Travel – Eat On Edgecliff

New York City

Travel

5/9-11, 2025

Sophie and I went on a weekend New York City Trip. We had a 2:50PM flight from CLE and got into LaGuardia around 4:30.

We took the free bus from LaGuardia to Queens subway station and then took the subway to Manhattan. The subway was super quick but the bus from the airport took forever due to Friday rush hour traffic. We quickly checked into our hotel and dashed out the door…

…as we had 7:00PM tix for show on Broadway about six blocks from our hotel and we made it by the skin of our teeth with about 10 minutes to spare. Exhale. The show was great in every way: original – based on a crazy true story, great music and singing. Dead Outlaw. We also won them via the lottery so they were only $35 apiece with no fees – and the seats were great.

Pumped after seeing a great show… and famished as we hadn’t eaten in a long time we walked around looking for a place to eat. We walked past Joe Allen and I remember reading about it and we were able to get a table right away. It was a perfect place where we had Manhattans, I had a cheeseburger et frites and Sophie had meatloaf, mashed potatoes and sauteed spinach which won the prize.

We got to talking to our super nice waiter and turns out he grew up in Willowick. Small world indeed.

Apres dinner we strolled for awhile. We stopped at Magnolia bakery and got a vanilla cupcake and banana pudding. The cupcake was just meh but the banana pudding was a winner… good stuff.

…and ended the night in Times Square oggling at all the people and lights.

They have a show at midnight where all the billboards display a video installation. A different artist every night. Not too exciting this night but was pretty cool.

After a great nights sleep we hit the pavement bright and early. First stop was a Russ and Daughters outpost that was just a few blocks down. Sophie got a sesame bagel with cream cheese, sauerkraut and red onions. Good stuff.

We walked the High Line that was not crowded at all early in the morning. It’s such a unique thing and I was happy to be there when all the trees, plants and flowers were blooming. Amazing gardens at every turn.

The day started out chilly but quickly was warming up into a beautiful late spring day.

We jumped on the subway after walking through Chelsea Market, the Starbucks Roastery in Meatpacking district and took the subway to Brooklyn.

Our goal was to go to the vintage flea market that was under the Brooklyn Bridge. Lots of vendors with different stuff and lots of people. Sophie bought some sunglasses (I think that is the only thing any of us bought all weekend that wasn’t food or drinks) and then walked along the river with great views of the bridge and Manhattan.

We found our way up to the Brooklyn Bridge and joined the crowds heading across.

There are not too many things as beautiful as the Brooklyn Bridge… especially on a beautiful May day with bright blue skies.

We walked downtown after the bridge. We checked out a couple of cemeteries looking for Alexander Hamilton and Eliza but pretty sure that section was closed off.

We stopped at Les Printemps, a new department that just opened up downtown about a month ago. I had to take a picture of the bathroom as it was as beautiful as the whole store.

This was the cosmetics tunnel – so cool.

This was the red room in Printemps that was covered in amazing mosaics. The building was an old bank building that they restored.

We headed up toward ground zero checking out the 911 memorial area…

We were hungry at this point so hopped over to China town and walked around looking for a good place. We put our name in at Joe Shanghai and got a table after about 20 minutes. We had an excellent meal of soup dumplings, fried dumplings, scallion pancakes and Heineken. mmmmmmmm.

We walked through Bryant Park, went into the NY Public Library and then went to our hotel for a quick siesta.

Feeling refreshed we jumped on the subway and headed uptown to walk through Central Park.

It was a perfect late afternoon and no better place to be.

The sheep meadow filled with lots of people.

After spending a few hours in the park we headed back downtown to Greenwich Village. Washington Square was hopping.

We had drinks sitting outside at a great little Italian bar called Bar Pisellino in the West Village. Perfect spot.

We then stopped at another spot in the neighborhood and had pizza… and had espresso martinis.

We then stumbled upon a greek natural wine bar that we had to stop in too.

On our way back after an excellent evening.

Next days bagels were at Black Seed Bagels – not as good as previous morning’s but still pretty darn good.

We walked to Grand Central and explored the beautiful building.

We walked up 5th Avenue. It was still pretty early so none of the stores were open. The Louis Vuitton store was impressively decked out as a Louis trunk.

We walked through Central Park again because it was so nice out and made our way to the Met. A John Singer Sargent exhibition was our primary goal. It was interesting.

We also visited the fashion exhibition which was about black male fashion. It was very well done and interesting to look at.

We visited a few of the galleries… wish we had more time. It for sure is the most amazing museum. So big with amazing amazing stuff everywhere.

We found our way up to the rooftop patio which offered an amazing view…

Sophia wanted to stop at this swedish candy store that was on the upper west side.

We walked back to our hotel through the park again. Enjoying the beautiful weather.

We grabbed our luggage from the hotel and made it to LaGuardia in no time. Of course our flight was delayed…. but we made it home after another great trip.

Tampa / Anna Maria Island, FLA

Travel

12/30/2024-1/5/2025

Courtney and I ditched cold Cleveland for a trip to Anna Maria Island in FLA. Our 6:00AM flight to Tampa was uneventful and we were in Tampa and on the road by 9:30AM – not bad.

After a leisurely brunch at the local First Watch we drove to The Henry B. Plant Museum which was part of the old Tampa Bay Hotel built in 1891 and closed after the depression. It’s now part of The University of Tampa. The old hotel was super cool – huge – and interesting to see how rich folks vacationed back in the gilded age. We spent an hour in the museum, other parts of the old hotel and walking around the grounds and then hit the road for Anna Maria Island – about an hour south.

We were so fortunate that John & Alissa invited us to share their house for the week. John’s Mom, Stephanie was also there. They had been there for a week already and her SO and Andrew and William had to leave hence the extra bedroom. So thankful.

The house was beautiful in every way – especially the pool and hot tub that we used a lot.

Anna Maria Island is a great place – beautiful beaches, not very big and not crowded. click on picture for an article that was just in cleveland.com today about AMI.

Our days were spent relaxing on the beach enjoying the FLA sunshine.

We celebrated New Years Eve – although we were all in bed before 10:00PM.

Sunset before dinner. We went out to dinner once and lunch twice – both at local places. We never left the Island once we were there.

The tide was low one morning and explored some interesting tide pools.

We left AMI on Saturday morning and said goodbye to everyone. We stayed an extra day in Tampa area. We stopped at the Florida Botanical Gardens and walked around. We liked this six foot tall bay plant.

We rented ebikes for the afternoon and biked along a nice trail along the coast – stopping for lunch somewhere along the line. It was the first time on ebikes – could get used to it for sure.

We explored Honeymoon Island on Sunday morning as we had an hour to kill before our flight home.

Shenandoah National Park and Roanoke, VA

Travel

Wednesday, 4/17/24

Courtney and I hit the road around 6:00AM heading to Shenandoah National Park. We arrived after an uneventful six and half hour drive and headed up the mountains on Skyline Drive. The park is centered on Skyline Drive that winds through the mountains for 105 miles and connects with the Blue Ridge Parkway on the south end. We stopped for a picnic lunch that we brought with us at Elkwallow picnic area. We kept heading up the mountains and stopped at several of the numerous outlooks built into the road to admire the scenery. We hiked the Limberlost trail which was super easy and then headed to the Skyland area where we were staying for the night. We arrived at 3:00PM and were able to check in to our little cabin. After unpacking and sitting on the porch for a bit we hiked the Stony Man trail which was just around the corner. The hike was not that long – just about two miles – but was an uphill trail to the look out of stony man mountain. A great view. Headed back to our cabin, had a drink or two and then walked up to the lodge where we had a surprisingly good dinner. We each had salads and Courtney had a bison pasta bolognese and I had a bowl of Brunswick stew. Blackberry ice cream pie topped with meringue for dessert won the prize though.

These beautiful stone walls line much of the drive in the mountains.

A national parks marker on one of our hikes

view from stony man – still early spring at the top of the mountains.

hanging out on the patio of our little cabin

A+ blackberry ice cream pie topped with meringue and blackberry sauce

Thursday, 4/18/24

We packed out things up in the morning and went up to the lodge again for breakfast. We split an order of blackberry french toast which was very good. We hit the park again on a beautiful spring morning. We first hiked Dark Hollow Falls trail which was a beautiful trail going down into the valley following a small stream and ending in a nice set of waterfalls. We were worried the hike back up would be rough but we made it no problem. We then hiked the Bearfence Mountain trail which was just the opposite – hiking up up up to a rocky overlook. This was about the only time we saw other people on any of our hikes. It was blessedly almost empty on this off season week day. We continued driving through the park and arrived at Blue Mountain Brewery around 1:00. The brewery was a great place with amazing scenery and it was suddenly 80 degrees and sunny once we were down from the mountains. We had some good beers and a good lunch and then headed back on the road to Roanoke. It took us about two hours to drive to Emily and Dan’s house. Once Dan was done working we headed out to downtown Roanoke and had cocktails and apps at the Liberty Trust – a cool swanky hotel converted from an old bank. We then walked a few blocks to Sidecar – a belgian restaurant where we had an excellent dinner.

Heading down down down the dark hollow falls trail.

khachapuri appetizer at The Vault. Gooey, eggy cheese inside bread – delicious.

Friday, 4/19/24

We had a leisurely morning breakfasting at Emily and Dan’s and then drove to Carvins Cove for a hike in the woods along the reservoir. It was a cloudy day and started raining a bit but it was a great hike. We stopped at Parkway Brewing Company on the way back for a quick beer, stopped at a coffee and wine shop and then back home and relaxed for the rest of the day. We headed back downtown to get our registration materials for tomorrow’s race and attend a concert that was part of the weekend activities. Emily packed an excellent picnic and it was fun to hang out and listen to some live music.

Saturday, 4/20/24

Saturday was race day so we were up early and off to Roanoke around 7:00AM. Courtney, Emily and I walked the 10K and Dan ran the 1/2 marathon. The race is billed as one of the toughest in the country as it goes up several mountains. Thankfully the 10K went up only one mountain – that was enough. It was a fun race with many spectators and also stops for jello shots and mimosas. We hung out for a while after the race having a few beers, walked around Roanoke a bit and stopped at a bakery for some coffee and treats. We went back to Em and Dan’s for the afternoon, went to a nice pizza near them for dinner and hung out and watched a movie.

At about mile 3 on top of the mountain… it was a long way up but we made it.

Sunday, 4/21/24

We hit the road after a quick breakfast with Dan and Emily and and an easy drive back to CLE.

Las Vegas, March/April 2024

Travel

WED 3/27/2024: I went on a solo trip to Las Vegas to visit Grace and Thomas and attend their engagement party. My early morning Frontier direct flight was zero hassle and better yet I started a book as soon as we took off and I finished it as soon as we touched down… perfect. (BTW I read “This Other Eden” by Paul Harding which was **excellent**. Five star PJH review)

I took a cab to Grace’s office, dropped my bags off with her and went on a walk waiting for her to finish work.

It was a beautiful day in Vegas – warm and sunny skies.

I met Grace at the Venetian where we had a great birthday lunch at Estiatorio Milos.

We both ordered the prix fixe lunch – I had oysters and salmon and Grace had greek spreads and a whole sea bream – all very good.

We spent the rest of the afternoon basking in the sunshine at Grace’s pool and cooked dinner at their place.

THU 3/28/24: I dropped off Thomas at work in the morning so I could use the car and then drove to Death Valley National Park in California. It was a two hour scenic drive through the desert.

I stopped first at Zabriskie point which had a short walk up to a beautiful view. I then headed to the Visitor Center at Furnace Creek to buy an annual National Park Pass (hopeful to visit multiple national parks in the next 12 months) and to change into shorts as it was now in the 80s.

I then went to the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes and walked among the dunes for about an hour.

Pictures of course don’t do justice for any of the views – but the dunes were beautiful, large with strange looking plants and driftwood everywhere.

I drove a short distance down the road to the Mosaic Canyon. Here is the start of the trail into the canyon.

It was a beautiful hike with several slot canyons and amazing scenery everywhere.

You can see the scale with the person in front of me.

My last stop was Dante’s View at the top of a crazy drive. You can see the salt flats that run down the middle of the whole park. I wish I had more time to spend exploring – but overall the Park was much more than what I was expecting – very large with mountains, valleys, beautiful rock formations and beautiful views everywhere. I think it would be ideal to spend one night in the park as the sunset and sunrise would be amazing. Next time.

I arrived at Grace’s just as TJ and Grace got home from work. We took an Uber downtown, had Pizza at Evel’s Pizza and then went to Corduroy for a night of Boozy Bingo.

Didn’t have much luck at Bingo but had a fun night.

FRI 3/29/24 Grace and Thomas were both off today so they slept in and we hung out in the AM watching NCAA basketball. We ventured out mid afternoon back downtown to Nevada Brew Works where we hung outside drinking beer and eating pizza.

We checked out Stray Pirate – a new tiki bar that just opened up around the corner and had some fancy drinks. We then headed back to their neighborhood gaming parlor where I was introduced to Keno and watched more NCAA basketball.

SAT 3/30/24 Today was the engagement party at Thomas’s Dad’s house – a 15 minute drive from Grace and Thomas’.

The party was super fun and it was great to meat all of Thomas parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.

The food was over the top. Check out the huge chunk of gruyere for the raclette. Delicious. There was Mediterranean – kebabs, tabouleh, baba, humus, rice and then also soul food – fried chicken and macaroni and cheese and much moor. Everything was outstanding – but the macaroni and cheese was for sure my favorite.

Thomas, Grace’s friend Brittany and Grace.

Thomas brother, step mother and brother’s girl friend.

Everyone was so nice and so excited about Grace and TJ’s upcoming wedding.

SUN 3/30/24 – I guess I didn’t take any pictures – Easter – Everyone slept in after a long fun day. Thomas and Claudia came over for a super casual brunch and we went out to dinner to a nearby food hall place that just opened up.

MON 4/1/24 I dropped Grace off at work and hit the road by 9:00AM. I went to River of Fire state park which is an easy drive an hour north of Vegas.

I have been to Valley of Fire a few years ago but I don’t think we went on any hikes. I went on two really great ones this time.

The first hike was the Fire Wave Trail that hooked up to the Rainbow Canyon for a nice loop.

The canyon trail was beautiful as well – with several slot canyons and beautiful scenery everywhere.

After a great morning and afternoon I headed back to the strip to wait for Grace to finish working.

I walked through the Bellagio gardens that were all decked out for spring.

I met Grace at Beer Park in Paris. We enjoyed the sunny afternoon on the patio with a view.

Watched the whole LSU v Iowa women’s game. Lots of Iowa fans.

We went to China Town after to a little ramen noodle place called Ramen Sora that was A M A Z I N G. I think the bowl of ramen I had was the best food all week – and we had lots of good food.

TUE 4/2/24 I dropped Grace off again at work and went to Lake Mead National Recreation Area – just 30 minutes west of the city.

I drove around for a few hours and stopped at several areas to walk around – nothing to strenuous.

I had to be back in Vegas by 1:00 as we had a lunch reservation at Din Thai Fung.

Of course had to get the cucumber salad. A nice copycat recipe I made a few times here.

I spent the rest of the afternoon pool side at the hotel Grace works at on a nice hot afternoon.

John was in town for a meeting so we met him for a late dinner at BrewDog with another great outdoor patio. Grace drove me to the airport after dinner so I could catch my midnight red eye back to CLE. Flight home was on time with no problems – other than being a red eye which is no fun at all. Another great trip to Vegas with Grace and Thomas.

Chicago, March 2024

Travel

Friday, March 1, 2024

We went on a quick weekend trip to Chicago to go to a concert, celebrate my birthday and to visit with friends and family. Courtney and I picked up Jack at his place at 12:30 and hit the road for an easy car ride to CHI arriving around 5:00PM CST. We stayed at Soupy’s place in the south loop which is wonderful – even a free place to park. We visited with Soupy for a bit before he left to go to the Loyola BB game with friends. We then hit the pavement and walked for about an hour and a half down to Michigan Ave, then walked along the river walk and then cut back across the loop back to the south loop. We had an excellent dinner at Sofi on Printer’s Row and then stopped for a glass of wine at Printers Row Wine Shop and then walked black and quickly fell asleep.

It was a beautiful night to be walking downtown.

Enjoying a nightcap at a cool little wine bar on Printers Row

Saturday, March 2, 2024

I walked across the train tracks on Saturday morning to get some bagels and fixings for breakfast from a Whole Foods. It was already fixing to be a beautiful day.

After breakfast we did a walking architecture tour that I put together – focusing on 10 buildings mostly in the loop.

Going into the Harold Washington Library – 1991.

The top floor of the library has a beautiful indoor winter garden.

Exterior detail of the Marquette building – 1895.

The lobby of the Marquette building. Each of the brass elevators has a bust of someone who played a part in Marquette’s history.

Admiring the spectacular Tiffany mosaics, tile-work and marble in the Marquette building.

The Rookery – 1888.

The amazing lobby of the Rookery – Frank Lloyd Wright – 1905.

We walked back along the park, stopped for lunch on the way and took a rest for an hour or so before heading out again.

We drove out to the Chicago Botanical Gardens to meet George, Weston and Maddie.

It was a beautiful day to walk around the dormant gardens – knowing that Spring was right around the corner.

It was a beautiful afternoon and Iook forward to going back when everything is in bloom.

After saying goodbye to George and the kids we drove down to Lincoln Park and met Andrew at Pequod’s on our everlasting quest for the best pizza. We’ve never been there before and it is on top of many best of lists for CHI pizza – but we found it just mehhhh. It was great to see Andrew though.

We drove just a few miles to the concert venue, parked, and walked to have a quick beer at Off Color Brewery and then headed to the show.

The show was at The Salt Shed – the iconic Morton Salt warehouse that we have driven by dozens of times. It was converted into a concert venue about a year ago and it is fantastic. Everything is new, the sound is great and it is pretty small. Courtney and I bought seats with this great view and Jack had floor tix.

Show was great. Greensky Bluegrass is so great to see live. This is the second time we have see them and I can’t wait to see them again. Such vibes.

Show lasted until about midnight – we got out with zero probs and were back at Soupy’s in less than 15 minutes.

We woke up early the next day and met Soupy at Walker Brothers in Wilmette for breakfast. We all ordered 49 flapjacks. Duh. Can’t resist perfection. We headed out after breakfast happy with our quick weekend trip.

Las Vegas, March 2021

Uncategorized

Wednesday, March 10th 2021

Courtney, Claire, Corey and I spent a long weekend in Las Vegas visiting Grace and having a real vacation. We took off from our house bright and early as our flight was at 0700. Flight was no problem – kind of a pain to wear a mask for the entire time – the flight was 99% full also – but we made it with no troubles. We rented a really nice car at the airport and immediately took off for the Grand Canyon. We’ve never been to the Grand Canyon and its always been on our bucket list so we were excited to finally be going. We stopped at a Target to stock up on some road trip supplies and after a few stops for pregnancy related emergencies we were on our way. It was about a 4 hour drive from the airport and after taking in two different time changes it was about 4:00PM when we got there. We went to the south rim of the canyon and stayed at one of the lodges there – Bright Angel Lodge which was a 1940’s era lodge smack on the edge of the canyon. Courtney and I had a little cottage that you literally walked out the front door and you were at the edge of the canyon. It was really nice. After quickly unpacking we went on a short hike around the rim trail. It truly is an amazing sight. Picture don’t do it justice. We had a dinner reservation at El Tovar which was a fancier hotel just a short walk way. It was a very nice place with great canyon views. It was nice to sit, relax, have a cocktail and have a really nice dinner. We were very tired after dinner after a long day of travel so were happy to go right to bed.

We flew on Spirt which was super cheap – and just fine.

We stopped in Kingman, Arizona on Route 66 on the way to the Grand Canyon for lunch. We had a nice lunch at one of the local bars.

This was the cute little cabin we stayed in for the night at the Grand Canyon. You walked down this path…

…and you were right at the edge of the canyon. It was really cool.

Thursday March 11, 2021

We woke up early as we were still on eastern time but we planned on going to one of the lookouts to watch the sun rise so we were happy to be up early. We were surprised to see snow on the ground when we woke up. We met Claire and Corey and then took the shuttle bus that was right around the corner farther down the trail and got there in perfect time to see the sun come up over the canyon. Although it was cold out – it was beautiful out and a blessing as there was pretty much no one around – we had the whole place to ourselves. We walked for an hour or two down the trail taking in all the beautiful views. We shuttled back to the lodge, grabbed some coffee and pastries from the diner there and had breakfast in our cottage. We walked around some of the buildings and studios in the village, packed up, checked out and then drove to the main visitor area where we walked around a bit and then took the shuttle to another area a few miles down the road. We hiked again for about an hour back to where we were parked and then it was time to start the trek back to Vegas. I wish we had a bit more time to explore – but it was worth it to make the trip. We hit the road back to Vegas about noon and stopped on Rt 66 again for lunch at a mom and pop place that turned out to be really good – taking home some banana cream pie and carrot cake that looked too good to resist. We stopped at the Hoover Dam on the way back – driving over the Dam to the Arizona side, parking the car and then walking across the dam. I was there a few years ago so I have seen it before but it is quite an amazing thing to see. We then drove the last 45 minutes back to Vegas. Courtney and I stayed at the Mandalay Bay which was nice and we had a really nice room. After settling in we drove to Grace’s place which was just a 15 minute drive. It was good to see Grace and her new apartment. We went to dinner at Pinches Tacos which was right around the corner and had a good dinner of tacos and margaritas. Claire and Corey were staying at Grace’s and we took off back to our hotel room and stayed up and gambled all night…. ha ha… went back to our hotel room and promptly fell dead asleep.

the huge bridge on the other side of the dam

scary bathroom break place… the actually didn’t go in as it was too sketchy

view from our hotel room looking down the strip…. where’s the sun??

Friday, March 12th, 2021

We slept well and didn’t get up too too early on Pacific time. I went downstairs to the casino in search of coffee and found the Starbucks with about 30 people in line. I found another bakery kind of place with a shorter line and grabbed coffee, fruit and pastries and we had breakfast in our room. The weather looked like it was finally starting to clear a bit so we took off mid-morning to hike down the strip. Mandalay Bay is at the very southern end of the strip so we walked north going through all the casinos – always interesting people watching and seeing how the casinos are trying to reel you in. There were not a lot of people out and about which was nice – but it was still early. All the casinos were open but it looked like about 50% of the food places were closed and all the shows due due the pandemic. We stopped at the Eataly in Park MGM for some more coffee and pastries. Note to self: stay at Park MGM next time as there is no smoking there. We continued down the strip as the sun came out and it thankfully got warmer and warmer. We met up with the kids at Fashion Show and did a bit of shopping and then looked for a place to lunch. We ended up at Virgil’s, a BBQ place in the LINQ promenade. We got a table outside and had beers and BBQ and watched the increasing larger crowds walk by. We took off walking back towards Mandalay Bay and the kids went to explore some more. We took a nice rest and then got ready for a night on the town. We drove down to Old Las Vegas around 5:00, got a beer on Fremont street, walked around a bit and then met everyone at Circa – the new casino on Fremont street that just opened this year. We had a reservation at The Legacy Club, their bougie bar way up on the 60th floor. We met Grace’s boyfriend Thomas and had a nice cocktail hour checking out the view and enjoying our pricy cocktails. We had dinner at 8 East, a pan-asian place that was also in the Circa. We had a great meal in our own little room sharing dumplings, pork belly bao, brisket fried rice and other things. Everything was great. We joined the growing crowds on Fremont street and made our way to El Cortez where we played black jack for awhile. No more $5 tables… just $10. I came ahead $40 playing just for 1/2 hour which is all I gambled the whole trip. We left the kids there – still going at it – and we made our way back to Mandalay Bay where we hung out in one of their bars for one more beer and then hit the hay after a long, fun day.

starting our journey down the strip inside The Luxor.

an excellent croissant and a teeny tiny lemon tart at Eataly

wow my hair was long… shaved it all off a week later

Saturday, March 13th, 2021

We drove to Grace’s in the morning and had bagels and donuts for breakfast and then drove to Red Rock Canyon park which was just a short drive away. Red Rock is a beautiful place – we did the loop around stopping at several spots but didn’t go on any lengthy walks as it was still pretty chilly and we weren’t dressed very appropriately. I don’t remember what we did for lunch…. mmmhhhmm? The ladies went out in the afternoon to get their nails done and Corey and I went to the grocery store and to search for bean bags. We spent cocktail hour playing bean bags and soaking in the sun. We grilled steaks and vegetables for dinner at Grace’s nice set up and enjoyed a quiet evening relaxing.

Grace has a built in bean bag court with cement boards outside her door

Found some nice bean bags… Happy Birthday Grace!

Sunday March 14th, 2021

We were taking the red eye home tonight at 11:00 so we relaxed in our room in the morning, packed things up, checked out of the hotel and met the kids for brunch at ARIA. We went to a french bistro called Bardot Brasserie and it was fabulous – best meal of the week. We all had bloody marys, mimosas and Corey had a morning manhattan. Everyones food was first rate but the french toast I had was truly a work of art. After brunch we walked around the strip enjoying, finally, some warm sunny weather. We stopped at Momofuku milk bar in the Cosmopolitan for some treats, walked through the spring exhibits at the Bellagio and people watched at the growing crowds of Vegas humanity. We made our way back to Grace’s where we chilled, sat by the pool, and played some more bean bags. Thomas came over later and we got burgers and fries from In & Out. We packed up around 8ish, not looking forward to the flight home. We made it the airport, turned in the car with no problems and all survived the red eye back to CLE.

Courtney and I walked around for awhile before meeting for brunch – enjoying the blue skies and interesting angles

My french toast was half a loaf of brioche bread, almond brittle, some kind of buttery creamy goodness and almond syrup… one of the best things ever.

Las Vegas, 2019

Travel

Wednesday, December 11, 2019

I went on a long weekend solo trip to visit Grace in Las Vegas. I left work at 3:00PM, took the rapid to the airport arriving in plenty of time and had an easy direct flight arriving 8:00PM Vegas time. Grace picked me up at the airport and we drove home to her apartment where I was staying with her.

Thursday, December 12, 2019

I dropped Grace off at work after stopping for coffee and then hit the road for Red Rocks Canyon Park which was just a quick 30 minute drive. I drove down a road towards Calico Basin which was actually a residential neighborhood with just a few amazing houses in the desert. I parked the car at the end of the street and walked toward the hills taking in the amazing scenery. Blue skies, no one else around and beautiful scenery. I hit the road, paid the fee to get in the park, drove around the scenic loop soaking in the scenery and stopping at two or three spots to explore on foot. I stopped at “Ice Box Canyon” and started on the trail that goes up to the mountain and through canyons but ran out of time and didn’t get to the end… next time. I drove back to LV to pick Grace up as she was only working a half day. We went to lunch at Esther’s Kitchen in the art’s district. It’s a popular place and was perfect for lunch. We each had pasta, bread and wine – all excellent. We drove back to Grace’s place so she could change out of her working clothes and then hit the road for more hiking. We drove about an hour and a half north to Valley of Fire State Park. The park was amazing – like walking on the moon. Truly breath taking. We drove around the loop, stopping at different places, taking lots of photographs and going on short hikes. We drove back to Grace’s place and took a rest for awhile and then drove to the strip. We had dinner at Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill at Caesar’s Palace. We both had margaritas. I had ancho rubbed pork tenderloin and sweet potato tamale and Grace had whatever the fish special was. Everything was very good. After dinner we walked the strip – checking out the Christmas displays at Bellagio and getting dessert at the Momofuku window in the Cosmopolitan. Their cereal milk soft serve, that we had in NYC in the spring was our goal and it did not let down. So good.

prayer circle

the visitor center in the park was actually very nice — The visitor center in the park was actually very nice. Modern, outside and I was literally the only one there which was pretty cool.

and I was literally the only one there which was really nice

start of Ice Box Canyon trail — the path leading to Ice Box Canyon

lunch at Esther's Kitchen — lunch at Esther’s Kitchen

Inside the Bellaggio which was all decked out for Christmas

Friday, December 13, 2019

I dropped off Grace at work in the morning and then worked for two hours at a coffee shop downtown called Mothership Coffee. It was a cool little place in a set of new shops that someone converted from an old motor motel. That section of Las Vegas, just beyond Freemont Street, is quickly turning into a great spot. I decided to drive to Hoover Dam to check it out as I never have been there. It was just about an hour drive. I took the tour that brought you into the powerhouse and then to some interesting viewing areas. Amazing to say the least. Pictures don’t do it justice. I liked all the art deco details and the hugeness of everything. I tried to find a hiking trail in the area but wasn’t able to find it so I decided to head back to Grace’s neighborhood to explore. I had lunch at a place called Honey Salt in Summerlin. I sat at the bar and had an Anchor Steam and avocado toast. I browsed a bit at some stores and then went back to Grace’s place, took a nap and waited for her to get home from her holiday party. We went to Fremont Street for the night. We grabbed some drinks and walked around enjoying the craziness. We stopped and played some $5 blackjack but had really bad luck and only lasted around 20 minutes – my only gambling of the trip. We had a really good dinner at a popular Thai place on Fremont Street called Le Thai. It had a great atmosphere and the food was excellent. After dinner we walked around some more and stopped at a club for one last cocktail. Fun night.

cappuccino and ham and cheese croissant at Mothership

the underground powerhouse at Hoover Dam

Lake Mead side of the damn – at historic low

Saturday, December 14, 2019

We slept in a bit. I drove around the corner to get some coffee from Starbucks and stopped at a fancy donut place and brought them back. We eventually got ourselves going and went out shopping. Grace needed some side tables and lamps for her living room so I told her I would get them for her. We went to Target which didn’t have much of anything so we then went to IKEA which of course had everything and then some. We stopped and In and Out for burgers for lunch. I’ve never been to one so that was a nice treat. Burgers were good but fries were only so so. We then went shopping for a couple of hours at a nearby outdoor shopping place that had lots of good stores. We bought some Xmas presents as well as some things for the upcoming wedding. We went back to Grace’s and put together the IKEA items and rearranged her living room just a bit and it looks great. After taking a good afternoon nap, I packed up my stuff as I was flying home at 11:00PM and we hit the road. We decided to go to Chinatown. First stop was the Golden Tiki. An over the top tiki bar with all the trimmings. We sat at the bar, each had a good tropical drink and listened to the cheesy bar playing in the corner. The bathrooms are worth the trip. We then went a few blocks down to a small pho place that Grace heard was good. There were only about 8 tables that were all full and about 12 people waiting for one so we decided to go somewhere else – next time as it looks like a good spot. So we ended up going to Sapporo Revolving Sushi which ended up being super fun. After waiting for about 30 minutes at the bar, drinking a beer and sampling some sake from the very nice bartender we got to our table. A revolving track of little plates of sushi went around and you picked what you wanted, piling up your plates on the table so they knew how much to charge. You could also order from an ipad thing and a little robot rolls out with your order. So cool. We ate lots of sushi and ordered some pho and then match creme brulee. Everything was great… and relatively cheap. It was time to get to the airport after dinner so Grace dropped me off and was off to another party. My red eye flight was on time and I actually slept for most of it… a first. The flight was even thirty minutes early getting to CLE. Courtney picked me up at the ungodly hour and we went right back to bed when we got home.

Christmas shopping in sunny 60 degree weather is the way to go

the wall of the men’s room had cages full of skulls…. bizarre

Chicago, Wisconsin and Michigan – August 6-13, 2019

Travel

Courtney and I drove to Chicago on our way to Wisconsin. Jack was flying to London the next day from O’Hare so he hitched a drive with us.

We spent the afternoon in downtown CHI. We parked under Millenium park and directly headed to find some CHI pizza.

..and its beautiful tiffany domed interiors.

The streets were full of overflowing late summer flowers.

We spent a few hours in the Art Institute where we saw this photo. — We spent a few hours in the Art Institute where we admired this photo…

We had lunch at a cool place in Wasau, WI the next day. We picked Craig up at a hospital there where he was discharged after knee surgery. We spent the previous night outside Milwaukee after a quick visit with George, Carrie and their kiddos.

We made it to Jute late later in the afternoon.

We stayed at Jute lake for four nights while Courtney helped her Dad and we enjoyed the peace and quiet.

the very nice community garden in one of the little towns

Aqualand had bands playing on Saturday night

the bands were good and it was nice to hang out there for a couple of hours

on Sunday we said our goodbyes as Craig was doing fine and hit the road heading north. We stopped at Bond Falls - always a great spot. — on Sunday we said our goodbyes as Craig was doing fine and hit the road heading north. We stopped at Bond Falls – always a great spot.

another beautiful day – we spent a good hour exploring the trails

we stopped for lunch at a kind of creepy U.P. town called Houghton

We went all the way up to Copper Harbor which we have never been to before. We stayed at a ’50s motel on the water with a nice view.

We drove up the coast a bit with our bikes on the car and then followed a bike path to a remote beach

We had dinner at a place caller Harbor Haus which turned out to be great. We stopped for a beer at a teeny nice little brewery in town and then headed back to our motel

The next day we hit the road on our way to White Fish point at the other end of the peninsula

We stopped at this beautiful beach on the way and admired the crystal clear water and beautiful sand.

We had lunch in Munising, got lost trying to get to Pictured Rocks via detour so just headed to White Fish Point.

We spent the night at the lighthouse at the end of the point. We were here once several years ago and thought it would be cool to stay here. We lucked out and got the one open room the whole week.

The old coast guard station is now the hotel which had around six rooms in it

On the way there we stopped and got some provisions for a picnic dinner that we ended up having on the deserted beach

The next morning we got up pretty early for the long drive home. I walked down the beach to catch the sunrise.

Colorado, July 2019

Travel

Saturday, July 6th, 2019

Courtney and I were up at 4:00AM to catch our 6:00AM flight to Denver. We freaked out a bit when we saw the security line snaking through the airport with just over an hour to go before boarding but the line moved very quickly and we had no problems with the direct flight that got us to Denver at 7:00AM Mountain Time. We rented a car and took off for the mountains. We drove about 1 1/2 hours to Rocky Mountain National Park. We stopped for breakfast at Estes Park – the last town before going up into the park and had a good hearty breakfast at a local diner kind of place called Mountain Home Cafe. We then hit the road going up up up stopping briefly at the welcome center, stopping at various look out points and gawking at the amazing scenery. We followed Trail Ridge Road – listed on the national register of historic places for being the highest paved road in continental US – up to as high as you can go. It was very difficult to hike at all due to the elevation and given that we just got there and weren’t used to it so we mostly just took it all in. I did manage to walk up some grueling stairs to get up to over 12,000 feet. We took the same way down through the park and then cut over to Boulder where we were staying. We got to our AirBnB around 3ish, unpacked and relaxed for awhile. We met my cousin Julia and her family at Bohemian Biergarten in downtown Boulder off Pearl Street. It was great to see Julia and Hampton and especially Anna who was just learning how to walk. Hampton was off to see the Dead and Co who was playing a show in Boulder but we were able to spend a few hours with Julia and Anna catching up and playing. After bidding our adieu we had dinner at The Kitchen which turned out to be just around the corner from the bar. We sat at a table on the street, watched the people walk by and had a great bottle of rose, oysters, fish tacos and a crab cake. Perfect. We walked up and down Pearl Street after dinner and went back to our place as we were tired from a long day. After a nice moonlit hot tub we were quick to fall asleep.

excited to see the snow capped mountains

breakfast spot with a view

up in the mountains – pictures don’t do justice

snow on one side and wildflowers on the other

our airbnb had a private patio with our own hot tub. Nice.

Sunday, July 7th, 2019

After a great night’s sleep, an early hot tub and a nice breakfast chez airbnb we headed to Boulder’s flatiron mountains for a morning hike. It was just a 15 minute drive away and we hiked up up up for the first 30 minutes or so which was still tough for our Midwestern lungs, but once we made it up there were nice trails through the woods and beautiful scenery everywhere. We hiked down a different path that led to Boulder’s Chautauqua, a relative of the NY Chautauqua. We walked around the grounds checking out the early 20th century buildings, nice little cottages and great gardens. We headed into downtown Boulder and had a leisurely lunch at West Flanders Brewing Co. sitting outside again enjoying the passing crowds. We stopped at Whole Foods to get provisions for the evening festivities and headed back for a rest. Our real reason for coming to CO was to go to Red Rocks to see The Avett Brothers and Lake Street Dive who were playing this night. It was about a 45 minute drive and got there plenty early to tailgate for a bit, take our time wandering up to the venue and enjoying the pre-game festivities. Red Rocks was beautiful and the concert was great. We’ve seen both groups many times and think they were both at their best. The setting I’m sure brings out the best in everyone. Bucket-list item: checked off.

our abnb had these great outdoor courtyards – love the trellis behind the couch – hope to reproduce by our shed

Monday, July 8th, 2019

We slept in after getting home pretty late the night before. We decided to head up the mountains to the little town of Nederland. It was a scenic drive up the mountains marveling at every turn the rushing rivers, steep cliffs and mountain views. The road was under construction for most of the way so it made it extra treacherous avoiding all the equipment. Once we got up to Nederland we drove about 10 minutes out and hiked at an area called Mud Lake. We had a good hour and a half hike through the woods, lakes and mountain views. It was nice and not crowded. We then went down and walked around the little hippy town, had lunch and a beer and a great BBQ place and then headed back down to Boulder going a different way. We relaxed for a few hours and then hit another couple of Boulder Breweries. We went to Upslope which was just a mile or so from where we were staying. A little place in an industrial park. It had a great vibe and we had some great beer. We next went to Avery Brewing which was a humungous place that several people told us to go to. We put our name in for a table, got a beer from the bar, and did the self guided tour of the brewery. We didn’t wait long and had a nice dinner and more great beer.

The Carousel of Happiness (right next to dispensary)

Tuesday, July 9th, 2019

Our flight home was in the early afternoon so we enjoyed the hot tub one last time and packed up. We stopped for one more hiking excursion at Eldorado Canyon State Park. Once again – amazing scenery, trails and mountains. We spent an hour checking out the rushing water going through the canyon, the huge vertical cliffs and the completely crazy mountain climbers scaling straight up. We made it to the airport with no trouble. Returned the car and made it back to CLE with no troubles.