Tarasp (Engadin, Switzerland)

Tarasp is a sleepy town in the canton of Graubünden and part of the lower Engadin, a valley that stretches from St. Moritz northeast towards Austria. We stayed at the family owned Hotel Chastè, that offers very quant rooms, most of which have a wonderful view of the castle.

On Friday, Saturday and Sunday they offer a Gourmet menu that truly deserves recognition from Michelin. The chef paid attention to preparing all the courses with locally grown ingrediencies. It was quite a culinary treat. The wonderful dinner was completed with a local Chardonnay, a surprise when considering the canton of Graubünden is very mountainous.

Visiting the museum Susch will surprise most first timers, as one would not expect to see this kind of art exhibited in such a small village. We can highly recommend a stop to check it out. 

One of the most picturesque villages in this valley is hands down Guarda, which kept its charm. One parks outside of the village and its very easy to explore it on foot.

Right above the village there is a short hike of about 1:30 hours, called the Schellen-Ursli Weg. The view over the valley is great. The trail is based on the children's book, written and illustrated by a local artist.

Because the weather was nice and we were in the neighborhood, we decided to take the aerial tram from Silvaplana up to the Corvatsch, from where you get an unobstructed view of Piz Bernina with the Bianco Ridge to the left. Years ago, were hiked on the other side of Piz Bernina down from the Diavolezza onto the glacier right in front of Piz Palü.

Nowadays, the Corvatsch is not only known for its fabulous 360 degree panorama, but also for the Orma whisky, some of which is distilled at the top (3303 meters). It took me quite a while to get someone from the (due to illness) limited staff to open up the gift shop so that I could buy a bottle of this unique liquor.

One day, we hiked from S-charl via Alp Astra through God da Tamangur again, and this time, it was a wonderful day. 

At the end of this trip, nothing is more refreshing than a local specialty from Appenzeller Beer with a wonderful view of green meadows complimented with the gentle sound of cow bells from the other side of the valley.

Napa Valley

This year, we went to Napa a little earlier in the wine season to enjoy wine tasting with food. The highlight of this week was a lunch at Round Pond Estate, where chef Ryan Seal surprised us with his food pairing. It was simply outstanding and innovative and just what the doctor ordered. 

We stayed in Yountville for a very good reason. After tasting wine all day long (just kidding) you can find plentiful very nice restaurants to enjoy dinner within walking distance. No need to drive anywhere. On the walk back to the hotel of your choice you will be able to see art like this.

Of course, we visited Hall at their Rutherford location for a Platinum tasting experience. The wines were excellent, no question about it.

Since we are member of B Cellars and Sullivan's , we naturally stopped by there as well. We really like the Merlot from Sullivan's, it's the best (and probably most expensive Merlot) I've ever had.

New wineries that we visited for this year were Cakebread Cellars and Alpha Omega.

Mustang Mach-e

When in November 2019, Ford released a teaser for a new EV, I knew immediately that this would go on my wish list. Not that I was a Mustang fan, but those lines are so sleek and I just couldn't believe that Ford, the grandfather of all automotive companies, could actually design such a beauty.

On July 2021, I finally put in an order for a GT Performance version. As you can imagine, I'm very exited to receive it sometime next year.

Update: Ford sent me an email, stating that their production for the 2021 model had reached capacity and that my order would be upgraded to model year 2022.

Maui

COVID through a wrench in our plans of going to Switzerland this year in May, rather than in the fall as usual. In early spring, Swiss Airline wanted a final confirmation of whether or not we would fly to Zurich and at that time we weren't sure if we would get the shot in time. So we cancelled the trip 😥. Once we received our second shot we decided to fly for 8 hours in the other direction and booked a fantastic condo on Maui.

The condo was recently renovated and the huge fridge from Thermador still had a piece of Styrofoam protecting the drawers. The view was 180 degree of breathtaking pacific ocean and every night we were able to witness a picture perfect sunset on our private lanai. We snorkeled every day with big turtles up to 3 feet in diameter at turtle city, which was maybe one walking minute away! We also kayaked along the shore line checking out hotels that made us feel lucky to have our own private beach.

Getting up early to drive the road to Hana is essential and absolutely worth it. This would be fun with a car like a Mach-E GT (for more on that a little later) since that car is made for the never ending curves. Right after Hana we stopped by the Wallua Falls. Because it was raining in the morning, the hike up to the falls was hot and steamy. It was quite a sight and even though we got up early, we were not the only ones, but I would not call it crowded.

We continued on the same road that changes to a dirt road to explore the southern part of the island and the climate changed from rain forest and bamboo to dry and volcanic.

Speaking of volcano, a trip up to Haleakalā is highly recommended, so that you can appreciate the full extend of the different climate zones this island has to offer. Believe it or not, that mountain is over 3000 meters high (10,1023 feet). It was so high, that we drove through a cloud layer on switch backs that almost made us dizzy and the view from the observatory was just stunning. A four hour hike down from the crater and then back up again was a reminder what Mars could be like.

On the west side of the island, in Lahaina, we visited the Maui Ku'ia Estate Chocolate factory, which produces a variety of delicious chocolate with cacao beans that are locally grown on Maui. The tasting was being held outdoors in the middle of their farm. And I thought, only Swiss know how to make chocolate. Oh boy, was I wrong. 

The Hali'imaile Distillery uses a unique technique that makes sure the aroma of their product is preserved. They use local ingredients and even though I personally like Whiskey, I was floored by their Pau Maui Vodka.