MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS FOR VINTAGE TRAINS AND LASER LIGHT SHOWS

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Laser light shows light up the St. Louis Union Station Hotel every evening. photo by Russ Wagner

Laser light shows light up the St. Louis Union Station Hotel every evening. photo by Russ Wagner


Vintage train travel evokes an atmosphere of retro sophistication, the clacking of wheels rolling over tracks, elegant club cars with linen-covered tables and plush chairs, and where the ultimate goal is less about the destination than the journey. That ode to yesteryear has emerged as one of the most comforting trends in alternative event venues.
One of the most recent to capitalize on that nostalgic environment is the St. Louis Union Station’s nine retrofitted train cars, housed under an open—air steel beam canopy soon to be transformed into an attractions park featuring food outlets, a 200” high observation wheel, light and fire shows, a fountain and an outdoor plaza. Already onsite is a Landry’s seafood restaurant and Hard Rock St. Louis.
On a recent trip to St. Louis with my train-fascinated husband, Russ, we were given a private tour of the four trains Read more

PATAGONIA: Part Five – Santiago, An Urban Awakening After Patagonia

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Close up of The Masif under a brilliant sunrise. photo by Russ Wagner

Close up of The Masif under a brilliant sunrise. photo by Russ Wagner


April 1. April Fool’s Day and the biggest joke of the day was our group thinking our early morning LAN flight to Santiago, Chile would leave on time. We were at the Puerto Montt Airport by 8 am for a 10:15 flight. Technically, our airplane was there but it was somewhere above us circling above the dense fog that rendered anything beyond the glass windows just an opaque smoky haze.
The arduous pace our group has kept has taken its toll. Some are sick. Most of us are exhausted. The hours of fog-induced delay have pushed our schedule back. The plan to tour Santiago before our night’s activity became an hour stroll among crowded streets and an even more crowded plaza (watch out for the pickpockets!!). We spent little time in Santiago but my initial impressions are of a tattered-appearing city, overcrowded and ill-adept or disinclined to preserve their historical architecture. After a quick shower and change of clothes, we met inside the lobby of Hotel Atton Vitacura to find out which home we’d each be visiting for dinner with a local host.
Statue in plaza in Santiago, Chile. photo by Russ Wagner

Statue in plaza in Santiago, Chile. photo by Russ Wagner


As this was Russ and my first group tour, we didn’t quite understand what dinner with a local host meant. In this case, volunteers who are part of the Smithsonian community agree to host a home cooked meal for a designated number of people. As we came to understand, the host is provided requested provisions. Our group of four couples was assigned to Andrea, a well-travelled woman in her 30s who spoke fluent English. A driver picked each group up and delivered us to the respective front door. In our case, Andrea and her five-year-old (total cutie) son Read more

PATAGONIA: Part Four – Puerto Montt and Puerto Varas, the land of volcanos, salmon and a lake that thinks it’s an ocean

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Close up of The Masif under a brilliant sunrise. photo by Russ Wagner

Close up of The Masif under a brilliant sunrise. photo by Russ Wagner


Our lake thinks it’s an ocean with a tropical storm pushing its waves into foamy peaks before it slams onto the shore. The lake is just across the street from the picture window of our room in the Gran Hotel Colonos del Sur in Puerto Varas, Chile.
It’s day 12 of our 18-day expedition to Patagonia with Smithsonian Journeys. Getting to Puerto Varas was tedious. Our group of 20 travelers from across the United States and Switzerland, as well as our illustrious Tour Director, Nick Tozer, left the iconic mountains of Torres del Paine National Park, drove three hours by coach to the Puerto Arenas Airport, flew two hours and then drove another half hour by comfy coach to our fifth hotel. Each hotel becomes progressively more modern, more beautiful.
View from our room at Gran Hotel Colonos del Sur, Puerto Varas. photo by Russ Wagner

View from our room at Gran Hotel Colonos del Sur, Puerto Varas. photo by Russ Wagner


Our travel was delayed yet again by a late LAN flight. So far they’re batting 100%. No flight has left on time.
We don’t arrive until 11 pm, still the dinner hour for many Latin Americans. Though we are a tired party, none of us turn down welcoming gestures of the bartender’s freshly made pisco sours and the chef’s homemade miniature empanadas. As if the delectable bites weren’t a treat, our room bears another plate of tasty bites: cheeses, nuts and slices of lunch meats. We nibbled, put the rest in the fridge, and decide this room, rich in creams and brown tones, was comfortably cozy. Maybe because the 98-room contemporary hotel is now a part of the Radisson Hotel family, we can flush toilet paper in the toilet! (If you don’t get my exhalation of joy, read Read more

PATAGONIA: Part Three – Torres Del Paine, One Of The World’s Most Beautiful Natural Wonders

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The beauty of Patagonia outside our hotel window in Torres del Paine National Park

The beauty of Patagonia outside our hotel window in Torres del Paine National Park


Google Patagonia, Chile and the iconic picture that pops up is likely of The Masif. Photos of the 10,000 foot high giant rarely do it justice, especially when you’re staring at its snow-bald cap under a startling blue sky streaked with puffy white clouds. Few get to see The Masif preening in all its glory. Mostly the base is visible under a heavy blanket of fog or grey rain. Once again, the weather gods were kind to our intrepid group.
We’d seen the Masif in the distance, but our six-hour bus ride from Punta Arenas (where we’d disembarked from our ship, the Stella Australis) brought us up close and personal. For the next few days, the rustic 95-room Hotel Rio Serrano, located near the entrance of Torres del Paine National Park, would be our home. Our
An early morning rainbow bursts from the mountain in Torres del Paine area, just outside of our hotel. photo by Russ Wagner

An early morning rainbow bursts from the mountain in Torres del Paine area, just outside of our hotel. photo by Russ Wagner


Smithsonian Journeys-arranged lodging backed up to a horse farm, green and gold grasses, glaciers glinting in the sunrise orange sky and a rainbow bursting from the cracks of steep craggy Read more

PATAGONIA: Part Two of a Series – To the End of the Earth in Ushuaia and Cruising Aboard the Stella Australis

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The beauty of Patagonia outside our hotel window in Torres del Paine National Park

The beauty of Patagonia outside our hotel window in Torres del Paine National Park. photo by Russ Wagner


Thousands of shipwrecked sailors’ bones are forever entombed in the turbulent sea crashing against Cape Horn, the 1,400-foot high promontory soundlessly monitoring the endless savage confrontation of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Gusty winds and roiling seas batter the tiny isle of Cape Horn, of which the fabled promontory is like a jutting chin facing down the world’s most treacherous waters. Naturalist Charles Darwin tried unsuccessfully in the 1820’s to do what our intrepid group of adventurous tourists accomplished; we landed and hiked on Cape Horn (National Park), the northern boundary of the Drake passage and the last spit of land before one reaches Antarctica.
We reached Cape Horn aboard the Stella Australis, a sleek white Expedition ship. But before our afternoon boarding of the elegant lady, our Smithsonian Journey’s Patagonian Expedition group of 20 spent two days in Ushuaia, the world’s southernmost city.
Usushaia, Argentina
There are many reasons why Patagonian adventures begin in Usushaia. It’s where our ship would launch.
It’s an easy ride to Tierra del Fuego National Park, a 155,676-acre nature preserve created Read more

PATEGONIA : Part One of a Series — Buenos Aires, Argentina

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The beauty of Patagonia outside our hotel window in Torres del Paine National Park

The beauty of Patagonia outside our hotel window in Torres del Paine National Park. All photos by Russ Wagner


Russ retched up to the moment we gingerly stepped into the zodiac that bounced in the rolling sea. If the Captain of the Stella Australis didn’t call us back due to a rapid gusting wind or sudden stormy skies, we would be among the few tourists this season to land at dawn on the legendary (Island of) Cape Horn (Cabo de Hornos), the last bit of land before reaching Antarctica.
But that historic (for us) landing was many days after our group of 20 international travelers began our 18-day Patagonia Expedition with Smithsonian Journeys. It was not an adventure I would have chosen, but it fulfilled my husband’s dream to travel to the ends of the earth to visit one of the most recognized beautiful and relatively primitive destinations left on earth. This was not a laid-back vacation, but an adventure for even seasoned travelers.
Like all journeys, this one began with travel. Over the course of the next 18 days, Read more

SCANDINAVIAN ADVENTURES: DENMARK, SWEDEN & ICELAND

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Russ and me and the rainbow at Gullfoss Falls, Iceland

Russ and me and the rainbow at Gullfoss Falls, Iceland

The opportunity to visit Copenhagen, Denmark began when a bright, red-headed newly-arrived exchange student from Denmark walked into the Merritt Island High School newspaper office and announced in perfect English that she wanted to participate. Little did I know then that my position as Editor and Else’s as Proof Reader (with her grammatically correct English) would form a bond that has endured more years than I wish to publicize.

It was her Facebook search, many exchanged emails catching up those years, and later a visit by her, her charming husband Erik, and their group of witty and affable golfing buddies visiting the Orlando, FL area, that culminated in my husband, Russ, and I selecting Copenhagen the next year as our next big adventure. Coincidentally, Else and Erik celebrated their wedding anniversary while here and we would be celebrating ours while there.

Once Russ began his meticulous research into Copenhagen and took the advice of our Danish friends to fly Icelandair, he received a package offer from the airline that was too tantalizing to ignore. If we stayed two nights in Iceland, a necessary layover between Orlando International Airport and Copenhagen, we would receive a reduced rate for the overall visit.

canal rides at Nyhavn, Copenhagen, Denmark. photo by Karen

canal rides at Nyhavn, Copenhagen, Denmark. photo by Karen

Russ reserved rooms in Copenhagen and in Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik and then we told Else we were coming, hoping that for at least one of those days or nights, we’d be able to connect with them and our other new friends. We were overjoyed and overwhelmed by the generous invitations and detailed agenda plans Else sent, indicating that each day she and Erik would guide us through Russ’ assembled list of places to visit. Else included places that are insider’s treasures. She noted places and events for us to visit on our own and Read more

SCANDINAVIAN ADVENTURES: DENMARK, SWEDEN & ICELAND

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Russ and me and the rainbow at Gullfoss Falls, Iceland

Russ and me and the rainbow at Gullfoss Falls, Iceland


The opportunity to visit Copenhagen, Denmark began when a bright, red-headed newly-arrived exchange student from Denmark walked into the Merritt Island High School newspaper office and announced in perfect English that she wanted to participate. Little did I know then that my position as Editor and Else’s as Proof Reader (with her grammatically correct English) would form a bond that has endured more years than I wish to publicize.
It was her Facebook search, many exchanged emails catching up those years, and later a visit by her, her charming husband Erik, and their group of witty and affable golfing buddies visiting the Orlando, FL area, that culminated in my husband, Russ, and I selecting Copenhagen the next year as our next big adventure. Coincidentally, Else and Erik celebrated their wedding anniversary while here and we would be celebrating ours while there.
Once Russ began his meticulous research into Copenhagen and took the advice of our Danish friends to fly Icelandair, he received a package offer from the airline that was too tantalizing to ignore. If we stayed two nights in Iceland, a necessary layover between Orlando International Airport and Copenhagen, we would receive a reduced rate for the overall visit.
canal rides at Nyhavn, Copenhagen, Denmark. photo by Karen

canal rides at Nyhavn, Copenhagen, Denmark. photo by Karen


Russ reserved rooms in Copenhagen and in Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik and then we told Else we were coming, hoping that for at least one of those days or nights, we’d be able to connect with them and our other new friends. We were overjoyed and overwhelmed by the generous invitations and detailed agenda plans Else sent, indicating that each day she and Erik would guide us through Russ’ assembled list of places to visit. Else included places that are insider’s treasures. She noted places and events for us to visit on our own and Read more

The Bahamas Are Like “That Box of Chocolates”: Every Island Is An Unexpected Treat

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Diving off Andros Island, home to the largest number of blue holes in the world.

Diving off Andros Island, home to the largest number of blue holes in the world.


I’ve swum with the dolphins, but in The Exumas islands of the Bahamas, you can swim with pigs.
That was just one of many facts I recently discovered about the Bahamas at a press function sponsored by the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism Office and Diamond PR, and which was held at the award-winning Winter Park, FL restaurant, Ravenous Pig (any relatives in The Exumas?). Frankly, I’ve cruised to the Bahamas, shopped at the famous Straw Market in Nassau and have stayed at the Atlantis Resort on neighboring Paradise Island, so in my until-now uneducated mind, I thought I “knew” the Bahamas and what it was about.
How wrong I was.
shrimp&grits at Ravenous Pig

Key West pink shrimp, Anson Mills Grits, green tomato chutney, chorizo oil and this Shrimp & Grits dish at Ravenous Pig tingled my taste buds. photo by Karen Kuzsel


I had no idea there are actually 700 islands, though just 30 of them are populated. I didn’t realize the 21-mile long New Providence, whose capital is Nassau, contains more than 60% of the population. I know the Bahamas are an easy trip from Florida, whether by ship or air, but was surprised to learn that 85% of their visitors are from the United States, many of whom are from colder climates seeking the more moderate temperatures of the islands. In fact, from September through May, Read more

ROAD TRIPPING THROUGH WASHINGTON, OREGON AND CALIFORNIA: ONCE THE WINE TASTING IS DONE, WHAT’S NEXT?

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The glass garden at (Dale) Chihuly’s Garden and Glass Museum in Seattle, WA. All photos by Karen Kuzsel

The glass garden at (Dale) Chihuly’s Garden and Glass Museum in Seattle, WA. All photos by Karen Kuzsel


The best of intentions can go awry.
Maybe that’s why restaurants over-complicate recipes or hotels focus on the décor and not on guest services. I had the best of intentions to immediately follow up my blog story HOLY C.O.W! (The Wines of California, Oregon and Washington), published in September, with reviews of where to go, where to eat, and where to stay in those same states. Time slipped past like the shadow of an eclipsing moon. So, come into the light with me as I finally shine a spotlight on what places and activities are worth doing, and which ones you may want to forego.
Here’s the itinerary we followed. Russ and I began our trip in Seattle, WA, then moved on to Portland, OR before connecting with friends and family in Bend OR, Jacksonville OR, and then Oakland CA.
SEATTLE, WA
Renaissance Hotel downtown Seattle: Great location. Easy walking distance to many of the city’s main attractions. First impressions: dreary dark colors of burnt orange and muddy brown, especially for a lobby that had just been refurbished. We stayed in room 2308. Musty odor. Called for maintenance to get the AC running or to at least get the air in the room circulating to eliminate the stuffiness. Bottle water in room part of amenity. We had just travelled many hours and needed that water, but there wasn’t any. Both times calls to housekeeping brought prompt service but it wasn’t an Read more