#it was fun :) we went to a small farm in a gorgeous nature area

[rnaeborowski]

ultra rare selfie drop

[thatslikely]

Seasons- G.W. Headcannons

dating George Weasley through the seasons

Warnings: mentions of food, but it's all fluff

Word Count: 1.4k

A/N: just thought it would be fun! Let me know if you want this for any other characters!

George Taglist: @hufflepuff5972

if you want to be added to the taglist, reply to this post, send me an ask, or dm me!

I recommend listening to this playlist while reading for the best experience!

----

Winter

On the first snowfall of the season, you two definitely built an adorable little snowman, complete with coal eyes (you probably stole Ron's scarf for his neck). You told George about the muggle story Frosty the Snowman, and he tried to find a spell to recreate Frosty.

The next day, you two gradually started amassing a large snowman army. Inevitably, in the middle of construction, George betrayed you with an icy snowball to your back.

Naturally, this incited a five day-long snowball war that increasingly got more and more intense. George was surprisingly good at building sturdy snow forts, so you never really stood a chance against his defences. He could have probably constructed a 7 foot tall barricade in a matter of minutes!

Even if you two are locked in battle, he'll always take time to admire the way the white snowflakes rest in your hair so beautifully, as well as the fiery determination behind your eyes.

Fiesty battles aside, George always made sure that you were warm and cozy after a long day in the cold, making homemade hot cocoa using Molly's famous recipe.

One day, long after the ‘Snow Skirmish’, you convince him to go ice skating with you; he absolutely fell in love with it. For a while, he had to hold onto your arms for balance, which led to a lot of falls considering he's a giant compared to you.

Eventually he got the hang of it and you taught him how to play muggle hockey, which he picked up quite quickly. He eventually got all the Weasleys hooked, and they held weekly tournaments. You were always George's favorite cheerleader.

If he ever became a little too cocky, he'd fall face-first onto the hard ice, which always brought a small smile to your face. He always laughed with you, too.

On snowless days, however, you two went on 'expeditions', which entailed peaceful walks through the woods, hand-knitted gloves intertwined.

You'd always keep your eyes peeled for birds or foxes, and occasionally he swore he saw a yeti. You were surprised he never got Fred to dress up in a yeti suit, at least not yet.

Spring

One word: picnics.

You spent the majority of springtime down at the Burrow, enjoying the pleasant spring weather. There were huge multicolored flower fields surrounding George's childhood home, making it even more fitting for the season.

Some days, he'd take you down to the creek past the Burrow, and the two of you would stand ankle-deep in the cool, flowing water. Sometimes, if he was feeling a bit mischievious, he’d splash you with some of the refreshing water, you quickly returning the favor.

Occasionally, he'd try to catch a little leaping frog, holding it carefully in his big palms. He was enchanted by the tiny creature, and without fail, he always begged you to let him keep it.

"But Terrance needs a home! We can make him a terrarium and everything! Please?"

Some days, he'd take you up to the Tree, which laid on a soft, grassy hill in the middle of a luscious yellow flower field. A single tire swing hung from its burly and ancient branches.

Often times, he'd sit at the base of the trunk, either dozing off or humming a song from his youth. If you chose to sit with him, however, he'd braid your hair perfectly and pick some colorful flowers to accent it.

"My little Angel, you look so pretty with flowers in your hair."

You'd always pick some petals for his ginger mop, too.

"Now we're matching, Georgie. Daffodils compliment your hair beautifully."

He loved to push you in the tire swing. He was far too big to fit in it now, to your dismay, but he was perfectly satisfied pushing you back and forth in it. It almost reminded him of rocking a baby cradle.

On rainy days, he'd fetch old rain boots from the attic. He'd always wear Bill's old pair, you wearing his'. The area around the small creek was all muddy, and you can't tell me he wouldn't make mud pies. Even if he's way too old for them.

"Darling, would you care for a pie?"

"And what does it taste like, exactly?"

"It's my signature flavor, mud!"

Summer

I firmly believe George is a good cook. He just is (see my chef!George fic for elabroation).

One sweltering day, you and him went out to the gardens and pick ripe, ruby-red strawberries to chop up and make into homemade strawberry ice cream.

His ice cream would surpass Fortescue's by a lot. Like it's scary. From then on, he made it every Saturday morning, even on chilly winter days.

Sometimes he'd turn adventurous and try some new flavors, which were normally pretty good, until he got a little too creative and made caramel watermelon ice cream. From then on, he stuck with the classics.

In the evenings, a small bonfire was lit and all the Weasleys spent the night drinking and dancing. Bill held a guitar concert, George and Arthur grilled up some hot dogs (which were juicy and delcious), Fred set off some fireworks, and Ginny held fiercely competitive broom races.

When everyone went inside, exhausted, you and George stayed outside, listening to the crickets chirping and admiring the clear, country sky. He pointed out his favorite constellations to you, reenacting the myths behind them with you as his co-actor (you can't tell me we wouldn't let you fake-stab him and he'd fall to the grass super dramatically).

Beach days: a must have.

George would definitely wear red/maroon swim trunks, and there would always be a white stripe of sunscreen on his freckled nose, even after he furiously rubbed it in.

He'd always love the bathing suit you sported, whether it was a gingham bikini or a gorgeous silver one piece. He loved you so much, you never felt self conscious around him.

He'd take you to a secret, tucked-away beach, and you two would spend the day building elaborate sand castles, burying you deep in the sand, and searching for pretty sea shells and sand dollars.

“Where do you think you’re going, Mister? You can’t just leave me buried under the san like this!”

“Someone’ll find you eventually. I just want all the icecream for myself, what can I say? Oh fine, I’ll dig you up, darling.”

Autumn

Autumn at the Burrow was like nothing else. There was always a seemingly endless supply of pumpkin juice and apple juice on tap, and traditions were ampted up to the max.

Pumpkin carving was taken very seriously, and you and George were no exceptions. You and him were never artsy per se, but you always tried your hardest together to crave an intricately designed pumpkin. It always turned out pretty decent, to your surprise.

George and Fred would constantly wear scary masks and hide around he Burrow, or plant fake spiders in the cupboards in hopes of scaring Ron. It always worked.

Since the weather was so nice and chilly, he'd always go around the woods with you collecting a pile of some good sticks for a tree fort. He always carried the branches, and you collected the prettiest orange leaves you could find, for a collage or scrapbook.

All fall, he worked on building a small, secluded tree fort, which was definitely worth it in the end. You two stayed up late into the night, telling ghost stories, kissing, or inviting the whole Weasley clan for a good old fashioned game of Truth or Dare.

As for Halloween, you guys already know he goes overboard. He decorated every inch of every wall with black and orange streamers, fake cobwebs, and little baby pumpkins. It was always really sweet; he'd always wear a proud grin after the whole house was adorned to his liking.

For costumes, I'm 99% sure that you two would always do pun-y couple costumes think him dressing up as a cereal box and you as a killer, or him as a ghost and you a pepper).

You two would also 100% go to a costume store, and buy as much cheap hair gel as you could, all so you two could make each spiky Mohawks (you'd never admit it to George, but he pulled them off).

One time, he let you take him to a muggle farm for the day. You decided it would be fun to do a corn maze. The both of you got lost for three hours. From then on, he just stuck with hay rides.

Spending time with George was always fun, year-round.

[maryqueenofmurder]

Impulse x Grian x Ren

Part 1:  Impulse x Grian x Ren

Part 2:  Impulse x Grian x Ren

Part 3:  Impulse x Grian x Ren

Part 4:  Impulse x Grian x Ren

Part 5:  Impulse x Grian x Ren

Ren had been ecstatic to hear about “Grian’s” invitation on a “date”.  He’d been so happy, he didn’t bother to wonder why Impulse had been talking to Grian, or how fishy the whole thing sounded. When would Grian get the time to make spaghetti? The two were clearly meant for each other.

The daylight is fast fading, however. Impulse headed to the hippie camp and whips up some spaghetti. Mmmm, pasta. He puts down one big plate with two servings on it, puts one serving on a seperate plate, then adds sauce to both.

Impulse sends a longing look at the table. He could imagine Grian and Ren sitting there so vividly he could almost see it. He wished he could be there with them.

Not like on a date or anything, Impulse hurried to clarify to himself.  Just. The idea of them without him feels wrong. He’s probably having Grian withdrawals. Spending time apart has simply made him long for the other all the more. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and all that.

Impulse shakes himself out of his stupor, and heads off. He’ll leave them alone for this. He can just watch the sunset by himself. Eating his plate of spaghetti alone. He let out a sigh that he couldn't understand. Why is he feeling this way? Does missing them so deeply mean their friendship is strong, or fragile?

-----------------------------------------------------------

Ren and Grian arrived at the hippie camp around the same time, barely missing Impulse, who had hung around almost too long. Each assumed the other had set up the date, had stepped out to do something, and just returned. Ren sat down first, staring at Grian giddily. He could hardly believe this was actually happening.

Grian also took a seat, never taking his eyes off Ren. Until he looked down at his plate.  He instantly noticed the singular dish. Remembering how it often turned out in movies, Grian went bright red, and squeaked.

“S-So, how was your day?” Grian asked, internally cursing his own awkwardness.

“Better now that I’m with you.” Ren winked, smiling in a way that made Grian’s heart flutter and his face grow redder. Ren reached out and took Grian’s hand in his own, linking their fingers together and setting their now joined hands on the table.

“So how was your day, sugar?” Ren smirked. Grian was sure he was going to melt any moment now. A flirty Ren is no small matter, but Grian chose to rise to the challenge, and woo Ren as well.

“I have been counting the seconds until I saw your gorgeous face, darling." Grian purred, the pet name slipping off his tongue easily. Ren’s smile grew, and his eyes grew even brighter, but Grian wasn’t done yet.

“The sunset itself, in all its beauty, could not compare to you.” Grian said. This compliment was more personal, meaningful. Grian had, on many an occasion, remarked on the awe of witnessing a sunset, of its inherent romanticism, of the appealing nature of its colors.Ren, fittingly, went red, resembling the sunsets he loved so much.

Ren, not one to be outdone, twirled some spaghetti onto his fork. Instead of eating it himself, he brought it to Grian’s lips, giving him a sly smile. Grian’s eyes flicked down at the fork, then back up to Ren. Grian leaned forward, and slurped the spaghetti. His eyebrows rose, showing his surprise. He hastily chewed his mouthful, and swallowed.

“This is good!” Grian twirled some spaghetti onto his fork, and poked Ren in the mouth with it. “Dude, try some!” Ren ate the spaghetti off the fork, then made a pleased noise. He put spaghetti back on his fork, and gave it to Grian.

That was how they ate their meal. Grian would feed Ren, and Ren would feed Grian.  They unfortunately didn’t get their romantic spaghetti kiss, but they shared many laughs over their unorthodox way of eating.

“So.” Grian set down his fork. “I can’t tell you what I did, because it was Sahara business, but could you tell me what you did? Got to keep up to date on hippie business.” Grian said with a wink, as if it wasn’t just a thinly veiled ruse to listen to Ren. Ren was just so passionate in everything he did, including talking. Ren scooted his chair over to Grian, and rested his head on Grian’s shoulder.

“I woke Impulse up at six in the morning after I watched the sunrise so we could get stuff we needed, but he went to bed at two in the morning.” Ren sighed guiltily.

“A day with Impulse? Lucky. Anyway, if he agreed to go with you, he should be fine, Babe. Go on.” Grian said nonchalantly, though he knew Impulse always needed all the sleep he could get.

“Ok, so we started off by going to the shopping district. We bought the stuff on the hippie list, then restocked some shops. Impulse was kind of grumpy at first, but he cheered up quickly! He got really enthusiastic. Then we ran into Doc and Mumbo, who let me know how you were doing. He looked a bit down during it. Probably ‘cause Doc accused you of sneaking into Area 77.” Ren rambled, paying attention to the way Impulse had acted during the trip.

“Sounds like something I would do.”  Grian chuckled.

“Then we afk’d at some farms to get the rest of the supplies. Impulse was a bit awkward, but we talked a lot.  After that we grinded for a bit, then went home for lunch. …You know the rest.” Ren blushed slightly, remembering the events of earlier.

“Yeah?” Grian replied hesitantly, also going a bit red.

“Right, then Impulse dropped by and said you invited me on a date.” Ren continued, oblivious to Grian startling slightly.

“We went on our date, and now we’re here.” Ren finished.

“Impulse told you that I invited you on a date.” Grian asked tonelessly. Ren looked at him, noting the change, and nodded.

“Well he told me that you invited me on a date.” Grian finished, his eyes darting to Ren, and then to Impulse’s R.V.. Ren sat up from where he was lying on Grian’s shoulder.

“Did he ask you how you felt about me?” Ren inquired.

“I’m guessing he asked you too.”  Grian realized. “He set us up.”

“I, for one, don’t really mind.” Ren admitted.

“Neither do I.” Grian smiled at Ren, admiring the way the moonlight hit his eyes, seeming to make them sparkle. Oh, the moon was high in the sky already.

“It’s getting late.” Grian said reluctantly. “I’ve got to go. We can watch the sunrise together, if you want? We can make it a date.” Grian got up, intending to hit the hay in his own R.V.. Ren grabbed his sleeve.

“Before you go, this is the most fun I’ve had in a while. I really felt a connection.” Ren hesitated, then forged ahead. “Do you want to be my boyfriend? Grian looked at him, then smiled a breathless grin.

“Yes.” Grian said. Then he headed off for the night. Ren stared at his retreating figure, framed in the moonlight. He then followed suit, and went to his own R.V..

Somewhere far away, moonlight hit Impulse as he sat by the cliff, causing the tears running down his sleeping face to gleam.

[brynandchristopher]

The 3 Musketeers

Hello again! It is a bittersweet thing to say this will be our last post from New Zealand. We have had an absolutely wonderful time here and in part don’t want it to be over, but we are also ready to move on to our next adventure in Australia. We are looking forward to a little bit of routine and stability, as well as a new landscape to explore in a new van!!

The last time we checked in we had just finished the Kepler Track and were waiting to meet up with some friends of mine. We left Lake Dunstan and headed through a deep river/reservoir gorge between Cromwell and Alexandra to go see my college best friend, Camille, and her boyfriend, Aaron. They had been picking cherries and training young trees for about 7 weeks and when we arrived they had just finished their stint on the orchard. A lot of people here get a working holiday visa which allows them to stay for up to a year, and up to 2 years if 3 months of farm work is completed. Camille and Aaron were pretty sick of Alexandra so we headed out into the hills of Otago to camp for a few nights at a cool secluded freedom camp they knew of called St. Bathan’s place.

We spent 3 nights in St. Bathan’s and had a blast. It was situated around a bunch of cattle grazing pastures nearby to an old abandoned gold mine. The gold mining operation had left a large pit in the ground which over the decades filled up with rainwater and is now a lovely lake! We spent our first night there hanging out with Camille and Aaron and catching up on all of their adventures. We stayed up late into the night, having a few drinks, and freezing our toes off. It got really cold but we persisted in staying up and enjoying the amazing array of stars. We got full views of the milky way and it was definitely the best stargazing we’ve done during the trip. The next day we walked over to the lake and spent the day basking in the sun, listening to music, and climbing the fragile cliffs and jumping back down into the lake! We made dinner together and had another night of hanging out and listening to hilarious stories about Ireland, where Aaron is from. 

The next day was very gloomy and we spent most of the day watching The Mandalorian in our van, great show, highly recommend. It cleared up in the evening and Camille and I were treated to a few impromptu duets from Bryn and Aaron once he had enough whisky to bust out his guitar. 

The next day we left St. Bathan’s and went back to Alexandra to hang out at a lake nearby to the orchard Camille and Aaron worked on. It was an awesome lake with cool waterbirds and big cliffs all around. We hung out on the beach for a while and attempted our highest cliff jumping of the trip (~40 feet). It was a beautiful day and after taking care of some final logistical things in town, we all set out to a freedom camp in that river/reservoir gorge we came into town through called Champagne Gully. We enjoyed a last dinner together before going our separate ways the next morning. It was so much fun to see an old friend and spend a few days socializing, Bryn and I aren’t sick of each other but having other people around is nice sometimes :). 

The next morning was my birthday! Woohoo. We spent the beginning of the day at a cafe so I could watch my favorite soccer team, Manchester United, play my least favorite soccer team, Chelsea. Since it was my birthday they made sure to win for me :). We had some lovely drinks and treats at the cafe to celebrate and then headed to Queenstown to shower at the free service station. Bryn had planned a special dinner/activity for my birthday but wouldn’t tell me what it was, just that we had to be in Queenstown that evening. After hanging at the service station and talking to my fam, we drove into downtown. We parked the car and walked along the docks until we reached a famous old steamship, the TSS Earnslaw and Bryn finally let me in on the secret - we were taking a steamboat cruise across Lake Wakatipu to a traditional farm for a gourmet all-you-can-eat bbq dinner. The cruise was beautiful and we stood out on the front deck while we braved the wind and enjoyed the view. The farm was immaculate and definitely used for private functions and weddings from time to time. There were tons of flower gardens and a cool old Victorian style house where dinner was served. We got a lovely table overlooking the water and treated ourselves to a little bit of everything they had to offer. I think I went back to the buffet 4 or 5 times and was very, very full by the end of it. After dinner they did a demonstration in this cool outdoor amphitheater of how they shear sheep as well as a live demonstration of their herding dogs herding a flock of sheep down a hill. The control of the dogs was incredible, using different pitched whistles to signal them to stalk, bark, run, stop etc. There were two dogs were highly adept in working together and it was an awesome learning experience. After that we got back on the boat and headed back across the lake. There was a piano singalong of old folk songs in the back of the boat and Bryn and I sat right up by the piano in the heart of the diehard geriatric singers and sang our voices hoarse - there were some people that were suuuuper into it and it was really fun and hilarious to be a part of. Bryn even requested happy birthday at the end and I got a nice birthday serenade from a bunch of strangers :). 

The next day I got a wonderful belated birthday present :). My sister Madeline flew across the world to come visit us for 9 days. She arrived in the late afternoon and our first day we shopped for a few things, made a nice dinner in our Airbnb, and rested up so she could get over the jet lag quickly. The next morning we got up early and headed into town to kick off the festivities. We found a really good deal on a 3 person parasailing over Lake Wakatipu. It was such an amazing view as we were towed up behind a boat over the lake and a really fun way to kick things off. After our morning parasailing ride we walked around Queenstown and did a little bit of shopping before heading into the public flower gardens along the lake. After a lot of walking and minorly sore feet we decided to stop for lunch at a famous local restaurant called Fergberger. We got ourselves a meat pie, a burger, and the NZ version of a Boston creme donut. All of them were fantastic and a special treat, as we normally don’t eat meat or dairy. 

We had planned to do a cruise on Milford sound the next day but the landslides had destroyed the roads and still were not open to personal vehicles. We didn’t want to spend ~250 dollars for a commercial coach and cruise upgrade option so we made a change of plans and headed back to Wanaka where Bryn and I spent a few days a couple of weeks back. We went back to some cool cliff jumping and lazy river spots we found and stayed at a huge open campground in the woods and made friends with a bike packer named Karl. He serenaded a family of ducks with his flute and he and Madeline were fast friends! 

The next day we headed north up to Mt. Cook. We planned to go all the way up into Mt. Cook National Park but when we arrived the weather was very clouded and drizzly so we decided to wait until the next morning for better weather and camped at a lake. We made an amazing dinner of portabella mushroom burgers and red kumara (like a sweet potato) fries and snuggled up in the van to play a rousing game of monopoly. As monopoly always does, the game dragged on quite a bit, and I won by forfeiture - me and my sisters play monopoly back home so it was a really fun throwback game night. The next morning we got up early and drove an hour or so into the national park. We made a first stop and did a 3 km hike up to an overlook of the Tasman glacier. It was the first time Madeline had seen a glacier so that was really cool, and the views of the mountains were absolutely gorgeous. We continued up the road to its end where there were hundreds of cars/vans parked at the staging camp for a plethora of hikes. We opted not to join in on the difficult and crowded trails but just hung out, had some snacks, and enjoyed the view of NZ’s tallest mountain. After we left we had a hefty driving day and made it a long way south to yet another lakeside campground. 

The next day we drove even further south to the town of Bluff. We had spent the last 3 nights staying at freedom camps in our van - we had to pitch a tent as well because the van really only has space for 2 people - and were a bit weary of the cold and loneliness accompanying being alone out in the tent so we booked some more cheap Airbnb’s. The Airbnb in Bluff was really nice and after driving to the end of the peninsula at the end of NZ we utilized the real kitchen space to make an Italian feast of salad, gnocchi and vegetarian bolognese sauce, and garlic bread (and a little bit of wine). 

The next day we drove through the Catlins, a large forested area of southern New Zealand stopping along the way at some really cool natural features. We went to two different waterfall areas which each boasted multiple waterfalls and took in the beauty and got some great pictures. We stopped for a couple hours in a small town called Owaka so Madeline could take an online test back home which she took at the local library - after that we did a little souvenir shopping before heading to Jack’s Blowhole. After a sizable walk we made it to the blowhole, which was over 600 feet inland and nearly 400 feet deep! It was really crazy to see the tides flow in and out and spray up, we got there at high tide so it was in ideal form. After that we headed to Kaka Point, a small beautiful seaside town where we got another Airbnb up on the cliffs. Our host, Mary Jo, was super nice and gave us some good advice of what to do around there and let us play with her Red Heeler, Matty. I don’t have enough dogs in my life… :( The next morning we woke up very early to go to a lighthouse ~15 min away for sunrise. Madeline was in a sleepy stupor and was unable to rouse herself so Bryn and I made the journey on our own. It was really nice to be out in the early morning hours and we got some absolutely amazing views at Nugget Point. There were large rock outcropping all around the peninsula that looked like nugget of gold (or chicken). It was a lovely morning, despite a cloudy and slightly underwhelming sunrise. After going back to the Airbnb and making breakfast, we headed back through the Catlins to stop at some of the spots we didn’t have time to see on the first pass. We went to the famous Purakaunui falls as well as Curio bay. Curio bay had a petrified forest outcropping along the sea that is now home to the rarest species of penguin in the world. We were graced with a lucky sighting of the 2019 bird of the year, the Hoiho (noisy in Maori) or Yellow-eyed penguin. We were able to get reasonably close and watch it hang out along in petrified forest rocks. We went to a cafe afterwards and had some really nice snacks before heading to Weir Beach. We camped in a big open field along the ocean at the farthest south point in all of NZ this night and luckily, it wasn’t all that cold. 

The next morning we got up early and drove to Dunedin for our final day together. We got to our Airbnb and after taking showers we went into town. We walked around town a bit, stopping in some art galleries and cool shops to get a few souvenirs. We got a gelato in the main square downtown and played ping pong in the park for a while. Afterwards we went to the Black Dog, a chic restaurant bar for a final meal together. We shared cream of tomato soup as a starter and a chocolate mousse for dessert, along with our individual entrees of course - it was a really nice last supper together. We headed back to the Airbnb and hung out and snuggled before going to bed. We got up and drove to the airport the next morning for Madeline’s very early flight - I was very sad to say goodbye to her but am so thankful she came. I miss her and my family a lot so it meant a lot to me that she came all this way to see me. <3 

After we said goodbye to Madeline we packed up and did a long haul drive up to Christchurch where we are now. We will be in Christchurch for another ~2 weeks trying to sell our van and then we will head to Australia!!! Wish us luck selling the van, we might need it! :) 

Expect our best,

Christopher and Bryn

[carameloveskook]

festivals

pairing: kimtaehyung x reader

warnings: fluff (?) , angst if you squint 

a Daegu farm boy captures the heart of a tourist.

notes: I had to research so much about Daegu and it’s countryside since it’s the 3rd largest city in Korea. After researching some stuff it looks like I have to book a ticket to see it myself. Also, I was listening to a 1-hour loop of Scenery while writing this and I REALLY SUGGEST LISTENING TO IT WHILE READING!! V saying “I want to make you mine” just made me uwu towards the end. T~T

———————————————————————

“Daegu, originally known as Taegu is the third largest city in South Korea to date. Our nickname is ‘Apple City’ due to the high quality of our apples and melons throughout the….”

You place your headphones in your ears in order to drown out the tour guide’s “fun facts” about Daegu and decided to enjoy the view on the bus ride. The landscape was gorgeous, the grass stretched all the way to the skyline, the mountains were draped with trees and the houses zoomed by the flicker of an eye. Moving away from the landscape you face your friend as she is attentively listening to the tour guide. You roll your eyes, of course, she would be interested in these things. You just wanted to get off this bus so you can take proper pictures of the countryside and interact with the people who live there. You find that being in the moment was so much better than listening to random facts that you can look up on the internet. Your friend looks at you with sparkles in her eyes, she’s moving her mouth but considering you have headphones on, you just pretend that you understand everything she is telling you. Eventually, she stops talking and looks at towards the tour guide once more. Taking off your headphones, your friend gestures towards the front of the bus as it stops at your exit. Sighing, you get up from the comfort of your chair and step off the bus into the dirt road below. The grassy fields reached up to your knees as you and your friend walk towards what looks like a market. As you follow her inside, you look around to see foreign products that you’ve never seen before. Suddenly, a civilian bumps into you as you look around the market. You give him a smile and proceed to have a conversation.

“Hey y/n, check this out! This market is so cool! I can’t wait to cook with these new ingredients. y/n? Are you even paying attention to me?”

You were too busy having a conversation with the local about the variety of kimchi presented in the market. The local was very handsome, he had sleek eyes and a sharp jawline as well as tan skin. He was carrying a crate of apples that were labeled “김 농장”, you assumed that he was a farmer since he told you that he was there to sell apples. He wasn’t fluent in English however he was able to keep up with your conversations with the use of gestures and key vocabulary words.

“Why you in Daegu?”

“My friend invited me to explore Korea with her! She likes K-pop and wanted to visit for a long time.”

“K-pop?”

“Yeah, it’s dumb I know haha…but for me, I wanted to see how pretty it is.”

“Daegu is pretty! Like you!”

Your face heats up from his sudden compliment and turn away in order to hide the redness growing on your face. The boy gives you a boxed smile as he hands the crate of apples to the owner of the market. Attention shifts from you to the owner as they discuss from what you assume, prices. Suddenly, you feel a tap on your shoulder. Looking towards that direction your face grows nervous as you see your friend with an angry look placed on her features.

“Really y/n? Don’t ditch me like that! I looked like I was crazy for talking to thin air.”

“Sorry. I just-”

“Oh no, no excuses from your mouth today! You fell asleep on the bus and didn’t talk to me during the bus ride! Now you ditched me in a market! Let’s go and have fun already!”

Before you could respond, your friend had dragged you out of the market by grabbing your wrist tightly. You looked back and see the farmer boy looking around in confusion before taking back an empty crate from the owner with a smile. A couple of hours have passed by as you and your friend walk around the town, Daegu was gorgeous. However, despite the sun setting upon the mountains coloring the sky with hues of pink, purple, orange and yellow, the only thing on your mind was that boy with the boxed smile. You only had a small interaction with him but the connection you had with was uncanny, strange and mysterious. He barely spoke English and you never learned Korean but you felt connected with him emotionally. His smile was unique, it was shaped like a rectangular box like a robot if you will. You laugh at the thought of him having a robotic smile catching the attention of your friend.

“What’s so funny y/n?”

“Oh nothing, haha!”

“Come on, spill it!”

Your friend stops walking and turns to face you with a frown on her face. Looking at her sudden action, you immediately stop laughing and tell her about the boy you met in the market a couple of hours ago. You explain his boxy smile and how it looked like a robot’s default mouth but also adding that it had a unique flair with a touch of mystery behind his cheeky grin. In addition, you add that he was local and probably a farmer. Your friend listens attentively as you both walk around the area and stop in front of a restaurant.

“Wanna grab a bite to eat before we head home?”

“Of course!”

“What’s this farmer’s name anyway?”

“…Well, I couldn’t get his name…”

“WHAT!? WHY?”

You glare at her as you enter the restaurant and wait for a waiter to sit you down. Seeing that she got the idea, she looks down and mumbles an apology which you laugh off. Why get mad at you friend when you probably won’t see that boy again? After being seated and tell the waiter what you would like to eat, you look around to see what the restaurant looked like. The lights were dimmed to match the night sky looming outside of the building, they were hanging from the ceiling and had a beautiful criss-cross pattern lamp shade covering them. People were talking to their friends, lovers or family around their table, over to the entrance of the restaurant there was a mini aquarium filled with colorful fishes. Next to the aquarium was a mini bar with a bartender taking orders from the people sitting on the bar stools. It was pretty, simple design, but pretty. After eating, you and your friend decided to walk around before heading to your place of stay to sleep for the rest of the night. As you were walking you spot a poster that was hanged on a pole by a civilian and your friend insisted on seeing what it was.

“Why would we read a poster that we couldn’t understand?”

“Oh hush y/n, I’ve been learning!”

“Through K-Dramas?”

“Shut up.”

You giggle at your friend’s comeback and stare at the sky while she attempts to decipher what the poster says. Hundreds no, billions of stars were placed before your eyes. It gave you a calming feeling, you can look at the bright stars shining before forever. And of course, the ‘forever’ you wanted was broken as your friend squeals in delight.

“I got it! I got it!”

“Solved the poster?”

“Duh! It says that there will be a lantern festival tomorrow night and we HAVE to go y/n!!!”

“But weren’t we gonna go shopping tomorrow night-”

“Well we were, but now we aren’t! Let’s just do it in the morning so we can find gorgeous outfits for the lantern festival!”

Before you knew it, your friend was dragging you to the festival in a cream colored dress. It was pretty you have to admit, it went all the way to your ankles and had lace trimmed at the end with buttons that climbed at the way from the bottom of the skirt to your chest. As soon as you got there, the sun was setting once more revealing the gorgeous color palette nature has gifted the world. Looking around the festival, you stop in awe at the variety of different lanterns that the vendors were selling by the minute, each vendor had different and unique colors they were selling.

“Hey y/n, how about these colors? They are gorgeous and not to mention, they are selling at a good price!”

“Oh yeah, they are gorgeous…”

“Stop looking at the sky dumbo, you’re gonna run into some-”

Before she could finish her sentence, you bumped In a local because you were too busy looking at the sky then your surroundings. Your friend rushes over to check on you as the local offers his hand to help you up. Before your friend could ask if you were okay, your eyes widen at the figure in front of you. It…it was that boy! That farmer boy who was selling apples to the owner and having a conversation with you before you were dragged away. He looks at you with the same expression on his face as he recognizes you. He was wearing a simple shirt with sleeves that reached his elbows and black jeans alongside with dark blue sneakers. Looking back at your friend, she simply stood there before realizing who that boy was and immediately smiles as she backs away into the crowd.

“Hey! You’re that apple boy from yesterday!”

“Apple…boy?”

“Oh…um well you were carrying apples at that time so I assumed that you farmed apples and-”

“Wow fast English, you good at it!”

You look at him sheepishly, forgetting that he wasn’t fluent like you were. Making gestures at the lanterns, you both head over to the variety of lanterns available before choosing a purple lantern that you both shared. Seeing that your friend was no longer around you decided to stick with the boy, whose name you had learned was Taehyung, for the rest of the festival. You explored the different types of sweets and street food with him as he laughed every time he made you eat something spicy. You smiled at his laughter even though you were mad at him for making you try foods without warning you. You were happy at the fact you were making him happy. As hours go by you learn more about each other through broken English and hand gestures, one particular story Taehyung had told you made you feel the need to comfort him. Apparently, he had auditioned in Seoul to become a K-pop star but didn’t get accepted to any of the companies. He was upset because he had worked his butt off to at least get into one company and saved up his money for a trip to Seoul. He explained he was so sure that he would get in that he only got enough money for a one-way ticket but was heartbroken when he had to call his grandmother to come and get him from the motel he was staying at for the night. That was the final story he told you before you sat down on a nearby bench.

“I feel so bad you had to go through that.”

“It’s ok, I like Daegu.”

“Well, I think you are really cool and talented still.”

“You never heard me sing yet.”

He looks at you with an amused grin causing you to look away in embarrassment because your attempt to comfort him had failed. He smiles at you and places his hands on your shoulders in order to make you look at him. He gestures at the lantern and towards the crowd, people were lighting their lanterns in order to get ready to release them to towards the sky. You grab your lantern as he gets the lighter and ignite it. You were still crestfallen at your failed attempt until Taehyung places his hand in yours.

“Thank you…for making me feel-”

People started to cheer on as they release their lanterns filling the sky with bright colors. You looked at Taehyung to let him finish his sentence but he was already gesturing for you to hold onto the lantern with him. At the same moment, you release the purple lantern together and watch it fly up to join the other thousands of lanterns making it way up to the sky. You stare in awe until a familiar hand reaches for yours. You look up at the boy who was already staring at you with a smile on his face. Blushing at his smile, you can’t help but hug the poor boy in last attempts to comfort him. He was caught by surprise at the sudden intimate action but returned your hug nevertheless. You both stay there, comfortable with the presence of each other. Despite only knowing each other for a day, you both felt connected with each other even though there was a language barrier. Moving away from his chest, hands still on each other’s waist you look around to see that the lanterns that were floating throughout the sky seemed to have come down and surrounded you both.

“You didn’t finish your sentence Taehyung.”

“Well, I want to say, thank you”

“Thank you for what?”

“For making me happy.”

[mcwater21]

2. Marsh Madness

The Sheboygan River/Lake/Marsh - Saturday, April 4th

It’s 5pm and Cindy and I have been kayaking on the Sheboygan River and Marsh now for 5 freaking hours!  And we just hit a devastating dead end (#L) on our way back to the St. Cloud put-in.  We’re now lost in the middle of the Sheboygan Marsh, both phones almost out of power, just a few sips of water left between us,  a few hours of sunlight left, Cindy’s shoulder in pain, and no place to land our kayaks.  The floating Marsh cattails surrounding us on all sides have no base for us to stand on.  If we can’t find our way soon back to the main river ditch we may have to sleep in our kayaks over night - and maybe on the 40 degree water.  Wow, could we survive the night in these bizarre conditions?  The Bear Grylls’ voice inside me thinks so but it could get dang cold and wet thru the night.  I couldn’t help but think of the two twenty year olds who died just a week ago fishing in Lake Winnebago when their canoe capsized late at night in windy and cold conditions.  Would this be another “what were they thinking” tragic story line?  Wow, how did we get here?

After an amazing 6-week snowbird trip to Florida (kayaked 12 times), Cindy thought the Sheboygan River from St. Cloud to the Sheboygan Marsh would be a nice 2nd waterway in our quest to do 21 Wisconsin waterways this year.  Sounded great to me.  We spent the night of our 2nd date (August) camping at the Marsh so it would be fun to revisit the area.  Hmm, maybe the violent lightning storm and large branch that just missed falling on me during that campout were signs that the Marsh wasn’t as friendly as it looked.   Oops, forgot about that warning.   I was too jazzed about breaking out my new wetsuit for this trip to worry about the evil Marsh.  Dammit, I was not going to drown of cold water shock if I fell into the nippy river today.  

Cindy had done some recon with her patio landscaper guy who recommended that we head down the north track of the river to get to the Marsh takeout.  Cindy mentioned that the cattails move around and the river pathways could get plugged up.  Moving cattails?  What does that exactly mean?  We didn’t have any stinkin’ cattails in Fox Point.  I checked out Google Maps during the drive out and it looked like both the north track and the main river routes were open to the Marsh take-out.  No worries.   It looked like a 6 to 7 mile river route which should take us around 4 hours.   Possibly leaving us time for a quick 9 holes of golf at Lancelot’s afterwards.  Right.

The route via Google Maps.  Looked clear on the map.

We dropped off my car at the Marsh take-out and headed southwest in Cindy’s car to the put-in (#A) around little St. Cloud.  We quickly inflated our kayaks and put in at 12:15pm.  After just 50 yards we  went under a gorgeous limestone arch bridge with the only little rapids we would encounter all day.   We quickly settled in for a very pleasurable ride eastward on the Sheboygan river.  There was a small current helping us along, the air temp was in the 60’s, virtually no wind, and the wild life was eager to entertain us.  Deer, cranes, blue herons, geese, and ducks were the main players and it was an awesome ride.  Very quiet and peaceful - no cars, no people.  Ah, nature.   Our new water thermometer showed the water at a cool 43 degrees and Cindy’s new GPS speedometer app clocked us at a 2 MPH clip.  We were cruising.   We both chuckled when Cindy said we should have brought her 14 year old granddaughter along with us.  Maybe a little later in the spring when the water warms up.

St. Cloud put-in with limestone bridge at the start

About an hour in we went past another little put-in (#B) by a farm side road.  A good spot to start from in the future for a little shorter trip.  A half hour later we hit a long east-west straight-away ditch that provided a shortcut to the Marsh.  Another half hour went by and we came upon a bizarre little hunting shack, which Cindy nicknamed Shit’s Corner (#C), alongside the river ditch route.  It could only be accessed from the river and it had 3 little docks. Cindy remembered this place from a previous trip where she and a friend had encountered some scary looking hecklers as they nervously passed by.  This time Shit’s Corner was empty so I docked my kayak to poke around and stretch my back.  I peered inside to see just a large fireplace and picnic table.  Very backwoods looking but it certainly could provide some warmth from the elements for those hunters.

Shit’s Corner - along the main ditch route

So far the river has been lined mainly with forest and a few beautiful cattails here and there.  Within another half hour we hit the start of the thick Marsh cattails section, with only cattails along the banks.  I wondered what they were resting on or attached to and how fast they moved around.   And how deep they were.  And, and, and.  We then hit our first big fork (#D), a major 3-pronger, in the cattails maze where Cindy’s patio guy advised us to go left .  That route would take us north of the Sheboygan Lake and in theory bypass the major cattail stuff.  After 20 minutes heading north our river path ended with a little 4-foot wide opening (#E) to the other section of this route.  This opening had just a few flattened cattails lining the top of the water and looked very passable.  No worries, right?  Cindy enthusiastically paddled into the opening but quickly got stuck.  Her kayak was resting on a floating cattails patch and there was no way to get any leverage to push or pull past it.  A very unique stuck kayak situation.  After 15 minutes of trying different pushing and pulling manuevers, I managed to pull Cindy’s kayak back out of the opening.  Argh, that was a lot harder than it first appeared.  What are these super cattails made of?  Do they have brains?   Are they networking?  Egads!

It looked so easy to pass thru...

Cindy really looked flustered.  Our recon info had failed us and we didn’t really have a good plan B.  No worries?  We backtracked to the fork and tried door #2 - straight east towards the Sheboygan Lake.  Now on the Google Maps this looks like a pretty good size lake but it’s really hard to tell how much water versus cattails there is in this lake.  But after a hundred yards this eastward section also ended up blocked by another cattail wall (#F) - this time without any little openings.  Solid cattails.  Are these things moving while we’re kayaking?  Now this is getting a little too interesting.  So we backed up again and tried door #3 to the south.  I felt much better about this path since I could see the larger part of the Sheboygan River in that direction and figured the more water the better chance of clear passage all the way to the Marsh take-out.  Sounds logical, right?

We popped down to the bigger part of the Sheboygan River (#G) and headed northeast towards the Marsh take-out.  After 30 minutes or so I could see the Marsh lookout tower across the lake and the park restaurant next to it.  Things were looking up.  The river turned into the lake at some point and we were kayaking in fairly big water for the next hour or so as we slowly made our way to our destination point.  We started getting quite giddy as we closed in on the edge of the lake.  We talked about stopping for a drink at the restaurant to celebrate our survival.   There were cattails fronting the shoreline but we could see a path jutting north in front of the cattails that would take us to the take-out.   Yay, we had made it.  An epic trip coming to a sweet end.   But what’s this?   As we finally approached the cattail wall, 50 yards in front of the shore (#H), we could NOT see a way north thru the cattail maze.  It was completely blocked!  Are you kidding me?

I said to Cindy “we’re going to have to turn around and head back to St. Cloud.  It’s the only path we know for certain and we don’t have any time to risk getting blocked again”.  It was now 4pm.  She couldn’t believe it. “Another 4+ hours to paddle back - and upstream?” she questioned.  As ugly as 4+ more hours of paddling sounded, there just weren’t any other alternatives in my mind.  I had little faith in that even if we could find a northern route that it would be open all the way to the take-out (#T).  So time to suck it up and head back before it gets too late - and dark.  And it will get dark soon.  The good news was that the air temp is fine, there’s virtually no wind, there’s not much current to paddle against, and we’re still feeling in decent shape.  Cindy’s really a trooper and while her shoulder is in pain, she’s not complaining about it at all.  But I’m worried that her shoulder may be hurting a lot more than she’s owning up to.  And that she’s getting really worried about our predicament.  

So as we head back southwest thru the lake to the Sheboygan River, Cindy is scoping out any northern exits which may lead us back up to the north ditch route.  The problem with following any of those routes if they do appear is that they may be blocked farther up and then we’ve lost more time with our daylight rapidly fading.  Classic risk/reward dilemma.  If we’re very lucky we could find a route which would get us out of the water in 30 minutes or so.    But if we try one of those routes and it doesn’t pan out, then what?  Seems like the low-risk route of retracing our steps seems the smart play now - even if it does mean another 4 hours of paddling, with some of it in the dark.  Without flashlights.  Cindy calls her sister Lisa and leaves a message informing her of our plight and plans to get to the Marsh restaurant later tonight.  Lisa is the now only one who knows we are out here.   But at least someone knows.  If she listens to her messages.

Google Maps satellite view shows paths open.  How old are these?

We take another hour getting thru the big lake again and back onto the river.  As the river narrows we realize that we didn’t go past this part of the river before and we must have missed our link back to the main ditch route.  But we’re going in the right direction and this part of the river will meet up with the ditch route farther down so we should still be ok.  Our phones are both very low on power but I am able to still look at Google Maps and verify our route.  We snake our way thru the narrowing river section and start heading north towards the ditch crossing which looks to be another 20 minutes or so away.  And then - we hit another freaking cattail wall!  (#L)  Oh my god!  Are you kidding me!  It’s now 5pm.  This was our lowest point.   I tried to stay positive but was worried that Cindy was really getting very anxious about our situation.  But she wasn’t showing it if she was.  Cindy’s a rock.  Strong German.  I checked Google Maps again and determined we had to backtrack about 30 minutes to get to the ditch route linkage.  We may have lost an hour by missing this exit earlier.   That was my major mess-up by not checking Google Maps earlier to make sure we didn’t miss this.  Trying to conserve phone battery by using my “guy-dar”.  First major “guy-dar” failure in a long time.  I had really sold Cindy on my “guy-dar” back in Florida.  She now wants a refund.  Lovely.  

We snake our way back east for 30 minutes and Cindy finds the original exit (#G).  Hallelujah!  My fears of the Marsh cattails quickly moving to close down our only exit and lock us in the cattail hell maze forever are gone.  Now it’s just a matter of hunkering down and paddling for another 2-3 hours, with limited water and phone power, daylight fading, and our bodies aching from 6+ hours of kayaking.  We could even “camp” overnight at Shit’s Corner if need be or take-out early at the farm take-out and walk back to the car.  At least now we had a few options that were much better than sleeping in kayaks on the cattail water.  

Around 6pm we pass Shit’s Corner (#C).  With adrenaline kicking in, there’s no desire to stop to stretch or pee.  Daylight is quickly fading with sunset targeted around 7:20pm.  The next checkpoint is the farm put-in (#B).  We put down another of our epic $100 bets with Cindy wagering we’ll hit that put-in around 6:30pm while I say 7pm.    Cindy already owes me around $1100 from previous adventure bets and this bumps up a bit more as we hit the farm put-in around 7pm.   She’ll never learn.   Still no need to take-out at this point as we still have some light to finish with.  And we’re not even sure where this country road leads to and how far it would be to walk to our car.   And we have no flashlights.

So now it’s the final stretch to the St. Cloud take-out (#A).  Cindy’s feet are dry and warm but her hands are starting to get wet and cold as the sun is setting.  I’m still worried her shoulder is really hurting but she insists she is ok.  I’m still doing fine with my wetsuit so nothing is too wet or cold for me.  I have my back brace on and while my back gets uncomfortable at times in the kayak, I was extremely lucky it hadn’t stopped me from being able to paddle during any part of the trip.  We’re both in pretty good shape for being in our early 60’s.

Go towards the light!  While there’s light...

This last hour leg seemed to take forever.  But we were rewarded with great sunset views along the western river bank.  Cindy was able to snap a few epic sunset shots on her phone’s last bit of juice.   Once the sun finally set around 7:20pm we had another 30 minutes or so of dusk where we continually searched for the limestone bridge right around the next corner.  At this point we had both sunk into a zombie-like state with our focus on the finish line - and a stiff drink at the Marsh bar afterwards.   8 hours of non-stop kayaking was getting very old.  And I was kayaking blind for the last half hour after I took off my prescription sunglasses in the dusk darkness.  Tree stumps on the river banks started looking like bystanders mocking us on our return.  Surreal experience.    

FINALLY, around 8pm the limestone bridge appeared around the last corner and Cindy quickly beat me to it.  BTW, my kayak is a heavy fishing kayak and Cindy’s lightweight kayak beats me to every destination.   Anyways, her excitement was quickly quashed when she got stuck going under one of the bridge’s archways.  The combination of a strong current and shallow passageway made it virtually impossible to paddle back under the bridge.  While she was stuck trying to get thru her archway, I tried all of the other 5 archways and ran into the same issue with all of them.  Can you believe this?  So close!  I finally heard Cindy shouting that she’s “had enough!” and was just getting out at the bank before the bridge.  That works for me.  It meant getting our feet and hands wet but this was the end for us.  It was time to freaking exit stage right.

We yanked our kayaks out of the water and struggled to pull them up a little hill to the road by the bridge.   Cindy quickly retrieved her car from the put-in around 50 yards away.  While my feet were still ok (wetsuit booties) my hands now were freezing.  I could hardly push in the nozzles on my kayak to deflate it.  Cindy was also freezing.  As we drove away we noticed how dark it was now and how close we were to kayaking in the pitch black darkness.  Wow, that was a rather close call.  Crank the heat girl!  

We drove back to the Marsh campgrounds, picked up my car, and headed to the Marsh restaurant for a well deserved drink.  To say the least.  We were pleasantly surprised to find Cindy’s sister Lisa and family there having dinner and expecting to see us at some point.  They bought us a couple of tall strong cocktails and listened intently to our harrowing story.  Hard to tell if they thought of us as tough adventurers or morons.  Maybe a 25/75 split.  We settled down for a little hamburger dinner, another drink, and caught some of the March Madness UCLA-Gonzaga epic semifinal game.  Our own Marsh Madness had ended in triple overtime and we had avoided elimination.  Success, sort of.  What a day.  What a lesson…

Satellite image from 2 days ago.  A much clearer picture of the blocked paths. 

Epilogue:  I learned that most Google Maps satellite pics may be 1-3 years old.  I scoped out some free satellite images websites and downloaded 3 day old satellite pics of the Marsh which showed the cattail blockages.   For future waterway adventures that involve risky paths we’ll be certain to check out recent satellite images to see if any potential dangers lay in our way.  Also it’s a good idea to plan a path that includes the riskier portions early in the trip.  For our Marsh trip, it would have been smarter to put-in at the Marsh and take-out at St. Cloud, even though that would have meant going upstream.   We would have encountered the cattail blockages early on and had plenty of time (and energy) to adjust our plans.  Live and learn.  Adventure and live!

[coffeelevel8-blog]

2017 – A Year in Review // Winter Pasta with Slow-Cooked Kale, Kabocha Squash, and Golden Raisins

Although I’m a bit later than usual this year, my annual year-end post is one of my favorite things to write each year. I love reading other people’s posts, too, even people I don’t know personally. I like reflecting on how much growth and change and activity a single year can hold. It gives me perspective. But, if you’re not a big fan of this sort of thing, or of lengthy personal blog posts, skip on down to the end. There’s a recipe for a kale, golden raisin, and kabocha squash pasta that’s been getting me through this cold snap. I’ve made it four or five times to get the balance just right, and now it’s become my go-to winter pasta.

For those of you sticking with me for the long haul, let’s talk about 2017. For me, 2017 was the year of the wedding, first and foremost. After that, there was travel – but less of it than 2016 and 2015 and more of it for fun than for work. It was a year of great and easy friendships, of growing beautiful flowers, of work weekends in Maine. It was a good year, perhaps not a great year, but a good one.

The big thing – our wedding

Of course, we knew before the year even started that 2017 would be the year of the wedding. It dominated the whole year. Our wedding day turned out more beautiful than we had imagined, but it was a huge amount of work to get there. We had our wedding at my parent’s house in Maine, and it was very much a from-scratch affair. We built the barn by hand (and by we I mean mostly my parents), which was an enormous undertaking. We had gorgeous hand-made farm tables milled from trees on the property. I did my own flowers, and grew half of them. (As an aside, 2017 was 100% a year of flowers for me. I fell in love with flower gardening and arranging and I can’t wait to get my seeds started in the spring.) Every aspect of the wedding was personal and lovely, but it was so much work. I’m really glad we got married and had our closest friends and family there by our sides, and I’m really glad we’re not doing it again.

Twenty-eight countries and counting

Trevor and I kicked off the year with five weeks in Portugal, an incredible escape from the cold and dark of January in Boston. Of course, I was working the whole time, but we still got to explore on weekends and immerse ourselves in the wonderful Portuguese culture. I leave a little part of my heart everywhere I travel, but I left a big piece in Portugal. I miss the food and the wine, the lonely sounds of fado in tiny clubs, the white light reflecting off the cobblestones. I miss the café culture and the gentle winter sunshine. I miss the people, my coworkers and friends, who opened their hearts to us so easily. I miss the language, which I still practice almost daily, in hopes that I’ll need it again. I’m glad that we’re staying put this winter, after relocating for January and February in the past two years, but it was a wonderful experience to live in Lisbon.

In July, I took a long-anticipated trip to Iceland with three of my best girlfriends. It was a short trip – just five days – but absolutely packed. Iceland was stunning and wild, exceeding my already high expectations. It was also wonderful (if very tiring) to travel with friends, something I hadn’t done before beyond short weekend trips in the states. I already can’t wait to return to Iceland and continue exploring. And in November, we made a Thanksgiving trip to Colorado and Utah to visit my extended family. The sun was life-giving, and we were outside hiking in the beautiful desert every day.

And then of course, there was our honeymoon. We were gone three full weeks, making our way up the Croatian coastline, driving through the Slovenian alps, then wrapping up with a city break in Prague. It was an epic trip. It was also so nice to just be with Trevor for three weeks and… hang out. Of course we were exploring and adventuring but we were also just being us, something I had missed in the chaos leading up to the wedding. I’ll write about our trip properly someday, but for now, I’ll just mention the highlights. There was a sunset bike ride through the sleepy hill-top olive groves in Korcula, followed by an unforgettable candlelit dinner under pomegranate trees. We spent an afternoon drinking champagne and watching the sun slowly sink over the Adriatic at a seaside bar where you could climb down into the ocean at any point. We hiked up through the emerald gorges in Slovenia, following a wooden sign with a piece of cheese on it, until we reached a beautiful alpine valley with two houses, one of which did, indeed, serve us some cheese. We designed our own brewery tour in Prague, sampling the best of the Czech Republic’s beer scene. We fit so much into three weeks – it will be a hard trip to top.

For other work travel, there was one follow-up trip to Portugal in April, for my birthday in fact. Never have I received so many hugs on a single day. A July trip to Hong Kong and Singapore registers as barely a blip on my mental calendar of the year, although it was my first time in Singapore. I’ll be back to both countries in a few weeks, and I’m excited to escape the cold (and for the food! Always the food). Then just a few weeks ago, a December trip to a small town in Northern Ireland followed by two days in Dublin. I love Ireland for so many reasons but this trip was a blur, especially getting home just three days before Christmas. Overall, work travel felt much more manageable this year – hopefully I can carry that through into 2018.

The best people

I’m not particularly quick to make new friends – I’ve always done better with a small group of people I’m really close to. But after 6 years living in Boston, I have such a solid crew, many of them high school friends who have moved back to the area. They are all good, smart people who are easy to be with, and some of my best memories of this year were with them. A lazy August Sunday spent tubing down the Saco river was a highlight, as was a weekend at a friend’s Maine island cottage, complete with hours of wine-laced Molkky, a candlelit lobster dinner, the poetry reading that his father mandates, beautiful sailing, and a late night bonfire dance party. And, I almost forgot, our 10 year Andover reunion. I imagine most people don’t look forward to their high school reunions as much as we do. It was a blissful weekend full of super impressive people, an all day kickball lawn party (complete with kegs), midnight dancing, and collapsing on the lawn in fits of giggles around 2am. Sunday we couldn’t move, because we’re old now, but it was worth it. Add to this the many other dinner parties, bar nights, one epic scavenger hunt birthday party and a casual NYE game night turned dance party to close out the year, and it sums up to a year of really good playtime with really good friends.

Working and blogging and growing

I feel a huge amount of relief going into 2018 with an understanding of what I want this blog to be. I spent the first half of 2017 listening to blogging podcasts ad nauseam, investing in a new design and a mailing list and SEO plugins. I thought a lot about my content and who I wanted it to reach, and I pored over my analytics to understand how I could grow. Basically, I hustled. It was stressful and frustrating and overwhelming. And then somewhere in the middle of all that hustle I realized that I don’t want to blog as a business-owner. That’s not why I started, and that’s not what brings me joy. I have a stable, compelling career that I love and it’s not blogging – so why should I turn blogging into work when it doesn’t need to be? I want to create beautiful content and delicious recipes and tell stories as long as it feels like a hobby and not a chore. Of course, it’s nice when a hobby has financial perks, but making business success the goal of blogging took all the fun out of it. Realizing this has been so helpful.

On the flip side of this blogging decisions lies my real work. Although I went through a similar questioning phase about what I wanted my next career move to be, I came out the other side with the realization that I really like my job. I’m going into 2018 in a new role, with a team and multiple projects to manage, and I’m excited. I have a lot to learn but I work in a team with the smartest, best people, which makes all the learning and growing easier.

Now for 2018

I’ve been reflecting this week about how open 2018 feels. It’s a wonderful feeling. Of course, we have things planned – weddings to attend and house projects and a few trips with friends already on our calendar. But largely, the year feels full of potential, untethered to major life milestones. I’m excited to see where it takes us, what new opportunities and adventures it will bring. My intentions for 2018 are to bring a sense of calm into every day, to spend as much time as I can outside in nature, to prioritize my health, and to learn and grow.

Winter Pasta

And if you made it through all of that… I’m impressed. I’m guessing even my mother will skim this one. So now, what most of you are here for, a recipe for a delicious winter pasta. A few year’s back I read a magazine article about how you should always be finishing your pasta in the pan with the sauce and a splash of the pasta cooking water, and it has totally changed the way I cook pasta. It’s such a simple trick and it makes a huge difference. Since reading that article, I’ve been experimenting with what I think of as “perfect seasonal pastas.” I test them over and over again until they are just right, foolproof, and full of seasonal ingredients. So far I have a summer pasta, with heirloom yellow tomatoes and sweet onions, a creamy mushroom spaghetti that is irresistible in the fall, and a spring carbonara with ramps and meyer lemon zest. Over the past 5 or 6 weeks I’ve been testing what I’ve come to think of as my winter pasta, and I’m ready to share it. This pasta has tuscan kale and shallots slow-cooked in white wine, plump golden raisins, a hint of chile, and sweet roasted kabocha squash. It is hearty and wintery without being overly heavy or creamy. It’s on weekly rotation in our house and I hope it will be in yours, too.

Happy 2018 to all of you!

Past New Years’ posts…

2016: Feta and Onion Phyllo Pie 2015: Brown-Butter Chestnut Waffles with Poached Pears and Mascarpone 2014: Rye Blini, Smoked Salmon Dip, Russian Beet Dip, Pretty in Pink Cocktail 2013: Raspberry Sherbet Champagne Floats 2012: Butter-Roasted Cinnamon Chicken with Almonds and Pomegranates

Like what you just read? Subscribe to Katie at the Kitchen Door in the box on the right, on Feedly or Bloglovin‘, or follow along on Facebook, Pinterest, or Instagram. Thanks for reading!

Print

<![CDATA[ .tasty-recipes-image float: right; .tasty-recipes-print-button background-color: #666677; display: inline-block; padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-decoration: none; a.tasty-recipes-print-button color: #FFF; a.tasty-recipes-print-button:hover color: #FFF; .tasty-recipes-rating.tasty-recipes-clip-10 -webkit-clip-path: polygon(0 0, 10% 0%, 10% 100%, 0% 100%); clip-path: polygon(0 0, 10% 0%, 10% 100%, 0% 100%); .tasty-recipes-rating.tasty-recipes-clip-20 -webkit-clip-path: polygon(0 0, 20% 0%, 20% 100%, 0% 100%); clip-path: polygon(0 0, 20% 0%, 20% 100%, 0% 100%); .tasty-recipes-rating.tasty-recipes-clip-30 -webkit-clip-path: polygon(0 0, 30% 0%, 30% 100%, 0% 100%); clip-path: polygon(0 0, 30% 0%, 30% 100%, 0% 100%); .tasty-recipes-rating.tasty-recipes-clip-40 -webkit-clip-path: polygon(0 0, 40% 0%, 40% 100%, 0% 100%); clip-path: polygon(0 0, 40% 0%, 40% 100%, 0% 100%); .tasty-recipes-rating.tasty-recipes-clip-50 -webkit-clip-path: polygon(0 0, 50% 0%, 50% 100%, 0% 100%); clip-path: polygon(0 0, 50% 0%, 50% 100%, 0% 100%); .tasty-recipes-rating.tasty-recipes-clip-60 -webkit-clip-path: polygon(0 0, 60% 0%, 60% 100%, 0% 100%); clip-path: polygon(0 0, 60% 0%, 60% 100%, 0% 100%); .tasty-recipes-rating.tasty-recipes-clip-70 -webkit-clip-path: polygon(0 0, 70% 0%, 70% 100%, 0% 100%); clip-path: polygon(0 0, 70% 0%, 70% 100%, 0% 100%); .tasty-recipes-rating.tasty-recipes-clip-80 -webkit-clip-path: polygon(0 0, 80% 0%, 80% 100%, 0% 100%); clip-path: polygon(0 0, 80% 0%, 80% 100%, 0% 100%); .tasty-recipes-rating.tasty-recipes-clip-90 -webkit-clip-path: polygon(0 0, 90% 0%, 90% 100%, 0% 100%); clip-path: polygon(0 0, 90% 0%, 90% 100%, 0% 100%); .tasty-recipes-nutrition ul list-style-type: none; margin: 0; padding: 0; .tasty-recipes-nutrition ul:after display: block; content: ' '; clear: both; .tasty-recipes-nutrition li float: left; margin-right: 1em; @media print .tasty-recipes-no-print, .tasty-recipes-no-print * display: none !important; ]]>

A seasonal winter pasta with slow-cooked Tuscan kale, roasted kabocha squash and golden raisins. Satisfying and warming without being heavy.

Inspired by Sunday Suppers at Lucques.

Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door

Yield: 2-3

Ingredients

1/2 small kabocha squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/2 inch cubes

5 TBS olive oil, divided

sea salt and black pepper to taste

4 shallots, peeled and thinly sliced

4 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced

1 sprig fresh rosemary, needles finely chopped

1 chile de arbol, broken in half (or 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes)

1 bunch Tuscan kale, center ribs removed, torn into bite-sized pieces

1/2 cup white wine

1/4 cup golden raisins

1/2 lb. orechiette pasta (or other similar shape)

1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400F. Toss the cubed squash with 2 TBS of olive oil and spread out on a rimmed baking sheet. Season with sea salt and black pepper. Roast in the preheated oven until tender, about 25-30 minutes. Flip the squash cubes over halfway through cooking.

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.

Heat 1 of the remaining tablespoons of olive oil in a large saute pan over medium-low heat. Add the sliced shallots, sliced garlic, chopped rosemary, and the chile de arbol to the pan. Saute until the shallots are soft and golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add the kale along with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Season with sea salt. Cook the kale in the olive oil for 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently, then add the wine and the raisins to the pan. As soon as you add the wine, stir to scrape any burnt bits off the bottom of the pan.

Cook the kale over low heat for about 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, add the pasta to the boiling water. Continue cooking the kale while the pasta cooks. When the pasta is just barely al dente, use a skimmer to add the pasta to the pan with the kale. Add a few splashes of the pasta cooking water to the pan as well, along with the grated parmesan cheese. Add the roasted squash to the pan. Cook everything together for 2-3 minutes, stirring to fully coat the pasta in the sauce and to evenly distribute the vegetables. Serve immediately.

6

Source: http://katieatthekitchendoor.com/2018/01/07/2017-year-review-winter-pasta-slow-cooked-kale-kabocha-squash-golden-raisins/

[rilenerocks]

One of the things I remember Michael saying to me on many occasions was that he thought I was the most singularly unchanged person that he ever knew. I was forever trying to decide if I should take that as a compliment or not. Since I was only 20 when we met, I figured that in the 46 years we knew each other he probably had a fair view of my behavior. In the end, I agreed with him and viewed “unchanged” not in a pejorative manner, but in a positive one. I’m consistent. My belief system has been in place for a very long time. Of course, I’ve grown, developed, evolved. But my core, my fundamental self is pretty much the same as it was when I was teenager. For people who know me well, that means I’m predictable. And complicated.

My brain speeds along at a rapid clip. I’m always processing. As yet, my motherboard hasn’t failed me. Which means nothing is ever just simple for me. I remember when I saw the movie, The Last Samurai. At a moment when the Tom Cruise character was getting his rear end kicked over and over during sparring practice, a friendly warrior came up to him, tapped him on the forehead and said, “too many mind.” I can relate. I’ve been working on slowing down and adopting practices that to help me

when my start spinning too fast.

I learned how to do revitalizing meditations to help me stay calm and cerebral when Michael was sick and needed my help. I have the Calm app on my phone and I use it regularly. I’m pretty zen when I swim. Still, a lot of my time is spent thinking, analyzing and considering, often about multiple topics simultaneously. It’s just how I roll. I think all this began when I was really young because I remember these same feelings and thoughts from my childhood.

    And so it was on my long-desired trip to Glacier National Park, which in its essence was everything I dreamed of and more. I’ve been to a good number of national parks, Acadia just last month. Certain ones had more impact than others. I’ll never forget Bryce Canyon, Zion and Arches. I got to experience those with Michael which enhanced their majesty and spiritual power for me. Being on my own in Glacier, it was all about me, with my forever bond with Michael, tucked into my most interior self, like an extra vital organ. But I saw and felt Glacier through the lens I bring to everything, the one when I am simultaneously in my moment while my mind is zipping along, connecting that moment to how I perceive the world.

    I went to Glacier by train which is a great way to travel and really see parts of the country that are off the main road and certainly hidden when flying. I spent almost all my waking hours staring out the window. I don’t want to miss anything. I’ve never tired of seeing cattle and horses, not since I was a little kid traveling up and back between Iowa and Chicago. On an overnight rail trip, there is so much more as you travel from state to state. I saw buffaloes and donkeys.

    Numerous white tailed deer grazing and springing through the fields right next to the domestic animals. I saw a swift fox. I saw American white pelicans, great blue herons, American kestrels, a ring necked pheasant and lots of red winged blackbirds, mallard ducks and rabbits.

    I saw fields planted with beans and wheat and other crops I can’t identify by sight.

    The vistas are endless and impressive.

    But I also saw small towns that looked economically ravished. Aging buildings and others that have already fallen. There’d be this gorgeous green landscape and suddenly piles of junked cars and garbage would appear.

    The shabbiness was a stark contrast to the surrounding lush earth. And then came big sky. Endless miles of beautiful land, absolutely empty. In my mind I was envisioning herds of buffalo and tipis and the native people who made their lives here for countless years before being decimated by the relentless move west by settlers and power brokers. I’m sure that much of the land I saw was owned by big ranching concerns. But it felt so wrong. All the beauty tarnished for me. I can appreciate it but not without thinking of the cost to the people who lived here. Then the reservation appears.

The Blackfeet  reservation is actually a conglomeration of tribes whose general name is Niitsitapi which means “the real people.” I saw buildings with the words “no meth” painter boldly across the walls. The very idea of reservations appalls me. Would you like to live with your people in a designated area? Me neither.

    The Blackfeet tribe has rights to parts of Glacier National Park which include their most spiritual locations such as Two Medicine. Ceremonies are still performed there such as sun dances, while sweat lodges are built for the transitions and rituals of native life. I took a boat ride on Two Medicine Lake and went through their valley. You can feel a powerful spiritual presence there. I opened myself up to let it blend in with me and Michael and my own belief system. Certainly not the same as theirs but nonetheless connected if by nothing other than the surrounding natural majesty. The natives call some of the mountains the backbone of the earth. It’s not hard to understand why.

    I stayed in East Glacier Lodge which is a beautiful old building with no televisions and sketchy internet. It lends itself well to getting in touch with what this place is supposed to mean to human beings. Their staff all seem to share a common attitude of preserving the nature of the park and its mystical energy. There are tributes to the natives throughout the lodge and the park although for me, it wasn’t enough. Keeping a piece of your ancestral land rings hollow to me. I saw a tall Native American man tending flowers at another lodge. He resembled Will Sampson who played the chief in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. He seemed to enjoy what he was doing and had positive interactions with a few people working with him. Maybe his life is happy. Maybe I’m the one with the problem.

    Let me stop and say that I felt everything I hoped to feel at Glacier. As I stood before mountains that are estimated to be between 1600 and 800 million years old, I felt my smallness and the tiny place that I know I occupy, even when things feel huge. I felt the fabric of connection that still binds me to Michael and my love for the earth and its marvels. But then the guide told us that the remaining 20-odd glaciers are expected to be gone by 2030. Unimaginable. Was this destined to happen over a long period of time or isn’t it part of the upheaval we’re seeing all over the world. Climate change. I’ve heard all the arguments from people who say it’s been hot before, we’ve had hurricanes before, we’ve had fires before. Blah-blah-blah. Our planet is threatened. I have no doubt. Blazing hot temperatures in Alaska. Water supplies in India drying up. Europe sweltering. The hottest June on record. Ever. I’m not capable of simply enjoying my good fortune without thinking about all these frightening things. I’ll be dead before the worst stuff happens. But what about all the children and grandchildren? I have hope that brilliant people will find ways to turn some of this around. That we’ll stop burning fossil fuels. That we’ll get rid of plastic in the oceans. That a place like Glacier will still have snowy peaks in the summer. But to ignore it for my own mental well-being? No can do. I had the privilege of seeing so much wildlife in the park. I saw a black bear, a moose, long horned sheep, elk and mountain goats. They’re just doing their thing. But a lot can threaten the ecosystem that supports them and I worry.

    Through the train window I saw the amount of flooding that occurred when the Mississippi overflowed its banks, not to mention the smaller rivers nearby. The wooded area and retaining ponds along the tracks are filled with mile after mile of algae bloom. That can’t be a good thing. As I watched animals drinking from this green pea soup I wondered about the chemical runoff from farms into the water table. Not to mention what can happen to people’s drinking water. Still thinking of Flint over here.

    So yes, I am thrilled that I got to see this incredible wonder for what is likely the only time in my life. I think that inner city kids from everywhere should be brought on field trips to experience this magnificent place or others like it so they can make an early commitment to trying to rescue the earth and each other. I can’t go back and undo the genocide that happened long before I arrived. But I think it should be remembered and never ignored. Another thing Michael said to me frequently was this: “ Great. So as long as you know that somewhere someone might be having a problem or that there are systemic issues, you’re going to be bummed out. Living with you will sure be fun.” Well, we did have fun. But there’s more to life than that.

Overdrive One of the things I remember Michael saying to me on many occasions was that he thought I was the most singularly unchanged person that he ever knew.

[newflanagansonthebloch]

Day 11 April 17 Dalat to Nha Trang Bike Day Part 1

Today is the day we’ve been looking forward to. After my last breakfast that includes cheesecake, we finish packing up al our stuff, put on our (washed) bike clothes and meet Trang in the lobby at 8am. A funny thing they do here when you check out in central Vietnam��when you return your key they have someone check your room. They say it’s to make sure you haven’t forgotten anything but it’s mostly to ensure you didn’t buy anything from the mini bar.

Because we didn’t site see at all while we were here, Trang takes us to two key area monuments before we begin our ride. The first is the Truc Lam Temple. Truc Lam means bamboo and this temple is currently home to 120 nuns and monks. It’s much more modern than any other temple we’ve seen, which makes sense given it was built between 1991 and 1993. Famous architects from Hue came to help design and build this beautiful spot which is simple but elegant. The temple itself (which you cannot photograph) is made of dark wood and houses a beautiful golden Buddha. About 3/4 of the way up the dark wood paneled wall is a gold frieze about a meter or so in diameter. Impressive wooden carvings are above these. There is a large bell that was once used for ringing but isn’t any longer. Evidently Russian tourists sometimes attempt to ring in, and so, a sign instructing them not to do so appears beside the bell. It’s interesting to me that the sign is only in Russian and no other language.We meander around the grounds for a little and admire the absolutely stunning flowers. A standout is the Philippines Jade vine and the trees that are netted together—it takes 8! Trang tells us that all temples have water nearby be it man made or natural, and this temple is no exception. It’s made in the yin/yang style and the temple sits between the mountains and the water, or heaven and earth. We also learn that In general temples are funded by donations, and about 30% is supplemented by the government.

Next we jump in our van (our driver today goes by Mr.Happy, likely due to the baseball cap he wears or potentially he wears the cap for the name...) and drive closer to town to visit the Hang Nha Crazy House.

On the way we pass these big modern houses and tons being constructed. It’s hard to photograph from the road but I tried! They are bright colors with dark or honey colored wood around the windows and doors and very pretty, also so unlike the smaller less elegant homes we saw in the middle and north of the country.

The crazy house is settled amongst them but sticks out incredibly. It’s more a kin to a fun house at an amusement park. The architect is the daughter of Vietnam’s third president, Dr. Dang Viet Nha, who studied in Moscow. The project was mostly build in 1990-1993 but it still seems to be growing. Technically, you can stay overnight here but I’m. It sure you’d want to. There are tourists everywhere from 8:30 to 6. The place is kind of wanna-be Gaudi, our of concrete and it’s honestly kind of ugly but also kind of fun.

After this, we get back on Mr. Happy’s van for about 20 minutes. I find Da Lat to be prettiest from above, where red iron roofs dot the landscape. More beautiful houses spring up and surround you and Kerran even attests that one or two look as if they belong in Margate. We pass a giant cemetery and then more green houses and surrounded on both sides by lush green. We reach a giant traffic circle that either is, or looks like the one we went by yesterday and unload our bikes. Here begins 50km of rolling hills through the magical landscape. These aren’t small hills—they are sometimes kilometers long and each downhill, which are never as long as the uphills, are well earned. Scores of yellow butterflies dance across the highway as we cycle. We cycle past school children dressed in navy jumpsuits eager to wave and yell “hello” to us as we go by. The country is truly a friendly one. We pass strawberry and coffee farms and farmers growing flowers and vegetables.

Throughout our ride Mr. Happy ensures that our water bottles are full. Around 1145am, we stop for a snack of banana and pineapple and banana bread. Thankfully it’s much cooler here—-there’s a nice breeze and some cloud cover, and I’m not positively drenched in sweat like at the Hai Van pass. We keep riding for a while longer before stopping at a roadside stop for our picnic lunch. This stop is more like a pavilion—open air but with surprisingly clean bathrooms. There are countless tables and the traditional plastic chairs. I munch on a baguette of herbs, tomato, cucumber and tuna. There is delicious mango to accompany the meal. After lunch we bike another 10km—most of which is uphill, with a significant 2k steep at the end.

If you’re reading this blog you probably know Kerran or I enough to know that we’re absurdly competitive individuals. As you might imagine, doing three super adventury things like rappelling and mountain biking is frustrating for me because Kerran is way better. I know I shouldn’t compare, especially as Kerran actually rock climbs and has spent considerably more time on a bike than me, but I do. So, on the final climb of the day when I tear past our guide and Kerran I feel rectified. Uphills on road bikes are my one and only space (besides skiing). My victory of sorts (thought it’s not a competition!) My pride is short lived though because downhills are not my thing. I’m not yet comfortable enough on a bike to not ride the break and after 50km of mostly going up (around 850 meters) we are about to embark on 30km of basically uninterrupted downhill, a descent of about 2100 meters. There are signs for cars informing them of the danger ahead—use a low gear.

In addition to this gift of a downhill is an hour of uninterrupted epic views. After every s-curve is an unreal view that neither a photo nor video could possibly do justice. After every turn is either a waterfall or hilly views of green and brown. It’s stunning. I’ve been to many a gorgeous look out point but what makes this so special is that it’s continuous—happening over and over and over again at countless angles. Plus, it’s not covered in tourists. It’s serene. It’s every reason you go on a bike trip. It’s validation for starting to cycle. Kerran even says “I’m so glad you started biking.” We have my mother to thank for that, for this.

This is Vietnam. Epic and green and gorgeous. Unencumbered. Stunning.

[sentrava]

Staying in Tennessee for Spring Break? Here are 26 Fun Ideas for You

Staying in Tennessee for Spring Break while the rest of your friends flock to the beach, big cities and everywhere in between? Lucky you—there’s plenty to do in our gorgeous Southern state that neither requires a flight or hotel room. Here are some of my favorite Tennessee day trips in all corners of the state. Feel free to add your own ideas in the comments below!

Explore Memphis’ musical heritage

Any musical pilgrimage in Tennessee begins and ends with Memphis, from its bluesy and gospel roots to its present-day superstars like Justin Timberlake. You could spend weeks in Tennessee’s largest city hopping around live music venues, big and small, and never go to the same spot twice. So many of my favorite artists like Johnny Cash have deep ties to the Bluff City, and there’s no better way to get a sampler platter for the city’s musical past, present and future than an afternoon with the Mojo Tour with Backbeat Tours.

Related post: A Weekend Guide to Eating + Drinking in Memphis

Go waterfall chasing in Southern Middle Tennessee

With record-high rainfall this year, the falls in Tennessee are absolutely gushing! Want the ultimate waterfall loop? Start at Cummins Falls, loop down to Burgess and Fall Creek Falls, then end over near us in Beersheba Springs where you can tackle Greeter Falls, the Blue Hole and Foster Falls. For a milder waterfall experience, Coffee County is full of them, from Old Stone Fort State Park to Machine Falls and Rutledge.

Related post: A Day Trip to Burgess Falls

Shop along Franklin’s stunning Main Street

Franklin may be known internationally for its Civil War history, but it is also an insanely popular destination among both locals and tourists for its well-preserved downtown and abundance of well-curated, independently-owned shops flanking its main drag, plus a growing number of restaurants (GRAYS on Main, 55 South and OBJ are my downtown favorites). Once you’ve spent some cash, posed in front of the Art Deco-style Franklin Theatre and had happy hour at Frothy Monkey, head over to the Factory at Franklin or out to Leipers Fork at sunset.

Related post: Travel Franklin’s Masters & Makers Trail

Drive (or bike) up to the Domain

I may be biased as I was a student there for two years, but Sewanee is, in my opinion, one of Tennessee’s greatest treasures. Hike the Perimeter Trail, have a specialty coffee from Stirling’s, wander the campus aimlessly, grab a bite and a beer at Shenanigan’s, drive out to Natural Bridge, then end your day at the iconic Cross, overlooking the valley below.

Related post: A Hike Out to Sewanee’s Natural Bridge

Take a food tour of East Nashville

I’m in love with Karen-Lee Ryan’s passion for food and Nashville history, both of which are evident in the trio of tour routes she now offers through Walk Eat Nashville. My personal favorite is the Five Points route, though I’m a sucker for SoBro’s growingly diverse palate, as well. Really, with Karen-Lee at the helm, you can’t go wrong no matter which tour you pick!

Related post: Eat, Sip, Stroll: The Best Food Tour in Nashville

Rent a paddleboard and SUP on Percy Priest

Percy Priest Lake is a reservoir that snakes its way through Davidson County; when arriving by plane from the south, it’s often the first thing you see of Nashville before touching down. And Nashville Paddle Company just happens to be based out of the lake’s Hamilton Creek Recreation Area. Take a SUP Yoga class, join a moonlit group paddle, or even invest in your own board as SVV and I did a few years ago. (Pro tip: Buy one of the gently-used models from the previous year and you’ll save money.)

Related post: My Outdoor Fitness Routine

Spend an afternoon learning about Murfreesboro’s Civil War history

Murfreesboro is full of old 1800s buildings, as well as bluegrass and Americana music, but it’s also Tennessee’s first capital and was one of the more active spots in Middle Tennessee during the Civil War. Ever heard of the Battle of Stones River? How about Hoover’s Gap? You can do your own self-guided tour of the prominent battles that took place in Rutherford County (and maybe even give your kid extra credit for learning over Spring Break!).

Related post: Bluegrass & Americana Music in Murfreesboro

Visit Smyrna’s historic downtown

Who knew that Smyrna’s old train depot and the historic district surrounding it were getting a reboot? Thanks to non-profits like Carpe Artista, the area is brimming with arts—from music classes to rock camp—as well as a cafe, ice cream shop, and a growing number of murals. In warmer months, the depot also boasts a great farmers’ market.

Related post: Rutherford County’s Artistic Epicenter Looks Toward the Future

Hike out to Stone Door

South Cumberland State Park is made up of nine different sections, including the nearly 16,000 acres and 55 miles of hiking trails comprising Savage Gulf State Natural Area that houses one of my favorite easy hikes and scenic overlooks: Stone Door. Once you get out, you can take a narrow staircase down to a couple of spectacular rock formations and slot canyons. Nearby is the Fiery Gizzard Trail for those looking to get their steps in.

Related post: Hiking with Dogs in Middle Tennessee

Spend an afternoon in Lynchburg

Jack Daniel Distillery brings in nearly a half-million tourists a year to the tiny town of Lynchburg. And for good reason: It’s one of the most recognizable brands in the world, plus the tour is just plain fun (if you truly want to taste your way through Jack, I must recommend the Angel’s Share experience). Don’t like whiskey? The tour is still fun, whether you imbibe or not. Plus, the square has an old-timey general store and other curiosities, not to mention Miss Mary Bobo’s Boarding House, the place to eat if you’re passing through. The delightful hostesses will give you an earful on the history of the area as you stuff your face with Southern treats, both savory and sweet. Looking for a whiskey twofer? My home of Tullahoma is the next town over and lays claim to the distillery of Jasper Daniel’s famous pal, George Dickel (now called Cascade Hollow Distilling Co., an unfortunate rebrand in my opinion).

Related post: On the Whiskey-Fueled Tennessee Backroads

Test your balance on Tims Ford Lake

Love waterskiing? Always wanted to try wakeboarding? Want to be hooked up to the back of a ski boat and go for a spin on an oversized float? Middle Tennessee’s largest lake recreational facility is totally for you then. Tims Ford State Park sits at the cusp of three counties—Franklin, Coffee and Moore—and draws the adrenaline junkies en masse. We’ve always launched from Holiday Landing Marina—if you don’t have a boat of your own, you can rent one for the day there—but the new Twin Creeks development has added even more options, including a dock restaurant, Drafts & Water Crafts.

Related post: Introducing Tims Ford’s Latest Lakefront Development

Take a trip back in time to Bell Buckle

If you want to time travel, there’s nowhere quite like Bell Buckle for a dose of old-fashioned fun paired with a MoonPie sundae. It barely has a couple hundred residents, yet Bell Buckle is one of the area’s biggest tourist destinations, and with plenty of antiques malls, a quaint square and a mighty fine cafe, it’s easy to see why.

Related post: The Charming Town of Bell Buckle

Get tipsy on the Tennessee Whiskey Trail

Obviously, you’ll need a designated driver (or the assistance of Lyft) for this one, but you know I love the two-year-old Tennessee Whiskey Trail, which now boasts more than 30 member distilleries. Don’t have time to do the full trail? A few of my favorites—including Nelson’s Green Brier and H Clark—are in Middle Tennessee so you can base yourself in Franklin or Nashville and make the most of your day or weekend.

Related post: Traveling the Tennessee Whiskey Trail

See a drive-in movie

I love me a good night at the movies; it’s one of the few times I shut my brain (and phone) off for a two-hour stretch. And what’s better than seeing a movie beneath the twinkling stars? Drive-ins are a dying breed, but Estill Springs right near where I was born has a two-screener, Montana, and I’ve also always wanted to go to Stardust Drive-In Theatre in nearby Watertown, as it just screams nostalgia. Bonus: You pay for one movie and can stick around for both showings if you please.

Check out Lebanon’s charming square

As Nashville booms in all directions, its neighboring cities get that much cooler. Growing up, we only went to Lebanon for the outlet mall or sports tournaments, but now it’s a bona-fide destination itself, not only because of its I-40 locale but also the revitalization of its darling town square. Also worth visiting while you’re in WilCo: Sweet Biscuit Company, Long Hunter State Park, Voodoo Smokehouse and the towering Cedars of Lebanon State Park.

Related post: Discover Majestic Pogue Creek Canyon in Jamestown

Rent a houseboat out on Center Hill Lake

Just 45 minutes east of Lebanon is one of Tennessee’s most popular lakes—and for good reason. Center Hill Lake was a dam constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1948 and now is a popular recreation destination with houseboats, marinas and campgrounds aplenty.

Related post: City Dog Explores Edgar Evins State Park

Channel Johnny and June

In the town of Bon Acqua, Johnny Cash’s legacy very much lives on. Though he and June Carter Cash got rid of all of their pastoral properties over time, they did hold onto one: a 107-acre farm in Hickman County where they resided for three decades. A few years back, it was purchased and revived; it’s now the Storytellers Museum that not only honors the Cash memory, but also has a weekly “Saturday Night in Hickman County” singer-songwriter show.

See a show at the Opry

So many people I know journey from all over the world to see a show on this iconic stage. Yet so many Nashvillians I know have never in their lives been to a show at the Grand Ole Opry. How is that possible? Shows take place several nights a week year-round, are very affordable, and introduce show-goers to a bevy of talent, some newcomers and the others industry veterans. Don’t miss the VIP Backstage tour.

Related post: Date Night at the Grand Ole Opry

Get your thrills at Dollywood

Good golly, Miss Dolly is my favorite Tennessee resident by far, and her theme park Dollywood is every bit as fun as the songbird herself. While you’re there, see one of her dinner shows, and check out a pair of my favorite East Tennessee distilleries, Sugarlands and Old Forge.

Related post: Planning a Dolly-Themed Vacation to the Smokies

Experience the peaceful side of the Smokies

Not looking for the bright lights of Sevier County? There’s a quieter side to the Great Smoky Mountains, and it’s located in Blount County. Rent a cabin in Townsend or stay in Maryville, bike Cades Cove, tube down the Little River (once it opens later spring) and explore this more peaceful mountain experience.

Related post: Sip Your Way Through East Tennessee’s Moonshine Culture

Learn about science and nature at Discovery Park of America

Up in the northwestern Tennessee town of Union City is the ultimate family playground: 70,000 square feet of interactive indoor exhibits and 50 acres of outdoor space comprising Discovery Park of America. From lessons on wildlife education to how to build a cardboard boat, the park’s offerings are wide-ranging and appeal to all ages, plus there’s currently a Towers of Tomorrow with LEGO® Bricks exhibit through May showcasing Lego renditions of the world’s most impressive skyscrapers. While you’re in the area, be sure and check out Lake Isom National Wildlife Refuge and Reelfoot Lake, which was formed by an earthquake more than two centuries ago.

Experience peace and quiet in Ijams Nature Park

Over the past few years, Ijams Nature Center’s lush 300 acres has become one of my favorite Knoxville retreats in warmer months. It’s got 10 miles of hiking trails, a pair of quarries, an adventure center—oh, and did I mention it’s FREE to visit? The activities like zip lining do cost money, but you can also just go hang by the water or check out the blooms and not pay a penny.

Related post: The Perfect Weekend in Knoxville

Geek out at Beechcraft Heritage Museum

This may or may not be one of SVV’s favorite places in Tullahoma (it definitely is), and it’s easy to see why: Beechcraft Heritage Museum hosts regular fly-ins of world-class planes, but even when there’s nothing going on, the aviation museum is open and full of glimmering beauties.

Related post: Don’t Miss These Must-See Spots in Manchester and Tullahoma

Blast off into space at the planetarium

You don’t have to be a budding scientist to love the hands-on experiences at the Adventure Science Center in Nashville; the 44,000 square foot building lays claim to 175 exhibits running the gamut of biology, astronomy, physics, earth science, energy, weather, sound and space. Most notable is the Sudekum Planetarium, featuring various shows in the giant, 63-foot domed theater, as well as fun special activities like Yoga Under the Stars on the last Saturday of every month. The themed laser shows set to soundtracks like Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd are not to be missed.

Related post: How to Do Nashville with the Whole Family

Fore! Golf at the Honors in Chattanooga

My golf-loving brother-in-law Josh tells me the Honors is the Holy Grail for golfers in Tennessee. Given that he’s racked up his own set of honors (by way of countless trophies and golf championships) in the four years he’s been a Tennessean, I’d defer to his recommendation on anything sports-related. This Pete Dye-designed, 18-hole course in the northeast Chattanooga suburb of Ooltewah was born the same year as me and, according to the website, “was considered radical in the 1980’s because of its acres of tall, native-grass rough, unusual Zoysia grass fairways and terrifying speed as lightning greens.” Bear Trace at Tims Ford is another top-notch course I’ve actually had the good fortune of playing.

Mural hunt in Nashville

You may have noticed, but Music City’s street art scene is booming. And SVV and I have photographed more than 100 Nashville murals and put together this handy map for you.

Related post: Check Out These New Downtown Murals in Nashville

I could probably go on with 26 more ideas for day trips to take in Tennessee, but each of these are relatively manageable to plan last-minute if you’re looking for something to do, like, this weekend or even tomorrow.

What are your favorite ways to take advantage of Spring Break in Tennessee?

  PIN IT HERE

Staying in Tennessee for Spring Break? Here are 26 Fun Ideas for You published first on https://medium.com/@OCEANDREAMCHARTERS

[bunniwithmonocle]

Costs For Supplies For The Chickens

For those who're contemplating raising chickens at house, one in all the primary things that they assume about is how a lot will this challenge cost. It might appear like it can contain an enormous quantity of upfront money to buy the chickens and the provides that they need to reside and grow. A few of the basic provides that one will need are gadgets such as the chickens, bedding materials, a feeder, water and feed. The high worth provide merchandise is the rooster coop. These might be fairly costly until in fact, one decides to build their own using considered one of the various hen coop plans that can be found. This can be a quite steep sum of money for one to place out particularly in the beginning of the hobby. A superb different, which can be a fun mission, is to make the rooster coop and run by yourself. This is a substantial savings and by using a set of chicken coop plans, one can alter the plans to accommodate their private want. There are a wide number of rooster coop plans that one can purchase at hobby retailers or by online sources.

It has been a tough couple of weeks right here on the farm. Two weeks in the past, my nice Grandma Josephine passed away at the age of ninety two-years-old. It was so unhappy to lose such a artistic and wise soul. Then just a little over every week ago, Noah was grinding paint off of a chair raise pole at work and bought something in his eye. He thought it was just sand or something else and would get flushed out on its own. It solely obtained worse and by the following day, I may see something over the pupil in his eye and his imaginative and prescient turned blurred so we ended up making a visit to the ER. Unfortunately, the doctor stated it was a piece of steel in his eye and was beginning to rust, which is the spot I might see. On Saturday, we went to a specialist, who was able to remove the metallic piece and many of the rust with the Burr device. He left a little little bit of the rust as a result of he stated that otherwise, he would have to drill by means of the entire cornea leaving a gap and it can be better to leave a bit of rust.

Now Hollister was named after a trendy clothes store apparently, unbeknown to me. I have since investigated this emporium and might declare that there does not appear any cause at all why I should darken their door with my wallet clasped in my hand. I don't believe they have appropriate attire for, erm, someone like me. Would not he look fabulous although! Patou Tuppence (sire Wimmera Skies Class Act of Reddingvale Alpacas, simply off the A303 in Somerset on the sting of the village of Templecombe). She is utterly gorgeous, a real knee weakener, a creator of a trembling bottom lip, Tuppence is secretly my favorite. And to finish, my favourites, Tuppence, Millichamp and Hollister, in formation getting ready for his or her group dance. Thanks go to Andy and Viv Walker of Reddingvale Alpacas, simply off the A303 in Somerset on the edge of the village of Templecombe, oh and some other bloke. I think the steadiness has been redressed! Writer: Phil Jupp If you wish to explore totally different breeds, chickens present that alternative. There are literally tons of of various chicken breeds out there. Each space of the world tends to have breeds particular to that space. Choosing breeds often involves determining what you need to do with the animal. Read on to seek out out more! Writer: David Beart Whichever canine breed you choose, do not forget that the canine, not like the cat, is happier if it does what its proprietor needs. This means that canine are happier if skilled to be obedient. If you happen to practice your canine properly and care for it, you can be rewarded with amazing love and companionship. In any case, it's true that the dog is man's greatest friend. Publisher: phil Study which breed of hen is going to suite your backyard hen coop.There are heaps of variety's of chickens and we give a short description on the top breeds for egg production. Publisher: tim warrington The Bantam variety of rooster is a small chicken and the name comes originally from the town of Bantam.

The herd was rounded up for a complete health check as on Wednesday Le famille Steele heads off to the south of France for our Easter break. We're not leaving the animals on their own, no sirrreee, each species has been taken into account and the suitable care organised. Bob the cat, Betty, Cindy and Lulu the chickens and all the alpacas will after all remain at home and a extremely educated group will move in to look after them. Pete and Elvie, good buddies, and animal lovers are once again taking the reins and shall be here to feed, stroke, gather and gaze at the motley crew left behind, Fibre (linked internet site) thanks guys. Anyway, checking the herd at this time taught me a lesson that is relevant to all alpaca owners. Not only was I situation scoring, I was checking and cleaning this years eartags (properly all of them in fact). All the eartags regarded good, a number of scabs cleared away however nothing to fret about. Not all alpacas spit, however all are capable of it. The "spit" typically accommodates solely air and a bit saliva although it usually accommodates acidic stomach contents which is a green, grassy combine, and so they mission it at chosen targets. This spitting results in "bitter mouth" for them which is characterized by a loose-hanging decrease lip and a gaping mouth. The cause of that is the stomach acid and the unpleasant taste. The article of this spitting, although it causes them discomfort, is a type of protection. Often reserved for different alpacas, it is typically directed at people. I as soon as was standing again watching a few llamas, just minding my very own enterprise. Rapidly, one turned looked at me and spit. Is it something in my character that attracts this behavior? They are also fairly verbal, making a variety of sounds, every being for a particular purpose. When in danger they make a high-pitched shrieking whine. When content material, they actually hum and a clucking sound means friendly or submissive conduct. Consider it or not, you may say they are naturally potty skilled. They use a communal dung pile the place they don't graze. Females have a tendency to stand in a line and all go directly. Because of this, some have been efficiently house-educated and make house pets. In case you are considering of stepping into alpacas, the worth to get began might be as open because the sky itself. Because of the high value commanded by alpacas within the growing North American alpaca market, unlawful smuggling has become a rising drawback. It is no surprise they are becoming increasingly widespread. They make great pets, produce fleece for a lifetime and females could be bred again and again for her whole adult life. What extra might one ask out of an investment? I'm still deciding if an alpaca venture must be added to my bucket list or not.

As time moves on, the chickens get acclimatized to the area, work out how you can belief the security of it and the owner can permit them to out for the coops without fear of them flying off. There are some hen coops that happen to be pyramid-like in structure having a flat prime. One leg for the rooster gets tied off to a meter lengthy leash with one end pegged down into the ground. The hen which includes a meter vast freedom but confined to one area at the very same time. Once more, eventually the rooster gets to feel at dwelling that once they may be finally untied, they don't trouble to fly away. I discovered that there are actually two kinds of the pyramid coops. One is made from heavy soldered wired that may be placed underneath the shade of the trees and the opposite one is stable constructed from many supplies. Lots of the coops are actually very low-cost, some needing meeting some might nicely not. They can also be made by anybody who is helpful that has a hammer, nails plus a noticed. Building chicken coops want not be an ordeal for anyone. Anyone can simply go on the internet and download the plans for building a chicken coop then purchase the supplies as listed and follow the easy instructions. It is actually very cheap and simple to do.

[sportymama]

We traveled 11.75 miles this morning after breaking camp in 5-hours! We were a tad motivated to get to Red’s Meadows. As we hiked, we talked about the upcoming luxuries of SHOWERS. REAL FOOD. CELL SERVICE. Among many, one of the things this trail has lended me was to absolutely and constantly be thankful for the little things. As I paid the $15 for 15 minutes of clean water in an actual shower I considered people who do not have this option and how easy it is to take for granted. I couldn’t believe the MUD that rolled off of me and down the drain. Serious filth! Even though I was bathing daily in whatever body of water was available to us each evening, it just didn’t compare to a warm, clean, shower. How much this relates to Jesus! I would’ve paid $100 for this luxury. We laughed! Us girls. We all three went into the shower at the same time, finding three empty stalls and as we plopped our tokens into the coin operated machine and stepped in, we laughed! Hard! We stood under the rush of warm water and felt like pampered princesses and REALLY felt clean! We didn’t shave the entire trip. It was our pact. The feeling of wanting to now was SO incredibly overwhelming. It was part of the journey and being all in. We may be clean princesses but we are hairy! And so was our dude! His facial hair was reaching epic proportion! For me, this shower washed so much more than dirt away. It washed away my bad attitude from the days before, it washed away feelings of guilt over decisions I have made, expectation I’ve placed on myself and ones that have been put there by others, it washed away things I’ve been holding on to that needed desperately to be let go of, past hurts, pride issues, being judged, negative feelings, mistakes, times in my life that I fell apart, fear, the mess of the last year and the dirt of the past…..It all ran down the drain in a puddle.

Red’s Meadows is such a great place. Magical. The gathering place for all wanderers just outside of the beautiful Mammoth Lakes/Devil’s Postpile area. Full of wonderful, backpacking, happy people. It’s no wonder I loved it! (“My People” as my hubs refers to them) We quickly recognized some of our trail family. Those we’ve met along the way, and continue to see on the daily. Leap- frogging along, but always ending up camping alongside each night. Our Sylvanian’s whom we met WAY back on Glen Pass; two buddies hiking together, one of them barefoot. Tony, our dreadlocked farmer, who gave up an organic farm to hike the JMT, and of course the sweet 50th-anniversary couple, Brooks and Rita. We all filtered in little by little to the showers, the Mule House Cafe (that had the BEST cheeseburgers, fries, and fruit pie on the planet, ON THE PLANET!) and little general store that held our resupply. Interestingly enough, none of us rushed for our resupply. We opted instead for a shower, food, beer and hanging in the sunshine talking with other hikers…. in that order. We met Sam, a guy from the UK who is hiking the PCT. He is 3 weeks from finishing his 6-month journey and even though I have suffered some pretty rotten things out on this trail, I yearn for the opportunity to hike the PCT at some point. I was a little jealous. We talked to 2 women hikers from Maine that were having issues with sleeping bags. They were freezing at night and were asking opinions from everyone about new sacks that they were considering purchasing in Mammoth Lakes. We met a group of 4 women hiking together that were sharing a jar of queso dip and chips from the store. HEAVEN! We listened to the stories of fun and laughter, of animals, of heartbreak, of spiritual journeys, of blisters and sprained ankles, of sleeping COLD, of favorite and least favorite passes, the stories of their journeys and what brought them out here in the first place. I was happy to see so many solo-female hikers, and Ladies of the JMT (all of us wearing our blue bandanas on our pack to signify who we were) I was fascinated by these people and their stories and just wanted to take it all in! Sometimes I thought; man we must have a screw loose to do this, to want this, to enjoy (to some extent) the suffering of almost a month in the wilderness. The isolation, being dirty, being in the complete silence, the remoteness…but then I realized…Nah, it’s passion. It’s passion that drives this and every. single. one. of. us.  has. a. story.

This was some DANG good coffee!

With our “Sylvakians” Igor (who hiked most of the trail barefoot and Jakob (Jakub)

We picked up our resupplies from the little general store and sifted through the contents. I dug….WAY down to the bottom for my note, but quickly saw that Greg had added a few other goodies to this bucket. A can of Pringle’s (oh sweet Jesus) about 5 lbs of Starburst, blister care items (first aid) and a few bottles of Fire Ball. That man knows exactly what I need even from thousands of miles away and not hearing from me in over 10 days! This would be our last resupply. My last note. The last little bit of correspondence until we finish this out. It excited me as much as it grieved me. It was bittersweet in several aspects and as happy as I was to be finishing up this incredibly, epic experience, I was deeply SO saddened at the same time.

My note to myself.

Paula,

Wild Mama, just because you cried today doesn’t make you weak, Allow the tears to come and wash your spirit clean. You’ve come a long way baby! You’re at Red’s Meadows. Reflect on where you have come from and where you’re heading. Continue to celebrate all that lies within you. God has created in you and adventurer, a lover of nature and of stars and extraordinary views. This is why you’re out here. Breathe it all in. You are stronger than you ever give yourself credit. Keep it up, badass warrior! Thanks be to God. Remember, you planned well and are ready for the next few days to the finish!

And from G.

Look at you, Lady! Wow! Bad-assery in its truest form. Your body is probably a little beat up and tired, but that’s ok. Better this than a lump on the couch. Embrace it all! You can make it this last stretch, dig in and remember, LOOK UP! Hopefully, you remember me at the end of this. I will be the guy standing with a cold beer, a super-soaker, and a razor. Ha-Ha! I love you, G

I roared with laughter as I read this. Along with his funny note, and myriad of additional goodies, he had packed the baggies of my re-packaged dehydrated meals (yes RE-PACKAGED because weight is EVERYTHING when it’s on your back) and had renamed a few for me, which brought some great laughter around our little Jet Boils as we cooked dinner at camp.

We had to say goodbye to Red’s Meadows  in the morning and start our way up Donahue Pass. It was hard leaving. We ate an AMAZING breakfast with WAAAAY too much coffee from a pot. Donahue is a big pass with 23-ish miles to the top. It’s long and gradual reaching 11,703 feet. We camped part way up around the Shadow Lake area. We had decided to bite this last section off in chunks. This was a gorgeous camp, with a waterfall right outside my tent door. (and for me, besides sunrises and sunsets, waterfalls rank HIGH up on the food chain of gorgeous-must-sees for me. I LOVE them) I climbed to the top of the falls and spent some alone time with God thanking Him for his creation, for His love for us through his creation. The beauty here and along this entire journey has been unsurpassed. I thanked Him for the opportunity of being out here, for His healing on my feet and body. I thanked Him for my hiking partners and keeping us all healthy (for the most part.) and safe. Out of the four of us, we had one common thread before going into this hike….our dude! K and I knew one another, but not to the depths that we did now. J and I met the day she, K and her hubs picked me up in San Bernardino to head to Lone Pine. Talk about really putting your faith into your hiking partners. So for us to make it this far with only a few small scrapes and bumps along the trail (so to say) I think I was in good company. I was so thankful for their underserved patience, and their inspiration, and kindness. I know we all had days where the raw emotion was high and we wanted to scream at one another, but in the end, we showed love, appreciation, devotion, fortitude, humility, mercy and grace. We showed friendship.  I was so grateful for that. Complete and utter favor in the most extreme conditions Their compassion was incredible. I know full well that some days, probably most days, I was deserving of NONE of it!

That one day that J fell and K had to bandage her up with a Maxi-Pad!!

I took a deep breath as I climbed into my tent and into my mummy, the cascading sound of the falls outside the door making me dizzy with relaxation and tiredness. It had started to rain and we all retreated to our tents early. The daylight still lingered. I sat up and re-read the note from G and giggled. He has the greatest way of always making me and those around him laugh! He would love this spot. I cannot believe this journey is almost ending. I didn’t want it to. It had changed me in some pretty profound ways already. What would going home be like? What would matter to me that hadn’t before? What things would I cherish more and what would I no longer need or care to have? Would I want to go home and buy a Tiny House in the woods after living in Big Agnes for the past 3 1/2 weeks? What would I appreciate more and find unnecessary? What would food and water taste like? Different? Possibly. I do know the need to see my family was so colossal. To breathe them in deeply was all I wanted. That, and to lift and inhale the sweet, dirty, earthy, grass-smell of my puppy’s paws. (this is something her and I do several times a day) Those things that on a daily we become so accustomed to, that are so ordinary at times, that never will be again. They just can’t be.

Start my JMT journey from the beginning HERE 

Tales From the Trail -Red’s Meadows We traveled 11.75 miles this morning after breaking camp in 5-hours! We were a tad motivated to get to…

[kaseyspeaks]

The Latest NYC Rooftops and Restaurants in the Garment District

Hello there! Alas, I, Kasey Ma, fellow foodie lover, am here to bring you the latest scoop on my favorite rooftops and restaurants in the NYC Garment District. For many years the Garment District was my home away from home – after college, I worked for 5 years right in the heart of 5th Avenue and the mid-’30s and I had fallen in love ever since. I’ve even written multiple posts about the Garment District’s venues over the years! Check out my previous articles where I talk about the “4 Must-Try Restaurants and Bars” and the “4 NYC Rooftop and Indoor Bars to Visit In The Summer”.

So, here I am again in the year 2019 with an updated review for you guys. And this time, I narrowed it down to the “3 Best Rooftops and Restaurants in the Garment District”. So many new venues have popped up over the last few years, so I had to do some scouting! And scouting I did. Last week, I spent an entire day and early evening in the area to let you guys know about my new favorite new spots. So, here we go!

Upside Pizza – 598 8th Ave., New York NY 10018

Boy, oh boy – Upside Pizza is by far one of the best pizza places in the Garment District! I’m actually sitting here writing this article right now as my partner is picking up some of their plain and famous “Upside Don” slices. I live in New Jersey, so I’m always on the lookout for the best food around the Port Authority Bus Terminal, so I was glad we discovered this joint. Upside Pizza is my go-to slice and I probably bring this pizza home about 2 times a week (and if it didn’t add to my waistline so much, it seriously would be every other day)!

My favorite slice is the “Upside Don”, which is literally an upside-down Sicilian slice. Instead of the tomato sauce touching the dough first, the cheese is actually placed atop the dough, and then their delicious sauce covers the cheese. Then to make it even better, more cheese is burnt on the edges of the sourdough crust, making the crust crispy and cheesy. Talk about irresistible! Be sure to check out this place for a good old school slice of New York pizza.

See the rest of Upside Pizza’s menu [HERE]

Elsie Rooftop – 1412 Broadway, New York, NY 10018

After my quick lunch at Upside Pizza, I went to the beautifully secluded Elsie Rooftop for some cocktails. Hidden in an obscure corporate office building, this rooftop is like your modern-day speakeasy. The inside is immersed in vintage décor with its bars’ brass trimmings and marble countertops – it’s as if you traveled back in time to another decade.

For drinks, I ordered the Windsor because I love anything strawberry, and it was the perfect drink for relaxing and enjoyment. My photographer got the lamb sliders and he said they were pretty good too!

After my photographer ate his sliders, I took my drink outside the vintage lounge and stepped onto the rooftop that boasted stunning views of Manhattan. I never had felt so small, yet so consumed by the beauty of both the greenery and the view. It was even a bit cloudy when we went, but it was still gorgeous.

See the rest of Elsie Rooftop’s drink menu [HERE]

See the rest of Elsie Rooftop’s food menu [HERE]

Farm to Burger – Aliz Hotel, 310 W. 40th St, New York, NY 10018

Last but not least, we stopped by Farm To Burger for an early traditional American dinner with delicious grass-fed burgers. The mindful meat is a huge plus and the chefs use all-natural beef imported straight from the pasture-raised Fossil Farms in New Jersey. And for the vegetarians and pescatarians, there’s the option of the IMPOSSIBLE burger and the Swordfish/tuna burger. YUM. Because I was so full, I didn’t get to try the dessert, but NEXT TIME, I’m definitely having the spiced carrot cake and ice cream sundae!

Photo credit: @noahfecksisawesome

See the rest of Farm to Burger’s menu [HERE]

Dear Irving on Hudson – Aliz Hotel, 310 W. 40th St, New York, NY 10018

Once we were done with dinner, we took the elevator up and checked out the beautiful rooftop at Dear Irving on Hudson. With stunning cityscape views and chic décor, this spot is perfect for any date night, happy hour, or a night out with your friends.

See the rest Dear Irving on Hudson’s drink menu [HERE]

See the rest Dear Irving on Hudson’s food menu [HERE]

And that’s it! I hope ya’ll spend some of your summer days doing what NYC does best: eat, drink, and have fun! Be sure to check out these hot NYC rooftops and restaurants in the Garment District – you won’t be disappointed!

  Xoxo,

Kasey

  Photography: @morewillie

Like this post? Pin it for later!

The 3 Best Rooftops and Restaurants in the Garment District, NYC The Latest NYC Rooftops and Restaurants in the Garment District Hello there! Alas, I, Kasey Ma, fellow foodie lover, am here to bring you the latest scoop on my favorite rooftops and restaurants in the NYC Garment District.

[gethealthy18-blog]

Our Southwest US Road Trip + What I Learned Along the Way

New Post has been published on http://healingawerness.com/news/our-southwest-us-road-trip-what-i-learned-along-the-way/

Our Southwest US Road Trip + What I Learned Along the Way

I was just looking through the Travel Archives and discovered that the last travel post I shared was almost a year ago from our trip to Boise, Idaho. Our life certainly hasn’t been short on travel with trips to Hawaii, New York, Phoenix, Toronto, Minneapolis and many weekend trips around California but for some reason I’ve found myself wanting to keep a lot of these moments private. Part of this is wanting to really experience these moments and not feel obligated to capture every single detail, and part is just growing up and finding my values have shifted. I am immensely grateful for my friends and family and it’s important that I give them my full attention without them feeling like I’m exposing their lives, even if they’re a part of mine.

It’s also an interesting conundrum that you run into when you quite literally grow up on the internet. I started THM when I was 23. I’m turning 30 in a few months. I’m not the person I was when I first started this place and while I don’t regret a single thing I have shared, I find myself wanting to share different parts of myself now. It’s still important to me that this be a space of transparency and provide helpful resources for you, but what I ate for breakfast this morning and going out to dinner with my friends doesn’t need to be a part of that. And that’s okay…

Same goes for travel. I don’t need to document every place I visit and take you along with me all day long. My job title may be “content creator” but it’s a fine line between living my life and generating content. In the last few months I’ve found myself seeing moments of my life through the lens of someone else instead of seeing it through my eyes first. So I’ve had to find a way to continue sharing resources with you while also protecting the integrity of my experiences and well, my life. This Southwest US road trip helped me to do just that.

I went into the trip knowing that I wanted to experience things first and share later. This meant going completely offline during the two weeks we were away. I brought my vlogging camera with me incase I wanted to do video (I ended up not wanting to) and my camera to capture moments that felt special and important. BUT I didn’t share every single moment of my trip on Instagram and Instagram stories. Back in the day, it was so much easier to just do a write up on the blog about a trip. Now there’s an expectation that people come along with you for every moment. This trip helped me to realize that I don’t need to do this if it isn’t in line with my values. Other people may feel differently but this is my truth and enough hours on the road without technology made me feel completely assured in this decision.

So here I am, a few weeks out and feeling ready to share this adventure with you. Of course, this recap won’t capture the intimate moments like walking through the desert with C talking about our hopes and dreams or laughing our butts off as Bodhi face planted into a ditch with his poodle cousins. It won’t include sitting by the fire while C and I read our vows to one another on our one year wedding anniversary or the pure terror in my eyes as I watched one too many people take selfies over the Grand Canyon. But what it will do is leave space for you to make your own memories.  I’m sharing my favorite places to stay, eat and visit in the US Southwest but leaving room for the moments in between; the ones that you can keep quiet and precious and years from now look back on fondly, just as I am doing right now.

LEAVING SAN FRANCISCO

The ultimate goal was to make our way over to New Mexico to visit some of C’s family and family friends who live there. 30+ years ago C’s Dad purchased land outside of Albuquerque that we wanted to go and see for ourselves. That left a lot of different routes to get there. Because we don’t go anywhere without our dog, we were somewhat confined to what we could do with Bodhi so that did limit things and ultimately determined the path that we took. Keep this in mind as you examine our route and pick your own.

SAN FRANCISCO –> JOSHUA TREE (8 hours)

Where we stayed: The Rock Yacht Airbnb (you can save $30 off your first airbnb using this link)

The more direct route would have been to drive through Death Valley National Park, however 100 degree weather + a dog is a terrible idea so we went a little further south to Joshua Tree. We’ve been to Joshua Tree before so we didn’t venture into the park this time and instead stayed in a cute little airstream in TwentyNine Palms. You could climb the rocks in their backyard and the patio was amazing. TBH the inside felt a little stale but it was a nice, cheap, dog-friendly option.

Where we ate:

Lunch at Natural Sisters Cafe (head next door to Grateful Desert for herbs + crystal shopping!)

Coffee from Joshua Tree Coffee Co

Dinner from Pie for the People!

ZION NATIONAL PARK

JOSHUA TREE –> ZION NATIONAL PARK (6 hours)

Where we stayed: “glamping” airbnb in Hildale, Utah

We were glamping about 45 mins outside of Zion so we made sure to stop in Las Vegas (which is on route) to pick up some food for the night. There’s very little in the area besides the town next to Zion which is expensive so stock up!

What we did:

Hike the Pa’rus Trail in Zion – Dogs aren’t allowed on hiking paths in Zion with the exception of this one. It’s paved but it’s beautiful and gives you a nice perspective of the park.

Coral Sand Dunes State Park – Pink sand dunes! Go here. It’s awesome.

FOUR CORNERS

HILDALE, UTAH –> CORTEZ, CO (5.5 hours)

Where we stayed: Kelly’s Place – We camped but they also have a bed and breakfast you can stay at.

What we did: 

Horseshoe Bend – a little chaotic but a short hike to a beautiful vista in Page, Arizona

*note: we would have loved to have done Antelope Canyon (also in Page) but you cannot bring a dog!

Explore Kelly’s Place – there’s historic ruins on the property that have been excavated and you can hike directly into Canyon of the Ancients National Monument (it was raining so we didn’t go in). Kelly’s place also had a presentation by a leader of the Ute Tribe and it was amazing and so educational.

Where we ate: 

Birdhouse – fried chicken and beer in Page, AZ. Not a whole lot of options in Page but this was damn good!

Kelly’s Place – we cooked our own food for dinner on our camping stove and breakfast is included here

SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO (2 nights)

CORTEZ, CO –> SANTA FE, NM (4.5 hours)

Where we stayed: An adorable airbnb casita just oustide Santa Fe (night 1) + El Rey Court Hotel in Santa Fe (night 2)

What we did:

Ghost Ranch (Abiquiu, NM)- Made famous by Georgia O’keeffe, this is an education and retreat center showing the best of Northern New Mexico. It’s on the drive into to Santa Fe if coming from the north. You can take one of many hikes around the property.

Frank Ortiz Dog Park – even if you don’t have a dog, this is a beautiful and easy walk that gives you epic views of Santa Fe and is especially nice at sunset.

Ojo Caliente – A gorgeous spa + natural hot springs an hour north of Santa Fe. We rented a private tub and got massages but if you have the day I recommend spending it there!

Santa Fe State Park (Dale Ball Trails) – A beautiful network of trails in the Santa Fe mountains that is very accessible (no snow pack) and dog-friendly

Explore Downtown – There are so many cute stores and nooks and crannies to explore in SF. The Palace of Governors has an awesome Native American Market outside and if you’re there on a weekend there’s tons of pop-up art markets too.

*note: we didn’t make it to Meow Wolf but hopefully next time!

Where we ate:

Santa Fe has THE BEST FOOD. We are going back here just to eat. These were some highlights:

Modern General – Great coffee, vibes and healthy food. They source locally too + dog-friendly.

Radish & Rye – This was our anniversary splurge meal and it was sooooo worth it. The food is delicious and the bourbon cocktails even better.

Fire & Hops – a funky gastropub with lots of local beer choices and solid food. Get the brussels sprouts!

La Casa Sena – a perfect lunch or dinner spot for outdoor dining right on the square. The nooner cocktail was amazing and don’t miss the cornbread muffins they serve to kickstart the meal.

Rowley Farmhouse Ales – if you like beer this is your place. We did a flight and loved trying out some of their interesting varieties including a smoked beer and lots of different sours.

Coffee: Iconik Coffee + 35 Degrees North – both great options though Iconik was our favorite!

ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO (2 nights)

SANTA FE, NM –> ALBUQUERQUE, NM (1 hour)

Where we stayed: with family and friends!

What we did:

Los Poblanos Lavender Farm – TBH this was a bit of a let down. It was way too bougie and over the top fancy. Also no dogs. Wouldn’t recommend unless you’re planning to ball out at the hotel.

Spur Line Supply Co – a huge and eclectic shop in the sawmill district of Albuqurque. We loved it here and spent hours browsing! They have everything from skincare, to hippie crystal books to records. A total gem of a spot.

Old Town – we actually didn’t go to Old Town on this visit but have been there before. It’s fun to walk around and get a taste of NM.

*note: we spent most of our time here with family and friends just hanging out and enjoying their company. C’s aunt and uncle live on a horse ranch and one of our trip highlights we exploring their property and playing with all of the animals. I wish everyone could have this experience! Also thank you to our fam + friends for all of the delicious meals and hospitality.

SEDONA, ARIZONA (2 Nights)

ALBUQUERQUE, NM –> SEDONA, ARIZONA (5.5 Hours)

Where we stayed: An Airbnb – a small little guest house that’s perfect for a couple (forgot to take pics!)

What we did:

Petrified Forest National Park – along the way to Sedona, be sure to stop here to see million year old petrified trees, thousand year old petroglyphs and try to not get blown over by the wind. Must do: Crystal Trail.

Winslow, Arizona – Big fan of The Eagles? Stop here! Trip highlight was standing on the corner of Winslow, Arizona

In Sedona:

Cathedral Rock Trail – This is not for the faint of heart and while C and I probably would have made it to the top, we had the Bodhi man and it was simply too tricky getting a 70 lb pup all the way up. We got up about 3/4 of the way and it was spectacular

Cathedral Rock Vortex – Sedona is famous for it’s vortexes (more here) and we knew we wanted to experience one while we were there. We veered off the trail a little bit and found ourselves close to the center of the vortex but then drove around to the other side of Cathedral Rock to get a different perspective. We did a short hike along the Baldwin Trail and dipped our toes in Oak Creek and meditated. It was so calm and peaceful.

Sugarloaf Trail – we could access this trail right off our airbnb so we actually hiked it a couple of times. It’s a short loop and gives you a nice perspective of Sedona

Tlaquepaque Shopping Village – a combination of expensive local art and kitchy crystal and psychic shops. It was a little over the top for me but it’s a nice area to walk around.

See a Medium – I REALLY wanted to see a medium in Sedona but wanted it to happen naturally. On every other corner there’s an advertisement for a medium but thanks to a divine intervention I was connected to Christina Wooten and I’m so so happy I went to see her.

Where we ate:

SaltRock Southwest Kitchen – The view and the craft cocktails are better than the food but both still make it worth a visit!

ChocolaTree – Went for breakfast and while the food may have tasted better to us if we were vegan and gluten-free, the mocha latte was insanely good

Local Juicery – Every single person told us to go here and I’m glad they did. After eating pretty indulgently it was nice to get in a healthy and nutritious meal. The acai bowl is SO good.

Secret Garden Cafe– This place was quite a surprise! We were hungry when we got to Tlaquepaque and this restaurant sits right at the entrance. The food was awesome and we appreciated the casual ambiance on the patio.

Thai Spices – We wanted something a little different after a lot of southwestern food and we were excited to find an awesome thai place in Sedona.

*note: we wanted to make it to Elote Cafe but we didn’t end up having time – hopefully next time!

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK

SEDONA, AZ –> GRAND CANYON NP (2 hours)

Where we stayed: Mather Campground

What we did: Hiked the South Rim Trail. The South Rim Trail is dog-friendly. You cannot hike into the canyon with a dog so this is your only real option but gives you a great perspective on the canyon. Very crowded – just a heads up! Pro tip: wake up early to watch the sunrise on the canyon.

Where we ate: We were camping so we ate dinner and breakfast at our campsite

JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK

GRAND CANYON NP –> JOSHUA TREE NP (6 hours)

Where we stayed: Another airbnb (HIGHLY recommend)

What we did: Nothing! Just hung out at the property. It was beautiful and so relaxing.

Where we ate: Our airbnb was a little far from town so we stopped in TwentyNine Palms for grocery store provisions and cooked at our airbnb.

PASO ROBLES, CALIFORNIA

JOSHUA TREE NP –> PASO ROBLES, CA (5 hours)

I have been wanting to go to Paso Robles since moving to San Francisco but besides stopping through one time for lunch we’ve never spent any time there. We considered driving the coast but we knew that after 13 days we probably wanted to get home a little faster so Paso made for the perfect stop. We loved it!

Where we stayed: Dunning Vineyards – they have the cutest little guest suite that overlooks the vineyards. Highly recommend!

What we did: When in Paso Robles, you wine taste!

Grey Wolf + Barton Family Vineyards – awesome sister wineries with a cool vibe and delicious food

Dunning Vineyards – this was included in our stay and we loved getting to know Bob Dunning and learn how he started his winery

Tablas Creek Vineyard – one of the first vineyards in Paso Robles and a sister winery to a French vineyard in the Rhone region. Organic + Biodynamic too.

Where we ate:

Fish Gaucho – GO HERE! Delicious California – Mexican food

Thomas Hill Organics – Awesome lunch and relaxing patio. Everything is organic and locally sourced

Spearhead Coffee – stop in for a latte – so good!

* * * * *

From Paso Robles we had a 3.5 hour drive home to San Francisco at which point we were so ready to settle in and C was ready to be done driving. And that was that! There were many places we didn’t get to either because we’ve been more recently or didn’t have time but it was a pretty packed two weeks nonetheless. My hope is that this post can either a) inspire you to visit the US Southwest or b) find some inspiration for your already planned trip. We also plan to revisit some of these areas so please do drop some of your favorites in the comments below. I’d love to hear from you. Happy travels!

DON’T WANT TO MISS THE NEXT ADVENTURE? Join the THM Community!

Join 10,000+ members of the THM Community to get access to exclusive info about travel, places I’ve visited and how to stick to your healthy lifestyle on the road.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheHealthyMaven/~3/7pSEOHUAjTY/

[jacks-adventure]

Day 72

I woke up early today, and managed to promptly hit my 85% warning for data on my phone. Not good. I developed the bad habit of surfing the internet instead of being out in the world, experiencing my trip that I have been dreaming about for years. 

After determining that this was indeed a blessing in disguise, I packed up, and headed back to Corindi Beach to ride the park again. This park is awesome, with an amazing tiny bowl. I went back to film a single clip at the park, and spent around 40 minutes attempting to get the angle and look that I wanted. After that I headed off to Grafton, a fair way north. I got to Grafton Skatepark, and was very disappointed with the overall quality of the park. The quarters were lumpy, steep and far too small again. 

But I still had some fun. From Grafton, I moved north to find surf at Yamba. That’s another cool name for a town.

I found this large RV parked next to my car after checking out the surf. Perfect comparison with what I have, and what others have. We all know who is having more fun

 And there wasn’t any, so I went to the skatepark. This seems to be a recurring theme for me. Yamba skatepark is interesting, with a large array of elements, but all shrunk down to a smaller scale than most other parks. At 4.30 I got to meet some gorgeous dogs, one of which had separation anxiety from the other dog. At this point it was getting dark, so I headed off to find camp. As I drifted up the A1, I found a rest stop called New Italy. New Italy was the original place where Italian migrants settled after coming over for a new life. They were given the New Italy area due to the impossible nature of farming on the swampy land. They made it work, and the buildings and free camping area are a testament to that. I was also pleasantly surprised to find a large amount of MTB trails, but sadly I will not be attempting MTBMX on them tomorrow.

[patimbeau]

Christmas Vacation 2017-2018, part 5

Rome day 9!

Boxing Day! … or St. Stephen’s Day! (which means everything is closed!)

Sylvain and I decided to take an easy day. Sahra and her parents went to the Vatican, I’d seen enough of it, and so we ventured around the neighbourhood. We came upon an amazing little café called “Café Gourmet”. They served us a cheese plate with some sort of dark brown honey, and what I can only describe as the best lasagna I’ve ever had in my life. It had zucchini in it and I didn’t even care.

We then jumped on the metro to go into town where we walked around the gardens of the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica. Quite a lovely place. My highlight was being able to pet a friendly stray. Made me miss my kitties quite a bit.

We then grabbed the metro back and just happened to get on the same metro as Jess and Peter, before going back to the apartment for beer, wine and dinner. Hung out with Sylvain a bit before saying good-bye. It was nice to see him.

 Rome/Tuscany – Day 10

This was a day of highs and lows.

We packed up our bags and took a taxi to the rental car dealership. Our plan was to drive to Greve in Chianti, for a four day stay.

High/Low #1 – They only had a Nissan Juke (totally fine) and what I can only describe as a black bus. A seven person van. Need I remind you that we were in Italy – land of crazy drivers and narrow roads. The bus (as it shall forever be known) was covered in dents. Shocking.

We left Rome (which was horrifying…never drive in Rome, one-way streets are merely a suggestion) and hit the highway to Greve – although not before an impromptu stop at a natural hot springs.

High/Low #2 – The hot springs were gorgeous. Milky blue water that was warm as a bath. Although we had not planned the stop at the hot springs, so we had no towels and we had not chanced. And it was pouring rain. And everything smelled of sulfur. Oh well. It was so warm… Sahra and I went up one of the rapids into a calm pool to wait for the others who had to changed…well I thought was a calm pool. Sahra got swept away into the next pool and “rescued” by an English woman and her Italian boyfriend. We chatted with them a bit – she was a yoga healer, she said. And then she stood up, and we learned she was very naked, and so was her boyfriend.  They said they weren’t nudists but invited us to also get naked, you know, for the freedom of it. I personally appreciated the layer of material between my personal areas and the rock. She decided she was cold and they left as the others joined us. After what seemed like a very long soak, we ran back to the cars, drenched and stinky (ugh, sulfur…rotten eggs). We tried to get changed as best as we could and hit the road.

High/Low #3 – driving in Tuscany is all narrow, winding roads full of hairpin turns and switchbacks, up hills and down again. The “high” was the fun company that Sahra and Peter were…the low was everything else. It was dark. It was pouring rain. The roads were bumpy. It was terrifying.

We made it. Grève in Chianti.

Then we went for dinner. For Sahra and I, it was the first real food we had seen. I had had a “vegetarian” sandwich at a gas station (two pieces of white bread, no crust, with a thin layer of salsa), and Sahra had had chips. We were famished. Luckily, La Cantina, the place we went for diner, was fantastic. Great pizza, great pasta, and hilarious server (“Which wine would you recommend?” “The one with my face on it.”)

We walked back to the hotel and after a shower (ewww..sulfur smell still!) we fell asleep.

Greve Day 11

My back was killing me. Sahra was feeling ill. We tapped out and did nothing all day.

The biggest two excursions were to the Co-Op for pasta to cook for dinner, and for a late walk after dinner. It’s a cute town.

I’m going back to bed now.

Grève - Day 12

Intense back pain again. I argued with a laundry machine then hung dry the things that had been in the “dryer”. 

Took pain meds and slept. Woke up for a few hours and played Stardew Valley (a farming simulator). Felt peckish and as the others were having a chicken dinner and Sahra wasn’t hungry, I decided to go for a walk.

Feeling uncreative, I went to the restaurant where I had been the night before : La Cantina.

I told the waiter, who spoke english, “No wine for me, I’m going to take pain meds.” So he brought me Proseco. I ordered a Robillita Tuscan soup with some bread and a light salad. It was exactly what I needed. Just hearty, healthy soup. Yum. Then I ordered an espresso - so he brought me San Vinto (desert wine) and a brownie and a small slice of pie...then the coffee. Italians, man.

I went back to the house and crashed. My back was NOT happy.

Grève/Chiocchio/Prato - Day 13

My back started feeling a bit better, so I joined Sahra and her mom on an excursion to the local market. The square had been transformed into a mix of flea market and farmer’s market. Clothes, food and tourist junk everywhere. Then came a text from Sahra’s father : we had to get back to the house immediately, we were being kicked out because of a screw up with the booking.

We rushed up and quickly packed, searched for a hotel that was available and headed out of town. We decided to stop in Chiocchio, a small town where Sahra and her family had previously been. They were welcomed with open arms, hugs all around for the family from the Italian man at Locanda Il Gallo, a lovely restaurant. What was going to be coffee turned into one of the best meals of my life : toast with roast artichoke, other toast with cheese and sundried tomato, followed by truffle topped fresh gnocchi (light as air) in a cream sauce, then crème caramel and macchiato. I was so stuffed I didn’t eat until the next morning.

We waved goodbye and went off to Florence – well Prato, the suburbs where we had booked our hotel. It was next to a mall, so we decided to go see what a mall in Florence is like. Turns out, pretty much like one in North America, except you can have beer and walk your dogs inside (so many dogs). I didn’t recognize most of the stores (except Wind mobile…so weird), and H&M which is where I lost Sahra and her sister for awhile. They booked an appointment to do their nails, so I called it an early night and headed back to the hotel to read a book and get some rest.