Apologies for the lack in posts, folks. This one isn't going to be any better...
We're heading to Edinburgh, Scotland for Juli's wedding! Our flight leaves at the ass crack of dawn tomorrow morning and you shouldn't be surprised to read that it's 8:10pm and I still haven't packed.
I better get to it!
Juli warned me that the weather will be beautifully cold, rainy and sleety.
The Mr, however, confirmed some great vegetarian restaurants. Who knew? I thought the Scottish only ate haggis.
*from So I Married an Axe Murderer
I'll be back to blogging on Tuesday!
Showing posts with label vacations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vacations. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
Vacation Bullet Points
Howdy boys and girls - I'm sure you're dying to read all about my first trip down to the Outer Banks. I'm pretty sure I'm one of the only Maryland residents that has not been to this area before (and there are plenty of cars adorned with "OBX" stickers that prove my point).
I've been gone for a week now and plenty has happened over the course of that week that it really is just too much to type. And seriously - who has the attention span to read through a long blog post? I'll try to keep this simple.
Lowlights
- It took us close to 9 f'n hours to get down there. 9. We were on the brink of divorce by the time we made it into Duck, NC. We didn't leave Baltimore until 11:30am (against advice from others to try to get down to NC before noon) because I had Dragonboat practice that I felt I just couldn't miss. Plus our check-in time wasn't until 4pm that Saturday. Why rush to get down there if we had to hang around with a car full of crap? Oh and The Mr didn't even finish packing until Saturday morning.
- Our dogs weren't too crazy about the beach. We were stoked about being able to take our dogs to a dog friendly beach town and they didn't even like it! We totally didn't take into account that the blazing hot sun wasn't a good idea for them and didn't have an umbrella (next year we're getting a beach tent!). Petie was fine on the beach and trotted right over to the water and even let it splash him. Emily? Just the sound of the waves crashing left her shivering in the sand with her tail tucked between her legs.
- And while taking our dogs on vacation was fabulous, we didn't get to sleep in much because the dogs always woke up around 5:30-6am… every morning. Now The Mr will argue that he deals with this at home but it was VACATION! Vacations are meant for sleeping a lot.
- The late check-in time and early check-out time resulted in lost beach time (2 days). Boo!
- It rained all day on Thursday. Boo!
- We learned the hard way that we need to be better prepared for beach house trips (i.e. always pack bath towels and more kitchen utensils if you plan on cooking).
- Upon our arrival at home I discovered that I had erroneously left a banana on the counter… and it rotted and gave birth to about 50 fruit flies. It was a great fuck you welcome from Baltimore!
Highlights (luckily there are more of these than lowlights)
- The Outer Banks area (at least Duck) is probably one of the cleanest and quietest beach towns I have ever been too. Sadly - I can only really compare the area to Ocean City, Md and its surrounding beaches so I'm not sure if what I just said is even truly fair. After the 9 hour ride I had declared that I was never returning. By the end of the trip, I declared that I wanted to make a yearly trip down to Duck (but I will NOT buy an "OBX" sticker… EVER).
- Even though our dogs woke us up early every morning, it just motivated me to run along the bike trail. I ran about 2.5 miles 5 days out of the week. While this might not sound like much of a relaxing time to you, I felt great. I like being active and it made my gorging on junk food and margaritas justifiable.
- We walked our dogs every morning and every night. I'm not sure if they loved this or hated it. We thought it was great since most of the time we're away from home for about 8-9 hours every weekday.
- The Mr makes a mean Bloody Mary. I don't even usually like Bloody Mary drinks but his were delicious. I knew I married him for a reason.
- On Wednesday when we were playing in the ocean, The Mr noticed 5 dolphins swimming very (and I mean ridiculously) close to shore. This was probably cool for most people in the water to see but Theresa and I both screamed and paddled like hell away from the waves to avoid being mauled by a dolphin (or as Theresa yelled, "You don't know if it's a dolphin!"). Seeing very large dark shadows of mammals in the water is scary as shit. Since we survived the potential mauling, we can laugh about it… but I was scared shitless at the time.
- During the rainy times (it rained in the evenings a few nights), we made the most of it by watching 2 movies: Hancock and The Dark Knight (or whatever the new Batman movie is called). At least I got watching those out of the way. I believe The Mr officially owes watching "Mamma Mia" with me now. Score!
- I obsessively played with Theresa's "Brain Age" game and managed to get my brain age from 44 down to 41 in 5 days. Go me. And seriously - my brain age is 41 years old?! Yikes.
- got me a sweet VEGAN Matt & Nat handbag from The Mr on my birthday.
- We had a delicious dinner at a fancy schmancy restaurant where at one point it seemed that I was on a date with Theresa and The Mr was on a date with T-bag's lover.
- Caught up on all of my magazines. Is it sad that this is a highlight?
- No work! I think that's highlight enough.
Pictures!
Now onto the fun stuff. We actually didn't take a lot of pictures just because we didn't really think about it…
Obligatory foot shot!
I have to thank Theresa for the bday pedicure. My toenail polished had chipped away and I looked like a Baltimore city hooker from the ankles down.
The house we stayed in:
The pool next door. We decided not to get a pool but later regretted it. This is me staring longingly at it.
An evil raccoon (it was hanging out outside of the fancy schmancy restaurant):
The Mr setting up a facebook page for Petie. I wish I could say I was kidding but I'm not.
I watched this Grandpa dig quite the elaborate mote for his grandkids...
This is the result of Theresa and I playing, "How many little stones can we throw on The Mr until he wakes up?" Apparently a lot.
He was only woken up when I tried to play, "How many little stones can I remove from The Mr's back before he wakes up?" The answer is one.
Petie spent a lot of time begging for food. Theresa wouldn't share her hushpuppy.
Sad to be leaving...
However, on the way - we saw the ridiculous amount of traffic exiting the town so we decided to hit up Corolla and see the lighthouse (and to kill time).
And some of the crazy large beach houses we saw...
Lastly - what the hell is this? These were everywhere:
Can someone explain the pegasus painted statues to me?
Oh and p.s. Here's a ridiculously cute picture of my dogs sleeping on the ride home.
I'll post the pics The Mr took from the wetlands/lighthouse park sometime this week.
I've been gone for a week now and plenty has happened over the course of that week that it really is just too much to type. And seriously - who has the attention span to read through a long blog post? I'll try to keep this simple.
Lowlights
- It took us close to 9 f'n hours to get down there. 9. We were on the brink of divorce by the time we made it into Duck, NC. We didn't leave Baltimore until 11:30am (against advice from others to try to get down to NC before noon) because I had Dragonboat practice that I felt I just couldn't miss. Plus our check-in time wasn't until 4pm that Saturday. Why rush to get down there if we had to hang around with a car full of crap? Oh and The Mr didn't even finish packing until Saturday morning.
- Our dogs weren't too crazy about the beach. We were stoked about being able to take our dogs to a dog friendly beach town and they didn't even like it! We totally didn't take into account that the blazing hot sun wasn't a good idea for them and didn't have an umbrella (next year we're getting a beach tent!). Petie was fine on the beach and trotted right over to the water and even let it splash him. Emily? Just the sound of the waves crashing left her shivering in the sand with her tail tucked between her legs.
- And while taking our dogs on vacation was fabulous, we didn't get to sleep in much because the dogs always woke up around 5:30-6am… every morning. Now The Mr will argue that he deals with this at home but it was VACATION! Vacations are meant for sleeping a lot.
- The late check-in time and early check-out time resulted in lost beach time (2 days). Boo!
- It rained all day on Thursday. Boo!
- We learned the hard way that we need to be better prepared for beach house trips (i.e. always pack bath towels and more kitchen utensils if you plan on cooking).
- Upon our arrival at home I discovered that I had erroneously left a banana on the counter… and it rotted and gave birth to about 50 fruit flies. It was a great fuck you welcome from Baltimore!
Highlights (luckily there are more of these than lowlights)
- The Outer Banks area (at least Duck) is probably one of the cleanest and quietest beach towns I have ever been too. Sadly - I can only really compare the area to Ocean City, Md and its surrounding beaches so I'm not sure if what I just said is even truly fair. After the 9 hour ride I had declared that I was never returning. By the end of the trip, I declared that I wanted to make a yearly trip down to Duck (but I will NOT buy an "OBX" sticker… EVER).
- Even though our dogs woke us up early every morning, it just motivated me to run along the bike trail. I ran about 2.5 miles 5 days out of the week. While this might not sound like much of a relaxing time to you, I felt great. I like being active and it made my gorging on junk food and margaritas justifiable.
- We walked our dogs every morning and every night. I'm not sure if they loved this or hated it. We thought it was great since most of the time we're away from home for about 8-9 hours every weekday.
- The Mr makes a mean Bloody Mary. I don't even usually like Bloody Mary drinks but his were delicious. I knew I married him for a reason.
- On Wednesday when we were playing in the ocean, The Mr noticed 5 dolphins swimming very (and I mean ridiculously) close to shore. This was probably cool for most people in the water to see but Theresa and I both screamed and paddled like hell away from the waves to avoid being mauled by a dolphin (or as Theresa yelled, "You don't know if it's a dolphin!"). Seeing very large dark shadows of mammals in the water is scary as shit. Since we survived the potential mauling, we can laugh about it… but I was scared shitless at the time.
- During the rainy times (it rained in the evenings a few nights), we made the most of it by watching 2 movies: Hancock and The Dark Knight (or whatever the new Batman movie is called). At least I got watching those out of the way. I believe The Mr officially owes watching "Mamma Mia" with me now. Score!
- I obsessively played with Theresa's "Brain Age" game and managed to get my brain age from 44 down to 41 in 5 days. Go me. And seriously - my brain age is 41 years old?! Yikes.
- got me a sweet VEGAN Matt & Nat handbag from The Mr on my birthday.
- We had a delicious dinner at a fancy schmancy restaurant where at one point it seemed that I was on a date with Theresa and The Mr was on a date with T-bag's lover.
- Caught up on all of my magazines. Is it sad that this is a highlight?
- No work! I think that's highlight enough.
Pictures!
Now onto the fun stuff. We actually didn't take a lot of pictures just because we didn't really think about it…
Obligatory foot shot!
I have to thank Theresa for the bday pedicure. My toenail polished had chipped away and I looked like a Baltimore city hooker from the ankles down.
The house we stayed in:
The pool next door. We decided not to get a pool but later regretted it. This is me staring longingly at it.
An evil raccoon (it was hanging out outside of the fancy schmancy restaurant):
The Mr setting up a facebook page for Petie. I wish I could say I was kidding but I'm not.
I watched this Grandpa dig quite the elaborate mote for his grandkids...
This is the result of Theresa and I playing, "How many little stones can we throw on The Mr until he wakes up?" Apparently a lot.
He was only woken up when I tried to play, "How many little stones can I remove from The Mr's back before he wakes up?" The answer is one.
Petie spent a lot of time begging for food. Theresa wouldn't share her hushpuppy.
Sad to be leaving...
However, on the way - we saw the ridiculous amount of traffic exiting the town so we decided to hit up Corolla and see the lighthouse (and to kill time).
And some of the crazy large beach houses we saw...
Lastly - what the hell is this? These were everywhere:
Can someone explain the pegasus painted statues to me?
Oh and p.s. Here's a ridiculously cute picture of my dogs sleeping on the ride home.
I'll post the pics The Mr took from the wetlands/lighthouse park sometime this week.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Back in Baltimore
Hello readers! I am back from my fabulous trip in the Outer Banks, NC.
I am depressed to be back home because being on vacation is such an amazing and awesome feeling. And while I have deemed the Outer Banks to be one of the most white-washed vacation spots on the planet, it was clean, relaxing, and just overall fantastic.
Now I'm back in Baltimore dealing with the same old bullshit as always, its cloudy and gross, I'm officially 28 (!!) and now I'm nursing some crazy rash on my arms from either the heat, the sand or the sunblock I used while on vacation. So sad.
I promise to post more details with pictures later but just wanted to say HELLO! It sucks to be back. :-)
I am depressed to be back home because being on vacation is such an amazing and awesome feeling. And while I have deemed the Outer Banks to be one of the most white-washed vacation spots on the planet, it was clean, relaxing, and just overall fantastic.
Now I'm back in Baltimore dealing with the same old bullshit as always, its cloudy and gross, I'm officially 28 (!!) and now I'm nursing some crazy rash on my arms from either the heat, the sand or the sunblock I used while on vacation. So sad.
I promise to post more details with pictures later but just wanted to say HELLO! It sucks to be back. :-)
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Je le rêve de Paris
So anybody that knows me (or anyone that has bothered to look at my 101 in 1001 list) knows that I really really really want to travel to Paris. I have never been before and while I don't share the same bizarre fixation on the Eiffel Tower as Theresa's old roommate did, I do fantasize about living there because it just seems so... amazing, exhilarating, breath-taking, awe-inspiring, awesome and magical. I couldn't even think of one good word to describe it. Wait! Paris, to me, is scrumptulescent.
I don't think it is news that The Mr and I like to travel. I wish I could say we've been to a ton of exotic places but since dating, we've been to: Punta Cana, The Maldives (probably the most exotic trip we've taken) and Cabo San Lucas. We've gone to cities within the U.S. but for traveling abroad, that's it.
I've always wanted to go to Europe. I regret never taking any sort of chance with my life and traveling over there to experience it before I got chained to a corporate job. I live vicariously through Juli (whose wedding I am most looking forward to this year... sorry to all of my friends getting married this year but Juli is getting married in Scotland and it will mark my first official trip over to Europe). Her life just seems so romantic compared to mine although I can't really complain about where I've ended up.
Aaanywho - The Mr. got to enjoy Europe in his youth. He lucked out in that his dad was in the military so he lived in Europe for awhile and traveled all over. He doesn't exactly ache for Paris like I do.
What's my point? I have always said that I want to go to Paris and I'd especially like to do so before I have kids. The problem? It's so frickin' expensive. Oy! The Mr priced it out earlier this year and to go during the Spring/Summer/Fall months, it would have been close to $10k! That's almost as much as my car!
Then The Mr proposed a different solution: travel to Paris in the winter. At first I wasn't really sold because I'm not really a fan of the cold season but the difference in cost was almost astounding. I had a dream last night that I went to Paris on a whim and have spent the majority of my day trying to remember the French that I spent 4 years learning throughout high school and college.
I Googled "Paris in the winter" and found some great write-ups on why it's such a fabulous idea to go:
- The cost is much less
- Tourism is WAY down. So down that you don't have to fight the crowds and wait in long lines to see The Louvre or Chateau de Versailles. I hate crowds so this just seemed great.
- They have a huge New Year's Eve celebration and what could be more amazing than ringing in the new year in frickin' Paris?
After reading this, I was totally sold and then this sealed the deal for me.
Yippee! I think we're going to Paris this winter!
I don't think it is news that The Mr and I like to travel. I wish I could say we've been to a ton of exotic places but since dating, we've been to: Punta Cana, The Maldives (probably the most exotic trip we've taken) and Cabo San Lucas. We've gone to cities within the U.S. but for traveling abroad, that's it.
I've always wanted to go to Europe. I regret never taking any sort of chance with my life and traveling over there to experience it before I got chained to a corporate job. I live vicariously through Juli (whose wedding I am most looking forward to this year... sorry to all of my friends getting married this year but Juli is getting married in Scotland and it will mark my first official trip over to Europe). Her life just seems so romantic compared to mine although I can't really complain about where I've ended up.
Aaanywho - The Mr. got to enjoy Europe in his youth. He lucked out in that his dad was in the military so he lived in Europe for awhile and traveled all over. He doesn't exactly ache for Paris like I do.
What's my point? I have always said that I want to go to Paris and I'd especially like to do so before I have kids. The problem? It's so frickin' expensive. Oy! The Mr priced it out earlier this year and to go during the Spring/Summer/Fall months, it would have been close to $10k! That's almost as much as my car!
Then The Mr proposed a different solution: travel to Paris in the winter. At first I wasn't really sold because I'm not really a fan of the cold season but the difference in cost was almost astounding. I had a dream last night that I went to Paris on a whim and have spent the majority of my day trying to remember the French that I spent 4 years learning throughout high school and college.
I Googled "Paris in the winter" and found some great write-ups on why it's such a fabulous idea to go:
- The cost is much less
- Tourism is WAY down. So down that you don't have to fight the crowds and wait in long lines to see The Louvre or Chateau de Versailles. I hate crowds so this just seemed great.
- They have a huge New Year's Eve celebration and what could be more amazing than ringing in the new year in frickin' Paris?
After reading this, I was totally sold and then this sealed the deal for me.
Yippee! I think we're going to Paris this winter!
Monday, June 2, 2008
Now That We're Back from Mexico...
I forgot to mention a few things in my last post.
First, I have to share this picture with everyone:
See my feet at the bottom? Most mornings, The Mr and I would get up early, eat breakfast and then secure 2 very sweet spots by the pool. Our chairs were by the pool but faced out onto the beach and ocean. Very good spots.
On this particular day, The Mr was sleeping in his chair and I was reading. I noticed one of these fine folks walking up to the railing to overlook the beach. Sure, no prob. Take a pic and leave. But then the whole family decided to walk over and hang out for about a half hour. Um... hello? You're blocking my view, a-holes. I didn't just pick this spot because the chair was open. I picked a supreme spot. Maybe if you had dragged your ass out of bed early enough, you too could have had a supreme spot.
While I wanted to shout, "move out of the way, jerks!", I just snapped this picture instead. Because really - who wants a view of this?
Aaaanywho - last Thursday while The Mr and I were catching up on some DVR'ed shows, he turned to me and said, "Now that we're back from Mexico, I can tell you this story." Um, what?
Apparently 2 days before we arrived at our hotel, 2 tourists were shot right in their hotel room. OUR hotel. Um.... what?!?! The man was shot and killed while his girlfriend was shot in the foot. This is why, The Mr said, that the hotel seemed a little empty the day we arrived. Most of the guests had checked out early because of the shooting.
You can read the article here.
Crazy, right? He said he didn't tell me because he knew I'd freak out and it was too late to cancel the trip. He knows me very well.
First, I have to share this picture with everyone:
See my feet at the bottom? Most mornings, The Mr and I would get up early, eat breakfast and then secure 2 very sweet spots by the pool. Our chairs were by the pool but faced out onto the beach and ocean. Very good spots.
On this particular day, The Mr was sleeping in his chair and I was reading. I noticed one of these fine folks walking up to the railing to overlook the beach. Sure, no prob. Take a pic and leave. But then the whole family decided to walk over and hang out for about a half hour. Um... hello? You're blocking my view, a-holes. I didn't just pick this spot because the chair was open. I picked a supreme spot. Maybe if you had dragged your ass out of bed early enough, you too could have had a supreme spot.
While I wanted to shout, "move out of the way, jerks!", I just snapped this picture instead. Because really - who wants a view of this?
Aaaanywho - last Thursday while The Mr and I were catching up on some DVR'ed shows, he turned to me and said, "Now that we're back from Mexico, I can tell you this story." Um, what?
Apparently 2 days before we arrived at our hotel, 2 tourists were shot right in their hotel room. OUR hotel. Um.... what?!?! The man was shot and killed while his girlfriend was shot in the foot. This is why, The Mr said, that the hotel seemed a little empty the day we arrived. Most of the guests had checked out early because of the shooting.
You can read the article here.
Crazy, right? He said he didn't tell me because he knew I'd freak out and it was too late to cancel the trip. He knows me very well.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Picture Fun!
I don't have much to write so I'm just going to post a bunch of pictures from the trip to Cabo.
None of these have been edited. I thought about getting artsy fartsy but decided that it would take me forever and really, does anyone care? Plus I didn't really take any artsy fartsy worthy pics. Oh and the sky in Mexico was amazingly blue and didn't need editing. Blah blah blah, right? Here ya go:
And now some photos from my horseback riding adventure! We rode an ATV to the location... the really ridiculously sketchy location. It was a horseback riding tour/petting zoo:
Yes, that's a huge horse dong peeing. And no, I didn't purposely take a picture of that. It was a nice surprise for me to see after I uploaded all of the pictures.
And now our adventure to the mini island (with pelicans, sea lions, rock formations, etc. The beaches on this island were called "Lover's Beach" and "Divorce Beach". No joke. Apparently "Divorce Beach" got its name for the fact that the waves are really rough and you can't get off of a boat in that area. I would argue that "Lover's Beach" was just as rough since I fell off the boat and was hit with a wave that filled my bathing suit with sand.
The window at the bottom of the boat.
Michael Jackson's face!
This is the window between the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean. I think it looks like a vagina.
The famous arch.
That's me trying to get the sand out of my bathing suit. Classy.
I hope everyone has a great weekend!
None of these have been edited. I thought about getting artsy fartsy but decided that it would take me forever and really, does anyone care? Plus I didn't really take any artsy fartsy worthy pics. Oh and the sky in Mexico was amazingly blue and didn't need editing. Blah blah blah, right? Here ya go:
And now some photos from my horseback riding adventure! We rode an ATV to the location... the really ridiculously sketchy location. It was a horseback riding tour/petting zoo:
Yes, that's a huge horse dong peeing. And no, I didn't purposely take a picture of that. It was a nice surprise for me to see after I uploaded all of the pictures.
And now our adventure to the mini island (with pelicans, sea lions, rock formations, etc. The beaches on this island were called "Lover's Beach" and "Divorce Beach". No joke. Apparently "Divorce Beach" got its name for the fact that the waves are really rough and you can't get off of a boat in that area. I would argue that "Lover's Beach" was just as rough since I fell off the boat and was hit with a wave that filled my bathing suit with sand.
The window at the bottom of the boat.
Michael Jackson's face!
This is the window between the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean. I think it looks like a vagina.
The famous arch.
That's me trying to get the sand out of my bathing suit. Classy.
I hope everyone has a great weekend!
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