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New Orleans Beignets Three Different Ways
New Orleans beignets are legendary. They are synonymous with the destination and just one of those things you need to sample when in NOLA. The city of New Orleans is known for its spirited nightlife, raucous bachelorette parties, and an abundance of internationally inspired foods. Perhaps nothing is more synonymous with NOLA though than beignets. Everyone makes them and has their own slightly unique take on the fluffy doughy sweets. New Orleans Beignets Recently, I went in search of New Orleans best beignets and what I found might surprise you. So, what’s all the fuss? And more importantly, what are beignets anyways? To be completely transparent, before we visited Louisiana…
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Do the Brews Cruise – Three Creative Durham Region Breweries
In early 2020, I visited Durham Region as a guest. We stayed at The Hive and did the Durham Region Brews Cruise, sampling beers at three stellar Durham Region Breweries. This is all about that stay. Reminder – please drink responsibly. I am not the world’s biggest beer connoisseur by any stretch. In fact, pretty sure my shoulders will never support that title. But, I know what I like and I love adventuresome and creative breweries. Beers that make use of fruit, coffee, earthy flavours of nuts, rich kicks of coffee and sweet notes of peanut butter, rock my tastebuds. So, when I found out there was a brews cruise…
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A Refreshing Visit to Louisiana Northshore
So close to New Orleans, and yet a world away in spirit, Louisiana Northshore is a little slice of something spectacular and a very refreshing soft adventure reprieve after our busy 3-day girl’s trip to New Orleans. Across the Shore, a World Apart Louisiana’s Northshore, St. Tammany Parish, is just a 45-minute drive from NOLA. With access to the same fresh seafood, cultural influences and chefs inspired by Acadian cuisine, Northshore Louisiana has a lot in common with The Big Easy, but without the hustle and the raucous streets of New Orleans. This makes the Northshore a charming spot for a soft adventure, romantic getaway or family vacation. I recently…
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Adopting The Pace of Nature – Group Travel with Austin Adventures
This fall I was on a group travel experience and media trip with Austin Adventures which means I received travel, accommodations, food and excursions in exchange for potential coverage. This story is based on that experience. “Adopt the pace of nature. Her secret is patience.” We are sharing a picnic lunch on the outdoor patio at Old Faithful Inn waiting, listening. There’s a clock inside on the main floor that projects an estimated time that Old Faithful will erupt. It is nothing if not faithful, just as it says right in the name. Old Faithful The crowd murmurs and holds cameras up at the ready, so one by one we…
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Puerto Rico’s Family-Approved Destinations For Under $200
Guest post by Andrea Barnhill of Weekend Wander Club It’s a perfect dream to spend bright and lazy summer days just lying in hammocks under palm trees or walking barefoot in the sand while the water splashes softly against your skin. Not too far away, you can hear children’s squeals of delight, giving you peace of mind that they’re safe and enjoying nature at its best. Puerto Rico’s Family-Approved Destinations at Under $200 You can have all these experiences and more in Puerto Rico, the largest territory in the Caribbean Sea that’s still part of the US. For US citizens, it’s an easy destination and a two-hour flight from Miami.…
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Valcartier – The Largest Winter Playground in North America
Setting – the largest winter playground in North America. We are flying down Everest, a human chain of inner tubes, each of us squealing deliciously, eyes squeezed shut, hearts drumming loudly in our ears. The vertical plummet straight down, as soon as the gate lifts, has me clutching even harder to handles on either side of my tube while simultaneously also wrapping my triceps around my younger daughter’s boots and grounding us both. All that planking at the gym literally paying off right now in this moment as we scream all the way down. At the bottom, when the ground levels out and the tubes finally slow to a halt,…
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Lake Simcoe Ice Fishing and So Much More – a 2-Day Itinerary
From the moment my youngest daughter burst forth into the world she was a flurry of activity. My sporty child, Ainsley, is also the one that made us realize we needed to embrace active living and sports of all kinds. Until she was about 11 months old, I loathed fitness, or sports, and more than anything I despised the cold. Embracing Winter CUT to 14 years later when I am sitting on frozen Lake Simcoe in northern Ontario peering into a hole, trading jokes, and warming my hands over an open flame while ice fishing. Okay, so it might not seem like the most physical of all the activities we…
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How to Save Money on Your Dream Cruise Now
Cruising is expensive, right? Well, it doesn’t have to be at all. In fact, it can be the most economical way to travel for couples and families, even for multi-generational groups. We have taken numerous cruises now and just returned home from our most recent. Each cruise vacation I learn a little bit more. You saved a lot of money for your cruise. Maybe you also had to save a fair chunk of the trip budget for air travel. That alone can be a budget killer, especially if you are Canadian as we are. Flights from Canada are expensive often. But there are many ways to save on your dream…
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Teen Travel – When Are They Ready To Go Solo?
Solo Teen travel is something that most parents will have to deal with at some point. In this day and age of spread out families, international job opportunities, and easy long distance travel, solo teen travel is becoming more common. The question becomes this: How do you know when they’re ready to travel on their own? Maybe your teen has taken the bus around town or the train to an Aunt or Uncle’s Home a few cities away. They have most definitely done a bit of family travel with you their parents. But as for flying on their own, well that’s a whole other ballgame. I mean airports alone are terrifying…