Tag: travel

20 Hours in Istanbul

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After a lot of research over a couple months, the best deal I could find on a flight was with Turkish Airways. They all flew direct from Houston to Istanbul which was several hours past Italy, but several hundred dollars cheaper. One of the options had a 20 hour layover in Istanbul and since Dan and I wanted to visit anyway, it worked out! Unfortunately, we got there too late to do pretty much any of the touristy things. We still managed to take advantage of our brief adventure and enjoyed our one night in Istanbul.

I knew I wanted to stay in the middle of everything and not waste time on getting around, so we picked Cheers Hostel, just a few blocks away from the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia (or Aya Sofya). Baggage claim took quite a while and caused us to miss entrance to both 😦 Luckily, you can look at the outside at any hour! And we were just really excited to finally be there after the 12 hour flight. I’ve always thought that the best way to see a city is to walk it (with the exception of Houston- don’t try). Unfortunately, Dan twisted his ankle a couple days before we left, so he was still mending- I’ll spare you the photos of his bruised, swollen ankle, but it was pretty bad. After debating a taxi, we still ended up walking quite a ways, across the bridge and over into the younger, more modern side of town where we had dinner. Below the road part of the bridge, there are dozens of restaurants, I’m assuming overpriced for location, but maybe still good? We took a pass. But it was neat to see locals fishing was the side- when you walk on the lower part, there are a ton of fishing lines dropping down next to you into the water.

We ate at Karakoy Lokantasi, which was fantastic. I was in love with the turquoise tile covering the walls of the entire place. It was definitely a good meal to kick off 2 solid weeks of eating. They had a tiny balcony that people took turns leaning out of to take a smoke.

After dinner we perused the street shops where I bought some turkish towels (yay!! these were SO much more affordable than the ones I had been wanting online) and we tried the local liquor, Yeni Raki. I kind of had to force that down… I’m not the biggest fan. I also HAD to try a turkish kebab. Even though we just dinner. Don’t judge, they are one of my absolute favorite foods. Apparently I should have done more research on where to find a good one, because the one we tried was kind of a let down :/

The next morning we had just enough time to go into the blue mosque before we had to leave to catch our flight. SO glad it ended up working out- I know that there is no way to see everything in a city when you have limited time traveling (even if you live there for several years!) but this was one thing I didn’t want to miss. It was just beautiful. Women have to have their heads covered, hence my scarf.

Istanbul is such an interesting city- the history behind it is unbelievable. In terms of visiting, just because it is so conservative, but they also have this huge nightlife scene. Chances are good we won’t make it back, but I’m glad we had the opportunity to stop by 🙂

Ciao!

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“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” – Marcel Proust

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Dan and I leave for Italy TONIGHT! It will be his first visit and it’s going to be awesome seeing everything with him by my side. Plus we’ll be celebrating our one year anniversary! I’m a little in shock that it’s here and also crazy excited to just be there already, relaxing and enjoying an extended vacation. We start the remodel almost as soon as we get home, so preparing for that and a 2 week trip has been a little stressful. Okay, a lot stressful. But definitely the good kind of stress, thinking of all the fun things coming up. And also my own fault… ☺ Dan knows we are going to Italy, and I think he knows which cities, but that’s about it. HA. Lots of surprises in store for him! I, on the other hand, have a big spreadsheet with a tab for each city with ideas on what to do. Type A at its’ best. Or worst if you hate plans? I promise to still be spontaneous and not let a spreadsheet dictate the entire trip. And we are way open to suggestions if you have any! SO if you’re curious, here’s the itinerary:

Houston>>Istanbul>>Venice>>Florence>>Cinque Terre>>Arezzo>>Amalfi Coast>>Rome>>Houston

I think Dan is most looking forward to Venice, and it’s a toss-up for me between just hanging in the middle of nowhere in Tuscany, and swimming in the Blue Grotto in Capri. 

Unfortunately, Dan twisted his ankle this week while playing basketball. It’s bruised all the way around and so, so swollen. It’s such terrible timing but he’s been trying to just keep it propped up with ice on it as much as possible. Fingers crossed it’ll be healed enough by the time we get there, but we may renting a Vespa in every city if not. Thus getting to live out my Lizzie McGuire dreams. 

And if you’re wondering about Barley, he’ll be staying with his grandparents out in Georgetown, enjoying time away from the city ☺ Big thanks to them for watching our favorite pup. I only cried a tiny bit after leaving him. Dan says to think of it as doggie summer camp.

Ciao for now!

**photos from the best Box family vaca in 2013**

The Boxes Take Music City

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A couple of weeks ago, we went on a vacation with my family to Nashville! My mom has gotten really into genealogy, so they spent the week doing research in the area and visiting family, and Dan and I met up with them for a long weekend. And let me say, they don’t call it music city for nothing. Even some of the boutiques had bands playing! I liked to think of it as my personal serenade.

My parents rented a cute, old house for the week right off 12th South (which was an awesome neighborhood- more below) and it ended up being a few houses down from where my cousin lived when she first moved to Nashville! Small world- I love those coincidences.

We flew in Thursday night and feasted on Southern cooking at its’ finest at Monell’s. The whole meal is served family style, potentially sharing with others if your party isn’t large enough to fill the table! Plus, it was in a beautiful historic home- with a neon sign in the front window 😉

FRIDAY

Brunch at Marche! We waited almost an hour for a table, which was a little crazy for a Friday, but I’d say it was worth it. My savory crepes were delightful, the coffee just right, and my almond croissant too yummy (they were out of the chocolate croissants… why are they always out of the chocolate ones?!).

We peeked around East Nashville for a hot second and went into Woodland Wine Merchant, which was definitely the coolest liquor store I’ve ever been in (or “Purveyor of Uncommon Wine, Spirits & Beer” as they call it). The branding is crazy adorable, also.

Next up was a visit to The Hermitage, Andrew Jackson’s home. It has been incredibly well maintained and the grounds were beautiful. We did quite a bit of walking to see it all. The audio tour was also fantastic, and we all learned a lot listening to that.

  

My mom had read about a neat vintage shop (I guess that’s what you’d call it?!) called Old Made Good that we stopped at next. They take old items and put a twist on them- no photos allowed in the shop, but the floors were covered in pink glitter. My dad absolutely despises glitter (3 girls on drill team will do that to you) so it was funny to see his reaction. Some of the funniest pieces were old paintings with a surprise update added. It reminded me of this clip from The Last Man on Earth (does anyone watch that show other than Dan and I?!). Seriously couldn’t stop laughing for DAYS over this. Oh, and BUNNIES!

We ate dinner at The Pharmacy, which I could easily see myself hanging out at on a regular basis if I were a Nashvillian (?). Cold beer, perfectly shaded biergarten, and some seriously tasty burgers. I had the stroganoff burger and now my mouth is watering. Don’t you hate it when you find something so great and can’t get it anywhere else?? Not that I should be eating stroganoff burgers on the regular…

I just really adore this guy. I actually smile every time I see him smile.

That night, the young ones ventured down the street to check out some local joints. We tried The Flipside, Embers Ski Lodge, and 12 South Taproom & Grill. Dan hit it off with a man at the bar (who apparently is the head of a big music association and has an impressive resume) who recommended we go see some live music at Station Inn. This venue has been around forever and I’m SO glad we went. The band was very talented and I think most of them had been playing their entire lives. I especially loved the banjo player, who absolutely killed it.

SATURDAY

We had brunch at Pinewood Social which is the coolest concept. There is a swimming pool. At the restaurant. And a bowling ally. And just really neat places to hang out. I didn’t want to creep anyone out by taking a picture of the pool (and thus people in their swimwear), but it is just the most genius idea for hot climates. You can reserve lounge chairs and have all your drinks brought out to you, just like a country club. The design of the place was also AWESOME and I couldn’t stop looking at everything. Especially the stork wallpaper.


We shopped for a while before heading over Tennessee Brew Works, which was probably Dan’s favorite part of the trip (surprise, surprise). The layout of the space was great- double-decker patio and a plenty of tables upstairs, with plexiglass overlooking the brewery. Considering my love of basil, it’s no surprise that I really enjoyed their basil farmhouse ale. Dan, can you please make lots of beer with herbs?!

Our twins!!!

My mom planned the entire trip with pretty much no help (thanks mom :)), but my one contribution was picking dinner- Rolf & Daughters. Maaaybe one of my favorite restaurants I’ve been too. Is that too extreme? I loved everything about it. Rose? check. In an old warehouse with twinkly lights? check. Super fresh ingredients? check.

Considering we were in Nashville, we couldn’t miss out on visiting Broadway. However, visiting Broadway with an under 21-year-old is a little tricky. We did manage one spot where we somehow devoured curly fries… after our large dinner. Healthy. Tara, Dan, and I stuck around to hear some more music and check out Robert’s Western World before we headed home. Broadway was fairly similar to 6th street in Austin, with a country twist, and if you’re into bachelorette parties, it’s your spot! Glad we saw it, but not even close to my favorite part of Nashville.

 SUNDAY

We couldn’t leave with some Tennessee barbeque. I’m really picky about my beef (hello, Texas), so I generally order pork outside my home state. Edley’s is pretty famous in Nashville and definitely hit the spot.

We spent the afternoon touring another plantation- Belle Meade. If you get married here, you are lucky. It was gorgeous. The family history was also really interesting, as they were the premiere thoroughbred stud farm. Several famous race horses can trace their lineage back to horses owned by this family (think Seabiscuit and American Pharaoh). We also got to see one of my cousins and his adorable family! Unfortunately, no pics 😦

 Thanks mom & dad for a great trip!! I can officially add Nashville to my very short list of places I’d live outside TX.

Beach Getaway- Cancun Edition

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I would never consider myself a “beach person” due to the whole pale skin/not the best swimmer thing, but being on the water and relaxing to the sound of waves is incredible. Luckily, our in-laws are super generous and treated us to a little weekend getaway to Cancun over the 4th of July at Villa del Palmar:) So grateful to have parents on both sides who love hanging out with us. It was 3 days of doing mostly nothing but hang pool/beach side with pina coladas and it was perfect. Oh and we ate a lot too. We had to make the all inclusive worth it 😉 Preface: Dan uses beach vacas as an excuse to wear only tanks and my eyebrows get even curlier in the humidity. See documentation below.

 DAY UNO: Isla Mujeres

The beach here is just stunning. And we had to kick off our first day of vacation with a beer before we could explore further.

The island had some fun shops we checked out. I was on the hunt for a good hat and found a great deal- much better than the one I loved at J. Crew:) Dan’s mom was on the hunt for a giant thing of vanilla, which was surprisingly harder to find than expected. At least the giant version for a good price! I really enjoyed just walking around and seeing the murals/ every day life on the island.

Definitely our favorite stop ^^ It was a father/son studio with amazing wood work. We got a bowl, which is going to look great on our *future* island filled with fruit and Dan’s parents got a cutting board. The wood comes from Mexico and is incredibly heavy. It’s so tough that the artist uses a chain saw to do his work! Impressive. The dad invited us to sit down for a drink and we made a new friend in his dog. Just the friendliest family all around. Dan’s parents got his number and told him they’d treat him to a steak dinner if he were ever in Austin 🙂

We also found a really great, tiny, B&B on the rocky side of the island to hang out at for a bit. The owner was a bit of a jerk but the view couldn’t be beat. I also had the BEST mojito of my life. Dan and I have always struggled to make a good mojito on our own (hint: just use crystal light mojito mix- less calories, tastes great, so easy, even if it is cheating). But this was made using coconut water and mmmm yum.

DAY all the others 🙂

After we got back to the resort, we stayed put the rest of the trip and I did a lot of the above ^^^ Would highly recommend The Signature of All Things which is written by the same author of Eat, Pray, Love.  It got me through the whole trip (I’m a bit of a speed reader) and has so many stories within the story as it follows the dad’s life, and his daughter’s. It’s about a botanist in the 1800’s, but I promise, it’s much more intriguing than it sounds.

Dan built a killer sand castle and we spent loads of time throwing the frisbee. At one point, I ran into the ocean to try and make the catch, but hit a patch of rocks and face planted. Dan proceeded to leap over me in pursuit. His priorities: frisbee > wife. I guess it did keep us pretty entertained all weekend.

Every day it seemed someone joined us! Dan’s aunt and sister both arrived after we did and made it all the merrier. For the 4th of July, we saw an “American” rock band who played covers of all the classics. With fire dancers. They were actually really great musicians, but the lead singer tried to do our national anthem and totally butchered the lyrics. I was giggling the whole way through, which was probably very unpatriotic of me. But she was straight up making up lyrics- when you grow up in Mexico and not in America, I guess that makes sense. AND we pressured Dan into singing karaoke! He picked Better Together by Jack Johnson and dedicated it to me and it may have been the highlight of the trip 🙂 BTW- that last photo was the view from our shower. So cool.

Has anyone ever noticed that the air traffic control tower in Cancun has a Corona ad on it? Hope they aren’t drinking any beers up there! Until next time, Mexico!

Land of Beer and Beautiful Weather (at least sometimes…)- Portland!

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Wow, I’m WAY behind. Work has been crazy between traveling (to Midland- most exciting city ever ;)) and us moving floors and just lots of projects. Trying to play catch up now! And this post deleted mid-writing so forgive me if it’s not very detailed, because I just got a little tired of it.

A few weekends ago, we flew up to Portland for a family visit. My brother-in-law grew up there and was our official tour guide! Considering I’m such a huge planner, you will be shocked to discover- I did no planning. NONE. I looked at one Thrillist article about Portland breweries and that was it. Weird for me, but also kind of nice to just go with the flow. The main point of visiting was to hang out with family anyways, so any activities were just extra.

Y’all, the weather was beyond unbelievable. Having visited in January, I know it wasn’t the norm, but man was it good. I swear, we’ve been the luckiest lately! First NYC, then Portland. Fingers crossed this continues. We spent the evenings just hanging on the back porch of Rob’s parent’s house, in their beautiful backyard, surrounded by raspberries bushes. Which I ate handfuls of. The summers there are like something out of a dream. Mostly because that could never be a reality in Houston. If we try to sit outside, we get covered in mosquitoes and start sweating within 3 minutes.

We got into town fairly early, so we headed to Portland Brewing Co. for dinner. They make Pyramid, if you’ve tried that! It was the first of many breweries. The fish and chips were great! Then after the kiddos went to bed, we walked over to Laurel Public House. They have a few locations in Portland. Heavy on IPA’s so not my favorite ever.

The next morning, we drove up to Mt. Hood to see some snow. They had a dry winter, so while there was snow, there was’t much. However, people were still skiing! We got to see Timberline Lodge, which was beautiful with really nice woodwork inside. This is where the exterior shots of the lodge in The Shining were filmed.

After that, we drove on to Hood River for lunch at Full Sail. Their Amber is one of the best and there was a nice view of the river. We also tried out Double Mountain Brewery. The service was fantastic and they had a Red Ale called the Engineer just for Dan 🙂 Plus, we hit a couple great fruit stands. The cherries… and blueberries… and everything, so yum and fresh. I could have spent days in Hood River.

To take a break from beer, we visited Cathedral Ridge Winery. The wine was great, but even better was sharing a bottle while laying in the grass and enjoying the scenery. Man, I really loved it.

On the way back into town, we stopped at Multnomah Falls. This is a can’t miss when in Oregon. Beautiful!

Saturday morning, we went to the Rhododendron Gardens which were stunning. The kids (and adults) loved feeding the ducks and geese. I was legitimately more scared of the geese than the babes were. I’m a huge chicken. But they were mean!!

We had lunch at Widmer Brothers. Their hefe is one of my all time favorites. The brewery scene is SO different in Portland. Pretty much all of them serve food and it’s actually very good. We spent the afternoon brewery hopping in the Pearl District.

Deschutes- Packed! But great. The actual brewery is in Bend, which we hope to visit sometime.
Fat Head’s- A crowd favorite. Lots of fun beers, like blueberry, which was surprisingly tasty and not at all syrupy. If you ever visit, try to branch out of the norm. Dan’s mom picked her flight, to the boy’s skepticism, and it ended up being the best. Tons of options!
10 Barrel Brewing- I liked the interior and the beer but it wasn’t super special.
Rogue- We sat on the patio and tried some pretty interesting beers. For example, Beard Beer, made from yeast in one of the brewer’s beards. Weird, yes. But it tasted good. They also have several local influences, like Marionberry and Voodoo Doughnut beer. Loved it.
Cascade- On the way back, we stopped here for their sour beers. And I’m sorry, but I’m just not a sour fan. Yuck. Not sure how this is becoming popular, but I guess some people like it!
Forewarning: Dan and I take a picture in front of every brewery we visit… it’s the only time he willingly takes photos with me so I take advantage.

That evening, we soaked up the weather while Rob grilled. We also had to soak up being around our niece and nephew!! We most likely won’t see them until November, and when you’re that age you change so much. I’m going to miss them so much. We’ll miss you too Rob & Jenny 😉 Ugh just look at these cute faces.

That night, we went out with Dan’s parents in Nob Hill (a bartender had told us it was cool), just because we could because we are kid-less. Gotta take advantage while we can! Will have to explore that neighborhood more the next time around.

Thanks Rob & family for showing us a great time in Portland! We truly had a blast and hope to visit again soon.

Memorial Day Weekend in the Hill Country

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After a bridal shower in Houston, we were off for Memorial Day weekend! Barley was clearly stoked.


We got in fairly late Saturday night and met up with Dan’s parents at Cultures Bar. Pretty typical bar/grill with a good beer selection and ice cold mugs. Bonus points for icy mugs. Dan needed a cold one after how intensely he had to concentrate, driving through all the rain! Dan’s mom had made dinner reservations at The Nest, which was just divine. It’s in an adorable old home, a few blocks off Main Street with the perfect amount of lighting and the most affable servers. We had a French grandma who was a hoot! Not to mention the quality of the food, which all of us agreed was top notch. Dan and I both had seafood (scallops and shrimp) while his Dad had the filet and his mom tried the quail. We finished the night with a chocolate martini, because when you’re with Ann, chocolate is a requirement 🙂

We stopped by House Wine on the way back to the hotel and they let Barley come in and hang out. He loved it, of course.

  

Sunday morning, the sun came out and we were all surprised at what a beautiful day it was! Luckily, El Milagro has a charming patio with a fountain where we ate breakfast and enjoyed the weather. Note: only 1 breakfast taco is necessary. Barley mostly enjoyed chasing the birds and debating drinking the fountain water.

Later on, we met up with some of my best friends from home for lunch at Fredericksburg Herb Farm in their Farm Haus Bistro. The cutest, with a big garden in front! I was also shocked at how affordable it was too! The weekend was definitely full of good food at new places. You can stay in the most precious cottages on the farm too. Maybe next time 🙂

      

Afterwards, we just had to hit up some wineries… because when in Fredericksburg this is a must. First up was Hilmy Cellars. I had been wanting to go back because of the good wine, but mostly for the cute wine dogs 🙂 No sighting of them that day, but JB made friends with the rooster out on their gorgeous patio and we had a guinea sighting! A view of vineyards makes for excellent scenery.


    

Then we were on to Grape Creek to meet back up with Dan’s rents. They have been wine club members there for a while and I have to agree that it’s the most beautiful winery in Fredericksburg. Best to just buy a bottle (or 2) and sit and enjoy. The live music wasn’t too shabby either!

Barley’s face!! Derp.

        

We headed on to Johnson City that evening and had dinner at Pecan Street Brewing. Not that there are many other options in the small town, birthplace of LBJ with a population of 1,700. We were seated in the front and scarfed down our brick oven pizza. Then, I saw a sign in the back pointing to games & dancing! Through the door it was a totally different restaurant. Garage doors pulled up to let in the warm air, a big band playing country classics, and locals two-stepping across the dance floor. They also had a huge loft with pool tables, shuffleboard, and folding chairs galore. Even though the boys got fairly competitive at the shuffleboard table, it was a blast. Dan even swept me around the room while they played the last song of the night and it was the best. Just have to get a few beers in him to get him dancing 😉


The next morning we visited some re-sale/vintage shops where Joanna Gaines gets some of the things she uses on Fixer Upper! They were pretty awesome and I could definitely see the potential  of a lot of the pieces. My favorite was a wooden trough, but it was $300, which was a little expensive for a centerpiece. Dan’s mom was able to find some awesome doors to use as a countertop on their kitchen island, and gorgeous sliding barn doors! Successful trip for them!


Viva La Tay

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Isn’t it great to spend time with old friends? Not only did we get to see Chels and Bobby in Austin for dinner on Friday, Taylor turns 25 TODAY(happy birthday!!!)  and we celebrated by joining her in San Antonio for a Fiesta. Let me tell you, when she throws a party, she throws a really, really great one. She even gave us adorable party favors. Hand painted bags with painted pottery shot glasses, tequila, and paper flower crowns (I’m getting to wear these a lot lately and I like it). The boys even had little maraca pins. So cute. And the weekend was packed!

I got to try Urban Taco! Peeps in Dallas have been raving about it. And while I thoroughly enjoyed the jalapeno margarita, I think I still like Torchy’s Tacos better. Maybe I’m biased from college in Austin. Then… it was archery time. Apparently Tay has always wanted to do this. I was a little apprehensive, but excited to try it. And it was totally awesome. We all channeled our inner Katniss. And Dan was really flipping good. Because he rocks at everything. Which I guess is a plus because if we were ever in a zombie apocalypse, he’d would be able to protect me. Until I ran out of contacts and my glasses broke. Then there’d be no saving me. Can you tell I started watching The Walking Dead?!

Next up, Alamo Brewery. The place itself was impressive. The design and outdoor space was top notch. However, they only had 3 beers on taps and one tap wasn’t working. It was also pretty pricey for beer served at a brewery ($6 a pint). Still worth it for the great atmosphere! Tay also busted open her pinata here! Or more like stabbed it to death. I thought we were all going to turn, but I think she was enjoying it too much 😉

After we refreshed at our hotel on the riverwalk, we hailed a RÍo Taxi to The Pearl. Our river captain had 2 master’s degrees and made fun of us the whole trip. And The Pearl, omg, very cool. It used to be a brewery and has now been converted into everything- restaurants, culinary school, apartments, shops. With a farmer’s market every weekend, I could definitely live there. We ate at Granary Brew & Cue, which was amazing. They brew their own beer and the BBQ was top notch. I decided to go with the Brisket Ramen and I slurped it up to the last drop. Divine.

Birthday girl on the rio taxi!

Champagne in cans!

Before we headed out Sunday morning, we had brunch at The Boiler House, which is actually in the old boiler room for the Pearl brewery.  It’s the same owners as Max’s Wine Dive, and the mac and cheese here lived up to expectation.

Weekend número dos of roadtrips is complete! On to Dallas tonight 😀

And out of the cold…

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We are back in Houston and were welcomed with the most lovely, fog/mist/humidity combination. It creeped up to 75 and I’m SO NOT READY for the heat. Dallas just got snow! Not fair Houston. Not. Fair.

Colorado, on the other hand, was just perfection. Even if we did have to drive through a bit of a snow storm from Denver > Steamboat Springs. The boys decided to upgrade us (for safety purposes) to a Tahoe and I’m so relieved they did. And now we all want Tahoes ASAP. For a group that doesn’t particularly care about cars, this says something. After a fairly grueling drive through the snow/ice (thanks Tim!!), we made it in around midnight. We rented a ski in/out condo through airbnb.com that was really comfortable and just the right spot to relax after a day on the slopes.

DAY 1: Learn to ski (again)

We rented our equipment at One Stop Ski Shop in downtown Steamboat and they were great- plus the 2 cute dogs didn’t hurt. Courtney and I made our way to ski school while the boys took on the black slopes. Since I had attempted skiing before and Dan had given me a good base, I wasn’t technically a beginner, so Courtney and I split up into different levels. I spent the day with a super sweet woman from Venezuela (where she has trouble finding milk and toilet paper at the store due to the political climate at the moment) and our instructor, Mike. He really helped me to understand the basics of skiing- especially where to put my weight and how to easily turn the skis. By the end of the day I was feeling confident.

That night we made some quick shopping trips to stock up for the weekend. LOTS of Powerade to prevent altitude sickness. In CO, the grocery store only sells 3.2 beer, so we had to run to the liquor store for REAL beer and wine. After shopping, we were too tired to cook so we went into town to dine at Mahogany Ridge. Man, it was packed! They brew their own beer and have a huge menu with lots of options. Great feel to the place and good food. The beer wasn’t my favorite, but it was refreshing and hit the spot.

The place we stayed (Storm Meadows) had the quickest, most efficient, *free* shuttle service I’ve ever seen and were always only a few minutes away after we placed a call. I would love to have that service here in Houston too 😀 We ended our first day with Battle of the Sexes (which continued on for the next couple of days). Turns out we are fairly evenly matched couples. Also, Dan makes a killer fire.

DAY 2: Practice makes perfect

It took me a while to warm up without the instructor, but eventually I was attempting to tackle some of the easier blues. I only cried twice and only had to be helped by a ski ambassador once. Thanks for being so patient, Dan! Our kids will be so lucky to have you as a teacher. Such an awesome strength that I’m continually striving for (and continually not succeeding).

We were all pretty sore, so we drove out to Strawberry Park Hot Springs that evening. Once again, thank goodness for the Tahoe. It was a pretty drive out there but as we got closer, it turned into a icy dirt road. So, so worth the drive. One of the coolest things ever and something I would highlyyy recommend. It’s so neat to be sitting in steaming hot springs in the middle of the mountains. Though I was pretty nervous about being in a swimsuit when the temperature was in the teens. It was a mad dash to de-cloth and re-cloth before and after. Sidenote: clothing optional at night (but I only saw one butt so I was safe). The boys actually jumped into the freezing part of the springs but there was no way we were joining them.

it was snowing a little bit.

Post springs bathroom selfie in my comfy vintage sweater. And ibuprofen. Lots of ibuprofen.

Chicken enchilada casserole for dinner and more battling of the sexes were the perfect end to a fantastic day.

DAY 3: Mastering Skiing

Double black diamonds for everyone!!

JK. Not sure those are ever in my future. But I was having a blast on the greens and blues. By the end of the ski day I didn’t want to get off the slopes! We were just about the last ones down. We even had ski patrol following us for a bit to make sure we were heading down. I then had the most delicious drink, the “snuggler” at Slopeside, and felt very happy (and relieved) that I had finally learned how to ski. Now the goal is to remember that feeling next year when I’m once again intimidated.

That night we gorged ourselves on Italian food at Mazzola’s (so charming and cozy in a basement-like setting) and lamented the fact that the ski trip was almost over.

DAY 4: Sad to leave

On our final morning, I ate the largest cinnamon roll I’d ever seen (we all shared) and a plate of biscuits and gravy. Thank you Winona’s, you were delicious. We also walked around downtown a bit and spent some time in the cutest bookstore, Off the Beaten Path (a tip from Jessica).

After the drive back to Denver we had a little time to kill before heading to the airport so we ended up at Great Divide Brewery, one of our favorites from our tour of Denver breweries last summer. I loved the seasonal belgian tripel, Orabelle, which we hadn’t gotten to try.

Our only good group picture… and of course it was captured exactly when the guy said cheese so I have a ridiculously goofy grin on my face. Cool.

Then it was back to the real world! This week has been so short. Basically just scrambling to catch on work and laundry before leaving town again! Cheers to Steamboat Springs and Tim & Courtney for putting up with us on the trip!

And apologies for the crazy long post… You now get a cute Barley pic.

Happy face after we got back!

Into the Cold

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We are off to Steamboat Springs, CO! Below freezing temps and lots of snow, here we come. Hopefully taking ski school the first day will set me on the right track and I won’t end up crying on top of the mountain. Wish me luck!

 Packing cold weather clothes takes up a lot more space. How do northerners do this??

p.s. I almost cried saying bye to Barley… I become more of a sap every single day. I can only imagine what children will do to me.

EEP!

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THIS has got me SO excited!! Big Bend has been on my list for a while but it’s SO FAR. Even the commercial airports closest to Big Bend are far from Big Bend. Story of living in Texas… it takes a bazillion years just to get out of your own state. You lucky folks in the NE with your tiny states… you don’t even know. Also, all of Europe. Don’t even get me started on Europe’s public transportation system and how quickly you can get places for so cheap. It provokes jealously.