Country Vacations & Resorts

News this week for your travel – maybe in the great outdoors!

+ Minnesota state parks and trails to offer ‘how to’ camping, paddling, climbing, fishing, archery programs for families this summer

+ Camping at Escalante Petrified Forest State Park

+ New Climbing and Moutaineering Summer Camps for Teens

+ Participation in Outdoor Recreation Reaches Highest Level in Five Years

+ Park and Read Program Gives Library Customers a Free Pass

+ Chesapeake, VA Parks And Recreation Announces KayaXpedition Event June 9 – 10

+ 7 Great Hotels Where You Can Cook Like a Local

+ Hilton Queenstown, New Zealand named one of the world’s hottest new hotels

This is a pretty nice offer from Expedia.com…

If you’re stumped on where to go Summer 2012, have a look through the Country Vacations & Resorts Destinations List for some new ideas on great destinations.

Only 3 days left on this deal:

Expedia Top 10 Deals! Book your best-value hotel today! – Expires 5/7/12

The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses held annually in Louisville, Kentucky on the first Saturday in May and caps the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter miles (2 km) at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds (57.2 kg) and fillies 121 pounds (54.9 kg).

The race is known in the United States as “The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports” or “The Fastest Two Minutes in Sports” for its approximate duration, and is also called “The Run for the Roses” for the blanket of roses draped over the winner. It is the first leg of the US Triple Crown and is followed by the Preakness Stakes, then the Belmont Stakes. The horse must win all three races to win the Triple Crown.

+ Fates of some of the past Kentucky Derby Favorites

Attendance at the Kentucky Derby ranks first in North America and usually surpasses the attendance of all other stakes races including the Preakness Stakes, Belmont Stakes and the Breeders’ Cup.

Here’s a video of the 2009 Kentucky Derby:

This is exciting enough but watching this championship of sporting events in the thoroughbred world is probably like watching auto racing – nothing like the experience of actually being there!

Visit the official site of the Kentucky Derby 2012 for race times, info on betting, history of the derby, and for more information on all the activities taking place up to the post time and after.

Race Day 2012 is this Saturday, May 5, 2012 – post time approximately 6:24pm ET.

More about planning your visit to Kentucky from the state’s tourism center. You can sign up here for a copy of the tourist’s guide or access the online version.

Prices here, as everywhere else, continue to rise…

I wanted to re-post the US State Fairs list now that we’re getting closer in time to many of these event dates.

Photo: Credit

Although the first on tap is the North Dakota State Fair, July 20 through 28, 2012, anyone making plans to visit then should be making plans – now. (Florida’s State Fair was in February 2012.)

Contact North Dakota’s Official Tourism Office.

For international travelers…the United States is more than just New York, Florida, California, Las Vegas, and Washington, DC. To really experience America and her people, get out of town and visit the rest of the country.

I don’t care what your age is – sunglasses at the beach are not just a fashion statement, they are a necessity. If you’re younger, protect your eyes now – if you’re older, you’ll already know what I mean about eye protection.

Here are some great sunglass options for Summer 2012…and in my last post, why I think they are so necessary.

The Clarity Enhancing Bifocal Sunglasses use optics technology developed by NASA to make objects appear more vivid while blocking 100% of UV rays and shading eyes from sunlight.

Based on the glasses designed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to protect astronauts’ eyes from solar radiation, the polarized lenses filter blue and violet light rays that can impair vision, yet allow sight-enhancing green, yellow, orange, and red light rays to reach your retina. As a result, objects appear more distinct and distortion is greatly diminished.

Don’t need bifocals? Here’s a pair for you – Non-Bifocal Clarity Enhancing Sunglasses.

Here’s an interesting pair of sunglasses. At $199.95 they aren’t cheap, but for those who want to avoid glare headaches, this is a moderate price to pay.

These Light Adapting Sunglasses adapt to light intensity to provide optimal eye comfort while driving.

Photochromic pigments inside the lenses react to visible light as it comes through a windshield, lightening or darkening the lens to block 80% to 91% of the light. The polarized, copper-tinted lenses have an antireflective coating that eliminates glare and reduces eyestrain. An oil-repellent coating prevents fingerprints and causes water to slide off of the lenses instead of beading and impairing visibility.

The lenses block 100% of UV-A, B and C rays and are scratch- and impact resistant. These will be great for that annoying, low Winter sun as well.

Only the good stuff from…

I took a fairly quick mini-vacation to St. Augustine, Florida end of March – first of April. Here are a few thoughts on vacations in general, vacation rentals, and “should haves…”

1. I rented a very solid and rather luxurious vacation condo. It was bliss for the first two nights. The third night, a group of elephants rented the unit above me. Although these units were literally on the ocean, these elephants preferred to go in and out the sliding glass door above me to sit on their balcony- making me constantly check the sky since I thought I was hearing thunder. The overhead noise – which thankfully did quiet down around 10pm each night, was not pleasant. Note to self: Rent a separate house in future like the one you rented in Corolla, NC.

2. Bring Drano. The condo I rented had a large, see-through shower unit which could probably have showered 4 people at a time. However, the drain did not drain and before I could get the water to the proper temperature, I was standing in 2 inches of water which, by the time I had raced through my shower activities, was about to breach the edge of the enclosure. This is a pet peeve of mine so I ended up using the standard shower in the 2nd bedroom – which meant carting stuff back and forth from bathroom to bathroom.

3. If you’re heading south – especially early in the season, take Visine and don’t take cheap sunglasses. The warmer-than-expected Florida temperatures combined with sand glare and glare from the ocean, really played havoc with my eyes. The fact that I had left mid-pollen season in North Carolina and then headed into these Florida conditions did not help. Thank the Lord I had my Ray-Bans with me – although I don’t normally wear them for long-range driving because they are rather heavy – they did save me from the Florida glare.

4. Dogs on the beach. There was a leash law for dogs on the beach which was clearly noted in my rental agreement. CoCo, my dog, is not allowed to roam free in the first place so this was a “no-brainer.” The problem was, the live-in manager of these rental units also had a dog, who did roam the premises without a leash – granted not far, but not leashed. This put CoCo at a bit of a disadvantage. It was also noted that on the “leash-law” beach, locals seemed to have no problem ignoring the law themselves. CoCo was sniffed more than once by a dog weighing about one-fifth of his weight – in a personal and unwelcome manner. I think he showed great restraint by not responding.

5. Screaming kids. I don’t have kids but I used to be one – in a family of 6 children. I had to weigh the balance of the positives of seeing kids outside in the fresh air getting good exercise versus the fact that so many are allowed to constantly scream – for no apparent reason. A new episode of “Jaws” was not being filmed, no “monsters” were on the beach, yet the high-pitched screaming continued. Parents: From my observation, many of you are able to completely tune this noise out. I can not. It takes great restraint for me to NOT turn into my Father and start smacking some butts! Just FYI…

Vacations are great and St. Augustine was a fantastic destination but it’s a good feeling at the end of a trip – that it’s GOOD TO BE HOME!

TGIF – and Happy Friday the 13th!

You have to admit that the word “Villa” brings to mind a luxury experience. No offense intended, but no one says, “Hey, I’m staying at a great Motel 6 Villa.”

Instead they expect something like this – which is “Villa” defined by Wikipedia:

“A villa was originally an ancient Roman upper-class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became small farming compounds, which were increasingly fortified in Late Antiquity, sometimes transferred to the Church for reuse as a monastery. Then they gradually re-evolved through the Middle Ages, into elegant upper-class country homes. In modern parlance ‘villa’ can refer to a various types and sizes of residences, ranging from the suburban “semi-detached” double villa to residences in the wildland-urban interface.”

Here are my top 3 picks in the “Villas” category this week from Luxury Link…

A villa in Italy… Need I say more?

Villa Termini – Palaia, Italy

My sister spent her February 2012 birthday in Saint Lucia. Her one-word description upon return…”Incredible!”

Stonefield Estate Villa Resort & Spa – Soufrière, Saint Lucia

If you’ve been on this blog for more than one visit you might have known I’d find something for you in the British Virgin Islands! And here it is!

Hawk’s Nest – Tortola, British Virgin Islands

Over 50 more “villa” destination choices waiting for you…