Wine and Spirits Travel

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

When I first saw the schedule the St. Joseph Tourism Board had laid out for my friend Lynn and me,  I have to admit I was a bit overwhelmed. It was a very full day. But, it turned out to be an extremely fun one. After a good night’s sleep at the Inn at Harbor Shores, we headed to downtown St. Joseph. We started off fueled, thanks to Caffe Tosi . Lynn had a plate full of fruit and granola and I went for plain yogurt with a luscious almond horn on the side. The second place on the agenda was actually the home of another bakery, but not one for us. FuzzyButz is actually a pet bakery, where owner Mary Schaut creates treats for her four-legged friends. We were incredibly impressed with Mary’s creativity as we walked around, looking at items such as Sweet Potato Pie flavored treats; ones made to look like burgers, fries, and cannoli; peanut butter squares (peanut butter is actually a base for most of her items); and even squares that taste like lamb stew.

I slept well after a full day that had included an amazing snorkeling trip on a catamaran . After dressing casually I took a stroll down to the beach to meet my friend and fellow travel writer, Sue Campbell, for breakfast at Nisbet Plantation in Nevis. Coconuts is the name of the beachfront restaurant at the resort. It was once again a beautiful day to enjoy the view of the turquoise sea while we ate.  I had some tasty banana coconut pancakes with fresh juice and yogurt. We didn’t have much time to admire the view as we were being picked up soon for a tour of Nevis with a representative of the island’s tourism board. Our first stop was to look at the remains of the last sugar plantation on the island. It was here we also started talking about the monkeys. We were told the green monkeys in Nevis outnumber the people, yet we hadn’t seen any in the three days we had been there.  There were none to be seen at the old plantation, so our hopes were on the n

I had finally made it to St. Louis ( twice ) after a decades long absence, but I knew there was a lot more of Missouri for me to see. I decided to cross some of it off my list with a week long road trip through the state, and I brought my friend Jaimee along for most of the fun. Jaimee was flying into St. Louis and wasn’t able to meet me until very late the first night. I thought it would be a great opportunity to check out a suburban hotel, and meet my cousin Linda for dinner. As soon as I saw the photos of the Sheraton Westport Chalet , I knew it was what I was looking for. It was near the airport and referred to as in St. Louis, but it’s actually in the suburb of Maryland Heights. The hotel did not let me down. The perfectly landscaped property with the European shutters and balconies were beautiful. As soon as I arrived, I couldn’t help but explore the adjacent pedestrian plaza. It was a quaint little village with tiled walkways that definitely didn’t make