Because I said so…

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Have Dogs Will Travel

This morning, I was on the floor playing fetch with Taryn’s chihuahua Cheyenne while she enjoyed her first day of summer. It occurred to me that when we head to Maine later this month, we need to remember to pack Cheyenne her toys. Then I started adding up all the items she would need – like the little blue coat we bought her for chilly Maine nights; her assortment of favorite toys including her beanie chihuahua, her whale, her stuffed bones, and her cheerleading bear; her puppy food; her leash and harness; her travel carrier; her sleeping cage; and her kitty cat bed, to name a few. Is it true that even girl doggies over pack?

For goodness sake, Cheyenne would need her very own suitcase! So much for trying to travel light this year. When Taryn woke up (at 11a.m.), she and I found a little kiddie suitcase in her closet for her little princess to use. It was designer chic with a purple zebra pattern. We placed it on the bed and began assembling Chey’s loot. She wasn’t thrilled with the trying on of the organic dress or the new coat, and she was especially not happy with her play things being put in that big 'ole box of ours!

So she painstakingly removed them from the bag and dragged them to the other side of the bed where she practically sat on them to keep us away. From one woman to another, I completely got her point. I guess we’ll have to wait till the night before.

Hey, what're ya doing with my toys?

No one puts Baby's stuff in the suitcase, no one!

That's MY bone!

I got it.

This one is Isaac Mizrahi!

I'll save you, brother!

Mom, get this stupid coat off me.

Wow, this packing business is exhausting!

Friday, June 6, 2008

Visiting College Towns

This month has brought with it an onslaught of high school graduation parties and lots of talk of colleges to our home as many of my daughter Taryn's friends prepare to fly the coop. Next month, we are hitting the road for our annual July vacation to a cooler, northern climate. This year, we’ve decided to take the time to stop in Gainesville, home of the University of Florida Gators, where Taryn has set her eyes on medical school in a couple years. We’ve never been.

In thinking about taking a self-guided tour and having an impromptu lunch on campus, I pondered the subject of college town tourism. I was reminded of one of our most memorable family trips - the year we spent the day at Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Seeing the chairs being set up for commencement on the lawn and Taryn's look of awe will stick in my mind forever. Our agency's partner Jennifer works with Auburn, where college life and tourism are centerpiece to Tiger football and great golf. I did a search for “visiting college towns” and read a couple travel-related articles on college cities that intrigued me. They spoke of cafés, bookstores, historic buildings, cutting-edge music and art scenes, a youthful vibe and a melting pot of individualism. They mentioned places like Boulder, Colorado; Berkley, California; and Burlington, Vermont - and I began to think, is it wrong to think about what’s in it for me when Taryn chooses a college?

Then I thought, yes it is, but that won’t stop me from planning some college town vacations of my own. She’ll be away in college, what’ll she care?

Blue Water & Happy Teens

The first time I truly discovered the magic of Anna Maria Island wasn’t on my first visit. I had, in fact, already been working on the tourism account for the County (Manatee) for quite some time. It was October 2006, and my first “personal” visit to the destination, in which I took my family to the island - to see what they thought and to experience it as a leisure traveler, not just through the eyes of a brand marketer.

I have to tell you, I was a little worried. Reason being, the campaign we had developed for the destination of “TIME” was authentic. This was a far cry from Disneyworld or Busch Gardens, and I feared my 15 year old and her cheerleading friend would be bored to tears in this laid back, sleepy beach town.

The first thing you notice on Anna Maria and Longboat Key is the blue water. The amazing shades of deep blue to aquamarine make you feel like you’ve just arrived in the Caribbean, or way down south in the Florida Keys. But this unspoiled location is only one and half hours from home, tucked between Tampa and Sarasota Bays. It was also the weekend of my cousin’s birthday, and her husband and I surprised her with an adjoining two bedroom suite to ours at the Tortuga Inn. Proprietor and developer David Teitelbaum gets my kudos for creating a luxuriously appointed resort with a most unpretentious, flip flop character.

The teens spent plenty of time in front of the mirror doing their hair each day before walking the few steps across the street to the private beach. Only to lay out for about 10 minutes before they decided they had enough sugar white sand for awhile. They toggled between the air conditioned apartment and the resort’s main pool, eating snacks, watching t.v. and texting their friends. Oh well, I thought, at least Cheryl’s two young boys are entralled with the place, the pools, the piers, the beach. The girls did seem to enjoy the food on the island, especially the calamari at the Beachhouse, the ice cream at Joe's and the ribs at Mr. Bones.

To my surprise, as we were packing to leave, my brace-faced daughter took me aside to thank me and tell me this was just what she needed, a relaxing weekend doing nothing in an incredible place, because she was “way too stressed out” recently. She wanted to know when we could come back. My first thought, “What could a 15 year old be so stressed out about?” and my second, “I’ve just found heaven on earth!”

"Where are we going?"

Unobstructed views every which way

"We're ready!"

The ten-minute sun worshippers

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Time for the two of you

Maybe I should call this post "time for some shameless self promotion." My agency and our partners at Jennifer Barbee, Inc. have collaborated on yet another web promotion for the wonderful destination of Florida's Gulf Islands. Our last campaign produced two happy winners of complete family vacation packages and an incredible boost in registered users to our newly launched website, www.FloridasGulfIslands.com.

I love it when people get to discover a new place to vacation! And it's even better when it's free. This new giveaway is a trip for two, including a two night stay at a landmark resort, island spa treatments, Zagat-rated gourmet dinner and tickets to a world class aquarium. Just click here to register, then browse the destination website to learn more about one of my favorite places in Florida.

Monday, June 2, 2008

Going Green

The concept of going green has been seeping into my psyche for quite some time now. Long before the price of gas stirred up thoughts of alternate transportation, I have met with more ideas of being organic than this city girl could ever have imagined. I think it was the Strawberry Festival at Cedar Circle Farm last summer that first charmed me. Or, it could have been attributed to being on vacation with the granola-eating Dangla's from Wellesley, who always cause me to fall into my eco-conscious recycling persona. On that trip, Vermont herself opened my eyes to a more local way of life, one where people live off the land around them, and consider foods from New York imported.

I realize now that Anna Maria Island was part of the change in me as well. She is a 7.5 mile long island on Florida's Gulf coast where Old Florida is still in tact. With a 3-story building limit, mom & pop beach hotels and 3 fishing piers, every time I visit I feel more authentically Florida.

One of my dream vacations is to stay in a rustic farmhouse on the 1100-acre organic agricultural estate in central Tuscany named Spannocchia. This self-sustaining property has hiking paths, gardens, farm animals, and eight centuries of rural history. The photography on their website has caused me to dream of eating pizza topped with fresh herbs (I picked) in the courtyard with dozens of guests at long rustic tables and drinking wines made on the estate. These aspirations to be more authentic has led me to appreciate those in our country that assert to blend tradition with innovation, nature with progress.

My summer trip to Maine will take me to experience Primo in Rockland. Again traveling with the Bostonians, we will bike, hike and eat our way along the coast, all the while getting back to nature. The Misses Dangler who is, might I say, more in line with my snobby side has discovered this restaurant and made us reservations. Co-owners Melissa Kelly and Price Kushner have created a world class restaurant inside a Victorian house in coastal Maine using organic, sustainable ingredients from their own 4-acre garden. Now this is what I call Organic Chic!

After drooling over the mouth-watering photography on the Primo site with the gang at the office, our new hire and Kentucky gal Jessica shared a link to No. 9 Park in Boston. Another chez elegant, yet environmentally-friendly, fine dining establishment Jess splurged on for her birthday. On their site, they've dedicated an entire page to the butter of a cow named Hopi, who lives on an organic farm in Orwell, Vermont. For you tourism folks out there, this is a phenomenon that is here to stay. Get your minds thinking of Eco-Tourism, because this is not a fad!

Don't dismay, my city friends, I am still the Yankees-loving, sassy-mouthed, Starbuck's drinking, 5th Avenue shopping, 21st century girl you all know and love. But I am suddenly aware of a new desire to live more authentically, eat more seasonally and consume more sustainably. And, for some strange reason, to know the name of the cow that made my butter. It makes me feel more… connected.