Greetings from The Lodge at Whitefish, about 20 miles from Glacier National Park! My super-mom has organized a family reunion of epic proportions. We are two grandparents, 8 moms, aunts and uncles, and 5 rambunctious boys aged 2-10.
And we are all happy here! From helicopter rides, hiking, horseback riding, kayaking, whitewater rafting, shopping in adorable little towns like Whitefish, Kallispell and Big Fork, to the super spa at The Lodge, kids of all ages are psyched!
This is the nicest property in the area. Less than two years old, it has a full-service spa, yoga by the lake, a great bar, outdoor patio, pool, hottub and FREE shuttles 24 hours to wherever you’d like to go.
And Glacier Park is the most gorgeous park ever! We rented cars and drove through the park to the Visitor’s Center, which is not at the entrance but about an hour’s drive into the Park from the west enterance. From here, several hikes abound. I chose the one to the Hidden Lake viewpoint, a lovely hike up a boardwalk under which happy marmots cavort, through little snowpacks where big-horn rams nestle, through a mountain goat crossing or two, until the gorgeous viewspot, about 1.5 miles in, where you can see Hidden Lake and especially a glimpse of Sperry Glacier. Fabulous!
There are also open-air, old-timey buses (Red Bus Tours) that go through the park and stop at the Visitor’s Center. They can be picked up at another lodge, Lake McDonald Lodge, this one in the park, a kooky, kitschy place where it’s always, always Christmas. Right now, amidst the mounted mooseheads, they have a huge-mongous Xmas tree, Santa, lots of elves and hot cocoa to beat those 90 degree days.
Most enter through the western entrance, yet all the good stuff, if you like glaciers, is at the back entrance, the east one. But summer is full of tourists and their cars, so get up early and allow a few hours to drive through the entire park and see the delights of the eastern entrance of the Going to the Sun Road. Or, avoid long car rides and get your fill around the visitor’s center, leaving ample time for other many activities, like even fly fishing!
It is also huckleberry season, so expect purple delights in ice cream, pancakes and muffins!
Seriously, come to Glacier…while there still are some!
We are having tooo much fun. From here, I head to the YearlyKos Convention 2007 in Chicago. Sorry, registration is sold out, but you can join us virtually on Second Life. Check out our website at www.yearlykosconvention.org, for more info. I’ll say hi to Hillary for ya! (She and other 2008 Democratic Presidential hopefuls will be on hand to face the progressive blogosphere…)
Heartbreaking realities of singledom is brought to screen in aching slow-mo moments. Broken English will tear your guts out – opening with Parker Posey’s indecision of "do I go to the "cute couples" party or do I stay home- where I really want to be" scene. Stay with her as she fails and flails her way thru the dating scene and finds romance.
If you cannot make it to France this summer – head to the cinema for this romance story and save yourself hundreds of dollars in airline tickets/hotels and any love lost.
Well, look at you! You’re an eco-lisish little thing, aren’t ya? You’ve been so good about partaking in public transportation, toting your canvas bags on your bike as you head out to Whole Foods and even opting to walk as you run your errands.
So, here’s a conundrum … it’s Saturday night and well, a girl has no choice but to see and be seen. With a tasty Watermelon Cosmo in your future, driving is not an option. The bus, a bike ride, and an evening stroll are probably low on the list, as well.
So, the next best is a cab, right? Well, choose wisely my little green grasshopper, in San Francisco you have a greener alternative, Green Cab. Check out the KRON segment Currently, there are 4 Green Cabs, which are all hybrid cars, on the streets of San Francisco with a goal to have a fleet of 20 of these alternative-fuel vehicles by the end of the year. According to their web site, the company is democratically run with membership open to all drivers. Visit www.sfgreencab.com for more information and the next time you’re in need a guilt-free lift call 415-626-4733.
There may be no place like home, but sometimes that’s the whole point! Coming off the intensity of a world tour, home may seem…foreign. One minute you’re fighting to get on a bus in Montego Bay, the next minute you’re in your quiet, slightly stuffy study looking at a stack of bills on your desk. Post Tripum Depression!
I’ve got it bad, Divas. I was on a whirlwind adventure! It was me against Central Europe! I had no plan, no itinerary. I was a sponge! Over here were Serbians; over there Croats. Dracula’s tomb for breakfast and his castle for lunch.
Yesterday I went to the Tango Diva office and waited for the elevator. Having immersed myself in European floor numbering for three weeks, it never occurred to me that the elevator might be in the lobby. Displaying itself as on floor 1, I assumed it was a floor above me. I stood there and stood there.
It’s just that home feels so…homely! There’s the coffee shop and there’s the bakery. My best friends are still embroiled in love triangles, cat fights and conundrums. The mailman doesn’t even ring once—he’s got a key to the gate. (Of course there was that earthquake the other morning. My bed shook so much I almost fell out. But that’s not the kind of adventure I want…)
You know what I mean? I am a different person. I have changed. And where is that manifested? I went and went and went, yet here I am. Home is an opiate threatening to lull me into my old self. But I am someone totally new now. Open, aware, a PART of things! Stephanie Block, World Citizen. Stephanie Block, Nomadic Traveler. Stephanie Block, Adventurer and Explorer.
I resist and defy you, Stephanie Block, TiVo User. Nor Stephanie Block, Tea Sipper. I am aghast at Me, the Grocery Shopper, and I don’t even recognize Me the Pining Lover. Who are these people and what are they doing in my house?
Most of all, what am I doing in my house when there’s a whole big world out there??? Usually, home is a perfectly wonderful place to come back to. San Francisco is a beautiful and reassuring place to land. But this time, it’s different. This time, I broke through the sound barrier, the soul barrier, and somehow I’m on the other side. How did Alice feel leaving heart-queens and white rabbits? They talk about through the looking glass but hardly ever discuss back through…
Divas, there is no rest for me. The only cure is to pack my bags and leave home to the homely!
I’ve hit the fifty country mark, Divas!! I landed in Bucharest, Romania, tonight, and it marked my fiftieth country visited on this earth. How exciting!!! Since we last spoke, I’ve been to, sorry my Bosnian Divas, but Scare-ajevo, then Belgrade, Serbia, where I met up with my fabulous gal pal Wendee.
Now I don’t mean to be cruel. I think that in a couple years, Sarajevo will be a great place to visit in Europe, but I have to admit that traveling through alone, I did not feel comfortable but a little on edge the whole time. I could only find two or three hotels, and most of them were on the outskirts of the old city, on a bland, industrial highway of sorts. My Holiday Inn, bless its heart, strove to retain its glamour from the Olympic days, which it proudly announced on its shock of cubist, neon-colored exterior. But alas. How times have changed.
Pock-marked buildings with sharp shrapnel memories lined every street, and at every turn, Sarajevo is still reeling both physically and psychologically from its macabre title of suffering from the longest seige in modern history. I could hardly blame the burly men who shoved me out of the way at every turn, every cafe and store…they had waited long enough to for their lives to return to semi-normal…
The one glimpse of hope was a very lounge-y, super cool string of smart cafes where impossibly hip and gorgeous youth sipped drinks to the beat of dance music in the afternoon. Early twenty-somethings, this is surely the hope of the future of Sarajevo.
Belgrade? A completely different story. Danube River cruises and party barges, lots of ice cream shops to beat the heat, beautiful monuments and a nightlife to rival NYC, Belgrade totally impressed my girl Wendee and me. We managed to grab one of only 9 apartments (the Presidential Suite no less!) at the very chic Aleksandar Palas Hotel. The staff was fabulous, and although we did have trouble adjusting to "Serbian time," attempting to make city tour plans that never were (the Saturday tour decided to cancel itself as we waited in the heat for it), we laughed, grabbed iced coffees at the fort in a very cool cafe, and even watched pirated DVDs that we bought off the streets in our big ol’ penthouse.
I can’t wait to see what Romania will have in store! Let’s celebrate my fiftieth together, Divas!
My name is Christy. I was born and raised in Southern California and have lived in the San Fransisco for the last 10 years. Last year I quit my job (online media/advertising, etc), rented my flat out for a year, put all my things in storage and went to Europe and Thailand for 4 months. I had never traveled alone (unless you count a spa week), and with the exception of a work trip in Germany, which I don’t really count, I had never been to Europe.
After four months, I came back to San Francisco, consulted in Marketing and PR for six months, and I am now back on the road until my flat becomes vacant again. Oh, I sold my car too. So I am now officially home-free, job-free, boy-free and car-free. I left the states June 1st with no plans, just a plane ticket to London. Since then I have been traveling around Spain.
Today, I spent the day in Sevilla, touring the Cathedral and Alcazar. In the Alcazar, couple asked me to take their photo and it turned out they had been traveling for the last few months in Spain and are also from San Francisco. Cheryl told me about your web site and that it was founded by a couple gals from San Francisco. I’ve been to some "women’s travel sites" and have not had much luck, but she raved about your site and said she had just spent some time with Stephanie in Valencia.
I just got back to my hotel and the first thing I did (after a nice long shower – it’s 105 here today!) was to look up your site. I can’t wait to spend more time on it and I really wish I knew about it earlier as I’m sure it would have made my life a whole lot easier. It’s funny, all my friends keep telling me to write a travel book or build a site for single women after all the experiences I’ve had in the last year. t looks like your site could be the thing we’ve been looking for.
Anyway, I just wanted to share how funny it was that it took coming to Sevilla to find out about this wonderful resource when it’s been right in my backyard, and I look forward to spending more time on your site. Who knows, maybe I’ll meet some of you on the road or when I’m back in the city.
Up next: Tomorrow I leave Sevilla for Lisbon and from there will be going on a nine day trip to swim with dolphins in the open ocean www.dolphinconnection.com and then a quick trip to London to change my bags for a trip down to Arusha, Tanzania for three weeks to volunteer with Cross Cultural Solutions. After that, I have no plans, but maybe I’ll find some on your site!
Well, Divas… While we all might not have the dainty, little size-6 foot that can so elegantly grace the soles of the sexiest Jimmy Choo’s <sigh>, we can all definitely work toward making our carbon footprint a little more petite and Mother Earth-friendly.
Ummmm…. so speaking of feet??? I just found out the one of my favorite "stomping grounds," the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, (Get it? Stomping? Grounds? HA! — ok, I admit it…a horrible segue and an even worse pun) has gone GREEN, certified by the Green Restaurant Association (GRA). In fact, the GRA announced that Coffee Bean is the largest retailer certified by GRA.
The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf® piloted their “green” process back in 2003 with all their San Diego locations and on May 9, all their 200 U.S. corporate-owned locations will follow suit and become Certified Green Restaurants™. Becoming Certified Green Restaurants™ is not just the end of a process, but a company must also show continuing improvement and dedication in various areas annually. In fact, a company must aggressively commit to implementing at least four steps per year in 11 GRA environmental categories to continue to be certified which include the following:
1. Energy Efficiency & Conservation 2. Water Efficiency & Conservation 3. Recycling & Composting 4. Sustainable Food 5. Pollution Prevention 6. Recycled, Tree-Free, Biodegradable & Organic Products 7. Chlorine-Free Paper Products 8. Non-Toxic Cleaning & Chemical Products 9. Green Power 10. Green Building & Construction 11. Employee Education
The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf® has already installed Energy and Water Efficient Spray Valves and High Efficiency Lighting and has implemented a reuse policy to cut down on paper cup use. In addition, all their paper products such as paper towels, bathroom tissues and napkins all use at least 10-percent post consumer recycled non-bleached paper.
By making these simple changes, each year the Coffee Bean will save… - 5384 trees - 17,613,638 kwh - 3353 tons of greenhouse gases - 84,630 lbs of air pollution - 93,752 lbs of solid waste - 8,116,250 gallons of water
…. not bad, huh???
To find a Coffee Bean in your hood, visit www.coffeebean.com and to locate even more green certified dining options across the US, check out: www.dinegreen.com.
With a goal of drawing attention to the global water crisis, this New York citywide exhibit features 3 feet by 5 feet running shoe statues designed by Rachel Ray, top model Petra Nemcova, Lance Bass, the New York Giants, as well as other famous celebs.
To create the statues, each celebrity designer received a standard-sized sneaker along with art supplies and inspiration about the official Blue Planet Run athletes. The designs were then transformed into larger-than-life sneaker statues and placed all over New York City to mark the start of the 2007 Blue Planet Run®.
Millions of New Yorkers and tourists from around the world will be stopping in their tracks this summer to marvel at these Giant Sneakers that have magically popped up overnight.
Sneak a peek at these SNEAKER SCULPTURE LOCATIONS: American Bible Institute Broadway at 65th St., Chelsea Pier, 59 Golfing site, Chelsea Pier, 61 Sports site, Governors Island, Hudson River, Trust Hunter College, Lexington Ave. at 66th St., New York Marriott Marquis 1535 Broadway between 45th and 46th St., Randall’s Island, Sheraton on 7th Avenue, South Street Seaport, Time Warner Center Broadway and 60th St., and Times Square Information Center.
Auction takes Action! If a trip to NYC is not on your agenda then you’ll want to check out Ebay’s auction’s for the Sneaker Statues that will end July 20th! (All bids start at only $99.00 and include shipping). The auction is now live!
About Blue Planet Run Foundation Blue Planet Run Foundation (BPRF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness and funds to solve the problem facing over one billion people – lack of access to safe drinking water. For more information, please visit: www.blueplanetrun.org
If Wine Camp sounds too hoity-toity for you, what about one where you learn to make your own Brewskis? That’s the promise of Brewmaster Camp at Kingsley House, Fennville, Mi. Camp starts with a visit to the Saugatuck brewery, for a taste test of over 70 recipes (this will separate the men from the boys!) to decide on your favorite flavor, from summer Wheats to Red Ales to rich Porters.
Doesn’t this flavor sounds perfect for “the morning after”: Chip’s Smoked Espresso Porter – Our friend Chip has been perfecting this over the years and it continues to evolve. This batch has a good dose of espresso from Uncommon Grounds in Saugatuck.
The way it works is that skilled brewers work with campers, helping them craft their own beers – this is a three-to-four-hour process. Return two weeks later to bottle and label your brew. Camp includes taste-testing, two commemorative brewery glasses, all brewing ingredients, bottles, 11 gallons of your own customized brew, personalized labels (upon request), and skilled brewers to assist campers during brew time, for only $200.
Camp is only available to Kingsley Inn guests and is offered year-round. B&B double rates are $115-$215; campers are offered a 50 percent discount for their return bottling trip.
The Kingsley B & B is ideally located in the heart of wine country, fruit orchards, Lake Michigan and Allegan State Forest. Good hiking, biking andd swimming. Saugatuck, Holland, South Haven all are within 10-15 minutes from the Inn. Experience all that Southern and West Michigan Beach resort towns have to offer. Sunsets over the beaches of Lake Michigan, Wine Country, Antiques, Dowhnhill and Cross Country Skiing are all close by.
The Kingsley House A: 626 West Main St. M-89, Fennville, MI 49408 T: 269.561.6425
C’mon, you knew it was going to happen. Some trends, copy-cats and sequels should just never happen, but sometimes they are the perfect evolution. (Case in point, “Live Free or Die Hard” was even better than the original.)
A fine dining establishment provides expert sommeliers to help educate, entice and guide us through often unknown territories. First there were wine sommeliers, next cheese sommeliers (often referred to as Affineurs) and a few times I’ve even had a lavish silver cart wheeled up to me with me with my “water sommelier” offering his pairing suggestions for my meal.
So, hiring a Chocolate Sommelier is a natural! When you’ve risen above arguing the merits of milk chocolate vs. bittersweet, and let no less than 85% cocoa pass your lips although you really prefer 95%, or words like “single origin, varietal, & estate grown,” creep into not only your wine but chocolate vocabulary, than you’ll want the services of a trained C.S.
“There has been a growing interest and demand for fine chocolate from around the world. Food connoisseurs are as particular in their choice of chocolates as they are with their choice of wine,” says Richard Ekkebus, the award-winning Landmark Mandarin Hotel’s Executive Chef. “People usually judge the quality of chocolate by its cocoa content, but we have learnt that it is in fact the soil and climate where the cocoa bean grows that creates the real taste difference, regardless of cocoa content.”
The role of Chocolate Sommelier, the ‘Ambassador of Chocolate’, is to not only enhances our menu selection, but also presents a great opportunity for guests to increase their understanding of this delicacy. The sommelier’s trained palette in the art of wine recognition and rigorous education in the smallest minutiae of wine knowledge makes him the perfect candidate for this position. Guests can now enjoy delicious cocoa drinks by combining different textures and complementary flavours from a variety of the world’s finest chocolates.
Amber’s selection includes Tanzanie from Africa at 75% cocoa; San Domingue from Dominican Republic at 70% cocoa; Manjari from Madagascar at 64% cocoa and white Valrhona Ivoire chocolate at 35% cocoa. Each of these delectable cocoa beverages can be custom blended with guests’ choice of exotic flavours, such as pink pepper corn and chilli; ginger, bay leaf, star anise and cinnamon; raspberry, coconut or simply a dash of whipped cream.
With a goal of drawing attention to the global water crisis, this 
If Wine Camp sounds too hoity-toity for you, what about one where you learn to make your own Brewskis? That’s the promise of 
Camp is only available to Kingsley Inn guests and is offered year-round. B&B double rates are $115-$215; campers are offered a 50 percent discount for their return bottling trip. 
C’mon, you knew it was going to happen. Some trends, copy-cats and sequels should just never happen, but sometimes they are the perfect evolution. (Case in point, “Live Free or Die Hard” was even better than the original.)
