Breckenridge

Four days in Breckenridge, even in a low snowfall winter, is still an awesome way to spend four days. Especially when spent with a bunch of wonderful people.

Christopher was kind enough to put all of us up in his parents' condo. And by all of us, at one point there were 11 people in a one bedroom condo.

The view from the condo

I spent 2 days on the slopes. One day at Breckenridge, sticking mostly to Peaks 7,8,9. I was definitely the least experienced skier of the group. They were all good sports taking it slow in the morning and dashing off to the more challenging stuff in the afternoon. Tom stuck it out with me till I went down to the wrong ski lift (again) and skied back down to the condo on Four o'clock Run.

Then, Becca came down from Fort Collins (!!!!) Jared and I went to ski on her guest passes at Copper Mountain, about 30 mins from Breckenridge. I preferred Copper - the trails were a little wider, even if they were harder. My peak elevation during this trip was about 12,300ft.

And then... Laura came to town!! It was completely coincidental that she was out visiting her boyfriend Jim at the same time we were out. It was so great to catch up with her. Sadly, I forgot to get a picture.

Back in Breckenridge, Jared and I went snowshoeing at the Breckenridge Nordic Center while the rest of the group took off to drive around the mountain passes. Once we got off the trails closer to the Nordic center, I really enjoyed the scenery and plowing through some off-trail powder.

Skiing all day and hot tubs, cooking, and Colorado beers in the evenings. What a fantastic vacation.

Montreal for Memorial Day

Hurricane Irene wrecked our plans to go to the Mount Snow Brewers Festival in Vermont. Way to flood towns and wash out bridges, Irene. So, instead, Jared and I took off to Montreal for a long Memorial Day weekend.

In our trusty rental car, we stopped to see the Orange County Choppers (and Molly working) in Newburgh, NY. Despite having grown up 40 mins away from OCC, this was my first visit. Then it was northward to Albany for lunch and beer samples at the Albany Pump Station

Take in that Albany skyline

We saw a gorgeous Adirondack sunset

And hit up Montreal in time for a later dinner. Everyone had us worried about all the French you need, but I found the "bonjour hello" greeting everywhere we went to be charming.

We ran up the massive Mont Royal hill to the top (hey, even though we were on vacation, half marathon training doesn't stop!) and I almost passed out at the top. Fo real.

Bonjour Montreal

Lots of wandering, beer sipping (what an awesome craft beer scene), some bike riding, and bagel eating. It's a manageable, quaint city. Even if we were there during frosh week at McGill and we were subjected to drunk Canadian 18 year olds most of the weekend.

Biodome

Au revoir, Montreal. Until next time.

Dublin

Tagging on some travel after another (short) work trip to London. To Dublin!

First, a picture of Richmond. I stayed with my workmate Charlotte before catching a 6:40AM flight to Dublin. Not the best flight choice, but I'm glad I finally got to see Richmond. The Thames is pretty there. 

After a quick flight to Dublin, I found my hostel (Jacobs Inn, which was meh) and set off wandering ahead of an 11AM tour with Sandemans tour of Dublin.

Down the River Liffey

Dublin Castle

It was good fun, met some nice people, including some girls from Saskatchewan (!!) and wandered over in the direction of the Guinness factory with the Australian, Scott. We got lost, but ended up near the Jameson distillery. Now, I'm not a big fan of whiskey, but I'd be lying if I said my main motivation wasn't to make a certain someone back home jealous. If you're into whiskey, skip the tour and do a tasting. Tour wasn't worth it.

After that, I wandered some more and made it back to my hostel to claim my bed, and find some people to hang out with for the evening. But, the few common areas around were deserted, so I wandered down to Temple Bar by myself for dinner and went pub hopping.

Harp Bridge. It probably has a real name.

Most every bar had live music on Thursday night (and just about every night, I imagine). Once one bar ended their music, I would go on to the next one. My favorite was with a band that was very interactive with the crowd. I can tell you that's where I fell in love with Ireland. I never had the strong desire to visit Ireland that many others in the US seem to have, but I was smitten by the live music. Friday was rainy and generally miserable. There isn't much to sightsee in Dublin. It's not a very beautiful city – it's a working class place settled by the Vikings.

Friday I went over to Saint Patrick's cathedral (as in THE St. Patrick), and walked across town to the Guinness factory.

This was definitely worth doing if you have even the faintest interest in beer (even if you aren't a Guinness fan). I tried some Guinness in the US before I left, just so I had the taste profile. And, as everyone says, the Guinness is different in Ireland. I drank many pints of it in the pubs, and got to pour my own at the factory. 

Guinness is good for you. It even says so!

Me and my Perfect Pint at the top of the factory.

Saturday morning came with another early wake-up call to get a flight to London and onward to New York. It was a fun trip that gave me the itch to get back to Ireland to see the countryside. And some more traditional Irish music. And Guinness.

Cleveland

Cleveland gets a bad rap. The "Mistake on the Lake"? That's a bit harsh. I took a long weekend trip over Memorial Day to Cleveland. Jared and I stayed with his brother Chris and his girlfriend Liz in downtown Cleveland. I ate a lot of really good food, drank a lot of good beer and cocktails, and had a fun time while I was there. 

"God hates Cleveland so much that you had to fly through two cloud layers to land?!" -Chris

That's much better

I noticed that once you're out of the downtown area, many of the business are in very residential areas – mostly old houses. Felt like I was walking around a small town, totally different from any other city I've been to.

The Christmas Story house, complete with leg lamp in the window

Mmm, rib fest

Nice thunderstorm rolled through

Window reflection on E 4th St

Ice cube sculpture on E 4th St

Pacific Northwest

Back in January, I received a message from my bff Julie – "what are you doing [this weekend] in March?" It just so happened that I was thinking about a vacation about that time and we agreed to meet in Seattle for about a week. We'd use her friend Stef from grad schools' place as a base and go from there. We had little in the way of plans until we both arrived on the 12th. We both arrived on Saturday afternoon; Julie from Alaska via Oklahoma for work training, and me from NY via LAX. Stef picked us up from the airport and we headed to her place in the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle. Lots of eating and drinking on this trip, of course. Unfortunately I had a cold most of the trip so I couldn't do much food/drink sharing, but I got a sweet taste of Fat Tire ale for the first time in a year. I wish I had kept track of all the good local brews.

View from Stef's place

On Sunday, Stef kindly droves us around Seattle for gear shopping including the flagship REI store. I needed gloves for skiing, and a rain jacket for, you guessed it, rainy Seattle. We cooked some dinner Sunday night after some Wii Fit, and picked up our rental car. On Monday Julie and I rented our skis and gear and headed up to Snoqualmie, about an hour southeast of Seattle. This was my first time on skis in about a year (and 8 years before that). I am thankful for the ski instructor I rode up the ski lift with on a green trail to practice my turning skills. It was really warm up on the mountain and the snow wasn't that great, but this trip turned out to be critical for me to get confidence on the mountain again.

I was super impressed by these mountains until I got to Whistler

We got back late to Seattle Monday night and made it an early bed time in order to get an early start up to Whistler. It's about 2 hours to the border from Seattle. The border exchange was something that became common whenever Julie and I were together meeting new people.

Board guard: "Where are you ladies from?"
Us: "Fairbanks, Alaska, and New York, NY"
Board guard: "And how do you know each other?"
Us: "College"
Board guard: "What are you doing in Canada?"
Us: "Skiing in Whistler"
Guard: "You came an awfully long way for a day at Whistler!"

Since the weather looked better on Wednesday (mix of sun and clouds vs. snow and 40 mph winds) we stopped in Vancouver for a few hours on the way up to Whistler. We saw the Olympic torch (unlit) under a grey, drizzly sky.

We also drove through Chinatown, then over to Granville Island. It's a collection of markets, food, and artisans on the water. We got some seafood and got a sampler from Granville Island Brewery. If you haven't noticed, I'm a big fan of microbrews/craft beers. Crazy talk from a girl who didn't like beer until she compelled herself to drink it in the pubs of London 3 years ago.

I speak whale, you know

The drive was fogged over on the way up to Whistler from Vancouver, but, no lie, it didn't start snowing until the moment we drove past the sign announcing we had entered Whistler. We booked a half-off hotel room in Whistler Village (thanks to some last minute deals on the website – score!) We wandered around the Village, had a cocktail at The Mix (excellent) and a 3-course tasting menu at Bearfoot Bistro (subpar). We called it an early night to ready ourselves for a full day on the mountain. Lifts run only till 4PM – there's no way they could provide enough safe lighting for night skiing.

Wednesday started clear in the village, with a line at the Whistler Gondola. There are 2 mountains: Whistler, at 7160 ft, and Blackcomb at 8000 ft. We started at Whistler and took the long (20min) ride up the huge mountain. And we weren't even 2/3 of the way to the top! So many lifts and runs that you had to pay attention coming down to make sure you didn't strand yourself on a trail above your skill level. Powder at the top, slush and ice at the bottom, and a lot of weather in between.

My favorite part of the day was Julie's least favorite – shows you the difference between Alaska and city girl mentality. After our first run down Harmony Ridge we went back up the Harmony Express lift and ended up in a windy whiteout that was not there 20 minutes prior. I was psyched to ski in the snow, and we were going down a green so I wasn't all that worried about it. Julie, having more sense than me and being in the proper safety mindset was rightfully concerned about falling off the mountain when you couldn't see more than 20 ft in front of you.

Looking back up the mountain

Once we got through the snow layer, we got some views of Blackcomb in the sun, but that was the best view we got in the day. Too many clouds and snow to see clearly. We got to the bottom and had time for one more run – I talked Julie into the last one even though we had 4 hours of driving ahead of us (we're on an adventure, Charlie!) We ended on a run that had turned into moguls. I fell more than the 7-year-old skiing ahead of us, but I found it to be an entertaining end to the day.

The drive back was fantastic – the sun was out and the view was very pretty. I kept ooh-ing and aah-ing and stopping for pictures. I don't get views like this in NY.

Curse you McD's for ruining a great shot

We stopped briefly for pho and some sodas to keep us awake. Fun fact: Mountain Dew in Canada is not caffeinated. No matter, we made it safely back to Seattle on Wednesday night.

Thursday morning. Time to stretch those aching ski muscles with a walk in Discovery Park. Julie and I trounced through the fields and ended up at a small beach on the Puget Sound.

After that we headed downtown to Pike Place Market to play Seattle tourist. We had some Beecher's mac and cheese, Pike Place Chowder, and I saw the fish throwing guys do their thing.

Also, time to stalk the Space Needle. It was so overcast most of the time that I barely saw Mt Rainer (and that was for about 5 mins on a bus). I didn't feel a need to go up it.

Space Needle and the useless monorail

We met up with Stef and a bunch of her friends for some St. Patrick's drinks and March madness basketball. I had my first-ever green beer, but switched back to regular after one because I'm anti-light beers and PBR. Girl's got standards.

Friday we met with Stef for lunch then went to Bill Spiedels Underground Tour. Seattle burned down in the 1800s and they rebuilt the city 10 feet higher than the original street (and sea-) level. What remains is an underground network beneath the sidewalks in Pioneer Square. Yes a touristy thing to do, but it was interesting to see, and one of our tour guides was super.

Julie headed back up to Fairbanks, while I stayed on for the weekend. After an apartment party at Stef's Friday night, we woke up on Saturday morning to something Seattle residents don't see very often in the winter – the sun! 50s and sunny skies meant I'd skip the trip I'd been planning down to Portland to take full advantage of the sun in Seattle.

Sunshine!

Stef and I headed to Alki Beach in West Seattle to have a long walk along the path along with families, cyclists, rollerbladers, and lots of dogs. We had a BBQ dinner later with a bunch of Stef's friends at their place down the street and after a dip in the hot tub, some of us went to catch a movie

On Sunday, I wanted to go down to Tacoma to see some class artwork from its native son, Chihuly. I went to the Tacoma Art Museum after walking over the Glass Bridge. I skipped the Glass Museum because reviews weren't that great for it, but the TAM had a Norman Rockwell exhibit, and a Chihuly exhibit. 

The 'Mighty Tacoma' exhibit was as morose and depressing as the city itself. There was hardly any pedestrian traffic around the museum. I'm glad I went, because otherwise the museum was good, and it was a nice counterpoint to show how vibrant Seattle is as a city.

Stef and I had a low-key Sunday night ahead of my Monday morning SEA-SFO-JFK flight. I had a fantastic trip, seeing an old friend, meeting new ones, skiing an awesome mountain, and visiting a new, fun city. Many thanks for Stef putting me up. And for you Seattle, I'm sure I'll be back some day.

Toronto

This was my second trip into Toronto, again for work. This time, I stayed downtown so I could actually see the city on my two-day trip.

CN Tower

I was with colleagues from the London office and they asked if Toronto felt foreign to me. Not at all. Toronto reminds me of Chicago - wide, clean streets. Most signs were in French and English, but that's obviously not a problem for me.

A friend of a colleague lives in Toronto and gave us a brief tour of the city one of the nights. The tour included the new city hall (my pictures didn't do it justice - it's a really neat building) and the University of Toronto campus. It's a huge campus in the middle of the city. Given my Penn State bias, I was very impressed by the size of the campus, and the feel - you can easily forget that you're in the city. It's the largest university in Canada in terms of enrollment.

Streets of downtown Toronto

New York? Fake New York. They were filming a NY-based TV show on the street the hotel was on

I'd like to take a long weekend to spend in Toronto, but who knows when I'll have that opportunity.