Traveling Sisters go to Kohler, Wisconsin April 2014

The continuing saga of the Traveling Sisters…. Our annual trip was scheduled for April 22^nd-28^th. Carol and I flew to Minneapolis on the 22^nd. Ruth picked us up at the airport about 6pm and we headed back to White Bear Lake to meet up with Earl for dinner. They took us to a great new place in town, Pizzeria Pezza , which was an upscale pizza place. They have wood fired pizzas, salads and pasta, including Chicago style deep dish pizza. We ordered a salad and a thin crust pizza to start, and a deep dish pizza to try. All of their food is made with fresh ingredients from scratch. The deep dish was worth waiting for, and the salad and other pizza were great. Additionally, the owners have a similar restaurant in Chicago called Slyce. I will definitely try it out next time I’m in Chicago.

On Wednesday morning the Traveling Sisters headed for the village of Kohler, Wisconsin for our little getaway. It is about a 5.5 hr drive from White Bear Lake. We stopped for a quick lunch in Wisconsin Dells (need to go back there sometime!) at the High Rock Café in the heart of downtown on Broadway. Food was great! We arrived in Kohler about 4pm and checked into our hotel, the America Club Carriage House.

Kohler is a small town that is home to the original Kohler Factory where the plumbing supplies, tubs, sinks, faucets, etc. are made. When the factory was built the founders opened the American Club with rooms for the immigrant factory employees, who were mostly single men. As they started their families the founders developed the surrounding “garden community” with houses for the families to live.

Today, the original American Club building has been converted to a grand hotel, with beautiful woodwork. There is a library with plenty of sitting room, a restaurant, pub, and a wine.. Additionally, the Carriage House next door has “Club Level” rooms with more space, and is also home to the Kohler Water Spas. We stayed in the Carriage House.

Our room was on the 2^nd floor. It had 2 queen beds and a sofa bed, as well as a large bathroom and a bar area. There were 3 sinks with mirrors which was great for the 3 of us. On the upper level was a large hot tub area with a fireplace and lots of lounge chairs for resting. On the lower level was a co-ed pool with a waterfall, then a men’s and women’s locker room. In that area there was a hot tub and a plunge pool (very cold!), a steam room and sauna. Additionally, lots of lounge chairs. Down a ramp to a lower area were all the personal treatment rooms. Then on the main floor they had the salon/spa area for facials, mani-pedis, selection of products for purchase, etc. Also, several lounge chairs for relaxing. All of the areas showcased Kohler products of course. The bathroom in the main salon spa area had an awesome toilet! None of us tried out all of the features, but the toilet had a motion sensor lid that rose when you came in the room, then a remote control on the wall for various features. The seat was heated (I need to get one of those!), and additionally you could try out the following features: music, dryer, spray, front, rear, and more…

Staying at the Carriage House included a continental breakfast, afternoon tea and evening wine. The breakfast was much more than continental; it included breads, cereal, yogurt, fruit, lox, hard boiled eggs, etc. The afternoon tea was coffee, tea, soda, and snacks – crackers, nuts, etc. That was removed at 5pm and at 5:30 they served Wine and tapas type hors d’oeuvres, olives, cheeses, crackers, veggies, etc. No shortage of food! How can we try out the restaurants when so much food is available all day?!

After getting settled we walked to the various spa areas, then walked over to the American Club main hotel to look around there. We came back in time for the evening wine and tapas, then went to the pool area and tried out the hot tub, plunge pool and steam room and sauna. It was relaxing and restful and we were all tired. Although we had a bite to eat earlier we walked over to Horse and Plow, the American Club Pub. The food was good and just what was needed to round off the day.

Thursday was Spa Day, something we all looked forward to. We got up and had the continental breakfast at the hotel, then took the hotel shuttle to The Shops at Woodlake. We started at the Craverie, a Chocolatier where we had coffee. Then we walked through the different upper scale stores. When we were ready we took the shuttle back to the Carriage House and got ready for our spa treatments. Ruth and Carol both had facials, and I had a Citrus Scrub which included a Vichey water treatment. It was so nice and relaxing. Afterward we stayed in our robes in the Spa area and had lunch. Ruth and I had also arranged for pedicures so after we stayed for that (wonderful!). That evening we took the shuttle to Cucina, a great Italian restaurant nearby.

Friday morning we had breakfast then got our car and stopped at Craverie again for coffee before we headed back to White Bear Lake. It was a fun and relaxing time, although the weather was a little cold. On our way back to MN we stopped in Stevens Point for a quick lunch at The Wooden Chair.

We got back to Ruth’s place about 5:30pm and Justin and Earl were getting dinner ready. Mike and Doug were coming and expected to be there by 7pm. Justin had brought brats from a nearby meat market – Bloody Mary and Philly Cheesesteak brats.

After a big breakfast Saturday morning- thanks Earl! –everyone but Ruth and I headed for the Twins game. Ruth and I opted out – too cold. We headed downtown to the Minnesota History Museum and Library and spent most of the time in the Library doing family research. We had lunch in the Museum restaurant before we headed back home. That night we went over to Nacho Mama's’s in Stillwater. Small place and there was a wait, but it was worth it to have an authentic Mexican meal. Always Doug’s favorite. It would have been fun to walk around Stillwater, but it was raining very hard at the time.

On Sunday we went to the Como Conservatory in downtown St Paul. It was raining so hard when we got there so we weren’t able to see any of the outdoor exhibits, but it was beautiful inside. It was the last day of the Spring flower exhibit so we were fortunate to see that. We went from there to the Landmark Center, home of the original Post Office and Courts in St Paul. It is now a Cultural Center and is used for different events, weddings etc. The original courtrooms can be rented for meetings.

We headed over to Alyssa’s and Trent’s for a family visit with them and Amy and kids. It was great to see them, meet Mave and visit with everyone. Justin and Kristen and the boys were not able to come over but we had seen them Friday night.

After leaving Alyssa and Trent’s we drove to Forest Lake and went to Acqua for dinner. It rained very hard all the way there – almost making us turn around and go home instead. Dinner was great, and we had a nice table by the window – too bad about the rain.

Monday –still raining - we decided to go see a movie before heading to the airport. We had lunch in downtown White Bear at Washington Square, and then headed to the airport.

It’s time to start planning for our next “Traveling Sisters” trip. Where should we go? Branson? Santa Fe? Arizona?

 

 

Another vacation in Paradise, Puerto Vallarta Feb 2014

This trip was the most relaxing one for me that we have had in a long time.  Since we have been to PV so many times we didn’t feel the need to take tours or shop or even sightsee like we have in the past. There were a few things that we wanted to do again, and a few new restaurants to try, so this time I’m going to blog about the things we did different, or the highlights of our trip and not all the details as in the past.

This year we decided to switch it up a bit and stay for 2 weeks in one location in Puerto Vallarta.  In years past we have stayed in Old Town for the first part of our vacation, then in our timeshare at the Marina for the last week.   Due to continuing frustrations at the Mayan property at the Marina we decided after last year’s visit to look at our other options.  Our time share came with the option to trade through SFX (San Francisco Exchange) so we called and found that we could stay at the Sheraton Bouganvillias using our time share week, and stay for another week using our bonus week.  At the Mayan we were not able to use the bonus week during the months of Feb/March.  2 weeks in one location – that should be fun. 

We love the feel of Old Town and being able to walk to all the great restaurants, and we loved the location at the Marina and all the great shops and restaurants there too.  The Sheraton is in the Hotel Zone between the two, so we weren’t sure if we would like it but we decided to try it.

We arrived in PV on Saturday, 3/8 and took a taxi directly to our hotel, arriving about 2:30pm.  We were able to get into our room right away which was a plus.  The timeshare (resort) buildings were separate from the hotel, with its own lobby, pool, business center, spa and fitness center.  Our exchange was for a one bedroom unit so what we got was two separate rooms with a single entry outer door, then two interior entry doors.  One room was the living room and kitchen, with toilet and shower, and the other room was the king size bedroom with bath/shower.  Both rooms had balconies.   The living room had a murphy bed rather than a sofa which was a little awkward and not as comfortable as it could be.  The rooms needed updating but they were clean and adequate and the bed was very comfortable. 

After unpacking and getting settled I went down to the pool area.  The pool was large and beautiful.  It was about 4:30 by then so people had left but there were limited places.  The weather was warm (80+) and plenty of sun left.  I stepped in and found that it was nice and warm.  Love, love, love the pool!  My biggest complaint at the Mayan was they stopped heating their pool several years ago.  I immediately knew that this was going to be a great, restful vacation. 

Our first evening we decided to eat dinner at the hotel restaurant, La Villita.  Although they had a Chinese Buffet we ordered off the menu instead.  Fajita’s and guacamole – Mexico here we are!

Some mornings we walked into town for coffee and or breakfast.  We found that the location was great as it was a nice walk to town if we went early before it got too hot.   Several times we walked all the way to Old Town and had breakfast at our all-time favorite,  Fredy Toucan’s.  Always a line, but it’s usually quick and worth the wait for a great breakfast.  It’s always fun to see familiar people working there, including the owner.  

Every day I spent hours at the pool reading, resting, relaxing.  One time early on  I was not able to find a place to sit at the resort pool so I headed to the hotel pool and found a place in the shade.  The hotel side was louder, had a lot of kids and loud music playing.  Later I moved over to the resort side.  Talking to a few people I found that people bring their towels down by 7 am to reserve a spot.  No one likes it but they have to play the game to get a spot.  After that I was up at 7 reserving my spot by pool.

One of the first days Doug was trying to work but the internet was not working well in the room.  The business office internet did not work for his laptop – not sure why.  I had brought my laptop and it worked ok, so we didn’t know if it was a problem with the laptop, which was quite frustrating.  Someone suggested trying the business center on the hotel side and once he did that it solved all the problems. 

Evenings we usually went to town or the Marina for dinner.  We had dinner at our favorite locations including Victor’s at the Marina, La Cerveceria Union in town, Joe Jack’s FishShack, Derby City Burgers.   This year we were able to try a few new restaurants that were great also.  El Barracuda which is located just north of the Malecon on the water (turn west at the OXXO on the corner).  Great view and wonderful fish tacos.  It was a nice walk from our resort.  Also, a few blocks east of our resort was Mariscos Cuetos, a neighborhood restaurant with excellent seafood.  Doug had cocoanut prawns that were huge, and I had breaded sea bass which was great.   We also tried a new restaurant in Old Town called Old Town Bistro.  It was classy, with a piano player, white tablecloths, great décor and good food for a great price.   All of these places are on our list to try again someday.

We spent one afternoon in Suyulita, just relaxing over lunch at Captain Pablo's on the beach.  Love this little surfing village.

One day we went to San Sabastian, which we had done in the past.  San Sabastian is an old mining town that is now more of a ghost town with very few people living there compared to the mining days.  There is a beautiful old church and a coffee plant which we stopped and toured.  We had bought coffee last time we went and Doug really wanted to buy some again.  That was a fun day although it was very hot and we were glad to get back to the hotel (and me to the pool).

Another afternoon we went to Bucerias and went on a tour with Investours, a non-profit that provides support to the local business community through micro-loans or grants to help with their businesses.  The donations from the tours go directly toward the expenses to support the businesses.  We met with three businesses, Francisco’s Painted Bowls,  Javier’s Fresh Seafood and Ceviche, and Birrieria Ponce, a family restaurant run by Don Carmelo.  All of these businesses are successful today because of the hard work of the owners and the support they have received from family and friends, as well as Investours.

We both decided that we enjoyed our stay at the Sheraton resort and would like to stay there again in the coming years.  If possible we can buy a few weeks there to stay a little longer after retirement.    We’ll see, as time goes on.   For now, it was a great stay!

I also decided I want to include the name of the books that I read during my trips.  So, for a first I am including here that I read the following during this trip:  “Quiet Dell”, “An Invisible Thread” and “Piers Morgan – the Kindle Singles Interview”.