Vero Beach. Personal boutique hotels that feel like home

We spent a couple of nights at the Vero Beach Resort and Spa this month. Known for its romantic get aways on the east side of Florida between Palm and Daytona Beaches. It was an exceedingly warm, friendly, luxurious escape from the everyday. We loved the little touches. A pet goldfish in your room. Overall pet friendly they had both dog biscuits and M and M’s (for the owners) at the checkout. Our suite had a full kitchen, dining room and a bathroom with an echo. The restaurant is spectacular and with all the traveling we do we felt the most at home in Vero Beach. The ocean is close and a little wild on the Alantic side. Vero isn’t completely populated with what we affectionately call “the grey-haired set” but they were reasonably represented :). Vero doesn’t have the craziness of Miami, the tourists in Hollywood or Fort Lauderdale, or the expense of Palm Beach. More than any other place on the east coast of Florida, Vero should appeal to middle aged Canadians laid back, relaxed culture.

It was the nature that called us. We did a couple of day trips into the Everglades, and into eco-regions that surround Vero’s extensive nature preserves. The duality appealed.

Think abject luxury on the edge of Florida’s great river system and eco reserves. You can find manatees on one side, alligators on the other and with a quick 2 minute walk to the beach you can explore for crabs and sea turtles. The three ecosystems are connected and make for a great nature trip with all the amenities at the end of the day.

Vero is one of the most modern, boutique hotels that stays in touch via facebook and other social media outlets. You can become a friend, get great deals and feel like you are coming home. The hotel makes that kind of an effort to stay connected. I gave them a bunch of novels I finished to start a book trading nook and left a warm note to the general manager upon departure. Name me another hotel where you feel compelled to do that?

Vero Beach Resort and Spa, one of the few hotels we’ve reviewed this year that gets 9 coconuts from us. We can’t wait to go back

Road Trips. 11 Things to do this summer close to Ottawa


We love road trips. A fun way to see your community before going on adventures farther from home. Here’s a list of new and exciting things to do within 90 minutes of the Nation’s Capital.

Upper Canada Village (45 minutes south near Morrisburg) Step back in Fairs & Finer Things
time where costumed interpreters re-enact 1860’s life in homes, shops and
farmyards. uppercanadavillage.com

Thousand Islands Boat Cruise (1 hour south-west in Gananoque) Cruise the
islands and tour the romantic turn-of-the-century Boldt Castle built by the
proprietor of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in NYC. ganboatline.com

Westport Charm (1.5 hours west on Big Rideau Lake) Wander the charming
boutiques, art studios and antique shops. Relax at the Sundari Day Spa or
spend the night at The Cove Country Inn. coveinn.com

Hull-Chelsea-Wakefield
Steam Train (Gatineau)
Hop aboard Canada’s
oldest operating Steam
Train for a 5-hour, 64 km
guided tour of the
Outaouais Region with a
2-hour stop in scenic
Wakefield. steamtrain.ca.
Stay overnight at the
Wakefield Mill Inn & Spa.
wakefieldmill.com

Merrickville (45 minutes south) Local artists abound with over 100 heritage
properties – voted ‘Canada’s Most Beautiful Village’ in 1998. Don’t miss the
Merrickville Antique and Artisans Show Aug 27. ontariotravel.net

Old Chelsea (15 minutes north-east) Begin the day with a hot coffee at Les
Saisons. Then wander the shops before a relaxing massage at Le Nordik –
Nature Spa (lenordik.com) followed by a vegetarian lunch on the patio of
Soup d’herbe.

Montebello (1 hour east) Get up close and personal with buffalo, black
bears, red deer, wolves and more at Parc Oméga (parc-omega.com). Then,
enjoy a picnic lunch or make a reservation at Fairmont Chateau Montebello
for a more luxurious dining experience. fairmont.com

Kingston (1.5 hours west) Take in the waterfront by sailboat, kayak, canoe
or bike. Sip wine on a patio or shop the boutiques. Visit Fort Henry for a
glance into the War of 1812. tourism.kingstoncanada.com

Heritage Perth (1 hour west) Wander through artisan shops, the Farmer’s
Market (Sat) and the Wildlife Reserve. Try the Good Wood Oven for
pizza. beautifulperth.com

Bon Echo Provincial Park (2.5 hours west) With a 1.5 km rock face that
rises 100 m above Mazinaw Lake, the park is incredibly photogenic. Hike,
canoe or simply relax on a sandy beach. ontarioparks.com

Prince Edward County (2.5 hours south west)
The ideal wine and dine getaway, spend the night at The Inn at Huff Estates
Winery, enjoy a round of golf at Wellington Golf Course or stretch out in
the sand at Sandbanks Provincial Park. prince-edward-county.com

Suzy and Blaik’s Lizard adventure

We think that smart, modern couples wanting to connect should look first for an adventure when travelling. As much as we love the rest and relaxation of beach holidays, nothing connects you better than a wilderness adventure. Forget the “bus tours you would send your parents on to look at crumbling churches”. You don’t always need to go wow on holiday, but you should see and do things that make you go whoa!

Such is the case when we go lizard hunting. I don’t mean the tiny lizards that scurry underfoot when we are out on the deck in our house in Florida. They are cool, but the lizards we are seeking tend to be quite a bit bigger.

You could say that we have a mild obsession with the genus crocodilian. Living dinosaurs that you can throw hot dogs to. At least you could throw hot dog wieners to the many swimming or lounging alligators at Gatorland. Gatorland is the 50-year-old reptile farm just south of Orlando, Florida. Think part amusement park, part education center and a huge nature habitat and breeding ground for the American Alligator. The Park does shows, has a good selection of venomous snakes along with the only cache of white alligators (not albino but white) known in the world. They have a good demonstration of gator wrestling with a couple of southern comedians who play the part well.

But what was interesting was the variety of sub-species of crocodilians they have on site. They have a number of Cuban crocodiles, a few caiman, a dwarf crocodile and our favorites, the Nile croc. We hung out and got this great video of the three Niles eating those aforementioned hotdogs.

We have gotten up close and personal with some big Niles during our visit to South Africa. We were warned not to go too close to the waterways in Africa, and we witnessed a large Nile crocodile from our cottage while on safari overlooking Mkuze Falls in the KwaZulu-Natal region. At night under the waterfalls the whole place had the feel of a Jurassic Park experience. But we got much closer than that. One of the highlights of our African tour was the day spent at the crocodile farm outside of Pennington, South Africa. One of the big sugar companies discovered they could make more money farming crocodile skins than planting sugar cane. So the farm doubled as a tourist destination. Only simple chain-link fences separated more than 300 full sized crocodiles in massive pens from adventurous blondes. When one apparently sleeping crocodile had a claw length through fence, Sue bravely wanted to see if it would notice her touching its toe with the end of her sandal. It definitely noticed and Sue jumped about four feet back. They fed the crocs sawed up beef and horse in big chunks and hearing them eat sounded like gun shots when they snapped. With 5,000 psi of pressure, the crocodile has the strongest bite in the animal kingdom. Their snap is far more ferocious than a great white shark or hyena and Sue got closer than was comfortable. Our Zulu guide at Mkuze says that crocodiles kill thousand of people a year from Botswana to Cape Town.

Our current adventure is searching for the king 14 foot male alligator living a five minute drive from our Kissimmee house on Lake Toho Florida. We love the air boat rides through the lake and on our first ride saw at least 15 alligators over 6 feet, (but not the big, big one) along with some babies and hissing mothers. Forget Disney, air boating with alligators is the real roller coaster ride. We are back again this week to check out the apparent usual haunts for this granddaddy gator. An alligator can hide in 31 cm of water and like the bushman in Africa said, “it isn’t the crocodile you can see that you have to worry about, it the one you can’t see”.

Vero Beach Resort & Spa

Vero Beach

We spent a couple of nights at the Vero Beach Resort and Spa recently. Close to the Kennedy Space Center, Vero Beach Resort is known for its romantic get aways on the east side of Florida between Palm and Daytona Beaches. It was an exceedingly warm, friendly, luxurious escape from the everyday. We loved the little touches. A pet goldfish was part of the room decor. Overall pet friendly, they had both dog biscuits and M and M’s (for the owners) at the checkout. Our suite had a full kitchen, dining room and a bathroom with an echo. The restaurant is spectacular and with all the traveling we do we felt the most at home in Vero Beach. The ocean is close and can be a little rough on the Atlantic side. Vero isn’t completely populated with what we affectionately call “the gray-haired set” but they were reasonably represented . Vero doesn’t seem to have the craziness of Miami, the tourists of Hollywood or Fort Lauderdale, or the expense of Palm Beach. More than any other place on the east coast of Florida, Vero should appeal to middle aged Canadians laid back, relaxed culture.
It was the nature that spoke to us. We did a couple of day trips (south) into the Everglades, and into eco-regions that surround Vero’s extensive nature preserves. The duality appealed.

Think abject luxury on the edge of Florida’s great inland water system and eco-reserves. You can find manatees on one side, alligators on the other and with a quick 2-minute walk to the beach you can explore for crabs and sea turtles. The ecosystems are connected and make for a great nature trip with all the amenities at the end of the day.
Vero is a modern boutique hotel that stays in touch via Facebook and other social media outlets. You can become a friend, get great deals and feel like you are coming home. The hotel makes that kind of an effort to stay connected. We gave them a bunch of novels we finished to start a book trading nook and left a warm note to the general manager upon departure. Name me another hotel where you feel compelled to do that?
Vero Beach Resort and Spa, one of the few hotels we’ve reviewed this year that gets 9 coconuts from us. We can’t wait to go back.

You’ve got to watch a shuttle launch

As NASA winds down the shuttle program, space geeks everywhere are running out of time to see a launch. We decided that we needed to see one and the Discovery launch last week afforded us the opportunity. We visited Kennedy Space Center the day before the launch to see the shuttle on the pad. We took in the Saturn V rocket pavillion, which is something the nerd in me found absolutely fascinating and then we toured the rest of the exhibits. Sue had fun with the interactive moon landing presentation. Kids on the tour with us enjoyed the space shuttle simulator ride. However the center certainly appeals to the middle aged group who witnessed the moon landings in awe. We think that kids who live in the age of Star Wars and video games miss some of the magic that was the original moon landing program. Risk, novelty and the thrill of mans most ambitious (and expensive) challenge to date are the stuff that captured our imaginations 40 years ago. Seeing the aging Apollo astronauts on video talking was really captivating.
Anyway, we gathered with a large crowd to see the lift off of Discovery the day after. It was fantastic and should be on everyone’s bucket list. The trouble is that you only have two more chances. The next lift off is for the shuttle Endeavour on April 19, 2011. Start making plans……