Summer is in full swing and the calendar seems to be packed with festivals, sporting events and summer concerts. In the past week and a half we’ve seen Tosca in the park, listened to live music at two street festivals and cheered on with thousands of spectators as 2,000 triathletes swam to shore from Alcatraz.

One of my favorite things to do during the summer is to pack a picnic and enjoy an evening performance in the park. Or better yet, stop at Whole Foods on the way to the park and choose from their great selection of ready-made items.

Here’s a sampling of this summer’s free performances happening around the country:

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Every year my sisters and I pick a beautiful location for our girls getaway and this year our destination was Newport, Rhode Island. We stayed at a quaint B&B called the Spring Street Inn (ranked #1 on TripAdvisor) which was ideally located in the heart of Newport’s walk-able downtown.  Pat, the B&B’s innkeeper, gave us a great overview of Newport, including cultural highlights, some historical side notes and great places for cocktails and dinner.  We didn’t have to worry about breakfast – every morning Pat served us a wonderful gourmet breakfast.  

Newport is where the ultra rich spent their summers at the turn of the 19th century.  Home of the America’s Cup yacht race for many decades, Newport is probably best known for its “summer cottages”.  These Gilded Age mansions were built for the Vanderbilts and Astors during an age when wealth was flaunted with lavish parties and hundreds of guests on sprawling lawns that stretched to the coastline.

The Newport Preservation Society now owns several of the largest mansions and allows the public to tour these summer cottages where the ultra rich once lived.   During our stay we saw the Breakers, The Elms, Rosecliff, Marble House, Kingscote, Isaac Bell and the Topiary garden.  The interiors of the mansions were amazing.  

Tip: we all bought a Preservation membership which included entrance to any property and allowed us to go to the front of the line at any mansion.  It also includes a free Behind the Scenes Elms tour which describes how the servants lived (recommended).

We timed our trip for the end of June to coincide with Newport’s annual Flower Show.  The judged floral arrangements were on display on the first floor of Rosecliff and we could hear seminars on topics like rose selection, orchids, and floral arrangements for lavish parties.  Here are a few of the arrangements from the show.

I spent a perfect weekend in Seattle recently and wanted to share some of the high points in case you plan to visit in the future.  Visiting Seattle in February is, as most locals will tell you, very risky since there’s a good possibility it will be cold and rainy.  We were in town to see our cousin sing the lead in the opera, La Boheme, so we crossed our fingers and hoped the weather would cooperate.  

We stayed at the Hotel Andra, a very chic hotel ideally located within walking distance of Belltown, retail districts and the famous Pike Place Market.   We all loved the stylish and progressive feel of the hotel which carried through to the rooms. 

As it turned out, we were in luck with the weather – it was in the 60’s with plenty of sunshine.

My sisters, niece and I strolled over to Pike Place Market our first afternoon there and took in the huge array of vendors, including artists, craftsmen, fish mongers, farmers, and flower growers.  (more…)

2007 Gingerbread Grand prize winner made by Patricia Howard.
Photo Credit: © The Grove Park Inn.

I love visiting gingerbread villages during the holidays.  Many of them are joint efforts between architects and pastry chefs who team up and spend countless hours in order to create idyllic miniature villages. Most of these villages are sold to benefit a variety of charities.  I try not to let a holiday season go by without paying homage to this wonderful tradition.  

Here are a few of the gingerbread displays around the country that you may want to check out before January:

Grove Park Inn (Asheville, NC)
Home of the National Gingerbread House Competition each year. This year’s Grand prize winner’s creation is shown above.

Holiday Gingerbread Village at Sheraton Seattle
Seattle’s top architecture firms team up with Sheraton Seattle Hotel’s culinary staff to design, bake and build gingerbread holiday creations  benefiting the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund. See http://www.nutcrackermarch.org/ for other Seattle holiday events.

15th Annual Gingerbread Village, Prescott, AZ
Over 100 edible & enchanting castles, estates, houses, electric trains, cookie decorating for the kids (Prescott Conference Center through Dec. 27)

Holiday Sugar Castle, St. Francis Hotel, San Francisco
The Sugar Castle is a 12-foot rotating castle which resembles a French Chateau. Weighing in at over 1,000 pounds of confection, the castle has more than 20 towers, 30 rooms and is surrounded by a quaint village and a running train.

Westin Annapolis
This gingerbread village features over 40 houses and historical buildings reminiscent of downtown Annapolis.

Las Vegas Four Seasons - This swiss gingerbread village uses 350 pounds of sugar, 180 pounds of flour, 90 pounds of chocolate and 360 eggs.  

What’s your favorite place to see gingerbread displays? 

The Biltmore is one of America’s great estates.  Once home to the super-rich Vanderbilts, it covers 8,000 acres and is located in Asheville, North Carolina.  The mansion, which is the largest private residence in America, is especially beautiful during the holidays. 

Carrying on a long-held tradition since George W. Vanderbilt first welcomed friends and family to Biltmore on Christmas Eve 1895, the estate celebrates Christmas on a grand scale.  When visiting Biltmore from now until January 1st, you’ll see nearly 100 decorated trees with thousands of ornaments, 1,000 wreaths, almost 1,500 poinsettias and miles of evergreen garland.  Live holiday musical performances are also scheduled until the end of December. 

If you’d like to see the mansion lit by candlelight, check out their Christmas Candlelight Evening tours. You can purchase tour tickets on their website - be sure to reserve before your visit.  A tour ticket includes one evening visit as well as an additional visit of the mansion’s gardens, winery and restaurants during the day.  

Here are some suggestions for lodging options.

Links: The Biltmore

Last week for our girls’ night out we decided to try something new and took a local cooking class. Our “Autumn Flavors” class was taught by Chef Ray – a Vermont native and a graduate of the Culinary Institute in Hyde Park, New York.  He was there to teach us how to make a classic autumn meal.  The menu was promising: it included romaine & endive salad with honey balsamic vinaigrette, oven seared pork tenderloin with braised fennel, roasted butternut squash, rosemary rissole potatoes and apple cranberry tart for dessert.

We sipped our wine as Chef Ray prepared each course for the class, demonstrating cutting techniques, sharing cooking tips and answering questions along the way.  As each course was ready, we were all served and got to taste the result.  Which was good, because I was able to see which parts of the menu I liked and which parts were just so-so. During the class the aroma of pork, rosemary and apples was incredible – I felt like I was back in Vermont on a cool fall evening. 

By the end of the class we’d enjoyed a wonderful meal and were ready to tackle the menu on our own.  If you haven’t tried a cooking class recently, give it a try!  Check with your local upscale food market (Whole Foods, Central Market, Draeger’s, Wegmans, etc.) for upcoming classes.   

Within a matter of hours of arriving at Chicago’s O’Hare airport, we’d viewed the opening of an origami exhibit along with a local news crew, sipped complimentary St. Michelle wine at the Chicago Art Institute while listening to live blues, and attended an outdoor performance of Bolero.  All these events were free and just a short walk from our hotel. 

My sister and I met in downtown Chicago last weekend to enjoy some music, shopping and relaxation.  It was the first visit for both of us, so I came prepared with my Chicago Pocket Pilot.  This handy water-proof guide has maps, top attractions, fun facts and transit routes and easily fits in a jeans pocket.  It ended up being a great resource.

Downtown Chicago is easy to navigate with its collection of trains, trolleys and buses, so we didn’t need a rental car.  Instead we bought a multi-day CTA pass at the airport and enjoyed being car-free for a few days.  Even with the transportation system, we did quite a bit of walking and were glad we’d brought good walking shoes.   (more…)

Here’s a site that will inspire you visually.  Trey Ratcliff’s gorgeous photo blog, called Stuck in Customs, is packed with photos he’s taken during his travels around the world. Here’s one of the Amalfi Coast in Italy. 

Photo blog:
Stuck in Customs

Baggage heaven?

Ever wonder where all the unclaimed airport luggage goes to?  To Scottsboro, Alabama, of course!  You never know what you’ll find at this store where luggage, clothes and accessories are sold for a fraction of their retail price.   

The Unclaimed Baggage Center

Via  sk-rt.com