My husband and I, both members of Houston’s Italian Cultural & Community Center (ICCC) and frequent guests at their wine tastings (read about past events here and here), were thrilled to attend their first ever Italian wine seminar in four two-hour classes over the course of four weeks, led by Master Sommelier Craig Collins (Meet the Sommelier at […]
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Alaskan Cruise: Skagway Part 2 (City Highlights)
Continued from Skagway Sled Dog Experience After our morning kissing puppies during our Musher’s Camp & Sled Dog Experience excursion up the road from Skagway in Dyea during our Alaskan cruise on Ruby Princess last summer, we returned to the ship to change, grab a city guide and drop off our coats (it was heating up). […]
Alaskan Cruise: Skagway Part 1 (Sled Dog Experience)
Continued from Ketchikan The last Alaskan stop on our Alaskan Cruise on Ruby Princess last summer was in Skagway, a beautiful gold rush mining town turned top summer destination that sits on the mouth of a river surrounded by mountains. The port is picturesque and dominated by cruise ships and trains. This post contains affiliate links. […]
Alaskan Cruise: Ketchikan
Continued from Juneau Part 2 (City Highlights) The first stop on our Alaskan Cruise on Ruby Princess last summer was in Ketchikan, a small seaside town in southeast Alaska surrounded by Tongass National Forest only accessible by boat or plane. As a first introduction to Alaska, this was rugged and beautiful, everything I had hoped Alaska […]
Alaskan Cruise: Juneau Part 2 (City Highlights)
Continued from Juneau Part 1 (Mendenhall Glacier) After our Mendenhall Glacier Helicopter Tour excursion during our Alaskan cruise on Ruby Princess last summer, we had the rest of the day in Juneau on our own. Across the street from where our ship was docked is Mount Roberts Tramway, an aerial cable tram that takes passengers […]
Alaskan Cruise: Juneau Part 1 (Mendenhall Glacier)
Continued from Tracy Arm Fjord Scenic Cruising When we first booked excursions for our Alaskan Cruise on Ruby Princess last summer, we were planning on just going to the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center so we could see a glacier. But then I thought: “screw that…I want to walk on the glacier” knowing that getting to walk on the […]
Alaskan Cruise: Scenic Cruising Tracy Arm Fjord
You’ll never forget your first iceberg! Waking up at 5:00 am on vacation might seem ridiculous, except when on an Alaskan cruise taking a detour up a fjord. So that’s exactly what we did. On our way to Juneau from Ketchikan during our Alaskan cruise on Ruby Princess last May, we turned into Tracy Arm […]
Checking an Alaskan Cruise off the Bucket List
Last May we checked a huge destination item off our travel bucket list: an Alaskan cruise. We left hot and humid Houston for cold (to us) and rainy Seattle, and spent 48 sleepless hours exploring Seattle before our 7-day cruise to Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway in Alaska, and Victoria, British Columbia in Canada. […]
Carry-On Wine Corkscrew: A Travel Necessity
Those who spend any time with me know that I always have a corkscrew on me (emergency wine drinking, duh). And because I got tired of buying a corkscrew whenever I got to my destination when traveling, I now always pack a special TSA-compliant corkscrew that doesn’t need to be checked and won’t be confiscated […]
Costuming a Barbarian at Texas Renaissance Festival
Texas Renaissance Festival (TRF for short) runs every year during October and November in Todd Mission, Texas (just north of Houston). There is something for everyone! Costuming, jousting and other shows, shopping for handcrafts, festival eating, people watching, and wine/mead drinking. As a casual costumer, I try to play along with their themed weekends (Oktoberfest, […]