Dear Friends and Followers, Gourmet Girl Gail here writing from windy Santa Barbara. We trust you are remaining safe and healthy. Boy, what a year 2020 was! And here we are, already six weeks or so into 2021 with a bit of hope on the horizon. Even though the vaccine rollout is slow and spotty […]
travel
Camping During COVID Part 5 — Harvest Hosts

Dear Friends and Followers, Gourmet Girl Gail here writing from Santa Barbara. Happy New Year (almost)! And what a year it’s been. Bring on 2021! Even though we’re not out of the woods yet with COVID, I’m seeing the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. Let’s just say I’m optimistic, which is pretty […]
Camping During COVID — Part 3

Dear Friends and Fellow Adventurers, Gourmet Girl Gail here writing from sunny and now temperate Santa Barbara. We’ve had some oppressive heat waves the past few weeks. Over now, hopefully, and I trust everyone is still doing well considering the challenges we’re facing at the moment. I’ve written about our stays at Hipcamps before. They […]
The Loneliest Road in America

Dear Friends, Foodies, and Fellow Travelers, Gourmet Girl Gail here writing from Santa Barbara, where there’s a crispness in the air (finally!) after temps being in the mid 80s earlier this week! If you live in Chicago or Big Piney, Wyoming (the ice box of the nation), you might think this is a wonderful thing. […]
Kudos for Cody, Wyoming!

My restless, roaming spirit would not allow me to remain at home very long. — Buffalo Bill Dear Friends and Fellow Travelers, In my last blog post, I shared some of our trip up to Cody, Wyoming, but I didn’t give you the whole adventurous scoop! After driving through Yellowstone, marveling at the sights, […]
Autumn in France

Hello friends! Gourmet Girl Denise here from the Loire, France. The rains have begun intermittently with sporadic sunshine peeking through the grey clouds from time to time. The air is crisp at night though it is still too warm during the day to start a fire in my dining room fireplace. This particular fireplace (there […]
Crater Lake National Park

Dear Foodies and Fellow Travelers, Gourmet Girl Gail here writing from Ocean Mesa, overlooking the Pacific. Even though it’s a mere 22 miles north of Santa Barbara, it feels like oceans away. And although my apartment in Santa Barbara overlooks the city and the sea, I’ll take any excuse to get away from the interruptions […]
Travels with Abigail — Part 2

Greetings! Gourmet Girl Gail here writing from sunny Santa Barbara, and I’m excited to share some more of our travels with Abigail. On a recent trip up to Lake of the Woods in Oregon, we made stops at Big Basin Redwoods State Park in the Santa Cruz area, Mendocino/Fort Bragg, and Patrick’s Point. Big Basin […]
Travels with Abigail — Part 1

Dear Friends and Fur Baby Lovers, A few weeks ago I announced that I rescued a sweet dog from the Bay Area named Abigail. My dear friend and client, Dr. Ann Schiebert, sent me pictures of this cutie, saying she would be the perfect dog for me. And she is! Believe it or not, it’s […]
Summertime!

Hello friends and fellow campers! Gourmet Girl Denise here from Le Petit Saint Barnabé, Mouliherne, France. The weather is hot here at the homestead in the Loire River Valley. The mercury is topping out this week at 40 degrees centigrade or 104 degrees Fahrenheit! Yikes! Lemonade consumption is going to be high and I will […]