I find that you don't always have to go far away to be on vacation. Every time I have some time off but not quite enough money to go stay somewhere, I look for fun local things to do. I finally went to a few places right near me that I have never been before. I took the Block Island Ferry with a couple of my work friends to have lunch and drinks at Ballards (drinks good but overpriced, food bad AND overpriced- beach- beautiful!) When Brad had a weekend home from the Cape (this is rare if you know him) we had BBQ from the food truck at Tilted Barn and the next day we listened to live music at Shaidzon brewery and ended our night with some delicious cheesesteaks at Tilly's.
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For our obligatory April vacation trip we decided to head up to Portsmouth, New Hampshire to take in the seaside town air, the kitschy souvenirs and of course the breweries. We stopped at Smuttynose along the way where I had some of the best fish tacos I have ever had and then after checking into our hotel we walked around the city a bit before heading to the Thirsty Moose for some live music and dinner at night. Although the Moose is known to be touristy, the live music scene downstairs was super cool and fun. The food was very mediocre, but they have lots of beers on tap. The next morning we shopped around and grabbed lunch at the Portsmouth Brewery with our friend Bill who moved to Manchester a few years ago and decided to meet up with us last minute, which was a nice surprise! After our visit we continued to walk around and to tell you the truth, I thought Portsmouth was so similar to Portland Maine that I have already confused some of the sites! One place that stuck out for me was Book&Bar which is just like it sounds a bar in a bookstore! I bought biographies of two of my favorite artists, Joseph Cornell and Larry Rivers. I also splurged on a small tub of mango body butter at the Salt Cellar which is a store that makes things from pink Himalayan salt.
The Brooklyn Art Museum was holding a really cool Frida Kahlo exhibit back in February and I decided to get my arty friends Nikki and Ariane from college together to go check it out. We rented a cool Brooklyn AirB&B and spent two days exploring the city and eating cheap delicious food. Unfortunately there was no photography allowed at the Frida exhibit, but I was able to sketch some things from memory like some items from her paint-stained elaborate wardrobe. I bought a delicate piece of papel picado (cut paper art) from the gift shop with an embroidered bird on it. After staying up way too late in the living room of our rented apartment with pizza and wine, reminiscing about our college shenanigans, we finally went to bed and woke up feeling slightly groggy. We drove to a different side of town where we checked out an indoor flea market and some cool street art. We even participated in a quirky scavenger hunt at the City Reliquary. My favorite part of this trip was just getting together with my long lost friends again, which can be so difficult now that we all have to do this "adult" thing.
This trip could be considered a solo vacation for me because Brad was actually at a training for work the entire time and I was on my own for almost everyday. I wanted to take the opportunity (and company paid hotel!) to go check out a new city. This was right before Christmas and even though it was Texas we actually had pretty cold weather and it even snowed one of the days. The first day I worked hard to navigate the complicated DART train/bus system to get into the city. I checked out the Bishop Arts District and Deep Ellum where there were plenty of cool shops and great BBQ at Lockhart's. As usual everywhere I go, I need to befriend the cats. That night after a long day jumping on and off various buses and trains we were able to have dinner together at Urban Crust. The following day I went into the thick of the city to check out the major museums. I saw the Dallas Museum of Art, the Nasher Sculpture Center and the Asian Art Museum. At this point I was a pro at the public transportation. I snapped a picture whizzing by the square where Kennedy was killed and I took some time to walk around the city. The next day I borrowed the rental car to take the two-hour drive down to Waco to see Chip and Joanna's Silos and Magnolia Market. The store and Waco were both really cool, but I was wishing I wasn't alone walking around, there were just so many neat things to see.
We ventured up to Portland Maine for a long weekend, stopping at a local swimming hole at Babb's Bridge along the way. After I dipped in the cool water after our two hour drive we headed to a block of breweries that included Austin Street, and Allagash. We went to local spot J's Oyster for dinner and headed to an Irish bar for live music. We ended up staying out later than we wanted to, so we allowed ourselves to sleep in until 10 am- which is really late for both of us. We headed straight to Duckfat for the duck paninis and fries which was a good thing because that place became packed as soon as we sat down at our table. We spent the day exploring the city, visiting artisans shops and bookstores and walking along the shoreline. We stopped at HoneyPaw for a refreshing honey ice cream and continued to walk around the city. We decided to call it an early night since we stayed up so late the night before, so we grabbed a quick early dinner at Hot Suppa and went back to the hotel to lounge in the hot tub. The next day we took the ferry to Peak's Island where we walked to the abandoned Cold War outpost Battery Steele which is covered in neat graffiti. While waiting for the ferry back to Portland we stopped at The world's only Umbrella Cover Museum which was probably the most unusual travel destination I have ever been to. Nancy- the founder and curator of the museum even played an accordion song for us and showed us her collection of scandalous umbrella covers. Because we love quirky things, we made our way to the Cryptozoology Museum, which is basically a collection of some conspiracy-theorist's action figures, but nonetheless resides in Bissel-Brothers Brewery building so there's another reason to visit! Our last restaurant was my favorite- Mexican fare at El Corazon. The following morning on our way home we stopped to visit the famous lighthouse and walk around the park area.
Last spring we decided to take the train to Philly from the station right here in our town, it was just barely cheaper than flying, plus we didn't have to worry about checking through security. We arrived in the afternoon and spent some time walking around the area near our hotel. The mural-game is on point all throughout Philly, I wish I had snapped some more photos! We had dinner at a cool little place called Bud &Marilyn's and then called it an early night since we had a lot planned for the following day. The next morning we headed straight to a place that's been on my bucket list- the Mutter museum- or medical oddities collected by Thomas Dent Mutter (who added an umlaut to his name to appear German because German physicians at the time were doing groundbreaking work) https://www.amazon.com/Dr-Mutters-Marvels-Intrigue-Innovation/dp/1592409253 (read this awesome book before you go) After seeing all the strange things that can happen to a human body, we of course could not leave without an adorable colon pillow! On our way back through the city we stopped at Parc for lunch, which I found out was way too fancy for our usual tastes, but good Parisian-cafe like atmosphere. We walked through all the historical stuff, skipping the long line to the liberty bell because glancing at it through the glass window from the outside was free and quick! We made our way to the artsy part of town to go shopping and check out Philadelphia's Magic Gardens, we even found Brad's father's portrait in the mosaics! Later we scheduled a brewery tour and I of course needed to befriend the brewery cat! The next day we visited the Philadelphia Museum of Art, taking the obligatory Rocky picture, much to my embarrassment. (I refused to hold up my arms!) We then checked out the Eastern State Penitentiary where Al Capone's cell remains just as he left it. To kill time we visited the Natural History museum, but it was somewhat smaller than it looked from the outside. Overall it was a great trip and we saw a lot of neat things in a short amount of time. My only regret is not getting a cone at Big Gay Icecream!
We both drained our vacation time to be able to take our Honeymoon directly after our wedding, and I don't regret it at all! There's something about finally getting to celebrate alone together when the moment is still fresh after the hustle and bustle of a wedding that makes a honeymoon feel all the more special. After sleeping away the day after our wedding we left for Mexico on a 5 am flight and arrived midday at Excellence Playa Mujeres Resort (I would highly recommend even for just a regular vacation) where we had a huge room with a Jacuzzi and private rooftop pool! Although there was enough to do just at the resort, we took no time filling up our week with fun excursions. We booked a trip to Chichen Itza, which has been on my bucket list since I took Latin American Art History in college, also Tulum and a snorkeling tour that brought us to Isla Mujeres off the coast of our resort. The first trip was Chichen Itza, which was amazing! I only wish it hadn't been so hot- my tank top was literally disintegrating off of me. Thankfully the trip included a cool dip in one of the famous cenotes (sinkholes where supposedly millions of people were sacrificed by the ancient Mayans). I was so hot I think I would have still swam even if I could see the ancient human remains below me. Fortunately I couldn't see any skeletons, just thousands of children flapping their water wings next to me. If you're looking for the picturesque Pinterest cenote with the beautiful vines hanging down- you're in the right place, just remember ALL of the cool stuff is built up with touristy stuff and most of those photos are strategically taken at times where there are no tourists to give the feeling of being remote. Our trip to Tulum, also very hot was at least on the ocean so we would get a bit of a breeze from time to time. We also stopped in a second more secluded cenote in a small village on the way back from Tulum. This sinkhole was more like a natural lazy river and I probably could have spent all day there. Our snorkeling trip brought us to Isla Mujeres where we shopped around and I bought some Frida Kahlo earrings. We also ventured inside a Frida "museum" which wasn't really a museum since it did not hold any of her real work, but it did have some pretty cool displays. I would most definitely go back to Mexico again, I felt as long as we booked all of our outside trips through the hotel and didn't venture into the city alone at night we were fine.
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AuthorI believe that travel is essential to exist in this world and that it is the perfect medicine for staleness. Archives
August 2022
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