Destination ideas

This past weekend I had my first visit to South Carolina in the lovely historic city of Charleston.  While James Taylor wrote the song “Carolina In My Mind” dreaming of his years growing up in North Carolina this week I find myself singing the tune in my head.

Charleston provides the quintessential historic city in the South.   In 1860 Charleston had the 4th busiest port in the country,  some of wealthiest people in the US and host to the Democratic Convention.  The gorgeous Georgian houses including the largest cluster in the country with Rainbow Row.  One of the oldest plantations Magnolia Plantation established in 1676 with single family ownership.   In addition Magnolia Plantation is proudly the oldest public gardens in the country.

Admire the scenery of the historic architecture with sweeping live oak trees yet be mindful to:

• Appreciate a simpler time with slower pace of life

• Enjoy a walk down the old stone cobbled streets.

• Taste the delicious southern dishes in many of the gourmet restaurants.

• Breathe in the fresh air and listen to the peaceful melody from the morning birds.

• Savor the charm of southern hospitality.

• Take a moment to stop and smell the magnolias.

• Cherish the memories.

For anyone who has been to Charleston this may remind of your visit and may suddenly get the urge to sing the tune along with me. “Can’t you see the sunshine?….”

Seek your adventure!

This Chicago winter has been very kind to us so far,  yet my desire to run for the sun was still there.  I just returned from Puerto Vallarta Mexico for my annual “flip flop” trip  which is simply defined as  anywhere location I can wear flip flops.   Ideally I would like to visit a city I have never been to however I am not picky as the goal is to wear flip flops.  The one year I skipped my annual “flip flop” trip it was -46F with the windchill factor for several days.   Trust me when I say I won’t make that mistake again!

What makes a good “flip flop” trip?

Sunshine – Enjoying some beautiful weather and replenish your Vitamin D by soaking in some sunshine.  Of course the weather is something we cannot control; however there are so many websites where you can check the historical temperature of that location to get solid information.   I like weatherspark.com because it gives you the weather, humidity, daylight hours, and precipitation.

Al Fresco –  I want to have morning coffee on the balcony, breakfast on the patio overlooking the gardens, lunch at the pool and dinner on the beach.  The locations are negotiable but I want to be outdoors enjoying the open air.

“Unplugging” – I cherish these few days when I can power off the digital world for 99% of the day!  I don’t check personal or work email.  I will rarely turn on the TV.  There are so many benefits to an unplugged vacation.  If you need to stay connected to work while on vacation; please be warned don’t sit next to me or I might accidentally toss your laptop into the pool.   Uh Oh!  Just enjoy the outdoors and read a good paperback book or magazine.  I try to imagine what life would have been like in 1965!

Seek your adventure!

Kauai

I mentioned in my trip summary post that Kauai was amazing and that I loved it.  I have a long time friend who is so incredibly lucky to call Kauai her home.  She literally lives in a post card with incredible landscape views everywhere and lovely beaches around every corner.  I was able to spend the majority of my time on the island with my friend and really get a true sense of the island’s social, cultural and economic life.

Kauai still has a very small town feel.  Name one other place where traffic in both direction will immediately stop when you want to cross the street?  The majority of the island has small towns with a few shops and restaurants that are  independent local business owners.  Sure you have your typical American chains of Walmart, McDonalds, KFC, etc but who wants to go there when you can have a lovely home cooked meal for the same price.

Given the landscape of the island you cannot drive completely around the island due to the rugged Na Pali coastline.  The  roads are generally two lane with many twists and turns which makes travel time longer than you may anticipate.  However the long drives were always delightful with plenty of beautiful scenery to keep you occupied.

Highlights include links from my Instagram: Waimea Canyon, Hanalei Bay and Na Pali Coast.  

This a good website to help get you started if you are considering a trip to Kauai but let’s just keep this amazing island our little secret.

Honolulu

While I was only in Honolulu for 24 hours I don’t regret my limited time.  Perhaps it was my personal mindset coming from the friendly relaxed Kauai island to the big city.  However I did not like Honolulu….there I said it.  Sorry.

While I am beyond the historic events that happened and certainly willing to forget the past tensions that may existed;  I felt oddly uncomfortable visiting Pearl Harbor mourning the loss of American soldiers with the majority of tourists from Japan.

Here are 5 interesting USS Arizona facts.   There are only 7 remaining soldiers who were on the USS Arizona on that fateful day.  I had the privilege to meet two of them and thank them for their service to my country.  Since the day of the attack the USS Arizona continues to leak about 1 quart of oil a day with no environmental concern.  Many people call this oil leakage the USS Arizona weeping “black tears”  and speculate that once that last soldier from the attack passes away the weeping will cease.

In addition I went over to  Waikiki area which was so overloaded with tourists predominately from Asia spending hundreds of dollars on high end shopping.   The Waikiki beach was crowded with people continuously stepping right directly in my path while attempting to capture my sunset photo.   At this point  I longed for the joyful relaxed beaches in Kauai.

However the journey continues as I was off the next day on the Micronesia Island Hopper flight!

Seek your adventure!