I often make fun of Melissa’s (obsessive) planning, but, well, I shouldn’t. For my fiftieth birthday this year we chose a cruise. I’ve never been on one before so we dove right in with a two week one. I figured if I hated it, I might as well really hate it. But I digress… We launch out of Miami and decided to spend a night (vs. take a red eye in December from Denver with no great back up flights to get us in on time) and stayed downtown. While I’m not sure I would stay in that area for…
If there’s one thing I’m good at, its a road trip. I love them. I’ve driven from Vermont to Colorado five times, done the reverse trip once, driven from Boston to Colorado once and from Southern California to Colorado twice. I’ve also driven around most of the USA, living out of a pick-up for seven weeks after college, and done countless long drives for work. Last weekend, we completed a road trip from San Clemente, CA back to Denver. The occasion was sad, marking the end of hauling stuff of our parents’ places back to our own home, but despite that…
A couple of weekends ago, we returned to San Francisco, California for the first time in a couple of years. We have both made many trips here both together and separately over the years. One thing that makes this place great, as America itself, is its incredible diversity. We ate fabulous Italian food in North Beach, strolled past (only because we’d just had brunch) ramen shops in Japan town, witnessed an amazing parade celebration of the Chinese New Year (the largest outside of Asia and in and of itself a display of diversity from Chinese dragons, fireworks and martial arts displays…
For more than a decade, we’ve been headed to San Clemente, California to visit family. Sadly, there are fewer family members to visit since we started going out there, but our fond memories of being with those we’ve lost (and those who remain) and of the town itself linger. The following are some of our favorite places to grab a bite and/or a drink in this cool surfer town. Prior to being founded in 1776 by the Spaniards who founded the Mission at San Juan Capistrano (just up the road from San Clemente), the area was inhabited by the Juaneno native people. …
This past weekend we returned, for the first time in a few years, to one of our favorite spots: Santa Fe, NM. While hopping and fun and full of festivals and rooftop bars in the summertime, late fall or winter is even better if you’re looking for a sleepier getaway. The high altitude winter air is crisp with the smell of pinon burning in fireplaces all around town. The state capitol of New Mexico, Santa Fe is popular for its art galleries (according to the Santa Fe Gallery Association there are more than 200), Georgia O’Keefe museum, Cathedral Basilica of Saint…
We’ve visited the Windy City several times over the past few years and returned this weekend, coincidentally during the Cubs run at the World Series. While the Cubs run isn’t quite on the track Chicagoans and this Red Sox fan rooting for the National League for the first time since the Yankees weren’t in the World Series, our trip provided returns to some of our favorite spots. One of our favorite traditions when we come is a lunch stop at The Gage on South Michigan Avenue across from Millenium Park. The web site calls the food “rustic American” and they…
For our final day on Maui, we visited the parks along the western side of the island. We started in Iao Valley State Park. This park is nestled in the West Maui mountains and is just west of Wailuku. We had hoped for some real hiking, but the trails are actually very short (the web site says about .6 mile). The walk up the steps to the overlook of the “Needle” was well populated. We actually liked the trails down to the river and through the rain forest better. While we didn’t get the exercise we had hoped for, it…
