BoomersBucketListTravel.com

Of Memorials and Memoirs: World War I in Belgium

     All history is personal when you dig deep enough.
     That’s why I carry a bulky loose-leaf binder on a recent trip to Belgium. The country is marking the 100th anniversary (November 11, 2018) of the armistice ending World War I. During the  conflict, 18 million people died.
     The story clasped by the three rings of the binder makes the horrors of battle real to me. The pages are photocopies of  journals written by my husband’s maternal grandparents: Patricia Stopford, then age 19; and Alec Ernest Saxton, a 22-year-old English lieutenant. 
      “I was the shameless hussy who followed the example of many other lonesome girls and put in the ad: ‘Irish girl would like to correspond with a lonely soldier,’” Patricia begins in her memoir. Read more

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Minneapolis StarTribune

In Portes du Soleil, hit slopes in two countries

​     ‘Where should we ski today, Switzerland or France?” I ask Peter, my husband.
     We don’t have a private jet at our disposal. In fact, we’re 75 miles from the nearest international airport, eating breakfast in a cobblestone mountain village where the “new” church — built in 1725 to replace the original 1436 chapel — has a steeple shaped like a crown and carved doors accent wooden chalets.
     The town is Champéry, Switzerland. Looming above us are the Alps. And the jaunty red tram that scales the vertical walls above our valley opens onto the Portes du Soleil, one of the largest ski areas in the world. Read more

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RISA WYATT

Wine Enthusiast

​Ultimate Wine Tours

     A wine vacation should be 100 percent fun, so skip the logistics hassles, and take a wine tour organized by top professionals. True insiders in their regions, these operators arrange warm welcomes for you at famous wineries not generally open to the public.
     Itineraries include visits to new cult favorites as well as renowned grand castles.  Owners and winemakers bring out “the good stuff”: older vintages, limited-production bottlings and rare vertical tastings, and guests are pampered with private guides, luxury hotels, and dining at top-rated restaurants. Read more

FOOD     WINE     TRAVEL

Wine Enthusiast

Crab—And How to Cook It

     The poor, misunderstood crab. Its pinching claws and scuttling gait give rise to the description of a grouchy person: crabby. Astrologers characterize those born under the zodiac sign of Cancer (a crab) as prone to hide in their shells. But food lovers know the truth. Hard on the outside, yet lushly yielding within, crab is the perfect metaphor for hidden opportunity. Its plump, pearlescent and (granted) hard-to-pick-out flesh mingles briny ocean with earthy sweetness. Read more

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Wine Enthusiast

California's Highway 1—The Wine-Lovers' Route

​​​Past pounding surf, plunging cliffs and misty redwood groves, California’s Highway 1 winds along nearly 700 miles of the Pacific Coast. But grand views aside, it ranks among the world’s great wine routes, passing more than 20 of the state’s American Viticultural Areas (AVAs).
     This vino-centric guide to Highway 1 brings wine lovers along California’s Central Coast, journeying south from Santa Cruz to Santa Barbara. Read more