Who knew the upstate NY region had so many amazing waterfalls? With my parents in town for a visit, we decided to check out just a few of them.
First up: The famous Niagara Falls (from the Canadian side!)
Check out those double rainbows…and all that power! Whew!
Phenomenal, right?
Our world is quite the amazing place!
{Don’t miss the best picture of the day at the very bottom!}
How can your day not start out awesome when you are instructed to “park in the lot by the red elephants and yellow smile benches”?
Awesome, right?
And this is where it all gets even more supremely awesome. A few months back Meg, Shawnda and I bought LivingSocial deals for an epic sounding hour-and-a-half Aerial Arts Sampler Class at Aerial Arts of Rochester, a studio that specializes in circus arts! As if there was any doubt…RIGHT UP MY ALLEY.
I have been anxiously awaiting this class for weeks! We were so stinking excited!
After all the necessary precautions, waiver signings, safety briefings, proper stretching, and warnings of how sore we would be tomorrow and where (blah blah blah), we were divided into small groups to learn a few basic positions on the aerial silks, the hoops, and the yoga hammocks.
First up…
Aerial Silks
The Hoop
Yoga Hammocks
Clearly, this was just about the most fun class I have ever taken.
The silks were my favorite with the hoop coming in a close second. Fortunately, they offer classes in both (and as soon as I can afford to, I’m signing up!) And I totally saw a trapeze in there as well that I can’t wait to get my hands on!
Running away to join the circus…kind of a dream come true. I have a rather fond affinity for anything circus related.
They did, in fact, warn us that we would likely be quite sore in several spots.
They, apparently, weren’t kidding.
We were physically exhausted after class – I don’t think I’ve ever been so tired from a workout before! It took about 30 minutes for the motion sickness nauseous feeling to completely subside (turns out spinning upside down for extended lengths of time will really mess with your equilibrium until your body gets used to it). My arms felt like total jelly for the next two days, and I have some vicious victory bruises in all kinds of great locations! And I’m pretty sure I’m not alone in this.
Worth it?
Absolutely!
And now it’s time for my absolute favorite photo of the day….
{Graceful butterfly pose: Nailed it.}
In Milwaukee Ted and I met up with my wonderful college best-buddy Tiffany and her boyfriend Nate, who were also in town for USITT (annual technical theatre conference). I haven’t seen Tiffy in almost four years, so this was a real treat! We met for pretzels, beer cheese, local craft brews, and some good conversation at the Milwaukee Ale House downtown on Tuesday night, and then again on Wednesday during the day for a factory tour and tasting of award-winning small-batch hand-crafted whiskey, gin, brandy, vodka, and absinthe at the Great Lakes Distillery and a cheese plate at the Wisconsin Cheese Mart.
Love you Tiffany! Let’s not wait another four years. Oh, and get yourself some of that Great Lakes Distillery gin if you want a cocktail of crazy flavorful proportions!
Proof that I had fun, must have relaxed some, or at the very least eaten really terribly, on this most recent WisCo trip:
{running/playing with Ted and the nephew}
{ice cream date one of four}
{mid-morning mocha}
{pretzels, beer cheese, and a brew with old friends}
{glorious Kopp’s. cheeseburger three of three – not all Kopp’s and not all on the same day, just to clarify…but close enough}
{new age jump rope}
{arcading}
{quartet air hockey insanity}
{ski ball}
{siblings}
{Lambeau Field, even busy during the off season}
{hors d’oeuvres, desserts, and free-flowing champagne at a schmoozy theatre party with a slew of Ted’s old industry buddies}
{spring break. warm and exotic as always, Wisconsin}
And in between the aforementioned there were Mermaid dance concert performances, Sunday post-show lighting strike (which I did indeed participate in), a long snowy drive from Green Bay to Milwaukee, cheerful catching up with a ton of family and friends, fancy kitchen ogling, some Duck Dynasty and Storage Wars immersion, a distillery tour and tasting, and just a bit of USITT.
Whew.
So, if you’re anything like me you read “1920s prohibition party” and immediately thought “Oooooh! That’ll be the cat’s meow!” as you conjured up images of getting all dolled up in your glad rags for a night of gaily hoofing the Charleston to swanky live jazz music with your best sheiks and shebas, sipping classy real McCoy cocktails with a liberal helping of bitters from your ruby kisser, and puttin’ on the ritz in your flirtiest twenties finery. (FYI, the remainder of this blog post is going to be riddled with twenties slang. No shame.)
“Now you’re on the trolley!”
And then you saw the words “night at the museum” and your jaw hit the ground in gleeful anticipation of dashing about the heebie-jeebie inducing labyrinth of the museum halls at night in your flapper getup, navigating the ice cave, hoping the dinosaur skeleton or Native American display would come to life just for a minute, dive-bombing the ball pit, and tackling the rock climbing wall in the children’s wing.
If that was your vision (and it was indeed mine), this night surely did not disappoint! It was the bee’s knees, and how! Except nothing came to life. I thought I should clarify that, just in case.
There were twenties-inspired costumes for every Jane and fly boy. There was a live jazz band playing swanky tunes. There were Charleston lessons for all the hoofers out there. There was bathtub gin at the gin mill and bootleg liquor in the speakeasy (or, you know, classic twenties era cocktails with gin, egg, and lots and lots of rhubarb bitters at the bar).
There was 1920s trivia. And we smoked the competition taking home the grand prize of a bag full of nifty science gift shop goodies the likes of sore throat, stomach ache, and malaria stuffed animals, glow in the dark silly putty, postcards, and lollipops with crickets in them. We may not be the big cheese – just three dolls who were not alive in the 20s – but we’re no dumb Doras either! Never underestimate the power of a trio of smart dames/theatre majors. Also, Shawnda is the cat’s pajamas and a trivia goddess! A few of those trivia questions were toughies, but our smarts would have knocked your socks off!
There was a popcorn cart, and there were silent movies playing in the theatre.
There were handsome gents in bow ties and suspenders, flapper dresses and drop-waist frocks, feathers and mustaches, and miles and miles of great gams.
There were museum shenanigans not limited to a hover craft, a ball pit, a rock climbing wall, a weights & pulley system, an earthquake simulator, bones, and taxidermied animals.
Finally, there was an epic motion “submarine to the bottom of Lake Ontario” ride that lets you to feel what riding in a submarine might be like. Furthermore, they allowed us costumed saps to take alcoholic beverages in glasses without lids on the ride while the compartment tossed and turned and jerked up and down and to and fro. Clearly, it was amazing. I should also mention that you are approximately 50-75% more likely to feel the motion sickness on this seven minute long ride if you attempt this beeswax with an edge on you. P.S. Hope your drink wasn’t full when you got on.
And after all that merry making we owls left the juice joint only when the party ended and everyone was told to scram. So we followed up at Good Luck for some swell eats and another round of hotsy-totsy giggle water (oh, 1920s jargon, you slay me!)
And that, my dears, is what a swingin’ 1920s prohibition party at the museum looks like.
If you want to know where all that amazing slang came from: here. You’re welcome.
Until next time!
1. California – Palm Springs & Napa Valley
2. Texas – Hamilton Pool
3. Oregon – Crater Lake
4. Arizona – Antelope Canyon and the Grand Canyon
5. Montana – The Continental Divide
6. New York City & Philadelphia
7. New York – Niagara Falls
8. Colorado – Dunton Hot Springs
9. Nevada – Las Vegas
10. Vermont
1. Machu Picchu, Peru
2. Santorini, Greece
3. Iceland/Finland/Norway/the Swedish Lapland (okay, so I know they’re not all the same place, but they’re in the same general region for geyser spying, volcano trekking, northern lights gazing, hot springs soaking, igloo lodging, and snow/ice adventuring)
4. Italy (Venice, Rome, Tuscany, the big cities, the country villas…all of it.)
5. Cable Beach, Australia
6. New Zealand
7. Russia
8. Egypt
9. Poland
10. Bali
P.S. I haven’t forgotten about Rio, Northern Ireland, Thailand, South Africa, Antarctica, or Casablanca, Morocco either. Those are on my travel bucket list too!
…to the B&B we go!
As promised, here are a few shots from our snowy Christmas Eve escape to the Mountain Horse Farm B&B in upstate New York, situated in the mountainous finger lakes wine country.
Obviously, it was fantastic and I’d return in a heartbeat, with family and friends in tow. Read more about our trip here.
I’ve mentioned before that we try to make it up to Door County once a year, usually in early September, to celebrate our anniversary. Since we got married there, Door County holds a pretty special place in our hearts. Like attending the home opener Packer game with Kate and Tim, celebrating our anniversary in Door County has become an annual tradition we very much look forward to every year. We tend to hit up the same places every year, obviously because they’re tasty and/or beautiful and we love them. But we’re also making it a point to branch out a little bit every year and try something, or several somethings, new each time we go. I love comfort just as much as I love adventure, and Door County is a perfect place to enjoy both.
We I started the day off in the best way possible – with a relaxing upper body, back, neck, shoulder, and scalp massage at the Lavender Spa in Fish Creek. I booked a massage there on the day before our wedding and it was the most relaxing 30 minutes of my entire life. I’ve had other massages at other places before, but they’ve never been nearly as enjoyable or effective. Door County is the only place I’ll plunk down my hard-earned (or in this case, generously gifted, for my birthday) cash for a massage…because I can truly relax and enjoy it in Door County. Needless to say, it was pretty much the most perfect way to start our day! I’d highly recommend it for anyone and everyone…peaceful music, soft lighting, heated beds, plush blankets, calming lavender and mint scents, a gorgeous country atmosphere, and a great massage…unbeatable! While I massaged, Ted headed to Orchard Country winery for some fresh cheese curds…obviously, the man was suffering.
Post-massage, we hopped in the convertible and headed up to Sister Bay for some delicious brunch eats at Al Johnsons “Goats on the Roof.” We, of course, saw my beloved goats munching grass on the roof. I, of course, loaded up on my annual whip cream with a side of hot chocolate beverage masterpiece. Ted got our annual and their traditional Swedish crepes with fresh lingonberries, and I ordered my annual plate of Swedish meatballs but branched out this time and opted for homemade split pea soup instead of the Swedish crepes. All was delicious. Love those lingonberries. Love those goats!
Following brunch we took in a leisurely game of mini golf (and some fall leaves!) at Pirates Cove mini-golf. This is a really fun course. A few hole-in-ones made for a pretty great game of mini golf.
We stopped for fresh berry gelato at Jo Joe’s in Ephraim (where we took family and friends for a fun pizza & gelato luncheon the day after our wedding), saw a sweet car for sale in a pretty smashing color (Ted loves this car – the Triumph – it’s one of his dream cars), stopped by Ted’s telephone booth on the tip of the Door peninsula to say our yearly hello, dropped in to check out Uncle Tom’s Candy Store in Ellison Bay for the first time though we’ve passed the sign for it for three years now (an excellent place, btw! Absolutely delicious homemade-by-mamma treats…totally recommended!), sat on a small beachside pier for a while just enjoying the water, waves, beach and scenery, browsed a few of our favorite shops in Fish Creek to see what was new, I got a mammoth mega chocolate peanut butter cup at the fudge shop (it was epic. I only get one a year for a reason….but it’s so good!), and we went wine tasting and cherry tasting at the winery we got our wedding wines from. Of course, we made good use of our sky blue classic Oldsmobile Cutlass convertible and drove with the top down.
For dinner, though we adore The Cookery, Summertime and a slew of other local Door County eateries and we’re always anxious to hit them up every year, we decided to try Trio in Egg Harbor instead. Trio was the restaurant my cousin Tammy, who passed away earlier this year, tried when she and my Aunt Penny came up to Door County for our wedding two years ago. Tammy loved Trio. She said it had some of the best food she’d ever eaten. The last time we came to Chicago to visit with Tammy a few months before she died, she mentioned that if she could have one last meal, it would be at Trio. With a recommendation like that, how could we go elsewhere? After Tammy died, Ted and I vowed that the next time we visited Door County, we’d dine at Trio, in memory of Tammy and to celebrate her life at a place she loved. It also happened to be the dinner we treated ourselves to in celebration of our two year wedding anniversary. The verdict? Totally fantastic.
The food is European – mostly German, French and Italian – with a country twist. Gourmet comfort food, if you will. Our waitress was phenomenal (seriously one of the best we’ve ever had anywhere), the atmosphere was cozy and beautiful, and the food was divine. To keep the menu fresh, Trio changes up their menu with new gourmet offerings every five weeks. Already full of wine from our wine tasting we opted to skip the booze and instead split an appetizer of perfectly seasoned, thick fried calamari with lemon and marinara. Ted tried to duck confit on a bed of braised red cabbage and I ordered the cassoulet toulusain, a white bean cassoulet with duck, lamb, and garlic sausage. Both were savory and incredibly delicious. For dessert Ted had a mixed fresh-berry crisp and I had a key lime torte with homemade raspberry syrup. It was a wonderful way to celebrate both Tammy and our anniversary. Tammy’s got great taste!
After dinner we parked ourselves at Peninsula Players, one of Door County’s most renowned professional theatre companies (LORT B I think?) located in the woods of Peninsula State Park and right on the water, for a performance of Lombardi, a great and humorous play about the legendary Vince Lombardi when he was the coach of the Green Bay Packers during the 1960s. It was a truly great story told with lots of love and passion and humor by characters you don’t want to let go of at the end of the play. After the show we strolled through the woods surrounding the theatre and enjoyed the warm, flaming bonfire they’d lit by the bay before we drove back to Green Bay.
As always, an incredible day in the Door peninsula!
On Saturday we drove a 15-person electric pedal bike.
A wagon bike hybrid with 15 seats and 15 sets of pedals that is supposed to be pedaled by 15 people.
It can be used for tours, weddings, proms, funerals, bat mitzvahs, birthdays, pub crawls, etc. Think of it like the newer, trendier trolley. It’s only in a few U.S. cities so far – Las Vegas, New Orleans, Newport Kentucky….
Only, we were the only two who signed up for the earliest “Bikes & Barons” tour from Cincy Haus’ “historically entertaining” American Legacy Tours company that Saturday morning, so it was pedaled by 4 people instead of 15. Two tour guides and ourselves on a totally personal tour.
It was kind of awesome.
We pedaled through the beautiful, quiet, tree-lined streets of the historic mansion district of Newport, enjoying the architecture of the mansions and learning all about the wealthy steel barons and entrepreneur millionaires of the 1800s, and all their antics. We came upon a little girl selling lemonade in her front yard. Our tour guide hopped off to treat us to a cup of lemonade as we pedaled along. It was very relaxing and sweet and lovely.
After the tour we stopped at one of Newport’s most popular destinations (another place I’ve been aching to try since we moved here) to split a plate of hot, soft pretzels with beer cheese and a bratwurst with sauerkraut from The Hofbrauhaus in Newport – a fantastic authentic German biergarten and restaurant established and (still) maintained by brew masters in Munich who come over twice a year to keep an eye on the beers they brew there and German eats they dish up. It’s a fun place with lots of spirit and good German music and festive biergarten atmosphere and massive mugs of beer and bench style seating with long wooden tables and leiderhosen and dirndls and really tasty German food. I can’t wait to come back with a group of friends for a fun night out.
Another great Saturday morning under the belt. We’re on a roll here – two weeks in a row. Though after the hell that was this week, I kind of think a beautiful, fun, relaxing Saturday morning was very much needed to re-focus my mind.
Also, if you ever get the chance to try Cincinnat’s Street Pops (a portable street food cart that sells gourmet popsicles), the hibiscus mint mojito popsicle is absolutely heavenly! They were in the lobby of Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati during intermission of Life Could Be a Dream on Friday night giving out complimentary popsicles to drum up business. Popsicles should be sold during the intermission of all happy, upbeat musicals. It’s a perfect combination.
So, in conclusion…15-person bike wagon = awesome, Haufbrauhaus biergarten = awesome, free hibiscus mint mojito popsicles = awesome, Life Could Be a Dream = awesome, Ted = awesome, Mav = still terribly, terribly missed. When does this get any easier?