As mentioned in a previous post [link], Smoky Mountain NP was too crowded for us, so the next day we changed gears and headed south to Lake Toxaway, an area we've driven past but hadn't explored on earlier trips to western NC. Our first stop was Little Deep Ford Falls, located roadside in a golf community with beautiful views. Toxaway Falls is a bit hard to photograph as the best vantage point is on private property. Eric managed to get this panoramic shot from the hillside by the ... continue reading...
NC Mountains, October 2020: Smoky Mountain National Park
We have planned trips to Smoky Mountain National Park multiple times over the years, and each time something has caused us to cancel the trip - sick dog, bad weather, etc. This time we did finally make it, but in the end we left a little dispirited by the sheer number of visitors, even on a weekday. Starting in NC we drove north on 441 toward Tennessee. The start was quite pretty with lots of cascades and the small roadside Cliff Branch Falls. Most of the scenic pullouts were on ... continue reading...
NC Mountains, October 2020: Blue Ridge Parkway and nearby waterfalls
One of our primary reasons for staying in Western NC was the ability to access the very end of the Blue Ridge Parkway, the only part we hadn't driven. Our first visit to the BRP was way back in 2002 and over the years we've driven all of the other parts with the exception of the last 30 miles. On this trip we finally completed that section, starting outside Cherokee. The drive was just as great as expected. Soco Falls is just a few minutes from the BRP, so we also stopped to ... continue reading...
NC Mountains, October 2020: waterfalls near Bryson City
There are three relatively accessible waterfalls just outside of Bryson City accessed via the Deep Creek Campground, and these made an easy start to our week. Though the sign clearly states "No Pets," we saw several dogs on this trail (Pasha stayed in the car) so it clearly wasn't heavily enforced. Tom Branch Falls is viewed across Deep Creek near the parking area. Indian Creek Falls was an easy walk and running quite nicely - thankfully it was in the shade! The full Juney ... continue reading...
NC Mountains, October 2020: Intro and Food
Facing a 14-hour drive back from Illinois, we knew we would want to stop somewhere along the way. As we checked over the map for options, Western North Carolina looked viable (~10 hour drive). It would also give us the chance to explore part of the state we've not made it to yet, so we decided to make it into a several day mini-vacation. Where We Stayed After checking through the list of pet-friendly options, we decided on an airbnb in Sylva, NC, that would give us a decent starting point for ... continue reading...
Midwest 2020: family time in the Chicago ‘burbs
Spending time with my sister and her four girls is always an adventure — exhausting but fun. I spent the majority of my aunt time baking with everyone (cinnamon rolls, cake pops, etc) and Eric was the play-time jungle gym ("pick me up! my turn!"). Because we had Pasha with us we couldn't stay with them (due to allergies) so pup spent her time between sleeping in the car and running around the backyard. All the while being admired by curious children. She was a trooper for sure. spying ... continue reading...
Midwest 2020: overnight in Cincinnati
In September we drove from North Carolina to Illinois to spend a week with Leandra's sister and family. Given it is a ~14 hour drive we broke it up into two days, spending a night in Cincinnati. We'd never been before so we made an effort to try a few things new-to-us. Aloft on the levee - since we were traveling with our mini schnauzer pup, Pasha, we made it a priority to stay at a dog-friendly hotel. This Aloft was great, with dogs staying free, and a nice location on the Kentucky side of ... continue reading...
Wine / Whisky Room custom table
As mentioned in the Wine / Whisky Room transformation post, we'd been thinking about this room for several years. Back in Christmas 2018 we found a beautiful log from a downed tree at my parents in house in NY. It looked like it would make a great end table so we took it back to NC and kept it in the garage. We'd worked on occasionally, but with the wine room now ready for a table we were much more motivated to finish this project. stripping the bark in 2019 Early sanding - we switched ... continue reading...
Wine / Whisky Room transformation
This September we finally upgraded our unused dining room from dumping ground to an actually-functioning wine and whisky room. We'd been discussing this for several years, but now that we are home all the time we finally had the motivation to get things started. chairs purchased by Leandra three years ago for "motivation" ugh First up was getting everything out the room, then painting walls, as this room still had the original butter yellow wall color. Leandra accomplished this over ... continue reading...
NY Summer 2020: sunsets
One of our favorite activities on Long Island is going to the beach for sunset, especially since Pasha is allowed off-leash. in 2020 we were able to go quite a few times, and each time was a unique combination of color, wind, and tide levels. the car ride itself can be fun the cool water can be quite nice on a warm evening Pasha was feeling brave about the water on one of the visits. https://www.ericandleandra.com/video/pashabailiebeach.mp4 we're always on lookout ... continue reading...
NY Summer 2020: a day trip to Montauk
Leandra had never been out to Montauk, and I was a little kid the last time I had visited, so we decided it would be a good outdoor day trip for this summer. We managed to rope my parents into driving, which turned out great as they got free parking as senior residents of NY. It's a surprisingly long way, ~1.5 hours, given the slower roads and traffic, but it was nice to be out seeing something new. Just before we got to Montauk lighthouse we stopped at a small art installation that we ... continue reading...
NY Summer 2020: North Fork Food + Drink
With coronavirus restrictions we were very selective about where we went this year, but still got to try a few restaurants, breweries and wineries. Food A Lure Chowder House - This was the first restaurant we'd been to since March! Their outdoor seating was nicely spaced, and the view of the marina was great. As a bonus, they allow dogs on the patio too! I got the fish tacos; technically an appetizer, it was enough for dinner. Leandra got the mussels which were good but came with a soggy piece ... continue reading...
Dryer Repair 101
I threw the down comforter and duvet cover into the dryer, selected the cycle, hit "GO" and ... nothing happened. I switched outlets and scoured the manual, no luck. The power was on but the dryer wouldn't turn. It seemed the only option to figure out what was wrong was to call a serviceman ($$$) or take the dryer apart ourselves and troubleshoot. We found a how-to video on YouTube for a dryer that looked close enough to ours and after taking the top section off it became clear we were ... continue reading...
Coronavirus cooking adventures
Because of the pandemic currently affecting the world, we are grounded for the foreseeable future and my hobbies now include trying to get our money back from airlines and puzzles. In between Zoom trivia and virtual happy hours, however, I have also had a lot of time to work on my baking skills! Here are a few of my favorite recipes from the last several weeks: New York-Style Bagels King Arthur Flour Classic Baguette Alton Brown's Soft Pretzels Brazilian Cheese Bread, Pão de ... continue reading...
Grand Cayman: snorkeling
Grand Cayman is famous for Stingray City, but we were not interested in a (pricey) boat tour with a bunch of other tourists. Instead, we went snorkeling from the shore at two locations south of Seven Mile Beach. Our first stop was Eden Rock Dive Center, which has a parking lot plus lockers and picnic tables too. After checking-in with the staff and getting some tips on where to go, we took the center's ladder to get into the water and swam out to the well-marked buoys off the shore. On the ... continue reading...
Grand Cayman: food
Grand Cayman is known as a pricey destination, and we definitely found that to be true. However, we were pleasantly surprised at the general quality, so at least you are getting a commiserate value for the higher cost. To save a bit of money we stopped between the airport and the hotel at Kirk Market, a recommended grocery store. We were able to find a few reasonably priced snacks for our two days (passion fruit juice, chocolate covered craisins, and the rosemary crackers were great). On ... continue reading...
Grand Cayman: Kimpton Seafire Resort
The main reason to go to Grand Cayman was to use two free night certificates from IHG that were expiring. After investigating several California properties, we decided we'd rather go to the Caribbean, and the Kimpton Seafire Resort was highly recommended so we built a mini-trip around it. First impressions: wow! Check-in was very friendly, with complementary sparkling rose and cookies on arrival. Since it was our first time there we we were given a quick tour and escorted to the ... continue reading...
UK January 2020: Bracknell
Bracknell is a convenient town for accessing my UK office, but it generally lacked interesting restaurants. After a multi-year development the downtown is completely re-done, including new restaurants, so I thought I'd check it out on this trip. I choose the Grange Bracknell Hotel in large part due to its proximity to both the train station and the Lexicon (the name of the outdoor shopping center downtown). The style is rather dated, with boldly colored rooms, and most of the lights are ... continue reading...
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