Santa Barbara

By Samantha Brown on July 2, 2009 8:05 AM | Permalink | 2 Comments

Santa Barbara Blog I love Santa Barbara, how could you not? It's devastatingly good-looking with its mountains and oceanfront. I arrive and do what I always do at a destination: head out for a jog to get some exercise and take in my surroundings. I get back to my hotel, shower and head out to a nice-looking restaurant nearby that had a great menu and wonderful wines by the glass. When I walk up to the host she says she's sorry but the kitchen is closed. I look at my watch. It's only 9:30! She didn't seem to think that was a strange time to close everything down. Oh well, I can tell by my level of perturbness that I am cranky because I am really hungry so instead of looking for another exciting menu I decide to go right next door and have a bowl of soup and a beer.

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Sundance

By Samantha Brown on June 26, 2009 4:37 PM | Permalink | 8 Comments

I have a day off and it's a glorious 40 degrees and blue sky. Alan, Damion and I want to put in a half day of snowboarding at The Canyons but we hear the conditions are hard, not a lot of snow and we all are worried we are going to injure ourselves the day before we have to work. Man, we are sooooo lame.

The crew goes into downtown Park City, while I have no desire to shop so I head up hill to where the homes are. I find some beautiful trails. I must look strange hiking these trails while holding a purse.

Ate lunch at a great local spot called Karleens. Homemade soups, salads and baked goods. It's such a local establishment that the same people who are sitting next to me are also in the pictures that are posted all over the walls. I am listening in on the town gossip right now.

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Maui

By Samantha Brown on June 18, 2009 8:11 PM | Permalink | 12 Comments

The episode in Maui has an added twist: make everything as eco-friendly as possible. I also have the added fun of turning the camera towards my crew to shed a light on our collective bad habits of a production crew that aid in the deterioration of this earth. This is going to be fun.

As a production crew we are really just a walking garbage dump, the amount of waste we generate has never been lost on us as it literally piles up in our minivans before us.

Every morning we all come out with our cappuccinos in the cardboard cup with the wraparound snuggie. There is a tower of Styrofoam containers with cold half-eaten egg sandwiches and hardening ketchup.

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The Carnival Cruise

By Samantha Brown on June 12, 2009 1:07 PM | Permalink | 19 Comments

Joining me for this cruise are my friends Pete, Kinga, Liz, her husband Dossi and my Mom! You may remember Liz from other Great Weekends episodes such as Miami. And she'll be in an upcoming New York City episode! This being Liz's third time should officially gives her "recurring role" status.

All of my friends met when we all moved into the same building. We were all new to the big city, scared, overwhelmed and poor. The best of friendships are made in those times.

Is there anything better than spending the night dancing? The whole crew gathers in the 70's Dance club and after a round of margaritas and mojitos we all hit the dance floor with our best interpretive dance moves. We also have dinner with the Captain and his crew. All my friends were hoping we would get to sit at the Captains table. We are all from the Love Boat generation and there are just some things you can't let go of.

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Get the Samantha Brown Widget!

By Travel Channel on June 9, 2009 1:16 PM | Permalink | 5 Comments

Stay up to date with the show! You can grab this widget and post it on your MySpace page, Facebook page, on your own site or even iGoogle. The Samantha Brown's Great Weekends widget is updated weekly with the upcoming episode photos, sneak peek video and Sam's blog posts about each location. Don't miss out!