199 Fall Travel

Vacation Mavens

Is the weather starting to change where you live? Autumn has arrived in the Northern Hemisphere and this week Kim and Tamara talk about where they have visited recently for fall travel and some other fall favorites.

Full Episode Transcript

[00:00:00.000] - Kim Tate

It's time to fall into fall travel.

[00:00:14.670] - Announcer

Welcome to Vacation Mavens, a family travel podcast with ideas for your next vacation and tips to get you out the door. Here are your hosts, Kim from Stuffed Suitcase and Tamara from We3Travel.

[00:00:29.180] - Tamara Gruber

So Kim, by the time this comes out, it's going to be less than a month from Halloween. Do your girls still do stuff for Halloween, or do they dress up or do they go on any haunted hay rides or any of those kind of things they have done?

[00:00:42.560] - Kim Tate

We have haunted corn mazes and stuff down here, and they normally get together with friends. And there's some kind of youth event that happens at some of the local farms and pumpkin patches and stuff. And we've been known to go to the pumpkin patches and do some of the kiddish activities. But with Mia being 14 now, she's kind of at the cusp of that, and she's got a sweet heart, so she still likes it. But she's not quite into all the activities as much anymore.

[00:01:10.100] - Tamara Gruber

No more trick or treating?

[00:01:11.930] - Kim Tate

She actually mentioned because they didn't go last year, and she said, I think I'm going to go this year. It'll be with her best friend. She's like, it'll be our last year, and we're going to go for it. And I said, go do it. That's awesome.

[00:01:23.240] - Tamara Gruber

So yeah, I'm waiting to see what Hannah will do. I know her friends have really been trying to convince her to do some kind of haunted house hayride kind of thing. To me, the whole idea of a haunted corn maze sounds absolutely terrifying. Something could just jump out of you. I don't like jump scares either. As a teen, I did do a haunted hayride, but at least then you know, the direction they're coming from. They only come outside, and I can kind of sit in the middle in a little safer, but right down the street for me, they have some kind of I don't even know I've never gone, but it's this whole horror thing in one of the parks that you kind of walk through.

[00:02:00.240] - Tamara Gruber

So it's a little bit more of a walk through type of thing, but they've not convinced her. So I don't know about trick or treating, though, because last year obviously no trick or treating. The year before she was going to go with one friend, but then it ended up raining. So I think they decided just to stay home and hand out candy instead. I'm not sure if there'll be one last or she'll just stay home, and we usually try to do Apple picking or some kind of visit to a farm this year.

[00:02:27.240] - Tamara Gruber

I've already gone and picked up Apple cider Donuts for her. I think she's just so busy she can't really see about it this year. I'm trying to still give all the fall treats. Here's some Apple cider and Apple cider Donuts. And I made pumpkin pie dip when we had some people over recently in our backyard. And so as she's getting the fall stuff without the scary stuff, that's cool.

[00:02:52.230] - Kim Tate

I grew up in Kansas City, and when I was a teenager, there's this area. And I can't even think because I know it's something like all the Kansas City listeners are going to be laughing that I can't think of this. I want to say it's something like the flats or the bottoms, or I can't remember. But there's this area in Kansas City, and it's like, known for having some of the creepiest most amazing haunted houses. And because it's this old warehouse district, right. And they would dress them all up and everything.

[00:03:19.730] - Kim Tate

And that was the thing that we always did as teens. And I'm kind of glad that my girls haven't gotten into that. I do know there's one up north, that's kind of a haunted house type thing in a warehouse. But other than the corn maze, there's not as much around here, but I remember as a kid those things that freak me out so mad.

[00:03:38.260] - Tamara Gruber

I'm starting to wonder if it like, haunted or not haunted, but it's just general, like, really creepy lawn decorations are like the new holiday lights. You know, how people know, there's the houses that do a really good holiday lights, and they drive around and look at them. The other day, I was driving and a home from practice, and there's a house that is absolutely terrifying. I don't know what's wrong with the people that live there, but there's basically a 15 foot skeleton. Then there's a whole line of super creepy zombie dudes.

[00:04:09.280] - Tamara Gruber

And then out of the corner of my eye, I see it's got to be like, ten foot tall pig with a giant knife and an apron on. And I'm like, Where do you even find this bizarre stuff? I really need to go buy the house and take a picture of it. But I'm scared that if I do, I don't know somebody who's a little disturbed in there.

[00:04:31.390] - Kim Tate

Yeah, I think I saw something a while back that spending for spending for decorations and all that stuff on Halloween is second only to Christmas.

[00:04:42.320] - Tamara Gruber

Yeah, it's so easy. And I were talking about all the houses that we used to never be able to go to when she was little. There was the house with the giant Spider. No, we had to skip that one. There was the one that had the little smoke tunnel you went through. We had to skip that one because she was scared of everything when she was little. So we were laughing about that. But not everything has changed because, yeah, I know, literally, we couldn't even go down certain aisles and target because if something started to move and make noise, she'd have a little breakdown.

[00:05:10.370] - Tamara Gruber

Oh, man, she's not the haunted house type. That's for sure.

[00:05:14.760] - Kim Tate

Yeah.

[00:05:15.470] - Tamara Gruber

Well, there's lots of other fun things to do, though. You just went and did some haunted kind of stuff. I know I saw your picture when you're in Disneyland, and I'm like, Whoa, that looks kind of crazy for Disneyland. But tell me what you did when you were just down in California.

[00:05:29.370] - Kim Tate

Yeah. So for those of you who know Disneyland, they actually do a lot of seasonal parties. And starting in September, they do a Halloween time at Disneyland Resort, and they go out. They kind of decorate the parks with beautiful Orange swags, and they have some hand carved pumpkins decorating Main Street. And then they do a few other things this year, they have quite a cool area back in one of the regions for Coco and Dia des Muertes. And then some celebrations around that as well. And then the bigger thing that you saw my picture of was they have parties called Oogie Boogie Bash, and it's kind of crazy how expensive it can be, especially for a family, because they sell these bash party tickets in addition to your park ticket.

[00:06:19.400] - Kim Tate

But you don't have to have a park ticket for this party, which is kind of nice. So you can theoretically go to the parks with normal park ticket and then buy one of these. And you can get in 3 hours before your park before the party starts. You can get in at 03:00 p.m. When the party starts at six. And so some people choose to do that, but they are sold out. So if anyone's hearing this, you need to be looking ahead to 2022 if you're thinking of doing kind of a Disneyland and fall.

[00:06:45.290] - Kim Tate

But you can still go to Disneyland and celebrate stuff during the Halloween time celebrations. They do a ride overlay for Haunted Mansion, which is called Haunted Mansion Holiday. And it's got Jack Skellington, and he kind of takes over the ride. And sorry for Disney people. I should say the attraction. But anyways, so he takes that over and that lasts all for Christmas because it's kind of like him like that spooky mixed with Christmas season. So it's kind of fun thing. And then they also do cars Land also gets a big makeover and becomes radiator screams, which is kind of funny. And they do a lot of fun, like car part themed, like spiders made out of engines. And, you know, Crow bar stuff. And then they've got these fun cones and tire eyes. And each of the two rides that are not the main radio racers. Each of the two rides get a makeover with fun music and theming around Halloween. So they do that. And then the last one is Guardians of the Galaxy, which used to be Tower of Terror.

[00:07:45.380] - Kim Tate

It gets a makeover at night. So kind of later afternoon evenings, it becomes Guardians of the Galaxy, Monsters after dark. And so the theming of the ride, like the story that you see on the screens and the music changes, and it can be pretty intense and scary, I think, for some people. So anyway, that's kind of the thing at Disneyland, but the OG Boogie bash party is something different. And that's what I showed your picture of. Yeah.

[00:08:10.200] - Tamara Gruber

Well, I mean, Tower of Terror or Guardians of the Galaxy. The attraction itself is scary to me with that one.

[00:08:18.930] - Kim Tate

I know. I see that one I can't handle. My stomach can't handle it.

[00:08:23.210] - Tamara Gruber

Yeah. So how long do they keep that theming before they switch over to Christmas stuff?

[00:08:28.900] - Kim Tate

so this actually is ending October 31 for the season. Sometimes it goes to the first day or two of November. I think it depends on how the week falls, but there's a chance you'll see some stuff. Still, if you're there on November 1 as they take it down. But they're pretty good about getting those holiday things up. And then right back down and then the Halloween decorations will be gone. And then you'll have until about the second week of November. I think this year it's November 12 is when the holiday overlay starts happening and kind of comes alive.

[00:09:02.960] - Kim Tate

And then they'll have some festival, the holidays, events that celebrate not just Christmas. So they tried to bring in like Hannukkah and Kwanza and Three Kings Day, so they're trying to make it a little more open to everyone. And then they also just launched this brand new party thing. It's just kind of like the Oogie Boogie bash party called Merriest Nights, which is a ticketed event. There's still a couple of tickets for two days open for that one. So if you did want to do holidays in Disneyland, you could look into that.

[00:09:31.820] - Tamara Gruber

Yeah.

[00:09:32.510] - Kim Tate

So there's a little about ten to 14 days that you get the parks without anything. And then it goes from Halloween time to Christmas time. Or I guess I should say holiday time, out of time, festive season, winter festivities. Yeah.

[00:09:50.540] - Tamara Gruber

And they do some similar things, but different at Walt Disney World, right?

[00:09:54.870] - Kim Tate

Yeah. So the big news with Walt Disney World right now, they are doing like a boo bash thing. That's an after hour ticketed event. I haven't heard as much about it. I don't know how big of a hit it was. And then they normally do some kind of Christmas thing. They've announced a few things down there. But the big news for Disney World right now is that October 1 is the start of their 50th anniversary celebration, and they've kind of gone all in on decor and merchandise and special things around that.

[00:10:23.730] - Kim Tate

So if you are headed to Florida and Walt Disney World this fall and winter, you'll be kind of looking at that 50th anniversary. Definitely. Check out the two Halloween and winter holiday activities that they have and parties.

[00:10:39.310] - Tamara Gruber

Yeah. It's good to know, too, that you need to plan in advance for some of these, or at least you might get lucky with some tickets, but it makes sense to try to think ahead.

[00:10:48.730] - Kim Tate

Yeah, especially since you have to make reservations for all the park. Still. So you still have to be making you buy your tickets and make your park day reservations and stuff. And park hopping is very limited. So you pick the park, you're going to start it, and then you can't go to another park until 01:00 p.m.. I'm not quite sure on the timing at Walt Disney World.

[00:11:08.590] - Tamara Gruber

Yeah, it's even more complicated.

[00:11:11.280] - Kim Tate

More exactly, even more planning than it already has been. But, yeah, that's just a little bit of fall holidays. But what about in your neck of the Woods, about fall seasonal stuff? What kind of things are you for? Travel wise? What do you know about what do you hear about?

[00:11:30.200] - Tamara Gruber

Well, we're kind of in that time where everybody wants to go all type of fall here in New England, but I just got back from a trip to the Finger Lakes in New York, and that's definitely a great destination. We were there for the grape harvest. You know, it always varies a little bit on timing when that's going to be, but definitely a fun time. And we have a beautiful weekend. It was low 70s or high 60s, but sunny, and it was just such a perfect we I went with two of my College friends, and we had a blast because I've talked about the Finger Lakes before.

[00:12:06.840] - Tamara Gruber

This time I stayed in Ithaca. I was actually hosted at Hotel Ithaca in downtown Ithaca, which is home to Cornell and Ithaca College. It has that College town vibe. In the past, I've stayed at on a different Lake. I've stayed Ithaca right near Cayuga Lake, and in the past I've stayed at Watkins Glen, which is on Seneca Lake. And then one time, I took Hannah to the Finger Lakes, and we stayed in Hammondsport or Corning, which is on Keuka Lake. So there's actually eleven Lakes in the Finger Lakes region, and there's over 100 wineries.

[00:12:39.510] - Tamara Gruber

And there's also a ton of craft breweries. There's distilleries, there's tons of cideries, there's tons of farms. So we did a really nice mix of, like, some wine tasting. And we also went to a cider place. But we also did agritourism types of things because it's beautiful up there. It's kind of like a little bit hilly between the Lakes. So there's so many farms or wineries where you're looking down a gentle slope to the Lake in the distance. It just gives such a pretty backdrop. And the leaves there are just starting to change.

[00:13:12.610] - Tamara Gruber

So I think in the next couple of weeks, it's going to be really nice. We started with a boat tour with Discover Cayuga Lake, and that was like a little sunset cruise. They do a whole bunch of different Eco cruises. And then the next day, we went to their farmers market in Ithaca, which is like amazing tons of food and beautiful produce. Wineries, cideries, honey, there's local apiaries, so many nice things. We picked up some breakfast there and sat at a picnic table by the Lake and just enjoyed that.

[00:13:45.400] - Tamara Gruber

And then we did a couple of tastings at wineries like a pairing with everyone had a charcuterie board, too. And it was just like a really nicely paced, like, really good, relaxing, enjoyable pairing. And then we did a blind tasting somewhere, which is a lot of fun. And then we visited a goat farm. And then yesterday we went to an alpaca farm. I don't know if you got a chance to see my Instagram stories on that, but they're so cute.

[00:14:13.240] - Kim Tate

Sweet. Did you buy some alpaca socks or Wolf?

[00:14:17.760] - Tamara Gruber

I bought plenty. I had held back at the farmers market and all these other places, but then I was like, okay, I'm supporting the economy right here, which is nice because it's a family on farm. We had signed up to do a farm tour and to take the alpacas for a walk. And I can just say from a wellness perspective, getting to see and interact with really cute, adorable animals is just really nice. It gives such a good feeling, right? Yeah. But yes, I bought a hat, which maybe I'll bring with me to Portugal.

[00:14:51.940] - Tamara Gruber

Maybe you'll get to see it. I bought a little scarf. I bought this adorable little fluff ball thing that looks like an alpaca for Hannah, because that was the one thing I always say these days. She's not very jealous of when I go away and do things like she still enjoys when we get to do things together. But she's so busy and stuff going on with her own life that she's not like, oh, I wish I could come with the one. I told her I was going to an Alpaca farm.

[00:15:16.990] - Tamara Gruber

She's like, Can you send me pictures?

[00:15:20.020] - Kim Tate

Well, I'm jealous. Definitely. I can't wait to see your hat. I hope you do bring it because is it like a felted wool hat?

[00:15:26.650] - Tamara Gruber

Yeah, it's kind of. I don't know what kind of like a news boy hat.

[00:15:31.760] - Kim Tate

Oh, yes. I don't know what that's called. The sweeper.

[00:15:37.760] - Tamara Gruber

Yeah.

[00:15:38.430] - Kim Tate

Yeah.

[00:15:39.450] - Tamara Gruber

I'm not a fashion person, as you know, I'm not a fashion person.

[00:15:42.030] - Kim Tate

But I know I should know what that's called, but I can't think of it right now. Okay, cool.

[00:15:46.230] - Tamara Gruber

So that's definitely one great destination. And I can see just from the traffic on my website. Like, what the other popular things to do are. I think even back to last year, last year, we did some family glamping, and I did some glamping on my own, and I think that that's a really nice time to do it before it gets too cold. The nights are crisp and the days are nice. You're not, like sweating in the tent. It's kind of perfect camping or glamping.

[00:16:15.590] - Kim Tate

Kind of want the fires at night and stuff.

[00:16:18.550] - Tamara Gruber

Exactly. So I think that's a really fun thing to do now. And there's so many places to do that now. I have a whole post on my website about places to go glamping in New England and new ones keep cropping up, which is great. But I know Vermont and New Hampshire are super popular. I think some people come a little bit too late, so just keep track of every state puts out a fall foliage kind of tracker. I have a blog post on my website about following road trips in New England, and I have links to each of those state trackers, so you can see when they expect it to be peak and stuff like that.

[00:16:56.060] - Tamara Gruber

But basically the further north you go, the early it's going to be. So things are starting to really pop right now in New Hampshire, in Vermont and Maine, and that's going to continue to kind of work its way south. So one of the things that we like to do is in New Hampshire, there's a scenic drive called the Kancamagus Highway, and I have a post about all the scenic spots to stop along there.

[00:17:23.560]

Nice.

[00:17:24.040] - Tamara Gruber

And that is now kind of doing really well on the website. And I have a post about New York road trips to take in the fall and Vermont. I know I've been getting a lot of messages from people like, what should I do in Vermont? All of how many people are open to and yeah, exactly. The thing to think about, though, is that it's total leaf peeping season, and it is hard to find hotels on certain weekends, especially the three day weekend in October can be really tough.

[00:17:55.110] - Tamara Gruber

So you might need to, you know, try to search early. It's a little bit late for that, but try to look for maybe Airbnb or VRBO or the Glamping and things like that to try to find some alternatives cool or just plan for 220 and 22. What about by you? Do you have other I mean, I'm sure between, like, Apple season and wine harvest, you must have so many great places to go for fall by you as well.

[00:18:19.280] - Kim Tate

I was going to say I think Washington State is definitely a big gem for October trips or fall seasonal trips, especially people think about New England, but if you look, it's latitude, right? Not longitude. Yeah. Latitudes. We're kind of similar. And even though we are like the evergreen state, there's a lot of aspens and poplars and Maple trees out here, and we get some beautiful fall colors mixed in with the green trees. So I definitely think that in Washington State, October is also just a really nice temperature.

[00:18:53.680] - Kim Tate

If you want to do hiking or drives, you definitely do have to prepare for dreary weather. I'll call it because it's not necessarily always rainy. But dreary is definitely the right word. And fall is when we do get most of our wind storms. We don't have, like, thunderstorms like I grew up with in the Midwest. But we have these massive wind storms, and that normally is in the fall when that can be a problem. So that is something to keep in mind. But otherwise, it's just so nice here.

[00:19:24.150] - Kim Tate

The temperatures are so mild, and it's like you said, with glamping and things. It's cool in the evenings, but can kind of get a little warm in the in the daytime, but not too much. It depends how much of the cloud cover Burns off. But I think kind of like with the Finger Lakes. The big thing out here is the fact that it's harvest season. And there are a lot of fall festivals and wine crushing events. And I know that Chelan, which is a very popular vacation destination for Seattle people.

[00:19:52.630] - Kim Tate

It's kind of a Lake community destination out here. And they have a massive fall festival that lasts from October through Thanksgiving. And so you can find stuff happening all the time there with different vendors and activities and things like that. And they have, like, an evening. They have family events during the day, and then they have these evening haunted things as well. So it's kind of a big destination. So if you're in Washington state, Chelan is kind of a big thing. And then, of course, some people may have heard of the little town of Leavenworth, which is a Bavarian village out here in Washington.

[00:20:26.820] - Kim Tate

It's about, I'd say, about 2 hours from Seattle, probably it depends what traffic's like. And when you're going. And it is known for first, it's October Fest because of the fact that it's a Bavarian town. So it's very German inspired. And they do a big October festival. But then they also do a big holiday lights festival and that's very popular local. So those are kind of the main things I'm thinking about here, of course, like you said, with apples, there's a lot of cider events happening.

[00:20:56.800] - Kim Tate

So if you like to drink cider, Washington State is a great place for that as well. And I think Oregon is pretty big in breweries and cideries and stuff as well. And of course, they have their whole Willamette Valley for wine. So they're pretty big as well in the fall embibing travel. Maybe that should be a term. But yeah. So those are kind of the big things that I can think of. I've heard also that I am not a fan of mushrooms, but supposedly Washington has a big mushroom festival as well.

[00:21:28.850] - Kim Tate

I guess October is a good mushroom season. So if you know.

[00:21:32.620] - Tamara Gruber

A and the Finger Lakes, there is a mushroom spirits distillery. Okay. I don't know much about distilleries. You know, obviously, they're they're made from many different things from vodkas.

[00:21:43.720] - Kim Tate

Potatoes, but you never know exactly like.

[00:21:46.770] - Tamara Gruber

I don't know what that would be like.

[00:21:49.050] - Kim Tate

No idea.

[00:21:49.570] - Tamara Gruber

I also saw that they were having an Apple Fest in Ithaca, like next weekend. Definitely. The Apple Fest is huge. Yeah.

[00:21:58.330] - Kim Tate

We also have Washington state and even in Oregon and stuff. It's really, really big. I know you have this on the East Coast too, but pumpkin patches and corn mazes. It's just huge. Like I mentioned with when I was talking about what the kids do with the haunted corn maze and all that stuff. It's insane. In our little area. We have probably seven pumpkin patches and corn maze and stuff we could choose to go to. So, I mean, some are definitely bigger than others, but it's a huge thing out here in Washington are the at least at Western Washington is the pumpkin patches and all that stuff.

[00:22:31.820] - Tamara Gruber

Yeah, it's definitely big here, too. We have were small state, but we have quite a few in Rhode Island, and then in Massachusetts, there's some super massive ones. I remember taking Hannah to one in Rhode Island, one where the parents didn't go in. We kind of stood outside and chatted, and then we're like, it's been a really long time. Are they ever going to make their way out? But that wasn't haunted. It was just during the day, regular regular comes. But yeah, there's so many fun things to do.

[00:23:01.620] - Tamara Gruber

It's outside and a lot of the farms by us. They'll bring in food trucks and live music and sometimes like, little kiddie rides. You definitely do the wagon rides into the pumpkin patch.

[00:23:14.380] - Kim Tate

Hay rides, and there's normally some animal.

[00:23:18.700] - Tamara Gruber

Some cows, petting Zoo kind of thing. And then there's all kinds of great baked goods. And I love this time of year. I will still always love summer more, and I try to really get out and appreciate fall when I can, because it's just so short for us. September through mid to late. October is beautiful. You still see blue skies. The weather is great. This year has been fantastic, but by November it's Brown and Gray, so it's over. It's done. So I try to take it in as much as I can.

[00:23:57.470] - Tamara Gruber

Now, even I'm sitting here looking at my window, like, Why didn't I go for a walk out?

[00:24:02.190] - Kim Tate

You can still go.

[00:24:03.970] - Tamara Gruber

I know. I have to get work.

[00:24:06.440] - Kim Tate

I can still go. I'm with you. I definitely prefer summer. And being in Seattle, we don't have that nice blue sky. Fall day in Seattle is celebrated as if it's the best thing in the world because it's when the cloud cover definitely moves in. So that is one kind of bummer, but we definitely keep our green. I mean, I love the fact that we have green trees all year round, so there's a payoff to it.

[00:24:35.080] - Tamara Gruber

Well, I think for people that are looking for some fall color and stuff a little bit later in the season because I've had people reach out to me like, we're coming to Boston in November and where can we see the best? I'm like over one, but you think about a Great Smoky Mountain National Park and so many parts of Tennessee, North Carolina, the Northern Georgia mountains that gets it in Yosemite and stuff as well. That too.

[00:25:02.710] - Kim Tate

It's absolutely gorgeous in the fall.

[00:25:04.880] - Tamara Gruber

And I know you mentioned Aspens. I definitely see, like in Colorado, they are really popping right now.

[00:25:09.560] - Kim Tate

Like, Vail is gorgeous right now.

[00:25:11.510] - Tamara Gruber

Not everything is on our time schedule since we're up here further to the north.

[00:25:18.480] - Kim Tate

Well, and then we headed in November will be heading down to Arizona. And so for those people who are looking to start escaping that dreary winter, moving in the south, especially Arizona in the fall can be amazing. I'm looking forward to spending a few hours by the pool with you.

[00:25:38.460] - Tamara Gruber

I'm kind of hoping that this year we can go back to previous years where I can escape my drink Gray dreary winter with some Sunshine if you the winter. So, knock wood, because Arizona. And then we're supposed to, as I mentioned, go to Aruba, and then we'll see how it all goes. But I really look forward to those little bits of Sunshine in the middle of the cold is that we have well.

[00:26:05.800] - Kim Tate

And for those people that are looking for that are into cruising. I know Thanksgiving cruises are very popular. I do feel like they're doing limited capacity on ships because it seems like prices are not really moving on cruises. You're not going to be getting a steal of a deal. And I think getting to choose your cabin, it's going to be limited as well. But I don't know how long that's going to be kept up, but cruising is always kind of a fun fall getaway because you normally head somewhere warm.

[00:26:34.980] - Kim Tate

I know the fall is really popular for a lot of Seattle people. They go down to Cabo and that area of Mexico in the fall.

[00:26:41.980] - Tamara Gruber

So here's to a good fall. I feel like I need to go pour myself some Apple cider right now.

[00:26:47.830] - Kim Tate

I'm jealous of the Apple cider Donuts. Do you know that I've never had Apple cider?

[00:26:51.550] - Tamara Gruber

Donuts?

[00:26:51.940] - Kim Tate

I don't think I ever have, and I would love them. They sound amazing. I've had pumpkin spice Donuts and I've had lots of fresh Apple cider, but Apple cider Donuts. I don't think I've ever had one.

[00:27:01.480] - Tamara Gruber

See, now I'm going to see you soon, and I would happily bring you some Apple cider Donuts. But I will say there are nothing like getting a hot, fresh, fresh one cider donut. So can you just come visit me next fall? Yes, I will have to.

[00:27:16.960] - Kim Tate

That's a plan. Let's make it happen. 2022 New England or Bust. Yeah.

[00:27:22.400] - Tamara Gruber

New England. You should see New England in the fall for sure.

[00:27:26.030] - Kim Tate

Yeah, definitely.

[00:27:26.990] - Tamara Gruber

Yeah.

[00:27:27.530] - Kim Tate

Well, you'll be my tour guide, so I think we can make that happen. It's always so busy. Like I just got back from a trip. And why is the fall always so busy with work?

[00:27:37.210] - Tamara Gruber

Stuff. I know as excited as I am about Portugal. And I know that we're going to get a little taste of all there, too, because we're going to be there during their wine harvest. And we're going to get to in some of those wine events. And for those of you that are listening, pop over to Instagram and check out our Instagram accounts because we're going to be doing some really cool things, like hot air balloon and some very special wine events. And so staying at some really interesting, amazing hotels sounds like it's going to be awesome.

[00:28:09.740] - Kim Tate

We're staying at some amazing places we are staying at. Now. This will give you guys a little idea, like work is work, and it's not always vacation. But we are staying at a new hotel almost every day. I think there's two times that we stay at a hotel two nights. Yeah. And we're there for 17 days. So just so you guys know, we are going to be sharing a lot. And we're not just in Lisbon, we're going to Porto and the sorts and Lisbon and and we're going to see a lot of the country.

[00:28:40.580] - Tamara Gruber

And I think people are kind of used to seeing certain pictures from Lisbon in particular. And I no Porto is very popular as well. But we're going to get out into the countryside and show you and be able to help figure out what are the great itineraries to do. How can you organize it? So you're not visit our not a new hotel every night?

[00:29:01.640] - Kim Tate

Yeah.

[00:29:02.180] - Tamara Gruber

Exactly.

[00:29:02.740] - Kim Tate

Well. And also knowing it to be a situation where it's like, what's worth? What are these gems that you're not realizing so that you're not just the standard tourists going to the Portugal is an amazing country. And so I'm so excited to get a feel for more of this country that I've already fallen in love with. And so I'm really excited about that and being able to share kind of the other because I think you and I have always said that there needs to be this balance with doing the standard touristy stuff.

[00:29:29.280] - Kim Tate

It's a touristy thing for a reason. Most of the time it's worthwhile. And some you don't want to not see it. But you need to balance that with some more, not even off the beaten path, but more things that you wouldn't necessarily know about or think about. And that's why I'm so glad that we're working with the epic travel people because they're on the ground there, and they have all those little gems that they can help put us on that you and I I don't think we wouldn't necessarily have known to look for I'm really excited.

[00:29:56.480] - Tamara Gruber

So of the regions we're on top of mind. Right. And then we're doing something like one of the big products in Portugal is cork. And so we're going to do a cork trekking hike. I can't wait where we're going to go and look and see how they would harvest it.

[00:30:16.380] - Tamara Gruber

So there's so many interesting things, like digging deeper, traveling in a way that really gets to know the culture and totally up our alley. I'm super excited. So I know we were talking all about fall, and my whole point was as excited as I am about Portugal. I'm missing out on some of the best part of here in New England, but I'll take it. I agreed.

[00:30:39.170] - Kim Tate

I mean, everything I'm looking at, it sounds like Portugal is going to be an amazing October destination. So if any of you are listening and thinking about October trips, definitely be following along Tamara again is @we3travel and I'm @stuffedsuitcase, and we will be sharing because from the research I'm doing, it seems seems like a great time to go.

[00:30:58.230] - Tamara Gruber

Yeah. Definitely follow along when we come back. Our next episode is going to be all about our Portugal trip. So hopefully you'll follow along and then you'll want to hear even more about it. So you'll tune in next time.

[00:31:13.160] - Kim Tate

Well, thanks for joining us, as always, and we hope that you have some wonderful fall travels or local adventures planned ahead. Tchau.