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Sometimes you just gotta reach for the fancy drink in the souvenir cup shaped like a palm tree. Like this one at Descanso Beach Club on Catalina Island, for example. Who doesn’t love a good Buffalo Milk? (Signature drink of Catalina made from vodka, Kahlua, crème de cocoa, crème de banana, vanilla ice cream and more.) It’s a mysterious concoction that goes down deceptively easy. Day drinking should always be this fun!

Catalina Island is full of cool spots on the waterfront and inland. We walked up from our hotel at the beach to this memorial perched on the hillside with a gorgeous ocean view. It’s the Wrigley Memorial, honoring chewing gum magnate William Wrigley Jr, who was basically responsible for creating the city of Avalon and inviting people to visit. (Wrigley Field is also named after this dude - so guess he got around.) Worth the hike and just think, you’ve earned those drinks when get back to the waterfront!

If I’m gonna be the captain of something, I want it to be the floating tiki bar on Lake Havasu, AZ. My kind of party!

Wine tasting in Temecula Valley has some pretty awesome experiences! Like sitting in a patio near the vineyards at Leoness Winery listening to live music and munching on delicious charcuterie snacks. Or staying at South Coast Winery among the vines that are planted right up to our room. Weather is perfect and grapes are growing - great time to visit!

We got to swim in the cenotes of the Yucatán! These are a vast network of underground freshwater caves, usually with circular entrances that look up into the sky and jungle above. The crystal clear water really is that blue, and you can see all the way to the bottom. Some have little fishes, others have stalactites and stalagmites, and our favorites are the ones with vines and tree roots hanging down into the opening. The cenotes were considered sacred to the ancient Maya people, so it’s a privilege to visit these special places. If you visit the Yucatán or specifically Merida and want a customized LGBTQ+ tour, we can vouch for @riccardogodoy at Merida Gay Tours. It was a fantastic day thanks to him!

Cocktails for a nice Friday night. We had a blast in Merida choosing cocktails from the vast collection of tequila and mezcal concoctions available at pretty much every restaurant and bar. The green one is a chaya and mezcal margarita complete with fried grasshopper garnish from Hacienda Teya. (Yes of course we ate it!) The red one is a Jamaikini made with Mezcal and Jamaican syrup from Salón Gallos. And the blue one from La Negrita? No idea but it tasted like koolaid and was super fun to drink. Time to up our cocktail game - these Merida mixologists are next level!

Tequila tasting in… Tequila. Only blue agave plants can make tequila, and only from a few provinces in Mexico. So we went right to the source to taste this nectar of the gods - now the top selling liquor in the US. Of course some significant tasting had to be done for quality assurance purposes. We can attest that the tequila from Tequila is quite delicious, and we are now schooled on the differences between blanco, reposado, añejo, extra añejo, and cristalino. Personal fav: extra añejo.

Such interesting art and architecture in Guadalajara! We wish the kids were with us to see all this cool stuff, but we’ve been texting them lots of pictures while they’re at college. Our trips are not the same without them but we’re managing to have fun. If you haven’t been here yet, put it on your list - such a creative and inspiring city unlike any we’ve visited in Mexico. And foodies, this town is for you!

Ancient Greeks. Well at least the columns are haha. This hotel in Guadalajara is freaking gorgeous, with design features like these columns and glossy black floors, colored bottles, comfy furniture and of course: margaritas!

The Flower Fields in Carlsbad are blooming it up! For the next few weeks, there will 55 acres of blooms planted in a rainbow pattern on this hillside overlooking the Pacific Ocean. They estimate 80 million blooms per acres, so you do the math. That’s a lot of flowers! See it soon before spring has sprung out. @visitcarlsbad

Scale of 1-10: how spicy can you stand it? #AlkaSeltzerPartner Last night we went to a Thai restaurant in our neighborhood, and this morning I’ve got heartburn. You see, the waiter asked me how spicy I wanted my food on a scale of 1 to 10, and I chose 5 thinking that would be medium spicy. Well it was more than medium on the spiciness scale, and I loved the taste but it did not love me. This morning I woke up with terrible heartburn, and when this happens I always turn to Alka-Seltzer Heartburn ReliefChews. I love the way they taste, and I love the way they work even better! Within a short time of taking two Alka-Seltzer Heartburn ReliefChews, I felt worlds better. So much better, in fact, that we are going to get Mexican food for lunch! I do love my spicy food, and I feel better enjoying it when I know I’ve got a backup plan. @AlkaSeltzer_USA Use as directed.

A flowery weekend spent among the petals. The annual Art Alive event at the San Diego Museum of Art is really one of the most creative we’ve ever attended. Flowers for days, and floral interpretations of some of the museum’s most interesting works of art make this event a consistent stunner. And the people watching this year was epic! San Diego, sometimes you really bring it. Stay classy.

What’s better than a visit with the aliens at Voodoo Doughnut in the Denver airport?!? OMG how we love this place. So many choices, but we zeroed in on a few family favorites and managed to consume them in about 3 seconds flat. Great trip, great family, great food and so much love.

If you’ve ever driven to the Palm Springs area on Highway 10, you’ve seen the massive windmill farms that dot the San Gorgonio Pass. We’ve always been fascinated by the enormous wind turbines, some as high as 50 stories. We had the opportunity to tour them last weekend with the fine folks from Palm Springs Windmill Tours and it was such a cool experience. We had no idea how much power each of these is generating and adding into the grid - each enough to power 1,250 homes for a year. Love learning new things and supporting alternative and clean energy sources that will help our environment in such important ways. Plus the desert blooms are bigger and better than ever after all these rains. Time for a road trip to the Coachella Valley!