Elisa's Daily ScoopFriday Memories of FranceHowdy Folks! Greetings from...Long Island. Lol - nowhere exciting today. While my cousin Tanya is hitting Bryce National Park today, I'm sitting at my desk, working on budgets, plans and itineraries for my past and future trips.  That's right - even the Travelin' Cousins have paperwork! I have to tell you, though - last night i went out with my sister Danielle and our childhood friend, Teresa. The laughing was never-ending! But, Teresa told me that she is planning to go to Paris next year! I was so excited for her. I love Paris!!! She told me, she was going to need my help. Well, you know, I was on top of that in an instant!! First thing this morning, I pulled out my itinerary from my March 2013 trip, along with links for nearby day trips to Normandy and Honfleur, as well as the list of hotels I stayed at and tours I went on. Here are links to the two articles I sent to Teresa: Honfleur: A Charming French Seaside Town Treasure nut at the Louvre: Top 6 Exhibits  Me with Gianna in front of the Louvre (circa 2013)  The Louvre Pyramid  Honfleur, France  Honfleur - view from my hotel window at the Best Western Le Cheval Blanc I can't wait to hear what she thinks!!! I love helping people plan trips - it's so exciting and uplifting. And no trip would turn out FANTASTIC, in my humble opinion, without the help of a WONDERFUL travel agent, so I also gave her Stephen, my long-time agent and friend. On another note, Tanya and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to receive comments from our followers!!! One of our followers recently contacted us about our Cousins Yellowstone Road Trip last month. She particularly enjoyed reading about the Idaho Potato Museum in Blackfoot, Idaho. So, in honor of "Rosemarie," I am posting a small gallery of pictures! And I wanted to answer a few of her questions: 1) Are Mr. & Mrs Potato Head the Curators? Answer: no they are not, but, I'm sure they would have liked to have been asked for this honor. 2) Are there are openings in the chips or fries departments? Answer: I'm not sure, however, here is the contact information for the Idaho Potato Museum. You can probably inquire directly: 130 NW Main St, Blackfoot, ID 8322 (208) 785-2517 We had a blast at this adorable museum and truly learned about the history of the potato as well as the evolution of the potato industry!       Showcase of Potato Mashers   Clothing made out of Potato Sacks Peeps, I have to extend my apologies today. I volunteered yesterday to be at the school today to help the third grade work on their social studies projects for the Social Studies Fair in a few weeks. As a result, I lost some valuable time to write today and my Foodie Friday Article about Rancho de Chimayo, in New Mexico is going to be published and linked a little later. So, PLEASE!! Check back later. I will also be sure to post it on our Travelin' Cousins Facebook page as well. And most exciting news of all - this weekend, Mother's Day will mark the 1-Year Anniversary of our Travelin' Cousins Blog!!!! More about that later... Cheers!! -E xoxo  | Tanya's Daily ScoopIt's a Spire kind of DayWell Hello there! Greetings from Tropic, Utah - just outside of Bryce National Park! Yup I'm at yet another National Park! Luvin' it! Are you ready for the weekend? It’s the Friday before Mother’s day and it also happens to be Fun FOODIE FRIDAY here at Travelin’ Cousins! Now while I know that from tonight on through Sunday that I’m gonna be eating some great food finds. Today we get to read all about one of Elisa’s food finds! I can’t wait to see where we went and what she ate! Food lovers unite!  Speaking of food we had to skip out on going to dinner last night. I had plans of us eating in Cedar City, at a restaurant that I tried back in January on our Ski Tahoe & Utah Road Trip. I was even planning to do a Future Foodie Friday on this suprisingly yummy Italian restaurant in the middle of nowhere…but I guess that’ll have to wait. I had already been considering us not driving the extra miles just for dinner and then when the day started to shift off of schedule - it was a sign and I opted out. We did manage a lovely breakfast, and then headed over to Arches National Park to get my passport signed (I didn’t get around to it any earlier).  Also as you probably already know, I’ve spent the last 5 days in Moab, Utah and what I didn’t realize was that we were within Dinosaur Diamond Prehistoric Byway. This National Scenic Byway runs through some of the best dinosaur country in the world!  I was totally stoked a few days ago when we went in search of some dino tracks - it was soooo cool, that I added a to do on yesterdays itinerary to go hunt down some more tracks…and these suckers were HUGE!!!  The not so successful part of my day was the mountain bike ride that was planned…it’s not that we didn’t go on it. It’s that the signage was awful, and although this was only a short 6 mile ride, it wasn’t until we went over 2 miles in horrible conditions that we realized we weren’t on the correct trail. I had my new bike socks on and I had been rearing to go! But all I was doing was complaining (to myself).   We finally got directions from a nearby camper and headed back downhill to locate the planned trail. Well, let me tell you that yesterday was the HOTTEST day in Moab so far. I was enjoying the cooler weather and cloud cover for the rides and hikes. And my knees were not feeling it…they were just wrecked from the past few days. So already I was kinda agitated, then the sucky trail that we were on was not helping my mood. And once we were on the correct trail, I liked it better, but it was already too late.. We were behind schedule, 4 miles in, and still had other places to go. Dave knew that I wasn’t enjoying myself and he wanted us to bail. So I agreed, and then on the ride back as I was still cursing out the trail (ok not really, because I don’t curse), I tipped over and through a fit! Yup that’s what I did. I could feel my adrenaline for quite a while afterwards…and it didn’t feel good. Better just not to go there! We continued on our way to Canyonlands National Park and about 25 miles away we got caught behind some cows and lots of calfs being headed from one pasture/range to another. I think seeing the little baby cows made me feel better!        After driving the Scenic Drive in the park and the Great Wash, we continued on our way and took Scenic Byway 12 - the All-American Road from just outside Canyonlands National Park to Bryce Canyon National Park where we bedded down and got a bit of rest until waking up for some sunrise shots this morning! The forecast shows for rain/snow today and I’m hoping that it at least holds off until after sunrise! We’ll also be doing a bit of hiking and going on a horse back ride into the spires, which should be buckets of fun! After our day spent at this National Park, we’ll be heading to Las Vegas baby! Anyone else going to Vegas this weekend? Well that’s about it. I’ll be coming at ya from Sin City tomorrow! Have a great one! -T  |
