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Switzerland, Spectacular & Sumptuous

Wow! What a fantastic 2 weeks spent in Switzerland. We explored and enjoyed a good portion of the country with family and friends (11 total). While a few in our group had some deviations in their itinerary, DaK spent time in Geneva, Zermatt, Montreux (Lausanne & Bern), and Zurich (Lucern). My cousin, Greg, did a fantastic job planning our itinerary. 

We paid for a 15-day Swiss Rail Pass, which worked extremely well, and included pretty much all forms of ground transportation (boat, bus, tram, and rail) within Switzerland and free entry into many museums and tourist attractions. We also discovered COOP convenience stores for reasonably priced food, drinks (including beer) and other items. They were extremely prevalent everywhere we stayed and saved us quite a bit of money. B.T.W., Switzerland has the highest cost of living in Europe and the exchange rate did not help.

We have done annual trips with this group before (Yellowstone and Innsbruck) and it’s always a wonderful mix of group activities with enough time built in for individual interests (e.g. biking). But the standout take away with this group is laughter. I never laugh this hard or consistently as when we are all together. So much fun!

GENEVA

We were very impressed with Geneva. The bike paths were extensive and very well maintained, the city was clean with efficient transportation (train, tram, bus, boat), and there was such a variety of things to do. Beautiful Lake Geneva is right at your doorstep with its swimming and boating, Old Town is absolutely charming, and the social scene is fantastic (concerts, waterfront dining, shopping, etc.). 

Old Town
Old Town
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Recap of March 2026

Lego Land at GLC
Ryan (7), hard at work
A rare find! CBS at Aspen on Hall
Let the bike season begin! Heading back to the West Bloomfield Trail from the Airlines Trail
Enjoying a fantastic meal and beer (Belgium Triple and Double Porter) at the Kickstand Brewery, after the ride.

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Navarre – Florida’s Most Relaxing Place

This year Michigan’s winter was so cold and snowy that we almost didn’t escape it’s icy grip. In fact, at the last minute, we had to cancel our plans to drive to South Carolina because the weather and roads were so bad. Instead we flew on a non-stop flight from  Flint, MI to Destin, FL to escape the winter in Navarre, FL for 27 days. Like the signs say, Navarre is very relaxing. But maybe a little too relaxing after a few weeks.

Karen enjoying the view from the Navarre Pier
Can I eat it?

We stayed at a brand new (opened for less than 2 months) Residence Inn in Navarre, FL. It was right on the bay and the bridge that takes you across the bridge to the island of Navarre Beach. The room was nice consisting of a 4 room suite (bedroom, bathroom, living room, and fully equipped kitchen) with a balcony overlooking the bay. Karen insists on being able to cook our own meals when we have a long-term stay. 

Brand new Residence Inn Narvarre
View from our room
We made our 27 day stay in our 4 room suite quite comfortable
A spectacular sunrise view from our balcony

This trip we were able to secure two e-bikes (usually bring our own bikes when we drive) and a nice keyboard (to keep up on our newly acquired piano skills) for the entire stay. So we made ourselves quite at home.

Grilling on the patio of the Residence Inn
The result!
The narrow bridge we crossed to get to the Gulf and one of the very few bike paths near Navarre
White sand beach
Chrystal clear water

While Navarre had many friendly people and the weather was pretty great, my only significant issue with the area was its lack of a pedestrian/bicycle friendly infrastructure. Other than a couple of bike paths (that were difficult to get to) there was almost nowhere to ride or walk, unless you were on the side of a highway with 50 m.p.h. speed limits.

Bike path connecting Navarre to Panama Beach
Minimal traffic and spectacular views

Once we got across the super narrow bridge to Navarre Beach, we were able to ride on a path or the side of the road with very little traffic. During one of our rides on the island, we unexpectedly ran into a pretty major Mardi Gras parade. We were surprised at how big the parade an crowd was for such a small, out of the way island.

We made it all the way to Pensacola Beach and back

Of course we located two decent breweries in Navarre. St. Micheals was closest to our hotel with decent beer but only food trucks for food. Ye Old Brothers Brewery was about a seven mile bike ride away and had some very good beer (doppelboch, dunkel, marzen, and pumpkin) until they ran out. Then we were forced to self supply from Total Wine in Pensecola.

St. Micheals Brewery, Navarre
Ye Old Brothers Brewery, Navarre
Ye Old Brothers had a great dopplebock, until they ran out 2 weeks into our stay.
Valentine's Day at Ye Old Brothers
Valentine's Day meal

As I mentioned, Navarre was a little too relaxing after a while. So we decided to take an overnight trip to New Orleans (about a three and a half hour drive west of Navarre). Karen had never been so we stayed at a J.W. Marriott just a short walk from the French Quarter. The first day there we listened to local music on Bourbon Street and around the French Market. It was a fun day! The second day we took a “free” walking tour of the French Quarter with one of the best guides we ever had – anywhere. We learned much about all of the different cultures that influenced New Orleans over its history. As a bonus, our guide was an accomplished musician and songwriter, so he gave us a nice perspective on the musical history of New Orleans too. Definitely the highlight of our trip!

A two day getaway to New Orleans

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Marvelous Marquette

It’s been a few years since we’ve been to Marquette in Michigan’s upper peninsula. I guess we didn’t quite realize how much we missed it. The small college town charm, Lake Superior at your doorstep, beautiful bike trails and being immersed in nature, immediately reminded us that this is one of our favorite Michigan destinations. Once again, we enjoyed staying at the nicely maintained Marriott Fairfield Inn during the last week of August. To break up the drive we stayed a night in Petoskey both on the way there and back.

Our timing happened to span Northern Michigan University’s move-in weekend and a 3-day music festival in Marquette’s waterfront, Lower Harbor Park. 

Downtown Marquette, view on Washington St. looking towards Lake Superior
View from our Marriott Fairfield room looking onto Lake Superior
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Holland & Belgium (post Elbe River Cruise) – June 2025

After the Viking Cruise, we traveled by plane to The Hague (South Holland in the Netherlands), and spent a few days there, then traveled by train to Ghent, Belgium.  This was Karen’s dream- to be able to bike through Belgium and enjoy the beautiful sites!

We stayed at the Marriott in The Hague, which happened to be right next to the site of a big NATO conference two days after we left. But the security was already beginning to impact our movement in and out of the hotel. However, we were still able to enjoy the bikes provided by Marriott with our proximity to  the North Sea, The Hague, and Delft. The neighborhoods (including Embassy residences) were very nice near our hotel also.

The highlights of our stay in The Hague had to be riding the beautiful bike path along the North Sea and our ride to Delft (one of our favorite cities).

View from our Marriott Hotel window overlooking The Hague and the North Sea
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Viking Elbe River Cruise – June 2025

The Elbe River Cruise, in June of 2025, marked DaK’s sixth Viking Cruise. Although it was still very enjoyable it was our least favorite Viking experience. The reason came down to how many times we had to pack and unpack during our 10 day Viking trip. We had 2 nights in a Berlin hotel, then 3 days on the Viking Astrid, then 3 days on the Viking Beyla (due to bridge construction blocking the Elbe causing us to “ship swap” to the Viking Beyla for 3 days), then 2 days in a Prague hotel. It is so nice when you can just walk off a ship and see many different places while all of your belongings stay in one place (on the ship).

There are only two small Viking ships on the Elbe (1 each direction) which only hold 98 passengers each, due to extreme water levels (at times 3 feet or less in some spots). In fact we were very lucky to have some heavy rain the week before our cruise that raised the river level enough to avoid being bussed along the route. Our itinerary consistested of 2 days in Berlin (including a day trip to Potsdam), Wittenberg, Meissen, Dresden, Saxon Switzerland (Germany)/Bad Schandau, Decin (Czechia), and 2 days in Prague. There really weren’t any bad stops as they all had something to offer.

The iconic Berlin Wall
There was still a fair amount of the wall left standing
First order of business - find good beer. Paulaner fit the bill, just steps from our hotel. Ate there both Munich nights.
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