Quick Trips: Birmingham/Auburn/Prior Lake

September 26-30, 2012 | Birmingham and Auburn, AL 
One of my girl friends in New York who is also from Birmingham and went to Auburn decided to have her wedding in Birmingham on September 29, so I jumped at the chance to not only attend her wedding, but to take a long weekend trip home.  Back in July, I booked my flights.  I don't usually book flights so far in advance, so it was really nice to get a flight home for less than $300 and be at the front of the plane on all legs of the trip!  I also decided to use some of my time home to make a trip down to Auburn to have a consultation and possibly undergo Lasik surgery.  I have done extensive research on the surgery and even went to a consultation here in New York as something of a "practice run," so made an appointment at Hollis Lasik on the Thursday I would be home, with the hopes of also having the surgery done on that day.

On Wednesday, September 26, I left work a couple hours early and headed to LaGuardia.  I was in Birmingham a little before 10pm.  Thursday morning I was up early for a dentist appointment, and then my parents and I were on our way to Auburn for my eye surgery.  We first headed to Amsterdam Cafe, one of my absolute favorite spots in Auburn, for a pre-surgery lunch.  Unfortunately Steve was in class so couldn't meet us, but that didn't really detract from how delicious the crab cake and avocado sandwich with sweet potato fries was.  I normally get the turkey wrap, another Amsterdam Cafe specialty, but knowing the Birmingham News had listed the crab cake & avocado on their list of "100 Dishes to Eat in Alabama Before You Die," I decided it was time to finally try it.  It really was amazing and reminded me a little of my mom's crab and lobster salad sandwich when we visited Niagara-On-The-Lake.

Amsterdam Cafe doesn't look like much from the outside:

After lunch, we killed a little time in Tiger Rags and J&M Bookstore before checking in for my 1:30pm appointment at Hollis.  They ran all the tests and got all the measurements, and ultimately I did end up having the surgery done.  Things were definitely a little blurry for the next few days, and ultimately I would end up going back to Auburn for a touch up on my right eye, but I'm getting ahead of myself.  We headed back to Birmingham late Thursday afternoon.  On Friday, Sean flew into town, so we went and fetched him from the airport then got ready for the rehearsal dinner at Park Lane in English Village that night.  I could see well enough to drive, so getting around was not too difficult.  Park Lane was a beautiful event space, and we enjoyed the cocktail hour before moving along to the large tables (we were seated with other New Yorkers) and having the pre-determined three-course (chicken) meal.

Saturday was spent mostly lounging around watching football until the 5pm wedding at St. Luke's Episcopal Church.  After the wedding, we made the short drive over to Rucker Place, one of the historic homes in Birmingham used solely as an event space now.  The house was pretty but nothing particularly extravagant.  The reception was  relatively short, and after sending off the new bride and groom, we headed to the Tutwiler Hotel for a nightcap with our friends.  

A daytime shot of Rucker Place from the web:

Sunday my family made a much-missed steak dinner and then Sean and I were off to the airport.  My flight back to New York had a long connection in (my favorite airport) Detroit, so I took the time to not only go through the light tunnel but also have a proper sit-down dinner in one of the restaurants.  I flew back into Newark for the first time since I've been living here (it's a little far to make it my regular hub) and landed a little before midnight.  It was great to spend a few days at home, have Sean get to know my family a little better, and most importantly, get new eyes!

Miles Traveled Today: 2,142 (in black on the map)


November 2-4, 2012 | Prior Lake, MN 
The first weekend of November meant another work trip, this time to Prior Lake, Minnesota and Mystic Lake Casino, a Native American reservation approximately 30 miles outside of Minneapolis.  This trip came at a rather opportune (albeit hectic) time, as only four days earlier, Hurricane Sandy had come through and devastated New York City.  I had lost my power on Monday, so by the time Friday rolled around, I was beyond ready to get out of my cold, dark apartment and take up residence for the weekend in a hotel suite with hot water and comped food.  

The Mystic Lake compound, complete with a light teepee:

Because of a gas shortage, taxi and car service availability was unreliable and almost non-existent, so through a work colleague was able to arrange for a private car service to pick me up and get me to LaGuardia.  My flight departed New York on time, surprisingly, at 4:30pm, and we landed around 6:30 in Minneapolis.  The casino had sent one of their drivers to fetch me, and as we were driving toward Prior Lake, the driver pointed out the Mall of America (an attraction I had hoped I might have the chance to see on this trip, but when you get right down to it, it's just a mall...) and the giant teepee-shaped lights rising out of the reservation.  After being whisked through the VIP check-in and getting settled into my huge suite (totally unnecessary for one person for 2 days!), I took one of the greatest showers of my life (it had been 3 whole days since I'd had a proper shower).  Next up on the itinerary was heading down to the Mystic Lake Steakhouse, where I put the per diem the casino was providing me to good use.  What I really wanted was a nice glass of wine, but this casino is oddly dry and there is no alcohol on the premises, so I took a risk with the virgin caipirinha.  It was a little sweet and could have really used some rum.  :)  While the non-alcoholic menu left a bit to be desired, the food did it.  My Caesar salad, 6 oz. filet, sauteed mushrooms and potatoes au gratin were all delicious.  It had been an exhausting week, so by the time I was finished up with dinner, I was ready to crash.

The next morning when I woke up, I toyed with the idea of heading back to the city; the casino actually provides a shuttle that runs back and forth every hour to the mall, but I was more interested in eating and sleeping and watching football.  I first headed downstairs to the Minnehaha Cafe, which was a cute cafe in the middle of the casino that had lots of plants and umbrellas over the tables to give it the look of an outdoor cafe.  I had an omelet that was quite good, took a quick loop around the casino to find the venue, then made a pit stop at the coffee bar by the elevators where I splurged (with my per diem of course) on an iced mocha mint drink which was amazing (and which I would have a couple more times over the course of the weekend!).  After some napping and football, I headed back down in search of more food before the show - this time an order of eggrolls (they were big) at Fusion Noodle Bar, part of a little food court in the casino.  The show went off without a hitch that evening, and after the show we had the steakhouse cater to the whole touring party backstage while we watched Saturday Night Live.  This time, I opted for a Caesar salad and the sesame-seared tuna appetizer (I'd been munching on veggies backstage all night so wasn't starving).  After a fun dinner with all the comics, we then headed up to the Minnehaha Cafe for dessert, where I had a huge sundae.  It was definitely a fun night!

The Minnehaha Cafe:

 
My flight left out of Minneapolis at 10am on Sunday morning, so it was an early wake up call to meet the car downstairs (after another iced mint mocha of course) and make the drive back to the airport.  I was back in New York a little after 2pm, where my power and hot water had been restored, so it was good to be home and get re-settled into my home which had blankets and the warm clothes I'd been sleeping in every night and flashlights strewn all over the place!

Miles Traveled Today: 2,449 (in blue on the map) 


November 6-7, 2012 | Atlanta to Auburn to Birmingham
Just a couple days after getting back from my work trip, it was time to turn around and head back to Auburn.  A few weeks earlier, I decided it was time to go back to the Lasik place and have my eyes checked out.  I was still having some pretty significant blurriness in my right eye, and now that it had been over a month since the original surgery, it was time to go have it touched up.  This was a quick trip - I wasn't even home for 24 hours - but it included a trip to Chick-Fil-A in Atlanta, driving straight to Auburn, having the procedure, heading over to my brother's new house and then a family dinner at The Hound, a relatively new restaurant in downtown Auburn.  We ordered a couple orders of the scotch egg as appetizers which were phenomenal, and I had the Mama Kate's Meatloaf as my entree, which did not disappoint.  It was served with mashed potatoes and bacon-braised collards, so I was completely stuffed by the time we headed back home to Birmingham.

The Hound Bar & Restaurant (from the web):

 
The next morning my eyes were feeling fine, so we cancelled the optional 8am check-up visit in Auburn and spent most of the morning trying to figure out how to get me on a flight that was going to get back into New York with an impending blizzard bearing down on the city.  After bumping my flight up to an earlier departure to beat the weather, we made it to the Atlanta airport a little after 1pm.  I miraculously experienced no delays, and by 4pm (and after a tenuous landing involving some serious winds) I was back in New York and standing in a long cab line shielding myself from the furiously-blowing snow.  I didn't even need a jacket back in Alabama...

Miles Traveled Today: 2,127 (in red on the map)



My trip(s):

Total Miles Traveled: 58,397

San Francisco/Outside Lands: Days 1-3

On August 9, I flew out to San Francisco once again, this time for the weekend-long music festival held annually in Golden Gate Park, Outside Lands.  Sean had been kind enough to surprise me with a VIP ticket a few months back, so I opted to pick up my airfare.  My flight was scheduled to depart from JFK at 8:00pm (Delta).  I ordered a car, as is now standard fare for my JFK flights, and was at the airport with plenty of time to spare.  At around the time we were to begin boarding, we were informed we were waiting on the captain for our crew to arrive, and there would be a slight delay.  Approximately 30 minutes later, we began boarding.  With my special Amex status, I was one of the first on the plane and got settled into my seat for the long flight.  We had been sitting on the plane for approximately 10 minutes (nowhere near the entire plane had been boarded) when one of the flight attendants announced to the plane that we would need to exit the plane with all our belongings - the captain had still not arrived.  And you boarded us because...

We grudgingly got all our bags down and returned back to the gate, only to be informed our pilot was on a plane from Jacksonville, and it would probably be another two hours before he arrived.  Now, I'm not sure what really happened (suffice it to say I don't believe what they were telling us), but this was beyond irritating - the flight was getting in late (midnight) anyways, and this was just going to make it even more inconvenient.  They issued each passenger a $5 voucher for food, but as luck would have it, this was completely worthless, as by the time they gave it to us, all the food spots in the airport were closed.  We did finally take off, of course, and made a rather late landing at around 2:30am in San Francisco.  Sean couldn't find a cab to take him to the airport that late to come pick me up, so I ended up just getting a cab by myself.  We were both sleep-walking by the time I arrived, so off to bed we went.

We woke up Friday morning after a much-needed snooze, and made our way down the street to Cafe Reverie for a quick breakfast before heading out to the festival.  Almost every breakfast spot was completely packed with a line out the door (festival goers, no doubt), so it was lucky we found a spot where we could order and sit immediately.  I had the huevos rancheros dish, which was perfect and very filling (which was the goal, since I wasn't sure when the next time we'd get food would be).  After breakfast, we headed back to the apartment to layer on more clothes.  And thus began perhaps the most distinct memory of the weekend - it was COLD.  The sun was only "sort of" out but mostly shrouded in fog, and with the wind, forget about it.  I of course had no idea August in San Francisco was going to be like this, or I would have packed totally different attire.  It would have been comfortable out had I brought sweaters and boots.  But no, I had packed my light, flowy summer clothes and barely-there sandals.  I got lucky that I am always cold on planes, so had packed some jackets for that part of the trip.  I'm not so sure what I would have done without my 'travel jackets.'  After adding a few layers and bracing myself for the cold, we headed back out and got on the above-ground train that took us most of the distance to the park.

"The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco." - Mark Twain
 All bundled up at the festival:

  At around 1:30pm, we were making our way through the festival gates and headed straight for the VIP tent which not only provided a welcome respite from the wind at various times throughout the weekend, but also had private porta-potties, masseuses, bars and food offerings.  I'm not sure that the $500 price tag was totally worth all this, but it certainly made the entire weekend more comfortable.  The layout of the festival grounds was very spread out, so it really made going back and forth difficult (not to mention dirty - the paths between stages were incredibly dusty and we were covered in it from the knees down).  We managed to make it to nearly all of the bands we wanted to see over the course of the weekend - Wallpaper., Fitz and the Tantrums, Beck, Foo Fighters, Neil Young,  Portugal. the Man, Alabama Shakes, Big Boi, Passion Pit, Metallica, Fun., Tom Morello, Trampled by Turtles, Regina Spektor and Jack White.  The only artist we missed that I would have really liked to have seen was Stevie Wonder.  Unfortunately, we had to cut that night short, as I needed to head back to the apartment and get my bag to head to the airport.  

An aerial view of the festival at Golden Gate Park:

 

We did have time to order a delicious Italian dinner from a spot in the neighborhood on Sunday night before it was time to head to the airport -  Bambino's - which was a welcome treat after a weekend of 'festival food.'  My plane left San Francisco around 11:15pm and I was back in New York by around 8:00am.  I had enough time, fortunately, to head home and take a quick shower and change out of my plane (plain) clothes, and then off to work I went.  The redeye thing is still very difficult for me to get used to, I'm not going to lie.  I was a total zombie for the next couple days.  Overall, it was a lovely weekend, but I'm not so sure about San Francisco in the summer anymore.  Or at least I know to pack differently if I ever do have to be there in August again!  :)

My trip:

  

"I left my heart in San Francisco,

High on a hill, it calls to me,

To be where little cable cars climb halfway to the stars,

The morning fog may chill the air, I don't care..." - I Left My Heart in San Francisco, Tony Bennett

Miles Traveled Today: 5,812

Total Miles Traveled: 51,679

Newport, RI: Days 1-3

At the beginning of March, Sean and I bought tickets to the Newport Folk Festival in Newport, RI.   The festival made a concerted effort to put "younger" bands on the lineup this year, and it worked.  Not only did it make it a no-brainer for us to want to go, but clearly everyone else felt the same way - this was the first year since the festival began in 1959 that tickets sold out three months in advance!  Newport is a town I've always associated with rich New Yorkers harboring their yachts for weekend getaways, so this was the perfect excuse to get to spend some time in Newport.

A photo that really sold me on this festival:

After exhaustive research on the best way to get to Newport from Manhattan, we decided to rent a car from Enterprise.  There is an Amtrak train that can get you to Providence, and then a bus that runs from Providence to Newport, or a bus that runs from New York to a place in Rhode Island, and then you can take a ferry to Newport, but ultimately because we wanted to leave Thursday after work and return late Sunday night to avoid paying for another night at our expensive accommodations, all the options became extremely complicated and essentially impossible when we started looking at departure/arrival times for buses, trains, etc.  So with that, we booked our rental car at a four-day rate of $330.  One thing I did learn in renting this car is that your "day" begins at your reserved pick up time.  Therefore, if I were to pick the car up at 7pm on Thursday and return it at 6:45pm on Friday, I'd only be charged one day, but if I returned it at 7:05pm on Friday, I'd be charged two days.  The best part, though, is that the location I selected offered an after-hours car drop off (I was really nervous about having to find a place to park the car late on a Sunday night and have to drive it through rush hour traffic to return it on Monday morning!).  Fortunately, they let me know the parking garage next door would take the returned car 24 hours a day.  

Another big part of my planning was deciding the best way to spend Friday in Newport.  Saturday and Sunday would be all festival, all day, but Friday would be our chance to see the town, so I wanted to put a day together that wouldn't be too hectic, but where we'd still get to see a lot.  I found an awesome article in the New York Times that went through what to do with 36 hours in Newport, and I ended up taking a lot of their ideas - it was so helpful!  The final piece of the trip was booking the hotel; hotels and bed & breakfasts were incredibly expensive with this being not only a summer weekend, but probably the most touristy of the summer weekends in Newport because of the festival, so we looked at a variety of options.  We could get a very inexpensive hotel approximately 30 minutes away in Providence, but ultimately we decided if we were going to do this, we were going to do it the way it was meant to be done, so we booked the Hilltop Inn right in the heart of Newport.  The Hilltop Inn was selected based on price, availability and after reading literally hundreds of reviews of different bed & breakfasts on TripAdvisor.  There was only one room left at the bed & breakfast when we selected it, so we didn't have much of a choice as far as picking a room that was cheaper, but when all was booked, our three night stay at the Hilltop came in at a whopping $1,408.

Finally on Thursday, July 26, it was time to leave.  Of course, at around the time Sean's flight was to be landing in New York, a massive storm began rolling across the northeast, delaying his flight numerous times and keeping him from making it to the rental car spot for our 7pm reservation.  I went ahead and got the car and sat on the side of the street until he arrived, approximately 30 minutes later.  And then we were off!  Literally the moment we turned onto the bridge to head out of the city, the bottom fell out, and it would continue to pour the rest of the way to Newport.  Not a great omen!  We only hit a couple tolls ($6 and $3 if memory serves) between New York and Newport, which was a pleasant surprise - I had been bracing myself for as much as $20 or $30 worth of tolls.  We stopped at a rest stop in Connecticut for a McDonald's dinner and a little before midnight, we were pulling up  to the Hilltop Inn.  The inn had it's own small, private parking lot which was a huge relief - I had been worried about parallel parking!  I had called earlier in the afternoon to let them know we would be arriving well after the 4pm check-in, and they let me know they don't actually have anyone "on duty" after 9pm, so they would leave our keys and directions in a box at the front door.  We found the box easily and made our way to our room, the Stewart Room, which was the only room on the first floor but was well-separated from the common areas also on the first floor.  My first impression was that it actually was larger than the photos on the website had made it look.  The bathroom was gigantic with a whirlpool tub, a vanity separate from the sink area and a massive glass-walled shower.  Everything was so cozy, just like we were in someone's home (which I suppose we were).  I was also surprised (but happy!) to see a bottle of Veuve Cliquot and two champagne glasses waiting for us on the nightstand - Sean had added it on to our room reservation unbeknownst to me.  We popped it open and downed the bottle and then promptly passed out - between his delays at the airport and the long drive in the rain, we were both pooped!

A view of our cute room:

On Friday morning, we made sure to wake up in time for breakfast, which was served from 8:30-10am.  When we came out of the room, we were quickly greeted by someone who appeared to be an owner as well as a maid/cook-type person.  We grabbed plates and helped ourselves to the small cold food bar (granola, yogurt, fruit, etc. and some amazing chocolate and raspberry-filled pastries.  This would have been enough for us, but then we sat down and were informed what the two hot food options were for the day.  The breakfast was so good all three days, and it was so difficult to choose between the options every day, because everything sounded amazing!  I had a delicious frittata with toast and fresh orange juice while Sean had scrambled eggs with bacon.

Had to take a picture of our amazing breakfast:

After breakfast, we got in the car and headed for the Breakers, the Vanderbilt summer home.  Although there are a number of lavish mansions available for tours in Newport, the general consensus on TripAdvisor was that if you only have time for one, this is the one to see.  It only took about 15 minutes to drive to Ochre Point, one of the roads that literally has mansion after mansion, and we parked in the Breakers public parking lot, which was surprisingly (and pleasantly!) free.  Tickets for the audio tour were $20 per person, but I felt like it was totally worth the price of admission.  We got our headsets and began the journey through the mansion, which took us up the stairs, through narrow doorways into the children's bedrooms and even out onto the second floor balcony for a spectacular view of the sprawling backyard and cliffs dropping down to the Atlantic Ocean.  The thing that probably struck me the most about the mansion was the exquisite detail put into each and every square inch.  From the intricate angels painted into frescoes on the ceiling to the water fountain under the grand staircase and the room completely "wallpapered" in dark green leather to the gold gilding everywhere we turned, the home was truly spectacular and everything you hope a Vanderbilt "summer home" will be!

The view from the balcony looking out on the backyard:

It took approximately an hour and a half to go through the entire house.  After we finished up the tour and made a pit stop at the gift store, we headed around the side of the house to the backyard to see if there was a way to get to the Cliffwalk from the Breakers (there was, but the gate was locked).  We headed back to the car to find a place to park near one of the entrances to the Cliffwalk (most of the street parking was for people with fishing licenses or employees of Salve Regina, a university that has taken up it's quarters in a number of the abandoned mansions).  There was $10 parking available at the beach, but the beach parking was a pretty good walk from the Cliffwalk entrance, so with a little bit of patience and driving around, we finally found some street parking on Webster Street and made our way to the Webster Street entrance of the Cliffwalk.  We began walking south, back toward the mansions.  It was a beautiful day for the walk - despite the forecast of rain, the sun was out and there was a nice, salty breeze blowing in from the ocean.  To our right were the mansions (most of which could have been identified by checking the map on the Cliffwalk's website, but we choose to just oogle them without context!), and to our left were the waves breaking against the rocks below us, the water littered with surfers braving what no doubt was some icy cold water.  We walked what I would estimate to be a mile and a half or so on the winding path, peaking over the tall fences and spiky shrubbery for better views of the mansions.  We finally got to a spot where the path became all rocks, and although the Cliffwalk continued on for another mile and a half or so, this was our turn around point.  We'd seen enough, it was getting hot, and there's no way we could have gotten across all those jagged rocks in our sandals.  If you're going to try to do the full Cliffwalk, wear the right shoes!

Us at the rocks (our stopping point):

At this point, it was time for lunch, so we got in the car and drove a little ways to what I guess would be considered the trendy "downtown" area of Newport to a restaurant I had seen recommended a couple places online, the Brick Alley Pub.  Our free parking luck ran out on this one, so we ended up pulling behind the restaurant into a parking lot where we had to pay a couple dollars to park.  We made our way through the alley and up onto the main street, Thames, where we were assaulted with souvenir shop after souvenir shop and restaurant pub after pub.  Definitely a touristy area, but also appeared to be the most lively area of Newport.  I can't be sure why this restaurant came so highly recommended.  It was fine, but it was kitschy (the walls were covered with knick-knacks and vintage posters) and had the same atmosphere you get visiting a Ruby Tuesday or a Cracker Barrel.  Not that there's anything wrong with those places, but it's just not a very authentic experience.  However, the place was PACKED (had we had more than 2 people in our party I think we would have had to wait), and the menu was extensive in every way, with multiple pages devoted to appetizers or drinks or sandwiches.  I opted for the cup of the clam chowder and the "create your own" lettuce wraps which were both very good, so no complaints outside of the obviously lame environment we were in.

After finishing up lunch, we headed back to the car and made the approximately 15-20 minute drive to the Coastal Extreme Brewing Company, where I had discovered online offered rum and beer tastings.  Yes please!  We missed the turn a couple times because it literally comes out of nowhere on the highway and we didn't see any signs - just an industrial looking building and a big grain silo.  This brewery is the home of Newport Storm beer which I had never heard of, but seems to be THE beer of Rhode Island and was available everywhere we turned.  While Sean paid the $7 for the beer tasting, I splurged on the $9 rum tasting, which was comprised of three different servings of Thomas Tew rum.  One thing I learned is that Newport was at one time the rum-running capital of the world, and was overrun by pirates, so I decided in honor of that history, a little rum would be a good idea!  The rum had very strong flavors, and I enjoyed it, but after taking a sip of Sean's blueberry beer, I knew I'd made a mistake.  The blueberry beer was amazing!  Fortunately for us (me), Newport Storm is the official beer of the Newport Folk Festival, so I knew I'd be able to drink blueberry beer to my heart's content the rest of the weekend.  At 3pm, the daily tour of the brewery began.  Seeing as how we were already there, we joined the other 12 people drinking at the bar with us and headed upstairs to the viewing platform, where the distilling process was described in thorough detail.  It was very loud and difficult to hear the tour guide/bartender unless he was standing right next to us, but fortunately he let us bring our drinks with us, so I stayed occupied.  :)  After the 15-20 minute "tour" (which was just us standing on the platform and not worth actually showing up at the brewery at 3pm for, I assure you), we headed back downstairs, finished up our tasting and headed back to the hotel to nap and get ready for dinner.  Our nap could not have come at a more perfect time, either - we woke up to a serious rainstorm.  How we managed to avoid it after being out and about all day, I have no idea.

The beer:

So we got cleaned up, and as the rain tapered off, we debated walking vs. driving down to the wharf where we had an 8pm dinner reservation at the Mooring Restaurant.  However, with the looming threat of more rain, we decided to take the car and pay to park in the restaurant's lot (paying for parking in this lot is only in effect for the summer months, by the way).  The New York Times article had recommended getting pre-dinner cocktails at Fluke Wine Bar, which was conveniently located a short walk (less than a block) from the restaurant and the parking.  This was probably my favorite area of Newport - there was a great view of the harbor and all the boats sailing out in the water, and there was no shortage of restaurants and bars and shops all along the wharf.  It was a really cute place to just walk around.  We headed upstairs at Fluke (the hostess informed us that they do serve dinner at the bar so if a reservation showed up, they'd kick us out...fortunately that never happened), sat down at the bar which gave us a view of the water below and had a couple cocktails.  I first ordered the Fluke Sunset (rum, passionfruit and pom) on the recommendation of the Times writer while Sean ordered the Ocean Drive (gin, cucumber, mint).  I had a sip of his and switched to the Ocean Drive for my second drink.  While the Fluke Sunset was very pretty to look at, I didn't much care for the taste.  The Ocean Drive drink was much more summery and refreshing.

Pretty Fluke Sunset cocktail:

A little before 8pm, we headed back downstairs and over to the Mooring for dinner.  We were seated immediately, and although I had originally requested outdoor seating on the reservation, it was just too humid to sit outside, so we were seated at a table by the window instead.  We started off by ordering from the raw oyster bar (of course) - we had 2 dozen delicious, briny oysters plucked straight from the water next to us.  So good!  For my main course, I ordered the yellowfin tuna stuffed  with feta and basil, on a bed of rice and sun-dried tomatoes.  The whole meal was pretty phenomenal!  Even though we were eating seafood, we opted for a bottle of red (the name escapes me, of course).  I would definitely recommend this restaurant (if only for the oysters!), and on a summer night with more of a breeze, sitting outside overlooking the water would have been absolutely perfect!  We made our way back to the hotel after dinner - the rest of the weekend was going to be a long one filled with lots of outdoors, hopefully not a lot of rain and tons of great bands!

Saturday morning, we woke up and had another incredible breakfast at our little home for the weekend, and after debating the pros and cons of driving vs. taking the ferry to Fort Adams State Park where the festival was being held, we decided to just drive.  We'd already purchased parking passes, and there was something that made me more comfortable about just having the car there with us.  This would prove to be perhaps the greatest decision of the weekend because just as we were leaving on Saturday evening, the thunderstorm to end all thunderstorms attacked, and the line to get on the ferry was very long and very wet.  We managed to get back to the car without more than a few sprinkles touching us.  Success!  Both days of the festival were so enjoyable, and we got so lucky once again with the weather - it was overcast all weekend, but we never got rained on.  The rain only began once we were safely in our car on both days, so I can't ask for much more than that!  The way the festival had been integrated into the park was really interesting - there was literally a stage inside the fort - and with the harbor full of yachts and boats right next to the main stage, it almost felt like were on a deserted island listening to all the music.  Traffic wasn't too bad on either day (especially Sunday when we left especially early to get back to New York), and I think had it not been raining cats and dogs while we were leaving on Saturday night, we would have been out of there and back to the hotel in less then half an hour.  We managed to get to the park from our hotel both mornings within 20 or 30 minutes, which again, was a pleasant surprise.  I think so many people did end up taking the ferry or biking, trying to be environmentally-conscious, but thanks to good old Mother Nature and her fury, those of us with the cars were the ones who were ultimately rewarded in the end.  :)

In one of the common rooms at our B&B before heading to the festival:

Saturday night after leaving the festival, we headed back to the hotel to change, clean off and let the rainstorm pass, then made our way on foot back down to the wharf area (only maybe a 15 or 20 minute walk), passing lots of really old buildings with historical markers we stopped to read occasionally.   We had looked on Yelp for a while so we knew heading down to this area would be our best bet for food at this hour (10pm).  The sidewalks were also completely devoid of street lighting, which made walking down the cobblestone a little creepy.  Sean of course took this chance to scare me nearly to death as we walked past a cemetery.  We picked a random pub, the Wharf Pub & Restaurant on Bowens Wharf, to stop in and grab a quick dinner.  It was standard pub fare, so I had the fish and chips.  I'm pretty confident this was not fresh-from-the-water fish, but we were so tired and hungry that I don't suppose it really mattered.

A little bit of the wharf area:

On Sunday, we left the festival a little after 5pm, stopped in a random city along the way for dinner at an Applebee's, and were dropping off the car at the parking garage near the rental place a little after midnight.  Overall, we both fell in love with Newport and discussed wanting to go back to enjoy the actual town for an entire weekend (as opposed to being tied up with the festival).  There are so many fun things to do - beaches, boats, tours - that we just couldn't get to, and I look forward to hopefully heading back one day to take in more of the town!

My trip:

 

"Rhode Island, oh Rhode Island
surrounded by the sea,

Some people roam the earth for home;
Rhode Island, it's for me..." - Rhode Island It's For Me, Rhode Island State Song

Miles Traveled Today: 354

Total Miles Traveled: 45,867

Washington, DC: 4th of July

The second to last week of June, Sean and I started talking about going somewhere for the 4th of July.  I was ready to get out of New York for a few days, and he nixed San Francisco because of how cold July is there, so we looked elsewhere.  Having lived in Washington, D.C. for a couple years, he mentioned how much he enjoyed being there on the 4th and how he thinks it's the best city to be in for the holiday, so we started planning our somewhat last minute trip!

He first booked the hotel, the Helix Hotel, which was in an area he felt would be convenient to walking to and from the fireworks and in a good area (Dupont Circle).  The Helix is a Kimpton hotel, and having stayed at a Kimpton hotel before, I knew it would have a funky, boutique vibe.  I was pleasantly surprised to find out the rate was only $111 a night, quite a bit cheaper than I was expecting for D.C.'s biggest holiday!  We decided to stay for 3 nights - arriving on Wednesday, July 4 and departing on Saturday, July 7.  Once the hotel was booked, I tried to no avail to get put on a Congressional/Senate guest list for a Bureau of Engraving & Printing tour, the one thing I've not had the opportunity to do in my two previous trips to the city.  Each Senator and Congress person has a link on their personal website to request spots on the harder-to-get tours (White House, Capitol, etc.)  Although it is possible to go stand in line and get one of the free tickets distributed every day for the "money factory," the website indicated the line begins forming as early as 6 or 7am.  It's not that important to me.  Unfortunately, only one of the 5 or 6 reps I contacted actually responded to me; I was informed her spots for the Bureau of Engraving & Printing tours were filled up through the middle of August.  The drawbacks of a last minute trip, I suppose.  The one last ahead-of-time thing I did was get our reserved tickets online to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, a relatively new museum and the one I was perhaps most looking forward to visiting.

 A couple days later, we decided the easiest thing to do would be for Sean to fly in to D.C., and I could take the Amtrak train down on Wednesday morning, then we could both take the train back to New York on Saturday morning and have the rest of the weekend together back at home.  My Acela train departed Penn Station at 10am, and after only a few quick stops (Philadelphia, Wilmington, Baltimore), I was pulling up to Union Station in D.C. a little before 1pm.  My ticket had been in business class, which was so nice - plenty of empty seats and extra leg room.  Sean was there to meet me at Union Station, and we grabbed a quick lunch in the station's food court before hopping in a cab to the hotel.  It was a hot, hot day in D.C. - a heat wave was sweeping through the area and looked like it would be blanketing us for the duration of our trip.  It was literally like walking into a wall of heat every time we stepped outside!  Our hotel room was cute and built like an alcove studio apartment with the bed tucked away around a corner.  The actual hotel was situated in the middle of a quiet block that appeared to be residential.  We cooled down for a little bit and then headed back out on foot.   

Our room at Hotel Helix:

The tourists were out in full force today - there were people, lots of people, everywhere!  Although I've done the walk to all the monuments before, we ended up making our way to almost all of them, first heading to the White House, then to the Lincoln Memorial and the war memorials around it (this is approximately the time where we started to melt).  We grabbed hot dogs (just being the best Americans we could be!) at a little stand near the Lincoln Memorial and continued to chug water - we were sweating it out as quickly as we could drink it in it seemed - and then decided to figure out the best spot to watch the fireworks from.  We tried a couple spots (every building's lawn in the entire city was full of people, so there was no shortage of options), but ultimately we made the call that if we were going to do this, we were going to do it right, so headed up the hill to the Washington Monument and settled in right at the barricade for a couple hours before the fireworks began, cooling down and resting my poor feet (trapped in new sandals all day...ouch).  Once the sun finally disappeared, approximately 8:45pm, the fireworks began.  The fireworks were launched from the empty pool area between us and the Lincoln Memorial, so we had an incredible view, and I would recommend anyone who wants to brave the crowds and do D.C. on the 4th should watch from the Washington Monument.  The fireworks were beautiful against the backdrop of the monuments that surrounded us:

Once the fireworks wrapped up 30 minutes later, we slowly made our way back to the hotel through the throngs of people flooding every inch of street and sidewalk and lawn in D.C.  It took about half an hour to make the walk back through all the people.  Showering felt soooo good when we finally made it back to the room!

The next morning, we made the half mile walk to the McPherson Square metro station and headed toward Ballston in Arlington, where we were meeting Sean's friend for lunch at the mall.  We first made a pit stop in Clarendon, where Sean used to live, so he could show me his old apartment building and neighborhood.  Clarendon was such a nice area, with lots of cute restaurants and bars and shiny, new buildings all over.  Once we got to Ballston, it was just a short walk to the mall (Ballston Common).  After lunch, we headed back into the city, getting off at the Smithsonian station this time, and headed to the National Museum of American History, a museum that had been under renovation the last time I had been in town.  We spent a couple hours making our way through the massive museum; we saw lots of cool exhibits, spending the most time in the war exhibits partly because Sean is really fascinated by the military, and partly because it was just really well done, and of course checking out Dorothy's sequined red slippers and the rest of the pop culture room. 

My favorite part of the museum, though, was getting to see the Star-Spangled Banner.  I actually had no idea this flag existed, and it was almost an afterthought as we were walking toward the exit to jump in the long (but quickly-moving) line to see the flag.  The line wound into a very dark room, and in front of us was the biggest, most beautiful American flag I think I've ever seen.  Yes it was tattered and was becoming unwoven in places, but it was a breathtaking thing to see - such a powerful image of our nation's struggle in its beginning years, laying right there in front of us under protective glass and dim lights.  On September 14, 1814, U.S. soldiers at Baltimore’s Fort McHenry raised a huge American flag to celebrate a crucial victory over British forces during the War of 1812. The sight of those “broad stripes and bright stars” inspired Francis Scott Key to write a song that eventually became the United States national anthem.  And we were staring right at the flag!  It was definitely my favorite part of the museum, and a perfect thing to get to experience on our 4th of July trip.

Photos were not allowed in the room with the flag (the flash would damage the material), so here's a web photo of what we saw:

After we made our way back to the hotel (just in time for the complimentary happy hour in the lobby - hello watermelon sangria!) and cleaned up, we hopped in a cab and headed out to another of Sean's friends' homes out in Arlington.  Traffic was pretty bad (we were hitting it right at rush hour), but we were pulling up to this gorgeous home on a quiet, tree-filled block within half an hour or so.  To live so close to the bustling downtown of D.C., this neighborhood was peaceful and seemed like a perfect slice of suburbia.  We got the full tour of the home while the friend's wife put the two little babies to bed - complete with a sprawling, finished basement and a cute backyard with a small garden and enough space to build a pool.  We grilled out steaks on the patio and sat inside (it was still a little warm!) and devoured the delicious meal.  After killing several bottles of wine, we decided it was time to call it a night, so called a cab and made our way back to the Helix.

On Friday morning, we slept in and then walked around for a little bit until we settled on having a quick lunch at Panera Bread.  After lunch, we made our way to the Holocaust Museum.  The reserved tickets I had gotten online were convenient, in that you get a reserved time, but you can show up any time after that assigned time.  We had tickets for 1:15pm and rolled perhaps half an hour later.  After lots of laughing and smiling so far on this trip, we were immediately thrust into a very somber mood.  Going through it, I did realize there isn't much I don't know about the Holocaust, but all the same the entire presentation was very powerful and heavy.  I don't think we said a word for the entire hour plus it took us to walk through the entire museum.  There were also a number of videos that were built into the walls in such a way that children (or at least people under a certain height) would be unable to see the graphic images being displayed on them.  Scientific experiments being run on the Jews, etc...it was all very disturbing.  Near the end, there were videos the first military who entered the concentration camps took of what they were seeing for the first time.  Those videos were very emotional and it's all just so sad - the rest of world had basically ignored what was happening and had no idea how bad it had gotten.  The looks on the faces of the liberated was just heart-breaking.

 
When we walked out of the museum, we were definitely "down," and just looked at each other and said, "okaaaay...." - it was difficult to walk out of there back into the real world and just continue along on our fun getaway!  In keeping with the somberness of the day, we decided to then get on the metro and head out to Arlington National Cemetery.  We arrived at approximately 3:30pm and immediately made our way toward the Tomb of the Unknowns / Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  Although the cemetery was selling rides on their trolley that would take you around the cemetery, we decided to go at our own pace and go by foot.  Our timing was impeccable, as we were walking up to the tomb right as the Changing of the Guard was about to begin.  It should also be noted that the cemetery's trolley would have not been a bad idea at all.  The hills in the cemetery were no joke, and combined with the sweltering heat, I'm not so sure that the exercise was really worth it!  Getting to see the Changing of the Guard was really cool; everything was so precisely done, and it felt like we were getting a glimpse into a very special ceremony that these sentinels take incredibly seriously.

Guarding the tomb:

After the ceremony finished up, we started walking around.  We first saw some of the memorials, particularly the three in honor of the astronauts killed in their own disasters, and then looking at the different gravestones throughout the ceremony, noticing some of the tiny differences indicating the religion of the person buried, commenting on the various ranks of people varied there, and dropping our jaws at some of the graves that were hundreds of years old.  We made a long, uphill hike to  Arlington House, Robert E. Lee's home overlooking the cemetery and the city of D.C.  Charles L'Enfant's grave was also located in front of the house.

In the front yard of the house:

  The home was set up like a small museum with original artifacts decorating the home.  We then walked around the gardens in front of the house and finally back down the hill toward the Kennedy graves.  After reading so much about it, it was pretty awesome to get to see the Eternal Flame in person with John F. Kennedy, Jacqueline Onassis Kennedy and their stillborn daughter's graves.  We then went around the corner to Robert F. Kennedy's grave, which was so simple and understated in the shadows of his more famous brother's extravagant grave site.

The Eternal Flame grave site:

It was around this time that I discovered a huge cash cow the cemetery is missing out on - selling bottled water.  We were hot and sweaty and so thirsty, so back to the train station and then to the hotel we went!  After cleaning up, we walked a couple blocks away to Birch & Barley for dinner.  Memory is failing on what we ate, but it was tasty!  Sean did the beer pairing with his meal, but I just stuck to ordering a cocktail with my dinner.  We had been outside in the hot sun all day, so we couldn't get to bed fast enough - complete exhaustion took over, and we had an early train the next morning.

On Saturday morning, we packed up and got a cab to take us back to Union Station, with our train departing at 8:10am.  Our train back was the Northeast Regional (not the Acela), but didn't make much of a difference in time and had a big difference in price!  We arrived back in New York just before noon and literally fell back asleep as soon as we got to my apartment.  Neither of us is very good at 6am wake up calls. :)

My trip:

"Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave..." - Star-Spangled Banner, Francis Scott Key

Miles Traveled Today: 454

Total Miles Traveled: 45,513

Quick Trips: Melbourne and Foxwoods

This is more of a "catch up" post, as I did recently make a couple trips, but the first was unexpected and most certainly not for pleasure, and the other I've already covered in my blog when I visited previously, so not much to write about either.

June 1-3, 2012 | Melbourne, FL

On May 18, my cousin Cullen was tragically killed in an accident while studying abroad in China.  Because the accident happened on the other side of the world and required a lot of extra red tape, paperwork and time, there was a bit of a lag between receiving the news and the funeral being scheduled.  One thing I did look into was Delta's bereavement fare policy.    As it turns out, this fare did not qualify for a number of reasons.  First, travel must begin within three days of purchasing the ticket.  Because we had more time for planning, I had a flight booked over a week before the travel date.  Second, the bereavement fare is only available upon proof this is an "immediate family member."  Delta spells it out pretty clearly on their website - cousin is not included (but niece and nephew are, hmm?).

I had a 3:47pm flight departing out of LaGuardia on Friday, June 1.  Although there were a couple options for airports to fly in to, my family would be driving in from Birmingham and going right past Orlando, so it was determined flying into Orlando would be our best bet, and they could scoop me up on the way to Melbourne where the funeral was to be held.  I landed in Orlando at 7pm and by 8:30pm we were pulling up to City Tropics Bistro in Indiatlantic (near the hotel), where the rest of the family who had already arrived in town had gathered for dinner (there were nearly 20 of us).  The restaurant was large and not particularly crowded, so they easily accommodated our group at a long table near the front.  I had the blackened mahi tacos which were very spicy (maybe a little too spicy).  We spent the next three hours catching up with family, most of whom we hadn't seen since our trip to Costa Rica back in 2009.  Despite the unfortunate circumstances, it was kind of nice to just get to see everyone.

By midnight, we decided to call it a night and made the short drive over to our hotel, the Hilton Beachfront in Melbourne Beach.  I spent some time out on our (beachfront!) balcony listening to the waves crashing and just reflecting on the day.  The next morning, I woke up early to take a walk on the beach with my mom (not early enough, she beat me up by about an hour).  It was a gorgeous beach day, not a cloud in the sky, and it only added insult to injury to get dressed in my dark clothes and sit inside a church all day.  It was nice to have about an hour to feel the sand between my toes and the salt water lap over my feet - it's been too long, and reminded me I need a real beach trip soon!  At 10am, my parents, brother and I sat down for breakfast at Jack's Seafood Bistro, the restaurant in the lobby of our hotel.  It took quite a while for a waitress to come over, but we all ended up ordering off the menu; the buffet was overpriced and it was actually less expensive to order a la carte.

After lunch, we drove over to my uncle's home (gorgeous and right on the beach) where some other family was gathered to just chat a little bit.  We stayed for an hour and then headed back to the hotel to get ready for the funeral.  The Funeral Mass began at 2pm at Holy Name of Jesus Church, straight across the street from the hotel.  A slideshow played before the service began, which was a nice touch for such a young person's funeral.  After the service, there was a reception in an adjacent room for all the friends, and then the family went back to my uncle's house for loads of food and wine.  I had lots of time to catch up with my cousins, which again, despite the circumstances, was a welcome opportunity.  After it got dark, we went out to the beach (where we were basically eaten alive) with Chinese lanterns some of Cullen's closest friends had brought over.  We released them out over the ocean and watched them flicker away until we couldn't see them anymore on the horizon, a fitting tribute to Cullen's short life.

Chinese lanterns on the beach:

It was an early wake up call on Sunday morning for my 8:30am returning flight out of Orlando.  It was also a long day of traveling; I wasn't so lucky on getting a direct flight out of Orlando, and had nearly a four hour layover in Atlanta (more time to watch the Queen's Jubilee at the gate, though!).  I was back in New York by 3:30pm and snoozing shortly thereafter.

  

Miles Traveled Today: 2,308 (in black on the map)

June 8-10, 2012 | Mashantucket, CT

The second weekend in June found me heading back to Foxwoods Casino for another work trip.  This time, however, my boss was not making the journey, so it was up to me to figure out how to get to Mashantucket on my own.  I originally booked rental car through Hertz for the rather excessive weekend price of $356.  However, through a little finagling I discovered as a perk of being associated with a show in the casino's theater, the casino would actually send a driver to fetch my boyfriend and me from the New London Amtrak station, a 30-45 minute drive from the casino.  Had the casino not provided the pick up service, there was also a bus that could take us to the casino from the Amtrak station, but it would mean waiting over an hour at the station and a much slower journey than in the car.  It's nice to be a VIP  We took the Northeast Regional train, which left Penn Station at 5:42pm and arrived in New London at approximately 8:45pm, $80 one-way (Acela is $130 one-way).  Once we were dropped off at the hotel by our driver and processed through VIP check-in, we scurried up to our room to drop off our things to make our dinner reservation.  Since I would be working the rest of the weekend, this was our only opportunity for a proper meal, so I chose Tom Colicchio's renowned Craftsteak, which was located in the MGM Tower where we were staying.  There are Craftsteaks in a number of major cities (New York being one of them), but I've never had the opportunity to try it out, so it was a good choice.  Our reservation was at 9:30pm, and for a Friday night, the entire casino and restaurant were very quiet...still not sure why everything was so empty.  We were almost the only table in the restaurant when we were seated, and by the time we left, we were indeed the only table!  

We first got cocktails - Sean the blueberry ice martini and the craftsteak cocktail (rum and presecco) for me.  Our waiter was very helpful in making recommendations on how to order and what to order, so after a thorough discussion, we decided to take the plunge and try the 10 oz. wagyu beef skirtsteak, priced at a modest $80 (!).  The waiter also recommended having it cooked medium to medium-well to get the proper flavors and texture, so we went along with it.  In addition, we had the 10 oz. filet mignon ($55) with sides of spinach and roasted garlic potatoes.  Everything was INCREDIBLE.  If I'm being honest, I'm not sure what the big deal is about the wagyu beef; it was tougher than regular steak and although very flavorful, I don't know that it is worth double the price of 'regular' steaks on the menu.  The filet was absolutely fantastic, though - so tender and cooked to (medium rare) perfection - a good recovery from our steakhouse snafu in Napa.  It was just a LITTLE too much food, so could have probably stuck with one side and been totally set.  The bill topped $250, but luckily for me (I had offered up the meal as my treat), my company agreed to let me expense it.  

Craftsteak:

After dinner, we walked through the casino and had a couple drinks, but as per usual, the smoke was intolerable so before our clothes were ruined, we made our way back to the room.  The next morning, we got a late start and made the long trek from the MGM Tower to the main casino towers in search of breakfast (well, lunch at this point).  Not having a taste for much of anything, we settled on California Pizza Kitchen, where I ordered a Thai chicken salad I was able to save half of and store it in our room's mini-fridge for a pre-show snack later.  By mid-afternoon, I had taken up my post in the MGM Grand Theatre where I would continue to work for the rest of the evening.

The next morning, we had a few hours to kill before our pick up to take us to our train (departing at 3:15pm).  We checked out of our room and had the valet check our bags until we were ready to leave.  We then went back to the other end of the casino complex, settling in to a quiet bar and grabbing a few cocktails (because that's what you do on Sunday mornings in casinos, right?) and watched a soccer game on TV.  By 1pm, it was time to eat, so we chose to go the tourist route and got a table at the Hard Rock Cafe inside the casino.  I wasn't STARVING, so just ordered an appetizer, the Santa Fe spring rolls and a side, the twisted mac & cheese.  This was MORE than enough food and sure beats the $20 burgers.  The spring rolls were actually pretty amazing.  Tourist spots aren't so bad...chains are at least consistent!  Our one mistake was ordering two gigantic "souvenir" drinks.  I felt like I could hardly stand up after drinking that thing...way too much alcohol for one drink, and for a family restaurant, for that matter.  :)

After eating we made our way back to the MGM Tower and were escorted away in our car back to the train station.  We had a nice chat with our driver about locals in the area, the relationship with the reservation, etc.  It was a very interesting conversation!  We were back in New York and on the way back to my apartment a little before 6pm.  It was another fun weekend at Foxwoods!

Miles Traveled Today: 280 (in red on the map)

 My trips:

Total Miles Traveled: 45,059