Hello wine and travel friends,
It’s outstanding that we are at the end of another year. Tonight, we bid farewell to 2024. I want to take a minute and raise a glass to 2024 and celebrate all of the wine, food and travel fun that 2024 brought.
2024 was kicked off by a visit to the newly remodeled Casa Bonita and all it’s splendor. It did not disappoint. The food and adult beverages were quite tasty. If you have not been to Casa Bonita yet, add it to your bucket list. 
Spring brought the beginnings of a career shift, from nurse to travel agent & advisor. I completed my initial travel training through The Travel Institute, signed up with host agency, KHM Travel Group, and earned several specialist certifications with my favorite travel suppliers. (See my ‘about me’ page for more details.)
In May, my family traveled to North Carolina for a fun filled weekend checking out the sights and foodie scene in Raleigh, chillin’ at the beach and most importantly, we welcomed daughter-in-law, Ali, to our family. 
In 2024, my husband and I found more ways to enjoy our favorite beverage, wine, in the form of festivals. I kicked off the wine fest season at Niwot’s Let’s Wine About Winter wine walk. It’s a lovely way to spend a winter afternoon sipping wine, enjoying delicious snacks while exploring the quaint shops in downtown Niwot. Next was Barrel into Spring in Palisade, CO. A fun filled weekend of winery tours, tasting wine flights and tasty treats with fabulous views of the Bookcliffs. In the summer, we checked out the Front Range Wine Festival in Windsor which features Colorado’s wineries, distilleries and craft breweries. We ended wine fest season at the Breckenridge Wine Classic. It’s been our annual tradition for years. It offers great global wines at it’s Grand Tastings, wine pairing lunches and dinners, wine hikes and wine educational classes. It’s a great time!
September brought a trip to beautiful Maine to visit family and try to eat my weight in fresh seafood and blueberries. The leaves were just starting to change but I can image the trees all ablaze in vibrant shades of gold, orange and reds. I’m sure it’s breathtaking.
In October, I experienced my first travel trade show, sponsored by Visit Portugal, in the beautiful Algarve region of Portugal, followed by a tour of the Alentejo region. In the Algarve, I stayed at a lovely beachfront resort, ate amazing food, enjoyed fabulous wines and met with many fabulous Portuguese travel suppliers to learn all of the things I need to know about travel in Portugal. On the tour of Alentejo, I saw historical sites, toured wineries and amazing hotels, ate some of the best food on the planet and of course drank a lot of fabulous wines. I had the pleasure of meeting many amazing travel advisors from the USA and Canada who were gracious and took this newbie under their wings, shared their pearls of wisdom, taught me social media skills and shared many great glasses of wine. It was an amazing experience!
For me, 2024 was filled with the blessings of family, friends new and old, love and laughter, great food, many glasses of fabulous wine and amazing travel adventures. As I raise a glass to toast
2024, I can’t help but think, 2024 was a good year indeed.
Cheers!