A Little Nashville, A Little More Maine

I just wrapped another 2017 mini-break! I hope I'm not starting to sound obnoxious with all these little trips I've been taking. I promise they're much more economical than they probably sound. This latest started with a work trip to Nashville (so all expenses paid!), followed by five days in Maine.

I was in Nashville from Saturday through Wednesday, but working every day, so my sightseeing was limited to eating. But I think I did pretty great on that front. On Saturday night I went to Husk, a highly recommended restaurant near the convention center, with two coworkers. It's in an adorable old house, but we had to sit in the basement bar because I didn't make reservations. It was still charming, though, even if the bartenders were snobby tools and not good communicators (I'd recommend you confirm if you're ordering a glass of beer or a two-liter bottle of beer. And who knew butter could be so complicated?).

So charming

My blurry but tasty grilled catfish, zucchini, and grits on the left; Lindsay and Allan displaying the $36 beer our bartender failed to warn her about on the right.

Sunday I worked through dinner at the convention center with all of my coworkers, but on Monday we were able to go out to dinner again. This time a few of us headed to Broadway (where all the tourist-trap honky tonks are) and chose Acme Feed and Seed for dinner. It had four levels, with a band on the first and a rooptop deck on the fourth. They make you order at the counter and wait around by the registers for your food to come out, which was a little awkward (and loud thanks to the band, but I'm old and grumpy), but then we took our plates and drinks up to the second level to eat. Afterward we were able to score some spots on the roof for a couple drinks while the sun set.

Walking down Broadway

 

Acme Feed and Seed: sunset from the roof, inside on the first floor

Delicious scallops from Etch

See the guitar?

For our last dinner on Tuesday, my boss took me and my team out for the best meal of the trip. We walked a few blocks to Etch, and again sat at the bar because we didn't have reservations, but this time the service was excellent. We had roasted cauliflower as an appetizer (highly recommend) and I ordered scallops for dinner. They were gigantic and delicious, but overpriced enough to make me very grateful that my boss was paying. After dinner we headed back to the hotel bar before going out for the all-staff party (an annual tradition on the last night of the conference), and I noticed for the first time that the convention center I'd spent the last four days inside was shaped like a guitar. Well played, Nashville.

Classy travelin' with a GooGoo

At 1:00 pm on Wednesday I was released with most of my conference compatriots, and it was time for me to fly to Maine! The best part about adding a personal trip to the end of a work trip is my company generously paid me the amount they would have spent flying me home from Nashville to Austin, so I was able to put that toward my Maine flights. I flew to Charlotte and on to Portland, arriving late on Wednesday. Andrew, who had arrived earlier that day, picked me up at the airport. We made it to his parents' house in an hour and went right to bed. The next morning I woke up to Dunkin' Donuts and a variety pack of Whoopie Pies, best Maine welcome ever.

Running errands pre-party with Calo

Steamer clams

Andrew's parents planned a cookout for Thursday afternoon, and around noon friends and family started showing up. We played ladder golf, the guys built a bonfire as usual, we ate clams and beer-can chicken and grilled shrimp and veggies, and drank too much. It was a gorgeous day, too.

Eat here!

Andrew with Karen's bounty

On Friday we slept in a little before packing up and driving down to Boothbay Harbor, where the wedding was going to be. The rehearsal dinner was tonight, and Andrew and I scored invites without any responsibilities. Win-win. On the way we stopped for lunch at a little food trailer in Wiscasset called Karen's Hideaway, and I can't recommend it highly enough. Karen (I'm assuming) and her partner we so sweet and welcoming, and the food was deeeelicious. And plentiful and reasonably priced. (It was $45 for four of us to be stuffed and have leftover fries and onion rings.) Definitely stop by if you're in the area, but bring cash because they don't accept cards.










We arrived at the Newagen (a little town near Boothbay Harbor) Seaside Inn and settled in our room with a balcony overlooking the lawn and the harbor before heading down to the wedding rehearsal. Then it was time for cocktails and yet more amazing seafood (don't judge that all of my food photos are seafood). After dinner they set up a s'mores station on the lawn by the fire pit and a game of cornhole. Unfortunately, June in Maine means mosquitoes, and I forgot bug spray. At one point in the evening I looked over at Andrew and saw no fewer than ten mosquitoes swarming his head. That's when I had to call it a night.
 

View from our room: we made s'mores over that fire.

The next morning, after our free hotel breakfast buffet (jackpot), Andrew and I drove into Boothbay Harbor for a little shopping (Priority #1: bug repellent) and sightseeing. The town is picturesque with narrow streets, shops and cafes, and boats in the harbor.

Boothbay Harbor: Downtown street on the left, coffee break on the top right, botanical gardens on the bottom right

After wandering around town a bit, we went for a quick walk through a nature preserve and then to the botanical gardens. It was in the 70s and pretty much perfect (sorry, I'm not bragging; Maine is just idyllic).

The wedding was gorgeous

Another amazing meal

Sunset at the wedding

We headed back to the hotel with plenty of time to spare before the 4:00 wedding, set out on the lawn in front of the harbor, looking like a postcard. Afterrward there was cocktail hour in the gazebo, followed by another amazing seafood dinner, and then lots of me dancing like a jackass.







Sadly, Sunday came, and we had to pack up and check out of the room. Andrew and I drove back to Portland for our flight home, but not before stopping at a lighthouse for photos and a fish market for a thank-you present for my parents (aka my pet sitters). Maine, until next time! xoxoxoxo

Colorado, May 2017

Continuing the mini-break trend this year, one month after going to West Texas, the boyfriend and I packed up for a long weekend in Colorado. One of his best friends from high school was getting married near Boulder, so we were going for his Saturday wedding and decided to make a long weekend of it. We flew to Denver on a Wednesday night after work, and flew back home on Sunday. Here are a few of the highlights and pictures.

Hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park! The weather was beautiful (sunny and cool); the trail was one of those magical ones where the ground is soft and muffles all the sound so you feel like you're communing with the trees; and there were waterfalls and snow on the ground in spots.

Rocky Mountain National Park

Stanley Hotel (aka The Shining hotel)

I have to include photos of myself
because A and I didn't take
real photos. :-(

Estes Park where we stayed for one night and wandered around the picturesque main street (and swung by the Stanley Hotel because it's obligatory).






Boulder: We rented bikes to cruise around the incredibly bike-friendly city. They even have a bicycle highway network! People can get around the whole town without having the constant threat of death by car that I experience regularly in Austin. First we biked up to Chautauqua Park, but the lack of immediate shade put a damper on my enthusiasm for exercise, so we turned around and headed into downtown. We hit the main shopping street before stopping by the Dushanbe Tea House (built in Tajikistan and shipped to Boulder!) for chai and snacks. And then it was time to try out a couple breweries. We went to Vision Quest where I had a tasty sour beer, and Sanitas where I think I had an IPA (but it wasn't super remarkable).

Dushanbe Tea House

Biking to the next brewery in Boulder

And the wedding, of course, which was beautiful AND included brunch (the best of all the meals). Par for the trip, I only took this photo at the wedding, which shows nothing about the lovely couple, venue, food, or ceremony.

Handsome introvert finds his beer

Thanks for treating me so well, Colorado! I've been stranded at the Denver airport twice, but this trip is a good start to redeeming yourself.

West Texas, April 2017

The last time I went to West Texas, it was August and I was on crutches. It's much better in April with full mobility. Ironically, I roughed it way more on crutches.

Moon rise at Indian Lodge

Indian Lodge

This time around, Andrew's parents and his aunt and uncle planned a long weekend for all of us, based in Indian Lodge in the Davis Mountains State Park. Andrew and I drove out on a Wednesday and I was pleasantly surprised that the drive from Austin to the Davis Mountains was only 6.5 hours. I thought it was 8. We beat the real grown ups to Indian Lodge (they were coming from Houston via Kerrville via San Antonio via a bunch of backroads for geocaches), so we checked in, dropped our bags in our room, and wandered the beautiful hotel made to look like an adobe village. After our tour, right on time, the adults arrived.

After Ed, Sharon, Mary, and Lee settled in, we piled into Mary and Lee's car and drove to Marfa for dinner. Only 30 minutes away, it was the first of a few satellite destinations on our list.

Paisano patio

We had dinner at Hotel Paisano, the fancy hotel in Marfa, followed by drinks on their picturesque patio while we waited for the sun to go down. Aside from the Chinati Foundation (which we did not go to but I've been to on that crutches trip--highly recommend), the Marfa Lights are the biggest attraction in town, but you can only see them at night. So we had a little time to kill before driving over to the viewing area. On a good night, visitors can see inexplicable dots of light on the horizon, moving in weird and unpredictable ways. Some seem to fly right at you, others dance around or flicker, and still others just flash on occasion.

Looking for the Lights

I say this based on experience. I've seen them before, and they're super cool on a good night. Theories abound as to what causes the lights (aliens, car lights, atmospheric reflections, cow farts, etc.), but there's still no scientific consensus, which is one of the biggest draws. We all think we'll be able to solve the mystery. Unfortunately for our group, we did not make any groundbreaking discoveries that night. We saw a couple lights in the distance that might have been remarkable, but also might have been porch lights on distant houses. After about 30 minutes of valiant staring, we all gave up. No Marfa Lights for us.

Old Mine Trail, Big Bend

The next morning Andrew and I got up and headed straight for Big Bend National Park. We were going to spend the day there, while the grown ups went to Terlingua (a very cool ghost town with a general store and a bar full of locals, but not much else). The drive for me and Andrew was about two hours to our trail head. We hiked the Old Mine Trail, a nice, 5ish-mile roundtrip. After the hike we drove around the park for a while, seeing the Santa Elena Canyon before heading back to Davis Mountains.

Old Mine Trail, Big Bend

Santa Elena Canyon, Big Bend

There's one restaurant at Indian Lodge, but they're only open for breakfast and lunch. (Side note: If you're in the area, go there for breakfast and order something you can put their syrup on. Best syrup ever. It tasted almost like an ice-cream topping, caramel or dulce de leche. Do it.) But it was getting close to dinner time, so Andrew and I drove into Fort Davis (the town by the Davis Mountains State Park) to scope out the options. It's a cute small town, with a main street housing pretty much all the food choices (which are limited). We decided to try the Blue Mountain Bistro and, despite the dreadful service, had a delicious meal. Then we were going to wander the cute stores on the main street, but everything was closed already. It was maybe 7:30.

Hotel Limpia, Blue Mountain Bistro

The next morning we hiked through the Davis Mountains and into the Old Fort of Fort Davis. It has a lot of the old, preserved buildings from when it was a functioning fort after the Civil War. At some point the army converted it to a "buffalo soldier" fort, and it was interesting to read about the history and class systems in the fort. But it was hot and we were in full sun and I accidentally kicked a rattlesnake who was sleeping in the grass, so we decided to leave pretty quickly. The roundtrip hike was about nine miles, and Andrew and I both got sunburned. Other than those two hikes, we did a lot of lounging around the hotel, reading by the pool, taking naps, and so on.

Old Fort, Fort Davis

We also drove out to the McDonald Observatory, about 20 minutes from Davis Mountains, for a star party one night. It's a fully functioning, academic observatory, and they frequently host star parties for the public to come out, listen to experts talk about astronomy, and actually look through some of the professional telescopes. They had about seven giant telescopes set up that night, trained on different spots in the sky, and an expert at each one to explain what you were looking at. I loved it, and highly recommend it. One tip, though. The party starts in an open-air auditorium with a speaker pointing out constellations in the sky and discussing all things astronomy. It's interesting, but not the best part and kind of basic information. After about 20 minutes of talking, the speaker paused and said people with kids or anyone generally impatient was free to get up and start looking in the telescopes if they wanted. Everyone else could stay seated for the rest of the talk. I'm impatient, so I headed right for the telescopes. Most people stayed for his talk, so the lines at each scope weren't crazy. I managed to look through almost all of them before he released the rest of the audience, at which point the lines got awful. So leave when the speaker makes the first offer.

Planet Marfa tipi

We spent our last full day back in Marfa, wandering around before lunch at Pizza Foundation, and wandering around some more before drinks at Planet Marfa, my new favorite spot in town. It's a beer garden with an old school bus, a tipi, and little tables tucked into random angles around the patio. But then it was time to head back to Indian Lodge for our last lazy evening in West Texas before the not-as-bad-as-I-expected drive back to Austin. I love this corner of my home state for its vastness, variety of landscape, quirky character, and peaceful vibe. I'm sure I'll be out that way again within the next few years. If you have any favorites in the area, please let me know!

West Texas sunset

2017: The Year of Mini-Breaks

This guy is getting a lot play time in 2017.

This year I'm hoping to take a few short trips, as compared to my big trip in 2016 (Tanzania). So I'm calling 2017 the Year of Mini-Breaks. There will be one international trip at the end of the year (there has to be, per this blog!), but it won't be a budget-buster like last year, which gives me a little wiggle room for small trips scattered throughout the year. Which turns out to be excellent timing, since the boyfriend has a couple of out-of-state weddings to attend that I want to tag along for. And it allows me to take my semi-annual California trip with my best friend and my sister. Here's my anticipated line up for the year:

• Long weekend in NYC to see the sister: February, already happened
• West Texas with the boyfriend's family: April, already happened, post coming soon
• Colorado (near Boulder) for boyfriend's friend's wedding: May
• Nashville: June, this is a work trip, but I still count it because I'm going to try to find good places to eat (and food = travel)
• Maine (near Booth Bay) for boyfriend's step-brother's wedding: June
• California: August, hiking in Yosemite and lazing in Big Sur with Sarah and Michele
• Cuba (I hope!!): December, week trip with friends and boyfriend

Does anyone have recommendations for any of these spots? Especially food recommendations (vegetarian or pescatarian friendly), but anything that could fit into a long weekend is appreciated!

TBT: Santa Ynez, California

While I daydream about my next California trip with Michele and Sarah (August!), I'll calm the restlessness a little with photos from our 2013 trip to the Santa Ynez Valley near Santa Barbara.

I flew to LA to meet up with Michele and Sarah (view from Sarah's roof). Mish then drove us to wine country.

We stayed in a yurt at a campsite on a lake.

We went to picturesque vineyards (Lincourt, Sunstone, and Rancho Sisquoc).

We lit fires and played board games at night, and kayaked on the lake in the morning.

And ate in Solvang and Santa Barbara.

It's probably offensive to wine connoisseurs, but I would pick Santa Ynez over Napa if given the choice. Santa Ynez felt much more relaxed, and my palette isn't refined enough to appreciate Napa wines any more than the ones I had on this trip.

Weekend in New York

My sister moved to Queens last year and I owed her a visit, so on an impulse I used some credit card points and bought a ticket to New York for a three-day weekend. I've been to Manhattan a few times so I didn't feel the need to do anything super touristy or cram the weekend full of activities, which made it very relaxing. I have a few photos from the trip, but be warned: they're mostly of blurry food. I went to New York to eat and I'm a crappy photographer.

I arrived on Friday when Sarah was still working, so I killed a few hours at the Met.
    

The Met

When she got off work, we met at Grand Central Station for happy hour at the Oyster Bar. The champagne was delicious, of course, but oysters are disgusting. I should have known. Why do people like these slimy blobs so much?

 

Oysters are gross, but the Oyster Bar is iconic.

The highlight of the trip was dinner at Le Bernardin, a French seafood restaurant with three Michelin Stars (!!!) for which Sarah had a gift card (work holiday present). I'd never been to a place with even one Michelin star, so I was pretty excited. By pure luck, Sarah scored a last-minute reservation at 10:15 pm, because someone canceled the day before. And because her gift card was very generous, we decided to do the tasting menu with wine pairings!

Le Bernardin

Top left: Amuse-bouches
Top right: Kampachi sashimi and Greek salad (Godello pairing)
Bottom left: Crab-filled calamari with mushroom pot au feu (Champagne pairing)
Bottom right: Seafood truffle pasta with scallop, shrimp, lobster, and black truffle emulsion sauce (Riesling pairing)

More Le Bernardin

Top left: Red snapper in a green curry sauce with goat-yogurt emulsion (Sake pairing)
Bottom left: Salmon, Buddha's hand salad, tarragon-olive oil emulsion (Chardonnay pairing)
Center: "palate cleansing" dessert of cheesecake and lemon sorbet (Tokaji pairing)
Top right: Banana s'more (Chateau la Rame pairing)
Bottom right: surprise dessert sampler after we paid! Pistachio cake, lemon macaron, chocolate tarte, guava jelly, peanut butter truffle

We finished eating at 12:15, and we were ready for bed after all that wine and food (brought to us by an adorable French waiter and an army of other wait staff). My favorites were the sashimi, seafood pasta, snapper, and s'mores. But the whole meal was incredible. I doubt I'll eat that well in a very long time, if ever again.

The next day we went back to Manhattan for brunch at Russ & Daughters, one of Sarah's favorites.

Russ & Daughters

After brunch we did a little (very little) sightseeing at the Brooklyn Bridge and the 9/11 Memorial.

Brooklyn Bridge

One of the 9/11 reflecting pools

Then Sarah tagged out for a hair appointment and our cousin Kendall took over as my tour guide. We hit a few bars in the financial district, and then Sarah met back up and we all went to Brooklyn for pizza and a little bit of salad to pretend we're healthy. And then back to Queens for a nice, long sleep.

Sarah let me sleep away the whole morning on Sunday, and then we wandered around Sunnyside (her neighborhood) and had brunch at a Mexican restaurant. Then it was time for me to pack up and head back to the airport. It was an ideal mini break, full of food and family (and sleeping).

Thanks, Sarah and Kendall, for a great weekend!