Texas for Christmas - December 2016

Christmas Pressies

After Thanksgiving at Shawna's moms house, we headed back out the following weekend to Dallas to celebrate early Christmas with the Dodds family.  We arrived at 9:30pm to Love Field.  Lily flew in from Austin and arrived 20 minutes before we did, so she and Keith's mother actually met us at the gate - it has been a LONG time since we were met at a gate!  It was straight back to the house and up to bed.

Owen's Bday Party

Saturday was a busy day.  The first order of business was to drive to the Gaylord hotel for family pictures that Margaret had coordinated to be taken by her friend Ashley.  Amazingly everyone was at the hotel by the appointed time of 8am.  It took about 45 minutes to take the pictures at the variety of places.  We went back to the house, with Keith driving Boone and Lily.  Margaret's kids came over as well so it was fun to play with all the nieces and nephews.  The next stop was Owen's birthday party which was again held at Urban Air trampoline park.  The party was noon-2pm - Keith used it as his workout for the day.  We went back to the house until heading out again to Uncle Julios in Grapevine with all the kids and Margaret.

Keith Being a Kid

On Sunday morning, Margaret's kids came over so we could give Owen/Josie/Lily/Boone their Christmas presents.  In the afternoon we went over to see Peter and Michael (Jen and Jordan were at a dog event so were not around).  It was fun to catch up with Peter and we got to see Michael's new aquarium.  By then it was time to head to the airport via La Madeleine Grapevine for dinner.

Lily, Keith and Boone

Louisiana for Thanksgiving - November 2016

Shawna and Ginger

As we alternate families every year for Thanksgiving, it was the year to visit Louisiana.  We decided to fly in and out of New Orleans since there are direct flight on SWA.  At the last minute Shawna had to be in Hartford the week before, so we both met at New Orleans airport on Wednesday evening and drove up to Moreauville that night, making the trip in under 2.5 hours. 

Shawna had arranged for us to go to Ginger's new house for Thanksgiving lunch - Ginger and Michael now live near Alexandria.  It is a wonderful house on a huge lot.  The entire house is decorated with Gin's Den designs and really feels homey.  Ginger's extended family was there so it was fun to catch up with everyone, some of whom we had not seen since our wedding. 

At Ginger's House

The rest of the weekend was pretty quiet because Shawna was sick.  While we were bummed she did not feel well, we clung to the upside that it means she won't get sick on the Sri Lanka trip!  We were able to see Nicole for a while.  Other than that, we rested and ate a lot of gumbo.

Our flight back on the Sunday was at 1:30pm - so we made it to our house by 6pm. 

John and Jo Visit - November 2016

Food and Wine Festival

John and JoAnna planned a trip to see us and it worked out that Jo had a conference in Vegas, so we were able to host them the two weekends either side.

Hiking at Cathedral Rock

They were supposed to arrive at 7:45pm on the Thursday night but the flight was an hour late.  We immediately drove up to Sedona to stay at the Hampton Inn where we had booked two nights on points.  On Friday morning, Shawna had calls from 6-8am and Keith had calls from 8-1pm.  So Shawna, John, and Jo left the hotel to walk around Cathedral Rock and Bell Rock while Keith worked.  They came back to the hotel in time to pick up Keith for lunch - where we went to The Hudson.  The restaurant has great views - we had a few beers and shared several appetizers including bruschetta, pretzels, sliders, and chicken lollipops.  It was then back to the hotel for a nap before getting ready for dinner.  Dinner was at Mariposa which is our favorite restaurant in Sedona with beautiful views - we had atun, yucca fries, fried avocado, and the mixed grill, with churros for desert.  After dinner, we went to the Oak Creek Brewery where we had a few beers and listened to a local band that turned out to be pretty good.

Mariposa Restaurant

On Saturday, we checked out of the hotel and drove home so we could attend the Central Arizona Food and Wine Experience which started at 1pm at the Talking Stick Resort.  There were two huge tents with both food and wine.  Differently from the Nashville festival, our tickets restricted us to 10 tastings of wine and beer.  But fortunately some of the vendors were not too serious about marking the tickets - plus Keith and John were able to rub off a few of the marks to get duplicates! We had decided that we would take it easier this time so while we managed to not drink too much, we still had a ton of food and we were quite stuffed at the end.  The food was quite tasty.  We Ubered home, napped again, and then just decided to stay in for the evening - we rented a couple of movies (Popstar and Life of Crime)  and ordered PF Changs to be delivered.

Chez Dodds

On Sunday morning, we hiked the Gateway Loop Trail for a couple of hours.  It's a nice length of a trail but the views are not as great.  We then showered, did laundry, and John made us a lunch of cheese/crackers, buffalo chicken dip, and hummus.  We relaxed at the house and then went into Old Town to walk around for a bit before dropping off Keith, John and JoAnna at the airport.  That evening, Shawna met up with Beth who was in town visiting her son for a few drinks.

Gateway Loop Trail Hike

Sedona Weekend - October 2016

Beautiful Sedona

Keith's friend Kerstin had a conference in Washington DC so she added an extra leg to join us in Arizona for a week.  Kerstin arrived at 10pm on the Thursday night from Sweden so Keith picked her up at the airport and headed back to the house.  Keith had an early meeting so it was quickly to bed.

Keith made it home by 11:30am from work on Friday.  It was a quick change and pack before loading up the car.  The first stop was lunch at Mad Greens before driving to Sedona, with Keith/Kerstin in the Audi and Shawna in the 4Runner. Our first hike of the weekend was around Bell and Courthouse Rock - about 5 miles.  Keith and Kerstin wrapped up the hike at the top of Bell Rock.  We then headed to the Hyatt to check in.  The Hyatt is a vacation club and was well designed - it is a suite with a kitchen.  After our showers we then drove to Elote Café.  Because the restaurant does not accept reservations, we had margaritas for an hour and a half before sitting down to a delicious dinner.  We shared elote, fish tacos, tamales, and the braised beef special for our main course.

Bell and Courthouse Rock Hike

On Saturday, we started with breakfast at the Wildflower Bread Company, just across the parking lot of our hotel.  Our first experience of the day was with Pink Jeep Tours where we did the Broken Arrow / Scenic Rim Tour.  The tour was awesome, taking you to the back country of the red rocks.  We returned to Wildflower for lunch before driving to Soldier Pass / Brin's Mesa for a beautiful 6 mile hike.  After a shower at the hotel, we went to Mariposa for dinner.  The restaurant is a gorgeous location with amazing views - though we were there after sunset.  As we waited for the table, we sipped on the spicy Mariposa cocktail.  After sitting, we started with the atun (tuna poke) and grilled octopus for appetizers.  For our main course we shared the bone-in ribeye, potato gratin, and cauliflower.  Dessert was a delicious tres leches along with sorbet.

Pink Jeep Tour

Soldier Pass / Brin's Mesa Hike

Dinner at Mariposa

On Sunday we ate at Wildflower (again!) and then drive up to Flagstaff.  It took a while to find the Humphreys Trail entrance, which was at the Arizona Snow Bowl.  The hike was up the mountain through gorgeous aspens.  We then drove back to Flagstaff for lunch (at Wildflower!) and then popped into REI.  Kerstin then left us in the Audi to head to the Grand Canyon and Page while we went home, taking about 2.5 hours to make it back to the house.  Kerstin will return to our house on Thursday after her week of exploring the nearby area.

Humphrey's Trail Hike

Nashville Festival - September 2017

Nashville Food and Wine Festival

After the success of FUCAT (F'ed up Childhood Appreciation Tour), we worked with John and JoAnna to come up with a new excuse to travel.  So we settled on another four-year program where we'd visit one festival a year, with each of us taking turns to select the festival.  JoAnna went first since she was the inaugural FUCAT tour, and she chose the Food and Wine Festival in Nashville.  While Keith had been there for work as well as personal travel 20+ years before, none of us had really visited for fun in the recent past.

The Stillery for Dinner

Since we live on the west coast now, we decided to fly out late on the Thursday and work from the hotel on the Friday.  And late it was - the 7pm direct to Nashville arrived at 12:30am so we were not asleep until 1:30am.  It did help to have the time zones in our favor.  Our hotel for the weekend was the Renaissance hotel downtown Nashville, which was only a block off Broadway.  Shawna worked in the room the whole day Friday while Keith worked at a table in the club room on the 24th floor.  We both had back-to-back calls so were jammed the whole day.  John and Jo's flight arrived late so we fortunately had time for an early-evening nap and shower before they arrived so we were bright eyed and bushy tailed for their arrival.

Jonathan Waxman

The first stop of the evening was the rooftop of the Stage on Broadway.  Broadway is a massive honky-tonk street - think Bourbon in New Orleans or Duvall in Key West - but with almost all country bars.  The streets were heaving with people, though once we got to the rooftop it was full but not jammed.  We squeezed in a couple of beers before deciding we were hungry.  The next stop was The Stillery for dinner (on 2nd street) where we had Mac 'n cheese with fried chicken, jalapeños, brussel sprouts, and cheese dip with pesto bread.  The waitress was really nice and the food was tasty and fast.  The final stop for the night was the Swinging Door, another rooftop bar that backs to the Hilton where we sat next to a bachelor party and listened to a live musician.  We called it a night at about 2am which made John and JoAnna proud.

Pig - Yum!

Saturday was the main event - the Nashville (Music City) Food and Wine Festival. It was raining when we got up and continued to rain as we walked to the festival site in Bicentennial Park. We had pre-purchased the tickets for the day and the gates opened at 11-4pm. We started our first tasting at 11:15 and had a fantastic day with a massive variety of wines, beer, and local restaurant tastings. There were also celebrity chef demonstrations - we caught the last 10 minutes of Tim Love - a Fort Worth Chef that Keith's brother knows. We also saw Jonahtham Waxman. There were so many booths - we were not able to taste everything but we surely get it the college try!

HOHO Bus Tour

By 4pm we had our fill (and more) of the food and wine, so headed back to the hotel.  We decided to have a nap, which lasted until 9pm at which time none of us were inspired to head out.  So, with a pretty full day behind us, we ordered room service, watched Pitch Perfect 2, and fell asleep again!

What? The Parthenon? In Nashville?

Sunday was our last day in Nashville so we decided we had to see a bit of the city.  We showered, packed, and checked out - and opted for lunch which we found at Skulls Rainbow Room on Printers Alley.  It was a really interesting old building that has been resurrected - with pretty good food (the lobster bisque was delicious).  We then decided that the best way to see the city was the GreyLine Hop-On Hop-Off bus.  The first leg of the tour was terrible, with the driver naming pretty much every restaurant and shop on every street - including his commentary on Hooters - which was kind of creepy.  We jumped off half way through the tour and got the next bus with a different "guide" - who was only good in comparison with the first.  We did not really get any history, so it was a bit of a disappointment.  At the conclusion of the bus tour we had a couple of hours to kill before needing to go to the airport, so we went to the rooftop of the Acme Feed and Seed restaurant which overlooks the river.  The upside there was that the music scene was more traditional - which was nice since we were a bit "country-ed out".  We Ubered to the airport - with Keith heading to Phoenix, Shawna to Hartford, and John and JoAnna back to Raleigh.  It will only be a short time until we see them again in Scottsdale!

Mexico City - Sept 2016

Rakesh, Simran, Shawna, Keith and Rakesh

Simran had sent us an email asking us if we wanted to join them for a long weekend over Labor Day in Mexico City.  Shawna was not interested as she had been there as a child and didn't have the fondest memories of the place.  Keith, however, wanted to go and convinced Shawna to give it another try - she was glad that he did as we had a great time and really enjoyed the city.  Rakesh Marwah also decided to go last minute with a friend of his from LA.  Simran was boasting that she had the idea to go before the New York Times published that it was the #1 place to visit this year - she is such a trend setter.

We love selfies!

Accommodations:
La Valise - Shawna had found this place which only has three rooms in a brownstone.  It is in a great location and the rooms are large and nicely decorated.  There is no restaurant on site but it's not needed since there are so many great restaurants in the city.  The only downside to this hotel is that the people working there were a little dizzy (to use Simran's word) - anytime you needed something, it took either a little coaxing or some follow up!

Activities:
We arrived very late on Thursday night - Simran and Rakesh had arrived earlier that day.  It was no problem catching a cab - we were advised to stick to the official taxis which we did.  We crashed once we arrived at our hotel around 1am.

On Friday, we slept in and then went to lunch at Contramar (which was awesome).  After lunch, we walked around a bit but given that we were planning on a late night, we went back to the hotel for a nap.  We met Juan (who went to business school with us and lives locally) for drinks at a cantina and caught up with him - it had been 17 years since we had last seen him at grad school.  After drinks, we all went to dinner at Pujol at 10pm (late night reservation) and were at dinner until about 1:30 AM.  There was 8 of us at dinner: Simran, Rakesh, Keith, Shawna, Marwah, Anil (Marwah's friend from LA), Toby (Anil's friend who lived locally) and Juan.  Dinner was very tasty but it was a bit tainted by Toby who seemed to want to pick a fight with Rakesh.

Contramar

On Saturday, we had breakfast in our room and then were picked up at 10:30 AM by our guide who took us on a food/market tour with Eat Mexico.  The tour was awesome.  We visited the San Juan market, saw all of the gourmet food and stopped at many places to taste different local foods - we were totally full at the end.  Our tastings included:

• seafood tostada at El K-Guamo - we tried the shrimp which was tasty
• crickets, jams, salsas, mole, cheese and coffee at Mercado San Juan - the local cheese and jams/salsas were amazing.  can't believe we all tried crickets (two kinds!)
• saw how tortillas were made and tasted fresh tortillas at Tortilleria - where they only make 2 pesos per kilo
• quesadillas at Tlacoyos - apparently in Mexico that service quesadillas without cheese!
• mole at Fonda Mi Lupita - at this point we were getting quite full so couldn't finish it
• pulque at Pulqueria Las Duelistas - this is an alcoholic beverage made out of fermented agave.  they add fruit flavoring to make it really sweet.  we had a few sips of various kinds.
• tacos at Taqueria Gonzalez - this stand was crazy busy - quite the popular place

Tortilla Machine

Making Quesadillas

Pulque

Tired from the night before, we went back to the hotel for a nap and then Juan picked us up at 7:30 to go to Coyoacan for dinner at Los Danzantes.  We walked around the square first where there are many restaurants - the neighborhood is very cute, colorful and lively.  Juan's cousin also joined us for dinner.  Juan knew the manager so we got a few things comped which was nice.  The restaurant was great - tasty food and fun atmosphere.  Since we were all still recovering from the night before (apparently we can't stay up as late as we used to), we went back to the hotel at a reasonable hour.

Shawna, Keith, Juan, Simran and Rakesh

On Sunday, we had to get up early as our guide (David) picked us up at 8:30 to begin our day of cultural city tours.  We booked the guide through Journeys Beyond the Surface and he was great!  We started out with a stop at his family's tamale place (Tamales Dona Emi) which was near our hotel - Simran and Shawna were both hesitant as neither of them liked tamales but these tamales were amazing.  We tried 4 different kinds (according to Rak, 4 is the perfect amount) - one stuffed with cheese and corn, one with mushrooms, one with spinach and one with cream cheese and cinnamon.  Very tasty.

Yummy Tamales

We then drove over to Coyoacan  - it was raining pretty heavily so we could not walk around much but we drove by some of the churches and saw the colorful homes.  We did go to the Frida Kahlo Museum which is the house where she grew up.

Frida Kahlo Museum

We stopped by the Coyoacan Market and tried the tostadas which were very good - pork, chicken and beef.  After this, we got a few churros - plain, chocolate filled and caramel filled.

Tostados in Coyoacán Market

With fully bellies, we then went to Centro Historico via metro and explored the Diego Rivera murals at the National Palace.  Our guide gave us the full explanation of the murals which captures 2000 years of Mexican history.

Diego Rivera

We then walked over to the Mexico City Cathedral which is sinking!  Apparently the city sits on what was once a lake so much of the downtown area is sinking - the Mexicans refer to this as Montezuma's Revenge as the gods are getting back at them for building over the ancient Aztec sites.  You could easily see areas where the buildings were lopsided and we even got quite dizzy inside the cathedral as the floors were leaning!  After this, we went to a rooftop cafe where we had another "shakiado" and got to see the site where they are excavating some of the ruins.  By this time, it was getting close to meeting up for our next tour so our guide took us over to a taco restaurant where we chowed down on some pork and cheese tacos.

Mexico City Cathedral

We met up with Marwah and Anil for the next tour with Urban Adventure which began at 5pm.  This was the tri-fecta tour where we went to a lucha libre wresting match and a cantina where we saw mariachi bands playing.  The wresting match was quite fascinating to watch - very similar to American wresting but with masks!  We even got our own masks to wear!  We got a kick out of watching the drama and of course the girls who were scantily clad as they danced while the wrestlers entered the arena.  Following the match, we went to a cantina downtown but we did not stay long as we were not as excited by the environment.  We paid for one song by a mariachi band and then we left and had drinks and snacks at Azul Historico.

Lucha Libre

On Monday, we slept in and then went for a walk around the neighborhoods (Roma and Condessa).  The area is very lush and has a similar feel to New Orleans.  We stopped along the way to grab some coffee and pastries and also popped into another place to get sandwiches for our lunch.  We then went back to the hotel to shower and pack and left for the airport around noon.  Our flight home was via Orange County and because we had a long layover, we didn't get home until 11pm.

Overall, we had a great time and would definitely return.

Restaurants:
Contramar - Went here for lunch as it is only open at lunchtime - apparently Mexicans only eat seafood during the day!  It was a great restaurant - very cute decor and the food was amazing.  We all shared a few dishes: tostadas, chips and guac, ceviche, grilled fish and cheesecake flan.  We also tried a "shakiado" which is a coffee drink shaken with cream and liquor

Pujol - Named one of the top 50 restaurants in the world.  We had a 10pm reservation which is crazy late but we were told it's worth it.  We had the tasting menu: street snacks, beef jerky tartare, rabbit and chorizo, lamb tacos, mole aged 1604 days and churros with fruit.  The food was prepared in interesting ways and was quite tasty but we all agreed we enjoyed Contramar more (which was much cheaper as well!).

Los Danzantes - Located in Coyoacan.  Went here for dinner.  Really tasty Oaxacan food.  We had the stuffed peppers with cream sauce (which is only available for a few weeks during the year when walnuts are in season), a yummy leaf and cheese dish, tostadas and a couple of entrees (one with two kinds of mole).

Azul Historico - Restaurant and rooftop bar located in Centro Historico.  We had drinks and snacks at the rooftop bar.  While the location was great, we were not impressed with the food or drinks.

New York City - August 2016

On Broadway

After the movers loaded the truck in Baltimore, we needed a place to stay between houses so we opted for a weekend in New York City.  Keith was on the east coast with work that week, so he flew in from Detroit.  It was an early flight, but fortunately the Quin Hotel had a room ready for an 8:30am check in.  Shawna had been able to get one of the hotel nights free with her Chase points.  That enabled Keith to work in the room all day as he had back to back conference calls.  Shawna met the cleaners at the Baltimore house in the morning before getting the train up to New York, arriving around 2pm.

We decided to go for a walk in the Central Park before dinner.  Is was super hot and insanely humid, so Shawna bailed out at 85th street and took a cab back to the hotel while Keith walked the reservoir and down the west side back to the hotel.  While on the walk Keith, used the time to make a couple of calls.  One of them was to a former colleague Steve who lives in Los Angeles.  After chatting for 10 minutes they made the connection that Steve and his wife Monica were actually in New York at that very moment and happened to have tickets to Hamilton for the same Saturday matinee that we did!  So, we arranged to meet them for lunch on Saturday before the show. 

Our Favorite Walk in Central Park

Dinner was at ABC Cocina, which is a Jean-Georges restaurant.  We sat next to a couple who had spent the day shopping for wedding venues for their daughter so we laughed with them as they regaled us with the highlights of the day.  The restaurant is tapas style and the food was delicious.  We had the tomato salad, shrimp with garlic, short rib tacos, maitake mushrooms, and the tenderloin with chimichurri.  All the food was flavorful.

Saturday morning we slept in until 8:30 as the room had a blackout blind.  Keith ran over to Starbucks to get breakfast before we headed out to Central Park again.  We needed to be back to the hotel pretty quickly so only made it to the south side of the reservoir.  We showered quickly and got dressed to meet Steve and Monica for lunch at Blue Fin.  We had a great lunch with a couple of lobster salads and some sushi which was delicious, and balanced it all out with 3 glasses of rose each!  We then walked around the corner to the Richard Rogers theater where we saw Hamilton!  While the tickets were ridiculously expensive, the show was terrific - original, creative, and even had some humorous interludes.  Definitely a better way to learn history than a boring textbook.  It was also fun that Lexi Lawson who plays Hamilton's wife is a friend of Steve and Monica's.

Hamilton - Keith, Monica, Steve and Shawna

After the show, we took a cab down to Upland at Park and 26th where we had another delicious dinner, including the whole crispy mushroom, pappardelle, and the long island duck, as well as a side of corn.  The food was another successful choice!

Sunday was departure day, so we did a final walk around the park before returning to the room to cool off (it took 30 minutes to stop sweating!) and relaxed a bit.  We checked out and had lunch at Fresh and Co where we got a salad.  We then went to the airport where we were both on the same flight to Chicago and then split up there - Keith going to Seattle for work and Shawna going to Phoenix so she could close on the house on Monday.

Girls Weekend - Jackson Hole, WY - July 2016

Cara, Sarah, Kristina, Jodie, and Shawna

Shawna was invited for a girls weekend in Jackson Hole at Jodie's house, along with some of the other Denver Book Club gals - Kristina, Cara, and Sarah.  Shawna was able to fly out there on points but arrived late on Thursday night due to delays.  Kristina and Jodie were waiting up for her with a glass of wine.  Jodie gave a tour of the house which is stunning with great views of the Tetons - Shawna call it a mini-Aman!  After drinking a glass and catching up, we went to bed.

Jodie's House

View from Jodie's House

Sarah arrived on Friday morning so after breakfast, Kristina, Jodie and Shawna left to pick up Sarah at the airport and then went stand-up paddle boarding on String Lake in Grand Teton National Park.  We had stopped in town and grabbed some salads and drinks for lunch.  The lake was gorgeous with the mountains in the immediate background.  The weather was also awesome!  It took a few minutes to get accustomed to the paddle boards but then quickly got the hang of it.  We boarded over to the other side of the lake stopping a few times to take in the scenery.  At one point, Sarah fell in as she tried to swat a wasp and Kristina fell in as her board caught on a log in the water.  Thankfully the lake is quite shallow so it was easy to get back on the board.  After boarding, we ate lunch along the lake, relaxing in chairs that Jodie had packed.  At this point, we had to head back to Jodie's house so we could meet up with Cara who was arriving early evening.

Stand-Up Paddle Boarding on String Lake

Hanging out at the Lake

We decided to stay in for the evening so we could enjoy Jodie's house. Jodie had set out some cheese and crackers for an appetizer so we ate those while drinking wine and catching up with Cara.  Jodie then made burgers, a salad and sweet potato fries for dinner which was all very yummy.  We ate dinner on the patio and soaked in the views of the mountains!

Dinner at Jodie's House

On Saturday, we had all the best intentions to go for a hike.  There was quite a bit of smoke in the area due to forest fires nearby so we opted to wait it out a bit for the smoke to dissipate.  We went into town and had brunch at Persephone Bakery where we had a yummy sweet potato hash.  Following brunch, we walked around town, ducking into a few stores and galleries.  At this point, we decided to go for a hike.  Sarah was not feeling well so we dropped her off at home and the rest of us went over to Jackson Hole Mountain Resort and took the gondola to the top of the mountain.  Unfortunately, once we got there, it started to rain and it was crazy windy - we tried to wait it out for a few minutes but since it didn't look like it was going to get any better, we took the gondola back down and hiked for about an hour at the base of the mountain.  The weather was just fine at the base - par for the course with mountain weather!

Jackson Square

On Top of the Mountain

After cleaning up back at Jodie's house, we went to dinner in town at King Sushi.  Sarah was still not feeling well so she didn't join us.  The sushi was great in spite of the fact that it's a land locked place - we shared edamame, crispy rice, two sashimi dishes, and two rolls.

Sarah, Kristina, Jodie and Shawna

On Sunday, Sarah and I had to leave for the airport mid-morning while Kristina and Cara had to leave in the early afternoon.  We went for an hour hike along the hillside near Jodie's house and then relaxed at her house while we waited for the shuttle.  Jodie packed us a few snacks for the plane which was super helpful since the food options at the airport were quite disappointing.  No one wanted to leave - Shawna even contemplated hiding somewhere in Jodie's house!  However, the awesome weekend had to come to an end - it was so great to hang out, laugh and take in the beautiful scenery!