Over the weekend I spent a day down in the Lexington area exploring the Bourbon Trail for the first time. My wife and I left Cincinnati with a couple of our friends around 8:45 and arrived at our first stop, Buffalo Trace, at 10:30 in the morning. I had tried to get us on a reservation only “hard hat” tour but it was already full for the day. Fortunately one of my brother-in-laws beat us to the distillery and put our names in for the “trace tour,” which requires no reservations and is completely free.

Warehouse C at Buffalo Trace

Buffalo Trace offers many brands of bourbon including but not limited to Eagle Rare, Van Winkle, Stagg Jr., Blanton’s, and W.L. Weller. These are often some of the most sought after brands around. Our tour took us around and into Warehouse C, which was build in 1881. Inside there are 24,000 barrels of bourbon aging away, each one carefully placed to create a specific brand and taste profile.

Inside Warehouse C at Buffalo Trace

We also go to see inside Blanton’s Bottling Hall, but unfortunately nothing was being bottled at the time. All of their premium bourbons are bottled here, with each bottle filled, corked, and sealed by hand. From there we were treated to samples of Buffalo Trace, Eagle Rare 10 Year, White Dog (unaged whiskey), their newly created Wheatley Vodka, and their super tasty Bourbon Cream.

Tasting at Woodford Reserve

The next stop on our tour was Woodford Reserve. The wait for a tour here was roughly an hour, so we opted to take part in a 20 minute presentation and tasting with one of the tour guides for $7 each. Our small group gathered on the beautiful patio of their visitors center for a quick history lesson along with questions and answers all the while enjoying samples of their regular whiskey and the Double Oaked.

Woodford Reserve

Our final stop for the day was Four Roses. Built in 1910, the unique Spanish Mission-style architecture is something rarely seen in Kentucky. Here we were able to quickly get on an hour long tour through nearly the entire site for just $5 each. The distillery operate continuously, except for the summer months when the stream water used to cool their mash isn’t cool enough to do so. This was great for us as all the equipment was in full use during our visit and we got to see it all. In fact you could even dip your finger into the open air fermenters for a taste of this so-called beer.

Fermentation Area at Four Roses

After their bourbons are distilled they are trucked off this site to another site near Bardstown for aging in their single story warehouses, the only distillery using single-story for minimal temperature variations. After the tour we were treated to samples of their Yellow Label, Small Batch, and Single Barrel bourbons. Plus the rocks glass that the samples were poured were ours for the keeping!

Four Roses Distillery

Each distillery that we visited had its own unique thing that I enjoyed. I loved seeing the inside of the warehouse at Buffalo Trace. I thought that Woodford Reserve had the prettiest location. And the tour at Four Roses was very thorough and hands on. I hope to visit some of the other distilleries in the future and maybe one day I’ll have my passport complete.

Our last stop on our recent Caribbean cruise was Cozumel, Mexico. We knew it would be hard to find reliable transportation to a nearby beach with our young children who we don’t like to transport without car seats. So instead we opted for yet another cruise ship sponsored excursion, the All Inclusive Passion Island by Power Catamaran.

Isla Pasion

After a 30-45 minute boat ride (and a lengthy docking process) we arrived at the Isla Pasión for an all-inclusive stay of 3 hours at the private beach. A buffet lunch of barbecued chicken, mahi-mahi, pasta, and some of the best guacamole around was available throughout our stay. There were also multiple bars setup with complimentary drinks including margaritas and rum punch.

Beach

The water surrounding the “island” gets a ton of seaweed (at least during our visit) but the staff did a great job removing what they could. My mom even found a beautiful conch shell in one of the seaweed piles, definitely the largest shell we have ever seen on a beach. With that said the snorkeling was not worthwhile.

Conch Shell

While we mostly enjoyed the time relaxing, there is plenty to do for all ages. A roped off kids zone had swings, play sets, and even arts and crafts for the little ones. For the bigger kids and adults there are a couple of trampolines setup in the ocean, kayaks, and volleyball. If relaxing is your goal there are several hammocks for relaxing in the water.

Hammocks

The time went by quickly, but we all had a great time and came back to the ship relaxed and ready for another day and a half of sailing before disembarking back in Miami. We had a wonderful trip!

Cozumel on Dwellable

The second stop on our recent Caribbean cruise was Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. For Christmas I bought an excursion for everyone in our group for the Amazing Turtle & Wildlife Adventure. This allowed us to visit the famous Cayman Turtle Farm, the world’s only sea turtle farm.

Group Shot

By far one of the coolest parts of the farm are the turtle touch tanks, where you can pick up and hold baby Green Sea Turtles. It was fun to watch the little guys swimming and playing with each other too.

Touch Tank

There is even a small tank where you can sink into knee deep water and get even closer to the little ones. This was definitely a highlight with our young kids.

Yearling

I really enjoyed the large turtle lagoon. Complimentary masks, snorkels, and flotation vests are available and once equipped it is really easy and fun to snorkel around the lagoon chasing sea turtles and fish. Some parts of the lagoon are easily twelve feet deep, so the flotation vests really helped.

Snorkel

It was so much fun to swim with the turtles and at the far end of the lagoon there is a window into the predator tank, so it almost looks like you are swimming with sharks! One of these sharks can be seen near the end of the video at the end of this post (around 4:20).

Turtle Swim

The breeding pond holds the turtles that are of breeding age, which is usually about 16 years old. There are literally hundreds of Green Sea Turtles in this pond, some weighing in at more than 500 pounds. During breeding season, from May to October, the connected beach area is used by the females to lay their eggs.

Breeding Pond

Grand Cayman on Dwellable

The first stop on our recent Caribbean cruise was Ocho Rios, Jamaica. My wife, my brother, his girlfriend, and I all decided to do the Dunn’s River Party Cruise excursion. My parents have both done this at least once, so they offered to stay back with the kids while we took a ride on a sailing catamaran to the Dunn’s River Falls, climbed the falls, and then enjoyed unlimited rum punch drinks on the ride back.

Photo Op #1

Man-Made Improvements

I wanted to take my GoPro with us for the trip, but on the morning of the excursion I found that the batteries were dead. So we all chipped in and bought the DVD from the guys at the falls, which offers 15 minutes of video and pictures from our group’s climb up the falls. I captured a few images from the video to share, as they are the only pictures we have from the falls.

Waterfall Slide

The hike up the falls is not terribly difficult, but there are some added tricks that make it a fun activity for nearly all ages. We had a four-year-old in our group who made it up the falls, though he did require some big help from his parents. I don’t think it’s worth doing more than once, but everyone should experience this for themselves.

Cruising

The ride back was a fun time with the crew of the “Cool Runnings” catamaran. The rum punch was definitely flowing and I don’t think my glass was ever empty, thanks to the lovely crew.

Cool Kids

Margaritaville

For the rest of our stay in Ocho Rios, we found a nice little beach outside of Margaritaville, which overlooked our ship. Buckets of beer were available to take down to the beach and the restaurant itself was never very crowded. We had a couple of appetizers before heading back on board on our way to Grand Cayman.

Ocho Rios on Dwellable

After my cousin’s wedding in Fort Lauderdale, my family and I boarded a cruise to Ocho Rios Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel aboard the Carnival Breeze. My parents, my brother and his girlfriend, and my grandpa all came along for the six-day adventure.

Carnival Breeze

Beach Pool

The Breeze is a massive ship, capable of carrying 3,690 passengers. This was quite a change from the only other cruise I’ve taken, which was aboard Royal Carribean’s Brilliance of the Seas (2,501 passengers). My wife and I took this cruise for our honeymoon for 12 nights through the Mediterranean. The amazing thing was that we actually saw the Brilliance again in two of our ports during this trip.

Brilliance of the Seas

Mixmaster Tim

My brother participated and won a drink making competition the first full day of the cruise. For the rest of the cruise all passengers were able to purchase his drink from the rum bar adjacent to the big pool. Our cruise happened to fall during the college football national championship game. The game was shown on the massive seaside theatre screen above the big pool. Other nights movies were played for families to enjoy.

National Championship

Carnival WaterWorks

My kids (along with the hundreds of others onboard) loved all the amenities available, especially the WaterWorks splash zone and the putt putt course. I know I played at least a dozen rounds with my four-year old son.

9 Holes of Putt Putt

Sunset

We had a great trip with a solid mix of relaxing and adventurous days. I’ll have more posts in the future detailing each of our stops as I start to sort through all the videos and photos that I have.

Two weekends ago my family and I all headed down to Fort Lauderdale for my cousin Allison’s wedding.

Ocean Dip In January

We spent two nights at the Sonesta, which was within walking distance of the wedding and reception. It is also across the street from the beach, so we spent some time wading in the ocean and searching for shells. They also had a really nice pool area that entertained my rather large extended family for many hours.

Happy Birthday Trey

We arrived on Trey’s 4th birthday, and he was surprised to find our room already decorated by members of my family.

Giant Swan

The wedding ceremony and reception took place at the Bonnet House, a historic home dating from the 1920’s. The 35 acre estate houses amazing gardens, two mute swans, and even a troop of wild Costa Rican squirrel monkeys. Though we did not see these monkeys, we were told there were still three of them living on the grounds.

Allison and Her Dad

Wedding Ceremony

These amazing gardens created the perfect spot for a wedding ceremony plus it provided enough distraction to keep my kids quiet for the entire ceremony.

Bonnet House Slough and Swan

Sebastian and the Mother of the Bride

The reception was a really fun time and even included a surprise appearance from Sebastian the Ibis, the official mascot for the University of Miami. We all had a wonderful time and were so happy to be able to help celebrate a wonderful couple.

Fort Lauderdale on Dwellable

Happy New Year! Below is the list of cities that I visited in 2014 with at least one night spent in each place.

• Cincinnati, Ohio *
• Englewood, Colorado *
• Logan, Ohio
• Sevierville, Tennessee
• Greensboro, North Carolina
• Williamstown, Kentucky *
• Columbus, Ohio *
• Blue Ash, Ohio
• Findlay, Ohio
• Oregon, Ohio *
• Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
• Loveland, Ohio
• New Rochelle, New York
• New York, New York

Those cities marked with an asterisk were visited multiple times on non-consecutive days.

See also: 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. Just as I normally do, I headed out to a state park to celebrate with my in-laws. This time we headed for Maumee Bay State Park, where we enjoyed a couple of nights earlier this year. Again my family and I stayed in the Lodge, while some of my in-laws stayed in a couple of the twenty-four cottages available nearby.

Deer From Balcony

We saw many deer during our stay. Some were brave enough to stand just a few feet away from us, whether it be while viewing them from our hotel room balcony or while on the two-mile boardwalk through swamp and marsh wetlands (though it was mostly dry during this winter visit).

Lake Erie

We enjoyed the large indoor pool area with splash area for the kids and two whirlpools. We also spend a good chunk of time on the racquetball and wallyball courts, as well as the adjacent game room.

Model Rockets

Many years ago I was an avid model rocket builder and I had forgotten just how much fun launching these rockets can be. My youngest brother-in-law is the perfect age for building these rockets and it was fun to piece together a rocket with him and send it flying high in the sky, even if one of the rockets did turn into a missile after a couple of duct tape repair jobs.

Missile

We also spent an hour or so finding a few of the parks hidden geocaches. This was my first time geocaching, a fun activity using a GPS device to find hidden containers typically with a logbook inside and sometimes even little trinkets for trading. We left an arrowhead in one of the containers for someone else to find.

Geocaching

We had another awesome stay at Maumee Bay and something tells me that this won’t be the last time we take a trip there.

If you couldn’t already tell, I’ve had a couple of really busy weeks. I’ve been home less than a handful of days in the last two weeks, so I have plenty of catching up to do. To kick off the madness, I took my family to New York for five nights to attend a good friend’s wedding in New Rochelle and to take in all the sights in Manhattan.

Our first day was pretty much a travel day as we took a plane and multiple trains to get to our destination in New Rochelle. The next day we skipped the wedding mass to let the kids play for the afternoon and then had an amazing time at one of the most incredible wedding receptions I’ve ever attended. Congrats Bryan and Stephanie! The day after the wedding we departed New Rochelle and headed for Manhattan.

After checking in to The Court Hotel, we spent the rest of the day walking around midtown Manhattan and eventually going to the Top of the Rock for an incredible view of the entire city. The next day we spent downtown to meet with the Roberge family, have some fun in Rockefeller Park, and visit the World Trade Center. Our final day we spent back in midtown, primarily visiting Times Square and Central Park.

My previous trips to NYC have always been without kids, so this trip was full of things I haven’t done before. I can’t wait to visit again as the kids grow older as there are still things that I haven’t done and I know they will enjoy in years to come.

New York City on Dwellable

Other than lounging by the pool, playing on the beach, going out for lunch and dinner, and the occasional bike ride we didn’t do much during our recent trip to Hilton Head. One exception was a quick trip to the Audubon Newhall Preserve. A very short hike from a small parking lot leads to a scenic pond and a pocosin (the Indian word for bog).

Pond

The hiking trail is lined by a diverse variety of trees and plants and many of them are labeled. Our three-year-old loved this and was inquisitive about all the different species and what made them all different. The pocosin was really dry and not as full of life as I had hoped other than some passing birds, but we spotted both turtles and an alligator at the picturesque pond.

I don’t think the preserve is worthy of its own trip by car, but it makes a wonderful and quick addition to a trip out for dinner or could be a nice destination for a bike ride.