Well, before you’re totally inundated with Bali content in about two weeks, when I go back for the first time in 14 years, I thought I’d do a little reminiscing before I left for this newest adventure. I studied for a semester in law school in 2002 at the University of Melbourne in Australia, and I had the opportunity to visit Bali during my stint in Oz, traveling solo, before traveling solo was “cool”. All of my photos are on…
We find ourselves in Valparaiso and Chesterton, Indiana quite a lot. Our kids live here with their mom, so it’s often the case that we’re over here finding something to eat or some activities to do. We’ve been meaning to check out Blockhead for a while, and, after all, I’ve never heard of a brewery/sushi bar combo restaurant before, so we just had to go. Admittedly, I’ve been generally unimpressed with Valpo’s restaurant offerings over the course of the last…
Let me tell you, I never thought I would be a Disney Bride, I never really even considered it my whole entire Disney-loving life; but when the circumstances for Brian’s and my wedding changed drastically (involving lots of drama including the event planner stealing a bunch of money from our original reception restaurant venue and then taking off into the sunset), I was back at square one after a few months of planning and deposits. We had already booked a…
Valle is easily the nicest restaurant in Oceanside, and probably all of North County, San Diego. It’s new, it’s Michelin recommended, and if you’re into elevated, true Mexican cuisine, I wouldn’t skip trying out Valle. Honestly, I knew nothing about the place before coming here with my family this month, but we had really great servers who told us about the owner’s culinary and winemaking history in the Valle de Guadalupe in Northwestern Mexico. This is where most of Mexico’s…
Some of my extended family moved to Oceanside, California, just about an hour north of San Diego and an hour south of Orange County, about 25 years ago. My folks followed about 10 years ago, so I have been hanging out in this area of California for a long time. On my most recent trip, I was looking for something to do that I’ve never done before in O’side, and stumbled across the fact that Oceanside is one of 14…
I often think about how lucky I am to live in such an amazing city with incredible restaurants, sports teams, activities and architecture. We always make it a point to become members of one or two museums at a time – as a family of six, it’s worth it because it pays itself off within one or two visits. The one membership I keep renewing forever into eternity, though, is for the Art Institute of Chicago. Often rated as one…
We ate dinner at almost all of the restaurants on offer at the sweeping Nayara Resort in Costa Rica and I can say that they were all good. We only skipped Las Terrazas (though for breakfast, it was the best complimentary buffet breakfast of most resorts and hotels I’ve been to worldwide) and Mis Amores (but we did have their lunch menu by the pool several times and absolutely no complaints there!). There were a few stand-outs, though, and so…
This article is going to cover the other places around Nayara Resort to hang out. First, and most important, is the Las Terrazas restaurant at Nayara Gardens. We never ate here for dinner, but we had our complimentary breakfast here every day. The bright and airy restaurant is right next to the reception area, and is really quite huge, but the atmosphere in the morning is buzzing. Each morning, a different type of coffee is served and they list it…
If there is one tour that you do near the Arenal Volcano in Costa Rica, this hanging bridges tour has got to be it. It’s a several mile easy hike through primary and secondary forest, and your cross six hanging, suspension bridges along the way. We used a guide through Jacamar Tours, which was booked through our resort – Nayara Gardens, and we booked a private tour. I was super nervous about this experience because I’m not really great with…
Nostalgia Wine Bar at Nayara Gardens in Costa Rica was one of our favorite places to dine at the entire Nayara resort, so much so, that we ate here twice! The first time was celebrating our anniversary – we participated in the multi-course wine tasting dinner which was exquisite. The second time was enjoying some of their wines by the glass and spanish tapas menu. I had really low expectations when it came to the wine tasting dinner. Typically, I…