Tag Archives: travel

revisiting seattle

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Right after Labor Day Rob & I headed up to the Pacific Northwest on our (now) annual anniversary vacation. Our first stop was Seattle!

When we first started dating (13 years ago now – gawd, so old), our first vacation together was a few days in Seattle during Spring Break. I have really fond memories of the city from that visit and I was looking forward to seeing it all over again.

While I will always have a soft spot for Seattle, I have to admit that I wasn’t as enamored this time around. It pains me to say that. I can’t really pinpoint any one thing but I suspect we suffered a bit from “been there done that” syndrome since we hit all the major attractions in our first visit — Space Needle, Museum of Flight, Seattle Aquarium, Pacific Science Center, etc.

We still managed to make the most of our day (and a half), though!



We started with coffee and sugary treats from Top Pot Doughnuts. A Seattle institution. So good.



Like good tourists we headed down towards the water…



To Pike Place Market. Of course, I also snuck in a visit to the very first Starbucks so I could add a new mug (or two) to my collection. 🙂



We’ve visited the Market before but it definitely deserves another visit!



After a nommy lunch at Pike Place Chowder, we took the ferry over to Bainbridge Island. I mostly wanted to enjoy the fabulous view of downtown Seattle…

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in celebration

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Just got back from a week long trip to the Pacific Northwest with stops in Seattle, Victoria and Vancouver (my fave). I haven’t downloaded our pics yet so for now, here’s a post I meant to publish before we left but got caught up in a flurry of packing…

August is an eventful month in our household. First Rob & I celebrated our fourth (!!!) anniversary back on August 9th. And a few days later on the 13th Rob turned 34. So of course we took this opportunity to splurge on ourselves. 🙂

On the night of our anniversary, we had dinner at Napa Rose in Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel.



It was our second time dining at Napa Rose and it was a fantastic experience. We sat at the chef’s counter in full view of the kitchen…



It was so cool to see the workings of the kitchen and all the interaction between the chefs.



Love all the little Disney touches!

Then that weekend we took a very last minute trip to Las Vegas. This time we stayed at the Cosmopolitan at the City Center…



And had a fabulous view of the Strip!



I really liked staying in the City Center area – it was central to so much shopping (pretty much the primary reason I love Las Vegas) and dining (the secondary reason).



I have a tendency to take Las Vegas for granted. I’m trying to be better at soaking in the atmosphere and appreciating the city’s energy.

For Rob’s birthday, we had the tasting menu at Scarpetta. WOW. Definitely one of our top 5 meals EVER. In life. Amazing.



We capped off the weekend with brunch at Bouchon (as per usual). Rob’s expression says it all. As the saying goes, work hard play hard. 🙂

NY/DC Trip Report: FOOD!

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Final post on our trip to NY/DC! If you don’t like pictures of food, I suggest skipping this entry. Or if pictures of food make you hungry, maybe come back later. 🙂 Here’s a random pic of us at Times Square while you decide…



You still here? OK!

So in planning, there were specific food experiences we wanted to have. Like a classic NY bagel. A NY pizza. Street meat. One great table service dinner. And so on.

We had a couple of misses — for us anyway — Norma’s and Burger Joint (both at our hotel Le Parker Meridien). But for the most part everything we tried was memorable if not AMAZING. Interestingly enough, our best meals in DC happened to be quintessential NY. I guess we’ll have to go back to DC to get a taste for their local cuisine someday. 🙂

Beware lots of food pics…

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DC Trip Report: Part 2

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Besides visiting museums, we also spent a lot of time in DC visiting monuments and national treasures. Everywhere you turn there’s something to see!

We headed over the Potomac River to the Arlington National Cemetery.



In specific older sections of the cemetery there are different styles of grave markers but in the newer sections they are all uniform.

The grounds are enormous (and we relied on the cemetery shuttle bus) so we only visited the most popular sights…



Of course the Kennedy Gravesites where President John F. Kennedy, his wife Jackie and two of their children are buried.



And the Tomb of the Unknowns where we also got to experience the Changing of the Guard.

Truly an amazing experience.

The one monument that was at the VERY top of my “to see” list was the Marine War Corps Memorial aka the Iwo Jima Memorial. I’ve seen it so many times on TV and in photos and it’s always taken my breath away.



It’s exactly the same in person. And SO much larger than I envisioned. We walked to it from the Cemetery and the approach is spectacular. I wish I had better pictures to share because it made my jaw drop. This is definitely a can’t miss memorial in my book.

Most of the other monuments are located in the city center and are easily accessible following a circular loop that’s roughly 3+ miles. One sunny afternoon we decided to walk all the monuments (it’s a looooong walk and I got sunburned!) and then on our last night we visited the same monuments again but via bike! Pics here are a combination of both days.



Here’s Rob before we set out on our bike ride. Hehe. We did the Monuments at Night tour with Bike and Roll. It was fantastic.



Our first sighting of the Washington Monument! Taken from the National Mall.



At the start of our monument walk/bike tour.



And at night! Stunning.

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DC Trip Report: Part 1

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Ok, picking up my trip report again. This time we’re heading to DC!

From NYC’s Penn Station we took Amtrak (the Northeast Regional route) straight to Union Station in DC. It was an easy breezy 3+ hours on the train. I highly recommend the train over a flight. No need to get to the station as early, no security and cheaper fares! TIP: TAKE ADVANTAGE of Amtrak’s Red Cap service if it’s available. There are Red Cap agents at many major stations that offer FREE baggage handling directly to the train platform AHEAD of general boarding. All you need to do is tip the agent. If we hadn’t used the service, we probably wouldn’t have gotten seats together.

For some reason, I only got this random pic of Rob & Cap on the train…



This was when we got to DC — the train was packed with commuters the whole way!



Union Station is so beautiful.

In this entry, I’m going to cover the museums we visited. Our first stop was the Smithsonian Castle.



It’s mostly an informational building so we didn’t linger too long before heading to the National Air and Space Museum.



This is tied for my favorite museum of the trip.



So happy! 🙂



Cap fits right in.



The Space Race exhibit featuring missiles and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in the back.



And the Apollo Lunar Module in the Exploring the Moon exhibit.

We walked through the entire first and second floors in a few hours – so fun!

We made the mistake of visiting the National Museum of Natural History on a Friday. AAAAHHHHH. SO MANY KIDS ON FIELD TRIPS. It was incredibly crowded (and this coming from someone who can deal with the crowds at Disneyland) so we basically walked in, saw the Hope Diamond, and high-tailed it outta there.



Before leaving I had to take a picture of the elephant in the rotunda. So iconic.

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NYC Trip Report: Part 2

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We continued our NYC adventures by hitting some of the most recognizable points of interest in the city…

Like the Statue of Liberty!



Heading out to Liberty Island.



I got chills seeing Lady Liberty!



Cap showing you the gorgeous view of Lower Manhattan from Liberty Island.

We paid our respects at the 9/11 Memorial.



The twin reflecting pools stand in the same footprint as the towers. It’s such a sobering experience to visit the memorial. It’s so difficult to imagine the devastation and terror that took place there. I’m glad we took some time to remember.

One thing I HAD to do in NYC is walk the Brooklyn Bridge. Seeing Miranda & Steve meet on the bridge in the Sex and the City movie might have made an impression on me. 🙂



It’s so beautiful. Sadly for us, the bridge was under construction so it wasn’t quite the romantic walk I envisioned. There was aluminum-type scaffolding covering various parts of the bridge, which made it difficult to see the view.



But once we hit the halfway point, there was a fantastic view of Manhattan waiting for us.

For more views of the city, we headed to Rockefeller Center.



Rockefeller Plaza



And up to the Top of the Rock!

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NYC Trip Report: Part 1

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Rob & I got back from our NYC/DC trip last week. We had SO MUCH FUN!!! I’m so excited to share our pics with all of you.



But first let me introduce you to Cap who served as our vacation mascot. 🙂 He’s seen here on our flight from LAX to JFK on Virgin America. We took him along in honor of the opening weekend of his movie, The Avengers. Hehe.

It’s been over 20 years since I visited NYC and Rob’s never been so we did almost everything touristy imaginable. And I absolutely fell in love with the city. It’s just so vibrant and alive. Rob and I both agree that we’d love to go back to explore the other neighborhoods we didn’t get a chance to see. The only question is when!

Anyway, in our first couple of days, we managed to knock off quite a few items from our NYC bucket lists.



Visited Grand Central Terminal.

It’s SO beautiful inside. Even more amazing than I imagined. But as soon as I walked in, the first thing I thought of was… “Spotted at Grand Central. Bags in hand. Serena Van Der Woodsen.” LOL.



Please tell me someone else knows what TV show I’m referring to.



Ok ok, it’s a Gossip Girl reference. I kept quoting the show and all Rob could do was roll his eyes at my nerdiness.

Walked all around Midtown and saw iconic NYC buildings like…



The Flatiron Building



The Chrysler Building



New York Public Library – and of course, the famous marble Lions guarding the Fifth Avenue building. We went inside briefly to see the catalog room on the 3rd floor but I didn’t realize the Main Reading Room was open as well. I would have loved to see it in person. Next time!

Headed Uptown to Museum Mile where we saw the Guggenheim…



Stunning! We didn’t go inside because we were saving our museum time for…



The Metropolitan Museum of Art! Here I am sitting on The Met steps just like the girls from Gossip Girl. HAHAHAHAHA. We’re not huge museum people (we have short attention spans, what can I say?) and The Met is enormous so we only hit specific galleries.



I HAD to see their collection of Edgar Degas pieces.

One of my favorite things about NYC is that amidst the “concrete jungle,” there are so many great parks to enjoy. Since we were on our feet so much, we took full advantage of the parks to sit, catch our breath, and relax.



In Madison Square Park, we saw the Shake Shack that started it all.



Look at the crazy line! We waited until the DC leg of our trip to indulge.



Taking a break in Bryant Park.

And of course, Central Park – the most famous NYC park of them all. We spent a few hours traipsing around and ended up getting lost. The paths are rambling and it’s easy to lose your way if you don’t know where you’re going. The weather was phenomenal, though, so it was great to be outside.



We started our Central Park walk at the Jackie Kennedy Onassis Reservoir and headed south. The reservoir looked just like the movies! Breathtaking.

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vegas quickie

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HEHE.

Back in February, Rob & I took a quick 2 night trip to Las Vegas where we spent the entire time eating and shopping. Really. Oh, and gambling for Rob. We scored a great deal at the Wynn by going Sunday through Tuesday. Our trip was right around the time that I was SUPER busy with work and was working late nights and weekends. So even though I ended up working for a few hours while we were there, it was wonderful to get away from “real life.”

Growing up in Southern California, I’ve been to Las Vegas many times. MANY. At LEAST once a year for as long as I can remember. So aside from checking out whatever new hotel has popped up on the Strip, there’s rarely anything I ever have to do while there. Not this time! I wanted to check out a few tourist-y things.



Like the Welcome to Las Vegas sign! Woohoo. In all my trips, I’ve never seen the sign up close before.



Elvis was there. LOL. He kinda reeked of alcohol. But he was really nice.



He even took our picture. 🙂



We also went to the Neon Museum for a tour. They collect and restore iconic Las Vegas neon signs and they offer tours of their Boneyard. Loved this place! It was SO COOL. Some of my favorite signs…



They’re opening a Visitor Center later this year that will include more exhibits and access to Boneyard tours. Next time I want to check out the neon signs at the Fremont Street Gallery.



And of course, we stopped to watch the Bellagio water show one night when walking back to the hotel. It always reminds me of Ocean’s Eleven. The George Clooney version. Hee.

But a Robokel trip wouldn’t be complete without lots of NOMMY food.

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WDW wrap-up

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So 3 months later I’m finally wrapping up my Walt Disney World trip report. YAY! I’ve covered what we did in the theme parks but thought I’d share some random pics and details as well.

The holidays were the perfect time to visit. All the parks and resorts were decorated and everything was so festive. LOVED IT.



We had a total of 9 full days in the parks which, I know, is A LOT of time at WDW. But seriously, we could have used a few extra days. In hindsight, I think we would have been much happier skipping Miami and staying at WDW the full 2 weeks. There’s just SO MUCH to do! While we visited each of the 4 main theme parks and played mini golf (not to mention took a day to leave Disney property and visit Harry Potter at Hogwarts), we didn’t have the chance to rent bikes and ride around the grounds of our hotel or take the segway tour around Epcot or even visit one of the water parks. I guess there’s always next time! 🙂

Since it was Rob’s first visit to WDW, I figured we might as well go all out and book a deluxe hotel (the other hotel categories are moderates and values). We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge and I absolutely fell in love with it. It was a fantastic home base for our stay. Just look!



The entrance gate… seeing it for the first time got me SO excited.



First look!



The gorgeous lobby.



The grounds are so beautiful. I miss it SO MUCH.



Another great feature of the Wilderness Lodge is the boat transportation to the Magic Kingdom (in addition to buses to all parks and destinations). So even though we rented a car, we took advantage of the boat system a few times. So fun!

We also booked a dining plan for our stay. It sounds really strange, right? Like why would you want to have a dining plan for meals that would probably consist of burgers and fries? At least that’s what I thought at first. But I discovered that dining is an experience all its own at WDW. Each park and all the resorts have a variety of options that aren’t the typical theme park food you might expect.

I also learned that WDW periodically offers free dining promotions to the public for package reservations booked for specific dates. I normally like to do all the planning for our trips but tracking these promotions is a full time job in itself. So THE BEST decision I made was to work with a travel agent, Mouseketrips. They did all the legwork and when free dining was released, they applied it to my reservation and I used the savings to upgrade to DELUXE dining. It’s a RIDICULOUS amount of food but we were going to take FULL ADVANTAGE. Food is an important part of our vacation experience, after all. 🙂

We had 20 (!!!) table service reservations over the course of 10 days plus the 3 snacks we were allotted each day (we used these a lot for fruit, croissants and orange juice in the morning). There were definitely a few meals that were forgettable, some that were average but many were spectacular so I’d like to share some favorites. Beware lots of pics (I can’t help it – I take pics of food – it’s a thing)…

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march happy things

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Daylight savings time wrecked me today. I could barely wake up! It’s crazy how one measly hour can turn my day upside down.

Work is still a nightmare but what else is new.

Let’s talk Happy Things!

1. Rob & I are heading to WonderCon this Saturday. WHEEE! It’s local this year (in Anaheim) so we figured why not. 🙂 I just want to check out the exhibition floor and maybe go see a panel or two. It’ll be interesting to see how different the experience is compared to Comic-Con. If it’s a bust, there’s always Disneyland right across the street.

2. Discovering amazing local restaurants. We live in a part of Orange County where chains and big box stores are the norm (not knocking these establishments — I LOVE Target and have a weakness for Chipotle) but every once in awhile, we stumble upon a real find. This past weekend we had brunch at Break of Dawn in Laguna Hills and I cannot wait to go back!



I had the Sausage and Rice (DAMN GOOD) and Rob had the Creme Brulee French Toast (F*ING GOOD). We want to try everything else on the menu. Hehe.

3. I’m going to be a godmother to my niece (my cousin’s daughter!). Damn, I’m getting old. OK OK. I *am* old.

4. Getting back to the swing of things and working on the house. When we moved in back in 2010, we went a little crazy painting and buying furniture that we burned out pretty quickly. We haven’t done anything major since then. This year, we have plans to paint the guest room (leaning towards gray), move Rob’s office upstairs, look for a buffet to reside near the kitchen, and possibly invest in a new sofa/sectional. Rob even managed to install the ceiling fan we got for Christmas. So pretty. YAY.



5. I have constant wanderlust. CONSTANT. So I’m excited that we have our next vacation lined up! We’ll be spending 9 nights between NYC & Washington, DC in early May. I haven’t been to either city since I was around 10 (possibly younger) and Rob’s never been to either one so they’re pretty much new destinations for us. If anyone has recs for attractions or dining, I’d love to hear them! 🙂

Hope everyone is having a great week!