Ever find yourself staring out the window, longing for a sun-soaked escape from the winter doldrums? We've all been there, and that's exactly why we cozied up to chat about the thrill of planning our ideal warm-weather retreats. From the tempting poolside lounges of Phoenix and Las Vegas to the seductive charm of Southern destinations like Austin and Marco Island, we traverse the map to bring you insider tips and personal tales that just might have you packing your bags.
Now, Las Vegas isn't all about high stakes and flashing lights; we peel back the neon layer to reveal a side of Sin City that's sure to surprise you. Picture the natural splendor of nearby national parks, a culinary scene to rival any foodie's dream, and fascinating finds like Fremont Street, all shared through our own experiences. Our discussion isn't limited to Vegas though; we also explore the nuances of different getaway types, pondering the distinction between a restful 'vacation' and an exhilarating 'trip.' Whether you're ticking off your 50-state travel list or seeking a short but sweet four-day excursion, we've got you covered.
We wrap up with a heart-to-heart on the societal pressures of family vacations and the evolution from rare luxuries to annual expectations. We're also talking road trips, and not to forget, our favorite vacation spots, including the tranquil shores of Isla Mujeres, Mexico. From the picturesque Italian countryside to the magic of Caribbean cruises, we're sharing our vacation victories and inviting you, our listeners, to chime in with your treasured travel destinations. So, join us as we navigate life's adventures over 50, and let's make those vacation dreams a reality!
Make sure to subscribe to our channel, comment, like, and share!
Amy, Kitty & Stacey
P.S. Isn't our intro music great?! Yah, we think so too. Thank you, Ivy States for "I Got That Wow".
Ever find yourself staring out the window, longing for a sun-soaked escape from the winter doldrums? We've all been there, and that's exactly why we cozied up to chat about the thrill of planning our ideal warm-weather retreats. From the tempting poolside lounges of Phoenix and Las Vegas to the seductive charm of Southern destinations like Austin and Marco Island, we traverse the map to bring you insider tips and personal tales that just might have you packing your bags.
Now, Las Vegas isn't all about high stakes and flashing lights; we peel back the neon layer to reveal a side of Sin City that's sure to surprise you. Picture the natural splendor of nearby national parks, a culinary scene to rival any foodie's dream, and fascinating finds like Fremont Street, all shared through our own experiences. Our discussion isn't limited to Vegas though; we also explore the nuances of different getaway types, pondering the distinction between a restful 'vacation' and an exhilarating 'trip.' Whether you're ticking off your 50-state travel list or seeking a short but sweet four-day excursion, we've got you covered.
We wrap up with a heart-to-heart on the societal pressures of family vacations and the evolution from rare luxuries to annual expectations. We're also talking road trips, and not to forget, our favorite vacation spots, including the tranquil shores of Isla Mujeres, Mexico. From the picturesque Italian countryside to the magic of Caribbean cruises, we're sharing our vacation victories and inviting you, our listeners, to chime in with your treasured travel destinations. So, join us as we navigate life's adventures over 50, and let's make those vacation dreams a reality!
Make sure to subscribe to our channel, comment, like, and share!
Amy, Kitty & Stacey
P.S. Isn't our intro music great?! Yah, we think so too. Thank you, Ivy States for "I Got That Wow".
Alright.
Speaker 2:Hello my friends.
Speaker 3:Hello ladies.
Speaker 2:How are we all today?
Speaker 3:Frozen yes.
Speaker 2:Holy, wow it it's. Uh. Winter has arrived. We'll just put it that way.
Speaker 3:Certainly. Yes, I worked out of the garage, not, girl. I mean, I always work out of the garage. That's where the office is in the model home and I always shut my door and I have a little space heater and I've been wearing multiple layers and today I packed up my stuff and I went upstairs and I worked out of the kitchen. I'm like enough already, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's rather extreme right now. So I think you just have to do what you have to do, and and it's not just here, it's everywhere. So, alright, welcome to another episode Of Three Cocktails In Amy Stacey and Myself. We are here to have more addicting conversations and I think that, as we are now Middle of the way through January, hopefully people are hanging in there with their. If they set resolutions, hopefully you are Hanging in there with those. But pretty much everywhere across the country, we've hit the deep freeze and I've been thinking about Warm weather. Yes, me as well, at least dreaming of Warm weather, and I do. I feel like it's usually around this time that people will often start to think about Alright, let's get something on the calendar, let's think about going somewhere. So we thought maybe we should have a conversation about this, because we all have had different sorts of travels and vacations and this would be a good time to share some of that.
Speaker 3:Yes, this is. I mean there are some years when the girls were little that we as a family had a trip planned, and when you've got kids in school, in sports, you have to hit couple pockets, spring break or whatever. But on those years where we didn't have anything planned we got to this point. We're like we have to go do something. It was like, okay, I'm not gonna make it, especially in Minnesota. I'm not gonna make it to May Without seeing some sun.
Speaker 2:Hot.
Speaker 3:Make me sweaty from being outside Sun, and so, yeah, this is the week that I always feel like, oh, I need something on the calendar and I don't want to burst anybody's. You know I don't want to put any bad juju Out there, but if you're thinking the wedding In Houston in February Might be warm Tonight. Madeline and Alex they had to wrap all their outdoor piping Because they have frost warning tonight South of Houston. Yeah, and I asked like what are you wrapping it with? And she goes well, we could get insulation, but we have bubble wrap and it's the same concept. And then started to speak like, technically, you just Good job, you Engineers. Oh my, yeah, so I think we gotta go further south In Houston.
Speaker 2:Yes, I agree. Yeah, what do you, stacey? Are you Thinking the same?
Speaker 4:Um yeah, I wanted to go somewhere Tropical but it's not Gonna happen, probably Until April, maybe maybe Late March, I don't know. I don't have anything Planned yet, that's for sure. But I agree, there's a lot of US Nations that at the moment Would not be Considered tropical, even Florida Not warming up at the moment, that's for sure.
Speaker 2:Okay, so let's talk about that a little bit, the Destinations here within the United States, because I automatically go to the Caribbean. In my mind If I'm gonna, if we're gonna do a spring break, we're gonna take a warm weather vacation. I immediately think Mexico, caribbean, etc. And I never really think About the way southern states that have really wonderful destinations For a warm Weather getaway I've got no Experience with that Whatsoever Florida, texas.
Speaker 3:I have been to Phoenix a couple of times, which you know not, maybe not January, but closer into February and March and it has been delightful, absolutely Gorgeous, and but this is also something that I think we can talk about Do you go on trips or do you go on vacations? Because in my mind those are two different things. My idea of a vacation Is to go To go Bring books, sit by a pool or on the beach and do nothing else. It is solely to Mentally Recoup, shut the brain off. It's to soak up as much vitamin D as I can. Thrift to me is my sister. I think my sister only takes trips. They go somewhere and they go to Multiple museums and they go see this site and that site and they hike and they go out for rest and they go to this and that. To me that sounds like something I would need a vacation After. I'm going for.
Speaker 3:One. I'm going for the warm, hot, not doing a whole lot Sort of thing. So I strongly recommend Phoenix as a group. Get your vitamin D Relax For a vacation To get to, which is my other, my other kicker, as we talked about a long time ago, I'm not doing any connecting flights. No, god, no, not worth it. If you're short vacation days, do not waste them On being in the air.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and now that you say that I have Mendocenics and so in my mind it's yeah, they have really wonderful Luxury type, you know, like Hilton, really nice Hilton destinations that have almost like An all inclusive Situation and that would definitely Be nice Stacy. What's the what's the window? So you go to Las Vegas A lot. What's the true warm weather Window there that you know you can Go there and it will be the Hot temperature that we like to have.
Speaker 3:Pool weather Just Slightly cooler than the face Of the sun.
Speaker 4:That's the 110 month. You are Pretty safe in April. I've been there in March when it can be Very nice, and I've been there In March when it's chilly, you know. So March would be Still hit or miss, april definitely, you know, through October You're pretty safe that it's going to be Pretty nice. You know I've been there Thanksgiving, christmas, january and it might get down To, you know, 35 degrees, so you know, or colder. So April Is pretty safe for Vegas.
Speaker 3:I'll turn my phone off, sorry.
Speaker 2:So, amy, your comment About vacation Versus a trip, that's interesting. I guess I never Thought about that, but Clearly your sister Loves those types of Getaways. There are people who like to go and go, go, go. They like to go to museums, they like to go to the zoo. You know, take in all of the Local things and I get that. You can come home exhausted but you're so filled For people who enjoy that, they're so filled Up by all of those experiences. That's great. I feel like I'm kind of somewhere in the middle.
Speaker 4:Of that? Yeah, I would be too. I need to do something for a while, but I can spend A lot of time Lounge and around on the beach or the pool.
Speaker 3:You know, when I've gone with other people, the happy medium that I Compromise to. Or actually there's two things here. First of all, if you're going with other people, you need to have an understanding in the group that you do you. If you need To go do something, you go do it, and if you don't want to go and I want to go do something Don't do it. You know, so many of us think that the whole group has to go, and I think there's no Better way to guarantee. Somebody is always unhappy.
Speaker 2:There's no way that you can please everybody.
Speaker 3:No. So like many, many moons ago, when I used to Sell commercial office furniture, I happened to be very fortunate in that I liked one particular manufacturer and I sold a lot of their furniture, so I probably won Like three cruises and a trip to San Juan and a trip to Hawaii. But our boss would never let A husband and wife or a couple Go together. So if the company won four tickets, he gave the tickets to the To four people in the office. Well, fortunately it was always three women, because we sold a lot of that and we had a blast, but one never wanted to plan anything.
Speaker 3:At that time. I needed to plan Everything and our happy medium Was we would only plan one thing a day and it could not take more than the morning or the afternoon, and the other half Then was always left to, whether it's beach or pool or just Random walking Around, and I do think that's a nice way to To find that kind of that happy medium. So you're not so overwhelmed and you can get a little Little local culture Again. But it is funny that you have to Schedule spontaneity.
Speaker 2:Leave time in your schedule For spontaneity.
Speaker 3:We're going to be spontaneous from noon Till four on Thursday afternoon. Starts now go, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:Uh, yes.
Speaker 3:Where are?
Speaker 2:Oh, stacy go.
Speaker 4:So where are our favorite places To go?
Speaker 2:That's what I was just going to ask. Were you going to say, yeah, where are some Of our favorite places? I have two that come to mind as we all start we all kind of go like this we all start. We kind of go like this oh All right, amy, you go.
Speaker 3:Well, I'm going to go with a short weekend away. So I don't know if you guys think in short term, long term, but if I had a four day window and I didn't want to spend much time on travel, for me it's Chicago, and this is completely counterintuitive to what I just said about needing a vacation. But if I have a four day weekend and I just need to get out of town and we want to meet friends or something, I love, absolutely love, chicago any time of the year. Now, yeah, it's cold and windy, but it's cold and windy here and I'm not in my own home and I'm not shoveling and all that stuff. But great food, great museums, and I do love a museum. I love the art museum, I love the Museum of Science and Industry, I like the Natural History Museum. There's good little restaurants and clubs. You can go to good shopping just to walk around and see someplace different. And again, once you get downtown, you don't have to have a car, which I also really like. The idea of not having to have a car on vacation, not having to navigate, I like to just be able to walk. I really do Make it as easy as possible. So I always I'm a big fan of Chicago and from Minneapolis.
Speaker 3:We took the Amtrak once with the girls and it was the most pleasant four-day weekend we've ever had, because my ex could sleep instead of having to drive. I could read. The girls were old enough. We let them go walk to the, you know, they walked up and down a little bit and looked at all sorts of different things and they played their games and they could stretch, and so I would really recommend going on Amtrak. I would like to take another Amtrak trip. I think that sounds great. I do Especially like out west where the driving sucks.
Speaker 2:I'd like to take an Amtrak out west yeah. And then I was just thinking about this and I mentioned that it'd be fun to take the train to Banff.
Speaker 3:Yes, oh my god.
Speaker 2:So have you ever done that?
Speaker 3:No, but I'll go with you OK. Yep Stay tuned, I'm sure you'll be excited.
Speaker 4:I'm in, I'm always in, I'm in for whatever.
Speaker 2:That's true, you always are. Yeah, my short vacation.
Speaker 4:You know, three day, four day vacation is always to Minneapolis.
Speaker 3:So, we got to you know, you guys go there.
Speaker 4:Yes, we do. We appreciate that. Yes, yep, I. Yeah. You know, out of Des Moines, where I fly from, it's hard to find the direct flights. You know Allegiant keeps adding direct flights, so that's nice, so that's why Vegas a lot, but you know they have several destinations now in Florida which would be nice.
Speaker 3:Hey, stace, seeing that you do go to Vegas all the time, maybe you could offer up some suggestions that for other people who don't go very often but they don't like gamble, or maybe that isn't their thing what else would you highly recommend people do in Vegas that they might not think about?
Speaker 4:Yeah, that's a good idea Because you know, I'll just say it, we have a vacation home in Vegas. So between the two of us we go there. You know quite often, and you know when I tell people that they kind of turn up their nose if they're not big Vegas people like you know what do you want to go there for? You know, all the time. You know I do a little gambling, but I wouldn't say very often. But there's a ton of other things to do, you know. Of course. You know all the incredible places to eat is one of them. They have, you know, a lot of entertainment obviously. You know concerts are fun, that kind of thing. I do a lot of hiking in the mountains. We're not very far, you know, from a few good spots so we go to, you know, to hike. There's lots of.
Speaker 3:And those are sometimes day hikes or couple hour hikes.
Speaker 4:I know that we've done that when we have gone out there with you, right, we've done a couple hour ones. You know you can drive a little further. Like to say Zion, you can get to how far? Is that Hoover Dam? Hoover Dam yeah, it's fairly good.
Speaker 4:Oh, it would. You know, I don't know from where we live an hour maybe. Oh, really An hour, yeah, ok, yep, yeah, there's lots of places to do, you know like there's, you know state parks around, you know national parks around, so things like that. So, yeah, a lot more to do just than go sit in a casino, because, honestly, I don't do that very often.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I don't remember how many years ago that was, but Bill and Bo and I went and stayed at your place during our spring break, so it was March and the weather was not as warm as we would have liked it to be, but we went and did Hoover Dam on that trip, yep, and one of the other things we did we went to see. So if there are any guys tuning in and we know that there are, we know that we have guy listeners. If you watch Count's Customs, if you are a fan of Danny I don't remember his last name, so he's the classic car collector and what is it? When you completely, you completely restore, restore, yeah, so they have the show was shot there, and they have their showroom there and you can just walk in.
Speaker 2:It's just open during the week I don't know, it probably is on the weekend as well, and he's there and the other guys that are on the show are there, and so three of us tattled off and went to that and I even I'm totally not into that relief, but it was pretty cool. So that's there. The pawn shop is there, like the original from Pawn Stars. That's there. And, of course, fremont Street is the ultimate freak show.
Speaker 4:We like the freak show.
Speaker 3:This is the ultimate freak show, the Cineboss, especially the freak show. I'm down there. Yeah, for sure it is the best people watching you can imagine. I do get a little bit freaked out by families that take young children down there. They should not go there. I mean, take them if you want. I just am glad I don't have to explain what's going on. For sure, yeah, but to each their own.
Speaker 4:Yeah, fremont, not for kids, especially in the evening. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:I always walk away from there feeling a little bad for humanity.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we go every time we're there. Let's go. It's a sociological experiment that we're conducting. We need to check on and update our data and see if anything has changed Right. We're doing it for the rest of you.
Speaker 4:Sure, yes, true, yeah, that's what it is, yeah, yeah. So some other US destinations I really like Austin. Texas would be one. I know Amy and I and some others went to Austin Excellent spot. I also like Marco Island. We went there once. That was lovely, fabulous beaches and just lots of cool area there, like to the keys. That's funny.
Speaker 3:So did you drive down there, did you fly in somewhere and then drove? I mean, I know that.
Speaker 4:We flew into Miami and then drove down, stopped a few places, stayed over a couple of different places, got to the very end and stayed there a couple of days and then drove back.
Speaker 3:So yeah, that was fun, stacy you should probably fess up as to how many states you've been to and what the goal is. Well, the goal is all family.
Speaker 4:Yeah, the goal is all 50. I can't remember. I might be at 38, 38 or 39 somewhere in there, and I don't know if I've told you, honestly, I have kind of the boring state. The boring state, oh, she got it, not us. Well, admit you know. Or just so that's a AC Bartels, yes, right, yeah. Or the ones that aren't the easiest to get to, you know, I don't know. So it'll be interesting how I finish the rest.
Speaker 3:And Barney, doesn't he just have like one left or something? Yeah, just Alaska.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh.
Speaker 4:Alaska and he wants to go to Alaska and I keep telling him we're not. I'm not old enough to go to Alaska. I feel, like she's, like all the old people take their trip to Alaska when they're older.
Speaker 3:I do want to go to Alaska. Oh yeah, yeah I do, but I want to do it from one of those really shishy cruises where I just get to look off the edge. And wear my winter coat and drink something hot that somebody brings me, and then you know, get off for a little bit and have somebody go. Oh, there's a bear.
Speaker 4:There's a bear. I don't think you're going to see that in the city. Yeah, that's the problem. So part of that trip is like a week-long train trip way into Alaska. It's like, yeah, I don't know, not yet, someday, all right.
Speaker 3:All right. If anybody has gone to Alaska and done anything that we just said, please let us know why we should go, why Stacey should suck it up and go to Alaska with her beloved.
Speaker 4:Yes, we'll see. Yeah, how about you guys? What are your favorite US trips anyway?
Speaker 2:Well, so, going back to what we're talking about, short trips and like a seven day trip or vacation. I have a really hard time with just a long weekend they just never long enough.
Speaker 2:No, they don't work for me and so we never do it. We will rarely hop on a plane and go somewhere for like a Friday comeback Monday. Maybe we should try it. I wish to try it, I just it's not long enough. And Bill can attest. He always said whenever we go on our longer length vacation he he'll always wonder okay, how many days in are we going to be? Before he hears the words from me I don't want to go home. And sometimes I say it like on day two because I'm already thinking about. You know it's on day two of eight days and I'm already thinking about I don't want to go home, kitty you do that a lot, because I know you do that.
Speaker 3:You do it with me.
Speaker 3:And I mean with us and I just know I, I look at you and I'm like stop, you know, we just got here, for God's sake, yeah. So I have an idea for you with that. So what made me think of it was, over the last year or so, I spent a number of four day weekends in one particular city, and that makes it a little bit more interesting. So maybe, instead of trying someplace new for four days, you take your four day vacation weekend away to someplace you've already been. So you already have a sense of how your transportation is, yeah, and you have a sense of I like to doing this. I wish I would have done that. So maybe it's not a new trip for you, but it's diving in a little bit deeper to a place you went, you kind of liked, but you wish you were there longer.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, so you know the place. Then it wouldn't be this time of year, it would be in the summer or maybe in the fall, because I do really enjoy New York, but my, my, my true length of time in New York is five days. By the time I hit day four, I'm ready to get the hell out.
Speaker 3:So that's your four day weekend.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that that's the kind of place that I would be okay with it, and I've spent so much time there that that truly would be like I know where I'm going, I know what to do there, I know how to navigate all of that, so that New York would would work for what we're talking about here.
Speaker 3:Yeah, then you could just do a couple things, you know, one thing a day, and instead of, like, you've got to go see all the things, right, right, some place new. I'd love to go to Charleston, but I don't think that I'm a history buff. Love, you know all that. I don't know if I could do it in four days, yeah, but if I'm gonna go spend a full five to seven days, I don't really want to go somewhere where I'm gonna sightseeing the whole time, yeah. So I gotta figure out. You know something like that too.
Speaker 2:You know what city seems really romantic to me? New Orleans, savannah, georgia, oh, yes, mm.
Speaker 3:Hmm, ghost tour Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.
Speaker 4:Yes, I love that book.
Speaker 3:I love the movie. That's what that's about.
Speaker 4:Savannah is nice. Savannah is cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I've kept that book specifically. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Stacy, could we do that on a long weekend?
Speaker 4:Yeah, yes, when, um. So we did a driving vacation. You know where, we just drove what you would hate, but that's what we did. So we were only literally there two days and we, you know, we went to um now I have to look at the map, what order but we went to Charleston and we went to Savannah and we went to um, I don't know place, a few place, other places on the coast. So we were only there a couple of days. We did a lot. So, yeah, we could get it, get it in for okay, maybe four day weekend would be fun, yeah. Okay.
Speaker 3:Um talking about, I don't know why that I just thought of this. But I would love to go to Cape Cod, but I am terribly intimidated by it. The whole idea of going out there, um, or like uh, martha's Vineyard or something like that, totally intimidates me. Like um and I don't. I don't know that. We've delved into delved. Is that a word? Dove talked about. I don't know what you've talked about Um.
Speaker 3:I don't like being bad at things, so I don't do a lot of things because I'm afraid of being bad or looking stupid or something like that, and I'm trying very hard to get over that. But the idea of going to such an iconic place like that, where it seems like there are a lot of regulars there I'm I, it seems like I don't I would not be able to go and enjoy myself. Is that weird? Please tell me, I'm not alone.
Speaker 2:Oh, you're definitely not alone. I don't think that's weird there. I think there are places like that that have well, I mean, we all know what the um there's a there's a what, what the media portrays it like, and you know true.
Speaker 2:Yeah, social media too, I mean, I think we hear people say like if you weren't born there and you'd like pick up and move there, you'll never fit in. And I don't know if that's true or not or what. What makes that so? But um use, so I don't remember when. When did I go downtown and spend a weekend and we? I said, let's go down to the Four Seasons and have a drink.
Speaker 3:Oh, that was the season that was the fall, yeah, okay, the fall.
Speaker 2:And I said let's go to the Four Seasons. It's such a cool place, it's, it's fairly new. And you said, ooh, that place intimidates me, yep, and I live less than a block from it and I had I in there once.
Speaker 2:I've been there once with you and that really surprised me. That really surprised me Because I don't think I well, I don't think I've ever heard you say before that something intimidates you because you you come across as very, yeah, confident and and whatever, and so I was like, well, then we need to go so that you can get over that, because there's nothing about there's nothing about that experience, or really any experience, that should intimidate anybody.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you're right. I find that's true for me quite often, and bless your heart for never noticing it, but that's probably because I am. I am usually one of the planners, so I plan stuff I'm quite comfortable with. Now, on the opposite end of things, I will walk into any dive bar anywhere on a road trip and not be intimidated by that at all. We're probably we bit of caution on occasion would have been nice to have in the back pocket. That doesn't bother me. I don't want to look like a hick from the stacks. I don't want to look like I've never been here before and I don't know why I care. I mean, I have good manners, I'm polite, I'm kind to people. I'm not going to do anything obnoxious that would draw attention to myself, even wearing my most loud blouse that I love. I think I'm still okay, yeah. But yeah, four seasons intimidates me. I'm so glad that my first trip to New York was with you, kitty, when we went all those bazillion years ago. Yeah, yeah, I get intimidated by places like that.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I would think it's. Martha's vineyard is touristy, so I feel like we just fit in with all the other tourists. I don't, I don't, you know, I don't think that would be a problem.
Speaker 2:Okay, something that I do when I feel a little bit of that creeping in or I feel like it could be a situation where I may feel intimidated. I will well one. I make sure that I am. Whatever I'm wearing, I feel really good and strong in it. I'm going to put on an outfit that I feel is kick ass and my heels and you know whatever to make me just feel really confident, and it's almost like acting a part I'm going to fit. I am going to play the part that needs to be played in this environment. So I'm going to walk into the four seasons.
Speaker 2:The four seasons is is the. Their service is so amazing. It's a, it's a high touch service place. You, no matter who you are, when you walk through the front door, you feel like a celebrity. They treat everybody that way. That's their training, it's their brand, all of that. And so I love putting myself into those situations because I take on a different persona and I've this is I talk about this topic a lot. If I'm doing podcasts or or, you know, having conversations like this at work, I liken it to I always use the Shakespeare quote all the worlds of stage, and we have an opportunity to walk out onto that stage every day. What part are we going to play? How are we going to? How are we going to show up in that environment? So that's what I do in those situations. So when we walked into the four seasons that night and, if the you know, the doorman opened the door, we walk in with grace, we belong there.
Speaker 3:And we do. It was so nice and I would say, as far as dressing up, how do you dress when you go there? We were in jeans, you know. I mean you could wear whatever, but my armor, my costume that night was my favorite pair of jeans, some heels I really liked, I think I had a little leather jacket on. This is probably 15 years old, so it's nothing fabulous with that. So we did have to get all dolled up to go. We wore, and that wasn't the only place we went that night. We went to other places that we walked at and we've talked about it before.
Speaker 3:I lived down here where there are some really, really amazing restaurants which people would think are some of the top level restaurants in Minneapolis, and I'm not intimidated to go sit at the bar in those places. But something about the four seasons, I made the assumption you had to be, you know like, able to afford to stay there, to just go in. And I remember when we sat down we looked around. We're like those dudes look like they just rolled off the 18th hole.
Speaker 3:And then we went into the ladies room before we're leaving and it looked like a bunch of girls that were 22. And I, or maybe 17. And I'm thinking this is not for you, this is not from night. Get out of here. This is personal. They have no problem. Yeah, so you know, I do have to get out of my own way for some of that.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, because you deserve to be in those places and you deserve to be in Martha's Vineyard and and anywhere else.
Speaker 3:Yeah, okay. So Stacy hit on something that probably wasn't one of our topics here to talk about road trips versus flying. The destination is part of the experience. Are we a thumbs up? No, thank you.
Speaker 4:Oh, boy, I'm a thumb, obviously a thumbs up, and again I think I, you know, chopped off four states, four states on that road trip. Cross those off. So yeah, I like a road trip, you also?
Speaker 3:can't sleep in a car. No, you're always awake and alert and, yeah, you know going what's going on?
Speaker 4:Yep.
Speaker 3:Yeah, are you a road?
Speaker 2:tripper. I'm not, I'm really not, and Bill Bill will attest to this and he says you are the worst road trip Companion. Because I just go to sleep, I'm awful, or I'll sit and play on my iPad and I should be having a conversation and you know, and making the road trip part of the fun. But no, I'm, I'm not good at that At all. For me, anything over three hours is An hour. Well, so, like my trip from here to Sioux Falls is four hours, it's one hour too long. So I kind of hit the wall at three hours.
Speaker 3:Fortunately, stacy's home is only three hours from us, so we are good. Yes, it's a straight shot. That's a really nice drive. Yeah, it is the last time that Stacy or the kitty and I drove down for Madison's wedding. It took us five hours to get there because we stopped and then we had to eat real dinner and we made that a road trip and I'm not sure it's road trip, but yeah no Okay how about outside the US.
Speaker 4:What do we have? I'm not the US that we love.
Speaker 2:Oh, so much I.
Speaker 4:Have a paper.
Speaker 3:I've been four times. Mm-hmm, which people. People like why don't you want to go somewhere else? Okay, I'm gonna. I'm gonna preface it Went twice with my ex-husband, went once with Took Ava, her senior year, so it was just Ava and I. And then the last time, stacy and I and actually I planned to go by myself I booked on On my own and then Stacy said, well, I'll go with you, like all right, great. And then Trisha, our friend from Texas, said, well, I can go part of that too. I'm like great, perfect. So it's a Islamu heres. You know we can spell it somewhere.
Speaker 3:It's a little itty-bitty, five mile long island right across from Cancun. So here's why I like it one. It is an easy flight from Minneapolis to Cancun, about three and a half hours. You walk out of the Cancun Airport and I have already booked my, my taxi to the ferry, my ferry tickets to the island, all in one with a company called Carms Carms. They are standing out out where everybody walks out. They have a little sign that says you know, amy and I walk over and they take my bags and they take me to this, this larger, nice passenger van, and it's usually just whoever I'm traveling with, so you're not even riding with other people.
Speaker 3:Would you like a fresh, cold bottle of water? Yes, I would. And I get in and they take me a 20 minute drive to the ferry and somebody takes my bag and I get in line and then it's a beautiful 20 minute very bumpy, very windy ferry ride on Aqua blue waters to the shore, and then I don't even have a car. I don't need a car, I Don't need a golf cart. I can walk and I have been to four different places on the island so I have stayed the very southern tip. That does require a golf cart.
Speaker 3:I've stayed three places right in the north beach area and I've never stayed in an all-inclusive, because I will never eat my Eat enough and I don't drink enough For me to do that. And I've been there enough times now that I kind of know, you know, one meal a day and something on the beach is just perfect and it is completely and totally safe. For women it would be. I would feel safe going by myself and and that to me is a perfect. I usually try and go for nine days. If I'm gonna go, I go like Thursday night to the following following Sunday and it is the most relaxing, pleasant Experience that I, and it's affordable. It is truly affordable. Yeah, I've been there. Stacy's been twice.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think we need to take kitty, so that's where we should go next.
Speaker 3:I know.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it is, it's lovely. We walked most everywhere, which is very easy to do.
Speaker 3:It's kind of old-school, you know there are. There are no nightclubs, there's no activity after 10 pm Everything shuts down. So you're not gonna go there to find the oonce, oonce, oonce, oonce. You know, let's go rip it up. Lots of just Little mom and pop shops to walk into, I mean tourist stuff.
Speaker 3:So you know you go on one, they're pretty much all the same, but the people are so pleasant and it's fun to walk in and buy little different little things. We've had Italian, we've had, there's awesome pizza there that I like to go to, great, obviously, mexican food, fresh fruit, you know. And you can go snorkeling without having to charter and be surrounded by little itty-bitty fish kitty, not the big honkers, no, muskies. But you know it's a little bit of a challenge. Itty-bitty fish kitty, not the big honkers, no muskies. Um, that is a little freaky. It does kind of wing you out when someone floats right around you like, oh, there it is. So it is a very, very affordable trip.
Speaker 3:Would I take little itty-bitty kids? No, that's me, people do all the time. Yeah, great for teenagers, you know they can't go too far, they Not probably too much trouble for them to get in and it is rated, I think in the top 10 beaches in the world beautiful white sand beach and just yeah, I've been in January, I've been in February, I've been in March and I've been in April.
Speaker 2:They were all good.
Speaker 3:Yes you know, january was like February was like 78, march like 82.
Speaker 4:April is the first time I went. It was January and it was warm. I think it was at least 80, so it's probably just like everywhere it's hit or miss you know, yeah, yep.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so that that is my. If I was gonna go by myself, if it was gonna be a group of women who hadn't gone somewhere and didn't know their way around, if you wanted to take, you know, your family for a nice easy vacation, there aren't, there's no tour director. Fighting activities for your kids to do, it really is a very slow speed, low key vacation.
Speaker 2:Yep, it sounds lovely.
Speaker 3:Yeah, as it was what? 12 below right now yeah, it sounds very lovely and an underpack. I will say that you need some suits, you need to pair shorts, you need two dresses that's all you need and a boatload of sunscreen and yet I would bring twice that probably. Well, if you come with us, I'm coming over to your house and I will purge and you lay out on your back and we'll help you out.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean you need waterproof mascara and chapstick, maybe a hat. A hat would be good. Does get, does I mean? You know it's Gulf side on one side, so it does.
Speaker 2:Okay, so all right. So my waterproof mascara and chapstick and that's it I think I might bring a swimsuit to.
Speaker 3:I said that, no two of those. We're gonna give you a large tote bag. That's all you're gonna bring with you, okay, Yep, where else?
Speaker 2:I'm a fan of the all-inclusive, I am, and.
Speaker 3:I think you also don't get the ocean. What Do you get in the ocean?
Speaker 2:I, I do, but I don't go out very far but I do. I mean I've gone snorkeling. So when we've we've done, we've done Grand Cayman a couple of times, we've done Belize, quintacana a couple of times, casamel and, and usually, well, I can think on on all of those trips, except the last time that we went to Casamel, we would, we would go out and do some kind of snorkeling trip. So we go out on a boat and we would get into the water when we are out. You know, work out there. So I'm definitely going.
Speaker 2:Thank you, definitely going out of my comfort zone, but it's because there the water is. I mean I will put my face down and I can see 25 feet down, and that you know. So I see the eagle rays Floating along the bottom of the ocean, but the key here is that I can see them.
Speaker 4:I don't like being in lake water that I can't see what's touching me? See a little bitty fish.
Speaker 2:Yes, or, or the big fish, or the weeds or whatever. Yeah, but I'm a fan of the all-inclusive, I think primarily because I don't want to cook, I Don't want, I want to know, I want the ease of the meals, and also usually with these, when an all-inclusive is going to be a sizeable resort of some kind multiple pools, activities, beach Yoga on the beach, those sorts of things. So I think that's one of the reasons why we've always gone. Oh, we lost Amy. I think that's one of the reasons why we've always gone all-inclusive.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and yeah, I agree, I like it too, especially if we're traveling with a Bigger group, because it's hard to get everybody together To go out somewhere, if you're gonna try to do that. So the all-inclusive thing is kind of nice. You know you can still go out somewhere else and Whatever.
Speaker 2:But yeah, it's nice to have the option when we we Went to Grand Cayman twice, and both actually the first time we left Bo home, he was he was very young. The second time we took him with us and then we went to Belize and we took him with us and we realized after that trip that there's no reason to take a small child to a place like that because all he wanted to do was swim in the pool.
Speaker 2:That's it, from the moment he opened his eyes until he was wiped out, tired. He wanted to go to the pool and he would have been just as happy at the American up on Highway 5. We didn't have to haul ourselves all the way to Grand Cayman with, you know, with the 5 year old. 4 year old, whatever he was, maybe he was even 2 years old.
Speaker 4:I see families with tiny little kids in places like that or Jamaica. I saw a ton of families, you know I just I don't get it. I'm sorry I'm going to be the one that says heck, no, no, yeah. I understand Sure Little kids.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I understand the desire and I've also been so. Okay, here's a question for you guys. When you were in high school, middle school and high school was spring break a thing Did people get on an airplane and go somewhere tropical for spring break?
Speaker 3:No, I had never been on an airplane and tell my French trip when I was a junior in high school. Every single vacation our family ever went on involved getting in the freaking car and driving like from here to Connecticut and only staying at family members' homes, which, when you are one of three children and you are staying at a cousin's house, that means you're laying on the floor. Yeah, thus my hatred of road trips. I mean, it was such a big stink and deal. One year we stopped and stayed at a hotel one night that had a pool. Mm-hmm, it was like a five-sex seven-day trip and I have one day that I was like super excited about. Yeah, that's not fun either.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but nobody.
Speaker 3:Nobody where I was. Let me rephrase that only the very wealthy families went somewhere.
Speaker 4:Okay.
Speaker 2:No, okay, as the mortals did not. Yeah, same. It just seems like it was not a thing, or like you said it was. You know, it was the very wealthy that would do that.
Speaker 2:And I feel like now we've become a society where and this isn't new either, it's probably been the last decade or more that this is just what families do. And I look at it, I'm like you've got a family of four or six and you're taking everybody to. You're taking everybody on a cruise, these, you know how, how, how do you do that? And it's one of the things that you so your kids are little and they grow up with oh yeah, every year we go somewhere for spring break, and this now becomes the expectation every year. Yeah, that's not, that's not good. It's like another one of those things that we raise our kids with this, in this lifestyle that they're going to have a hell of a time supporting once they're out on their own and they're like oh yeah, oh, it's spring break, we have to go to Mexico, we have to go to Punta Cana. Oh yeah, I don't have $4,000 to be able to do that, because I just started my job.
Speaker 3:Interesting, interesting, interesting. On that note, and you know we didn't take Kevin's parents for a long time, had a place in Florida. So we did go down there because we had a place to stay and mostly we took them to the pool. And I and I get wanting to take little kids because I was the stay at home mom. Nobody was going to watch my three kids for seven days, so the only way I was getting a vacation is if I took the kids. So I totally get that, so we would go do that, but it wasn't.
Speaker 3:And then the girls got big into sports and our vacation was a cabin up north that we would get in the two week window between when summer sports ended and before high school sports began. That was, and I always picked out a cabin that hardly had any amenities, so we had to spend our time playing games and being out of the lake and campfires and all that. But then they got to high school and especially their senior year. When did that become a thing where you have to go somewhere, your senior year, and why are all the parents going along?
Speaker 2:Because the parents want to party with the kids Weird.
Speaker 3:I am of the era where I did not want to party with my parents.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Now I'd love it if my girls would want to, and because I lived downtown, they do like to come down here and invite their friends.
Speaker 3:But, as you talk about being able to live up to that expectation not to throw one of my kids under the bus, but one of my kids likes to travel and her friend I don't know where it comes from, but they travel and so they fly to various places and she knows she's also a hard, hard worker and saves her money, always saves her money more than she saves my money or used to save my money. But now she will say instead of a birthday present or instead of a Christmas present, would you buy half my airfare? And I think that that's an excellent way to approach it, because you do recognize how much money your parents have to expend to get you where you want to go, or how much they used to pay to do that. I think that that's we talked about gift getting. What do you give 22 year olds or 30 year olds? I think that an experience is a good thing. So, yeah, but you're right, this expectation that you're going somewhere every year is so that's a lot.
Speaker 3:It is, it's all over the place with that.
Speaker 2:We didn't even I know.
Speaker 3:So, stacey, we're out of the country. Out of the country vacation spots what do you like?
Speaker 4:Yeah, kitty mentioned, you know, Grand Cayman. I've been there twice, that was good. You know been to a few. You know Caribbean, other Caribbean spots, mostly through cruises, which we don't do often, but once in a while I kind of like a cruise. You know, my bucket list, of course, is a lot of places in Europe.
Speaker 3:So mine too. Yeah, kitty took a massive trip to Italy. I mean, talk about playing the part. You had a great experience at one of those places.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, we had a family member get married in on Labor Day weekend in at Lake Como A beautiful resort at Lake Como and it was amazing. So we figured, well we would build in time in front of that. So we were there for about 12 days, went to Rome and Florence and went out into the countryside and then made our way up to Lake Como and the wedding venue was the most incredible place I've ever stayed in my life and I sat out on my Leveranda each morning sipping my coffee, looking directly at George Clooney's house. So that wasn't too shabby for Kitty, no.
Speaker 3:We did the invite for this trip, did we? What was that? What? We didn't get the invite to go with Kitty on this trip? No, we did not.
Speaker 2:Nope, no not this time, but there is next time, and I know that what I would prefer to do next time. So it was really fun going to the big cities and seeing all of the, the Colosseum and all of the amazing iconic places that you see in Rome and Florence, etc. But what I really loved was being out in the country, and we went to the little villages that lined the western side, and that was where I really felt like I was getting the romantic Italian experience that I always had in my mind, and so that's what I would do again fly into the big city and go right out, go right out to the country Wonderful. There are so many things that we could talk about on this topic. You guys and we've definitely gone longer than we normally have, but I feel excited now. I feel excited to plan my next trip, do you guys too? Yes, absolutely yes. We should wrap with do we have a shot? I have a shot, can we?
Speaker 3:click. Can you do?
Speaker 2:Okay, okay, go ahead. For Christmas this year we bought Mackenzie and Beau a glass blowing class and they went this past weekend. They went yesterday. There is a glass blowing art studio here in the Minneapolis area called Skyglass Arts and they had the best time. So it was a two and a half hour class. It was something that Mackenzie had always wanted to do and they called me on their way home and they were just giddy. They were like that was so fun. It's to get that sort of emotion out of a 22 year old. We felt pretty darn good.
Speaker 2:And it got me sort of excited to go and try it, and that's something that I never would have really thought that I had interest in, but what a really fun and unusual craft and to be able to go in there and be hands on to do something like that. So I know that Skyglass Arts is not the only one around and I'm sure that there are others wherever our listeners might be tuning in from. So go and get your hands dirty and go do something really cool like that that you never thought about doing.
Speaker 3:Stacy did glass blowing for a science experiment, a science fair one year, didn't you in middle school?
Speaker 4:No, I remember doing that in I don't know, even in chemistry lab or something I don't know, but not officially, no.
Speaker 3:Now I love watching those Chihuly documentaries about glass blowing. They're just so amazing.
Speaker 2:Yes, one of the things that I love going to see in Vegas is seeing all of the Chihuly art chandeliers.
Speaker 3:Basically, yeah, yeah, very nice Stacy, did you?
Speaker 4:have a shot, I don't. But on that same vein and you mentioned it too, you know, get your kids experiences, you know. I think those are. That's a good idea for gifts, for sure.
Speaker 3:So I'm going to key off of that and I'm going to flip the shot upside down, which we did do way back college. But anyway, I would like our listeners to give us a shot. I want them to tell us where's the place we should go. Try what vacation spot have we not talked about that we should consider going? Tell us where it's at, tell us why we should go and can we do it in four days, or do we need a week's vacation? Yep, I would love to hear. I want some more ideas of where we, where people have gone and have tried and true experiences.
Speaker 2:Yes, great idea.
Speaker 3:Great idea. So hit me bartender, give me a good shot of where I should go on a vacation.
Speaker 2:That sounds wonderful, all right. Well, thank you, stacy and Amy. So good to see you guys. Everybody have a really wonderful week. Thank you to our listeners for being here every week with us. Thank you for sharing with your friends too. We're getting a lot of really wonderful messages and we're very, very pleased with with all of the downloads, and we want this to spread. We want to share the thoughts, the inspiration, the conversations that we're having here with. We know that there are a lot of people who can, who can benefit. And again, let's think back to the one of the main reasons that we want to do this right we want to inspire people to live their very best life. We all happen to be over 50. We got a, we've got a lot of wonderful experiences ahead of us, and we hope that everybody is is feeling the same way and excited about it. Right, yeah?
Speaker 3:Sometimes more is a good thing.
Speaker 2:More, more, more.
Speaker 3:More more more.
Speaker 2:Remember that commercial summer.
Speaker 3:More, more, more. We could go on.
Speaker 2:All right, we'll see you guys next week.
Speaker 4:Who knows?
Speaker 2:what we're talking about next week. Bye.
Speaker 4:Bye. Peace out yeah.