Wine and Spirits Travel

It was my birthday and I planned to spend it enjoying the beauty of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I was staying at the Alger Falls Motel in Munising. The tourism board had arranged a two boat rides for me the day before and I had another one to go. It was a beautiful day for it too. The Pictured Rocks Cruises is the one I was looking forward to the most because it highlights the most beautiful rock formations in this area. I had the tour scheduled for the morning and it did not disappoint. The sites are just breathtaking, from Miners Castle to Painted Coves and Lovers Leap. It reminded me a lot of some of the things I saw in Los Cabos, Mexico . There were kayakers below us seeing Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore from a whole different angle. I have to admit I was a bit jealous that I wasn’t able-bodied enough to join them. After I got off the ship, I decided to take a drive around town. Munising is a fairly small town considering it has one of the most spectacular spots in

My first trip up to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan was in the wintertime. I took a ride to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and, even in winter, I couldn’t believe how beautiful it was.  I vowed to come back and explore this area more and it seemed like an ideal way to spend my birthday. I left Great Wolf Lodge in Gurnee and drove through Wisconsin to the UP. I had decided that Munising was a base for me to start and it was the right choice. It was near sunset when I arrived at the Alger Falls Motel . The Munising tourism board had set me up there for two nights. The rooms were large and the location was central.   I was a bit hungry and decided to go for something local. I drove down to Muldoon’s and had my very first Pastie, a local favorite they were known for.   A pasty is a hand pie looks like a cross between a turnover and a calzone, or for those who have been to the U.K., a meat pie. I decided I was not in a beef mood and got one vegetable, and one apple for de

It was a beautiful summer day and my friend Betty and I were heading to St. Louis . We were going to spend the afternoon at the St. Louis Science Center before taking off on a Gateway Arch River Cruise for dinner. We decided to leave the car in the lot by the boat and take an Uber to the museum and back.  The cruises left right below the Gateway Arch and we had quite a view from that spot. The St. Louis Science Center is located within Forest Park. Like the other museums there, it is free to the public. We didn’t realize that the museum closed at 5:00 pm so we couldn’t see it all, but we had enough time to go through the main thing we came for: The King Tut Exhibit . With our tickets we received our recorders for the guided audio tour.  I really didn’t know what to expect since it had been many years since I had seen anything on King Tut.  This exhibit was so much more than I ever expected. It is set up so that you are walking in the

Lynn and I woke up in Istria for the last time. We had breakfast with the group and said as our rental car pulled up to the front of Hotel Lone in Rovinj. The Croatia Tourism Board had arranged for us to have this Audi as we hit the road to check out two more areas of the country neither of us had ever been: Rijeka and Split. Rijeka was first and we had a scenic ride along the Mediterranean Sea to our destination. It definitely looked more city-like than anywhere we had been in Istria, and Rijeka was in fact filled with plenty to. This has made it a very popular cruise port in the last few years. We would be staying overnight at the Hotel Bonavia . It was centrally located and looked quite “grand.” It was raining when Dominik Damis of the Rijeka Tourist Board and guide Alenka Šuljić Petrc picked us up to tour Rijeka, but we weren’t deterred from seeing the sites. As we went through the city, we saw the cruise terminal, and heard about how inexpensi

You know you had a great time when you can’t believe a week has gone by. That’s how Mom and I felt on our last full day on MSC Divina . It was another day at sea, but it wasn’t supposed to be. The ship was to go to Great Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas, where I was going to finally try windsurfing. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t cooperating. It was too windy for the tender to go out. As excited as I was about spending the day in the Bahamas, I was fine with also staying aboard. MSC Cruises always makes sure there’s plenty to do on their ships and I would actually have a chance to finish a book! I had gotten up and ready for the beach and instead headed to the Top Sail Lounge in the Yacht Club section of the Divina for breakfast. Top Sail had my favorite breakfast because there was always a huge selection of fresh fruit. I took a bowlful, along with some yogurt and a freshly baked blueberry muffin. I also enjoyed a cappuccino, another complimentary perk to havi