Living the Dream in Retirement
While in Vegas I had the opportunity to go to the festive 32nd Annual Holiday Cactus Garden Lights. I’ve been to the cactus garden during daytime on a prior visit to Ethel M Chocolates and a few years ago, tried to attend this event only to arrive during a power outage.
This year, no power outage and an unseasonably mild December evening allowing us to stroll through the lovely, lighted cactus garden with Christmas music playing…..
I’ve just returned from a wonderful week in Santa Fe. Spence and I had been here 20+ years ago and I loved it. They say you can’t go back again but this was not one of those times. Santa Fe was every bit as captivating as I remembered and I fell in love with it all over again.
We rented a home in the Baca District which is adjacent to the Railyard District – both are new since my last visit. The location was perfect and we found great coffee shops, galleries, a wine shop and restaurants within steps of our rental. Our rental car allowed us to explore Santa Fe, Taos, Madrid, Abiquiu and Albuquerque.
This post has scenes from the Railyard District and the Plaza. Art is everywhere and I’ve come home inspired to paint – once I’m rested!
Stay tuned for more posts from this trip!
These sunrise photos were taken between 6:15 a.m. and 6:58 a.m. from my balcony while sailing the east coast. It was spectacular and one of my favorite things to experience while cruising.
I’ve recently returned from my first cruise.
I loved it!
We set sail at the end of March for a 10 day Caribbean voyage out of the Ft Lauderdale port. My traveling shipmates were my sister and brother-in-law who have cruised extensively and were my mentors from booking last fall through our final disembarkation. Their knowledge and experience made my cruise so much more enjoyable.
The Enchanted Princess is a gorgeous ship. Not long after boarding, our bags arrived at our staterooms. We had upgraded to Reserve Collection Mini-Suites and I loved everything about my cabin – especially the awesome, deep bathtub – I did not expect that!
There will be more posts about this trip in coming days and for those who follow my blog, you know at least one post will be featuring the food.
The food was spectacular……
For me returning to the Great Smoky Mountains is inevitable. Most all who visit here fall in love with everything about this magical place. The air smells fresher, the people are welcoming and there’s no end of things to explore. While this trip featured several new experiences for me, I always make the drive through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Cades Cove Loop, seeking out scenic overlooks and photo-ops to capture the beauty all around me. Once you’ve driven through, you’re always drawn back. It’s ever-changing with the passage of time yet it remains clean and well maintained, a credit to our national parks workers. Photos can never do it justice but I wanted to share a few favorites from this vacation.
And one more thing, if you’ve never been here, I hope you will one day.
I love Michigan and have lived here all my life. Within one to four hours in any direction, you can take an endless number of road trips and discover fun things to do. (Under the “Michigan” category, you can bring up earlier posts – and I hope you will.)
We’ve got countless lakes at every turn, gorgeous weather and amazing vineyards as well as sports, casinos, festivals, concerts, theaters, galleries, universities, zoos, great restaurants, parks and markets….you get it, right?
I’m sharing a couple of slideshows of road trips I’ve made over the last four weeks, from St Clair and Marysville to Traverse City, Lake Leelanau, Cedar and Suttons Bay. If you have a chance to visit Michigan, these are a few of my favorite places.
2. Traverse City, Cedar, Lake Leelanau & Suttons Bay
After our October 2015 trip to Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort in Aruba, I wrote the series “Travels in Aruba” including the post Top 10 Things I Love about Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort if you’d like to check it out!
As Spence and I were enjoying our recent trip in May, we compiled a list of ten additional things we love about this exceptional resort. The list was easy for us and exceeded ten things but for consistency, I’ve whittled it to ten, in no particular order:
4. Sunday Happy Hour – During the Sunday Happy Hour, there are a select group of artists who display their work as well as a chef featuring an Amuse Bouche. Spence bought me a lovely pair of earrings (last year I bought a bracelet here that remains a favorite). The art is lovely and the prices are reasonable. Plus it’s combined with Happy Hour – you can’t beat that!
5. Driftwood Workshop – This year the resort was featuring a painting class on driftwood. I met the instructor during our first Sunday Happy Hour. I was intrigued with her talent and signed up for the next class. It was fun to create art and hang out with Maria Onni, our instructor and Nicole, from Guest Services/Concierge who took the class as well. It happened to fall on a rare overcast day that even sported a couple of quick rain showers but even if it had been a sunny beach day, it was completely enjoyable and I’d take it again!
6. Carte Blanche – Located within the Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort, Carte Blanche is open to the public but only if you’ve planned ahead to secure a coveted reservation to this limited seating, chef’s selected, multi-course gourmet meal. I was lucky to get us a spot and the meal as well as the experience of watching a skilled chef create and plate the most exceptional food was a foodie’s dream come true.
7. Fresh Orchids – It’s the little touches and attention to detail, like fresh orchids in our room and even in the hallways. The orchid in our room was down to two blooms toward the end of our stay and was replaced with a new one, simply because housekeeping was paying attention. And that’s typical of the attention to every detail that we’ve come to expect from everyone here.
8. Aruba Aloe Bath & Body Products – In keeping with their eco-friendly policies, rooms feature dispensers of liquid hand soap, body lotion, conditioning shampoo and body wash from the Aruba Aloe company. I’ve since ordered the products online as I loved the high quality – light scented, gentle and most importantly, I love the way my skin and hair feel after using the products for two weeks.
9. Complimentary iPad – This is particularly nice for any guest but in particular, as a blogger it was great to stay connected. Though we somehow missed noticing this last trip, the alarm clock has both an iPod docking station and a sound machine with crickets, ocean waves and other sounds to help us relax fall into a deep sleep.
10. The Sand Bar – During the day, Bucuti’s Sand Bar is “the place” for cold adult beverages (a Prosecco or Pina Colada for me – Balashi for Spence), as you relax in the open-air, shaded round bar while gazing at the beach and brilliant turquoise ocean beyond. But there’s more…. as we discovered this trip – the lunch menu. Over the course of our two week stay we tried the Element’s Ceviche, Tuscany Panini and Garlic Roasted Quesadillas. With lots of delicious menu items to choose from, two daily happy hours, a pair of love birds and Paco, the talking parrot, what’s not to love about the Sand Bar?
This ends “Travels in Aruba 2016”. I hope you’ve enjoyed it – it’s been fun to share it with you and read your comments. Many thanks!
Fifty third thing: This entry in the “59 Candles, 59 Things series features my love of photography.
I’ve never taken lessons. In recent years, my Nikon remains at home in favor of my iphone camera for still and video photography. Capturing special moments while Spence and I travel, my beautiful blooming garden, our adorable Tipper and Biscotti as well as photographing food I’ve prepared or ordered out is fun for me. The easy editing tools allow me to enhance my best shots, create lasting memories and gather content for my blog. For me, photography is fun and it makes me happy.
Here are a few of my personal favorite photos:
This series, “59 Candles, 59 Things” was started almost one year ago to celebrate my 59th birthday and highlight some of the many things that make me happy. For more, look under categories for “59 Things”. I hope you’ll enjoy the series and think about what makes you happy too!
From my travels to Switzerland, when my cousin Kristin took Spence and I to an “underground” fondue restaurant. “Underground” in the sense that this is a place that locals know of but not “tourists” (as we learned from our tablemates later that evening). Kristin and her husband had lived in neighboring Versoix for a number of years and so she quickly established her credibility. In reality the restaurant sat on a pier, a long stroll out onto Lake Geneva. Kristin placed our order at a walk-up station outside the restaurant. We carried our drinks inside and found seats at one of the long communal dining tables, very rustic. When your number was called you needed to react immediately as the servers were moving rapidly with vats of molten fondue. The fondue was served with bread and a side dish of fruit cocktail. The two men seated next to us (locals) began engaging us in a spirited discussion after dinner including an explanation about Traditional Swiss Fondue and what does (and doesn’t) go into it. There is so much more to the story of that evening and memories of that trip. But since this blog is meant to feature a recipe, I’ll save those stories for another blog or my novel…….
Traditional Cheese Fondue
Shred the Gruyère and Emmentaler cheeses, I do so in my food processor. This will yield 8 cups of shredded cheese. Using a microplane, grate two teaspoons of nutmeg, set aside. Using a garlic press, pulverize the garlic cloves, set aside.
I use an electric fondue pot but have also made this on the stovetop, transferring into an old-school fondue pot with a little can of sterno blazing beneath it. That said, when you are ready to assemble, heat the pot – better low and slow than to risk burning this fabulous cheese mix. Start by pouring in 1/2 cup of wine and the garlic into the fondue pot. As soon as it starts bubbling put in the first two big handfuls of cheese and stir with a fondue fork. Now stir in the nutmeg. By handfuls add the cheese, stirring the unmelted into the melted. Add more wine if needed. At this point add the Kirschwasser. How much is up to you – I use a healthy shotglass full. Stir it in. Serve with wine or beer of your choosing, ready your fondue fork and start dipping, relax and talk with your tablemates.
Dippers
