Girls Trip To New England

I was going to share my favorite girl’s trip ever, but changed my mind today when I was walking the dog and watched the first leaves of fall floating to the ground! New England in the fall is a beautiful place to be and I was lucky to be there! With a map and lodging reservations in hand Linda and I headed out on another fast moving adventure! Our first stop was the northern most point on Cape Cod and then we worked our way through four states. The color was spectacular everywhere we traveled. The last of the summer flowers added vibrant color to the fall hues.

I am a Sound of Music fan, so I was thrilled to stay in Stowe, Vermont, home of the “real” Von Trapp family. While there, we stayed at the Trapp Family Lodge which is nestled in the mountains above the village of Stowe. They offered a documentary movie on the “real” Maria and I am happy to report, it didn’t destroy my image of Julie Andrews’ Maria from my childhood. The villages around Stowe proved to be entertaining and enjoyable too. Apple cider, maple syrup, Cabot cheese – we ate and shopped our way through! We especially enjoyed our stop at Ben and Jerry’s. Yum yum!

Our most disappointing experience was the storm that blew in once we arrived in Maine. It was three days of misery! First, we had waited to go sailing until we reached Maine, and much to our chagrin, we watched as they locked the boats down for the incoming storm. To say we were disappointed is an understatement. We looked long and hard to find a B&B on the coast and were thrilled when we did. However, the room howled as the wind blew through the windows keeping us up the whole night. All we could do was laugh. The final day of our misery - we drove out of our way to travel the Kancamagus Highway, which is touted as one of the most beautiful drives in New England, but the storm had traveled inland and took all the leaves off the trees!

But, it was a wonderful trip. We laughed. We shopped. We met interesting people along the way. We ate oysters on the Cape. We ate lobsters in Maine. We walked the beach. We climbed the hills. We drove through sunshine. We drove through the rain. But best of all, we caught up on another year of our lives.

Girls Trip to France

France. I had a burning desire to tour Provence for some time. While living in London, my friends talked of the glorious food, quaint villages, sweeping lavender farms, and picturesque views. We never made it to Southern France during our European stay, so my girls trip saved the day. With airline tickets and a car reservation in hand, Linda and I were off for a week in Provence. We knew we were in trouble when the employees behind the counter at Hertz talked us into a free upgrade. “You cannot tour Provence without a convertible!” And they added, “It is easier to pick up men!” Well, I didn’t think we looked like two floozies, but we happily accepted the convertible and went merrily on our way! Wouldn’t you know it? Just 5 miles down the road, the truck drivers started honking at us. After a good laugh, we continued on our adventure. Up and down the steep roads on the side of the mountains we drove, realizing we had made a BIG mistake accepting a manual transmission.
But my friends were right - Provence was beautiful. The villages were amazing and the views were breathtaking! We toured whereever we wanted, finding lodging along the way. A few of the places we traveled to were: Biot, Grasse, Riez, Gourdon, Tourrettes sup-Loup, Moustiers-Sainte-Marie where we drove the Gorges du Verdon, ending with Port Santa Lucia and Cannes. We learned a couple lessons along the way! First, if you don’t know the language and don’t know where you are going, it might be best to book lodging a few nights ahead of time! Several nights we were laughing (better than crying) because we couldn’t find a place to stay. One evening, it took us over 4 hours to find somewhere to stay! As we watched the clock ticking, we were ready to sleep in the car –unfortunately; we didn’t know where it would be safe to park! Another lesson, if one of your main reasons to traveling to a country is to find lavender fields, check the lavender season ahead of time! We stopped in every village, at every lavender farm, in the towns famous for its lavender, just to find that the harvest was over. The fields were cut back and fresh lavender was nowhere to be found! We finally found lavender at the airport on the way out of the country! Our last lesson learned – there are strict times for lunch in Provence, especially in the off-season, and if you deviate from these times, you have no food! At the beginning of the trip, we didn’t know about this small piece of useful information. By 4:00 our first afternoon, we were down to rummaging through our luggage trying to find anything to eat. We were overjoyed to find a bite-sized candy bar to share! All afternoon we had been hearing from everyone, “Finished.” We were so sick of hearing the word “finished” we were almost finished! After that experience, we kept water and a few snacks in the car, and made sure we were in a village at lunch time!
My favorite memory was the day we drove across the mesa high in the mountains. The top was down on the car, the cold wind was whipping our hair in every direction, the heater was blowing hard to keep us warm, the sky was a beautiful blue with white fluffy clouds and we were the only ones on the road. Zooming down the road, with the snow capped mountains to our right and an occasional house on our left; we put the pedal to the medal and flew! Laughing and feeling as giddy as teenagers; it was simply a perfect moment in time.

Girls Trip

Girls Trips are on the rise! Sisters, mothers and daughters, or friends are all coming together from all over the world to share a unique experience, catch up on life, rejuvenate their souls or just plain get away from the rat race of life. I recently read that out of a survey of 1,500 women, 55% planned an all female retreat annually! Boy, am I lucky to be one of these women. Once a year I wave good-bye to Sir and the daughters and head out for a week or two of “me” time. My goals are simple: go some place new, go far away with many time changes so it is hard for anyone to get a hold of me, be gone long enough to be missed, and finally, go somewhere Sir has no desire to go. I do not meet all my goals every year, but who is complaining? This all started when we were living in London. When several of my girl friends came to visit, Sir stayed home with the daughters and I took a long weekend with my friends. I traveled to places like the Lake District in England, Paris, and Bruges in Belgium. Wow! What a refreshing experience. No one to put to bed. No one’s nose to wipe. No fighting. Just time for me. Time for me to take a breath, share girlfriend talk, take care of my spirit and return home with a renewed energy to be a Mom and Wife! When I returned to the states, I didn’t want this to end. So, every year since 2001, off I go with Sir holding down the fort - sometimes with help from our family and friends! Thank you friends and family! Over the next several weeks, I will bring you snippets of my girl’s trips. All I can say is watch for drinking ladies sailing the horizon speaking Spanish and driving convertibles eating Ben and Jerry’s.

Africa Is Calling Me

I love Africa. The landscape, the people, the adventure. It all started when I saw the movie “Out of Africa” with Robert Redford and Meryl Streep in 1985. Of course, I was already in love with Robert Redford, but fell in love with the movie and with Africa! When I was in grad school I checked the book out of the library, snuggled in my dorm room and begin the overwhelming task of reading the 400 page book. I read the first line, with Meryl Streep’s voice etched in my mind, "I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills." I started to cry and after getting myself under control, I closed the book and returned it to the library! I knew what was coming and decided getting through grad school was not a time for my romantic heart to take over!

Sydney Pollack created an amazing film that made me yearn to visit Africa. I have visited three times and adored each of my visits. Whether I am riding in an open air truck on safari, watching the Maasai women make their handcrafts, sipping a cocktail watching the sunset on the savannah, hiking through Victoria Falls, taking pictures of school children on the top of Table Mountain, visiting extensive vineyards, or riding in a balloon over the Serengeti, I am always fascinated by Africa. Africa is calling me. . . I guess I need to talk with Sir!

Riding elephants in Botswana