Travel Log – Page 2 – Flamingo House Happenings

The Things We Have Not Seen

1 Comment / Daily Dose, Day to Day, Friends & Family, Travel Log / denise

My brother (yes, dammit, I have a brother) and SIl (no, Christine is NOT my sister) are coming to Chicago this week. Yay! Christine is coming! (errr, and Mike, too.)

My brother and I are alike in a lot of ways but in other ways, we’re very very different — I think it might be most noticeable in talking about the things he and Christine might want to do while they’re here.

Some things I suggested, things I’ve enjoyed and other visitors have enjoyed, didn’t appeal to him/them at all. Other things that he asked about are things that I’ve never seen/done, often because they’re not high on my “things I want to do/see in Chicago” list.

But, that wee little phone call with my brother caused me to start thinking (again) about leaving this place in three years. Before we leave, there are things we should see and do and rather than wait til the last few months of living here, maybe we should make a list now and start seeing those things now?

Time to get out the Chicago guide books and make some lists!

The Things We Have Not Seen Read More »

Going to Austin

1 Comment / Daily Dose, Travel Log / denise

Yes, we’re going to Austin. That’s what my adding all of those Austin/San Antonio travel guides to my GoodReads account means.

We’re going to Austin June 5-9.

We’re going to Austin June 5-9 for BlogHer Food.

We’re staying at the Austin Hilton.

Michelle Belle will be there (tentatively) June 5-7, (she’s coming in for Chaos in Tejas and staying a couple of extra days in order to see US.)

We’re coming in early because I’ve never been to Austin and TW really likes Austin and I’m sad because I think the Cathedral of Junk might be closed. How sad would that be?

What ~~weird~~ interesting things should we do while we’re in Austin?

Going to Austin Read More »

Home Again, Home Again…

Family Funk, Travel Log / denise

~~We’ve been home a couple of hours and I’m already grouchy. Damn shih tzu. Damn cold house. Damn, damn, damn.~~

Which is not the way I planned to start the post about the last day of vacation, so let’s scratch all of that and start over…

We headed home early this morning, after one last soak in the super-hot, extra large tub and some awesome french toast. One last glass of Door County cherry juice and four or five trips up and down that staircase to get the car packed.

We stopped at GLAS (the coffee shop I mentioned yesterday) for another cup of awesome coffee and I grabbed a bag of skateboard blend to help support the fundraising drive for the Sturgeon Bay skateboard park. (I have a weakness for skateboarders.)

Then, we headed for Renard’s for cheese. Siri was confused about where Renard’s was and after driving an extra 10 miles through farmville, I turned around and ignored her directions in favor of my own memory… we had our photo taken with the mouse and bought a TON of cheese, a cherry pie and some sort of sausage. We’ll be eating cheese for a month, which is ok by me. Mmmm, cheese.

Next stop, the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help which was super interesting but our timing was horrendous. 11am on ~~Ash Wednesday~~ (Sassymonkey informed me that it was not Ash Wednesday, which just goes to show that vacation causes time to stand still and early Easter really throughs me.) Oy. The gift shop wasn’t open because of Mass and the Stations of the Cross were covered in 3′ of snow with a not very good path between them. We braved the snow at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Monastery but this was more snow and less ice and seemed … just too difficult. I kind of wish we’d done it anyway. Ah well, we will go back — and we’ll make sure we do it at a better day/time.

And then, the uneventful but enjoyable drive home. Mid-40’s and sunshine until we hit Cook County, where it turned dreary and colder. Blah.

It’s nice to be home with Skeeter and the prairie dogs. (Both were very happy to see us and Skeeter is happily sleeping ON MY PILLOW with TW now.)

It was a great vacation — I highly recommend Door County in the off-season. If you go, you should stay at the Colonial Gardens B&B, you’ll love it. (hah, click the link — that’s pretty much what it looked like — all that snow, though it was really starting to melt nicely by the time we left. See the top of the stairs, on the left side of the house — that leads to the Bungalow Suite, which was the room I chose. The very pink and awesome room.)

Home Again, Home Again… Read More »

Random

1 Comment / Family Funk, Travel Log / denise

I had only planned a few things for today, because TW had to get some work done and because we’ve had some really full days so it seemed like a good time to slow down a bit.

I took a short nap in the morning and then we headed out to visit the Door County Maritime Museum and from there we stopped at GLAS and had one of the best caramel macchiatos ever. Seriously. What a great coffee shop. We’ll be stopping there again in the morning, on our way home.

We headed back across the bridge, parked on 3rd and walked over to the Door County Dogs/Stove Dog Bakery where we bought a couple more dog toys. Then, a walk past the old Carnegie Free Library on our way to the current library that also houses the Miller Art Museum.

Wow. We did not expect that quality of art in a little free museum inside of a little library. Amazing. And, we spent $100 in the little gift shop (they only take cash or checks so I had to walk/run 3 blocks to an ATM, sheesh.)

Next, we popped into the Door County Confectionery shop and another toy store on 3rd and then headed to the Door Peninsula Winery so TW could buy cherry bitters and I dunno what other kind of alcohol. We also bought a variety of olive oils and vinegars.

After a couple of hours back at the B&B, we walked over to the Inn at Cedar Crossing for dinner. Everything was EXCELLENT. The artichoke/gorgonzola dip, the mushroom ravioli, the grilled asparagus, the stuffed chicken and the cherry pie. It was all really, really good.

Another great day.

Random Read More »

Vacations Are Exhausting

2 Comments / Daily Dose, Family Funk, Travel Log / denise

I took a nap this morning, at like 9am — and I didn’t wake up til Noon. Seriously. I was snoring and everything, TW said so.

That’s just crazysauce, isn’t it? Me? Napping in the morning? for HOURS? Madness.

After my little nap, we threw on our clothes and headed for Peninsula Park, with a stop for lunch at Village Cafe, in Egg Harbor.

Village Cafe is a cute little cafe, with lots of fun things to look at (and buy, though we didn’t buy any — we were tempted by painted cats, birdhouses and robots.) We had NO cell service while we were there, which we’re slowly getting used to. So funny to see 20-something girls with iPhones pull out PAPER planners to talk to their friends about planing visits and trips and parties. When you live (or visit often) Door County, your life can’t be in your iPhone. (Now that’s scary.)

My only real goal for our Peninsula State Park visit was to climb Eagle Tower. I could have thought of some other things to do but some people made fun of me for suggesting we might do OUTDOOR things in WINTER. So, whatever. We climbed the tower and that was cool. Also cold, because of the wind. But very cool.

Then we climbed down and started walking the Sentinel Trail. TW said she didn’t want to walk the whole thing, so we walked up to a snowman and then cut back — and then off-trail to backtrack to Eagle Point. We saw no eagles, just a lot of snow and ice. It was pretty, in a snowy and icy sort of way. And really quiet. There were others there — some snowshoers and hikers and families climbing Eagle Tower but still, very quiet.

Then we headed for the farthest end of Door County: Sister Bay, Gills Rock and then all the way to the Washington Island (car) Ferry landing. It was quiet up there — not very much open and not a lot of traffic or people around. We stopped at Bea’s Ho-made and bought pickles and more cherry things and then drive back via Bailey’s Harbor.

We tried to stop at the Motorcycle Memorial but nobody had cleared the parking lot of snow, in forever, so there was no way to stop and look around. Too bad, I was looking forward to that.

Then, back to Sturgeon Bay where we stopped at a toy store on Jefferson and bought a ton of presents for JMP and then dinner at The Neighborhood Pub & Grill (great artichoke dip & pita chip appetizer!)

Thank goodness for a super-hot whirlpool tub — my body is tired!

Vacations Are Exhausting Read More »

I Can’t Believe I Ate the Whole Thing…

Family Funk, Travel Log / denise

Ya know, I know people walk around on iced over lakes and drive on them but I’ve never actually SEEN that done, southern woman that I am. I saw it today and didn’t like it. Have those people not heard stories of people falling through the freaking ice? And at the end of March? Gah. No.

We made it to Lautenbach’s Orchard & Winery, in hopes of a sleigh ride but there were no sleigh rides available. Instead, we shopped for a ton of cherry products and though we weren’t hungry we didn’t let that stop us from buying a couple of (amazing) cherry donuts and a cherry soda. I should have taken that as a sign that we were going to eat way – too – much.

We wandered around Fish Creek where we saw KIDS walking on ICE and their parents LAUGHING and TAKING PHOTOS. Crazy people, I tell you, and then headed to Egg Harbor.

I was really hoping the Edgewood Orchard Gallery would be open, it wasn’t. I was even more disappointed once I actually saw the place. The sculpture garden was amazing and we’ll have to go back when there’s no snow.

I don’t know how it happened but we ended up in some girly shop, Kim’s Boutique and even more surprising we spent an awful lot of money on things we would not normally buy. It was fun and the boutique just happened to be across the street from Greens n Grains, the place I’d picked out for us to eat lunch.

Next stop, Door County Coffee & Tea, (where we bought more coffee and desserts we haven’t actually eaten, yet) and Pet Expressions (yes, we bought presents for Skeeter).

After a long, long day, we headed back to the B&B for a nap … or that’s what we were doing when I impulsively turned onto HWy 57 to drive past The Farm (darn, it’s still closed) and then we ended up almost to Bailey’s Harbor before I turned around and headed back so we could have our nap.

Such a weird vacation — sporadic cell service and by 5pm I hadn’t turned on my laptop AT ALL. I’m surprised I could nap with all of the withdrawal symptoms…

After our nap, we decided to give The Greystone Castle a try for dinner. Aye yi yi. TOO MUCH FOOD (and a whole lot of taxidermy) – 3 hours later and I’m still stuffed.

I Can’t Believe I Ate the Whole Thing… Read More »

Vacation, All I Ever Wanted

Daily Dose, Travel Log / denise

I have no idea why The Go-Gos are running through my head, but they are. I sure hope that doesn’t happen for my entire vacation. Then again, there are worse earworms to have.

And, day one of vacation was fabulous, (except for that leaving Skeeter in the kennel part.)

TW really wanted to go to Kohler so we did and I have to admit, it was totally fun and we realized we both really like pink bathrooms. So weird since neither of us really loves pink, just in general. Also weird because we’re in a very pink room at a B&B (and oh boy is it pink, lol.) The Shell Collector’s Bathroom is amazing (though neither of us love the pebbles on the far wall.) This pink bathroom was also fabulous, though the photos here don’t do it justice. We also love the spice drawers in this kitchen.

After our visit to the Kohler Design Center, we went into Sheboygan to the Kohler Art Center. It’s a nice little museum. The drawing room was fabulous. You can check out a drawing kit and sit in a little solarium type room and sketch. Totally awesome. The Emery Blagdon exhibit was amazing and the kids’ art was fantastic.

I decided we needed food and was very happy when I realized Field to Fork was just a couple of blocks away and was even happier once the food started arriving. The peach smoothie was excellent. The fried cheese curds were A-Freaking-Mazing. I’ve eaten a lot of fried cheese curds and none compare to these. I ordered the veggie sandwich and, holy hell it was good. TW ordered the grilled cheese and… it was good but it was over-shadowed by the cheese curds and the veggie sandwich. Amazing. I want to go back and order more of the things on their menu. And more fried cheese curds.

We made it to Sturgeon Bay around 4pm and promptly filled the double jacuzzi tub and lit the fireplace. We’d have taken a nap after that but it was too warm in the room… TOO WARM. I haven’t been TOO WARM in four and a half years! So, we went out for a walk and a visit to the Kick Coffee, just a block away.

It’s been an awesome first day.

Vacation, All I Ever Wanted Read More »

All Airlines Should be Virgin

Daily Dose, Travel Log, Work / denise

I’ve been grumbling (mostly) to myself for ages about Virgin America not flying out of ORD. All of my peoples (see yesterday’s post) got to fly Virgin while I was stuck with United. Or worse – Delta.

Finally, Virgin comes to ORD and Lisa Freaking Stone calls me to Belmont. Yay and Yay! Even more YAY is the fact that the cheapest flight option was Virgin with arrival/departure times that worked in both directions.

And… it’s been the most pleasant flight experience I’ve had in years and years and years.

I’m going to be very sad to fly United at the end of the month. Sigh.

All airlines should be Virgin.

Posted via email from Life. Flow. Fluctuate.

All Airlines Should be Virgin Read More »

I went to California and forgot to Loopt…

Travel Log, Work / denise

Not really. I Loopt quite a bit of my trip, you just didn’t see my Loopt updates because I’m nuts. During a conversation about online security in the Digital Reality Check group, I decided I should change a bunch of my passwords. So I did. Unfortunately, two of the passwords I changed were my Twitter and Facebook passwords… and then I forgot to tell Loopt that I changed them.

So I was Loopting away and the only people who were seeing those were … TW. And maybe Michelle, but probably not since she got a new phone and I somehow doubt she reinstalled Loopt.

I’ve got good stuff in Loopt so I thought I’d do a mini blog update, showing you the photos from the trip.

This was my first trip to the new and improved (they have a kitchen!) BlogHer offices and besides the kitchen, I was loving Liz Henry’s office decor.

The Holiday Inn Express, on El Camino Real, is the hotel I always stay in when I go to RW City. I was a wee bit disappointed that I did not get a free bottle of wine on check in (no I don’t drink) but all was forgiven when my morning newspaper was delivered in a cute little reusable smiely bag.

Good to know that Kinkos in Palo Alto are the same as they are in Gainesville and in Glenview… pretty run-down and dirty.

Fascinated to learn about Lisa Stone’s obsession with the power stapler. Who knew?

I spent the day in a cool office with a cool video conferencing hookup. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the view that our NYC staff had. Here’s ours:

I enjoyed sodas with Jenny and Jenifer and Lisa but as great as that was, it wasn’t nearly as fabulous as having breakfast with Liz at the spot the bad mamas coffee is held… I have always wanted to go to bad mamas coffee.

I got to fondle Liz’s new book.

You’re jealous, aren’t you?