21 posts tagged “travel”

Last Sunday Alex and I hightailed it out of dodge to spend a few days in Stumptown (aka Portland, Oregon) with our dear dear friends who moved out there two years ago. It was great seeing them but oh so bittersweet as it reminded me what a great couple they are and how much I miss being able to hang out with them in NYC. I guess we'll just have to plan more trips out west to visit with them, and try to lure them out to the East coast. As ever we hit the ground running but unlike our usual vacations which involve pounding pavements this time we were being driven about! So much less tiring but felt guilty about not racking up the steps for my pedometer.

On our first afternoon we went wine tasting (hurrah!), and visited four vineyards (Argyle, Domaine Drohin, De Ponte and another one whose name is alluding me) . There are hundreds of wine producers in the Willamette Valley in Oregon and we only scratched the surface. Each winery had a totally different atmosphere and the wine varied quite dramatically. We started off with Argyle and the wine was rougher than Domaine Drohin but it's sparkling wines is what it is really known for. The 2006 Argyle Brut was yum but the 2006 Black Brut was alarming. I am sorry but a sparkling pinot noir is just not right. It tasted a wee bit like a unsweet sparkling Ribena - yuk!

On Labor Day actual we headed to the coast, and the weather was beautiful. We walked along the beach at Look Out State Park and Cannon Beach. Alex got some great photos, and I got lots of steps on my pedometer!!!
 

Tuesday was our last day and since our friends were working we headed into Portland proper and spend the day mooching about. We got a much needed sugar hit at Voodoo Donuts, explored Powell's Books and had lunch with my uncle and his wife who were over from Scotland to visit his wife's son (who just happens to work in Portland). The Pearl District was just taking off when we last visited Portland 5-6 years ago and it has really taken off with lots of stores, restaurants and gorgeous apartments. However, because it is so new it doesn't have much character.  We headed over to the east side to have our final dinner with our friends on Mississippi Ave. It's night and day to the Pearl. Diverse and overflowing with character. We hopped from restaurant to restaurant having a different course at each one. Rather cheeky but lots of fun.

We had a great (well timed) break and I feel really rested. It was nice going back to the office and only having to work a two day week.  The rest of Alex's photos from our trip are on Flickr - enjoy!

A few weekends back Alex and I hoped a train to Philadelphia for a weekend of sightseeing, and oh my word did we see sights or what. Over the course of two days, according to my pedometer, we racked up over 18 miles! No wonder we were exhausted with very sore feet by the time we caught our train home on Sunday night.  We packed a lot into the weekend, but there were many things that we didn't get to do like run up the Rocky steps or explore the dozen or more museums that call Philadelphia home. My favorite parts of the weekend:

• Franklin Walking Seminar (Context Travel) - We were the only two people on this tour and we had a wonderful docent. Learnt a lot about Franklin, and had some great discussions about the marketing of history, how different materials present their exhibitions and the foundation myths of the US
  
• Reading Terminal Market - Awesome farmers' market. Packed to the rafters with fresh produce, Amish ladies, and hole in the wall places to eat 
  
• La Colombe - Philadelphia based coffee company that I am addicted to. They have a cafe near my office, and I dragged Alex to the original cafe in Philly. He had a very yummy iced coffee made with condensed milk, and it was so delish that I wished I'd ordered it instead of a boring latte 
• University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology - Okay I fess up one of the main reasons we went to Philly was so I could check out the Greek & Roman galleries. The museum is a little old school but the Greek & Roman galleries had recently been done up and were pretty darn good. I got quite squeally when I got to see a Villanovan hut urn which was all shades of awesome (if you are into that type of thing!)
  
• Franklin Institute - There were two special exhibits on: Galileo & the Medici (excellent, very technical so Alex was in heaven) and Star Trek (lots of costumes, sets and props; we were in heaven!)
  

I didn't end up taking that many photographs, the walking tour was really intense and given that Alex was snapping away I thought it would be rude if I started talking photos too but I've popped what snapped on Flickr.

W00t

• Bacon & egg sandwiches
  
• E2 Design series on PBS
• Carrot cake
• Bringing my own lunch
• 'The Consolations of Philosophy' by Alain de Botton
• British detective series
• Context Travel 
• Netflix
• Ankles and toes kissed by sunlight
• Second hand books
  

• Being on hold
• 5:30am starts
• Anticipating the stress of having to transfer air miles from me to Alex in order to book flight
• First game of whiffle ball was canceled (this does not bode well for the season)
• Skipped yoga after whiffle ball was canceled, going out on Thursday so miss my fav teacher so will have go tomorrow night to make up

In the good old days I use to be able to read books by the yard and see every movie that tickled my fancy. These days I am left with catching up with missed films when I fly.  Luckily for me I've had quite a few flights over the last few months, and seen many movies that I ummed and ahhed over earlier in the year. Quite a few of them turned out to be duds (so glad that I didn't waste a precious trip to the flicks on them) but a couple of them were really good, and worth discounted DVD purchase.

Fell WELL below par

• Forgetting Sarah Marshall - As much as I appreciate Russell Brand I could not make it through this steaming turd. I tried fast forwarding just to bits with Brand in it but even they had me clawing my eyes out.  
  
• Smart People - This one can go down as one of the most depressing films I have seen since Little Children. The characters are drab, the plot is pedestrian and in the end I gave up. Life is too short for this film.
  

• 21 - Poor student who is good at maths falls in with a bunch of academic gamblers who weekend in Vegas. It ends badly but he now as a great "life story" for his application to med school.
  
• Made of Honor - Imagine My Best Friend's Wedding were they switch the sexes, loose Rupert Everett, and in his place they inject a high fat Scottish filling that tastes so bad that Kevin McKidd has been asked to leave his kilt at the door. 
  

• In Bruges - A kooky black comedy about two gangsters holed up in Bruges whilst they await their instructions. Colin Farrell is spot on, and back in my good books after the travesty that was Alexander.
  
• The Incredible Hulk - Given that I had seen the Hulk you can totally appreciate why I skipped out on Ed Norton's reinterpretation of the not-so-jolly green giant but it was actually a good film. I think that the stronger plot, and the  scaled back CGI effects really helped. Oh that and Norton is smokin'.
  
• Miss Petigrew Lives of a Day - A delightful comedy of errors set on the eve of World War 2.
  
• Enchanted - I was.
  

I have fallen down the rabbit hole that is VFest.  Toronto is my favourite festival for a number of reasons: climate (temperate not sweltering), the people (Canadians are uber friendly and polite), the setting (Toronto Island is a park so it is green with plenty of real bathrooms) and the VIP buffet.  You can only truly appreciate a good buffet when you've been held prisoner for 12 hours with regular festival fare. This year the food options included gourmet mac and cheese, roast beef or pork with a baked potato, a salad bar (veggies are generally in short supply), and a selection of deserts with coffee. I ate everything. In fact, I had to take my mac and cheese to go so that I could snack on it back in the tent. 

This is my fifth festival with Unite, and you have to be smart about making sure that you have enough fuel to see you through a 12 hour day on your feet chatting with the public.  For brekkie I had scrambled eggs, sausages, bacon, toast, and a fruit salad then instead of having a pastry I had a bowl of porridge*. I figured that since oats are slowing burning they would keep me going until the buffet opened at 4pm.  As you can see figuring out were my next meal is coming from is more important than catching a band.  Today I wasn't that bothered about the music I could here the Fratellis from the tent, and I caught a bit of Bloc Party. I decided to split before The Kooks and Foo Fighters because I was having withdrawal issues from being away from the internet, plus tomorrow is going to be a big day for Brit pop - Sterophonics, Paul Weller and Oasis.

• My luggage going walkabout for three days
• Watching Iron Man for the third time and The X-Files for the second just so I could see the secret scenes (they were so worth it)
  
• The Hadrian exhibit at the British Museum
• Day trip to the Roman Baths
• Almost melting during the performance of 'They Are Playing Our Song' at the Menier Chocolate Factory
• My mum coming to the airport with me a 5am just so we could hang out a bit more
  

After a week of jet setting between glamorous locations such as Plumstead, Hammersmith and Baltimore I am so glad to be back in Jersey. Looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight, and drinking out of my own mug.  I have noticed that whilst I was gone Alex rearranged my kitchen. I only wish he hadn't just focused on crockery and had tackled the collection of spices as well. Luckily, we don't have that much crockery so it will be easy to put everything back the RIGHT way.  I was ultra weepy on Friday night, and had a bit of a cry in Starbucks when I met Alex for a quick coffee before I headed down to Balti. I think the combo of being way too tired and seeing a friendly face was too much to bare. Any how after a good nights sleep I was back to top so-so form, and working the festival wasn't too bad. I managed to not succumb to heat stroke so that was a definite result. It was a shame that I wasn't into more of the bands who were playing. However,  I did get to meet KT Tunstall (cute as a buton) and the Nine Inch Nails set blew me away (even though I couldn't ID a NIN song if it bit me on the button).

I got back from my work-family-friends-Roman trip to London a few hours ago, and before I even have a chance to recover I am off to Baltimore tonight for Virgin Mobile Festival. I am trying to hold myself together because I am very tired and the thought of being on my feet for 12 hours a day over the weekend does not fill me with joy. All I want to do is crash and hang out with Alex. When in reality what I have to do is repack, buy red material and head to the office so we can load up the car and get on the road. For some reason I couldn't sell Alex on coming - not sure if it was the sweltering temps, the long draw out days or my being totally preoccupied. Any how, at least I can use my iPhone as an iPhone and I am going to meet Alex from work for a quick coffee before I head out. 

I am off to London later this week for work, and luckily the Powers That Be don't mind me flying in early so that I can spend more time with friends and family, and given that I am foregoing having a hotel I am a cost effective person to ship in. I am not really looking forward to having to commute to the office in Hammersmith next week but I am sure that I can handle trains and the tube since it is only for 4 days. Plus, it gives me plenty of points of comparison when anyone asks about differences of living in NYC and London.  For instance NY and NJ transit aren't trying to bleed commuters dry with inflated transit costs or melt them in train carriages with no AC.  Despite the general commuter woes I am planning on making the most of my free trip to the capital.  On Friday I am going to the Hadrian exhibit, Saturday off to a Roman villa in Kent and Sunday it's the Roman baths in Bath. Seriously, I don't think I could fit any more Classics if I tried.  The only pain in the ass is that when I get back on the 8th I have to head down to Baltimore the same day because Virgin Mobile Festival is that weekend, and I will be working.  After having heat stroke and projectile vomiting last year I am going to be working hard to make sure that I don't work too hard, and that I spend enough time in the air conditioned building with real toilets.  

This is why I love living in Jersey and having a Green Card. Within less than an hour after landing I'd sped through passport control, grabbed my bags, jumped in a cab and got home safely with 12 bars of chocolate and an Easter egg all intact.