Carole Terwilliger Meyers's Blog, page 49

Things to Do: Avila Valley Barn, San Luis Obsipo, California

Avila Valley Barn  560 Avila Beach Dr., just off Hwy. 101, in San Luis Obispo, (805) 595-2816.  Daily 9am-5pm, open seasonally spring to fall.  This is the perfect stop for a mid-trip stretch.  A former fruit stand that grew and grew, it now includes a petting farm with goats and chickens and more, plus a seasonal U-pick farm.  Inside the open-air store, you can purchase inexpensive food to feed the animals.  You’ll also find fresh produce, local Slo-Maid ice cream, and an assortment of pies fresh from the oven (these are served in many town restaurants and inns).  Great gifts and seasonal items such as Christmas trees are also on hand.  Pony rides and tractor-pulled wagon rides operate on weekends.




More things to do in Avila Beach. 

Travel articles to inspire and help you plan trips.

images ©2015 Carole Terwilliger Meyers

Sights to See: Avila Beach, California

AVILA BEACH  
Location:  3 miles off Highway 101; 240 miles south of San Francisco. 
     Tucked away in a cove, this once funky little beach town was bulldozed and cleaned up in 2004 due to a devastating oil spill.  Usually warm and sunny, it has one of the few beaches in California that face south rather than west.  The electricity-generating Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, run by PG&E, is adjacent.  It is now the only operational nuclear plant in the state.

Bob Jones Bike Trail  Dogs ok.  This off-road trail leads from Ontario Road just off Highway 101, along San Luis Obispo Creek, past the Avila Valley Barn, to the beach, pier, and downtown Front Street.  It is 4 miles round trip.  You can walk, run, or ride a bike.



view from the public loo at Avila BeachMore views from loos.

Travel articles to inspire and help you plan trips.


images ©2015 Carole Terwilliger Meyers

Misc.: photograph collection--cats around the world

If you’re a cat lover, like I am, you probably notice them everywhere you go.  I’ve found myself photographing kitties with almost the same enthusiasm as I do a world-famous site.  This photo collection of cats around the world begins with a few of my own favorites from my personal travel.


This kitty named Popsicle was hanging out in a kava bowl at the Coconut Grove resort on Taveuni Island in Fiji.  He looks like he might have finished off the dregs. 
More photograph collections.

Places to see cats when you travel. 

Travel articles to inspire and help you plan trips. 

image ©2015 Carole Terwilliger Meyers

Things to Do: shell shop, Vadukarasa Village, Coral Coast, Viti Levu, Fiji

The rustic open-air shell shop in Vadukarasa Village in Fiji lives fondly in my memory.  It was there that our car screeched to a halt on the grass in front.


Inside, we met a lovely lady, Hootchnag, and her husband, whose name I did not get.  Hootchnag told me they were shell experts and had been here for more than 30 years.  Her son is the shell diver.  The shell I fell in love with is a weighty bull mouth helmet.  I keep it in my bathroom where it is a daily reminder of my visit to Fiji.  I also selected a  sea snail for my granddaughter and three humpback cowries--I keep one in my purse for good luck and gave the other two to my driver and to my traveling friend.


More things to do in Fiji. 
More souvenirs.
Travel articles to inspire and help you plan trips. 
images ©2015 Carole Terwilliger Meyers

Things to Do: shops, Solvang, California

TWO MORE SHOPS

● Knit Fit   473 Atterdag Rd., (805) 688-0686.  M-Sat 10-6, Sun 10-5:30.  Fee for most classes.  This cheery crafts shop purveys a vast and colorful array of crafts supplies and kits.  You’ll find puffy paint, felt, yarn and plenty more.  Best of all, classes are scheduled regularly for learning all kinds of techniques—working with air-dry clay, wood burning, painting on silk—and you can for sure learn to tie-dye on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1 to 3.  My favorite project is the decorated flip flops.  Check website for current schedule. 




● Atterdag Village Serendipity Shoppe   448 Atterdag Rd., (805) 688-7895.  Tu-Sat 11-5, Sun 11-3, closed M.  Located in a sweet little enclave holding several restaurants and a flower shop, this thrift store is set up much like a gift shop.  Most items are in excellent condition and at a good price.  You’ll find fine china, carved crystal goblets, linens, and more.  Adding to the pleasure, fresh-baked cookies are usually available.  All proceeds benefit low-income seniors in a local senior living residence.



More things to do in Solvang.

More information on Solvang.


Travel articles to inspire and help you plan trips. 
images ©2015 Carole Terwilliger Meyers

Good Eats: Keste Pizza & Vino, NYC

Keste Pizza & Vino   271 Bleecker St./Morton, (212) 243-1500.  L-D daily; $$.  The menu in this acclaimed pizzeria is simple--pizzas, calzones, panini, and salads—that’s it.  Order up a Toscana salad with fresh pear and walnuts, along with a spectacular thin-crust pizza Margherita topped with housemade water-buffalo mozzarella, shredded basil, and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.  Or maybe you prefer a calzone stuffed with mushrooms and a mix of cheeses that includes the fresh mozzarella.  Gluten free is an option among the forty traditional and contemporary Neapolitan-style pies.  The traditional techniques of Neapolitan pizzaiolos are followed here, including cooking in a wood-fired oven, and ingredients are authentic—perhaps explaining why everything is so tasty and the line to get in is so long.



 


More things to do in NYC.  

More travel articles to inspire you and help you plan some spectacular getaways.

images ©2015 Carole Terwilliger Meyers

Sights to See: The Northeast, Seydisfjordur, Iceland

SEYDISFJORDUR  
Known for its old wood buildings, this cute artsy town is surrounded by mountains.  The river Fjardara runs through it, it has several waterfalls, and puffin colonies are nearby.  A 17-mile road over the forbidding Fjardarheidi mountain pass connects the town to the ring road and Egilsstaðir.  Though Seydisfjordur has a small population of approximately 700 inhabitants, it has a vibrant cultural scene, is home to concerts and East Iceland’s only two movie theaters, and hosts art festivals throughout the summer.  World-renowned artist Dieter Roth once had a home and art studio here.



Heima   Austurvegur 15.  The name of this art gallery/studio space/living quarters is Icelandic for “home.”  Owned for a year now by a small group of friends—a local girl and some Danes—and supported financially by the town, this 99-year-old store has been converted and renovated into a space shared by a collective of emerging and established artists from all around the world.  One says, “Being in town is magical and makes you want to do something.” 



LungA School  This high school has an art-based curriculum.  Participants live together, cook together, and learn together.  Workshops are led by established artists.
     The LungA art festiva l takes place in July. 


Hotel Aldan  This is a privately-owned little empire has hotels in a converted bank and in a post office and restaurants here and there.  Local day trips can be arranged. 
     Reception is in one of Iceland’s oldest stores, which was built in 1920 and is now also a bar-cafe-restaurant.  The scene in which Ben Stiller jumps into a car and flees from the ash cloud of a volcanic eruption in “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” was filmed in front.  L-D daily in summer. 



●Hotel Aldan is “The Old Bank”—which was actually originally an acclaimed hotel, before it spent a century as the town bank.  Interesting antiques are part of the decor, and some rooms have bathtubs. 

●Hotel Snaefell is “The Post Office”—a 3-story wood house built in 1908.



● Skaftfell Bistro   Austurvegur 42.  Daily noon-10pm.  Operating on the ground floor, this charming little cafe gets quite crowded.  It offers homey food, aromatic coffee, delicious cakes and sweets, and also ale, wine, and other beverages—not to mention superb lamb chops and both reindeer burgers and reindeer pizza. 
     Skaftfell Center for Visual Art   Upstairs, this spacious gallery encourages and displays contemporary art.








More things to do in Iceland.

Travel articles to inspire and help you plan some spectacular local and foreign getaways.  

images ©2015 Carole Terwilliger Meyers  

Sights to See: The Northeast, Faskrudsfjordur, Iceland

FASKRUDSFJORDUR 
Though there is no actual French settlement in Iceland, this town has a long association with French sailors.  In 1614, French fisherman came here in sailing ships.  Tragically, in the 1800s, more than 400 ships and 4,000 sailors were lost at sea.  Street signs are in both Icelandic and French. 

French Hospital museum  Moved from another location to this new spot, this experiential museum is designed to look like the town’s original hospital.  On the main floor is a reconstructed hospital room.  Downstairs replicates the inside of a sailing ship, with bunks plus atmospheric ship creaks and groans and sea sounds; I had the sensation of movement as I walked through it.  An intriguing video on a Memorial Wall mimics the ocean, and when you look closely you can see in the waves the names of the sailors who were lost at sea.  Outside, an adjacent stream displays stones bearing the names of the schooners that went down.




     L’Abri restaurant is located waterside.  I enjoyed a delightful lunch of cod with white wine sauce and a salad.



    Part of the Foss Hotel chain, contemporary hotel rooms featuring old-time details are available upstairs.  24 rooms; includes breakfast.



Meet the Locals   In addition to arranging a village walk with a local, like I experienced, this free program also has other options, including a home visit.  My group visited:
●The Little Chapel  Built in 1880, the town’s oldest house is repurposed into a tiny chapel. 


●Kolfreyja Gallery/Galleri Kolfreyia  This handcrafts shop operates inside a beautifully renovated historical house called Tangi.


     Our guide, 50-year-old local Bertlind, caught us by surprise with her unexpected, very attractive edgy hairdo.  She told us that “the sun vanishes in November and we see it again in January.”   And she told us again about the “sunshine pancakes” that folks in this remote area eat during those months to cheer themselves.  By the end of our walk we had seen some of the 17 streams that run through this village and also a lot of trees, which was of special interest because Iceland is well known for having very few trees.



More things to do in Iceland.
Travel articles to inspire and help you plan some spectacular local and foreign getaways.  

images and video ©2015 Carole Terwilliger Meyers 

Sights to See: The Northeast, Eskifjordur, Iceland

ESKIFJORDUR  
Laid out along the fjord, this long, narrow, and charming fishing village and commercial center is one of the oldest towns in Iceland’s East.  Movie director Baltasar Kormákur, the son of well-known Icelandic painter Baltasar, filmed “2 Guns,” starring Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg, here.  He also filmed “Contraband” and “The Deep” here.

Eskifjordur’s Church and Cultural Centre  Built in the late 1990s, this hexagonal church doubles as a concert hall.  When I visited, musician Jon Karkason asked us to wear a blindfold and then led us in a musical experience designed to make us “think only about now, not yesterday, not tomorrow, not the volcano, only right now.”  We participated with no expectations, listening to guitar music punctuated with an American Indian story about two wolves named Good and Evil, in which the one that wins is the one you feed.  Music festivals are held here in summer.  The Bleiksá waterfall is just behind the church.



East Iceland Maritime Museum  Strandgata 39b.  Daily 1-5pm, Jun-Aug.  Situated inside the oldest house in town, which dates from 1816, this small two-story museum is slathered on the outside with black creosote.  It displays a reconstructed general store along with assorted nautical items--ship models, fishing equipment--and other more unexpected items such as a hand-crank candy maker and dental equipment.




Mjoeyri Guesthouse  Strandgotu 120.  Kitchens.  Open all year.  Small red cabin-huts and larger natural-wood cabins line the fjord’s shore.



This spot fits into my ongoing interest in experiencing places that have an end-of-the-road, edge-of-the-world feeling.  In addition to a regular bed, our A-frame red cabin had a loft with mattress on the floor that was reached by a ladder and which children would particularly adore.  It was amazingly quiet in our fjord-front cabin, so quiet that we could hear the water lapping at the shore.  The pleasant interiors are finished in baby knotty-pine wood.  Facilities include a boat-shaped hot tub (called a “hot pot” here) and a sauna,



and towel swans greet you atop the European-style, pushed-together twin beds with individual duvets.



And no key cards here—a hand-knit key fob bell helps you find the key when it is in your pocket.  At check out, you just leave the key in the lock as though it were 100 years back in time.  Arrangements can be made for touring, including reindeer guiding, cave tours, and ski and winter tours. 


Randulff’s sea-house/Randulfssjohus   Strandgata 96.  L-D daily, June-Aug.  Resembling a Norwegian herring house, this seafarers’ lodge has an informal museum upstairs where you can see rooms as they were left in 1890.  We tasted Iceland’s infamous fermented shark—which is milder here than in Iceland’s west—as well as dried haddock.  Both are still produced in town.  We  washed it down with a shot of Brennivin--Icelandic schnapps, which in the old days was called “black death.”  I put the shark meat in my mouth and chewed it, but in the interest of not causing a volcanic eruption in my tummy I did not swallow it.  The dried haddock was ok, and the Brennivin was good enough for me to buy some at the airport to take home.


The cozy, woodsy restaurant is one large open space.  It serves a menu of local specialties that includes Icelandic shrimp, brown bread and really-good rolls, reindeer meatballs with a sweet red currant-chili sauce, and white chocolate Skyr yogurt with blueberries.  Butter is served atmospherically atop a rock.  This restaurant is under the same ownership as the Mjoeyri Guesthouse, and it is just a short, scenic walk between the two.

More things to do in Iceland.

Travel articles to inspire and help you plan some spectacular local and foreign getaways.  

images ©2015 Carole Terwilliger Meyers

Sights to See: The Northeast, Neskaupstadur, Iceland

NESKAUPSTADUR
Located on the fjord Nordfjordur, this avalanche-vulnerable town has constructed a variety of defenses, including a long stone wall to catch runaway snow.  As in most towns in Iceland, an outdoor geo-thermal public swimming pool is in the center of town, and because the town is also the center for volleyball in Iceland it has two sand courts.  Many excursions can be arranged from here, including gourmet foodie tours, kayaking, golfing, trout-fishing, hiking, snowcat tours, and skiing.

Museum House/Nordfjordur Museum/Museum of Natural History  Eglisbraut 2.  Daily 1-9pm.  This two-story building is home to local art, various collections of tools, and a large display upstairs of stuffed local wildlife. 



Hotel Hildibrand   Hafnarbraut 2.  15 units.  This boutique apartment hotel features simple, clean-lined contemporary style.  Units have stellar views and private balconies.  The inn was reopened in 2014 by the great grandson of the original owner. 
●Kaupfelagsbarinn restaurant  Iceland’s slow-food movement is centered in this simple hotel restaurant.  The menu focuses on seafood, including sushi, and foodies are welcome.  My delicious lunch included: 

bread with two spreads: tomato, and arugula-pine nuts with an Italian Pino Grigio
creamy Icelandic Wild Mushroom Soup and Cured Wild Goose with Sour Crowberry Vinaigrette (from the blueberry family)
delicate peach-colored Panfried Arctic Char with Caramel-Butter, sautéed greens, garlic potatoes, and barley with a tasty Italian red Campofiorin
Port-Glazed Wild Reindeer Steak (it tasted ungamey with a hint of liver) with creamy walnuts, freshly picked vegetables, and sweet potato mash

Skyr Mousse with White Chocolate and Fresh Blueberries

Skorrastaour farm   In the valley of Nordfjordur, close to town..  You can ride the celebrated Icelandic horse on this lovely farm.  You can do a simple ride and experience the horse’s famous tolt gait, stay for a night, or book in for a longer stay that can include riding lessons, herding sheep, a walk in the valley to pick blueberries and crow berries, and more.  Guest rooms are available in a renovated barv with a sleeping loft.  The owners speak excellent English, and you become a member of their family during your stay.




On my visit, we had afternoon tea with the owners in their home.  On the menu were “sunshine pancakes”—crepes served with blueberry preserves and whipped cream—and round donut-hole-like “love balls.”  The pancakes are served to celebrate the return of the sun after the sunless few months that occur here every winter. 




More things to do in Iceland.

Travel articles to inspire and help you plan some spectacular local and foreign getaways.  

images and videos ©2015 Carole Terwilliger Meyers