Inspiring Travel and Wellness. Join me for adventures above and below the ocean, exploring nature, luxury travel experiences, spa and wellness activities.
The White Tank Mountain range is located on the far West side of metro Phoenix, within the edge of Maricopa County. Not as popular with hikers in the summer due to the brutal heat, this becomes a popular mountain trail in the cooler months.
The views are spectacular with a variety of hiking trails of several levels of difficulty to accommodate everyone. The Waterfall trail is even wheelchair & stroller friendly. Best of all, the park is dog friendly, so bring your pup along for a great day outside enjoying the spectacular desert beauty.
Don’t let the name fool you, the waterfall trail is often a small trickle in dry season. After a big rain storm, like the summer monsoon season, the waterfall is flowing and cool. A few special days, the waterfall is big enough to form a small pool for a quick, refreshing dip.
More than just the home of Starbucks, Seattle and nearby Tacoma in Washington state are a Mecca for glass art. In every hotel, street corner, Seattle center, and all around the Seatac area are beautiful displays of glass. On many earlier trips I noticed the glass, but never knew the story.
The star of the show is certainly the aircraft carrier, with supporting roles of the wide variety of helicopters, small planes, jets and other engineering marvels.
This floating treasure is full of history, fun for families, and a delight for engineering fans. Plus the view from the aircraft carrier deck is not to be missed!
A welcome retreat this year (and any year, really) for me is the Park Hyatt Aviara Resort in Carlsbad, California. Right on the edge of the drive versus fly decision from Phoenix, San Diego, California is a quick trip. When it is just too darn hot, California is close by. The November trip is our third visit to Carlsbad this year, each was a long-weekend out of town.
Aviara Family pool
The Park Hyatt Aviara is a luxury resort with an amazing spa, great restaurants, good family pool, and a 21 and over adult tranquility pool where we spend most of our time.
I like Wine. Normally, when wine tasting, if I really like a wine I will buy a bottle or six. This is fine, if you drive, but for those occasions that I fly to wine tasting the only option to get it home is to ship it. Many of the vineyards now offer Wine Club shipping. You sign up to purchase a set minimum bottles of wine throughout the year and they will ship them to you (at a pretty hefty shipping & handling fee).
Wine Delivery
Wine delivered directly to your door! What could possibly go wrong?
I live in a hot climate, so wine sitting at the door for too long will be damaged. My front door is shaded and expect in the hottest of summer days, wine would be fine for a couple hours.
Ahh, but the law requires a 21 & over signature to release the wine (a tiny bit of information the vineyard forgot to mention). So, if you are not home (or in the shower) in that 2 minute window the delivery driver is at your house, the wine cannot be delivered that day. This is a problem for people that cannot stay at home all day of the scheduled delivery. This also assumes that the delivery is actually made on the scheduled date. Planning is useless, it may not actually be delivered on the scheduled day, much less advance warning of morning or afternoon attempts.
After the extra shipping expense (wine has specific shipping requirements further driving up the shipping price) and the “at the mercy of the delivery driver” pain is considered, the Wine Club shipping is just not a good idea for me.
I could have driven to California and picked up the wine myself (it is only a 5 hour drive) for as long as I have waited for delivery, both today and the day last week that the vineyard told me it would be delivered.
Update July 15, 2015 – Finally getting the hang of this wine delivery. Better communication from the winery results in actually being home for the delivery. Voila! Wine delivered to my front door is pretty darn fancy.
