A Weekend in Seattle

Back in November, I took a weekend trip to Seattle, Washington to visit a friend.  The two of us worked together back in Indiana, and she actually helped me get my job.  She moved to Seattle soon after I relocated to Texas, so it was a real treat to get to reunite halfway across the country with her and to explore a new-to-me city.  It was cold and rainy, but I still found myself fascinated by the beauty of the city and the surrounding areas.

San Diego: Day 2 (part i)

{Check out this post for a recap of the first day of our girls' trip to San Diego!  And a huge thanks to my mom and sister, both excellent photographers, for the pretty pictures in this post!}

The second day of our trip began with the ultimate purpose of the trip: a visit to Nurtured by Nature.  Nurtured by Nature is a wildlife refuge operated in conjunction with the Make a Wish Foundation.  The couple who runs the refuge were as sweet as can be, and well trained in caring for exotic animals.  They are known most for the opportunity to swim with their playful and cheerful residents - Chinese small-clawed otters.  That's actually what led us to plan our trip in the first place.  I saw this video a while back and sent it to my sister - the next thing I knew, we were booking flights to San Diego and the trip was underway!

Texas Hill Country

Last month, my parents and I went on a last-minute trip to the Texas Hill Country over the MLK holiday.  When I learned that I had MLK Day off, I wanted to take advantage of the long weekend but, with Steve in hard-core bar study mode, I didn't want to pull him away from his studies.  So it worked out perfectly to get away for the weekend with my parents and be an only child for a couple of days!

Celebrations Galore

Last weekend, we headed up to Indiana for a long weekend full of celebrations.  The fun began with a surprise welcome at the airport when I landed.  I miss my small group girls like crazy and seeing them all lined up for me with these homemade signs made me weepy.  I love these ladies!  #lylas

So Long Summer: Washington DC Wedding

In August, Steve and I flew out to Washington D.C. to celebrate the wedding of a friend from law school.  Jon and Steve were best friends in school and won our school's moot court competition together.  They are cut from the same cloth and Steve was really excited to be a part of Jon's special day as a groomsman.

{law school friends reunited at the reception}

beartooth pass

Earlier this month, I flew out to Montana to visit my sister for a long weekend.  We took the day on Friday to drive the Beartooth Pass - a popular highway that winds through southern Montana and northern Wyoming on the way to Yellowstone National Park.

I had never been to Montana before and wasn't quite sure what to expect.  I was absolutely blown away by the beauty of the pass.  The mountains were stunning and the topography was unlike any mountains I had seen before.  We weaved our way up to the top of the mountain range and the landscape evolved as we drove along.  We saw everything from beautiful firs, to bare mountaintops, to glacier remnants, to hidden mountaintop lakes, to grizzly bear country!

It was about a six hour round trip - one that I would highly recommend for anyone visiting Montana.  Hope you enjoy these pictures from our journey!

amy meets montana (a sister weekend)

Two weekends ago, I had such a great treat - a trip to visit my little sister in Montana.  She moved out to Montana earlier this year to begin her residency.  She's there for a year and I couldn't miss out on the opportunity to visit this fall.  We had a great weekend!  Here's my beautiful sister in her new home.  Thanks for hosting me, sissy!

sweet south dakota: day 3 and 4 (the badlands)

{We spent a wonderful weekend in South Dakota for my family reunion.  You can read more about our trip here and here.}

On Sunday, we woke up early and drove down the canyon where we were staying to check out the Spearfish Canyon Waterfall.  Our flight was set for early afternoon, so we wanted to make the most of the rest of our time in SD.

sweet south dakota: day 1 (mount rushmore)

Two weekends ago, Steve and I joined my family in beautiful South Dakota for my family reunion.  It was my first trip to South Dakota and I am pleased to say that all of my expectations of the state were blown out of the water.  The lodge where we stayed was nestled in beautiful Spearfish Canyon, where the topography is stunning and the cell phone service, non-existent.  It was perfect.

{This is a very picture-heavy post - I wanted to make sure I savored and memorialized every moment of our trip!  Thanks for bearing with me and all of the pictures :) }

4th of july recap: part 2

The rest of our day in Put-In-Bay was full of exploring.  We had the best lobster bisque bread bowls in town at the Boardwalk...

4th of july recap: part 1

Happy belated Independence Day!  We spent the weekend celebrating America's birthday with our good friends (and awesome hosts), Chris and Emily, at Chris' family's lakehouse on Lake Erie.  We had the best time!

On the 4th, we took a ferry over to Put-In-Bay to explore for the day.  The typical modus operandi, as we were told, is to take the ferry over and rent a golf cart to get around once you arrive on the island.  You wouldn't believe how many golf carts we saw over there!  We rented our own (the infamous Clarabella) and drove all over the place on it.

second anniversary part 1: the story inn

For our second anniversary, Steve and I decided to take a spontaneous trip to a real hidden gem in Brown County - Story Inn.

fort harrison hike

Last weekend, spring made its grand entrance in Indiana.  I couldn't wait to just get outside.  It had been far too long since my pale skin had seen the sun.  After my 6 mi run Saturday morning, Steve and I packed a lunch and headed over to Fort Harrison State Park for an afternoon of hiking. 

We hiked along the Fall Creek Trail and ate our lunch next to a small lake in the park.  I can't even begin to tell you how refreshing it was to see nature springing to life all around us that afternoon.  After we hiked ourselves out, we drove around the old military base in the park.  Fort Harrison is located in the heart of our city and I feel like we discovered a hidden gem, especially since the park is only about twenty minutes from our house!

the gaylord texan

My mom arranged a special surprise while Steve and I were in town for Christmas: a trip to the Gaylord Texan to tour its annual ice sculpture exhibit on Christmas Eve.  This year's exhibit was entitled ICE! featuring The Nutcracker and was incredible! 

The temperature inside the exhibit hall was 17 degrees, so we bundled up in winter coats, hats, gloves and parkas provided by the hotel.  We were lookin' pretty stylish rockin' those parkas, let me tell ya.

 The exhibit itself was incredible.  We walked our way through the Nutcracker story, one exquisite ice carving at a time.  I've never seen anything like it. 

 There was even an ice slide.  Of course, I made my sister go down with me.  Weeeee!

 The ICE! exhibit ended with a tour of New York City and a beautiful nativity scene.

After thawing out from the ice exhibit, we explored the rest of the hotel.  It was huge!  I would love to someday spend a long weekend there... there's so much to do that you would never have to leave the resort the entire time!  

 The Gaylor Texan's trademark is this huge Texan star in the center of the hotel.  I would love to see it lit up at night - I imagine it would be pretty breathtaking.

We wrapped up our trip with lunch at the Riverwalk Cafe.  Mexican food - yum!

It was a great trip to the Gaylord!  And even greater to spend the day with my beautiful family.  If you're ever in DFW and looking for a place to stay or just to spend a few hours and grab a good meal, I highly recommend checking out the Gaylord Texan.

chicago christmas

This year, Steve and I began a new Christmas tradition of spending a December weekend in Chicago.  In the midst of all the hubub that is the holiday season, it was so great to just get away from everything and be tourists in one of our favorite places.  Steve lined up all of our hotel/dining reservations, so all I had to do was show up.  This girl was certainly spoiled over the course of the weekend!

 

We drove up to Gannie's house on Friday night through a snowstorm.  It got so bad that at one point, Steve and I debated which small Indiana town along I-65 would be the best option for seeking shelter in case we got stranded.  I'm happy to say that we made it to Gannie's safely and if we had waited until Saturday morning to make the trek, we most likely would not have made it to Chicago since the snow just kept on comin' down.

 

Our first stop on Saturday was a long-time beloved one of mine - the Museum of Science and Industry.  We caught several of my old favorite exhibits (the train, u-boat submarine, planes and ice cream parlor) along with a few new ones (the annual Christmas Trees Around the World exhibit and model trains).  I grew up going to the museum with my grandparents, but it was Steve's first visit so I was excited to share in his experience! 

 

We spent several more hours in the museum than we had originally planned, but it was totally worth it.  After we saw everything we wanted to see, we headed off to check into our hotel.  Steve found a little boutique hotel a couple of blocks off of Michigan Avenue, which worked out perfectly.  We had a great room and the service was terrific.  Also, a huge plus in my book - they served a continental breakfast on every floor so all I had to do was put on a comfy robe and walk down the hall.  Perfect! 

Anyway, back to our sight-seeing... after checking in to the hotel, we did some serious window shopping on the Magnificent Mile.  There were shoppers everywhere and after a while it started to get overwhelming, so we took a break on a love seat in the top floor of Crate & Barrel. 

Nap-time!  It was all I could do to get him to leave this chair.  He was way too comfortable to move.

After shopping wore us out, we took a break in the hotel and headed out to dinner at Gilt Bar.  Steve picked the place, and oh my goodness was it good.  We ate to our hearts' content and then took a (very chilly) stroll along the Chicago River before crashing back at the hotel for the night.

On Sunday, the high in Chicago was 12 degrees, so we were all about staying indoors.  That didn't stop us from still catching some great views, though!  After thoroughly enjoying our continental breakfast (seriously, I loved it), we made an impromptu decision to visit the Chicago Skydeck.  The Skydeck is at the top of Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower) and has incredible views of the city and Lake Michigan.  We tried to go once before when we were in town for a wedding several years ago, but the line was 2.5 hours long.  No thank you!  This time, though, we beat the rush and got there right when it opened.  Before we knew it, we were at the top - and oh man, what a view.

 

My favorite part by far was The Ledge - a series of glass boxes protruding out of the side of the building.  You can stand in them and look 100 stories down to the street - it's a crazy/thrilling feeling!  And of course, the perfect photo opp.

 

Look, Mom - no hands! :)

 

So, so cool. If you're ever in Chicago, this is a must-do.  And I highly recommend beating the rush early on a Sunday morning.

Next up on our agenda was seeing The Hobbit in 3D.  We saw the first one last year around the holidays, so it's become a tradition and was perfect for sticking with our plan of staying warm and avoiding the frigid cold.

It was a really good movie.  My only complaint is that I felt like they overdid Evangeline Lilly's role.  I appreciated the addition of a woman to the cast, since the book itself doesn't have any female characters whatsoever... but I just felt like her story took up too much screen time.  Nevertheless, the movie is well worth seeing.

 

We had one more stop to go on our trip - Milennium Park.  Originally we planned on taxiing it, but at the last minute decided to walk instead.  It was great, until it was not.  After a while we started freezing, but still managed to snap a quick (albeit blurry) picture with the snow-covered Bean.

On our way back to our hotel, we stopped in a nearby Giordano's to warm up and to devour some delicious deep dish pizza (my favorite) before heading back home.  There are few things I enjoy more than eating pizza with this cutie.

All in all, we had a truly wonderful time.  It was the perfect getaway - one in which we did a lot but not too much, and got to take a step back to enjoy each other during the most hectic and busiest time of the year.  It's a new tradition that I am already looking forward to for next year.

 

Chicago, you were splendid as always!  Until next time!