Corinne Guest Post

Hi all!  I’m Corinne over from learn.with.love, where I’m currently recapping my wedding and will soon be introducing our new home!  My husband and I just moved back home to Missouri after being gone for 4 years while he attended Medical School.  While we were away we added our fur-child, Miley, who we treat as if she was a living, breathing human, so she’s a pretty big part of the blog as well.  

I’m so excited to be here for the day!  Mrs. Bear and her family are off on vacation (lucky ducks!) in Cape Cod.  She must have forgotten that she needs to invite all her blog-friends, so I’ve been working with Gwen to plot our arrival 🙂  Since I have severe vacation-envy, what better to post about but my own favorite vacation!

I had to do some thinking at first, I’ve been on several amazing vacations that I’m blessed to have had the opportunity to go on, but I think my favorite would have to be when I took my husband to Italy for the first time.  We were dating and I was getting ready to leave Missouri upon graduation to join him in Pennsylvania, so it was a pretty big “test” for our relationship.  It was not only our first vacation together, but it was also his first time overseas AND meeting my Italian family (that in itself would have scared me away!).  We planned on spending half of our time with my family and the other half traveling to a few spots around the region.

So what did we do?  Easiest way is just wrap it up by saying:  Slept until 11, woke up, ate lunch, drank wine, took a nap, woke up at 6, ate dinner, drank more wine, went to sleep, repeat…for 3 weeks!

Juuust kidding.  We didn’t do that when we were traveling, but when we were staying at the house and would just be going around to visit my family that’s what our days looked like.  So some places we did venture out to (and places we would recommend visiting) include…

Lago di Garda – take Lago di Como and make it affordable, more local and less touristy and you’ll end up with Lago di Garda.  We stayed in the town of Malcesine which was perfect for a 2 day trip and don’t leave until you take the gondola up to the top of Monte Baldo!  Just make sure you take a light jacket – there is snow on the mountain even in the middle of the summer!

Venizia – yeah it’s where everyone goes, but for good reason.  My advice?  Get OUT of the main city center and explore all the beautiful canals and little passages.  Get lost – it’s the best way to really explore Venice.  Plus you’ll save some major Euros by eating at a more local spot away from the city (and honestly, sometimes it’s even better food!).

Bettola – the small town I grew up in, and where we spent a lot of our evenings:

So while we wait for Mrs. Bear to return, tell me!  What has been your all-time favorite vacation?  Any dream vacations you’re planning for?  I would love for you to stop by and say hello!!