A Weekend in Nashville. Or Two.

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Jan Ross

One of the deals with being a travel writer and photographer duo who get comped stays (or really comped stay = many articles, hundreds of photos, Twitter feeds, Facebook updates, etc. So not actually FREE. Only other travel writers will understand this disclaimer) is that hotels will often only offer a 2-3 night stay even if you are going to be in town for several days. This is perfectly understandable. They are not giving us a free vacation but a chance to experience their location so we can write about it in a disarmingly casual yet sincere way that will make other travelers long with all their hearts to book a stay there.

We do our best to accomplish this.

This means, though, that more often than not we are packing up and moving from one location to another during a visit. This can be a bit of a pain. Or it can be pretty darn fabulous because we get to see lots of different hotels, have absolutely wonderful experiences, eat fantastic food, and meet perfectly lovely people. We prefer to focus on the latter.

This is precisely what happened on our last trip to Nashville, Tennessee, where we stayed in three different hotels in the span of a week in search of material for an article about the Nashville music scene for a regional magazine. And all three were completely wonderful in every way. We will be returning to one hotel in the near future so I’ll tell you about that experience in a more detailed post but let me tell you about the other two because if you are headed to Nashville for a few days either hotel would be a great choice.

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Categories: Hotels, Nashville, Restaurant Reviews, Tennessee | Tags: , , , , , | 1 Comment

Top 5 Southern Seafood Dishes

Posted on October 29, 2012 by Jan Ross

You know you are in a seafood restaurant in the Coastal South when 1) the place smells like frying seafood so succulent, your tongue wants to slap your ear off; 2) the seafood was swimming free just a very short time ago; and 3) there’s probably rice in the salt shakers because of the humidity.

If you are a lover of good, fresh, delicious seafood, you need to head down to the coast of Georgia, Alabama or Florida—take your pick. They all have beautiful beaches, friendly people and seafood that has never seen the inside of a freezer. I saw a show on TV the other night in which some guy pushed away a plate of fish, saying he didn’t like fish, never had. And I thought, “Honey, you have just never had really good seafood, because if you had, you would never utter those words again.”

They like their seafood fresh in the Coastal South and they like it plain or fancied up—you just can’t ruin really good seafood. Fresh shrimp boiled and served with homemade cocktail sauce? Yep. Fish garnished with fancy spices, sautéed and served with delectable vegetables and fancy garnish? Yep. I like it all. But here are some of my favourites.

Read the rest of this article on Travel + Escape HERE.

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How to Avoid Ruining a Perfectly Good Getaway

Posted on October 23, 2012 by Jan Ross

 

We remembered all the rules on this trip. So we are smiling.

A long, long, long, looooong time ago (35 years this past summer, to be exact), my husband and I went on our honeymoon. My poor, travel-deprived husband had never left the state of Kentucky and had never seen the ocean. As a worldly, well-traveled person myself, I found this very hard to believe.

Are you ready for this? He was truly amazed at the saltiness of the ocean.

Seriously.

That was the amusing part of the trip. A not-so-amusing moment was yet to come…

On the evening of the first day of our honeymoon, in a lovely oceanside hotel, as I was making tentative plans for the rest of the week, I casually asked him how much money he had brought with him.

I’ve forgotten the amount he told me, but it was not much. Miniscule, in fact. Not even enough to pay our hotel bill.

Over the years, I’d always depended on my parents — mostly my father — to handle all the financial arrangements for vacations. I’d assumed my new husband would do the same. But he was completely unequipped to do so. We had never discussed how much everything would cost or how much money to bring. And he had never been on a vacation. How could he know?

Somehow we managed to make our honeymoon work, thanks to a helpful grandmother who just happened to live at the beach nearby. But it could have been a disaster!

I’m sure this lack of financial preparations for vacations happens all the time. So I want to offer the following ten common sense suggestions so you can avoid potentially ruining your getaway.

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Travel Is Broadening My Mind But Also My A$$

Posted on October 23, 2012 by Jan Ross

For the last three years, we have been traveling the world as part of our full-time jobs. I write. Tom photographs. We make a great team. We have seen the Eiffel Tower, incredible cathedrals, soaring edifices erected for various Olympics, and a lighthouse perched on boulders at the edge of the sea. We have seen natural wonders that are so awe-inspiring, so breathtaking, that I find myself at a loss for words to describe their beauty. We have stayed in tiny hotel rooms, huge and gorgeous hotel rooms, staterooms on a variety of cruise ships, a cabin in the woods and incredible resorts. And during all these trips and experiences, there has been one constant.

We eat.

Mostly completely fabulous and wonderful in every way imaginable food.

And, even though we have walked and biked and kayaked and hiked our way through various destinations, I’m just going to admit that

Travel = Exercise < Food

I’m the first to admit that Tom is much better than me about exercise on the road as well as at home. He walks on our treadmill for several miles every day and will actively seek out exercise options wherever we are. Whereas I? Can pretty much always come up with a very reasonable excuse why I can’t exercise.

I blame the food.

Just for example, we returned from a trip to Savannah and Tybee Island a couple of weeks ago and I knew better than to weigh myself before I went to at least a couple of exercise classes. Because the food? It was marvelous.

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Categories: Georgia, Restaurant Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Gourmet Cooking Class for a Non-Gourmet Cook

Posted on October 18, 2012 by Jan Ross

I went to a gourmet cooking class recently.

This statement would seem more hilarious if you knew me.

My grandmother hated cooking. My mother hated cooking. I won’t say that I hate cooking, but I will tell you that I just recently figured out the correct way to make both jello and iced tea. Our daughter is a gourmet cook and we often wonder how she came by the culinary gene. Our assumption is that her paternal grandmother was an excellent cook and she must have inherited that elusive, cupcake-shaped piece of culinary DNA from her. She inevitably knows what spice to use, how to make perfect sauces and salad dressings, and her baked goods are to die for. I, on the other hand, had my husband beg me to please, in the name of all that is holy, stop making Hamburger Helper every week.

Read the rest of this article on Travel + Escape Magazine HERE.

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Yet Another Adventure – Kayaking on Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Jan Ross

I lifted the kayak paddle out of the water and droplets spilled down the surface of the paddle, dripping into the clear, cool water of Elkhart Lake and onto my bare arm.

That was fine.

I didn’t mind getting a little wet.

It was a beautiful, warm day with not a cloud in the azure sky. The others had paddled ahead and I was alone on the vast expanse of the lake, surrounded by dark green trees and lakeside cottages peeking out from between the lush foliage.

The only sounds were the seagulls that had flown over from the Great Lakes squawking and arguing about something or other and the quiet drip drop of water from my paddle.

I liked kayaking. No, that’s not entirely accurate.

I loved it.

I had been a little hesitant. Not nearly as afraid as I had been when I got ready to zipline but the kayak was so slim and tiny. So very, very slim and so very, very tiny.

I buckled on my life vest and stood with my bare feet planted in the sand of the beach as Doug Dier with Ecology Outfitters explained how to get in the kayak, how to paddle, not to be nervous, they were very hard to tip over. We would be fine.

Just relax.

So I did.

Getting my life jacket on.

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They Don’t Just Eat Tacos in Arizona

Posted on October 15, 2012 by Jan Ross

To those of us who travel for a living, culinary delights become crucial to enjoying the whole travel experience. We might just possibly start planning the next meal before we have completed the one in front of us.

Okay, we do. Often.

But those culinary delights, be they freshly baked éclairs from a storefront bakery in San Francisco or a brick-oven pizza from one of the hundreds of pizzerias in New York City, are an important part of a great journey. When we talk about past travels, we often mull wistfully over the perfect steak, the sublime pasta, that exquisite dessert. These lovely interludes help us to understand the local culture, whether it’s a traditional, fresh Southern biscuit or, as we experienced recently, some spicy Southwest dish.

Read the rest of this article on Travel + Escape Magazine HERE.

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Girlfriends Getaway to Bay Point Wyndham Resort in Panama City, Florida

Posted on October 13, 2012 by Jan Ross

It was true love.

I was in love with this beautiful lanai patio which overlooked the gorgeous pool, the incredible landscaping and the quiet St. Andrews Bay in front of the resort. I sat down at our little private table with the ceiling fan rotating quietly overhead and just relished the fact that I was at the lovely Bay Point Wyndham Resort, near Panama City Beach, Florida.

My sister, sister-in-law and I were on a girlfriends getaway and had actually been a little hesitant about staying in Panama City Beach, Florida based on a not so relaxed visit years ago to the very, very busy beach town. Panama City is still an extremely popular place but the Wyndham Bay Point Resort is located several miles from the city and is a lovely, quiet refuge from which we only ventured a couple of times for seafood dinners in Panama City, then scurried away from the crowds back to our fabulous resort.

Read the rest of this article on Girlsgetaway.com HERE.

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The Best Kept Secret on Tybee Island: Coco’s Sunset Grille

Posted on October 6, 2012 by Jan Ross

Coco's Sunset Grille on Urbanspoon

 

There’s a lot of restaurants on this small, 3-mile barrier island off the coast of Georgia. Most of them offer seafood. Some even offer local seafood and I have partaken of many a meal on my trips to this lovely locale situated a few miles from Savannah.

But it wasn’t until this trip to check out the Tybee Island Pirate Fest that I discovered the best restaurant on the island.

Seriously.

The best.

Coco’s Sunset Grille is tucked away on one side of the island, overlooking the scenic marsh which surrounds the island. As far as I can tell, there are no signs that point the way, just turn at the Welcome to Tybee sign, follow the road until it ends and there you are.

In seafood heaven.

 

Come on in!

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Categories: Foodie Tour, Georgia, Restaurant Reviews | Tags: , , , , | 3 Comments

Girlfriends Getaway to Barnsley Gardens Resort in Georgia

Posted on September 27, 2012 by Jan Ross

At some point, as you travel through the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains on your way to the incomparable Barnsley Gardens Resort, you are going to think you have made a wrong turn.

A lovely, luxury resort tucked away in this quiet, country setting? Surely not. And, just as you are about to give up and decide this absolutely cannot be the correct route, you see perfectly landscaped grounds and a meticulously groomed driveway.

Beautiful and just out of reach, because it was all behind a closed gate with a pleasant but firm guard manning it who politely asks for your name to ensure you’ve already registered before he ever opens the gate. We had somehow missed that one important step.

My sister and I, on a girlfriends getaway, followed his directions and traversed the road back to the registration area, marveling at the truly incredibly and lush landscaping on display throughout the 1300 acres of this gorgeous place.

Read the rest of this article on Girlsgetaway.com HERE.

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