we ended up in Camden. Great downtown area and the most amazing ice cream shop (River Ducks Ice Cream) built over the Megunticock River. Several quaint restaurants with decks overlooking the water. Our final destination as we headed north, was Mount Desert Island. We stayed in cabins on the quieter Southwest side, as opposed to Bar Harbor. The walk around the lake at Acadia National Park was spectacular. The kids enjoyed picking out their lobsters for dinner, but the highlight while we were there was taking the R L Gott boat tour to the Frenchboro fishing village of Long Island. If you are up in Bar Harbor, don’t miss it. As we headed back towards my parent’s place on Lake Ontario, NY, we stopped in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and Woodstock, Vermont. The beautiful scenery with covered bridges, farms, and quaint towns did not disappoint.