Yosemite
Posted: May 5, 2012 Filed under: hiking, travel, wedding 1 Comment »
We had the incredible opportunity last weekend to take a trip to Yosemite National Park in California. The main event was the marriage of one of my best buds from back in the day. I’m grateful to have had an excuse to visit this part of the country, because otherwise I don’t think we ever would have made the effort on our own.
We flew into San Francisco on Thursday, rented a car, picked up my pal Emily from the Oakland area, and drove about 4 hours east toward the Sierras. The wedding was on Saturday, so we had all day Friday to drive into the park and see the sights of the Yosemite Valley.
We also took the winding road up from Yosemite Valley to Glacier Point. It was a long, out of the way drive, but the view was spectacular. If you ever have the opportunity to go, I’d highly recommend the drive (or grueling hike) to Glacier Point.
The wedding itself was at a “rustic resort” about 30 minutes outside of the park near Midpines, CA, The Yosemite Bug. I was skeptical of the description of this place, but as soon as we arrived I knew it would be great. They have a combination of accommodations from dorm-style beds up to private cabins. We stayed in the Mono Lake cabin, where we had a spacious room with a clean, private bathroom and a deck for lounging.
The wedding was up on a ridge top above the resort. We took a walk up there before the wedding. Although they did add some lovely touches, it didn’t really require decoration at all because the scenery was so beautiful.
Then the reception was just down the hill in a surprisingly classy banquet room. Janna did a kick-ass job of adding a dose of personality to the reception…including piñatas and temporary tattoos.
All in all it was a fantastic time. I had a chance to see a spectacular part of the country I’d never visited before, and celebrate the wedded bliss of two fine young folks.
Honeymoon in Ireland
Posted: March 18, 2012 Filed under: Europe, travel, wedding 4 Comments »This trip was awesome.
We had been to Ireland together once before in 2007. So through the trials and errors of that trip, we knew exactly what we wanted to see and do this time. Although our flights were in and out of Dublin, we didn’t want to spend much time there. So we immediately rented a car from the airport and drove about 2 hours north to Belfast.
This gave us a little taste of the big city, but was still a manageable place to drive the car around. Plus, starting our trip in the North meant that we could change money to just pounds Sterling first, then get Euros later when we traveled back to the republic. (NOTE: there was a toll on the road from Dublin to Belfast in Euros, which we could luckily cover with some Euro change that Danny remembered to bring along from our last trip. If we didn’t have that change, I’m not sure what we would have done since we only had cash in Sterling.)
The first day we slept off the jetlag and drank our first delicious non-pasteurized Guinness of the trip. I tell you that the trip is worth it just for the Guinness, it’s just not the same as it is here.
Then on day two we took a day-trip up the Causeway Coast in our trusty Ford Focus hatchback.
This northern coast was a part of the country that we had not explored previously. It was fantastically beautiful. It’s centerpiece, the Giant’s Causeway, is a big tourist attraction for a reason. It’s a coastal cluster of these crazy ancient rock columns.
We stayed for two nights in Belfast in a hotel called Tara Lodge. Along with hundreds of TripAdvisor users, I would highly recommend it. For about $111/night, we got a lovely modern room, free car parking, and amazingly delicious made-to-order breakfast. This was the most amazing full Irish breakfast ever after the previous night’s pub crawl.
Then it was off to Derry, where we would be seeing the first match of the season for Derry City FC. Danny has been supporting this team since our last trip, and in the age of steaming video and Twitter, he’s become an avid follower of the team and a member of a club called the Derry City Exiles. So let’s just say they knew he was coming.
We had a few pints before the game at the team’s social club, where we were met with a warm reception and a free ride to the stadium. We sat in the “jungle side” where the rough and tumble hooligans sit. But it really wasn’t rough at all, there were kids everywhere and everyone was happy-go-lucky.
And we knew this before going, but Danny had a little feature in the match program. (We forgive the club for misspelling the name “Knoxville”, mostly because I’m sure no one else noticed.)
After that one-of-a-kind experience, we hit the road for the countryside. We had pre-booked rooms for our first three nights, but from this point on we were winging it. The next logical destination on our wish list was Connemara.
After brief travel stops in Donegal town and Foxford, we ended up in a town called Westport for the night. It seems to be a holiday destination for the Irish in the summer since it’s close to the coast, but a big enough town to have lots of amenities, i.e. a decent hotel to stay in, interesting restaurants to eat dinner at (fan-freakin-tastic curry), and a handful of pubs to pop into in the evening.
If you haven’t noticed, that’s kind of our travel pattern: wake up at our leisure, eat a good breakfast, drive around and sightsee for the day, find a place to stay, then eat and drink the night away with the locals.
The next day we traveled through Connemara, and it was beautiful. This was another area we hadn’t been to before. Really great scenery, but not much to “do”. So we just enjoyed our road trip, stopping to take lots of pictures along the way.
For night 5 of the trip, we had even less clear direction in mind. So after getting out of the Galway metro area, we headed out towards the Clare coast, which was one of my favorite spots from our 2007 trip.
It’s pretty rural down there, so you drive across very small roads with obstacles like this:
We passed through an area known as the burren, where mountain tops are crusted with solid rock. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen.
The roads got really pretty crazy small and twisty during this part of the trip, like so:
Then we landed for the night in Doolin. Although it really only consists of one road, a handful of B&B’s, three pubs, and a hotel, it’s really the best. For some reason I just totally love it here. It embodies this idyllic rural Irish image so well. I’ve decided that the next time we come here, I want to rent a little summer cottage and spend the whole week here. I love it that much.
Doolin is also just a few miles away from the popular Cliffs of Moher. We had visited them before, but since we ended up so close, we had to go back and take another quick peek. They are impressive.
From there we ran into some rainy weather, so the next two days aren’t terribly well documented. But we headed from Doolin down to Cork, another city that was new to us. Cork is like a mini-Dublin, with lots of shopping and college kids. We did enjoy the city though, and it made me feel less bad for not visiting Dublin this time around.
Then we headed around the southwest corner of the country to spend the night in Wexford. We wanted to check this area out because, again, we hadn’t seen it before. But honestly it’s a little boring. Although there are pretty coastal areas that are popular for Irish summer holidays, it’s a little dinky compared to the dramatic scenery we had just seen in the west.
Wexford was a cute little city though, and the next morning we visited nearby Glendalough. This was a very cool site with a picturesque ancient monastery and cemetery nestled in a grove with two lakes. It looks sunny in these pictures, but within minutes it can (and did) turn into a rainstorm.
And we rounded out our last day of sightseeing with a trip to the Hill of Tara, which is just northwest of Dublin. It was very sunny and clear, but incredibly windy. Windy like you wouldn’t believe.
And since our flight was very early the next morning, we stayed our last night in a hotel at the Dublin airport so we could easily bid farewell to the rental car and get to the terminal on time the next morning.
For those of you interested in the nickels and dimes, my cheap ass kept track of our expenses for the trip. For my own peace of mind, I’ve outlined it here, and honestly for a trip where we really didn’t cheap out on anything and got absolutely everything we wanted out of it, it’s not so bad.
- Airfare (TYS>DUB for 2 tickets): $1,378
- Dog Boarding & cat-sitting bribery: $565
- Airport Parking: $80
- Car Rental: $800
- 8 nights in various hotels: $855
- All food and drink: $1,378***
- Souvenir purchases: $220
- TOTAL: $5,276
***Update 3/20: I realized that this number also represents the money spent on gas for the car ($158) and miscellaneous attraction costs (something like $65). So although we did spend a lot on food/drink at about $1,155, it wasn’t quite as much as I first thought.
New York and New Sheets
Posted: October 1, 2011 Filed under: decorating, guest room, travel 2 Comments »Last weekend I was in New York City for the first time in over three years since we moved away in 2008. The trip was for work, but I got there a few days early to spend some extra time with old pals.
I stayed in the posh Maritime Hotel which I could only afford on the company dime. God, I love luxury hotels. This one was super cool too, and it had a fantastic restaurant downstairs. I can confidently say that the only thing I miss about New York is the food, namely pizza and bagels, both of which I enjoyed thoroughly during my visit.
And although I enjoyed seeing old friends and meeting new co-workers in person, this visit reminded me why I left. It all felt like a dream. Did I really used to do this everyday? How could I have possibly lived here for three years?
The first time I was back on a subway train, I could feel my blood pressure rising. Despite the outrageous wealth of Manhattan, life for ordinary people there is squalid. People are all up in your bubble everywhere. The commutes are ungodly. The streets just reek of garbage on any warm day. And the cost! Not just your overpriced shithole apartment, but the cost of everything. Food and drinks cost so much more everywhere you go. Once again, thank god for being on the company dime.
I had the best intentions to do a lot of shopping while I was there, but underestimated the time commitment involved in doing so. I didn’t have the time or patience for H&M or Uniqlo, both of which I miss dearly since moving away. I did manage to snag a new Brooklyn Industries handbag in the yellow wheat print. I’ve been rotating between two older BI H Bags for the last 3 years. Best bags ever. And only about $70.
The other must-see destination on my shopping list was the Marimekko Shop in the SoHo Crate & Barrel store. As mentioned a few weeks ago, I had my eye on some magenta sheets from their current Marimekko bedding collection. And I got ‘em!
Love. I think the color really complements the blue/green dyed curtains. And I also like that it’s a pop of outrageous color without overpowering the room like a busy duvet cover would. The white quilt keeps it somewhat understated.
These pictures are showing how badly I need to buy new pillows. These are pathetically old, flat and misshapen. Think how sharp those printed pillowcases will look on fluffy new pillows.
It’s still looking pretty spartan in here. I found that little side table this morning at the thrift store, but I still need a second nightstand and a dresser. I’m on the hunt for those starting… NOW!
South Dakota Vacation
Posted: August 29, 2011 Filed under: travel 1 Comment »
We recently took our first real vacation in over three years. Yes, 3 YEARS. That’s what happens when you up and move across the country with no job prospects and then go and buy a house. Also consider that we moved far away from both of our families, so much of our vacation time was spent traveling to visit family in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Georgia.
“So why South Dakota?” You might be asking. Short answer: because it’s awesome. Long answer: because we can’t afford plane travel right now, and no matter how much gas is up to, it’s still cheaper than jet fuel and car rental at your destination. Plus, this is a very scenic part of the country that neither of us have been to before, just a 2-day drive from Knoxville.
When we were tossing around this idea, I got hooked on the prospect of sleeping in a tipi (or teepee, tepee, etc.). Wouldn’t that be totally sweet and so wild west of us? Well, I got to googling the idea. (Did I mention I’m a really ‘effin great googler?) But the only tipis I could find in the Black Hills area were part of a lame-o RV campground.
But then I found… THE YURT. This place looked like exactly what we were looking for: an established tent-like structure on an 12 acre property deep within the Black Hills. Without much discussion, we booked 3 nights there in mid-August. In the spirit of our old European travel adventures, we’d fly by the seat of our pants for the other 5 nights of our 9 day trip.
The first day’s drive took us from Knoxville to Kansas City, a solid 12 hours on the road. But as it turns out, KC is awesome. It’s a way bigger city than I thought it was. I used my stellar googling skillz from my iphone en route to figure out the hip part of town where we could find a decent hotel room, an actually good restaurant and cool bars to have a few drinks in. We ended up in the Westport neighborhood, and had possibly the best meal of our trip at Beer Kitchen. It was right up my alley, great beers and foodie-ish bar food. Highly recommended if you ever find yourself in Kansas City.
Then through the doldrums of Iowa we finally made it into South Dakota. Our first stop was the famous Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD. Essentially it’s a tourist trap photo op in the middle of the state where you really need an out-of-the-car break. Kitschy, but not much else.
We stayed the night in a town called Chamberlain because we couldn’t quite make it to the Badlands entrance that day. But we found a charming local pub to have dinner and a few pints, The Anchor Restaurant and Lounge.
The next day another 2 hours westward took us to Badlands National Park. This place was incredible. Really. Just an enormous rocky canyon erupting out of the plains. I saw the Grand Canyon as a kid, which is pretty amazing, but I wonder why people don’t talk more about the Badlands. It’s a remarkable landscape that rivals the Grand Canyon’s beauty in my book.
We popped back onto the interstate just in time to see Wall Drug. Yet another tourist trap on par with South of the Border for us east-coast-oriented folks. And after dropping $50 on a straw hat, coffee mug, coozie, and root beer, we were off to Rapid City.
Our night in Rapid City was actually really fun. It’s the biggest city in the western part of the state, and they’ve managed to maintain a very cool, very walk-able downtown area with lots of restaurants, shops, and bars. I happened upon a Tandy Leather Factory store that was running a sale on…wait for it…COW HIDE RUGS. Oh hell yeah. I’ve been talking about these for the past few years, and previously the best price I could find on one was about $140. Well, they were on sale for $99. Yes.
On from Rapid City, the next day we saw Mt. Rushmore, the great monument to our founding fathers, and Crazy Horse the Native American in-yo-face response down the road.
Mt. Rushmore was more spectacular than I anticipated, but overall the classic American landmark tourist spot. They had a nice walking trail that ran in a loop around the foot of the mountain that gives you a variety of angles for your pictures, and tidbits of history along the way.
In a way, though, Crazy Horse was a little more interesting. It was designed by this crazy Polack that worked on Mt. Rushmore. Since they refuse government funding, it’s already taken them over 50 years to get just the face done. It’s kind of cool to know that our $20 admission was funding the project, and maybe one day when we’re old and grey we can go back and see it finished. And if it is ever completed, it will have been the largest sculpture in the world.
That night we stayed in a quaint mom and pop motel called The Bavarian Inn. For an affordable rate, we got a room with a balcony to relax on, a nice outdoor pool and dinner at the on-site authentic German restaurant.
The next day we had some time to kill before we finally hit the yurt. We went to Deadwood. No matter how much you like the HBO series, there’s really no reason to spend much time here. Well, maybe if you’re really into slot machines.
But behold… the yurt…
It was the perfect place for us. Rustic and remote and cozy and comfortable. Being out here in the woods in this yurt was incredibly relaxing. During our three days there, we did a bit of sightseeing at Devil’s Tower across the border in Wyoming, which was another spectacular sight to see.
And other than that, we did a lot of chillaxing and hiking.
Then (sadly) it was back on the road to the east for the 1600 mile trip home. We stayed the last night in Ames, Iowa at a Microtel on the side of the highway. Surprisingly, there was a wedding party going on that night. Who knew people got married at roadside Microtels in Iowa?
Although the drive back was long, it was all worth it. What an awesome trip. And cheap too! I had $500 worth of Amex travel rewards to cash in, which really put a dent into the accommodations budget. When all was said and done, we only spent about $1200 including all food, hotels, and gas. And when you subtract the standard $200 we usually spend at home every week on food and gas, we really made out like bandits.
And now it’s back to the grind… Although, I’m super motivated on the home improvement front. I have to find a spot for my cowhide rug!
