Socal Mom by Donna Schwartz Mills

Vicarious Travel: Havana, Cuba

My mother emigrated to the United States from Cuba back in 1953, when she was just 17. Four years later, she returned to Havana as a young married woman with an infant daughter (ME).

The revolution had begun. My mom never returned. She never saw her father again - he passed away in 1966.

I have heard my mom's tales of growing up in Havana all my life -- the pristine beaches, the swanky hotels and night clubs, the poverty in the cities. And I've always known that we still have family living there.

There was a period during the Carter administration when it looked as if relations with the Cuban government would thaw enough to allow Americans to travel there, and my dad looked into arranging for the family to visit. But when we learned that the Cubans (who apparently did not recognize my mom's naturalized US citizenship) would not allow us to all stay together in the same hotel, my dad abandoned that plan. Another 30 years passed before it became possible for Cuban-Americans to legally visit family on the island again.

Since then our family has grown: My folks have two sons-in-law and four grandchildren, so when my dad decided to give Cuba a second shot, he sprung for tickets for my niece (who just graduated from college) and nephew (who will be doing so himself...some day). My sister and brother-in-law decided to tag along with their youngest. It promised to be the trip of a lifetime.

And then there was our family. Thanks to the never-ending home renovation, we concluded that we just couldn't swing it right now.

So I had to live vicariously through emails from my sister and her husband during their visit. They have given me permission to publish some excerpts here:

December 28, 2009:

 We have arrived in Havana, and are just getting started on our first day here (except for Carly and Alex, who arrived here a few days ago). 

Last night we went to a restaurant that Linda's cousin Jose knew of and it was excellent with fried platains and the whole works, including our first mojitos, which weren't as sweet but stronger than what we have. yum yum.
,

There are plenty of old cars that look like the interiors have been well maintained, but they could all use a paint job. palm trees everywhere of course. Today we are going into (Habana Vieja) Old Havana as soon as the relatives get down here. The others seem to be on Cuban time, but we are still on American time. we are ready to go!

We have a view of the ocean from our hotel room. The hotel is very nice and our short trip so far is fun and exciting.

---

December 30, 2009

We've had two very busy days here. Monday we went into Old Havana, which was everything you've heard and read about. Colonial style buildings, cobblestone narrow streets, lots of people, beautiful parks, monuments, etc., and of course music (more Caribbean than salsa) and mojitos. We also went to the place where mojitos were invented named La Bodeguita del Medio, which reminded us of Hussons in Encinada.
 
Yesterday we took a long bus ride into Cienfuegos to meet family and see the city. Lunch was at a paladar, which is a restaurant out of a person's home. It was on a bay and the fish was very fresh obviously. Lots of banana chips, rice and beans of course. Seeing the countryside was worth the trip.
 
We've had your mom's childhood friend and a Cuban cousin with us the whole time. Villi, the cousin, even took the whole week off to be with us. They, and cousin Jose from Panama who is with us, have been a great help as well as a lot of fun.
 
Alex is enjoying the cigars with your dad, as well as the drinking he can do here legally. Carly is enjoying the mojitos and is taking a bazillion pictures. Maddy is picking up the Spanish pretty well and is joining Carly with the picture taking.
 
Thank you, Donna, for your camera!
 
Hasta luego,
Mark, Linda, Carly, Alex, and Maddy

---

December 31, 2009

Hola and Feliz Ano Nuevo to all...
 
A bit late on this report, and getting ready to celebrate the New Year her, but here's some quick bits.

 
Wednesday was spent seeing various attractions in and around Havana, with our extended family [10 in the group!].  We drove to the Marina Hemingway [yes, there are yachts visiting here - no photos of any US ones, of course], and then to the Plaza de la Revolucion.  There is a large memorial to Jose Marti there, a large image of Che Guevarra on the Interior Ministry building, and other sites [eg, library].  Also saw the University of Havana, and the Havana Libre [former Hilton], on our way to the Castillo de Morro and Cabana.  This last site is across the bay from Old Havana and is two large fortresses with cannons, huge walls, moats, etc built by Spain - very impressive.  Did some shopping later and visited a cousin's daughter for cerveza in an outdoor plaza...
 
The evening included a late dinner and a visit to the nightclub at Havana Libre - on the 25th floor with beautiful views and a ceiling that opens to the night air and sky.  The band was excellent - salsa and carribean - but no one was dancing!  All tourists we guessed, and Mark and Linda were not brave enough to go it alone...  We'll have to find a more local club...
 
Today we spent the morning visiting a cemetery east of Havana were several relatives are buried, including our grandfather who died in 1966 after Mama had left the country.  This was quite emotional as she had not been back since before his death.  All-in-all, the experience was rather uplifting.  We also visited the neighborhood where she grew up, and were able to visit with a neighbor who remembered her family.  Much more to this morning's story, but really a remarkable experience in many ways.
 
We spent the afternoon back in Old Havana for a little shopping and lunch at La Floridita [a Hemingway hangout], but mostly walking through ore interesting cobblestone streets and plazas.  Some run down, some being restored, and some quite nice.  But always the people are friendly [some a little too friendly...].  Very comfortable and seemed like a bit of a European feel.  A lovely afternoon...
 
Tonight, we're off to cousin Villi's to spend New Year's Eve with family.
 
Hasta luego.
 

Mark, Linda, Carly, Alex, Maddy

The family returned home last week and I've yet to get the full report - or see the photos my sister took. Until then, feel free to check out her Flickr stream (which features over 1,000 taken by my niece - where I stole the ones in this post).

2010: A Fresh Start

Last week, I did something unthinkable.

I went on vacation... and never took my laptop out of its bag.

I intended to use my time to catch up on work. I'd hoped to do some blogging, and even had a couple of afternoons when my husband and daughter left me alone (which means I had the opportunity).

I just wasn't in the mood.

2009 was a crappy year for my family. It was even worse for some of my friends. After all, the stuff I had to deal with only cost me time and money. But one of my closest friends battled breast cancer. That was bad. My friend Debbie lost her mother just before Easter... and her mother-in-law the week before Christmas, after a long bout in the hospital.

"We need to do something normal for the holidays," she said. "We've reserved both units in Park City and want you to join us there."

Debbie's family is in real estate and they own two condo/guest rooms at the luxurious Hotel Park City. Her invitation meant we could stay in one of them for a week and pay just a $75 cleaning fee.

We usually spend the New Year up in Sacramento with my family -- but this year, thanks to the easing of travel restrictions for Cuban-Americans, they were all going to be in Havana. We would have gone too... if the home renovation hadn't eaten so much of our savings.

The house has been a monster, soaking up all our time and energy as well as our cash reserves. My husband had already arranged to take off the week between Christmas and New Year, with the intention of wrapping up some of the loose ends (i.e., we still haven't installed the microwave hood in the kitchen or found all the stuff we'd stored in the garage... or even settled on where to rehang our pictures).

But we hadn't taken a vacation all year. Gareth had a week off in April while his mum was visiting us... but issues that came up at his office meant that he spent much of it working at home. The same thing occurred over the Independence Day holiday - he was on the phone during most of the six-hour drive to Sacramento and never felt relaxed because he had too much to take care of when he got back to work.

It was a no-brainer. We hauled out our rarely-used snow gear and drove up to Utah. And then, we chilled (in more ways than one).

I am badly acrophobic (not a surprise to anyone familiar with my other neuroses), so I did not ski with my husband and daughter. However, I did go tubing with them one night at Gorgoza Park. We enjoyed the hotel's heated outdoor pool (where the two families engaged in a snowball fight... yes, right in the pool)... and shopping at the nearby outlet mall, which was having an amazing after-Christmas sale.

We walked about the cute little downtown and shopped at our favorite bookstore, Dolly's (where we pet the resident cats, Mr. Dolly and Che). We enjoyed excellent meals at Main Street Pizza & Noodle, Yuki Arashi, Hapa Grill and Ruth's Chris. We took a horse-drawn sleigh to dinner in a mountain lodge. We greeted the New Year at the Canyon resort, with fireworks in the snow.

Most of all, we relaxed. We felt so good that we were barely phased by the 16-hour drive back home. This was largely due to our decision to check out of the hotel at 5:30 AM, only to get caught in heavy snow a couple of miles out of the city - my first experience with a "white out." We ended up spending 90 minutes at a McDonald's while we waited for the storm to pass and the snow plows to do their thing, and this put us in Las Vegas at the height of the holiday line of cars traveling back to Los Angeles. Our friends didn't set back home until 2:00 PM, sailed through the Nevada-California state line and arrived home just an hour after we did.

We feel refreshed and ready to take on the world this new year. 

Park City Hotels

Lassen National Park: "A Mount-a Mount-a Burning Love"

Earlier this week, I promised to spill the details of my recent camping ordeal trip. That post is now up over at 50-Something Moms Blog and Los Angeles Moms Blog. (If you do mosey over to the read post, you must click on the photo taken by my niece... you will see my sister and me sitting by the campfire, with the crankiest looking faces ever. We were cold.)

The post is a pretty accurate description of our weekend in the mountains -- but it misses a key component: That aside from all that pesky nature, Lassen Volcanic National Park is a really cool place to visit... especially if you are a professional geologist, like my husband.

Just note the park's name: It's an active volcano, folks... the only one in the lower 48 states (aside from Mt. St. Helens) to have erupted in the last century.It was also one of the first areas to be designated in the legislation that created the National Park Service back in 1916 - while the volcano was still smoldering.

Scientists don't expect the mountain to erupt again any time soon, but the USGS keeps a close eye on it, just in case. There is still plenty of volcanic activity to observe among the park's hydrothermal areas, including one with the poetic name of Bumpass Hell (pronounced "bumpus" and named for a 19th century mountain guide who lost his leg after falling into the hot mud).

This particular volcano is the southernmost member of the Cascades range, which we became quite familiar with on our 2005 trek through the Pacific Northwest (including visits to Mt. St. Helens, Crater Lake, and a pass by Mt. Shasta).

Did I mention that this place was like heaven to my husband?

The park itself is beautiful - well-maintained and not at all crowded. I was surprised to learn that no reservation was needed for our campground. My brother-in-law said that Lassen is not a very well known national park and is kind of under-utilized. I think that's a shame.

All the while I was there, I thought back to the PBS fall TV preview I attended earlier this month, where famed documentarian Ken Burns gave us a sneak peek of his next epic series: "The National Parks - America's Best Idea."

We did not receive a screener DVD on this one, but judging from the short teaser reel we viewed at the event, this is going to be fascinating. In fact, I think watching that and listening to Burns, writer Dayton Duncan and park ranger Shelton Johnson talk about the project probably influenced my decision to stop fighting the camping idea and just go with it. I am anticipating this more than anything I can remember on PBS. The first episode airs September 27.

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It's A Small World After All

 A couple of posts ago, I mentioned that I'd spent Saturday at Disneyland. The occasion was an opportunity to preview the update of the classic ride, "It's a Small World," which reopened today after a renovation that took nearly a year.

Several folks (including writers and bloggers for family websites) were invited to check out the changes... and potentially appear in a Disney promotional video.

"We're going to have to go on the ride three or four times in a row," I warned my 12-year-old. "Are you OK with that?"

She nodded. She figured it was a small price to pay for a shot at fame and fortune on TV... and a day at the park.

"And you need to look like you're enjoying it!" I added.

"Will I be on Disney Channel?" she asked. I indicated it was possible (after all - ANYTHING is possible).

"It's a Small World" is the kind of Disneyland attraction you tend to either love or hate -- with no in-between. You can't argue with its message: that we are all family together on this earth and as such, we need to learn to understand one another and all get along. I know I got that message back in 1965, when I first saw this ride at the New York World's Fair (where it debuted the previous year -- it was transplanted to Disneyland in '66).

But by the time I was my daughter's age, I'd decided that enjoying "It's a Small World" simply wasn't cool. For one thing, there was that song: the mother of all earworms, written by the Sherman Brothers, who are masters of catchy tunes you can't get out of your head. (Listen to a number of 1960's era Disney soundtracks - like "Mary Poppins," "Jungle Book" and "Winnie the Pooh" and you'll know what I mean. If you have small children at home, you likely already do.)

And then there was my mom.

My mom LOVES "It's a Small World," and would have a fit if anyone suggested we skip it one trip. And when you're a teenager, anything your mom loves is AUTOMATICALLY uncool.

I carried those feelings well into adulthood... until I had a child of my own.

Megan was just 18 months old the first time I took her to Disneyland, on a Sunday after I'd finished a particularly grueling week at work. She was still in a stroller, and so young that she got in free... but she was also too little to get much out of any of the rides...

...except for "It's a Small World." I left her stroller outside the attraction, carried her into the little boat, and watched her eyes grow wide as we floated through the gentle ride with the happy music and doll-like figures. She was delighted by it -- and so was I. I was able to experience it with new appreciation.

As the years went by, I discovered something else about "It's a Small World," and this is one of those insider secrets that is the reason people read blogs like mine, so listen closely: The attraction is on the lengthy side, and it's got great air conditioning. So if you've been at the park for hours, and your feet are getting tired and it's a REALLY HOT summer day... "It's a Small World" will allow you to rest in cool, cool comfort for a full 12 minutes (or longer!)

Other rest-your-feet attractions are the Disneyland Railroad that will take you from one land to another around the park... "Honey, I Shrunk the Audience"... and Star Tours.

But I digress. The point of this post is to tell you about the ride.

One of the first things we noticed was that the old fiberglass boats have been replaced by ones of molded plastic (think of the Little Tikes line of backyard play equipment). While I miss the old boats, these are apparently sturdier and easier to maintain. (I saw a post online where someone speculated that the new boats are also bigger to accommodate the fact that Americans on average weigh more than they did in the 1960's. Disney denies that rumor -- but it would make sense.)

The next thing we noticed was that Disney characters now appear among the ride's children of the world: Peter Pan and Tinkerbell in London, Pinocchio in Italy, Lilo and Stich in the South Pacific, etc. Disney says the ride features a total of 29 Disney and Disney Pixar characters. I don't remember seeing nearly that number -- so I suppose that will be my challenge on my next visit to the park.

It is possible that some of the characters had not been placed yet when we saw our preview, as it was obvious that park employees were still putting finishing touches on it... there were cans of paint and brushes, ladders, bubble wrap and other debris scattered in corners around the ride (which I began noticing during the second go-round).

The other huge change is the addition of the United States as one of the countries of the world. In the original version of the ride, the US was represented at the end with (in 1964 vernacular) a little cowboy and Indian. Now, there is a nicely sized representation of a cornfield (I guess they chose the Midwest), as well as a depiction of Hollywood. You can get a feel for how it looks in the video below:

I know people who don't like it when you mess with the classics. Some are complaining that the new configuration negates the original "peace on earth/let's all understand one another" message of the attraction, and accusing Disney of injecting marketing into it by the inclusion of the characters.

I really think folks should lighten up. It's a theme park. It's entertainment. Does Disney integrate the rides with all their other products and market to its guests? Yeah. That's just good business, and the company would be crazy NOT to do that. There is a reason why my parents introduced me to the classic Disney films and that I in turn did the same with my daughter.

That does not mean that I enjoy finding myself in a gift shop before I can exit every attraction, or that I'm being tempted to purchase family photographs whenever we get off a thrill ride... but I'm pretty good at saying "no." Lately, I tell my daughter that she can purchase any souvenirs with her own money, and that works like a charm.

When we'd finished the ride, one of the Disney crew asked my daughter if she wanted to appear on camera for an interview... and she came down with a sudden case of shyness. "I thought you wanted to be on Disney Channel," I coaxed. She changed her mind.

I ended up doing the interview, but I'm pretty sure they won't use it. I told them about thinking the ride was uncool when I was a kid. Somehow, I don't think that's the message they want out there.

Disney On a Diet

We spent Saturday at Disneyland, which might be - as they say - the happiest place on earth... but hasn't always been so for people on a diet. Sure, you can bring your own food into the park and stow it in a rented locker...

... but the place is SO BIG, and you spend so much time walking from one end to the other, that you may not feel like heading back to the locker when hunger strikes. And that tends to occur a lot, because everywhere you turn, there are kiosks selling delightful smelling churros, ice cream, popcorn, hot dogs, etc., etc., etc.

This problem is doubled if you hold a "park-hopper" ticket, which allows you to wander freely from the original Disneyland to its younger sibling, California Adventure.

There are plenty of sit-down dining options, too - which traditionally offered fare like hamburgers, pizza and fries.

But a couple of years ago, the Walt Disney Company announced a new directive to provide healthier kids' meals for their guests. "This is a terrific initiative because it makes it easier for parents, even while on vacation, to provide their children with a well-balanced meal with kid appeal," Jay Rasulo, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, said at the time. "An overwhelming majority of parents tell us they prefer the more nutritious meals for their children over other options."

The change is noticeable: from fresh fruit cups sold at some of the kiosks alongside the sweets... to a child's spaghetti lunch that includes a nice piece of poached chicken and apple slices.

And from what I've seen, the directive to improve the nutritional offerings for kids has spilled over to adult meals. With a little planning, you can get through an entire day at Disney without straying from your diet... if you so choose.

Below is an informal rundown of your best bets in both parks:

All's Fair for Wine Tasting in Fair Play

I kid my sister for moving to a hick town near Sacramento -- although in the last decade, her Sierra foothills suburb has become a lot more upscale than the one I occupy in the San Fernando Valley.

I kid her anyway. I am, after all, a resident of Los Angeles and therefore, a sophisticate (before you protest, please note the tongue placed firmly in my cheek.)

The majority of the population of her town are conservative white people, both politically and culturally, and it's still just a tiny bastion of civilization in the middle of farmland. (Look - tongue still in cheek.)

But there are some advantages to living in the agriculture capital of California: a lot of those farms are planted with one of our state's most popular crops -- GRAPES.

My sister's home is just a one or two hour drive to some of the best wine regions in the world: Napa and Sonoma, and we often try to squeeze a tasting trip into our holiday visits up there. So I was enthusiastic when Linda suggested it over Thanksgiving weekend, pointing out that Friday was my husband's birthday -- and that it would also be her first opportunity to engage in this little family tradition with her eldest daughter, who had turned 21 a couple of weeks ago.

But with the current state of the economy, Linda suggested we skip Napa and Sonoma this time around, as the tasting rooms there charge as much as $10 (or more!) to sample their offerings. She thought we might enjoy checking out one of the newer wine regions in the area: El Dorado County.

El Dorado County is located to the east of Sacramento and stretches out to Lake Tahoe (as do some of the adjacent state counties). It boasts some of the oldest vineyards in the state and is home to 50 wineries in two different appellations: El Dorado County and Fair Play.

Our visit was to the latter, which had been an appellation only since 2001. As it turns out, my sister has wine club memberships there ("Gives me an excuse to go every quarter to pick up my wine," she says) and there were some bottles waiting for them. 

There are around 20 boutique (mostly family-owned) wineries in Fair Play, and as we did not arrive there until after noon, I think we fared really well by hitting five of them (that's 20% of the total in just four hours!)

Our first stop was the winery at Toogood Estate. Owner Paul Toogood (yes, that's his real name) was a successful veterinarian with a passion for wine. He started building his winery by excavating a huge cave and put the entire operation inside, including the tasting room and a unique Flintstone-style dining room. You enter the winery through a corridor lined with oaken barrels of aging wine (which were merrily decorated for the holidays with cheery Christmas lights).

This is one of the wine clubs my sister belongs to, and she had arranged for our use of the dining area. As long as we were there, we uncorked one of her wine club bottles and enjoyed it with our picnic lunch.

The tasting room at Toogood was packed that day. There must have been close to a hundred people crammed next to the wine bar, all enjoying wine with names like Foreplay, Red Mutt and Who's Your Daddy? I have to hand it to them - they have a great sense of style and humor. I just wish their wine was as much fun as their winery. The ones we sampled were not "too good" -- just OK. We did not buy any bottles to take home.

The next stop was more promising. Shadow Ranch Winery is a gem, in a restored homestead built in 1888 (on one of the state's original land grants). The young owner, Sam Patterson, comes from a winemaking family. Like many vintners in the area, he has a degree in Enology and Viticulture from UC Davis (as well as a degree in business).

Sam is assisted n the tasting room by his sister (drat! I didn't get her name!). Both originally hail from Chatsworth (here in the San Fernando Valley), and we had a lively discussion about how different it is down here.

But as pleasant as it is to hang out with the Pattersons, the real joy is the taste of their wines. Sam is good at what he does. I especially liked the Shadow Ranch Zinfandel -- which is weird, because I'm not usually a big fan of Zins. Sam explained the process he uses that results in fewer tannins in the fruit.

I wish I could remember what that was; by this time I was a little snockered. I had been pretty free about using the spill bucket over at Toogood - but I didn't want to waste a drop of the wines served at Shadow Ranch.

Unfortunately, the winery's website is being overhauled so as of this post, there isn't a lot of information there. I did find an article about them at California Wine Magazine -- and you can email Sam about the Shadow Ranch wine club at wineclub@shadowranchwinery.com.

We hit three more wineries that day: Single Leaf, Oakstone and Iverson -- where we spent a long time chatting with friendly owners Mike and Melodie Iverson, the hospitable tasting room hosts. The Iverson wines were really easy to drink - and Mike was happy to pour us a sample of everything he had (including vintages that were NOT on the tasting menu - yeah, we bought a few of those).

Tasting in Fair Play reminded me of our first forays into this activity -- before it became big business. The wineries were small and the owners themselves poured the wine in the tasting rooms. We didn't have to pay for the privilege of tasting, which left us more cash we could use to buy wines to take home.

It's true that the wine in Fair Play is not as fine as the product they serve in Napa and Sonoma... but it's also a lot more affordable, and you're bringing home vintages that you can drink every day. And ultimately, that makes it a lot more fun.

More Las Vegas: In Praise of Cabana Boys & Laker Girls

Even on vacation, I tend to wake up on the early side. That was actually a good thing on this trip, as my husband was eight time zones away and I wanted to talk to him before we got going - and he went to bed.

The rest of our group was still fast asleep, so I slipped out to find a quiet spot where I could make a phone call - and while I was at it, I did some hotel reconnaissance.

The casino is relatively quiet at 7:00 a.m. - but not quiet enough for good conversation. I made my way past the fine dining restaurants, away from the shopping center to one of the two hotel Starbucks... and found the hallway that leads to the complex's convention center.

Bingo.

Las Vegas: There's Gold in Them Thar Windows!

Our destination was on the other end of the strip, so we decided to take a cab.

"Isn't that our hotel?" my daughter asked.

"No, Megan. That's the Mirage." Her friend Maggie sounded exasperated in the back seat.

I can't blame Megan for mistaking the Mirage for Mandalay Bay - both are huge buildings covered in gold-tinted windows. I'm pretty sure Las Vegas has more gold-tinted windows than any other city in North America.

It was Megan's first visit to the adult playground that is Vegas, and it may as well have been mine. I made a point of gathering up all the quarters sitting in our "Coinstar Box" -- only to discover that today's slots only take bills and credit cards. I'll never repeat the experience of dropping 75 cents into a slot to kill some time -- and ending up with a $150 jackpot. When you use spare change, it doesn't feel like gambling. But sliding a $20 or a credit card into a machine is a commitment; one I am not equipped to make.

So it's a good thing our traveling companions are not the high rolling types, either. This whole shebang was Mary Ellen's idea: She saw a window of opportunity between the time our girls got out of school and next week, when their 30-hour-a-week summer gymnastics program kicks in.

"We can get a cheap room by going Monday through Wednesday," she said. "And it's even cheaper if we share."

As I was feeling a little bit sorry for myself that my husband was visiting his family in Wales without me (a decision we made mutually because of the devalued dollar), this seemed like a great idea. I was in.

Guest Post: SoCal Dad Does Wimbledon

Greetings my fellow peeps and peepettes. This is Gareth, husband to SocalMom. But you can call me Sir.

After many years idling in the background, I have finally been honored with the opportunity to post on here.

I can’t mess this up. So, no bad language or inappropriate innuendo allowed, just intellectual witicisms. Dunno if I can do that. Oh well.

The End.

…….. Gareth.

Uh, for my inaugural post, I am in Wimbledon, on Court Number 1.

But first some background. The only reason I am in Britain at all is because of Wimbledon.

But this post wouldn’t be as entertaining if I didn’t tell you all (I have lots of fans) of the lead-up to my Wimbledon trip. And you know what ? Everything in this post you are about to read is travel-related, which is what Donna’s blog is all about. How thoughtful of that is me !! Um …. how thoughtful of me is that ?

"Ten on Tuesday": Places to Travel

Each week, my friend Florinda publishes a kind of top 10 list. This week, her theme is "10 Places You'd Love to Travel To (That You Haven't Gone to Yet)." And I thought it would be fun to participate, as I spent much of yesterday's post lamenting the fact that I haven't done any travel blogging recently (and am not likely to, given the current economic climate).

So here are my Top 10 (in no particular order):

1. Havana, Cuba. I actually HAVE been here, but as I was an infant at the time, I don't think it counts. It is the city where my mother was born and lived until she was 17. My grandfather is buried there. I still have relatives living there, although I do not know them (and am not likely to have a lot in common with them, as the only ones who stayed were true believers in the revolution). But I have heard so much about the city and the country since I was very young, and should travel restrictions be lifted, I would very much like to go there.

2. Istanbul, Turkey. Another genealogical destination. The grandparents who settled in Havana were born in Constantinople. They were Sephardic Jews, descended from those who were forced to leave Spain during the Inquisition. They lived peacefully there for four centuries, until the end of the Ottoman Empire.

3. Edinburgh, Scotland. In all my many visits to the United Kingdom since I met my British husband, I've seen remarkably little outside his home town of Cardiff, Wales. I have a long, long, list of towns and regions I would like to visit, but based upon the hub's description, I think Edinburgh belongs at the top of that list. Besides, if we go to Scotland, we might be able to indulge in the Scottish version of one of our favorite past times and do a little whiskey tasting.

4. Bordeaux, France. Yes, that favorite past time is wine tasting. This is something we've been able to indulge quite a bit here in California, but I would love to take that show on the road somewhere else. I keep reading about all these cool bicycle tours of the wine regions in France, and the romantic in me thinks that might be fun. (The lazy ass in me would probably die if I tried it, but this whole exercise is a fantasy anyway, so I can imagine having the stamina to do this!) Another benefit of going wine tasting in France would be that I would get to visit a city I HAVE been to and am dying to see again: Paris.

5. Yosemite. I should be ashamed of myself for being a California native who has never been to one of our state's most wondrous spots. The problem is, I am NOT the outdoorsy, camping type. I want to go, but only if I get to stay at the Ahwahnee Lodge.

6. Rome, Italy. Do I have to explain this choice? The history. The architecture. And yes, the food and the wine.

7. New Zealand's Marlborough region. One of my friends is married to an assistant director who worked on both Narnia movies, and the family spent an entire summer here while the first one was being shot. Their photos are spectacular, and yes, this is another wine making region.

8. Santiago, Chile. Oh hell. I may as well turn this into a top ten list of vineyards! Chile is also known for terrific wine. Also, my husband used to work with a woman who was from Santiago, and the photos of the countryside nestled below the Andes were gorgeous.

9. Washington, D.C. I've been to London. I've been to Paris. I've never been to the capital of my own nation. 'Nuff said.

10. Tokyo, Japan. I'm one of those people who loved "Lost in Translation." I want to experience the otherness of Japan, too.

Actually, I can think of lots more places I want to visit! I shall just have to redouble my efforts to win the lottery so I can take that 12-month, round-the-world cruise I dream of.