It was tough to resist checking out the allure of a secret bar in the middle of the bustling Bellagio resort in Las Vegas on a girls trip in June of 2024. The Vault opened in August of 2023, and is still pretty new and still a bit unknown to casual travelers to Las Vegas. Barely noticeable and unmarked, the door to get into this uber-upscale speakeasy is just behind the cages in the middle of the main casino area….
My youngest stepdaughter Clara is a massive Beatles fan. I mean, she is 12 and knows their entire history, and all the words to pretty much every song. George is her fave and she’s also dug deep into his solo career. When I told her that we would be spending a day in Liverpool during our trip to London in July of 2024, she was ecstatic! Getting to Liverpool from London is easy. I booked advance tickets on the Avanti…
We stayed for an enchanting five nights at Cala De Mar resort in Ixtapa Mexico this past winter of 2024 (full review coming soon!), and one of the highlights of our stay was a small group Mezcal class. Mezcal abounds in Mexico, and while Tequila has really taken off here in the USA, Mezcal is more artisanal, and tastes way more interesting. I’m glad it’s still a bit under the radar here, as prices are generally much higher than tequila…
Our visit to the Toledo Museum of Art this March, 2024, for the primary purpose of checking out their Caravaggio exhibit, deserves and article unto itself. Please check out my primary Caravaggio page on this site for more info and background into our low key obsession of traveling to and viewing all of the Caravaggio paintings in the world! We were thrilled when we found out that four out of the eight Caravaggio paintings in the USA would be glammed…
Much like with my Top Five Restaurants for this year, choosing just five activities was pretty darn difficult. We did so much cool stuff, especially in Bali and Costa Rica, that it was tough to narrow down which ones were the absolute best. I was pushed outside of my comfort zone on the hanging bridges in Costa Rica, and had one of the best spa experiences of my life in Bali, but they didn’t even make the cut! Read on…
The National WWI Memorial and Museum is definitely a must-visit when you’re in Kansas City. We were there on a Sunday afternoon in November and it was not too busy. The tower in the middle of the property is unmistakeable, and the museum itself is chock full of history and artifacts from the Great War. The experience in the museum starts with a 15 minute movie providing the background leading up to the war. You then begin your tour, and…
We came to the Nelson-Atkins with the primary purpose of seeing its Caravaggio painting – “John the Baptist in the Wilderness.” You can check out the how, where, and why of our Caravaggio hunt here! When we arrived, we realized that there was a huge party going on for Dia de los Muertos, and it was one of the busiest days of the year for the museum. No worries though, our purpose was singular, and we went straight to the…
I came to Napa Valley early on in my wine passion journey. I planned the trip with my cousins, and we came here in the fall of 2014, right after a big earthquake hit the region and devastated so many buildings and wineries. You could see the damage pretty much everywhere, but folks in this gorgeous region of California are resilient, and have a positive attitude. The earthquake didn’t end up impacting our trip much, apart from the fact that…
The first time we brought our youngest two to Las Vegas, they were 8 and 9 years old – old enough to appreciate the epic pools and massive hotels around The Strip. They loved the wave pool at the Mandalay Bay resort, and we spent a LOT of time there. Check out my itinerary with the kiddos from back in 2019 here. In that article, I list a whole bunch of other stuff you can do with kids, but it’s…
The Shedd Aquarium has been a favorite for young families in Chicago for a long time. With the addition of the Oceanarium about 20 years ago or so, there is a lot to do here, and you can easily spend an entire day at the Shedd with your family. I highly recommend getting here at open, especially on the weekends, because this museum gets super busy, and because it’s geared more towards kids, you’ll have a lot of strollers to…