All Kinds of Armchair Travel

An Excellent Read that Takes Place in 20th Century China

As I outlined in my Discovery Map post, Traveling from Home, there are many ways to transport yourself to other lands through books, music, virtual museum tours–you name it! I’m sure you’ve discovered many as you’ve sheltered in place these past weeks. I don’t know about you but I have not been at all bored. All I need–at least in terms of armchair travel–is to experience something that evokes a strong sense of place. My favorite medium is books, which is a good thing because I don’t even have a TV (by choice).

Here’s a cool site where you can locate a book–fiction or nonfiction–by its locale:  Trip Fiction. Want to read something that takes place in Hawaii? Or how about Germany? Africa maybe? Trip Fiction will suggest to you the titles that tell stories that take place in those lands and many many more. Check it out!

My Travel Memoir: A Tour of the Heart

As for me, my favorite read of late has been The Good Earth, by Nobel Prize-winning author, Pearl S. Buck. It’s a classical novel of Pre-revolutionary China and I can tell you, it puts you right there in China as you follow the farmer, Wang Lung, and his selfless wife O-Lan on their triumphs and travails. They had far more of the latter than the former, so needless-to-say, this story makes you grateful for the life you have today no matter how challenging it might seem right now.

On a much lighter note, I can’t help but recommend my travel memoir, A Tour of the Heart:  A Seductive Cycling Trip Through France. I promise it will whisk you off to Paris and the French provinces where you’ll be able to sample lots of excellent food and wine along the way. As a gift to you, dear reader, I am offering the eBook version free tomorrow, Friday, and Saturday. If you haven’t read it yet, please do check it out. Tell your friends, too.

May you be safe, secure, entertained and informed during these COVID-19 times and always!

We Love Memoirs

This Week’s WLM Sunday Spotlight

Have you ever heard of a Facebook group? Maybe you’re part of one. There are all kinds of groups on Facebook made up of like-minded people sharing information on a gazillion topics from antique cars to zebra stripes. (I have’t looked up either but I’m sure they–or some likeness of these subjects–exist.)

We Love Memoirs Header this Week

For the past two weeks I’ve gleaned a ton of information and support from a FB group that’s all about covering very specific health issues for women. I’m also part of a couple of FB groups that highlight deals (and some doings) in Telluride, Colorado, where I’ve been living for fourteen years. My most lighthearted FB group of all, however, is WLM, or We Love Memoirs.

Victoria Twead

What a fun bunch of friends! Each time I pop in, my mood is uplifted by words and images from men and women that share a common bond: a love of memoirs. Over 4,200 strong, it’s populated with readers and writers of memoirs, firmly established authors, wannabes and fans. It’s all good because we all love memoirs.

Set up in 2013 by Victoria Twead and Alan Parks, two memoir authors that wanted to create a place where memoir-loving people could chat, exchange ideas and interact with each other. It’s a coffee klatch of sorts with one big common thread.

Alan Parks and One of His Many Alpacas

Victoria, New York Times bestselling author of Chickens, Mules and Two Old Fools and the “Old Fools” series, checks in on a daily basis from her home in Australia. “Apart from producing my children, passing my driving test and hitting the New York Times bestseller list, co-creating We Love Memoirs is my proudest achievement,” she says. “It is a wonderful, caring community of readers and memoir authors, and every time I hear of another WLM meet-up somewhere in the world, I get a warm fuzzy glow.”

Indeed, WLM is often taken off the internet when WLM members get together with other members in person. Can you imagine having tea with someone in a faraway land that shares your passion and is connected to you by the same group of fun-loving memoir readers? It’s like being a part of the same tribe.

WLM cofounder Alan Parks, author of Seriously Mum, What’s an Alpaca? and the “Seriously Mum” series, calls Spain his home.

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Touring Country Stores in Stowe, Vermont with Mom

Mom and I Shopping in Vermont

Since 1895: Shaw’s General Store

Vermont Country Road

Mom at Stowe Mercantile

My how I’ve been blessed with being back East this fall. The weather has been glorious throughout upstate New York and New England. (I think it has actually been pretty beautiful along the whole East Coast with the exception of down south.) We’ve been experiencing true Indian summer weather–East Indian, in fact, with some days hitting temps as high as 90 degrees!

The annual autumnal festival of colors with regard to leaf peeping has started late this year. (The abundance of jewel-toned mums, however, rates among one of the most spectacular I’ve ever seen. I we don’t have such a display in Colorado.) A brilliant kaleidoscope of fall colors is just now emerging in many parts of the Northeast.

Designer Mum

Magnificent Mums

This fall is not likely to rank among the most spectacular, since many of the maple trees have been stricken with a fungus that has made their foliage look blah. Plus, we have not yet had enough chilly nights to force the color to change into eye-popping hues of red, orange and gold. But isn’t fall always beautiful? I think so. For me, it has already been memorable.

Brick-Toned Beauty Before the Leaves Even Change

Ready for Winter at Nebraska Knoll Sugar Farm

That’s because two weeks ago mom and I headed out for a road trip to Vermont. It was just a two-night stay, however, we packed a lot in. My mother and I have always traveled a good amount together but this was the first real getaway of its kind in two years. There’s no doubt that as you grow older, home offers greater appeal and traveling seems like more of a chore.

Still, mom rose to the occasion and off to Vermont we went. We beat the path that we had tamped down–heading northeast out Route 7 from Troy, New York–for many years throughout our lives. This time, however, we were venturing far beyond our usual destinations of Bennington, Arlington and Manchester, Vermont. This time we were headed way up. Three-and-a-half-hours up.

“I always wanted to go to Stowe,” mom told me as I navigated the sinewy roads of the Green Mountain state, by then dashing along Route 100 past Rutland. (Yes, mom thought I was going too fast around the innumerable bends in the road.)

Pumpkin Potpourri at Cold Hollow Cider Mill

“Really? I didn’t know that.”

“Yes, I wanted your father to take us all there on a ski trip.”

“Wow, that’s the first time I’ve heard that,” I said. I remember the very first time I skied. I had a terrible time. It was so cold and the equipment felt so heavy. But I remember the lodge and the whole ambiance. I just loved the cozy scene in Vermont. I think it was during a New Year’s holiday. I think I was about five–is that right, mom?”

Stowe and Skiing Go Together Like Rolling Hills and Vermont

And so we prattled on, trading thoughts and memories about what we loved so much about Vermont.

Salt and Pepper Shakers from Stowe Mercantile

In truth, most of our mother/daughter escapes to Vermont revolved around day trips. We’d leave early in the day, enjoy the scenic drive, have lunch in a country inn and then poke about in quaint shops. We’d return with the car loaded with goods and goodies, a mostly made-in-Vermont haul that we’d have to sneak in to keep out of sight from “the boys” and my father (six fellas in all). It was female bonding at its best. Sure, we’d share cider and syrup with them but many of our treasures were stashed away in order to avoid looking like spendthrifts.

In truth, we didn’t buy a whole lot, mostly wool sweaters, candles and knickknacks. It was how and where we bought everything that had the most significance for mom and me. It was out of these forays to Vermont country stores that my love for shopping and touring in authentic places was born. So many of these bastions of tradition and charm spoke to me, so much so that I could hardly tolerate shopping and browsing in department stores or other big, impersonal retail outlets the rest of the time.

Little did I know that these excursions would plant the seeds for me to found Chic Promenade, a Paris shopping service where I organized visits behind-the-scenes at the big names as well as tours to the off-the-beaten-path boutiques of the French capital. I later went on to write three guidebooks on Paris and one on the French provinces. (Read about The Riches of Paris: A Shopping and Touring Guide and The Riches of France: A Shopping and Touring Guide to the French Provinces as well as my travel memoir, A Tour of the Heart: A Seductive Cycling Trip Through France at Maribeth’s Books.)

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Luxurious Telluride Stay and Travel Planning to France at a Discount

Mountain Lodge Telluride

Mountain Lodge Telluride

Icicle View

Icicle View

Yay! It’s KOTO fundraising again. This is when you can snatch up all kinds of great deals on hotel stays, restaurants and other travel perks. I applaud the generosity of so many that donate alluring premiums to our community radio station during this time. Thank you also to those of you that bid on them. It makes the fundraising for Telluride’s homegrown radio so much more fun.

Summer at Mountain Lodge Tellu

Summer at Mountain Lodge Telluride

Chef Bud Serving Up the Smores at Mountain Lodge Telluride

Chef Bud Serving Up the Smores at Mountain Lodge Telluride

Mountain Lodge Telluride, one of my favorite properties in our beautiful mountain destination, has once again stepped up and donated a two-night stay in one of their handsome condos. Valued at $1,000., these superlative accommodations come replete with a king-sized bed, leather pull-out sofa bed, fully-equipped kitchen, gas fireplace, balcony and all the amenities that come with a stay at an elegant mountain lodge. (There are even robes in the closet–a rarity these days–which you can use to pad over to the outdoor heated pool and hot tubs.)

Ski in/ski out in the winter, hike in/hike out in the summer–no matter the season, you’ll enjoy the convenience and breath-taking views of Mountain Lodge’s location.

Situated in the main lodge, The View Bar & Grill has become a favorite for locals and visitors alike due to its excellent food and fun, heartwarming ambiance. They haven’t let their success go to their heads either because they still offer one of the best price/quality relationships on their food and drink around. Read my story Chef Bud Creates an Elevated Dining Experience at Mountain Lodge Telluride.

I’m setting the opening bid at $250. for this two-night stay with all proceeds going to KOTO. Contact me ASAP to make a bid or a pledge. I will close out the auction Friday, March 11.

My Travel Memoir

My Travel Memoir

Pondering a trip to France? If so, my Travel Planning Consultation might be a good fit for you. After having lived in Paris eleven years and written four guidebooks on shopping and touring in France (three on Paris and one on the French provinces) as well as a travel memoir that leads you over hill and dale in this glorious country, I do know how to help you plan your travels to this top destination.

For a $40. donation to KOTO, I will chat with you for an hour about your trip planning to France. Valued at $70., this premium also includes a copy of A Tour of the Heart: A Seductive Cycling Trip Through France, my travel memoir that will also inspire you to explore some of the most scenic regions of France along with the City of Light. For this, too, please contact me ASAP.

Voilà! That’s all folks. Thank you in advance for supporting KOTO community radio in Telluride. I hope you will find the opportunity to tune into Travel Fun, my talk show on travel, which airs every other Thursday at 6:30pm MST. You can tune into it at KOTO.org and also listen to some interviews that I’ve posted as podcasts here.

Out and About in Paris Showcases the City of Light and More

Happy Bastille Day from Out and About in Paris

Happy Bastille Day from Out and About in Paris

Happy Bastille Day everyone! It’s France’s National Holiday and a good day for us Francophiles to raise our glass to the French and all that we love about France and Paris.

The Tour de France Arriving in the French CApital

The Tour de France Arriving in the French Capital

There are two days–both in July–when you want to be on the Champs-Elysées in Paris:  today, July 14 and the last day of the Tour de France bike race which typically occurs the third Sunday in July. On both these occasions, you can witness magnificent displays of color and might on one of the world’s most beautiful avenues in one of the world’s most magnificent cities. The parade has already passed by today, but mark your calendar for Sunday, July 26 when the Tour zooms into Paree.

Dining in France According to Out and About in Paris

Dining in France According to Out and About in Paris

Ah Paree

Ah Paree

How do you keep up with what’s happening in and around Paris? Where do you find your daily dose of alluring images of this top travel destination? The website/blog Out and About in Paris is your answer to this and beaucoup plus! In addition to reading their blog posts, plug yourself into their social media and you’ll be gloriously showered with all that you know and love about the City of Light. The oh-so dynamic and très internationale Mary Kay Bosshart is the driving force behind all that is Out and About in Paris. Honestly, I don’t know how she keeps up with her reporting and postings but she does with great enthusiasm and panache.

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Valentine’s Day Shopping 2015

Hearts and Flowers Dog Collars for Your Precious Babies at Alpen Schatz

Hearts and Flowers Dog Collars for Your Precious Babies at Alpen Schatz

Matching Leash from Alpen Schatz

Matching Leash from Alpen Schatz

Organic Catnip Toy from Purrfect Play

Organic Catnip Toy from Purrfect Play

Tomorrow is February 1st. And you know what that means…it’s almost Valentine’s Day! I’m a hearts and flowers kind of girl, so I can’t help getting all mushy around this holiday. And as I get older, the list of people–and pets–I acknowledge on this holiday grows. It’s not just about romance. To me, it’s a solid occasion for expressing love. And what better way to express love, than to offer a card or a gift to say I’m thinking about you? This is especially true for someone that lives far away.

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    This blog is a personal blog written and edited by Maribeth Clemente. This blog sometimes accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation. The compensation received may influence the advertising content, topics or posts made in this blog. That content, advertising space or post may not always be identified as paid or sponsored content. The owner of this blog is sometimes compensated to provide opinion on products, services, Web sites and various other topics. Even though the owner of this blog receives compensation for certain posts or advertisements, she always gives her honest opinions, findings, beliefs or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the blogger's own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question. This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.
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