Showing posts with label Wanderlust. Show all posts

Mount Dora Day Trip


A few weeks ago K and I planned a day trip out to Mount Dora in Lake County, Florida which is about an hour away from our home in Orlando. The small city is quaint, historic, and overlooks Lake Dora and a few other lakes. I thought it would be the perfect day trip and a great way to spend a Sunday.

We started off in the cute downtown area and walked around browsing different antique shops, a tea room, a doggie bakery, and a few other shops.



We then went on to check out some historic buildings and architecture scattered throughout the downtown area.



We also stopped by to check out the atmosphere and menus of some of the restaurants. A few of our favorites were Cecile's French Corner, Pisces Rising and The Goblin Market.







It was a hot summer day in Florida, so we decided to settle at The Lost Parrot for a cold drink before continuing along. The bar area was quiet with only one other patron but it was a nice spot to cool off and listen to some music.




Finally we headed to check out Lake Dora which was fairly quiet with a few people walking around and some others boating and jet skiing on the lake.




It was a nice day to walk around and explore somewhere new. We were also really impressed with some of the restaurant menus so would love to go back for lunch or dinner one weekend.


Wanderlust Wednesdays

Link-up Rules:
1. Follow Kerri, Kate and myself on Bloglovin
2. Link up your favorite travel recaps or travel related posts
3. Grad our Wanderlust Wednesdays button and link back to our blogs
4. Be sure to visit other blogs and build your travel bucket list!

Vegas 2014 Recap


If you haven't already heard Kerri, Kate and I started a Wanderlust Wednesday linkup which takes place on the 2nd Wednesday of every month so feel free to join us and share your travel adventures.

I wanted to recap K and I's first Vegas trip which was just last year in March. I had to go out for a work conference so we flew in a few days early to explore the strip, sites and scenes. We only had 2 days/night so definitely not enough time to see everything (which warrants our second trip) but we got some decent ground covered.

Hotel:

We stayed at the MGM Grand. I really loved the hotel but the location is quite far down the south end of the strip so this year I opted for a hotel located in the middle of the strip. The hotels in Vegas are ginormous and it requires a lot of walking but different types of transportation are readily available. The MGM Grand is the largest resort complex in the United States and second largest in the world by number of rooms.

 
 

Touring:

As soon as we arrived, we hit the strip to explore all the hotels. We explored New York, New York, Caesar's Palace, The Venetian and several others.
 




We went up to the top of the Eiffel Tower in the Paris Hotel to get 360 views of the strip which we thoroughly enjoyed.



We then headed over to Fremont Street/the old Las Vegas strip. I really didn't manage to take many photos while there but K played some Black Jack and I tried my hand at the Michael Jackson slot machine in the Golden Nugget hotel and walked out of there a winner!! A whopping $40 but a winner nonetheless since I don't play with big bucks in the first place.


Restaurants:

We went to Toa on the first night for a sushi dinner which was a nice date night but the sushi wasn't spectacular compared to our local sushi restaurants. The second night we ate at Shibuya Japanese located in the MGM hotel with coworkers which was much better quality food but again I managed to take no pictures. We also wouldn't have chosen to eat at a Japanese restaurant two nights in a row but it was a group dinner and not our choice. K left on day 3 and I stayed an additional two nights for the conference. I ate dinner with coworkers and clients at Pampas Churrascaria Brazilian Steakhouse located in Planet Hollywood which was excellent.




I luckily caught the Bellagio Falls at night while up in the Eiffel Tower for a work event, which was beautiful!


 We're not big gamblers but when in Vegas...I tend to go for the slot machines while K likes Black Jack. Of course, the Sex and The City slot machine took my interest and I played a few games but managing to win nada.


This trip last year was short and sweet giving us enough time to explore the strip but not enough time to fit in any shows or concerts.

I can't wait to share the details of the trip we just returned from but until then I'll be readjusting to East Coast time!

Wanderlust Wednesdays

Link-up Rules:
1. Follow Kerri, Kate and myself on Bloglovin
2. Link up your favorite travel recaps or travel related posts
3. Grad our Wanderlust Wednesdays button and link back to our blogs
4. Be sure to visit other blogs and build your travel bucket list!

Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

It's been a year since we were in the Dominican Republic at a beautiful resort in Punta Cana celebrating our wedding anniversary and the marriage of some of our best friends. 

I did a full recap of our trip last year here where I talked about the resort, the food, the wedding, entertainment & fun, and the excursion we went on so I wanted to share that today for our Wanderlust Wednesday linkup.


I grew up in the Caribbean and spent a lot of my childhood traveling to different islands on vacation with my parents but there is something about the Dominican Republic that blew me away. It is probably the prettiest island I've visited to date other than Barbados so hop over and check out my review of our trip to Punta Cana.


Doesn't it look tropical heaven on earth?

Wanderlust Wednesdays

Link-up Rules:
1. Follow Kerri, Kate and myself on Bloglovin
2. Link up your favorite travel recaps or travel related posts
3. Grad our Wanderlust Wednesdays button and link back to our blogs
4. Be sure to visit other blogs and build your travel bucket list!

*New Travel Linkup* Wanderlust Wednesdays

Hi everyone! 

Kate, Kerri and I are excited to get our new travel linkup started today. Wanderlust Wednesdays will occur only once a month on the second Wednesday of every month so we hope you will join us in sharing your travel adventures and the destinations on your bucket list. Anything travel related can be linked up, really!


Today, I'm sharing a short trip I took to St, Augustine in north Florida back in 2012. The purpose of this trip was for a good friend's wedding which I was a bridesmaid in but we had an extra day to explore this historic and charming city. I've actually been dying to return this year because it's only a two hour drive so don't be surprised if I do another recap in the near future. 


As soon as we arrived in St. Augustine, we headed to the historic district with a couple friends to explore and find a place to grab lunch. We window shopped and stopped in a few antique and souvenir stores to browse.


My favorite shop was the Pepper Place which sells hot sauces from all around the world and I was even able to find one from Trinidad so I snagged that to add to our collection.


We then stopped in Sangria's Wine & Tapas Bistro to have a glass of sangria and listen to some live music on the upstairs patio overlooking a cute park area (didn't catch the name).




We stopped off at the oldest wood school house in the USA built over 200 years ago.


And then settled at the famous Columbia Restaurant for lunch which didn't disappoint. I can't remember the name of this spanish-style chicken dish we shared but I do remember the Columbia "1905" salad and mojitos were excellent.


After lunch we checked out this public burying ground that was used in 1821 during the yellow fever epidemic. 


We then headed to the Castillo de San Marcos Fort & National Park. The fort was built by a Spanish engineer in 1695. 



We had an amazing day exploring the history, sites and scenes in St Augustine and I highly recommend this city for a quick (or long) getaway. St. Augustine is also known for their Bed & Breakfast accommodations which you kind find located close to all the main monuments and attractions.


There's so much we didn't get to see on this trip which why I would love to return to cover some more ground and also check out St. Augustine beach. 

Wanderlust Wednesdays

Link-up Rules:
1. Follow Kerri, Kate and myself on Bloglovin
2. Link up your favorite travel recaps or travel related posts
3. Grad our Wanderlust Wednesdays button and link back to our blogs
4. Be sure to visit other blogs and build your travel bucket list!