Destinations

 I had the good fortune to find myself in Vancouver this past weekend and got to be one of the 1st guests at The Loden, a brand new hotel built from the ground up with a focus on being “Green”.  It is a boutique hotel with 77 rooms on 14 floors.  The entire top floor houses their penthouse and it is amazing.  It would be the perfect venue for an elegant cocktail reception!
 
The furnishings and the decor of the rooms are beautiful and the bathrooms are simply amazing - the bathroom appears to be 50% of the rooms square footage.  The rooms are wired to support the latest technology and high speed internet is free.  Every room can satisfy even the biggest geeks technological dreams, including IPod docking stations in very room.  They also have a huge gym for the number of rooms.
 
They are offering an introductory rate of 199.00.  It is centrally located and easy walking distance to most spots.  (2 blocks from Robson Street - for the shopaholics).

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon, as it is still referred to by the locals), serves as a popular gateway to the Mekong.  I would suggest arriving at least two days prior to the departure of your cruise; this will give you some time to recover from jet lag while you take in all that the city has to offer.  The French influences are readily apparent in Saigon—the food, the architecture, and the wide elegant boulevards are all testaments to Vietnam’s years of French occupation. Shoppers will delight in the tailor-made clothing and bedding that’s available, and history buffs will enjoy visiting sites such as the War Remnants Museum (which contains exhibits from the American phase of the Vietnam War).  A word of warning: crossing the street in Southeast Asia can be slightly overwhelming.  Be sure to pay close attention to the traffic!

My stay at the Caravelle Hotel was quite pleasant.  A modern hotel with all of the expected amenities, the Caravelle is located in the city’s business, shopping, and entertainment district, and is across from the Opera House.

From Saigon, it takes about two hours to travel to the port of My Tho, the embarkation point for the Mekong Pandaw.  Cruising on a seagoing vessel is nothing like taking a small luxury streamer up the river.  Though I usually get seasick on the ocean, rivers have never posed any problems.  The Mekong was built in 2003, and was designed to replicate the colonial ships of the 1920s.   The ship itself is beautiful; the teak is hand finished, and the rattan furniture adds a nice touch.  Though the cabins are small, this is somewhat irrelevant because you spend so little time in your room.

Rapid City, South Dakota home to famous Mt. Rushmore is a truly breathtaking experience this is no matter if it is your first visit or your 25th visit.  It just brings chills to my arms to think how those men (yes only men worked on the carving of the President’s during this time) climbed the mountain, carved each piece to make this wonderful masterpiece for all to see.  Mt. Rushmore is about a 45 minute drive due to the winding roads.

Keystone is a small city with lots of little shops, old time photo places, great restaurants, and hotels.  This is where you can take a helicopter ride to get close and personal with the President’s.

Great things for the kids are Bear Country USA where you see bears and other wild animals in a large park.  Baby bears are all over and so cute seeing them sleep in the trees or climb the tree.

Reptile Gardens is in the same area as Bear Country and this place has alligator shows, chickens doing tricks, snakes you can pet, snake shows plus much, much more.  Worth seeing also.

Cosmos is a cool attraction to visit. I don’t want to give anything away but  you can sit in a chair on the wall or you can watch yourself get smaller and smaller as you go from one spot to another plus much more. It will amaze and amuse everyone in the family!
Rapid City is in the beautiful Black Hills with the President statues on each corner downtown, Prairie Edge has unique Indian items, books, displays, clothing, paintings and more on three levels.  This store is downtown close to the old Fire Station that now is called the Firehouse Restaurant.  They brew different beers in this restaurant and have wonderful food, place to sit outdoors, and music in the evenings.  Going to the top of Dinosaur Park to see the dinosaurs and to over look the city is great during the day and seeing the light over the city at night.  The Journey Museum has many Indian items for the early days, a teepee, old west stores how they were set up and well as many other things to enjoy.

This is only a small list of things to do while visiting the beautiful Black Hills.  Can’t wait to have you in our neck of the woods!