›

Diana and I were invited to speak at the Women In Travel Summit presented by Wanderful and held in Milwaukee April 21-23rd. We were thrilled to be asked. We absolutely love meeting other women travel writers and know most of them are food lovers too.

Our presentation was during the Blogger 101 sessions on the first day. Our topic was “How To Make Your Audience Fall In Love (With You!), Developing a Memorable Digital Brand”.  This is an area that is near and dear to our hearts. We were excited to share our thoughts and experiences with our audience.

One way that we connect with our audience here at Food Travelist is with our own personal experiences and relationships. We thought that bringing an experience to the presentation would help illustrate our point.

Meet Our Friends 

We called our friends at Fannie May and asked if they’d want to help us make our session a little sweeter. As you may know, I’m a huge fan of Fannie May and have been enjoying their handmade candies since I was a kid. We often write about the latest Fannie May and share their latest creations and promotions on Food Travelist.

As we began our session we talked about how important it is to develop relationships with brands that connect with you and your audience. As we did this we handed out the Mint Meltaways (one of Fannie May’s most iconic candies) to our attendees. They oohed and ahhed as they unwrapped their little treats. Let’s just say that they got the message loud and clear!

Thanks @FoodTravelist for the Mint Meltaway from @fmchocolate. Heavenly! #WITS17 #VisitMKE

— Michele DeBella (@MicheleDeBella) April 21, 2017

@FoodTravelist awesome information and the @fmchocolate were amazing

— Andrea Smoak (@andreavsmoak) April 21, 2017

Fannie May has been bringing their fine chocolate to fans for over 95 years. We’d be remiss if we didn’t remind you that Mother’s Day is right around the corner on May 14th. You can order something very sweet easily & quickly at fanniemay.com.

We had fun sharing our thoughts on brand building and meeting all the travel bloggers, brands, and destinations that attended the event. As we often say, we believe that a rising tide lifts all boats so we’re happy to share our expertise to help other women build successful businesses too.

We Learned A Lot Too!

We also had the opportunity to attend many of the other sessions that were very informative and gave us lots of ideas about how to further build our brand and connect with more brands and destinations. Panels that included destination and brand managers provided insiders’ knowledge on how to pitch stories and secure press trips were also valuable. Another panel of seasoned entrepreneurs provided real-life stories on successes, challenges and setbacks that also inspired attendees.

We met with destinations and brands in Power Networking sessions. There were one-on-one sessions and nine-on-one sessions available for seasoned travel writers and beginners alike.

One of the best parts of the experience was meeting so many talented women writers we’ve known online for years but never met in person. We loved meeting new friends too.

Another star of the conference was Millie, the pet concierge at the four-diamond Hilton Milwaukee Downtown where WITS17 took place. She took the stage and wowed the crowd. If you needed any downtime Millie was there for free pets and snuggles.

Milwaukee Rocks

WITS17 was hosted by Visit Milwaukee. If you’ve read any of our previous articles on Milwaukee you know that we’re big fans. Of course, we would expect them to roll out the red carpet and welcome over 400 women to their city. Milwaukee did a wonderful job holding the opening night ceremony at the Harley-Davidson Museum. It was an evening filled with great stories, great food, and great music played by the awesome cover band Random Maxx. Our only question is why the heck weren’t more of you gals dancing?

No trip to Milwaukee is complete without exploring some new food. We dined at Kilawat, which we really enjoyed. Our server Jo was a rock star and our new friends from Visit Kenosha kept us totally entertained. We had a ball learning about all the great food and fun Kenosha has to offer and met some new blogger friends too!

Milwaukee planned lots of tours around town for attendees to really get a feel for what this city on Lake Michigan is all about. Tours and activities included the beautiful Milwaukee Art Museum, beer tours, walking tours, food tours, a baseball game, and even a Bloody Mary Tour!

Next Stop Quebec City!

We had such a great experience at WITS17 that we waited with anticipation during the Sunday Brunch to hear where the next summit will be held. We were so excited to hear that for WITS18 we’ll be at one of our favorite international destinations – Quebec City. Of course we were going to go! 

Located close to the United States, Quebec City offers flavors of Europe in this stunning city on the St. Lawerence River. We already purchased our tickets to WITS18 and are excited to be staying at the host hotel the Fairmont Château Frontenac. We toured the hotel on a visit to Quebec City years ago and its wonderful history and architectural beauty is incomparable.

The hotel also has an environmental initiative that we can’t wait to be a part of,  Chateau Boréal. For every guest that forgoes the daily cleaning of their room, the Fairmont Le Château Frontenac will plant a tree. The trees are then planted in the Montmorency Forest. It is the largest teaching and research forest in the world.

For more information about the next WITS conference and to order tickets check out their website at sheswanderful.com/witsumit/.

When you think of Gettysburg the first thing that comes to mind is probably the Gettysburg address or the Civil War.

More than likely you wouldn’t think of Gettysburg as a culinary destination. If you go to Gettysburg and don’t leave enough time for exploring the town with your taste buds as well as your historical tour guide you’d be making a big mistake.

Let’s take a look at just some of the tastes that make Gettysburg a great food traveler’s destination.

Agritourism

If you love food, chances are that you love to learn where it was grown, how it was grown, and the history of the farms. Gettysburg is a place where you can do just that. Gettysburg is located in Adams County, Pennsylvania. Farms abound where you can see free-range chickens, cattle slowly grazing as well as produce, especially apples. We’ll get to those shortly.

One of the highlights of Adams County is the Eisenhower National Historical Site. This piece of land was purchased by President Eisenhower. After experiencing the Dust Bowl and seeing thousands of acres of land destroyed, Eisenhower decided he wanted to save his piece of the earth and make the soil sustainable and able to grow and thrive for the next generations.

An avid conservationist he worked the land employing methods like crop rotation to be sure the land would not become dormant. He also used the farm as a vetting destination. He would meet with world leaders in this “show barn” and get to know them as people before moving on to the more important work. It’s comforting to know that President Eisenhower cared so deeply for the land and his fellow man.

As you can see, Sam Martin and his family now carry on the Eisenhower farming tradition and care intensely for the land. You can see Sam well up at the end and see how much it means to him.

Your visit to Gettysburg should also include the local farmer’s markets and orchards that are in season to try all the local produce.

Farm-to-Table Restaurants

Since all this fertile, abundant soil is nearby as you might expect local chefs and restaurants take advantage of all that is produced in Adams County.

After you spend the day exploring Eisenhower’s Farm and many others you’ll want to head back into town to taste the freshness. Rettland Farms produces grass-fed pork, broiler chickens, grass-fed lamb, pastured hen eggs, and organic grains.

You can find Rettland Farms on the menu of several restaurants including Fidler & Co. Craft Kitchen.

Local Beverages

Gettysburg is the number one spot in Pennsylvania for apples. You can bet that you’ll find apple cider, hard cider, apple juice, apple pie, and just darn great-tasting apples along your journey.

There are also local breweries, distilleries, wineries, and coffee shops just waiting for you to explore.

Let’s Not Forget History

Learning about national history in Gettysburg is typically the primary reason folks visit. How about learning about history at the dining table? Period restaurants that have been serving hungry travelers for centuries can give you a truly colonial experience. The Dobbin House Tavern has fine dining and casual dining all set back in time. There are six historic rooms to dine in including one called the “Bedroom” where you can actually eat in bed. Now that’s different!

If you go to the Dobbin House make sure you leave time to do some looking around. There’s also a bed and breakfast, Springhouse Tavern, County Curiosity Store, and in-house bakery! Don’t miss the secret “underground railroad” slave hideout.

There are other historic barns, taverns, and restaurants from which to choose. Farnsworth House Inn Restaurant has servers dressed in period costumes. You can experience the type of cuisine folks would have in years gone by like game pie, spoon bread, peanut soup, and pumpkin fritters.  They also have Sweney’s Tavern for a quick bite or cold beer. Check out their beer garden when the weather permits.

Gettysburg – Wait There’s More

As much as we love exploring the food of Gettysburg we love learning about history too! Gettysburg has wonderful guides around town that will happily answer any questions you have.

You will most certainly be taken back in time as you walk the battlefields, cemeteries, and streets of Gettysburg. Whether you’re an American History buff or simply eager for a fun learning experience you are bound to find Gettysburg interesting.

If you like to find unique gifts to bring home you’ll also be pleased with the local shops. Stroll down the streets window shopping or browsing for a relaxing afternoon.

If ghosts and haunted spots pique your interest you can take a tour or learn even more history through the eyes of those who came, went, and left before.

If you’re looking for more food travel experiences Gettysburg offers a new Savor Gettysburg Food Tour so you won’t miss one tasty morsel!

We’ll wrap it up with this short video to further inspire you to go visit and taste all that Gettysburg has to offer. Happy Food Traveling!

For more information on Gettysburg check out their website DestinationGettysburg.com.

This post was sponsored by Destination Gettysburg.