The Great NE Trip Parts 3&4

(I would like to preface by saying that Ben took all the pictures on the last 2 days. Unfortunately my computer died when I was trying to get the pictures off of his memory card. So there are only a couple pictures at the bottom....I will try to get the good ones on facebook!)

Part 3

This morning we woke up and ate a yummy breakfast at Founding Farmers, a suggestion from a friend who lives in DC. We then made our way over to the Fat Tire Bike Tours office to start on our segway tour of DC.

The 3 hour tour was an awesome way to see the city in the short amount of time we had. In summary we saw:

The White House

The Washington Monument (you cant go up it at the moment due to the earthquake last year)

The Lincoln Memorial

The Korean War Memorial

The Vietnam War Memorial

The World War II Memorial

The National Mall (including ALL the museums exteriors...next time were going in!!)

The Smithsonian Castle

The Capitol

The National Archives Building

The FBI Building

The Newseum (A new museum all about the news. The outside of the museum had the front page of every major paper in the US and in the world!)

After the tour we grabbed a quick pizza and headed towards Culpeper, Virginia. When we arrived in Culpeper, Wayne took us to see the town's museum which highlighted many of the battles during the Civil War. Many of them occurred very close to the town that stands today.

We then walked around the small downtown, which we learned has earned many awards for "Best Small-Town Downtown" and was nominated for a reality TV show until the station realized they didn’t want to deal with the freezing winters during filming. We saw all the cute shops, including an Oil and Vinegar shop! It was my dream store....the entire store was tanks of different infused oils and vinegars with tasting cups and crackers. They bottle them for you and theyre ready to take home and eat. Wayne generously let Ben and I pick out an oil and a vinegar. We chose the Herbs de Provence oil and Champagne Balsamic Vinaigrette. YUM! After happy hour at a local seafood restaurant we headed back to the house for a delicious steak and potato dinner and spent the rest of the evening talking and playing Apples to Apples.

The next morning we enjoyed the view of the golf course while we ate a homemade breakfast (including Grans Orange Biscuits). Wayne then showed us around a couple holes on the course and Ben and I made our way out of town towards Connecticut!

Part 4

The drive to Connecticut was about 5hours and about $40 in tolls! The trip flew by though compared to our other 12 hour driving days. We arrived in Norwalk and drove up to 7 Ferris avenue. After walking around the house and not seeing Bens roommate, he realized his address was actually 27 Ferris avenue...oops. When we arrived at his ACTUAL apartment we met his roommate, Tom from Wisconsin. When we got Bens stuff in the house, he realized he forgot to follow through on getting a bed from the previous renters....so the first night in his apartment he slept on a futon. He has since been to IKEA and bought a nice bed and a dresser but the initial shock was pretty funny!

After moving in we grabbed the train from Norwalk to Grand Central Station (about a 60 minute ride). We found our hotel which happened to be right across the street from a Chipotle! Since we had a very nice dinner in DC we decided Chipotle would be perfect for our NYE meal!

After dinner we walked all around the Times Square area. It was very crowded and chaotic. I got a little claustrophobic as we were waiting to watch the ball drop. (We were about 15 blocks away from the actual ball but we could still see it). After the ball drop there was a 20 minute firework show above Central Park.

Overall, seeing the ball drop in person was really neat, but I probably wouldn’t do it again. The people watching was pretty great, but not enough to be crammed next to thousands of people for hours :)

The next morning we found a quaint French Restaurant in the West Village called Tartine. It was WONDERFUL! I would recommend it to anyone. Ben liked it so much he wanted to move to the neighbourhood! After brunch, we made our way to the Rockafeller Center and went to the "Top of the Rock" which is the 67th floor of the building. It is a really nice 360 degree view of the city!

Saying goodbye was hard and I wasn’t looking forward to it, but luckily I had a very nice cab driver on the way to the airport who chatted with me the whole way and took my mind off of it!

I get to go back February 10...and Im counting the days!!

Until my next trip....Au Revoir!

The Great NE Trip Part II

We accomplished our goal of waking up and leaving at 6am from Nashville. The only problem was the very slow valet man. We were on the road with hot starbucks in hand by 630am! Pretty impressive, don’t ya think?

The drive was very foggy and bright but luckily Ben slept through all of that. We made a pit stop in Marion, Tennessee at Subway and then one more stop at Dairy Queen to get an Oreo/M&M Blizzard to get our sugar levels up. 

This was our first attempt at the Virginia sign! It kind of snuck up on us...

We did a u-turn on the highway and tried again!! Haha!

The traffic was pretty bad around Arlington but we made it to Washington DC at 6pm! With the time change, that’s another 11 hour drive.

Our hotel is right in the middle of the city so we were able to walk around downtown before dinner. We saw the White House, the Treasury, the Washington Monument, and a glimpse of the Capitol. 

Dinner was at Old Ebbitt Grill, a recommendation from a friend who lived in DC for a time. The restaurant was across the street from the White House and the food was delicious!

The Great Northeastern Trip Part I

Ben has accepted a job with the FASB/GASB in Norwalk, CT and decided he wanted to drive all his things up to his new home. He (kindly) asked me to go with him and I (gladly) accepted! I have named this trip our “Great Northeastern Trip.” Hopefully the trip itself will live up to the name!

Day One of the trip:

We left Dallas bright and early at 8am heading east on 30. We made a pit stop in Texarkana, a Subway lunch break in Little Rock and made it to the famous Graceland by 3. 

Graceland is a place of its own. I don’t know if I can recommend it to anyone since we actually didn’t make it inside. We decided the $70 entry fee wasn’t worth it and we made a trip to the gift shop, then turned around and walked right back out.

11 hours after we pulled out of Dallas we arrived in Nashville. We passed the time by playing crossword puzzles on my new Kindle Fire, scanning the local radio stations and quizzing each other on New Years Resolutions and what we hope to see in the upcoming year. Overall the drive flew by until the last hour. We were pretty ready to get out of the car at that point.

Once in Nashville we got fancy cocktails at “The Patterson House,” a recommendation from Patrick Timson. It mimics a speakeasy from the 1920s, down to the curtains at the front that separate the hostess from the bar itself. The cocktails take about 5-7 miuntes EACH for the bartender to create but they were worth it. Anyone visiting Nashville should make a stop here.

We grabbed dinner at “Uptown Flats,” a recommendation from a friend who lives in Nashville. We missed the Wine Down Wednesday by 5 minutes, but still enjoyed our flatbread pizzas before crawling home to fall asleep. We hope to leave for DC at 6am in the morning….we’ll see how that goes!! 

 We thought this billboard was pretty funny. Tax refunds cashed at a fried chicken establishment! Maybe this is my new calling!!

Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville

Christmastime in New York City

Aunt Carol decided for her 60^th birthday she wanted to go to New York City! The timing was perfect since it was Oliver’s 4^th birthday as well and the rest of the girls decided we could celebrate with them J

It was a short trip up to the Big Apple but we crammed in as much as we could.

The first night we met Kelly, Oliver, Carol and Mike at Kelly’s apartment in Brooklyn for a warm homemade meal and an evening of trimming the Christmas tree.

The next morning Mom and I enjoyed a diner breakfast then met the family at the subway and headed to Radio City Music Hall to see the Rockettes perform. After the show we saw the famous Rockefeller Christmas tree and ice skating rink. Then Mom, Kristen, Lesley and I puttered around the city seeing: Central Park, 5^th Avenue all dressed up for Christmas, Bryant Park, and the windows at Macys. 

Sunday morning the girls ate a Mediterranean brunch at Miriam’s, one of Kelly’s favorites. Then we made our way to see a matinee performance of The Lion King. It was a tad scarier than we all remember but we enjoyed it nonetheless.

It was a late night flight coming home, with a few mishaps on an unnamed airline (Delta) but mom and I finally made it home by 1am! Needless to say 8am Monday morning came too soon!!

It was such an incredible weekend and I am so thankful Aunt Carol and Oliver were born so we could all celebrate with them!

My Last Day in Paris!

Trying to figure out the right thing to do on my last day in Paris was kind of hard. I was trying to decide what I hadnt done, what I wanted to see one last time, who wanted to do these things with me....

First thing on the Last Day List: Climb to the top of the Eiffel Tower. (No, I havent done this yet)

Could these boys look more American?! LA Dodgers and Texas Rangers...wow!

Pre-climb shot

About 300 steps later, we made it to the first level!

Since we got there early, and took the stairs instead of the lift, we skipped a HUGE line!

668 steps later, we made it to the second level!

In Paris, people do love locks on bridges around the city. They lock the locks to the bridge and then throw the key in the river. Ben thought it would be nice to be original and put a lock on the Eiffel Tower instead. And no, even though Ben wanted to, we did NOT throw the keys off the side of the tower!

Next stop, the top level. You are not permitted to take the stairs to the top, you have to take the lift. You have to buy a separate ticket to get to the elevator to go to the very top. Ben, Luke and I learn this after waiting in line on the second level for about 20 minutes. Then, every single ticket office was closed.....one of the security guards told us to "just wait" until they open again. He said it might be 30 or 40 minutes until it opens again.....We could not make sense of this wack system the Eiffel Tower has going on here....we didnt make it up to the top after all due to the poor running of the tower ticket office. Maybe next time!

Lunch was at an Asian restaurant that I have come to love and dont even know the name of! We get the same thing every time: Bo Bun. It is basically egg noodles, ground beef, onions, and chopped up egg rolls. So tasty and gets you very full for only 5 euro!

Next, we biked around the city, made a pit stop at the Luxembourg Gardens

The boys left to go to Germany on a night train and I went to dinner with Mary Cameron at a souffle restaurant I ran across a week ago....the menu looked good and the place looked fancy so I thought we would try it out!

I got the tomato basil souffle. When it arrived, the waiter poked holes in it and poured tomato basil soup into the middle of it! 

None of my clothes fit anymore....this is probably why....I wont be eating like I have these past 3 months ever again :(

 Chocolate souffle for dessert. Again, the waiter poked holes and poured in piping hot chocolate syrup

 Im going to miss ya MC! Youve been such a great friend this summer

 We took an evening stroll after dinner and I fell in love with the city all over again. It is a completely different city at night when everything is lit up. I cant believe how beautful this city is and how blessed I am that I got to live here for 3 months!

A Few thoughts looking back:

Paris smells as bad as it is pretty. People use the public walkways and stairwells to do their business. Also, Europeans dont shower or wash their clothes. Oh my gosh, does this city smell bad. The only cure to this was walking by a bakery at just the right time when the pastries have just come out of the oven.

French children might be the cutest children in the world. Their parents dress them like little adults but they run around (obviously) like the 3 and 4 year olds that they are. Too cute

I will never be able to have this kind of traveling freedom again. But I think I took advantage of it as much as possible

I have the best friends and family in the world and they are in Texas :) You never know how much you are loved until you leave and get sweet messages begging you to come home

My clothes are fitting very tight these days...so this means no more drinking, no more bread, no more cheese, lots more running, lots more spin classes

My Only Regrets: 

I wish I had biked more and took the metro less. You learn the city so much better when you are above ground rather than below it.

I wish I had learned French over here....like hired a French tutor or something. Seems like a missed opportunity to be over here for so long and not at least get a grasp of the language

I wish I had taken one or two more cooking classes. Those are some of my favorite memories!

I cannot believe that this summer it is over. A chapter in my life is ending and now I return to reality....a new apartment and a real live j-o-b. Yikes. A far cry from my strolling life I have been living in Paris.

Im so happy to be going home though! I have missed everyone so much and it will be so nice to be back to my American life I have been delaying for 3 months! My flight leaves at 1130am tomorrow morning!! Get me back to the Texas heat!