Sunday, December 25, 2011 at 11:33AM I have been having fun with a camera phone app and took a few random photos from tid bits of our weekend in NYC...
Life is good.
getaways Saturday, December 24, 2011 at 2:00PM At the end of the summer my employer decided that they wanted to send me and a co-worker to a media publishing conference in NYC. My first thought was awesome my immediate next thought was we have to stay for a long weekend exploring NYC. For a long time I have been itching to visit the city but when it comes time to plan a vacation it is usually lower on the list simply because for the money I would rather visit something completely different from where we live. True, Chicago and NYC are not exactly the same but they are both large cities in the northern part of the US and that was enough similarity for us to push it down the list. Anyways, so I promptly emailed Dan and started dreaming about strolling about Manhattan.
As we planned our weekend, I was really curious as to how we would react to NYC. Dan had always been indifferent to the city and I have always been a little drawn to it. Usually I have an idea what the outcome will be going into a trip (come on, as if we wouldn't have loved France or Hawaii, etc!) but this time it was a little less clear. We could either love it or not care for it.
My conference ended Thursday afternoon and I headed to the hotel to drop off my bags and wait for Dan to arrive. Our hotel was at Battery Park so I walked over to watch the sunset on the Statue of Liberty and then grabbed Shake Shack for dinner. I tried to stay awake for Dan's arrival but totally passed out after reading. This was the first time that we met at the destination instead of traveling together... it was kind of weird.
Friday we were up bright and early with a full day ahead of us. We headed out for the subway to make our way to the East Village for breakfast. Then back to the subway for a quick ride to Midtown for a walk up 5th Avenue to Central Park. We walked through the east side of Central Park all the way up to the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir. Loved Central Park. Then we headed into the Upper East side and started meandering down... with a stop at the first Laduree shop in the US for macarons. We thought about going to Serendipity for a bite but the line and cheesy decor in the waiting area was a turn off so we stopped at a bistro instead... As we were people watching out the window Dan got his request for seeing some "New York Crazy" filled - a man dressed in a negligee and no undies ran across the street... not a head turned but ours. Next up was Rockefeller Center where Dan made a bee-line for the Lego store. Then we walked to Bryant Park and finally looped up the Times Square before catching the subway back to our hotel room. After a quick change back to the subway to head to West Village for dinner. We decided to brave the wait for a table at the Spotted Pig... awesome dinner. It was a tiny place and felt like a very New York dining experience. Then subway back to hotel & collapsed on the super comfy bed.
Day 2 was just as packed. We took the subway up to Chelsea to have NY bagels for breakfast and then walked over to the High Line park... The High Line was cool but felt almost as touristy as Times Square. Then we walked across town to Union Square to check out the Greenmarket. Loved it. But it definitely had a different vibe from the markets in Chicago... much busier. A very hot cider warmed us up as the wind was brutal this day. Then walked down towards the Strand Books... we didn't spend much time here as we were starting to get ready for lunch. Kept walking to Washington Square Park - loved this park and area. Stopped in a little cafe in the West Village for lunch... ended up surrounded by college girls that barely paused talking to take a breath... oy. Then a little bit more walking around West Village before heading down to the Soho shopping area. Loved everything. The buildings in Soho were beautiful. Then we ended up on Broadway... it was the most intense shopping area I have been. Dan's words - "It is like Michigan Avenue on crack." Granted, it was Saturday at about 4:30. The people watching was fantastic. Dean and Deluca's was insane but worth it. I tried unsuccessfully to get Dan to try on bright blue skinny pants at Topshop. Then we took the subway back to hotel and almost took a nap. But I was determined to get Dan over to Battery Park to watch the sunset again. Then subway back to West Village. Predinner drinks at a cool place then dinner at Cafe Cluny. We had a table right by the window and such a good dinner... it again felt very New York and also quite romantic. Subway back to hotel and collapsed.
We were admittedly a little tired on day three but loving every minute of our trip so headed out for the walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. We walked to it through the downtown area and I was disappointed that the area by the NY Stock exchange building was blocked off as I wanted to take photos... but then we saw it was blocked off for filming a riot scene for the new Batman movie- cool. Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge totally lived up to expectations- it was worth it. We goofed around in the park on the Brooklyn side. On my "must do" list was going to the Brooklyn Flea but the subway to that park of Brooklyn was shut down for the weekend for repair-type of work... and so it was cut. After walking back over to Manhattan we visited Ground Zero. And then stopped at Shake Shack for lunch which we ate at the Esplanade. And then it was time to head to the airport.
We loved New York. Loved it. There was talk about maybe including NYC in the short list for our next place of residence. Completely loved New York.
Friday, November 11, 2011 at 6:37PM In October the four of us loaded up the jeep on Friday after work and headed to Kentucky for a fall colors weekend roadtrip. I have been wanting to do a fall colors trip and to visit Kentucky for a long time so was very excited for our little getaway.
Staying true to our travel MO, we tried to cram as much into our short trip as possible. We toured a distillery, drove down country roads in horse country, did a huge hike, had a really nice dinner out, visited a bourbon & wine tasting store, went to a really old candy store, walked in the Louisville Central Park and strolled around downtown all in about 36 hours before our drive home.
We did end up doing some spontaneous additions to the itinerary and switched things up a bit. The distillery tour wasn't planned... I had thought we would save that for a trip where we would visit a few of them but Dan was increasingly excited about the idea with each sign we passed.
After a morning walk around the East Market Street area in Kentucky, we headed east in search of country roads in horse country and a hike in Red River Gorge. But first we did a quick stop at The Woodford Reserve Distillery. It was beautiful.
We walked over the production buildings, which were gorgeous, and pretended to be part of a tour group for a while to check it out. Dan and the dogs got kicked out. Then on the way back to the main road we stopped by the Woodford Thoroughbreds as I had to take a few pics - one of the horses came up to say to me... and was promptely disappointed that I didn't have treats, but not before letting me pet him.
The horse farms with their white and black fences were breathtaking. After a quick stop in Lexington for lunch at a really good deli we headed further east to the Red River Gorge area for hiking. The area was stunning. And the hike was a serious work out with all of those hills. Good thing we had some candies from Muth's Candies (where I got repremanded for not saying please after each piece of our order- puh leeze!).
Notice the attitude I am getting from the beagle in that pic of us on the gorge? She did not want to be moved!
On Sunday we did a walk in Central Park, which was pretty and filled with squirrels. The dogs dragged Dan all over the park. It was really peaceful and a nice way to end the visit. We loved our little getaway and really enjoyed the pretty views in Kentucky. It was an awesome weekend.
We have at least three more trips to Kentucky- one for a touring the bourbon trail, one for touring the countryside north of Lexington, and one for a hiking/backpacking trip in the Red River Gorge area.
getaways Saturday, October 29, 2011 at 8:55AM Back in September I was dying for a break from work and in need of a vacation. We had decided to postpone our 'big' trip for spring but we both needed to get out of the city even if only for a few days. And then an email came in with an offer to use points for a couple of free nights at a hotel - we jumped at the opportunity! (thanks Dan!)
After a bit of deliberation we decided on Duluth. I have really wanted to get up to the northern part of Minnesota and while Duluth isn't quite the Boundary Waters we would still be able to do lots of hiking and be on Lake Superior.
We did scenic drives, saw the nuts watching the raptor migration (seriously), walked the lakeside trail, did one of the top hikes yet, had good food, and strolled along the beach...
(pics are a mix of mine and daniels from both my camera and the point and shoot)
We had so much fun on this getaway. Lots of adventure packed into only a couple of days. We spent the entire time talking about how neat it would be to have a vacation cottage up there. It was a beautiful area and we felt so relaxed and comfortable there.
The hiking was awesome. We were able to a (very small) portion of the Superior Trail which is supposedly a top hiking trail in the country... I believe it. We picked up a brochure thing at the trail club office that lists best sections for day hikes... we just might have to go back to do more of them.
Saturday, July 16, 2011 at 12:41PM We went on our third annual Fourth of July camping trip. This year we headed way up north to the tip top part of Wisconsin to a campground in Copper Falls State Park. It was the best camping trip yet.
And Dan is back behind a camera... he decided that he really just doesn't care as much about the whole SLR and manual settings thing and much prefers having something small that can fit in his pockets easily. So the point and shoot is back in rotation and we get a little bit of a view of the adventures from Dan's perspective... which is nice.
Anyways, this might be a huge post.
We started the trip with a stop at the Lisle Eyes to the Skies balloon fest. So we got up at 4:30am... Dogs aren't allowed at this festival but it was relaxed that morning and we just acted like it was okay that they were there. Dan helped one of the balloon people pack up and then chatted up the pilot. We also checked out the fireworks remenants.
Then it was time for a nearly 8 hour drive. Oy.
And then we made it to the campgrounds only to find out that two bears had been "making mischief" so the rangers had setup a bear trap, caught the smaller bear and were working on catching the bigger bear... the bear trap was next door to our campsite. Lovely. I had been kind of freaked out about camping bear country but we decided not to move to the overflow site. We had really been looking forward to the walk up site that we booked. And our cooking was planned to be minimal with zero dishes so no problem.
We did not see any bears. Or any wildlife other than ticks and man eating mosquitos. Thank goodness for frontline.
The campground has several hikes that included waterfalls. The red granite falls hike was our favorite. The copper falls hike was super moderized and not a real hiking trail which we find lame.
Since we were only 30-45 minutes from Lake Superior we had to check it out. It made for a fun second day to head to Bayfield and then take the ferry to Madeline Island. The picnic at Big Bay State Park beach was a highlight of the trip.
This was my first time taking a vehicle on a ferry. It was kind of expensive but was worth it. And Shelby was starting to get brave or antsy or something... after we got back to Bayside we stopped to fill the jeep and Shelby jumped out of the back window... yeah. Nine year old beagles should not be jumping that far... nor should any age or any breed really. This is the second time this summer she has tried to be an escape artist (the weekend prior she escaped as we were packing up from visiting Dan's parents).
We spent plenty of time chilling and being goofy at the campsite.
That is a deck of cards, by the way, and Dan just might have won at gin rummy for the first time ever. I need some bootcut jeans to wear with hiking shoes- wowza was I stylin.
We finally invested in self inflating sleeping pads... oh my goodness why did we wait so long. They made all of the difference as we actually slept at night. So worth the money. And we cut back our packing significantly including no "real cooking" to keep it all super simple. Dan wants to eventually get to backpacking and we both wanted to simplify the whole process of packing and unpacking.
And then we started the long drive home. Chatting about dreams of having a vacation house on a lake.
It was a very very good if very fast trip.
getaways Saturday, June 18, 2011 at 12:19PM Way back in last fall we decided that our next trip would need to be something that would allow the dogs to go along. They love to travel and it is fun to take them new places... and for a while we had mostly just taken them to visit one of the parents. So it was time for a roadtrip.
Over the winter we debated about places. I really want to head down to New Orleans but that was too far for how much time we had... We thought about the Smokey Mountains and almost went there but the people for rentals were being complete PITAs. So, we settled on the eastern panhandle of West Virginia. It looked cute, had hiking, wasn't too far and we found a vacation rental that would work for us. Then it was just the waiting game as we both were itching for a break from the city.
Finally, the Thursday before Memorial Day rolled around and it was time to hit the road. I took the day off so loaded up the Jeep, picked up the dogs from the groomer (clean dogs are more fun to travel with) and headed out to Dan's office to pick him up. Then it was time to start the random roadtrip observations... like how once you get close to Indiana the billboards become all about fireworks, casinos and gentlemen's lounges (ahem). It is quite classy section of the country. It was an easy drive to our hotel in the Cleveland area.
The next day we drove the rest of the way to Berkeley Springs. We were surprised with how pretty Pennsylvania was, the area around Pittsburg was filled with great scenery. On a whim we stopped at a Primanti Bros location in the burbs to try one of those famous sandwiches. The dogs scared the crap out of some woman. Seriously. We asked the hostess if we could have them on the patio- "of course, people bring dogs all the time".
As we walked up to the edge a woman at a nearby table ran to the wall (with sandwich in hand) freaking out about how terrified of dogs she is, a while later we noticed that she was standing over by the entrance as the rest of the table finished their meals. Wow. The dogs were hurt but one of that ladies friends made it up to them by coming over to give them love. The sandwich was awesome. We really enjoyed the stop- much better than a drive thru.
Berkeley Springs was pretty. After the dogs had a blast checking out the rental house (biggest grins ever) we headed into town for a stroll. Dinner was at a place that uses local sourced ingredients and had a beautiful view.
Saturday was filled with driving some fun twisty roads, a small town parade, saving a turtle that was crossing the road, a jaunt into Maryland to see a super old canal, and almost going to a wine festival. The wine festival ended up being a small disappointment- we were so pumped to randomly come across it but they didn't allow dogs. Traveling with dogs is awesome but it does limit things a bit so we try to do our homework before heading out; this was an almost spontaneous addition to the trip but whatever, we were consoled with an ice cream cone.
Hiking was one of the highlights. We did one of the most challenging hikes as of late. The trail we wanted wasn't quite marked, so we made it up as we barreled over 'Pine Ridge' until we found the next trail. And then it was a super steep incline that gave us all a work out. The dogs of course loved it and were totally game for going off trail.
Steamed crabs on the deck at a local joint was another highlight. The place had a great atmosphere. There was a local musician playing who was clearly having fun. Blue Moon and Raspberry Shock Top kept finding its way onto our table. I kind of whimped out about ripping into the crabs (something about food that still looks like an animal just creeps me out) but it was a great evening.
The drive home was fairly uneventful. The roads were packed as to be expected. Ohio was never ending. We didn't have any major decisions to mull over so just chatted and watched the scenery change from hilly to flat. We were home with plenty of time left for watching a movie while doing laundry to get ready for the week ahead. It was an awesome little getaway.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011 at 8:24PM 
We had a blast on our little mini-trip to West Virginia! One of the highlights of the trip was hiking Cacapon Mountain - that has to be the toughest hike we have done to date. It was quite rewarding to get to the 'vista' point and back. And I have never been more happy to have those Merrell shoes. More on that and the rest of the getaway soon...
getaways 