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

San Francisco/Wine Country: Day 2-3

Miraculously, we were able to get up and on the road with our Zipcar (picked up from a not-so-convenient gas station) by 8:30am.  We drove through a part of the city I had not yet seen, Pacific Heights, where celebs such as Lars Ulrich and Danielle Steel reside.  The houses were gorgeous and so unexpected for a city built on steep inclines and as far as I can tell pretty much all look like rowhouses.  These were more like mansions towering above the streets and the ocean below.  Beautiful!

Driving out of the city, we cross the Golden Gate Bridge:

We were rolling in to our first stop in Napa, Artesa Winery, by 10:15am.  Sean is a member of Artesa, so it was one of the wineries he definitely wanted to make a stop at (he also had wine to pick up from there).  This winery was very unusual-looking, in that it looked almost like a fort built into the side of a mountain.  There was a beautiful walkway with fountains going up to the entrance where we stopped and looked out over the beautiful green, rolling hills that stretched out as far as the eye could see, acres and acres of grapes in the fields below us. 

The beautiful view from Artesa Winery's entrance:

Being a member (and me being a guest of a member), we didn't have to wait in the rather long lines at the main wine tasting bar, and were instead ushered into a private room with sofas, our own bar and bartender and no lines.  Over the course of the next hour and a half, we tried numerous whites and reds from the tasting list (being a member gave us access to an unlimited tasting), wandering in and out of the visitor's center onto the back terrace and enjoying the beautiful day.

A view of Artesa. Very fort-like, isn't it?:

When it was time to move on to lunch (we had a noon reservation), we hopped in the car and made the 30 minute drive to Rutherford Grill.  We passed lots of wineries on the way, and it was always fun to pass a one I'd heard of (Mondavi, for instance)!  We waited for what seemed like an eternity for a table - the place was definitely packed and was a hot spot for people bopping around Napa doing wine tastings, but it became pretty obvious after over half an hour of watching people arrive after us and be seated that we had simply been skipped (they of course denied it when I suggested that is what happened).  While there was a nice outdoor patio with lots of tables, we were seated inside at a booth, and by the time we got our food (prime rib sandwich for Sean and sashimi tuna salad for me), were completely famished.  The food was really good, but the ridiculous wait had just left a bad taste in our mouth, so we were ready to get out of there once we scarfed our food down.

 By 2pm, we were pulling up to Rombauer Vineyards, high atop a mountain at the end of a long, winding road, and best-known for their buttery chardonnay.  Sean is also a member of this one, so with his professional guidance, we bought a bottle of the chardonnay and wandered through the gardens down to the bottom of the trail where there was a nice sitting area to shade us from the hot sun while we drank our vino.  Rombauer was definitely the quaintest and most peaceful of the wineries we visited; the gardens had a trail through trees and picnic tables along the way...plenty of places to sit and enjoy nature and seclusion without being on top of people the way it was inside the tasting room.  Buying a bottle and getting away from the crowd of people was definitely the way to go.  I really did enjoy the chardonnay, despite whites not typically being my favorite these days.  It was nice to sit and just enjoy a bottle without all the jostling required in the tasting room.

Chardonnay in the shade, my favorite moment of the day:

After finishing up our wine, we took our time meandering back up the trail and back to the car.  We decided we only had time for one more winery before we needed to go check in to the hotel and get ready for dinner, so we opted to skip Sebastiani Winery and go straight to Cosentino Winery, which Sean had never been to but came highly recommended by his friends.  I was definitely starting to get a buzz by this point, but I knew I could handle just one more round of tastings. :)  Cosentino was perhaps the least remarkable of the wineries in appearance, although the reds we got to try were very enjoyable (and Sean ended up signing up for a membership).  This was a much less formal atmosphere than the others we'd been to today, and there was basically just a big room with a bar for the tastings...no pretty patios or shady gardens to wander off to.

When we finished up, we then made the half hour drive to our hotel in Sonoma, MacArthur Place.  MacArthur Place was so cute!  Although we arrived in time for the complimentary wine tasting, that was probably the last thing we needed, so we made our way through the stone path and garden to our room, located in the Manor House (room #3).  This much more closely resembled what my idea of a "bed and breakfast" would be as opposed to a "hotel."  The room had a private porch with seating and a garden and felt very secluded.  We were on the first floor, but as it turns out, lugging our bags up stairs wouldn't have been much fun, so the first floor worked out just fine. :)  The room had a very 'country home' type of feel, and was super cozy.  (I later discovered the website refers to the hotel as a "country inn," exactly!)  I was sad we'd only have one night in the room...I would totally go back and stay there again for a long weekend.

A pretty nighttime photo of the main reception building at MacArthur Place:

After a quick nap and freshening up, we were on the road once again, this time to our 8pm reservation at Cole's Chop House, approximately a 30 minute drive back the direction we came from in Napa.  We circled for a while before figuring out exactly where the entrance to the restaurant was and then headed to the bar for drinks before our table was ready.  The service was outstanding (professional and serious without coming off aloof or unfriendly) and our waiter and sommelier were very knowledgeable.  Sean opted to purchase an expensive bottle of red after an extensive discussion with the sommelier (this would later prove to perhaps be a bit of a mistake, as about halfway through the bottle the sheer volume of wine I'd consumed during the day finally caught up with me, and I could hardly keep my eyes open...woops).  We shared an appetizer of oysters and both ordered the 10 oz. filet and a few family-style sides.  The fact that the steaks were cooked perhaps closer to medium or medium-well wasn't a huge deal to me, but it was an expensive meal, and Sean got frustrated with the steakhouse's inability to properly cook the steaks.  Unfortunately, the steaks had been OVER-cooked, so they would have to start over with new steaks if we wanted it fixed.  We decided to just keep what we had.  I thought everything was delicious, but ultimately, the food didn't come out the way we ordered it, so Sean felt the whole thing was a disappointment. 

So while I'm passing out in the passenger's seat, Sean proceeded to get lost trying to get back to the hotel.  When I woke up, there was a deer's eyes glowing through a fence and staring straight at me.  Yeah, it was just one of those nights.  So we finally managed to make it back to the hotel and crashed immediately.  Long, exhausting and wonderful day!

The next morning, we slept until we woke up, packed our bags and headed into downtown Sonoma, where we parked by Sonoma Plaza (a large grassy park) and looked for a place to get some grub.  We settled on the Harvest Moon Cafe, as it was one of the few places that didn't have a line of people billowing out of it.  We were seated outside on the back patio and just ordered omelets and OJ.  Most notably, we were overwhelmed by the terrible service.  Our waitress literally disappeared for an hour, which made getting our check (and more water - it was hot!) no simple feat.

Sean then decided since I'd never seen the Pacific Coast Highway, we could take the "long way" back to San Francisco, truly the "scenic route."  I'm so glad we did!  It was certainly out of the way, but I got to see some beautiful places I had no idea could even exist in this country.  Driving down the long two-lane road deep through wine country toward the Pacific Ocean was absolutely stunning.  It's the way I picture a place like Scotland or Ireland to look, with green hills everywhere, little red barns and cattle lazily grazing by the roadside.

Not the greatest shot, but you get the idea:

When we turned south, we headed toward Point Reyes in Marshall, CA, where Sean had heard of a cool spot to get fresh oysters called Nick's Cove.  And wow, I'm so glad we stopped here!  This was so far off the beaten path and a whole little world all its own.  Nick's Cove was actually a small oyster/wine bar and a number of cottages available for rentals right on the Tomales Bay.  People were lounging in beach chairs outside the cottages, fishing off the pier and kayaking.  We walked out on the long pier, but the weather was a bit breezy, so we decided instead of eating out at the small hut at the end of the pier, we'd stay in the 'real' building and eat at the bar.

On the pier at Nick's Cove:

We settled in at the bar and ordered a bottle of Merry Edwards Sauvignon Blanc from the Russian River Valley (local!) and several dozen oysters (ordering oysters is totally our new 'thing').   The oysters were AMAZING, probably my favorite I've had anywhere.  They had prepared the raw oysters in a variety of ways, Rockefeller, with BBQ sauce, with Parmesan cheese, etc.  SO GOOD.  After inhaling the oysters and raving about them for a little while, we were back on the road.  Fog was starting to roll in, and I was amazed at the amount of people still out and about like this was a normal "beach day."  Surfers, people riding bikes...the whole community was very beachbum-y, and it was just too cold for that!  Driving along the PCH felt like we were in another country - the huge rocky cliffs, the ominous fog, and the dark grey waters breaking below us...there was something very rugged and almost Highland-esque to me about this part of the drive.  And then we got stuck in some monumental traffic.  This wouldn't have been such a big deal, except that we needed to get the car back by our scheduled Zipcar time or we'd be charged overtime for it.  And try as we might, we just didn't make it.   There was definitely a mad dash through San Francisco at the end of the trip, so we were pretty close!

We ordered some delivery for dinner when we got back home and lounged around a little bit before it was time for me to head to the airport (once again Sean ordered an Uber car as my mode of transportation).  This was my first redeye, so while I had high hopes of getting a full night's rest on the plane, let's be honest - getting comfortable enough to get a proper sleep on a plane is not one of my skills.  My JetBlue flight departed at 11:30pm, and I was excited to see that JetBlue had provided a "sleep kit" in every seat - an eye mask and ear plugs, both of which I promptly donned.  We landed just before 8am back at JFK, and while I got perhaps a couple solid hours of sleep, I was pretty much a zombie all day yesterday trying to recover from my first overnight flight experience.  I don't know how the businessmen do this all the time!

Overall, this was a wonderful trip and it was a blast getting to spend time in wine country for the first time.  I can't wait to go back - apparently it's mid-70s and sunny year round there (or so 'they' say)!


My trip:

"Warm red wine, you know that place where you take me some times
Where my cares have wings and fly right off my shoulder
Where I leave my cares behind and for a while find peace of mind
Help me friend of mine wine take me away..." - Wine Take Me Away, Merle Haggard

Miles Traveled Today: 3,056

Total Miles Traveled: 42,471

San Francisco/Wine Country: Day 1

After so many visits from my boyfriend to see me in New York, it was definitely time for me to reciprocate by heading out to his coast.  This would be my second trip to San Francisco, the first being when I met him, so was definitely looking forward to seeing a new part of the city!  As I did with my last trip (to Las Vegas), I had Carmel waiting outside my office building to take me to JFK, and I was at the airport by 6:30pm for my 7:30pm flight.  I was on an American Airlines flight this time - not earning any mileage on this one, but I also wasn't paying for it, so no complaints here.  :)  I landed in San Francisco at 11:00pm, where Sean was waiting.

He pulled up his Uber app on his phone and within a couple minutes the car arrived and we were on our way.  The Uber app has really taken off in San Francisco, and I know it exists in New York as well, but I am not really the target demographic for it (it's more for the techie-what-shall-I-do-with-all-my-money types).  It's somewhere between the cost of a taxi and a private car, and is essentially an app that shows you where these Uber drivers are on a map and then allows you to select one and have it come pick you up immediately.  We were pulling up to his apartment in an area of the city known as Cole Valley within half an hour, driving past where his new office building was located and up and down some massive hills shrouded in fog (that's San Francisco for you!). 

The next morning, we slept late and then went to brunch at Zazie, a cute French bistro right around the corner from his apartment.  The place was packed (packed for a Friday morning, at least, when all these people should be working....?!?!?)!  It was a beautiful, sunny day so we opted to sit out on the back patio.  I had the French toast stuffed with caramelized bananas and walnuts - delicious!  After eating, he wanted to show me around his neighborhood, so we first took a hike up to Tank Hill.  And when I say "hike," this was no stroll in the park - I was huffing and puffing by the time we got to the top of the street that leads to the entrance of Tank Hill.  Parking on streets like this definitely requires a special skill set!  We then made our way to the top of Tank Hill and had the most phenomenal view of San Francisco - Sean said this is a popular place to watch fireworks from on the 4th of July.  It was nice to take a little break from that crazy walk up to the hill and just enjoy the scenery; he was able to point out important buildings and areas around the city to me from our bird's eye view.

San Francisco below us and the bay in the distance:

We then continued walking around his neighborhood, this time back down the hill through the Haight.  This was the first time I had actually gotten to see the famous Haight/Ashbury corner, so I was pretty happy to be able to tick off one more "to do" from my San Francisco list!  Being that this was April 20 (4/20), the Haight was crawling with what can best be described as a "counter culture" roaming the streets with weed and clearly skipping school and work.  Exactly what I'd expect from the Haight!

After a little more walking around, we were hot and tired so headed back home for a nap before getting ready for our dinner.  We had a 6:00pm reservation at Bix, an elegant restaurant with a live jazz band performing nightly described as a good spot for "anniversary couples and first-impression daters."  After being dropped off by an Uber driver onto the cobblestone back alley where the restaurant's front door is, we were lead up a staircase to the balconied second floor and seated in a booth.  The restaurant was relatively empty this early, but by the time we started eating it had completely filled up.  I ordered the BIX rickey cocktail to start, and after a cocktail we switched over to red wine (Tierra Roja I believe) with our dinner.  We had Pacific oysters on the half shell and steak tartare for appetizers, and I had tuna while Sean had a steak for our main course.  Dinner was fantastic, the restaurant had a very romantic, sophisticated feel to it and the live jazz starting up as we sipped on our cocktails made for a fun mood all around.

Bix:

After dinner, we met up with Sean's friend Marcus to grab drinks, first at Rye and then on to Orbit Room Cafe.  I would describe both as "nothing special," but I had good cocktails at each bar, so no complaints.  We were both tired after a long day (even though we did nap!), so called it a night by midnight so we'd be fresh for our wine country adventure the next day! 

Miles Traveled Today: 2,906

Total Miles Traveled: 39,415

Charleston: Days 1-3

When one of my good girlfriends decided to have her wedding in Charleston, SC, not only was I excited for her, but I was also excited because Charleston is a city I've never had any reason to visit, but one I've always wanted to see! I started checking flights a couple months before the wedding and soon discovered direct flights from New York to Charleston are no joke - nearly all of them were over $500. After some conferring with a friend in Atlanta who was also attending the wedding, I decided my best option would be the much cheaper flight to Atlanta, and then making the drive with her back up to Charleston.

I took the first flight out of LaGuardia on Friday morning, a 6:00am AirTran flight. And please let the record show that booking a flight on AirTran was frustrating because to select your seat, they actually charge additional fees. So I opted to not have an assigned seat and just hope for the best when I arrived at the airport. I was also a little annoyed because I have been trying to fly exclusively on Delta to build up my SkyMiles, but the Delta flight to Atlanta was significantly more expensive than the AirTran, so I was backed into a little bit of a corner with that.  All's well that ends well, though, and I wasn't at the very back of the plane, so that's good news!  I landed in Atlanta a little before 8:00am, grabbed some much-needed Chick Fil A and waited for my friend to come scoop me up.  By 9:30am we were on our way!  The ride was long and uneventful, and approximately six hours later we were pulling in to the Courtyard Charleston Waterfront, the official wedding hotel, which we had reserved back at the end of December for the somewhat pricey rate of $189/night. The room was beautiful with its scenic view of the pool and the inlet from the Atlantic Ocean.  I was disappointed we had to quickly get ready and head off to the rehearsal and dinner, as the sun was hot in the sky and the pool looked oh so inviting!

The view from our hotel room:

After calling a cab, we were off to the First Baptist Church of Charleston, which was built in 1682 and the oldest Southern Baptist church in the country.  While I am not in the wedding party, my friend is, so I got to (had to) tag along.  The church was very pretty - everything was white and wooden.  There were some interesting artifacts at the back of the church, a "museum" of sorts for this 330 year old building, that kept me busy while the rehearsal was in progress.

After the rehearsal, we piled into cars and were on our way to the rehearsal dinner being held at 39 Rue de Jean, a French brasserie with a large area upstairs for private parties.  All the standard uncomfortably long and awkward speeches, slideshows no one really cares to see and drunk wedding party were out in full force.  By the end I was exhausted - it had already been a long day for me, I didn't know anyone there and I was just ready to get some sleep.  Everyone else had a different idea, of course, so around 11:30pm we were on our way to a post-dinner bar, O-Ku.  The main memory I have from this place, which was a Japanese sushi/fusion restaurant, was just being TIRED.  We had a drink and chatted with some of our new wedding friends, and then I had to get out of there before I passed out.  

On Saturday, we were up early (at my request) because I wanted to get to see some of Charleston.  We went to a brunch spot my friend had found and heard great things about (and made a 10 am reservation for) called Virginia's on King.

It was delicious!  I had the country fried steak and eggs (steak and eggs have become my new go-to on brunch menus for some reason...consistent perhaps?).  You know you're in the South when you can get out of Sunday brunch for under $20!  After brunch we walked around for a while...being early on a Sunday, most shops were closed, but this was definitely a vibrant downtown area with lots of boutiques.  Walking around I was also struck by the amount of tourists...this is not a town I ever thought of as being touristy, but it definitely is.  It has more the feel of a beach town than just a regular Southern town (which is how I always had pictured it) - palm trees on every corner!  We did finally call a cab and get dropped off back at the hotel so we could get ready for the 2pm wedding.

The wedding was beautiful and when we walked out of the church, we could tell it was going to start pouring at any moment (there had been rain forecast the entire day...yuck), so we quickly made a decision about where to go grab some lunch.  Of course every single place in town was overflowing with people, so it took a while before we could actually find a spot where we could sit down, eat and have a drink.  Not to mention, running along the cobblestone sidewalks and roads in heels was most unpleasant.  Charleston + Heels = NO!  We finally settled on the Blind Tiger Pub, and just in the nick of time because the bottom fell out and it continued to monsoon for the next two hours - just in time for us to head to the reception.  Which reminds me, what's the deal with splitting up the wedding and the reception?  Made for an unnecessarily long day in my opinion.  Anyways.

We arrived just after 5pm at the Thomas Bennett House, a beautiful antebellum home with an expansive garden that had been set up with a large tent for the reception.  The stairs Laura came down in her dress was a "free-flying staircase," which made for a really stunning entrance: 

Had the rain held off, this would have been a beautiful evening at a gorgeous home with delicious food and a fun band.  As it was, the humidity was suffocating and my heels sunk into the muddy grass all night long and I couldn't get into the shower fast enough... oh well!  It was still fun, of course.  :)

After hours of eating and drinking and dancing (after a while, we went down to bare feet so you can imagine how disgusting I was), we called it a night and headed back to the hotel, where I took one of the best showers of my life.  On Sunday morning, we were up early again and met up with my other friend Nicole who just happened to also be in town.  We parked at a garage directly across from Husk, our brunch location for the morning.  This restaurant was AMAZING!  It was all Southern cuisine and locally-sourced; a chalkboard at the front of the restaurant indicated which farms certain menu items came from.  So for my meal, I had the South Carolina shrimp and grits, tomato braised peppers and onions, poached green grocer egg and Surry sausage.  Yum!  After brunch, we headed outside onto the front porch, where there was an interest bench I had never seen before.  After a little Googling, we were able to determine what it was and how it worked.  This was an authentic joggling board!  It was a moving swing-like bench that sort of looks like a very long sawhorse, and we learned they have been around since the early 1800s and are a part of early Lowcountry life; many still exist on the porches of old homes (which is what Husk was located in).  We probably played on the joggling board for 15 minutes...so fun!

The joggling board:

Girls on the joggling board:

After saying bye to Nicole, we got back into the car and before heading out of town, my friend (who had been to Charleston many times, by the way), drove us through Rainbow Row, a block of historic, pastel-colored homes and the most photographed buildings in Charleston.  The buildings had been around for a while but were renovated in the early 1900s.  A couple myths to explain the colorful painting job include helping intoxicated sailors coming in from port remember which houses they were to bunk in, or even dating back to when the buildings were used as stores so that owners could tell illiterate slaves which building to go to for shopping.  We continued driving along that street as it rounded a bend and the Atlantic Ocean was laying out in front of us with beautiful homes opposite the water.  This was definitely my favorite part of Charleston I saw over the course of the weekend - it was colorful and beachy and elegant all at once.

Rainbow Row:

At this point, it was time to make the drive back to Atlanta for my 7pm flight back to New York.  Once again, not much to report on the drive.  Just a lot of expensive gas!  Definitely one thing I am not missing being without a car here in New York.  I was back home a little after 10pm and crashed hard!  

To wrap up, I think Charleston is a place I'd enjoy visiting again in the future.  Next time, I'd carve out a day for the beach and another day for a little more sightseeing.  I didn't really do any research on "things to do" in town because I knew I'd be busy, but I did notice a few things that looked like they'd be fun - the Palmetto Carriage Tours, for one (they have historic residence tours, ghost tours, etc. all on the palmetto carriage...so cute!).  

And that's another trip in the books for me!

My trip:

"In my mind I'm going to Carolina,

Can't you see the sunshine, can't you just feel the moonshine?

Yes, I'm going to Carolina in my mind." - Carolina in My Mind, James Taylor

Miles Traveled Today: 2,400

Total Miles Traveled: 36,509

Vegas Vacation: Days 3-4

As disappointed as I was for the Grand Canyon trip to get cancelled, sleeping until we woke up was a welcome luxury after waking up so early to be at the Hoover Dam the day before. We did eventually decide we could go without food no longer, so made our way toward the back of the Wynn resort near where the golf course, cabanas and pool are located and were seated at the Terrace Pointe Cafe. Had it been a little warmer and not so breezy, it would have been a beautiful day to be seated out on the restaurant's back patio overlooking the pool. The restaurant was open and bright with tons of sunlight streaming in. It almost felt like summertime! We ordered a pitcher of peach sangria which was a little too sweet to have more than one glass (pitcher = mistake). We each ordered the tomato bisque, and while Sean had the pulled pork sliders, I opted for an Oriental salad (sans mandarin oranges, of course). My meal was light and delicious and I was ready to get out and enjoy the day!

We decided while it was so nice outside, we'd go for a walk down the Strip and see some of the casinos I had not had the opportunity to go inside on my previous work trips to Vegas - in particular, Paris and New York, New York. I thought Paris was SO cute inside, and although I've never been to Paris, I'd like to think the quaint, old-world sort of feel happening in the casino is at least comparable to what the real Paris looks like. One thing I liked about the casino is that all the different clusters of table games were under canopies that had been named - it would be tough for someone to get lost in the casino with each area labeled so clearly. We sat down at the circular bar on the casino floor and had a few drinks before deciding to move along. Next up was New York, New York. This casino was much further down the Strip than I anticipated, and truth be told, now that I've seen the inside of it (nothing special if you ask this semi-New Yorker), it wasn't worth the long hike. The only real thing to do in the casino as far as I could tell was ride the roller coaster, but at this point we were running a little short on time and headed back to the Encore.

The circular bar and cute street scene where we spent a couple hours in Paris:

When the trip to Arizona had to be called off, I was able to make a quick call and set up a couple passes to the sold out Motley Crue show at the Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. This was the last night of the band's 12-night, month-long residency at the casino, making them the first rock band to ever do a residency in Las Vegas. The cab ride from the Encore to the Hard Rock was much further than I remembered it being from my first trip to Vegas, and the traffic was intense. When we finally arrived at the casino, it was swarming with Motley Crue fans! Working with the band, this was pretty exciting to see (and being a normal human being, this was borderline terrifying). We made our way across the casino floor to Pink Taco, where we wanted to grab a quick dinner. There was a 20-30 minute wait for a table, but we were doing okay with time (and Mexican food comes out quickly, so we decided to wait it out). We were seated in 20 or 25 minutes, ordered some margaritas and food and were in and out in less than an hour. When we exited the restaurant, the hallway outside was wall-to-wall people, lined up waiting to get into the show. Yikes! We made our way to the will-call window to pick up our passes, and then headed backstage to say hi to the tour and production managers. With the show about to start, we filled up our cups backstage with complimentary beer and took up our position at the sound board. The show has had a few changes since the last time I saw the band, and although I'm not particularly a fan of the music, there is no denying it is a well-produced, high-energy show.

Motley takes a bow:

When the show ended, we wandered out into the casino to grab a couple drinks and chatted with a few Motley Crue fans who sat down next to us. It had been another long day, so after a while it was time to head back to the Encore and get some sleep. On Monday, we were able to once again sleep until we woke up, checked out, grabbed a quick lunch off the Strip and then did the one final thing I had been wanting to do in Las Vegas - see the Welcome to Las Vegas sign!

Mission accomplished:


It was now time to head to the airport, drop off the rental car and catch my flight back to New York. My trip back was sadly in coach, so it felt much longer. I didn't arrive back at JFK until after midnight on Tuesday morning, but fortunately there was no shortage of cabs at this hour and I was home and sound asleep in my bed within an hour.

This was definitely the most fun I've had in Vegas - obviously getting to do only fun things as opposed to work things seriously changes my perspective. I still don't think I ever need to go back, but I'm glad I got to have such a fun, relaxing time to at least make me feel a little more love towards Sin City.

My trip:


"Viva Las Vegas with your neon flashin'
And your one armbandits crashin'
All those hopes down the drain
Viva Las Vegas turnin' day into nighttime
Turnin' night into daytime
If you see it once
You'll never be the same again." - Viva Las Vegas, Elvis Presley

Miles Traveled Today: 2,526
Total Miles Traveled: 34,109

Vegas Vacation: Day 2

On Saturday morning, we were up early to get to the Hoover Dam. We ordered breakfast via room service and were then on our way! After reading Yelp reviews online, I had made the executive decision that we would do the pricier "Hoover Dam Tour" (with a price tag of $30/person) rather than just the Powerplant Tour ($8/person). The descriptions provided on the Hoover Dam's website along with the multitude of Yelp reviews convinced me the extras added to the Hoover Dam Tour would be worth it - after all, this is probably a place one only visits once, so why not just do it right the first time?

We were originally thinking we'd just hit the Hoover Dam on the way to the Grand Canyon on Sunday morning (you literally have to drive over it to get to the Grand Canyon), but we wanted to have lots of time at the Grand Canyon (and the 4-5 hour drive would obviously slow us down), so we decided since the Hoover Dam is only about an hour outside of Vegas in Boulder City, it would be best to just do it on its own, since neither of us are gamblers and we'd be looking for something to do on Saturday anyways! Sean had rented a car (a Mustang!) for the weekend at the airport, so we had the flexibility to change up the itinerary a little bit.

While the Powerplant Tour tickets can be purchased online, the full dam tour can only be purchased at the visitor center and are first come, first serve beginning at 9:00am (the first Dam Tour is at 9:30am). The website indicated several hours will be sold out at a time, and reviews all indicated the later in the day you arrived, the longer you'd end up waiting for available tour times, so our goal was to get there right when they opened. Apparently driving an hour the wrong direction upon leaving Vegas is not the best way to make this happen - we were nearly at the California state line before determining we were definitely going the wrong way (ultimately, we blamed the valet at the Encore for not giving us very detailed directions on how to get to the correct highway). The drive out the "wrong" direction of Vegas really accentuated how barren that land is...we joked several times about how many people must be buried out there.

Once we turned around, we were there in no time and were making the loop around Lake Mead (such a scenic view!) and pulling into the parking deck at the Hoover Dam ($7 for parking, a popular complaint in the Yelp reviews) by 10:30am. We went straight to the visitor's center, where there is airport-type security to get in, to buy our tickets - the next available time was 12:45pm - so we had a couple hours to kill before we'd be able to begin the tour. There were some exhibits inside the visitor's center (a la carte admission to the visitor's center is $8) which we looked at quickly, but most of it was very technical about the inner-workings of the generators and pumps, and these exhibits didn't hold my interest for very long. There should be a sign warning "Engineers Only" in that area! We watched the 10-minute film about the history of the dam, which I enjoyed. I must admit, for an official U.S. National Historic Landmark, I didn't really know any of the history about the dam, and it was interesting to learn how many people had been put to work building it during such a depressed time in the country. After the film ended, we headed outside and walked around the dam to take some photos; it was a sunny, warm day and a perfect day to be outside! One of the most striking things about the grounds is the art-deco style all the buildings were designed in.

View of the dam:

There is a cafe just outside the gates of the visitor's center (which meant we'd have to go through security again), so we exited, had a quick lunch and got some souvenirs, and then headed back toward the visitor's center to make sure we had enough time to get through the security line again (which had lengthened considerably since we first arrived two hours ago) and went to the tour meeting point.

We had a small group of perhaps 12 people, and after a few 'dam jokes' by our tour guide, we were piling into the elevator and heading down into the dam for our 1-hour tour. We first met up with a larger group (who had only paid for the Powerplant Tour) and were led down a tunnel originally drilled in the 1930s for construction and taken into the penstock viewing area, where we got to see the giant, 30-diameter pipes carrying as much as 90,000 gallons every second from Lake Mead to the dam's hydroelectric generators, which are creating electricity that is being sent to not only Las Vegas, but also southern California and Arizona. An interesting fact we learned is that the dam has not only paid for itself thanks to selling the electricity, but that it is the only government project that is actually turning a profit. Another interesting point that was made was that this huge dam not only came in under budget and time (it took only 5 years to construct), but that the more modern (and simple) bypass bridge across the way took seven years to complete and was over budget. My how government projects have changed! After a quick stop at the penstock viewing, we were taken back up in an elevator to a balcony overlooking a large room filled with 17 huge generators and people actually working at the powerplant.

The bypass bridge over the Colorado River:

At this point, the "full dam tour" group was separated from the "powerplant only" tour and taken through a back door and down several long, winding corridors dating back to the 1930s. These are rarely seen areas of the dam (due in no small part to the high price tag, I'm sure!) We clambered into a much smaller elevator and were taken much further into the dam - at this point I think we were near the base - and started walking down more long corridors. One of the interesting things our guide pointed out to us were the screws and bars that had been placed every 50 feet or so in the corridors. They were placed right next to each other so that if the structural integrity of the dam began to fail, you'd be able to see the screws were no longer aligned with each other and the walls were shifting. Our guide did note that while this would be a very bad sign, he has no idea what the plan is to fix it...ha! Some other cool markings that were pointed out to us were where black chalk had traced over cracks and then dated (60-70 years old!), so that workers could monitor cracks and know if they were getting bigger.

Probably the highlight of being in the Hoover Dam was being taken into a small tunnel that serves as a vent. We were allowed to walk all the way to the vent and look out - we could see the river, Black Canyon and the Dam Bypass Bridge straight ahead. We were literally inside the downstream face of the dam!

The photo I took when I stuck my camera out of the vent and turned it up - the steep wall of the dam towering over us:


The last stop on the tour was down a dark corridor where we were shown a set of stairs that went down as far as the eye could see, and then turning around and seeing stairs that literally looked like they had no end. Definitely made me glad I don't work in this part of the dam...that would be a stairmaster exercise like none other!

The never-ending stairs:


At this point, we were lead back up to the visitor's center, and the tour was over. We got back in the car and drove approximately a mile to the entrance of the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, also known as the Hoover Dam Bypass. The bridge was completed in 2010 to alleviate the bottle-necking into the Hoover Dam and give non-tourists a way to get around the dam quickly. Sean had been to the Hoover Dam prior to the bypass being built, and was amazed at what a difference it made. It was much windier on the bridge so we didn't stay long, but we were provided an awesome view of the Hoover Dam:

At this point our Hoover Dam adventure was over, so we hopped in the car and headed back to Vegas. We went straight to the Mirage Resort & Casino to pick up our tickets for the Beatles LOVE show later that night so we wouldn't have to deal with the will-call line at showtime (which did turn out to be monstrous...this was a smart decision!). After fetching the tickets and making a quick stop in the Beatles souvenir store (so much Beatles merchandise...I had to pull myself out of there!), we sat down at Rhumbar across from the hotel's check-in area, which was a cool Caribbean-inspired lounge, and had a few fruity drinks before going back to the Encore to get ready for dinner.

We left our hotel at 6:00pm to head over to the Palazzo for dinner at Mario Batali's Carnevino restaurant, where we had a 6:30pm reservation. We allowed extra time because we decided we were in walking distance, and with it being a little chilly now that the sun had gone down, it was pretty easy to stay indoors almost the entire way, walking through the Venetian along the cute indoor canal where people were taking gondola rides.

Indoor gondola ride at the Venetian:

We were seated immediately and ordered a bottle of red wine that was one of my favorites I've ever tasted - I'm still trying to remember what it was so will hopefully be able to fill that in at some point! The restaurant was large and the tables were far apart so that you felt like you were the only one in the restaurant. The service was exquisite and our waiter was extremely knowledgeable about the menu and able to make good recommendations, which we did take. We began with the chopped salad that was fresh and delicious with beans, parmesan, peppers and a light vinaigrette; the bowl they brought out was for the table to share and we couldn't even finish it between the two of us. For our entree, we had the dry aged bone-in ribeye for two, which was perhaps the largest cut of meat I'd ever seen at 32 oz. It was brought out to our table on a tray and carved in front of us. The bone was then sat on the table as some sort of monument to the feat we were about to undertake. We also ordered some of the sauteed shiitake mushrooms and asparagus, which proved to just be too much food. SO. MUCH. STEAK. I think the ribeye for 2 could also pass as a ribeye for 3 or 4! By the time dinner was over, I think we both needed to be rolled out of there.

Carnevino:

We then made the short walk over to the Mirage and got in the massive line waiting to get into the theatre for the Beatles LOVE by Cirque du Soleil show. We had been advised that the theatre was a very odd shape so trying to get seats as close to the stage as possible might not be the most advantageous strategy. Our seats were a little further back and upon sitting down didn't seem like they were in a great spot - there were huge nets up splitting the stage into four pieces and one of them seemed to be blocking our view pretty substantially. However, as soon as the show began, the nets dropped and we had a clear view of the entire stage. I don't think getting seats closer to the stage would have been a bad thing, but our seats were a little less expensive and still fantastic. There was a lot of stuff going on way up in the air, so had we been down lower near the stage, our necks may have been a little sore from looking up the whole show. This being my first Cirque show, I wasn't totally sure what to expect but was very excited! The entire show was so beautifully put together - I was already familiar with the soundtrack so knew I would enjoy all the music, and each Beatles song had it's own performance to go along with it. While I am a bit dubious about the over-arching plot of the show as a whole, if you just look at each song as it's own little performance and not worry about trying to piece together the entire story, I think you'll find it much more enjoyable (as I did). There were some really crazy stunts and there was so much going on at all times (just like a circus), that it was so difficult to decide what to watch the entire show! Probably my favorite single moment in the whole show was when they performed "Something." A man was doing some really 'bendy' interpretative dance on the floor, while several women with drapey dresses on would swoop in on trapezes around him. It was gorgeous!

When the show ended, we made our way back out and headed back to the Encore. By this point, we had been checking the weather at the Grand Canyon for Sunday all day and had determined tomorrow was just not going to be a good time to go. It was going to be cold, possibly heavy snowstorms (definitely rain) and extremely gusty winds (40-50 mph). Nothing about that sounded like the Grand Canyon out in the middle of the desert I had pictured, and even if the canyon looked beautiful in the snow, it would be too uncomfortable to stay out and hike around the way I had really envisioned it. There was also some concern the access road to the canyon would be closed because of the weather...it was just too far of a drive to make to not even be able to get in. And despite having hotel reservations in Flagstaff, we decided there wasn't enough to do in Flagstaff to warrant leaving Las Vegas. So that was that...when we got back to the Encore, Sean was able to convince them to let us book our suite for an extra night, and off to bed we went.

Miles Traveled Today: 57
Total Miles Traveled: 31,583

Vegas Vacation: Day 1

With a 3-day weekend for President's Day, this seemed like the perfect weekend to go to Las Vegas for the first time as vacation, as opposed to the two previous times when I had to be there for work. Despite having sworn off Vegas forever after my trip last July, when Sean offered to fly me out for a fun-filled weekend with a show and trips to the Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon, I couldn't resist - a trip to Vegas with almost no Vegas sounded perfect!

Sean was generous enough to not only get my flight, but he also got me a first-class ticket on Delta...I was pretty excited considering flying first-class is something I have not yet experienced in my 28 years! The price difference is significant, but after doing it once, especially on a cross-country flight like this one, it's hard to imagine ever going back...I've been spoiled! I ordered a car service to take me out to JFK Airport on Friday afternoon; the last time I tried getting a cab outside my office on a Friday afternoon was a total disaster, so I learned my lesson. We hit almost no traffic, and I was heading into the airport less than an hour after I left my office. Jumping to the front of the security line and being the first person to board the plane were only the beginning of the perks I've been missing out on by flying coach all this time. My seat was huge, and there was so much space between me and the guy sitting next to me...it made me wonder how I've lived without this for so long! As soon as we were seated, I was already being hit up with complimentary drinks, which I gladly accepted. I really wanted to nap, but I think I was so excited about the whole first-class 'thing,' or missing the flight attendant come around with another drink, or just looking so forward to actually getting to Vegas, that I never did manage to doze off. I did get plenty of vodka sodas, though. :)

A couple hours into the flight, a tablecloth was put down on my foldout table, and it was set with salt and pepper shakers and real silverware. My drink was also brought out in a glass this time around. So posh! There were a couple options for dinner, and I went with the vegetarian lasagna. It came out with a salad, several rolls of bread and some sort of chocolate pie. I couldn't believe all this has been going on right under my nose all these years! The food was delicious, the way I remember airplane food used to be. This was already an amazing start to the trip.

When I landed in Vegas, Sean was there to fetch me, and we headed back to the Encore at the Wynn, where through his connections he'd been able to upgrade to a beautiful suite in this more upscale wing of the Wynn. We had a beautiful view of Las Vegas from the room, and everything from the curtains to the "Do Not Disturb" light could be controlled from the bed, so it was a pretty amazing suite all around. After getting settled in to the room, we headed downstairs and walked through the Encore and then on to the Wynn. This is such a beautiful hotel! There is a butterfly theme throughout, and all the decorations are so colorful and fun. We went to a small bar that overlooked a terrace where a light show was happening once an hour, so we ended up timing it just right to grab a drink and see the short show before heading to dinner.

One of the pretty walkways in the Wynn on our way to dinner:

We went with a casual option for our first night, the Society Cafe, which turned out to be quite a nice restaurant, and a step above what I would classify as "casual." We ordered the mac 'n cheese bites (amazing - could have gotten four orders of this and just made a meal out of them!) and a shrimp cocktail with some of the biggest shrimp I've ever seen, and then I had the filet sliders as my entree, which were delicious! So it was somewhat "casual fare," but the restaurant was ornate and could have just as easily gotten away with serving a much fancier style of food. By the time we were finished with dinner, the time zones were throwing me off kilter and I was exhausted, so went off to bed - we had plans to be up early Saturday morning to head to the Hoover Dam!

Miles Traveled Today: 2,526
Total Miles Traveled: 31,526