The 2004 movie Sideways made the greater Santa Barbara wine region well known. Funny. The wines we tasted and the vineyards we visited were not well know to me. My reasoning?  Small batch wineries, almost all of them, these wonderful wines do not make it very far east...

It’s not for everyone but some with a strong cultural curiosity will find Istanbul irresistible. The city was founded as Byzantium in the 7th century BC. Roman emperor Constantine the Great renamed it first as New Rome and then as Constantinople,  after himself. It...

I never heard of The Lowcountry before 2019. Since then, I have come to know that  The Lowcountry is a geographic and cultural region along South Carolina's coast, including the Sea Islands. The Lowcountry, a large part of which sits at or below sea level is known for...

In a past post, we talked about staying at the Hacienda San Angel, a beautiful property that was the home of Richard Burton in a past life.  It remains a hotel like no other. We went back this Spring Since the passing of its co-founderJanice Chatterton, Hacienda San...

It is an easy five-hour drive from the oceans of SE South Carolina to the mountains of SW North Carolina – Asheville. We do it often, especially in the heat of summer. This time it was glamping re-visited. Last time we were in a dome. This time we were in a tiny...

I was sitting on the bank of a river in Botswana with Eli, enjoying a Montecristo #2 and watching for hippos and the conversation turns to….. The Grey in Savannah Georgia. Really? Turns out Eli’s home base is Atlanta and even Atlantans hundreds of miles away know of...

Our first trip to Austin was in the early 1990’s and the locals were telling us you should have been here in the 80”s. We started going to Austin regularly in 1996 and moved there in 2000. By then the semiconductor industry had been heavily subsidized to locate there...

Arrive in Naples early Thursday night for a long weekend and you immediately go to the Celebration Park Food Court. The Maine Shack lobster rolls are the best this side of Kennebunkport. The bar is hopping – March Madness is in full swing – and there is a great...

We all have them. Those grand trips we may never get to take for one reason or another. Jane and I did the luxury safari this year. We have friends who like to organize things and they set up their own and loved it. We have an appreciation for Backroads trips so we...

…then Minneapolis would have twice as many people. It is a gem of a small city. We lived there for years before the winters got the best of us (and the taxes too). We try to get back often – just in the summer. There are over 20 colleges and universities in the metro...

Ever since Marc Cohn came out with “Walking in Memphis”, Beale Street has become a more well known and popular destination for travelers interested in American music. Perhaps music history would be a more apt description of what Memphis offers. Sun...

When you live in Minneapolis you have to go somewhere warm at least once during each miserable winter. My recommendation? Go to Puerta Vallarta. If for no other reason to stay at the Hacienda San Angel. It is a hotel like no other. And if you love dogs as we do,...

Central California has been getting a lot of attention, for good reason. Between Santa Barbara in the south (IMO, too close to LA to be central CA) and San Jose in the north lies some of the most beautiful and unspoiled parts of the state. Smack in the middle is San...

If you have never been to Maui what you probably expect when you get there is long expanses of beautiful beaches. And you get that. Miles of glorious beaches. What no one tells you to expect is that there are six major climate zones on Maui, from desert to rainforest...

I have been to California wine country many times, mostly all to Napa. I love Cabs, what can I say. I just never got next door to Sonoma. Santa Barbara, Paso Robles…just not Sonoma. Until December. Make no mistake, if you love Cabs, Napa is the place. But Sonoma has a...

The property most often associated with the small city of Asheville, NC is the Biltmore and it is an unusual and extraordinary place. Fully 8,000 acres, the Biltmore estate, highlighted by George Vanderbilt’s French Renaissance castle, can be found in the heart of...