European Vacation: 9 Countries, 10 Cities, 27 Days, 12,500 miles

Posted on June 16, 2014 by Travel Spirit

Having just returned a few days ago from my month-long European Vacation, I’d like to share a photo from each of the ten Cities I traveled through. I’ll be going more in-depth in future posts about my experience of taking a group of travelers through Europe, my feelings and thoughts, challenges and delights! The photos are in order of Cities visited…

Here’s most of the group (a couple of people’s flights were delayed or missed) (for the Eastern Europe portion) in front of St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague.

Within the Hofburg Palace Complex – Vienna, Austria…

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Europe for a Month

Posted on March 25, 2014 by Travel Spirit

You haven’t heard from me for a while because I’ve been busy planning the European trip I mentioned in a past post. In the other post, I gave you information about the first adventure taking trains from Prague–Vienna–Bratislava—Budapest and it occurred to me that I could stay in Europe longer and offer a second trip to another group. I have purchased train tickets to travel from Budapest to Munich for a few days, then an overnight train to Amsterdam for a few days. I’ll be staying in an Airbnb in both locations. Next, I fly from Amsterdam to Copenhagen where I’ll meet the other group for an unforgettable Scandinavian adventure!

We’ll head to Stockholm, Sweden for a few days, then to Oslo, Norway, and finally take the scenic train and boat cruise of the fjords in Norway to Bergen, where we’ll fly home. There will only be four of us for the second portion. I’m so excited!!

My three passions in life are photography, travel, and organizing/minimizing and all of my dreams are coming true! I just helped an elderly couple yesterday with organizing their retirement village home and will be spending a lot more time with them. And…my photography assignments have been coming along. I’m still working with iSPYCINCY and have an upcoming assignment Sunday. I answered a Craigslist ad for a Merchandise photo shoot. My husband went with me because I was going to the man’s apartment in a new area of Cincinnati called “The Banks”. He’s starting a business selling picture frames and wanted some lifestyle photographs of them. Here are a few of them:

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Let’s go to Prague, Vienna, Bratislava, and Budapest!

Posted on February 11, 2014 by Travel Spirit

Planning a trip for yourself is one thing, but when you’re planning for a group of 12, the importance of a solid travel itinerary is essential! I’ve spent over 100 hours planning an 11 night trip for May of this year to Prague, Vienna, Bratislava, and Budapest, traveling from City to City via train. I’m so excited! I’ve longed to visit Eastern Europe and am giving a presentation to my travel meetup group next week, to see who would like to join me! After checking how much other travel companies charge for a very similar trip, my group will be very pleased to discover how economical it will be…at almost half the cost. I plan on staying an extra week to travel to Berlin and Amsterdam and hopefully Couchsurf!

With the weather so cold, its been the perfect time to get all of this planning finished! I took these photos the other morning…

You can barely see the sun peeking through the pine trees here…

I’ll post the itinerary for everyone when we get closer! xoxoxo

2013 in Review

Posted on December 6, 2013 by Travel Spirit

Looking back at everything I’ve done in the past year, makes me realize how lucky I am. My year has been filled with lots of life!

Exercise always plays a big part. Not only hiking…

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Travel Spirit Meetup Group

Posted on November 18, 2013 by Travel Spirit

I’ve just began my own Meetup group called Travel Spirit Meetup Group. If you’d like to take a look…here’s the link! I’m very excited to begin organizing meetups to travel together and to share our tips and travel stories! It doesn’t matter where you live…if you join, you could still meetup with us somewhere!

Here’s a photograph from Lake Malawi, Africa…

I’m working on another Powerpoint presentation…from my 40 day trip through six countries in Africa. It will have to be split into two presentations because I have over 200 photographs and an hour isn’t long enough to share 40 days of adventure!

Dallas and Seattle Official Meetup Tickets are available now! (thechive.com)
Docker Meetup at Twilio (San Francisco) (docker.io)
We’re excited to announce that Meetup is acquiring Dispatch! Dispatch is a startup… (meetupblog.meetup.com)
PSF Ladies Meetup: 2 TODAY at Espresso A Mano (steelcityskeptics.net)
New Feature: Create and edit Meetups on the go (meetupblog.meetup.com)
New Meetup Group in London, (maconsultancy.wordpress.com)
OpenStack Meetups :: Getting Started with RDO (jaddog.org)
Kinks Hair Meetup a Success! (thekinkshair.wordpress.com)
New Meetup & Networking Group in London (maconsultancy.wordpress.com)

Autumn has arrived at Indiana’s oldest and largest winery…Oliver Winery

Posted on October 18, 2013 by Travel Spirit

Oliver Winery in Bloomington, Indiana has stunning scenery…stone landscaping, sculptures, beautiful flowers, and tranquil seating areas. For my annual girls’ weekend this year, five of us visited the winery this past Saturday. It’s one of eight wineries on the Indiana Uplands Wine Trail. The day before, a few of us went to the Butler Winery, which is also on the Indiana Uplands Wine Trail, and really enjoyed our time there. They are very different from each other. Butler Winery is much smaller, has a more homey feel and natural beauty, and only a handful of people were there. As you’ll see from these photos…Oliver Winery was very crowded, but beautiful!

Dee is taking our photo here…

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Hiking the Rock Shelter Loop Trail

Posted on October 17, 2013 by Travel Spirit

I love hiking and so do my girlfriends, so on our recent girls’ weekend, we went hiking on the Rock Shelter Loop Trail in Morgan Monroe State Forest, Indiana. I had researched hiking trails in the area, and this trail seemed to be a good choice. The trail was only supposed to be 20 minutes away from our Vacation Rental by Owner (VRBO), but getting lost on those back country roads made it seem much farther. We couldn’t find the trail head once we were in the State Forest, but luckily I had the phone number for Morgan Monroe State Forest with me, so we called its location. We weren’t going crazy…there was no sign for it. The large sign said Low Gap Trail and then once you park and start that trail, there is a small sign (see below) indicating that the Rock Shelter Loop Trail is part of that trail.

Anyway, it was supposed to be a three-mile hike, but ended up being four miles. I took a photograph of this leaf that was on a slick rocky portion of the trail. The sunlight was illuminating it…

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Girls Gone Wild

Posted on October 16, 2013 by Travel Spirit

OK…so we’re not really girls anymore…more like ladies…but we did get a little wild! Here are some photos from the 24 hours we spent together (excluding sleeping time).

Dee (the Chiropractor…the 2nd photo down on the right) gave us a partial Pilates class Saturday morning, so Cindy put on an outfit she had bought recently that makes her look like I Dream of Jeannie.

I can’t divulge what story Gina (in the middle) was telling us, but it was obviously very funny! Cindy (on the left) was also a bit appalled!

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Hiking at Elm House

Posted on October 15, 2013 by Travel Spirit

For my annual girls’ weekend, I found a Vacation Rental by Owner in Bloomington, Indiana (aka Elm House) that had everything we were looking for—a home located on 100 acres with hiking trails, three bedrooms for five of us, two bathrooms (a must), a hot tub, and two wineries located within five miles! If you read yesterday’s post, you’ll recall our first stop was a winery located five minutes from the property. From there we found the house, unpacked the car and took a quick tour of the house. Elm House has three short maintained hiking trails on the grounds, so we laced our hiking boots and headed for the longest trail…a one-miler. There were only three of us at this point. Two of the ladies weren’t arriving until around 6:00pm.

Here’s a beautiful view from the house looking down at the sawmill that is located on the property.

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First Stop on the Girls’ Weekend…Butler Winery

Posted on October 14, 2013 by Travel Spirit

When I prepared the itinerary for my annual girls’ weekend this year, I included a stop at two of Indiana’s beautiful wineries.

After driving three hours from Cincinnati and getting lost a few times on the back country roads, we were ready for a glass of wine! I had Google map directions and my friends had smart phones, but some of the streets didn’t have signs and we lost signal with the phones. Butler Winery, located just five minutes from the Vacation Rental By Owner, was a convenient and fun stop! They offer six complimentary tastings.

Notice the reflected vineyards in the window…

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Lunch in Golden, Colorado

Posted on September 28, 2013 by Travel Spirit

The little town of Golden, Colorado is situated less than 30 minutes drive from Denver. My friend and I stopped there for a late lunch/early dinner after hiking up to St. Mary’s Glacier. We were headed to see The Local Natives and The National Bands at Red Rock Amphitheater. After walking a few blocks through town and taking some photographs…we stopped at The Bridgewater Grill for our meal. We were seated on the outside patio with a view of the small river/large creek. It’s attached to the Golden Hotel. The food was good…I would recommend it.

This statue of a man fly fishing is cool. At first I thought he had a bull whip…

The sign as you enter town, “Howdy Folks, Welcome to Golden, Where the West lives” is a nice touch!

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Colorado has Glaciers

Posted on September 27, 2013 by Travel Spirit

One of the cool things about traveling and having a blog is it forces you to do research and learn things…like…how many glaciers are in Colorado. Well not specifically how many…but is there more than the one I hiked which was St. Mary’s Glacier in Idaho Springs which is only an hour from Denver. If you read my last post you know St. Mary’s Glacier is only about a mile round trip–that it’s uphill and at an elevation of around 10,000 ft.

Here are some photos of the glacier and my girlfriend and I.

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Hiking St. Mary’s Glacier

Posted on September 26, 2013 by Travel Spirit

Located only an hour from Denver, St. Mary’s Glacier in Idaho Springs, Colorado is a beautiful hike and at 1 mile round trip is perfect if you’re looking for a shorter length hike and as an added bonus…you can enjoy a 10 mile scenic drive from I-70 to reach it. Having spent six wonderful days in Colorado (except for having to escape Estes Park flooding), my girlfriend and I had a full last day planned before we left and flew home to Cincinnati. We stopped at the magnificent Red Rock Amphitheater to take photos before returning later that evening for a concert and were stopping in the quaint town of Golden to have a late lunch after our St. Mary’s Glacier hike.

Here I am taking in the view on the hike…

I couldn’t stop taking photos…it was so pretty!

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Attending a Concert at Red Rock Amphitheater is a Must Do While in Denver

Posted on September 25, 2013 by Travel Spirit

Attending a concert at Red Rock Amphitheater is a “must do” if you visit Denver or the surrounding areas! As you can see from the photos, it’s magnificent. Construction began in 1936 and finished in 1941. My friend Gina and I stopped there Tuesday on our way to go hiking at St. Mary’s Glacier to take photos and check it out, even though we were coming back later that evening to attend a concert with Frightened Rabbit, Local Natives, and The Nationals. They’re Indy bands and our favorite was the Local Natives. I’ve seen an opera at the Santa Fe Opera House…also an amazing outdoor venue…but Red Rock Amphitheater is simply amazing! In addition to the scenery, the acoustics are wonderful and you can bring in your own cooler with non-alcoholic beverages and snacks.

You’ll notice people running and doing exercises during the day and it’s free to enter when there aren’t concerts. Located only 30 minutes from Denver, it’s an ideal place to visit!

I didn’t take my camera later that evening because they prohibit cameras with detachable lens. At night there are lights situated to illuminate the rocks and it’s simply gorgeous. Even the bands were commenting on how they felt honored to play there! We had reserved seats in row 52, but fortunately a guy that works there gave us the tip that the first 25 rows are general admission (first come/first serve), so we sat in row 20 towards the middle and had an excellent view! We made friends with the two couples on both sides of us and one of them even shared their homemade mozzarella cheese and homemade bread with us.

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Make Music Denver at 16th Street Mall

Posted on September 24, 2013 by Travel Spirit

16th Street Mall is a mile long pedestrian only street (16th Street) in Downtown Denver that has tons of restaurants, bars, and shops and loads of character! Actually there are buses that are free and take you up and down the mile. They have pianos situated at intervals in the street for anyone to sit down and play and call it the “Make Music Denver” project. I was able to photograph a few of them.