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 flew in from Texas this weekend to visit me in Toronto. We just took it easy and enjoyed messing around town for a couple days.
I was staying near the town Markham, so one day we walked around the Unionville Historic area. Then we explored downtown, going in Eaton Centre and being amused by the chalk artist on the street. We then took the ferry out to Toronto Island for the day. We rented bikes and casually rode around the island, which was a lot of fun. 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 On this weekend I flew to Quebec City. I explored the Old Quebec City area on the first day. Then the next day I decided to take a road trip. My first stop was the Montmorency Falls. Next I went to an apple orchard on the L’ile d’Orleans. From there I went to the Cathedral St. Anne and then to the Canyon Ste. Anne. That is where the feet pictures are from. There were 3 suspension bridges that you walked over, so I had fun capturing my feet on each of the bridges.
I finished the day off by driving to Baie-St-Paul, a very quaint artists town. I had dinner there, and then after a quick stop at the Casino Charlevoix I drove back to Quebec City. Check out more of my photos from this trip - Quebec City Photos On this weekend I flew into Calgary from Toronto. I drove to Banff and spent a couple nights at the Banff International Hotel. On my first day I enjoyed the views of Lake Louise. I parked at the Fairmont Chateaux and took a short hike up a trail to the Fairmont Lookout, which provided a great view of the lake, glacier and hotel. Then on my second day I joined a day tour through The Discover Banff Tour company. We did a Larch Valley day hike, which was great. 7.5 miles. The first foot picture is at our lunch spot, overlooking Eiffel Lake. Then second one is also at our lunch spot, with the Lake Moraine Glacier in the background. The highlight of day one was looking out over the amazingly blue Lake Moraine.
On day 3 of my trip I joined another day hike with the same company. This time we went to Yoho National Park. We started at Takakkaw Falls and hiked up the mountain until we had a wonderful view of the Daly Glacier, which is the 3rd foot picture. We really lucked out that day. It was pouring rain our entire drive to the hike, it was perfect on the hike (8.5 miles), and then the minute we got back in the van the rain started again. As we were leaving the park, a tree had just fallen across the only exit road - completely blocking the road. Thankfully it didn’t land on any cars! We were stuck there for about an hour and finally a truck was able to pull it out of the way with a cable. This was a great weekend getaway. I’d love to go back another time and do some more hikes…the scenery is just amazing! Check out some more of my photos from this trip - Banff Yoho Photos I worked in Toronto for about a year and a half, traveling back and forth from my home in Texas to Toronto each week. On occasion I stayed over the weekend, and in August of 2009 I drove down to Niagara Falls. I stayed on the Canadian side, did the Journey Behind the Falls and the maid of the mist boat ride. I also spent a day bike riding through the wineries in Niagara-on-the-Lake, which was amazing! The tour company was Zoom Leisure, and we first took a historical tour all around town, and then after lunch went to the Lailey winery, Reif Estates winery, Marynissen winery, and lastly Jackson-Triggs winery.
I drove back to Toronto and explored downtown the rest of the weekend. My friend brought a couple bikes with him so we rode around downtown – stopping at the St. Lawrence Market, Casa Loma and Steam Whistle brewery. The next day I went to the Art Gallery (where I got the great picture of lightening striking the CN tower during a storm), Eaton Centre and the Bata Shoe Museum. One of the highlights was going to the top of the CN Tower and standing on the glass floor. That is the baseball stadium you can see below. Check out some more photos from this trip - Niagara & Toronto Photos |
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