Welcome to my blog. I document my adventures in travel, style, and food. Hope you have a nice stay!
We had a busy Friday the 13th. The United Nations in the morning, an East Midtown walk in the afternoon, and a musical in the evening. Fortunately, we had room in the schedule for downtime.
Having gone up and down Manhattan, this time we circled the island on a boat tour. Then an afternoon walking tour through Chinatown.
We went way uptown to walk around the Cloisters and said goodbye to Marion and Lester, going to a hostel in Harlem.
We spent the first part of the day at the American Museum of Natural History, and the afternoon doing a walking tour through Greenwich Village with Celeste.
Monday was a quieter day. We were planning on one attraction, the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Looking at the weather and sky, though, we saw that it would be worthwhile to go up the Empire State Building, so we did that on the way. We relaxed for the late afternoon and evening. It's nice to have some planned downtime.
Part of our Sunday was spent driving back to NYC, but a larger chunk was spent at Storm King Art Center, a huge outdoor sculpture park west of the Hudson River, not far from West Point.
Even though we'd only been in New York for a couple nights, we took an overnight side-trip to the Hudson River Valley. Our plans for the day were to visit the FDR Library and Museum, then have dinner at the Culinary Institute of America.
Our tourist activities for Friday centered around Central Park, and dinner once again near Union Square. And once again considered the Empire State Building.
For a long time we had intended to go to New York to visit Celeste, and this was finally the year. We got a later start than we intended, but after a red-eye flight, we took it easy for our first day in the City.
This past Sunday was mostly taken up with spending time with Kellen and Noël before their move to Germany. Saturday, though, was a whirlwind of activity for us. We left the house mid-morning, and didn't get back home until late at night. In between we went to a food festival, saw giant boots, took a café break, wandered through sculptures, dropped by to see how Kellen and Noël were doing with packing, had dinner, and went to a concert (complete with pre– and post–concert activities).
As time goes on, I realize how much I do things like my dad. Several times when we were staying over, we would wake up to him having breakfast ready to be cooked. Just so, this morning I had waffles and bacon ready to cook once Kellen and Noël wake up after a long, hard day; they finished clearing out their apartment yesterday and are hanging out here for a couple nights before moving to Germany.
Tucked away on the north side of the University Bridge is Peace Park, which is a small plot by the side of the road. Its main feature is a statue of Sadako Sasaki, known for folding a thousand origami cranes.
I don't get to the Queen Anne neighborhood very often, but almost every time that I do, I go to Le Rêve Bakery & Café. Whether it be for lunch or pastries, I've always enjoyed the food.
We once again made the annual trek to Southern California to be with family and play tourist for a bit, this time at Exposition Park. We also get the opportunity to thaw out a bit in the warmer weather.
We made it home after the last leg of our trip. Of course, that meant crossing the border, which could have been worse.
Having finished the national park part of our trip, it was time to start the trip home. Our route happened to take us through a couple more national parks, so we made a quick stop in one of them.
The whole day consisted of one hike. One long, steep hike. A bookend for our long, steep hike at Glacier National Park.
We fit in a medium-length hike and got sidetracked watching a helicopter work on a small forest fire. Then we returned to the hostel to lots of haze and smoke in the air.
On the way to our fourth (and last) national park for this trip, we drove the Icefields Parkway again, this time stopping at the Athabasca Glacier. Then into Yoho where we saw a natural bridge.
Our second of two full days in Jasper National Park was spent mostly north of Jasper town in the Maligne area, although we did wander into the town for a bit. And we got caught in afternoon animal rush hour traffic.
