Hunter Valley: A Wine & Foodie’s Paradise!
After a visit to the Blue Mountains and a day-long road trip, we were finally in Hunter Valley. Dan and I decided to treat ourselves to breakfast at a nearby coffee shop & cafe before heading out to visit several wineries, breweries, and other local destinations. I don’t think I’ve mentioned it before, but Australian coffee is kind of a hot mess (pun intended). For most of the trip, we managed to drink very nice coffee, mostly sticking to flat whites. But that was only after our second day in Sydney, when we made the mistake of trying something called a short black, which is like an extremely powerful shot…
Australian Road Trip: Over the Mountains and Up the Coast, to Hunter Valley We Go!
The morning after our hike through the Blue Mountains to see the Three Sisters, I woke up feeling rested and refreshed. I’m guessing that some of this had to do with the fact that our hotel had heated mattress pads, which helped keep the mountain chill at bay! A Stop for Cider This would be our longest day in the car. Instead of coming back the way we drove to get to Katoomba, we decided to drive north around the mountains to Bilpin to check out Bilpin Cider. They make a range of hard apple ciders, a perry (pear cider), and even sell non-alcoholic cider, which was quite delicious! We…
Australia’s Blue Mountains: Teapots, Loud Birds, and Three Sisters
It figures that on our last morning in Sydney before starting our road trip, the rain decided to stop! I was a little annoyed about that, but it gave us a chance to finally properly explore the Royal Botanic Garden. I also can’t be annoyed because of the lovely view we had on our walk back to the hotel: Katoomba After our morning stroll, we gathered our luggage and headed to pick up our rental car. They threw in a GPS for free, which was nice since unlike many of the other places we’ve visited, free wifi is pretty scarce in Australia. After picking up our car, we were on…
Exploring Sydney: Markets, Museums, and Delicious Morsels
We started our third day in Sydney with high hopes. Today was finally the day that we were going to go to the Royal Botanic Gardens! It was around 7:00 am when we ate breakfast and prepared for our trip, and head down to the street. Well, just like the day before, no sooner had we stepped outside than it began to rain in earnest. Thankfully, though, our luggage had finally arrived the evening before, so we were better prepared. I had an actual jacket to wear, and my umbrella! Standing on the sidewalk, we were both frustrated and not sure what to do. A friendly pedestrian on her way…
Exploring Sydney: Rain, Rain, and More Rain!
Our plans for Sydney started out grand. We planned on lots of walking around the city, taking in the sights, and enjoying mild weather away from the northern hemisphere heat. Stepping out of our hotel the morning of our second day, we were almost washed away by a torrential downpour. Our original plan had been to go walk around in the Royal Botanic Gardens in the morning, but the rain began to come down in buckets with huge gusts of wind. After breakfast, it became clear that the weather was not going to clear up, so we looked for something to do that was mostly indoors. It was so bad…
Exploring the Land Down Under: Discovering Sydney
It seems like nothing went right on our trip to Australia. Our luggage didn’t arrive for two full days. The weather in Sydney, which was supposed to be in the mid-60s, was at least ten degrees colder than that and rainy. My good friend of about 12 years (whom we last saw about 5 years ago) was out of the country on a business trip. All in all, a disaster! Except… We had the time of our lives. Our trip was full of fun and adventure. We spent three days in Sydney before heading up to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains then driving up to Hunter Valley, the wine country…
Five Days in Hawaii: Day 2 – Island Tour and the Polynesian Cultural Center
We had an amazing first day in paradise when we visited Honolulu, Hawaii this past December. There was no room for sleeping in the next morning, however, as we had a very early start to another day full of adventure. Island Circle Tour One of the things I loved to do when I was a kid was visit the Polynesian Cultural Center in the northwest part of Oahu. Since this was something I definitely wanted to experience again, this time with Dan, I booked our tickets and added on the optional half-day island tour. We started the morning with macadamia nut lattes from Kai Coffee, which serves delicious Kona coffee.…
Five Days in Hawaii: Day 1 – Ala Moana, Breweries, and a Sunset Dinner Cruise
In December, Dan and I spent an incredible five (and a half) days on the Island of Oahu in Hawaii. We arrived around 3:00 pm on Thursday, December 13, and left on a red eye late on the evening of Tuesday, December 18. And boy did we have a great time! It wasn’t just that we were escaping the extremely cold, rainy weather where we live — although that did help! Hawaii is a beautiful place, and even though we only had time to visit one island, we had a wonderful time exploring. An Evening in Paradise Although we arrived in Honolulu around 3 in the afternoon, it took a…
Sleepy Fox Distillery is Now Dog Friendly!
Early in the summer, Dan and I took a trip to central Virginia where we sampled, among other things, some moonshine from Sleepy Fox Distillery. Located in Ashland, Virginia, Sleepy Fox was my first experience with moonshine — and a great experience it was, too! Our friend works at Sleepy Fox, so when we were recently in central Virginia, we decided to stop by and say hello. We had the dogs with us, but the weather was cool, so they could stay in the car. Much to our delight, as we pulled into the parking in front of the distillery (conveniently adjacent to Layne’s Country Store And Amish Kettle), we saw…
Moonshine and More in Central Virginia
Recently, we were down in central Virginia for the Virginia Renaissance Faire. We love going to the Faire, but it happened to be an especially warm and sunny day, so we decided to cool off in the best way possible: a little weekend day drinking with some cider and moonshine. Coyote Hole Ciderworks Lately we’ve been on a bit of a cider kick. That’s probably my fault since I’m not into beer the way Dan is, and I am pretty picky about wine. Located about an hour northwest of Richmond, Coyote Hole Ciderworks is one of the many cideries, wineries, and distilleries in the Lake Anna, Virginia area. Coyote Hole…
Not all who wander are lost
