During our time on Long Island we got to try a number of places, including some old favorites, and some new-to-us. Black Sheep Bagels, Jamesport - I'd heard good things about this re-branded bagel place and made sure to try it out. On our first trip I got a bacon, egg, and cheese on a slim sesame bagel (regulars were out of stock), and on a different morning got the same on a full-size sesame. Both had crispy bacon and were quite good. Leandra tried the cheddar and jalepeño bagel and it was ... continue reading...
NY Summer 2022: sunsets and kayaking
As we do every year, we made multiple trips to the beach for sunset. Unlike 2021, we had quite a few good sunsets this summer! We found lots of jingle shells to add to our collection and managed to coax Pasha on a short walk once. This year I also had the opportunity to borrow my uncle's kayak, which I took out on Mattituck Inlet one morning. It was a beautiful, peaceful morning, with no other humans out on the water. I did see lots of birds, including a dozen osprey, herons, ... continue reading...
NY Summer 2022: wine and beer tasting
Much like previous summers, we sampled several wines and beers across the month of July. Lenz Winery, Peconic We've been members for years now, and Lenz always has some interesting wines available. The barn interior was open this summer, but we opted for a shaded outdoor spot on each of our visits. On our first visit our focus was tasting, and they were very busy on a holiday Sunday. It took a long while for us to get started, but once we did we had an enjoyable time. so we each ... continue reading...
Pacific Northwest, June 2022: Washington waterfalls + Mount St. Helens
Midway through our time in Seattle, we drove down to the trailhead for Coal Creek Falls and North Fork Falls. At about 3 miles total, it was a nice leg stretcher and we were happy it wasn't raining. Parking at the Red Town trailhead was easy and there were a lot of families on an early Sunday afternoon. Outside of Yelm, we visited a small park, Deschutes Falls County Park, to photograph a falls and some small cascades in a picturesque gorge. The trails were flat and easy but some spots ... continue reading...
Pacific Northwest, June 2022: Washington food & drink
Our first stop after dropping the bags at the hotel was Efeste Sodo for a wine tasting reservation at 4pm. We used to be wine club members years ago but left the club because the shipping got to be too expensive. While there wasn't a seat reserved for us - there were a few parking spots reserved for the bar. Considering we arrived before the start of a Mariners game, we were super happy about that! Our tasting with Jenna was relaxed and informative. We were happy to discover that the wines ... continue reading...
Pacific Northwest, June 2022: Oregon food & drink
Portland On our first morning in Portland we wanted a relatively quick breakfast, so we opted for bagels at Bagel Land. I got the simple lox on an everything bagel - very reasonable at $7. Eric had the Porklander, with eggs, bacon and pepperjack cheese on a sesame bagel. Oh, and an absolutely enormous chocolate chip cookie. The bagel shop isn’t an eat-in situation so we took our food to the nearby Beverly Cleary garden in Grant Park and found a picnic table. We also had a night in ... continue reading...
Pacific Northwest, June 2022: Oregon wine tasting
Dominio IV - Our first wine tasting of the trip. Jose did a great job taking care of us and we enjoyed sitting at the high top outside on the patio. We even had a mini tour after the tasting was done - the gardens were blooming, and we saw our first blue blossom bush of the trip. Argyle - For this tasting we decided to sit inside. Eric and I both opted for the “Pop Flight” (sparkling) while Sandie and James both got the “Rainbow Flight” (still). Each glass came out via a wooden ... continue reading...
Pacific Northwest, June 2022: Oregon waterfalls
With an open afternoon and good weather we headed south out of the Willamette Valley to Silver Falls State Park to do some hiking. We'd been there on a summer trip in 2016, and we were hoping that the water levels would be higher given the spring rains. After a fairly long drive we got to the North Falls parking lot and saw the first falls - wow! The flow was definitely more than our last trip and the trails were uncrowded on Wednesday. We started with North Falls and Upper North Falls. ... continue reading...
Pacific Northwest, June 2022: introduction
Oregon and Washington are amongst our most visited US states, and with good reason — they have an wide range of natural beauty, plus great food scenes including amazing wineries and breweries. Across all our visits we had visited the Pacific Northwest in summer, fall, and winter, but somehow we'd never been there in spring. In addition it had been five years (!) since we last visited Seattle, so in June 2022 we set out on a trip that would take us through the Willamette Valley in Oregon, up to ... continue reading...
Spain 2022: a day in Madrid
Our flight back to the US left out of Madrid, so we spent out final night in Spain here again. This time we stayed next to the Puerta de Atocha train station, as we were arriving there, plus it would give us easy access to the Real Jardín Botánico and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. After checking into our hotel (and passing our COVID test), our next stop was lunch. Just two blocks away we grabbed an outdoor table at Bar Noa, a small cafe with a Canary Islands focused menu. We ... continue reading...
Spain 2022: Cuenca
Cuenca is known for its historic walled city sitting on top of a rocky bluff between two rivers. Located roughly halfway between Valencia and Madrid, with a stop on the high speed train between the two, it made for an interesting detour between the two cities. On arrival at the AVE station, we made our way outside to wait for the #1 bus that goes all the way through town. It comes every 30 minutes on the half hour and was on time both ways. We got off on the second to last stop, most ... continue reading...
Spain 2022: Valencia street art
Before we left on this trip, I researched a bunch of street art places and muralists that I wanted to see. As with most street art, a lot were still visible while others had been painted over or tagged. The street art in Valencia varied greatly in size, scope and subject matter - from entire building facades to small paste-ups. We spent a lot of time wandering around and discovering - here are some of my favorites. mural by thegreatakimbo; "hyper reality" by Deih mural by ATILA ... continue reading...
- 1
- 2
- 3
- …
- 126
- Next Page »