This was a great weekend in Oregon. I had never been before, and boy did I fall in love with the city.
On my first day I did two bike tours with Pedal Bike Tours. In the morning, for 3 hours we slowly biked around downtown Portland - going through the Rose Quarter, China town, the Pearl District, the University and then down the waterfront and Willamette River. A total of 7.5 miles. I always love finding a bike tour on my first day in a city - it gives you such a great overview of the city, so then you can go back to some of the places you saw throughout the rest of the weekend. After lunch I met with my second bike tour, through the same company. We drove about 45 minutes to the Columbia Gorge. We then got on our bikes and rode to 7 different waterfalls, which was just amazing! At each one we would get off our bikes and hike up to the waterfall, take some pictures, and then continue on our way. The falls included: Latourell Falls, Sheppard's Dell, Bridal Veil Falls, Wahkeena Falls, Multnomah Falls, Horsetail Falls and Upper Horsetail Falls. Overall we biked 8.5 miles. That was really a great tour! That night I walked to a restaurant my brother had raved about - Caffee Mingo. It was a small Italian restaurant in the Alphabet district, and I have to say it lived up to all expectations! I sat at the bar and ate dinner and met some really nice locals who helped me plan out one of my upcoming days in Portland. The next day I drove out to Williamette Valley, to check out some of the wineries. I went to Archery Summit winery for a tour and tasting. For lunch I ate at Dundee Bistro, then continued on to two more tastings at Erath and Lange. That night I drove to Beaverton to have dinner with my cousin Carrie and her husband Dana. A home cooked meal was such a treat! My last day in Portland I just kind of messed around town, with no real plans. I went to Stumptown Coffee, and then stood in the ridiculously long line at Vodoo Doughnuts. They were worth the wait! After my sugar fix I went to some of the stores (Patagonia, North Face, Powells Bookstore), then I walked around the waterfront including some of the Sunday markets. Next I drove over to the Rose Garden and Japanese Garden before heading to the airport for my flight home. Check out some more photos from this trip here - Portland Photos
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My mom and I were in New Jersey for a cousin’s Bar Mitzvah. One day we decided to drive out to Atlantic City since we had never been before. We went in some of the casinos and then walked along the Atlantic City boardwalk for a bit before heading back.
This trip turned out to be quite the nightmare! The day I was supposed to fly into Newark a huge winter storm hit that completely shut down all the airports. So my flight on Thursday night got canceled. They rebooked me for a flight on Friday, but after getting to the airport, checking in, waiting, it too was canceled. By Saturday I was beyond frustrated…especially since my boyfriend had managed to arrive from Toronto on Thursday night. But Saturday morning I finally made it out, and we then tried to make the most of our 24 hours of vacation that remained. We went for a carriage ride through Central Park, ate dinner at the Russian Tea Room and then went to a Pat Green concert that night. The next day we walked through Times Square, explored the USS Growler Submarine and USS Intrepid, went out to the world trade center memorial, looked across to the Statue of Liberty, pretended to be kids in FAO Schwartz and then after a long day caught our flight to Toronto.
Check out some more photos from this trip here - New York Photos I had seen Niagara Falls from the Canadian side the previous year, but I wanted to see it from the American side as well. I happened to be in Buffalo, NY for the night, so my boyfriend and I drove to Niagara Falls that afternoon. The winter landscape just made it that much more amazing. The water was frozen and all the mist in the air from the falls was freezing. The trees surrounding the falls were covered in freezing rain – it was beautiful. I got my foot picture, we walked to the various lookout areas and then headed back before we froze ourselves!
Check out some more photos from this trip here - Niagara Falls Photos I decided to go explore Nashville this weekend. I was flying in from Toronto, and the weekend definitely got off to a bumpy start. My flight was delayed 3 hours, which meant I should have missed my connection in Chicago, but thankfully when I got there it had also been delayed – so with a good run through the airport I made it with about 10 minutes before doors closed. Unfortunately my luggage was no so lucky. I made it to Nashville late that night, slept and then grabbed my luggage from the airport the next morning.
The only thing I had planned in Nashville was to see the Grand Ole Opry on my second night. Other than that I just set out to see what I could explore on my own. I walked through the Tennessee State Capital building, explored downtown - walked over the Shelby St. Bridge, Painter’s Alley, Fort Nashborough and the 2nd Ave Entertainment district. That afternoon I drove out to the Parthenon, and then drove over to the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and the Grand Ole Opry House. On day 2, I went to the Belle Meade Plantation and took the tour of the 1853 mansion. Next I went to the Belmont Mansion and finally to the Hermitage. That night I went to the Opry at the Ryman and had such a great time! I got to see Jimmy Dickens, Del McCoury Band, Mike Snider, Dierks Bentley, Vince Gill, Emmylou Harris and Carrie Underwood. What a fun experience! On my last day I went to the Country Music Hall of Fame and then ate some great BBQ at Famous Dave’s. I messed around the Opry Mills mall for a bit and finally caught my evening flight back to Toronto. Check out some more photos from this trip here - Nashville Photos My friend Kylee and I met in Boston on this weekend. On our first night we went into town and ate dinner at Legal Sea Food, which was great! On our second day we drove to Woods Hole, MA to catch the 45-minute ferry to Martha’s Vineyard. We checked into our hotel, the Madison Inn, in the Oak Bluffs area.
We had fun exploring the island over the next 2 days. Being off-season, the island practically felt desert in a lot of areas. About half the shops were closed, and there were only a handful of restaurants open. But we absolutely loved it. A lot of times on a vacation I like to get the sense of what it is like to just live somewhere…not necessarily be a tourist. And this was a perfect opportunity for a trip like that, because it was pretty much just locals left on the island. One thing we did not prepare well for was how cold the weekend would be! We were just freezing; so on our first afternoon I found a shop that sold these great knee high wool socks. They were a lifesaver! As you can see – I had to feature them in one of my feet pictures at Gay Head Cliffs. We figured out the bus system pretty easily to get around the island. In Oak Bluffs we were able to walk up and down the boardwalk, walk along the beach (so deserted and peaceful), and we saw the gingerbread houses. In Vineyard Haven we walked around the various shops that were open and explored some of the town highlights. On our second day we took the bus out to the Aquinnah Cliffs (Gay Head Cliffs). The view was spectacular from up there, but boy was it cold and windy! We didn’t realize in the off-season the buses came so infrequently, and we ended up stuck there for over 2 hours. We went in a few of the shops, looked at the lighthouse and grabbed some apple cider to warm up. Then we ended up huddled in a doorway of a closed shop to block the wind until our bus came back. We finally caught our bus and took it to Edgartown. We ate lunch at The Wharf, explored some of the shops and then walked to see a lighthouse. At first it was just sprinkling, but then it full out poured on us! Thankfully Kylee had bought a jacket for her husband, so I threw that on to stay somewhat dry. After that we finally caught our bus back to Oak Bluffs, got out of our wet clothes and relaxed. One of our favorite memories of Martha’s Vineyard was the restaurant – Offshore Ale Co. As I mentioned not much was open that time of year, and we actually ended up eating at this same restaurant for lunch and both dinners. It was jam-packed every night, but it was just a great place all around. Met some very friendly people, enjoyed one of their beers and had the most amazing Lobster Roll for dinner – that we still crave to this day! On day 3, we took the ferry back to the mainland. I drove Kylee to the airport, and then I had the rest of the afternoon to quickly explore Boston. I walked down to the Charles River, and then headed over to the Cheers bar. I sat in the Boston Common Park to eat some late lunch. Then I found the start of the Freedom Trail and I followed the path from the State House all the way to the Copps Hill Burial Ground. I walked through the Old Gramary Burial Ground and the Holocaust memorial. Then I finally called it a day and took the subway back to my hotel. Grabbed some dinner and got some sleep before my early flight home the next day. Check out some more photos from this trip here - Martha's Vineyard & Boston Photos I took a trip with REI Adventures in December 2008. We stayed in a lodge in Zion National Park. Our guide and assistant guide really made the trip special. They cooked the most amazing meals for us and really took care of us on the trails. Our assistant guide was a Sherpa from Everest - what a treat to get to meet someone like that! Fascinating stories…and he even showed us the video of him getting married on the top of Everest!!
Our group stayed in a lodge at the Clear Creek Ranch inside Zion National Park. We spent 5 days hiking and snowshoeing around Zion National Park. They just had a major winter storm that dumped several feet of snow, so the trails were pretty icy - but it just added to the adventure and the beauty of everything. On our first day we hiked on the Sand Bench trail and to the Emerald Pool waterfall. On our second day, I woke up to the last sunrise of 2008, which was a great start to the day. I then got to try out snowshoeing for the first time, which I just fell in love with. We snow-shoed out to the edge of the Perunaweap Canyon in Zion, and enjoyed the amazing 360-degree views! Our guide packed pita, hummus and veggies for lunch and we had ourselves the best picnic right there in the snow with those unforgettable views. That night we had a New Year's Eve dinner, watched the ball drop on TV in New York and all turned in early. The next day we were trying to find a good trail to hike on, but it was hard with the recent snow. Most trails were closed due to snow and ice. We managed to hike half way up Observation Point, and then hiked up Angel's Landing to Scout Lookout. 1,000 ft elevation gain on that trail was definitely strenuous! On our fourth day we drove out to Bryce Canyon. We did some more snowshoeing and hiking. We started with our snowshoes on at the Rim Trail at Fairyland Point. The views in Bryce were just phenomenal! Very unique scenery - as you can see from the third feet picture (our lunch spot for the day). After lunch we continued on our way, reaching almost 8,000 ft elevation at Sunrise Point. Once there we put our snowshoes away and then headed out on the Navajo loop. That took us down into the hoodoos, which were amazing. We continued our hike around the canyon, and with every few steps the scenery just got more spectacular. On our last night, we all enjoyed one last breakfast together and then took one more hike together in Zion Canyon. We hiked out to the Canyon Overlook trail and all had fun taking some pictures that made it look like we were practically hanging over the edge. In the afternoon we headed back to Vegas, which was the end of a great adventure! Check out some more photos from this trip - Zion Bryce Photos |
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