Weekend Jaunt: Washington, D.C.

My friend Abbie, who I've known since high school, moved to D.C. almost two years ago.  She's been up to New York for some visits, but I've never made it down there to see her until a few weeks ago.

I've only been to D.C. a few times: once as a kid, once on a family road trip (I was supposed to go to Budapest that year but somehow ended up in a mini-van with my sister, her husband, 2 year old Maddog, and my mom), and lastly, for a rally. This was my first time in D.C. with a local!  Another friend from NYC had recently moved down there so I was going to see her as well.

It's a weird town.  To me, it seemed so much more segregated than New York. And people there are very preppy, straight out of a J.Crew catalog.  Probably because they all work in politics.  I feel like in New York, even the very wealthy and powerful look a little unkempt.  Oh, and it's very, very clean, at least in the parts I went to. We had some drinks at a "dive" bar, and although it looked more like a bar you'd find at home, it was still so much cleaner. Ha.

Ben's Chili Bowl, a Washington D.C. landmark.  We actually ate across the street, but I couldn't resist taking a pic with the bear. I actually wanted to sit on his lap, but thought I might get in trouble.

However, we did eat THIS: 

Mmmmm...sweet, sweet chicken and waffles. Damn good.

And last but not least, we went to the DC Rollerderby!!!

Abbie had joined the DC Rollergirls this season, but she had to retire early due to a most horrific injury.  She shattered her ankle into a million little pieces.  Literally.  She has so much metal keeping it together now, she carries a letter for x-ray machines.  The week I went to visit her, she had literally just gotten the boot cast taken off and could walk with no crutches. By walk, I mean limp with pain. At one point, I pushed her in the wheelchair so we could get her errands finished more quickly. (Side note: she told me I was the best wheelchair pusher she's had! Awwwww.)

Daytripping: Tuthilltown Spirits

I've been dying to check out Tuthilltown Spirits in the Hudson Valley.  It is New York's first whiskey distillery since Prohibition. They produce batch-distilled spirits including vodkas, rum, and whiskeys, including New York's first bourbon, Hudson Baby Bourbon, distilled from 100% New York corn.

Barrels and barrels of sweet, sweet, whiskey.  To hasten the aging process, Tuthilltown custom designed smaller white oak barrels.  The Baby Bourbon Whiskey was born.

 

Whiskey is a shortened form of the Gaelic word meaning "water of life."



The Still

Whiskey tasting!
I tried the NY Corn Whiskey (yikes), Baby Bourbon (not bad, zippier than Makers), and the Four Grain Bourbon (eh, not as nice as the Baby Bourbon). 

The Tuthilltown Gristmill is right off of the distillery property.  It was built in 1788 and was the oldest continuously operated grist mill (where grain is ground into flour) in the state. In the 1980s it becan producing kosher flour for matzoh.  It was recently opened as a restaurant, and was where we had dinner. 



Daytripping: Breakneck Ridge Redux

It was perfect hiking weather for a return to Breakneck Ridge!

Between the four of us, we brought enough food to last a few days. The hike lasted a few hours.

Daytripping: North Fork Wineries

It was a weekend of daytrips--you couldn't ask for more beautiful fall weather! We took a drive along the North Fork of Long Island to check out some wineries. We had done a similar trip 2 years ago, and honestly, the wine has not improved since then. And this time, our beloved Dr. Christina was not present.
However, we serendipitously got a private wine tasting for free--with food parings, AND, we also got to see some mini-donks! The two donks the winery had were smaller than Doobie, the one we met upstate, but still larger than I'd want on the donk ranch.

Old Ladies Do Dallas

Vickie, Jamie and I have been planning a trip to Texas for many months. We were all going to the same conference in Dallas and figured we'd fly in a few days earlier for a mini-roadtrip down to Austin.

Unfortunately, Jamie couldn't come and had to be quarantined, so it was Old Lady Spring Break Texas Style!

Texas is a scary place. But I respect that Texans LOVE Texas. It makes my MN pride seem trite. The two highlights of the trip were the stop at Round Rock Donuts for a Texas sized (read: 14 inch) chocolate frosted donut and a visit to the Texas State Fair.

 

Everything is definitely bigger in Texas!  14 inch donut for only $5.99!!!  Worth every penny.

Austin Donut Massacre.  After 48 hours, we only made it through half of the giant donut.  Granted, we got half a dozen of the normal sized donuts--we HAD to try all the flavors!  Sooooooooooo good.

Texas State Fair!  Supposedly the biggest in the country (#2 is MN).  Meh.  I was not that impressed.  MN State Fair definitely has better food.

Piglet races!

The Happiest Place on Earth (sort of)

It was a rough summer for the family, so it was a nice that we had planned a trip down to Disney World.  I've only been there once, when I was about 5 years old. I don't remember much, except I cried because I was too little to go on Space Mountain.  My mom had promised me that when they opened Epcot that she would take me, but when the time came, I had to choose between a trip to France or a trip to Epcot. 

I'm not stupid.

So I was excited for this trip and that I was FINALLY going to go on Space Mountain!!!  Anyone who has been on Space Mountain as an adult will know that I was very disappointed.  It's basically a crickety old rollercoaster bouncing around in almost complete darkness. 10 year old boys were coming off the ride yelling that it was the best. thing. ever. I guess it could be when you're only 10.

Overall we had a great time--we rented a house with a pool and grilled every night, went to Magic Kingdom, Universal (Harry Potter ride: cool, but makes one queasy), and last but not least, Epcot.  I should also mention that it is damn hot down in Orlando. I don't understand how people can live in those conditions.

Magic Kingdom

With Pooh and Tigger. They were surprisingly clean.

 Ripsaw water ride. We got drenched

.

This one is Dale, I think.  When I was younger, my sister told me he had a red nose because he was a drunk. I didn't realize until my 20s that she made that up.

Hogwarts Castle

Greetings from the pool!

Oh Right, The Main Reason I Went Out to St. Louis...

The main reason I went out to St. Louis so soon after Dr. Christina and Jon moved out there was to help set up the lab!  Unfortunately, not a lot of the equipment and supplies were ready so there wasn't a lot for me to do except clean, label and set up the Chia Statue of Liberty.

Dr. Christina hard at work.

It's very important to have your office supplies in order...

...and labeled properly:

And this is what happens when someone with OCD organizes your desk drawer:

Last, but not least, the Chia Statue of Liberty.  Here it is a week after I seeded it:

Gateway to the West

St. Louis is a great town, and it reminded me of my beloved Twin Cities.  Jon and Dr. Christina had only been there for 2 weeks so we had plenty to explore.  I've already started compiling my list of things to do the next time I visit.  Here are the highlights:  

Gateway Arch

Completed in 1965 and opened to the public in 1967. At 630 feet high, it is the tallest monument in the United States. It is also 630 across the bottom of the base. The Arch weighs a hefty 17,632 tons, 9,000 of which are stainless steel.

 

The trams that take you up to the narrow observation deck look like 1960s futuristic pods. Over one million visitors a year take the trams up the Arch.

City Museum 

Probably the craziest museum I have ever visited. Housed in the old International Shoe Factory Building, it is composed of architectural remnants and other random pieces from St. Louis.  There was a school bus on the roof, two airplanes, and a 10 story spiral slide. It is a crazy playground with tunnels underground and made of wires and other hardware high above. It's basically a no holds barred, free for all.  

City Garden
I love the bunnies.

Ted Drewe's Frozen Custard
A St. Louis classic. They only have one flavor of custard (vanilla) and you can add flavors or mix in toppings. They are known for their "concretes", custard blended with toppings. I got Oreo cookie. Concretes are so thick, they won't drip or fall out when the cup is turned upside down. It was good, but I wouldn't go out of my way to get one--especially if there was a Dairy Queen Blizzard nearby.

Pappy's Smokehouse

Serving Memphis style bbq daily. Yeah, I know. It's St. Louis, not Memphis. I'm not entirely certain what the difference is, but I think it has to do with rubs and sauces. Regardless, it was tasty. They had deep fried corn on the cob, which to be honest, was not as good as it sounds.  I think a plain ol' cob of sweet corn slathered in butter and salt would have been more satisfying.

Anheuser Busch Brewery
A trip to STL would not be complete without a visit to the Anheuser Busch Brewery!  Anheuser Busch is the largest brewing company in the U.S., with 48.9% of the beer shares here. Their products include Busch, Budweiser, Bud Lite, Natural Lite, Michelob, King Cobra (malt), and international beers like Kirin, Stella, and Hoegaarden. Anheuser Busch headquarters are in St. Louis, and they keep some of their famous Budweiser Clydesdale horses here.

P.S. At the end of the brewery tour, everyone got 2 free glasses of beer.  I don't like beer, so I had some very flat soda (ugh) and pretzels. 

St. Louis: Questionably Midwest, but still the Gateway to the West

I'm heading out to St. Louis, MO this week to help my dear friend, Dr. Christina, set up her lab at Washington University. 

This is my first time visiting St. Louis (and Missouri) so here are some quick and dirty facts before I go:  

• Missouri is the "Show Me" state. I am not sure what they are showing me. TBD.
• The state animal is the mule--half horse, half donkey. The state insect is the honey bee. (There is also a state rock, mineral, fossil, song, dance, instrument and tree.)
• Missouri was named after a tribe called Missouri Indians; meaning "town of the large canoes."
• Missouri was a slave state (boo), but the first one to free its slaves.
• Missouri Day is the third Wednesday in October.
• Aunt Jemima pancake flour was invented in Missouri (1889).
• At the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, not only was iced tea invented, but also the ice cream cone.
• St. Louis is an independent city, not affiliated with any county, although it sits within St. Louis county.
• Nicknames for St. Louis:  Gateway to the West, Mound City (due to the "mysterious earthen structures" nearby.)

And finally, although I am totally dubious of this, Missouri is considered part of the Midwest by the U.S. Census Bureau reporting. I know! It is totally South, right?

USA! USA! USA!

2010 appears to be turning into the year of domestic travel. There was Utah. And in the next few months, I'm planning trips to St. Louis, Orlando, and Dallas/Austin. Whew. (Funny, I purchased 3 round trip plane tickets to different destinations in a 24 hour period and my credit card company did not red flag my account. Hmmmm...)

 

To be honest, I haven't seen enough of the U.S.--I generally try to leave the country whenever possible. But in Utah, I had a "proud to be American" moment: there were a ton of European tourists at the national parks, and I realized what a fantastic--and diverse--landscape we have here in the good ol' USA. Sure, while I was at Arches I watched as an overweight sunburnt American father in a tank top caught a small lizard and gave it to his overweight sunburnt daughter to carry along the trail. This enraged me more than when I see flash photography in an art museum, but I was too hot, dehydrated and out of breath (totally blame the elevation, not my fitness level) to yell at them.

We may not win the World Cup, but America is still beautiful, dammit.

So, in the spirit of America the beautiful, here are some facts about our National Parks Service (NPS):

• The NPS was created in 1916. It oversees all the National Parks, some National Monuments and other lands, including National Heritage Sites.  
• The NPS oversees 84 million acres of land (!), divided across 392 areas. The largest is Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve in Alaska (13.2 million acres) and the smallest is Thaddeus Kosciusko National Memorial in Pennsylvania (0.2 acre). I have been to neither of these.
• The NPS sees over 275 million visitors annually
• There are currently 58 National Parks . Yellowstone was the first to get that status back in 1872 (yes, even before the NPS was established).  National Parks are established only by an act of Congress--and not just any land is designated as a NP. There are four criteria that have to be met:
• It is an outstanding example of a particular type of resource.
• It possesses exceptional value or quality in illustrating or interpreting the natural or cultural themes of our Nation's heritage.
• It offers superlative opportunities for recreation, for public use and enjoyment, or for scientific study. 
• It retains a high degree of integrity as a true, accurate, and relatively unspoiled example of the resource.

U! S! A!

Buzzing Around the Beehive State

Utah was amazing! Unbelievably beautiful, and surprisingly diverse in landscape for one state. It was also damn hot and so very dry...until the last day in Bryce Canyon when it was cold and rainy.

There are many, many national and state parks, recreational areas, monuments, etc. in Utah. We visited (or at least drove through) the following: 

• Canyonlands National Park (Island in the Sky and Needles)
• Arches National Park
• Glen Canyon National Recreation Area
• Capital Reef National Park
• Bryce Canyon National Park
• Red Canyon
• Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument
• Escalante Petrified Forest State Park (total disappointment! hardly any petrified trees!)
• Dixie National Forest (which is really like three separate forests--we drove by many "welcome" and "thanks for visiting" signs.)

 

Canyonlands, Island in the Sky. That's the two big buttes, Monitor and Merrimac.

I believe this is still Canyonlands...

 

Arches--this is Delicate Arch. I only hiked to the upper overlook and this is as close as I could get. The full hike to the arch was 3 miles...this was not going to happen with Mom, in the blistering Utah heat.

 

Resting beneath an arch. 

 

 

Canyonlands, Needles. It looks like Mom is standing in the mouth of the rock monster. Hee.



Bryce Canyon, filled with limestone spires (hoodoos). 

Our last full day in UT, it was 40F and rainy in Bryce Canyon. The fog was so thick we didn't make it all the way through the park. I was really looking forward to seeing the hoodoo that looked like a poodle too...