Old Lady Spring Break (OLSB 2010)

Vickie and I attempted to head south of the border for what she deemed Old Lady Spring Break (OLSB) 2010. Unfortunately, Snowpocalypse #3 started the night before we were slated to fly out. I woke up around 4:30am, checked the flight status via phone, online, and text message and all stated our flight was on time. A 2-hour trek to Newark in all that snow, only to be told the Port Authority of NY/NJ shut down the airports. No flights were going out that day.

WTF!?

It was the saddest day ever. We couldn't get through to the airline to change our ticket, and the line at EWR was ridiculous. So back home we went, crushed.

We ended up pushing everything back two days, luckily without penalty (except for a few extra vacation days used.)

But once we arrived in Cancun, everything was just fine. It was a very relaxing OLSB. Four days of sunshine, margaritas, guacamole, shopping and a little bit of sight seeing.















Almost there!
















An hour after we arrived we made a mad dash for the beach.















Iguanas: a good indicator that it was warm enough to lay on the beach.




















Guacamole. So good.


Zipping around Isla Mujeres in a golf cart.






















This is true Old Lady Spring Break. Total trainwreck. (Sorry, I'm not sure how to flip it upright)

Across the Pond and Back

London Tower Bridge. The most tourist-y thing we did.







Yo! Sushi. What's not to love about food delivered via conveyor belt?







Airport or Turbine Hall @ Tate Modern?








In the Tube.

Mailing giant royal head postcards to our favorite people.

Tate Britain: Everything Is Going To Be Alricht.

London Calling

This year I can't seem to stay put for more than a month--Alyce and I are heading over to London for a few days.

I've been to London a handful of times, but it has been years since my last visit. It will always be damp and chilly (and expensive) in my memories--I think the last time I went I came down with a bad cold too. Other than that, I remember being scared of the giant ravens at the Tower of London, the Tate Gallery, 221B Baker Street and Marks & Spencer. Now they have that big ferris wheel!

On the list of things to do/see: TopShop, Marks & Spencer, Tate Modern, Victoria & Albert Museum, finding a red Brio train for Elliott, eating good Indian food and fish & chips. Oh, and maybe a little Christmas shopping. While not spending our entire life savings.

I may also try to acquire a taste for beer.

Bean Town, you weren't as scary as I thought you'd be

I had the chance to go to Boston for a conference for a few days. I mentioned in a previous post my fear of this (unknown) city and getting around its potentially dangerous streets.

Well, it turns out the Cradle of Liberty isn't so bad.

I arrived on a sunny Sunday afternoon. My hotel room (which turned out to be quite luxe) wasn't ready and I had a few hours to kill, so map in hand, I decided to explore a little. I went to the Seaport district and checked out the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA). The new building is only three years old and has a great location on the waterfront. The collection itself was better than expected, but like most museums, not a lot of bang for your buck. A few blocks away, a distant cousin of mine owns a bakery, Flour. She won a Bobby Flay Throwdown for her stickybuns. Even though I bought one, I have to confess I am not a huge fan of the stickybun--I'd much rather have a cinnamon one. But I am no less proud of her. The cookie and slice of Boston Cream Pie I also got from there were fantastic.

Boston is a nice city. It's clean, it's manageable, it's historic, and it's chock full of 7-Elevens so you can always get a Slurpee fix. Maybe I'm too much of a New Yorker, but I found it to be a little boring and the areas I went to were not particularly diverse. I realize there is more to this city and it would probably be more fun if I knew more locals to show me around. Or I really liked American history. Maybe.

Highlights of my trip:

• I got to see my friend Urvi, who had moved to Boston from New York earlier this year.


• I managed to de-magnetize my hotel key multiple times in one day. At some point, the guy at reception stopped asking me to show ID.


• I found a $20 bill on the ground.

• I ate some really good Taiwanese food in Chinatown--my people really know how to make a scallion pancake.

• I attempted to get out of Dodge early, but the airlines said it would cost me $150 to change my reservation. That's how much my ticket cost. I got to the airport early and at check-in they offered me an earlier flight for free!


• Oh yes, and I learned a thing or two about clinical research training at my conference.

Syracuse: We're not entirely sure how we ended up here

We somehow ended up spending the second night outside of Syracuse. Apparently, the Finger Lakes region is a popular destination and hotels were booked months in advance. We managed to find a place outside of Syracuse, so we figured we might as well check out the town and learn a little bit about the Erie Canal.

The Erie Canal is a man-made waterway that runs about 360 miles from the Hudson River (near Albany) to Lake Erie (Buffalo), creating a completely navigable water route from the Atlantic to the Great Lakes. It officially opened in 1825. They say that because of the Erie Canal, and the wealth and commerce it brought, New York became the Empire State. A new canal was built in 1918, but now the canals are really only used for recreation.

Syracuse old weigh lock station.

On the way home, we stopped by the orchard to pick up some of our favorite cider donuts. We ate them hot out of the bag. It was a perfect way to end the trip.

Drinking it up at the Finger Lakes

There are 11 Finger Lakes in upstate New York, formed about 2 million years ago by the movement of glaciers. According to Native American lore, the lakes are the finger prints of the Great Spirit. The area is also the largest wine-making region in the eastern U.S. The white wines here are better than the reds. We didn't taste anything that blew us away, and I think my favorite wasn't even wine--we stopped by a cidery along the wine trail.

The highlight of the trip was seeing my very. first. mini-donk. It was very exciting. Doobie wasn't the cutest or mini-est donk, but he was very sweet and friendly. He chewed his grass and slowly moved closer and closer to us until we could pet him.

mini-Roadtrip 2009: Ithaca is Gorges!

We took a mini-roadtrip up to the Finger Lakes region this weekend. It's been Vickie's dream to eat at the vegetarian mecca, Moosewood, and to hit up the wineries around the lakes. The least we could do was help her make that dream come true.

















Requisite Dairy Queen visit.






















Gorges!






















Christina pretending to jump off a bridge at Cornell. This was not Suicide Bridge...


...THIS is Suicide Bridge:























Moosewood. We were disappointed.