Vacation Station

Snow is already falling in places in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, the lights are going up in Visalia, and Exeter is getting ready for Santa. On this shared episode of Big Blend Radio's "California’s Sequoia Country" Podcast with the Sequoia Tourism Council, producer Lisa D. Smith talks with Holly Streit of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, Suzanne Bianco of Visit Visalia, and Sh...

Step inside one of the South's grand historic hotels with this shared episode of Big Blend Radio's "Travel with Terri" Podcast. On location in downtown Mobile, Alabama, travel journalist Terri Guthrie sits down in the lobby of the Battle House Renaissance Mobile Hotel & Spa with General Manager Margo Gilbert, who has led the hotel since 2004. Margo shares the hotel's remarkable story: built in...

Pittsburgh has long carried a reputation as a gritty steel-mill town with not much to see or do. Travel writer Debbie Stone grew up in Chicago hearing exactly that, but she kept hearing whispers that the city had changed, so she went to see for herself. On this shared episode of Big Blend Radio's "Global Adventures" Podcast, Debbie shares the museums, art and views that changed her mind. Debbie ta...

October means one thing on English Connection: it’s time for ghost stories. On this shared episode of Big Blend Radio's "English Connection" Podcast, Glynn Burrows takes us on a tour of England’s spookiest corners, and England has no shortage of them. Glynn takes us down into the dungeons of Norwich Castle, where prisoners were once held for years. He tells the story of a public hanging in 1849 th...

The Jefferson Highway begins in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and runs all the way to New Orleans. In this shared episode of Big Blend Radio's "Jefferson Highway" Podcast, producer Lisa D. Smith and Jefferson Highway Association (JHA) president Roger Bell travel north with Lou Erickson of the Morris & District Centennial Museum and JHA Board Member Derek Thille of Winnipeg.  You’ll hear how a 1919 garag...

On this shared episode of Big Blend Radio's "Lost Angel Travel Adventures" Podcast, travel writer and author Linda Ballou takes us to Moab, Utah, the red-rock gateway to Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. She shares how a chance meeting in an airport led to her first kayak trip down Labyrinth Canyon on the Green River, and how much Moab has changed in the twenty years since her first visit. Al...

In this shared episode of Big Blend Radio's "Journey Jukebox" Podcast, travel writer Lisa Evans takes us to Clarksville, Tennessee. It isn’t the Clarksville of the Mississippi Blues Trail. It’s a river city less than an hour from Nashville that deserves a day, or several, all to itself.  Lisa shares the history, the attractions and the public art that made this one of her favorite recent trips. Yo...

On this shared episode of Big Blend Radio's "Travel with Terri" Podcast, travel journalist Terri Guthrie continues her Mardi Gras Train series with a stop in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Terri calls it a casual coastal escape that feels worlds away from New Orleans, even though it’s less than an hour by rail. She walks us through Old Town’s art, boutiques and golf carts, her stay at the Pearl Hotel...

Wine country, waterparks, supper clubs, and yoga with alpacas: Wisconsin Dells has something for every season, and it’s not just a summer destination. On this shared episode of Big Blend Radio’s "Food, Wine & Travel" Show with the International Food Wine Travel Writers Association (IFWTWA), host/producer Lisa D. Smith talks with Ken Leiviska of the Wisconsin Dells Visitor & Convention Bure...

Come hungry! Every third Sunday, Travel Avoyelles hosts Wilbert Carmouche and Mary Guillory join Lisa D. Smith for a visit to Avoyelles Parish in Central Louisiana. This time they brought a special guest: caterer John Ed Laborde of Panaroma Foods in Marksville, the creator of Crawfish Bread®. We talk crawfish étouffée, boudin and boucherie, cracklins, court-bouillon, sweet potato crunch, king cake...

Why would a cruise line skip the hot seafood chowder in the Caribbean, then serve it on deck in Glacier Bay?  On this shared episode of BIg Blend Radio's "Food, Wine & Travel" Podcast with the International Food Wine & Travel Writers Association (IFWTWA), host Lisa D. Smith sets sail with Emma Ciciriello, Senior Manager of Food & Beverage Product Development for Holland America Line an...

Why do we keep coming back to New York City? Travel writers Joelle Machia and Ryan Slough have a lot of answers, and they’re not what the typical headlines say. Joelle has just wrapped a week in the city. She was born here and spoke at a United Nations side event during the General Assembly. Ryan joined her for part of the trip, riding Amtrak in from Harrisburg. He once almost had a panic attack i...

Celebrate America 250 in upstate South Carolina! On this shared episode of Big Blend Radio's "Jo Goes Everywhere" Podcast, travel writer Jo Clark takes us to Ninety Six National Historic Site, a backcountry crossroads where 12 roads met and later the site of the longest land siege of the American Revolution, from May 22 to June 18, 1781. This park also turned 50 this year. Jo walks us through the...

Travel writer Erin Coyle takes us to Oman, where a cup of coffee is an invitation and hospitality is a way of life. On this shared episode of Big Blend Radio’s "Food, Wine & Travel" Podcast with the International Food Wine Travel Writers Association (IFWTWA), host Lisa D. Smith talks with IFWTWA member Erin Coyle, a freelance travel writer and ESP teacher who moved to Oman in 2018 to teach, st...

On this shared episode of Big Blend Radio’s “Quiltripping Travel with Rose” Podcast, travel writer and photographer Rose Palmer of Quiltripping.com joins us fresh off the MSC World America, MSC’s newest mega ship, sailing from Miami to the Caribbean and the private island of Ocean Cay in the Bahamas.  Rose and her best friend celebrated milestone birthdays in the exclusive MSC Yacht Club, a “ship...

What does it look like to explore Sweden at the pace of a ferry? On this shared episode of Big Blend Radio's "Wander the World" Podcast, travel writer and photographer Sharon K. Kurtz takes us on a slow-travel journey through Stockholm, Gothenburg, and the islands of the Southern Archipelago, by ferry, by train, and by kayak. Sharon shares the Swedish ritual of fika, the daily pause for coffee, a...

It's October in Asheville, which makes it ghost-watching season. In Part 2 of this shared episode of Big Blend Radio's "Adventures in Asheville" visit with Dawn Bankson of Star Watch Night Vision Tours, we head out after dark to historic Riverside Cemetery in the Montford neighborhood, a couple of blocks from The Lion & The Rose Bed & Breakfast. Host Lisa D. Smith and Nancy J. Reid join St...

Step inside the 100 Men Hall in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, a 1922 Chitlin' Circuit landmark and Mississippi Blues Trail stop just across from the historic train depot. On location for Big Blend Radio's "Travel with Terri" Podcast, this shared episode features travel journalist Terri Guthrie who sits down inside the hall with Rachel Dangermond, the writer and award-winning journalist who purchased...

Think Ashland, Oregon is only about Shakespeare? Think again! On this shared episode of Big Blend Radio's "Sip, Savor & Travel" Podcast, producerLisa D. Smith and travel writer Linda Kissam, the Food, Wine & Shopping Diva, sit down with Katharine Cato, Director of Travel Ashland, to explore everything Ashland offers beyond the famous Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Katharine shares how a town...

It's October in California's Sequoia Country, and there's a lot going on. On this shared "California Sequoia Country" episode with the Sequoia Tourism Council, Big Blend Radio host Lisa D. Smith is joined by Holly Streit of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks and Suzanne Bianco of Visit Visalia to kick off fall. The episode starts with an anniversary: on October 1st, 1890, General Grant Nation...

On this shared episode of Big Blend Radio's "Global Adventures" Podcast, travel writer Debbie Stone takes us to the Laurel Highlands of southwestern Pennsylvania. Most people know the area for Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright's most famous house, but it's actually a mecca for Wright's work. Debbie starts at Polymath Park, a private conservation effort by Tom and Heather Papinchak. There, two Wrigh...

Happy World Car Free Day! On this shared episode of Big Blend Radio's "Travel with Terri" Podcast, travel journalist Terri Guthrie kicks off a new series exploring Amtrak's Mardi Gras Train, joined by Knox Ross, Chairman of the Southern Rail Commission. Terri just rode the full route herself — from New Orleans, through coastal Mississippi, to Mobile, Alabama — and shares what stood out most about...

On this shared episode of Big Blend Radio's "Food, Wine, and Travel" Show, in partnership with the International Food, Wine & Travel Writers Association (IFWTWA), travel writer and photographer Sharon K. Kurtz reports live from the Riviera Maya, where she's a guest of Lomas Hospitality at the adults-only El Dorado Royale. Sharon shares what makes Lomas's More Inclusive concept different from a...

It's Fall Y'all in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana!  Big Blend Radio host/producer Lisa D. Smith is joined by Natalie Roblin of the Avoyelles Commission of Tourism, filling in for regular co-hosts Wilbert Carmouche and Mary Guillory, who are at the Jefferson Highway Conference in Joplin, Missouri. Together they explore why fall is one of the best times to visit the Centre de la Louisiane. Natalie shar...

Travel writer and advisor Lisa Evans, host of Big Blend Radio's "Journey Jukebox" Podcast takes us to Yellowstone National Park — America's very first national park, marking 110 years of the National Park Service this year.  This episode picks up right where her Cody, Wyoming visit left off: after basing herself in Cody, Lisa spent a day and a half looping through Yellowstone by chartered bus, and...