Hawaii may be the last place you’d expect to find a winery, but on the Big Island, just a few minutes drive from Volcanoes National Park, that’s exactly what you’ll find. Volcano Winery offers wines made from both grapes and indigenous fruits grown on the island, like yellow guava and jaboticaba berry. The sweet and fruity wines here may not be very traditional, but they are perfect for enjoying underneath the warm Hawaiian sun.

Guests at the winery can taste several wines, like Macadamia Nut Honey Wine, Volcano Red, and Hawaiian Guava. Free tastings are held every day of the year from 10am to 5:30pm, with no appointment needed.

The wines are only available in Hawaii, so if you taste something you like, you’ll need to buy some and pack it in your checked luggage, pay for it to be shipped, or content yourself with enjoying it while you are on the island. The onsite wine store sells wine-themed decor, tools, art, and accessories, plus gourmet treats like olive oils and sea salts, plus Hawaiian souvenirs like t-shirts and ballcaps.

The winery is located at mile-marker 30, near Volcanoes National Park, and makes a great stop on the way back from exploring the Park.

Photo courtesy of Katie Hammel.

It used to be that when I heard the term “underground railroad,” I would think of the border states in the battle between slavery and freedom.  Wisconsin was not a place that came to mind.  It was very interesting, then, to learn that Wisconsin did indeed have several Underground Railroad stations, and that one of them is available to tour, complete with its hidden tunnel for runaway slaves’ safety.

Milton House

The Milton House Museum in Milton, Wisconsin, was built as a hotel.  Its unique hexagonal shape in interesting on its own, and tours of the building include stories of sharing plates and silverware and the clock with rotating advertisements that stands in the hall.  The guided tours are interesting for adults, but also good for children, who are allowed to touch some of the artifacts in the hotel-turned-museum. Read More »

Gansbaai, about two hours east along the coast from Cape Town in South Africa, is considered the Great White shark capital of the world due to its high concentrations of the shark in the waters just off shore. There are dozens of companies that offer visitors the opportunity to learn more about sharks, see them up close, and even get into the water with them.

White Shark Ecoventures is one of these companies. It will provide shuttle service to guests in Cape Town, picking them up at the early hour of 5am for the morning dive. Guests will arrive at the Gansbaai office by 8am and enjoy a light breakfast and coffee while preparing the necessary paperwork. Then it’s off to the docks, where the boat and its passengers begin the journey from the beach out into the bay, a trip of about 15-minutes. Once the boat docks, the deckhands set to work, chumming the water to attract a shark. Soon the call is sounded and divers begin to put on their wetsuits as the cage is lowered into the water and attached to the boat.

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Cape Point, South Africa, about an hour from Cape Town on the Cape Peninsula, is one of the most scenic spots in the country. Commonly thought of as the place where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet (which is actually a bit further East), it is the spot where the cold Benguela current on the west meets the warm Agulhas current from the east. It’s the most southerly part of South Africa and is one of the highest sea cliffs in the world.

The peninsula  is home to over 250 species of birds, 1100 kinds of plants (many of which grow nowhere else in the world) and wild animals like baboons, bucks, and (from May to November) dolphins and whales.

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