Category Archives: Smell the Roses

Wines of Mendoza, malbecs and more

It’s two weeks before harvest starts in Mendoza. Wine makers are a bit nervous about this year’s vintage because the area has had twice the normal amount of rain this season. Many of the vineyards have netting over the vines because … Continue reading

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Our Argentinean Food Experience

Beef. It’s what’s for dinner in Argentina. Much more, of course. We went to a top-rated restaurant early in our stay in Buenos Aires. It’s called The Argentine Experience and sounds like a touristy activity, but it was actually very … Continue reading

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Our Northern California Getaway

After traveling the world for more than a year, it was great to stop and nest in northern California, Truckee to be specific. We found a home away from home in Stephen and Kathy’s Tahoe Donner house (thank you!), in a … Continue reading

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Have You Heard of Hearst Castle?

On our drive up the Pacific Coast Highway California Route 1, we stopped for several hours in San Simeon at Hearst Castle. San Simeon is the town, but it’s best known for Hearst Castle. William Randolph Hearst once had an estate … Continue reading

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Driving up the California Coast

Hordes of people have asked for the blog to restart, so here it is… First we’ll catch up on September, yes September! Remember the blue moon? We saw ours in Palm Springs. This was part of a second annual trip … Continue reading

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Utah’s Red Rocks and Missing Mountains

The rocks of Utah are as red as the Golden Gate Bridge and hundreds of millions of years old (or 6,000 depending on your point of view). The large concentration of iron oxide colors the rocks red and the lack of … Continue reading

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The mighty Colorado River, complete with dogs on paddleboards

The Colorado River starts as a small stream in northern Colorado, grows wider and grander through several states and ends up small once more, with not enough water for all its users’ demands when it reaches California and Mexico. We’ve followed the … Continue reading

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Tour de France

The elite Tour de France is over for the year, 21 stages and more than 2,000 miles only a memory. We have memories of our own of our shorter, smaller Tour de France. Some of the same hills, but tackled by … Continue reading

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It takes a village…to host a Keuka Lake wedding

A year ago we didn’t think  about what would happen when our quest for lavender fields brought us back to the very lavender field we started from, less than a half-mile from our home on Keuka Lake. But a lot of things change in one year. … Continue reading

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Like snowflakes, no two mistral bells are alike

The mistral is a strong, cold, northwesterly wind that blows around the south of France through Provence and the Rhone Valley. Winds can reach 60 miles an hour or more and last for days at a time. To protect their beloved … Continue reading

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