Seeing Seattle

Like most urban dwelling liberal 20-somethings, at one point or another, Trevor and I have discussed packing it all up and transporting ourselves to Seattle or Portland or Austin or Denver or San Francisco... With a surprise party in the works for my California-based in-laws, we had a built-in reason to plan a West Coast visit and check out the vibe of Seattle & Portland, and so at the beginning of May, we found ourselves settled onto JetBlue and bound for the city of 'Grey's Anatomy.' What follows is a recount of the ensuing events.

We arrived close to midnight on a Saturday and took a cab into Seattle proper, bound for this adorably hip boutique-y hotel that wanted us to pay only $99 a night, in exchange for using very large and clean bathrooms that just happen to be shared. I'm in. By the time we settled in, it was 4am according to our bodies, so we called it a night.

First stop the next morning was our hotel's continental breakfast which included fruit and granola (this was Seattle after all) and Make-Your-Own waffles (What an unexpectedly welcome flashback to dorm life!). For the day we had two distinct goals: Trevor wanted to make it to the Sounders game (Do you know about the Sounders? In the 2009 season, the MLS introduced a new franchise. The city, recently abandoned by David Stern and the NBA, immediately latched onto the team, selling out of season tickets and every game so far.); I wanted to see the first ever Starbucks. Off we went to Pike Place Market , which, possibly because it was Mother's Day, or possibly because everything in Seattle is always covered in flowers and love and pink, was absolutely overwhelmed with bustling flower stands. We didn't see any fish being thrown, but we did recite the opening to The Real World 5-10 times and see a psychic cat.


Early on in the day, we achieved my goal – here I am in front of the original Starbucks (We were headed to a soccer game – I felt channeling by 14 year old self with French Braided pigtails made sense.):


Trevor had read about a pre-game Sounders rally where the faithful fans meet and parade to the field. We set out on a mission to find the rally and when we did, it didn't disappoint – Sounders green as far as the eye could see, a band to lead everyone in song and then a 4 block walk to Qwest Field. It was the most festive and pumped up fans that I've ever seen for a regular season game of any sport.



Conveniently located next to Qwest Field is one of the brew pubs for the Elysian Brewery, and since there was still a good hour (and it was now respectably past noon), we stopped in for our first of many vacation craft beers. The space was awesome, and the beers delicious. We enjoyed Dragontooth Stout and a couple of IPAs. Shocking we didn't take advantage of the stellar guest beer option:


Then we made our way into the stadium. First things first: Our seats were impossible to find. We wandered the stadium, up and down ramps for over 20 minutes, following the incorrect directions from any number of stadium employees (unless “left” actually means “right” in Washington State). We eventually made it and settled in with the crazy crowd, which included this guy:


Yes, a Sounders fan so devoted, he has his own GOALIE GLOVES. The Sounders were playing a Beckham-less Galaxy team and the game eventually ended in a tie, a fact that should surprise no one (The Galaxy's record so far this year is 2-2-9. That would be 9 TIES).


After the game, our mission was to find a bar showing the Lakers game. At this point it was Game 4 of the Rockets series. Do you remember that game? The Lakers were down by 30 at one point – Yeah, we weren't there long. We powered back from the painful loss for the night with a trip to the Space Needle, great pizza and salad, then a bottle of wine with 'Drillbit Taylor.'


Day 2 was a big one. We were nervous it was going to rain, but, somehow our 3 days in Seattle were all rain-free. We'd planned to hit up the Seattle Art Museum, but discovered it is closed on Mondays. Plan B: A trip to Bainbridge Island! Though I had watched Harper's Island (sort of), I was able to convince myself that we would not, in fact, get inexplicably trapped on the island and murdered, so we boarded the ferry for a lovely afternoon of walking around, gorgeous city views and chocolate chili ice cream.



We returned to the city in need of an afternoon snack and found our way back to The Pike Pub back in the Pike Market for a sampler and some amazing nachos. Pike Brewery is cool because it was a family-owned brewery that was sort of bought out and then, like 10 years later, bought itself back.


After Pike's we went on a long walk through Seattle's downtown, bound for a bus that would take us North of the city to a bar that, in honor of Seattle Beer Week, was having a Victory Brewery Tasting. We got there about an hour before the kegs showed up, and were able to snag a place at the soon-to-be-very-in-demand bar.


After the tasting, which included an introduction by the Victory brewery founder, we headed back into the city, where we had earlier passed a movie theatre that is also a bar. We were too curious to pass it up, even if it meant seeing 'State of Play,' with the dreaded Russell Crowe. Review still to follow (no, really), but movie theaters where you can also have a glass of wine are okay by me.

We only had a couple hours the next morning before our train to Portland, and we passed the time at the Olympic Sculpture Park, before packing up, saying goodbye to Andre the Giant, and making the cross-town walk to the train station, bound for another (hopefully awesome) Pacific Northwest city.


All the details on Portland in a few days!

Don't call it a girl-cation, part 2

Continuing the adventures from Puerto Rico...

By the time we returned from National Salsa Day, it had turned to night. We were sun-worn and full of ridiculous amounts of fried food, but not quite ready to call it a night. Our hotel had a beachfront restaurant – we’d eaten lunch there the first day and taken advantage of the fresh fruit blended rum drinks (hellooo fresh mango!) – but this was more of a wine night. A bottle of wine, three exhausted ladies and an amazing ocean breeze: Yes, the first two days in Puerto Rico treated us all right.

Day 3, we got up bright and early for an epic day. Over the objections of our hotel “concierge” about handling it on our own, we rented a car to go explore south of San Juan, including the El Yunque rain forest and bioluminescent bay in Fajardo. By the recommendation of our guide book, we wanted to get to El Yunque early to avoid the crowds, so by 9AM we were on our way winding through tiny towns along beachfront roads (Most importantly, past the club where they filmed 'Dirty Dancing 2: Havana Nights'!), and an hour later we were there, in North America’s only rain forest.


One of the economic stimulus programs from FDR’s new deal involved paving the rain forest – because who wants to hike when you can stroll along on concrete? (So don’t worry everyone, if the economy keeps tanking, we can create more jobs by adding sidewalks to our National Parks – Yosemite, here we come!). Despite this strange incongruity, El Yunque is undeniably beautiful.

Here I am, coming around the bend, on our "hike"

We got to the end of the road, and found a trail that would take us past La Anza waterfall. We opted to not go swimming in the waterfall, as it was crawling with traveling teens and their families, in which many of the parents were behaving worse than the kids (I’m talking to you, Dad trying to scale the wall inside the waterfall), but we enjoyed quite a lovely walk from end to end of the path and back (One of my favorite quotes of the weekend, courtesy of the overweight woman gasping for breath on her way down a hill thought we had done the there-and-then-back hike by mistake: “They went the wrong way! Make sure we don’t do that!”)

That was enough exertion for the day, so we made our way out of El Yunque, in search of the perfect Puerto Rican beach. Mission accomplished:

But we didn’t go swimming. Our bodies demanded food, and we’d read about the famous food kiosks that lined a road near our location. Food kiosks? You had me at hello! Because it was a weekday, a number of them were closed. And some of them were really, really closed:

But we eventually settled in at Bubbles, where we enjoyed the patio for a good couple of hours. We chatted with the super friendly cook, bartender and owner, sipped margaritas, enjoyed an amazing view and cried over stray cats. Well, that last part was just me.


With full bellies, we had just enough time for a lazy hour on the beach, so at the recommendation of the chatty Peruvian ex-pat owner of Bubbles, we headed down the street to Luquillo, where it appears we took no photos, so you'll just have to trust me that it was gorgeous and, finally, wind-free!

After the relaxing afternoon, it was time to get back in the car and head to our bioluminescent bay tour. The tours are kayaking excursions from a harbor, through a 10ish-foot wide canal, into a bay where, thanks to the perfect intersection of ecosystem and temperature, hundreds of thousands of single-celled kinda plant, kinda animal organisms "glow" within the water.

We put on our life vests, listened to the safety schpiel, climbed into our 3-person kayak…and promptly went off course. Not just a little off course – like, headed to open ocean off course. I wish one of us had a waterproof camera, so we could share photos of this disaster. Jessica – the “steering wheel” at the back of the boat - overestimated her unpracticed-for-years rowing ability. I – the “motor” at the front” – overestimated my ability to see the boat ahead of us and keep us on track. Sarah – in the middle and oar-free – overestimated her ability to sit between us powerless. It was truly the perfect storm. How bad was it? At one point, we were literally turning in circles. The tour leaders had to go back to shore, grab an extra boat and rower, and split us up into two kayaks. (I'm really trying to resist the urge here to talk about how naturally athletic and coordinated the three of us really are...).

Jessica & Sarah went with one of the tour leaders. I went with the extra employee they’d grabbed, who didn’t want me to row – or talk. Once we settled in, we were able to enjoy beautiful night sky, and the tiny plankton-like creatures glowing in the dark water below. The beginning of the kayak trip had already been so crazy that the giant traffic jam back through the canal – different tour groups passing one another on the wrong sides, colliding, getting turned around or sometimes stuck in the trees that lined the sides – didn’t really phase me. Eventually we made it back to shore in one piece. Here we are with Jessica & Sarah’s boat captain, Señor Jokester:

Water-logged and wholly amused by what had just transpired, we headed back to our hotel, determined to have one final night out – we still had outfits left to wear, afterall!

Unfortunately, Monday nights don’t tend to be the most happening nights around, so our night out mainly meant drinks in a hotel lobby, a quick trip to the hotel casino (I made $7!), and a dinner that finally included plantains.

Our flight was early afternoon on Tuesday, and we decided we had time to squeeze some historical touring of Old San Juan in. So, after returning our rental car, we jumped on the bus one final time and headed straight for Fort San Felipe del Morro. As public transportation is wont to do, it took us a bit longer than we expected to get there – so imagine our dismay when we saw the walkway up to the Fort:

10 minutes later we were inside – with about 20 minutes to see everything there was to see. We rushed up and down mysterious stairways, enjoyed the amazing ocean views, and promised ourselves we’d read up on the importance of all this stuff later (Yeah, that totally happened…).





We did, of course, find enough time to commemorate the trip once more, from atop that long walkway:

And then, just like that, we were off to the airport for one final tropical drink and back to Boston.



This trip was a long-time coming, and absolutely everything I could have hoped for – three days of solid girl time, plenty of sun, delicious food and drinks, and just the right amount of culture and history. Now, time to start planning next year’s trip – perhaps somewhere French speaking, so Jessica can take the lead. Did someone say Monaco?

Miss me?

Trevor & I have been out of town for the last 9 days, and I had a choice: Embrace the whole vacation ideal, or strive for editorial integrity and consistency. It should be obvious what won out.

I’m sorry you had to get the short end of the stick, but have no fear – I am back, and boy do I have some opinions to share! Sure, I may have left you hanging with no commentary during an important week of television finales and a not-shocking-to-anyone-who-heard-him 'American Idol' ouster, but don’t worry, not only do you have Part 2 of the Puerto Rico recap to look forward to, you can also expect a Seattle/Portland vacation recap, reflections on 2 years of marriage, and new movie reviews very soon – just as soon as my time-zone confused body and contact-filled eyes have had some recovery time.

Until then, I leave you with this thought: When 2 architects fight over a building design - one who wants to create a tethered balloon, and one who wants to make a flying saucer - we all win:

Don't call it a girl-cation.

At the end of March, I went on a trip to Puerto Rico with Jessica & Sarah. We were there for 4 days and had a truly amazing time. Such an amazing time that I lost my camera. Actually, it’s not what you think – No drunken debauchery is to blame; I left Trevor's & my camera in the cab we took to the San Juan airport. So I have none of my own photos to share, and it took me awhile to gather them from the other ladies, but I’m now finally ready to give you the rundown on a long-awaited girl trip.

Where to start? The airport of course. Sarah is a wonderful wonderful woman. She is also always late. (No, like, alllllways. ). And yet, somehow, Jessica & I are the ones who almost missed our flight, due to the longest line ever seen at Logan security (this includes Thanksgiving & Christmas Eve). To kick off the trip of firsts, this marked the first time I've ever been paged over the loud speaker that my flight was about to depart without me. But, we made it. Sarah had gotten us coffee. We were on our way.

We stayed at a boutique hotel in Ocean Park, a strangely gated community, on the outskirts of San Juan (I say "strangely" because it took us two days to figure out that only some of the streets were blocked from through-traffic with locked gates).


We chose to stay outside of San Juan because we wanted to be on the beach. Little did we know how windy our beach would be!

Post-beach the afternoon of our arrival, we made our way into Old San Juan - just three gringas, trying to take the bus. Old San Juan is beautiful, with quiet streets, bright colors and warm architecture (a weird descriptor for architecture, for sure, but apt).

And thus began our bar crawl, in which Jessica demanded we visit at least 5 bars. We intended to take pictures of each to commemorate the occasion, but, well, here's what we've got:

Our first stop, Madre, specialized in margaritas. One lime, one coconut, one...remind me?

We couldn't get a table here without a reservation, but this snack we had at the bar
was one of the mostdelicious things any of us had ever
tasted - fried yuca with an almond mole sauce.Amazing. Yes, that is my hand -
I couldn't stop eating it long enough to stay out of the picture.

So we ate here instead, at a place owned by the brother of a big pop star,
where the menu describes each meal's deliciousness in terms of aphrodisiac-ness (As in: Really delicious is "Ay yay yay!!!")

Here we are in an ex-pat bar we stumbled upon. A ridiculous juke box,
graffiti all over the walls, and 10-oz cans of Medalla Light. We can be hipsters too?

The night ended at a salsa bar that we'd heard about from some folks at the graffiti hipster bar. While both Sarah & Jessica participated in the dancing festivities, I held the purses (have you met me?), and let it be said that I have enjoyed fewer things in life more than watching my best friends dance salsa in a tiny San Juan club. We made our way home, with ambitious intentions for Day 2.

Sunday was Dia Nacional de Salsa in Puerto Rico, and it was our destination for the afternoon. In the morning, we made our way to a more deserted (still windy) beach. It's a good thing we conserved our energy, because the trip to the stadium where the festivities were being held was a doozie. There was walking, there was a bus, there was a train from the bus, and then there was more walking. And then some more. And then there was an oasis that turned out to be an office park. And some more walking, and then a mall parking lot, where from far off, we finally heard the sounds of salsa. It took two hours, but we made it, and boy was it worth it. Good mojitos, great music and amazingly-bad-for-you-and-delicious food.

Here we are, Jessica with some meat on a stick, and me w
ith freshly fried potato chips covered in nacho cheese. That's right.
And then later we had donuts. So...yeah.

It took 2 months, but I've covered Days 1 and 2, and taken enough of your time for the day. Stay tuned for all the goods on Days 3-4, including a kayak trip that will live in infamy.

A Weekend in Nashville

It had been over 5 years since I’d ventured South to visit my brother, sister-in-law and nephews. In fact, last time I went to Nashville, I only had one nephew. Now, I have two. And boy oh boy, are they adorable.

Matthew (Mattie) turned 2 on Halloween. He is incredibly blonde, loves school buses and circle shapes, and responds to both things with “Whoa.” Douglas (named after my dad; ring bearer at our wedding) will be 7 in July. I can hardly believe this. He is such a good big brother, played his first baseball game this weekend, and loooved Trevor (My brother: “Douglas, hold Aunt Ashley’s hand while you cross the street.” Douglas: “No! Trevor’s!”).

The trip itself was quite an adventure, because most of the East Coast was experiencing thunder storms Friday night when we were due to fly out. After a few hours of delays, our flight was cancelled. The only option to get us from Boston to Nashville before Saturday afternoon was to fly to Dallas, stay overnight in the airport (no comped hotels when the weather’s at fault) and then catch a 6AM flight to Nashville. So, we did that. Dallas airport employees walk around with cots for travelers stranded overnight – how nice:

We arrived in Nashville just before 9AM, and got to go straight to Douglas’s first ever baseball game.

Then, it was time for a quick shower/refresher, and off for lunch and play in Dragon Park.

Saturday afternoon meant a driving tour of Nashville, ice cream and naps all around. Then Trevor and I got to stay with the boys and dogs play lots of trains and checkers (plus, Trevor experienced his first ever Barney), while Stan & Sally went to a dinner party. When they returned, Stan, Trevor & I headed out for a night in downtown Nashville at the honky tonk bars.


We went three different places, saw 4 different bands (no covers anywhere, natch) and ended the night as I imagine most nights out in the South must:

Sunday meant coffee, more baseball and a tiny plane back to Boston. Rapid fire, but really a great weekend, y’all.