adventure – Darden Travels

Another one of my travel partners was hitting a milestone birth year and wanted to go somewhere special. Since we’re foodies………….France was the chosen destination, specifically the northern coastline of France where OYSTERS are farmed. Yes, Eric wanted to celebrate by eating lots and lots of these bivalves.

The journey began mid-week and was definitely ‘trains, planes & automobiles’ but not in that order. Had to get to the airport so the trip started with ride-share.

Whereas we met Adrienne before boarding the first of two flights before going overseas and landing in CDG, Paris mid-afternoon. We were worried about storms in Orlando. In fact, as we were boarding the crew mentioned a storm was building near the airport and highly encouraged us to quickly board so we could get out of there fast – we did.

Our connection was in JFK/New York. Our luck with connections in the south has been hit or miss. A few afternoon/evening storms have delayed us and kept us in US missing a day in Europe. Not everyone loves JFK but my last connection through there was painless. Only hitch……………we landed in terminal 1 (at the v.e.r.y end) and had to get to terminal 5. We had plenty of time for the connection, but it was a hike! Soon enough we got our next flight and a few hours of sleep.

One advantage to flying through New York – this flight is a bit shorter.

After landing, we needed food. We have a history of eating at the Sheraton inside the airport and that day was no different. Even though it looks like we are eating outside………..it is their brasserie restaurant that protrudes into the airport skyway.

I just needed a coke but those two started with a regional red wine.

We each were looking for something different for nutrition: Adrianne – sushi, myself – fries and Eric – charcuterie board.

We have checked off two modes of transportation and now we waited for the third one – train.

Let’s just say, I woke up. Those two crashed during our 2+ hour ride to Rennes.

The train departed early evening and we had a bit of light initially and I got this photo as we passed a wind farm.

No issues on our ride, but we heard the next morning there was a train derailment in Northern France the same evening.

Our last transportation was an automobile – taxi to our AirBNB in the Old Town of Rennes. Arrival was 9:30pm and our AirBNB host met us at 10 pm to show us around and handover the keys.

We were bushed, but hungry. He made a call and got us dinner reservations within walking distance. Great!!!! Eric started us with oysters before our main courses arrived.

Our dinner selections were varied:

Adrienne – tuna

I chose canard (duck):

With Eric selecting sole meuniere’:

All was topped off with ice cream – shared.

After 23+ hours traveling……………it’s time to call it a night.

Up next – a local Rennes food tour.

Ginny

Let’s close this out………………….

West coast destination was Anna Maria Island. It had been hard hit in 2024 with Hurricanes Milton and Helene. Even though Helene made landfall elsewhere, A.M.I. faced strong winds and storm surges. Many homes experienced 3-4 feet of water and extensive damage to roads and infrastructure occurred. Good news – none of that was evident! Oh yes, some homes hadn’t been rebuilt but many more repairs were complete. Let’s get on with this.

Silver Surf Gulf Beach Resort was the locale of choice. Loved it!

With three separate buildings, we had easy access to parking and would definitely stay here again. Walking in, very nice set up.

One interesting aspect………………a murphy bed. The above photo shows the couch where the murphy bed ultimately lands. After watching a short video, Eric got it ready.

A small kitchenette was part of the set up.

This spot was not directly on the beach but had their own private access to the beach.

While different than the east coast, still pretty. Man – I’m hoping the clouds go away before sundown, otherwise, the sunset is going to be a bust. This was taken around 2pm.

We had some time to kill before sunset so we drove to the end of the island checking out what shops and restaurants still existed. About 20 minutes before sunset, we headed back to our ‘private’ beach. Yep, it is a bit windy.