Why is North Carolina so Cheap?

Have you seen this map that came out a while back? It's the Business Insider graphic of the United States with the first word that comes up after typing "Why is [state] so" written in every state.  (It doesn't have DC, but the Google autocomplete for DC was, "Why is DC so expensive". Shocker.)  It's amusing and reveals some of the stereotypes (and truths behind them!) across the country.  And I must admit, I've been holding onto some assumptions myself about other parts of the country, especially the South. 

I grew up in Maryland, nicknamed "The Old Line State" for being on the Northern part of the dividing line during the Civil War ("War of Northern Aggression" for you Southerners).  And though we're really in the middle, I identified with Northeastern characteristics more than Southern ones.  (Temperamental and uninhibited according to the Huffington Post - while not flattering, they do probably describe me more than the other regional characteristics.)  I certainly never wanted to live in the south.  My requirements for where I'd move to up until now have been: 1) within an hour of a major airport 2) within 15 minutes of a Target, 3) within four hours of the coast, and 4) nothing farther south than Northern Virginia (Austin and anywhere in California excluded).

Limited experiences in Texas and North Carolina left me with the impression that the slower pace of life "down south" would be way too boring for me, and all there is down there is shopping and eating.  (Maybe some cow tipping?  Is that more Midwest?  Ok, maybe some rodeos?  Also, I am not sure why up until now, I felt like shopping and eating was something I didn't want since those are both pretty big "hobbies" of mine.)  So in that sense, I'd say our trip to Raleigh a few months ago was perfectly southern.  We took it easy, shopped and ate.  And it was awesome, and ok, yes, this city-girl did kind of assume it would be too "country hick" for me.  But there were all sorts of other fun things in Raleigh to do like local breweries, all sorts of green spaces for outdoorsy stuff, local theaters and music venues.  Getting around did require lots of driving, but it was so easy to navigate, find parking, and get most places within fifteen minutes.  I'm not saying I want to move there, but it did make me understand why people do.  As the title and Business Insider graphic implies, I was pleasantly surprised at how relatively cheap things were, making it an affordable yet interesting place to be.

All of that preamble (pre-ramble?) is to say, that we went to North Carolina and I want to talk about what we ate did!  Earlier this year, part of the out-of-town work Jason did was in North Carolina, which meant a good reason to spend a couple weekends in Raleigh. 

The drive wasn't bad and gave me a chance to catch up on phone calls, books on tape, and indulge in chick-fil-a.  I've gotta say, highway driving in southern Virginia and North Carolina is awesome.  Once 95 goes from four lanes to two, most people know to use the left lane as the passing lane and will move to let you pass.  People who hang in the left lane are a major pet peeve of mine, and I appreciate the good people of 95 letting me pass.  The only awful part of the drive was trying to use iphone maps anywhere that wasn't on the highway.  MULTIPLE times I was lead to the middle of a neighborhood instead of a fast-food joint.

We used Hyatt points transferred over from our Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card to stay at the Hyatt House in the North Hills area.  The hotel was brand new and in the middle of a huge new town center with all sorts of shopping, eating, even a bowling alley and movie theater.  The downtown hotels were at least 50% more expensive and charged for parking, so it didn't seem worth it to us to pay more when the Hyatt was only a fifteen minutes drive and downtown parking was plentiful and free on weekends (a true treasure to anyone from DC!)  With so many amenities in walking distance, and rooms equipped with standard kitchen equipment, we were a little bit sad to leave.

With so many good spots within walking distance, we ended up eating in the North Hills town center for a lot of meals.  Call me an "Open-table" addict, but I was astounded at how long waits were all over the place.  The few times we waited until 7pm to begin our dinner search, we were faced with multi-hour waits at all the recommended spots.  I know better than to try hot spots in DC without reservations, but just didn't expect what actually seemed like a worse wait-list situations there.  I think this is further proof of my theory that going out to eat is the only thing to do.  It also is evidence of the economic High Cost of Free Parking, despite how much I love it (you may not pay cash to park, but overcrowding when everyone can park free means you pay in wait-time).  But I digress.  

 

I've gotten behind on blogging about this, so the details of what we did are slightly fuzzy.  We did a lot of shopping, because there were a few things Jason actually needed, and there was nothing else to do.  Kidding - a friend of our really enjoyed a performance at the Performing Arts Center, and we saw play at the intimate, but hard to find, Theater in the Park.

It should be no surprised that the main thing we did was eat. I've got the full restaurant list at the bottom.  Other than that and the shopping, we walked around downtown a lot.  We went to a couple wineries about half hour outside the city: Gregory Vineyards and Adams Vineyard.  It was something fun to do, and Gregory Vineyards had a nice scenic porch to sit at, but the local grape, the muscadine, really isn't one I enjoyed drinking more than a few sips of - very very sweet and fruity, with a musky undertone (which is where the name "muscadine" comes from).  If we ever go back, there were a lot of breweries that would have been fun to check out and tour.  Plus, after spending a few days in Raleigh, I think spending more time down South sounds just dandy.

Now the list of where we ate along with my comments in no particular order:

Quality Grocery, Oakwood
Details: Deli

Best for: Easy outdoor meal with friends, especially with kids.

This place was quite charming.  Like stepping into some kind of portal to Mayberry, local goods lining the shelves and the white-board menu made promises of honest-to-goodness food as it was meant to be eaten - throwing the notion of calories and food trends to the wind.  Not everything on the menu was as stellar as I hoped (ie: the burger), but I think if you stick to the deli-type items, you're golden.

We were told someone would take your order if you got a seat, but after waiting a while outside, we found that ordering at the counter is much faster. They had a local hot dog that was a frightening shade of bright pink and tasted like red hots candy to me. Cheer wine, another local food, was available in glass bottles. It isn't actually a wine, but the glass bottles fit the Norman Rockwell feel, and I thought the cherry flavored soda went well with my chicken salad sandwich, which was definitely good enough to want to go back.

Bida Manda, Downtown

Details: Laotian

Best for: Special evening with a hot date, both of which I had!

Oh man, I loved the food here. I think you would too, even if Asian food isn't your cup of tea - or maybe cup of green tea (groan!). The flavors were so fresh and vibrantly mixed.  Be sure to make reservations and save room in the budget, as trendy places like this tend towards smaller serving sizes. Our waiter told us Billy Joel ate there and ordered the pork belly soup (he also made a joke about pork "Billy" soup - groan again!). We didn't try that, but we did try the green mango salad and it was amazing! The chicken wings were a little bit of a let down after Pok Pok, but the daily special that day was grilled shrimp, which more than made up for it! Southeast Asian foods tend to have a good bit of French influence, as evidenced by the macrons we had for dessert. 

The Pit, Downtown
Details: BBQ 

Best for: Huge servings, groups, families
 

For a place with a name like, "the pit" this restaurant was really nice. The portions were also huge for the price. I kind I'd wish we hadn't gotten the cornbread skillet, not because it wasn't good, but because it kept me from finishing everything else. As with all other places in this town, make reservations. We went for brunch and had fun touring the chocolate factory across the street after. 

Q Shack, North Hills
Details: fast casual BBQ 

Best for: Good food for this BBQ novice without any fuss; also iphone maps brought us into a neighborhood across the street from where this place really was.

This was more of a fast casual place, but I'm still thinking about how good the collard greens here were. The brisket was so tender you could break it up with a fork. The dryness was a good excuse to douse on BBQ sauce, though I haven't  quite acquired a taste for the vinegar-based Carolina style sauce. Jason's pulled pork was nice and flavorful and fresh hush puppies were served with everything. I think it was a local chain and wish it would make it's way up here.

Vivace, North Hills
Details: Italian
Best for: a group celebration with your family or friends who like good food, and are either willing to get there early or be loud enough to talk over the noise.

It's my fault - I can't remember how this place was because I didn't take good notes and this happened a few months ago by now.  This was close to where we stayed, but we still had a really hard time getting in, and it was dark, and somewhat cramped, so I think I have unfavorable memories even though the food was really good.  The fun thing here was that they had half portions of their pasta dishes, so we got the gnocchi, spaghetti and meatballs, and the pappardelle.  I'm pretty sure the pappardelle was our favorite, though my memory is failing me.  So I don't have anything helpful to say about it besides reserve early.
 

Croquette, North Hills
Details: French
Best for: great food, no wait, truffle fries, nice casual date night

Right across from our hotel, we ended up here because it was the only spot without an hour wait at 7pm Friday night. I'm really not sure why it didn't because I thought it was far more memorable than the Italian place nearby. Hungry impatience prompted an order of truffle frites as an appetizer - and wow. The perfect mix of crunchy, salty and savory, these shoestring fries haunt me like the ghost of Christmas past (cause clearly food-ghosts are the friendly ones). As boring as it sounds, I had a burger and it was also wonderfully salty and peppery, though now I'm starting to wonder if my extreme hunger that night is actually what made it so good.  The prices were average for DC, so expensive for Raleigh.

Beasley's Chicken and Honey, Downtown
Details: American/Southern contemporary
Best for: hipsters, hipsters with kids, people with low-risk tolerance who want safe and popular choices (ie: non-ethnic foods)

Call me a food snob/jaded/bored, but I was kind of let down by this place.  I don't know.  Half the things were really good and half were mediocre, making it just not that memorable.  Biscuits were good but didn't come with enough gravy; the chicken was nice and crispy but the poached egg yolks weren't runny.  Plus, it's the same as every other joint that's popping up with their hand-crafted cocktails, reclaimed wood décor, flannelled staff, and food that claims to be a "twist on traditional," but isn't all that unique.  The unique thing to me was that we each got an entrée with coffee and paid less than $25!  Don't get me wrong, it was fine, and the other restaurants by the same chef, a James Beard Award winner(!), seemed highly rated, though I'd bet the quality was higher the first few months of opening.  I'm still curious about how her other restaurants are.

CowFish, North Hills
Details: sushi burger bar
Best for: indecisive people, families like ours since I always want Asian and Jason always wants burgers, young people or those who appreciate a unique and somewhat funky atmosphere, to the point of being like a theme park restaurant

So if my complaint with the last place was that it was too boring, this place was quite on the opposite end of the spectrum! As the name somewhat implies, this place specialized in sushi and burgers.  There were even creations that combined the two foods so it took us a long time to figure out the menu  (burger ingredients in sushi form and vice versa - we weren't brave enough to try those ones).  This place was packed all weekend, and it definitely is fun.  Bright colors, fish tanks, and Asian cartoons made me feel like I would have liked this place a lot more if I was in college still and wanted to go somewhere fun with a group of friends.  However, my adult taste buds still loved all the food we had.  I am in the camp that believes the more foods a restaurant specializes in is inversely related to the quality of those foods (options increase = quality decrease), but this place really did have two very different foods that were still really delicious.  Man of the burgers or "in-between" foods had some kind of Asian flare, and the sushi was fresh and creative.  I'm not totally sure if I'd go back, but it was fun to do once and really did have some of the best food in the area we stayed.


 

NY Can't Even Handle Me

We had just stepped off the bus in New York.  Carrying our bags and not quite prepared for just how cold it was, I knew what block we were on, but not what direction we were facing.  We headed to the end of the block so we could see past the scaffolding far enough to gain our bearings as attempted to weave past the groups slowly walking three abreast while doing our best not let our luggage create the same road block.  It was past nine and the lights and the traffic and the attractions were all blaring and glaring.  And while our hotel didn’t look all that far away on the map, we had a good mile to go.  Walking a mile isn’t too big of a deal to me, but a mile covers a lot more of the map in DC.  Not so in New York.

Manhattan from Brooklyn Bridge Park

“I’m not sure if I could handle living in New York City,” I said.

“I think the opposite is true,” Jason replied.

Silence as I think the following: The opposite? What is the opposite? New York can't handle me? I'm not really that crazy or a big deal, but...  New York can't even handle me! Whaaat!

Jason clarified, “I meant, I think you could handle this once you got used to it, but you couldn't handle living in the country.”  Bubble popped.  I think he is right.  And that explains the post title.

It all started when we were watching TV sometime after Christmas.  I can’t actually remember which show it was, but it was set in New York and after one of the scenic city shots, Jason said something like, “What a cool city.” To which I said, “We should go.” 

We’ve been to New York before and have done a lot of the standard tourist things: Broadway, the Empire State Building, frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity3.  But it’s such a big city that there are still neighborhoods to explore, foods to eat, and stores to be shopped.  New York City is like Chipotle to me.  I start to crave it if I haven’t been there in a while.  So we used Jason’s upcoming absence and the three day weekend we had for MLK day this January as an excuse to go.  The goal was just to have fun, relax, and find some good eats. (Surprise on us.. he wasn't gone very long.  But we didn't know it at the time, and I'm just getting around to writing about our trip three months later.)

I’ve been wanting to explore Brooklyn, but decided to stay in Manhattan at the Ink48.  It was basically because the only NYC Kimpton hotels are in Manhattan, and we love their hotels that much.

Upgraded to a corner suite: this explains our brand loyalty.

We took the bus from DC to NY after work Friday so we didn't get in until after 9. The rate I booked at the hotel was a special deal that if you take a train or bus into the city, you get a $50 dining credit. The late hour made it an easy choice to use it for dinner that night at the hotel restaurant, Print. Dinner was tasty although we had an unusually long wait for the food to come out.

The next day our goal was to explore Brooklyn and take some pictures. After a leisurely morning drinking coffee and a quick workout, we headed off in search of that defining experience of any city: brunch.

(Side note: has anyone else experienced the "brunch craze", wherein people are obsessed with finding "the. best. brunch. eveeeer."? This usually involves places that unless you get there when the restaurant opens, hour plus waits are normal. Is it because it is a socially acceptable way to drink before noon? Because it's the only time you can take your children to trendy restaurants without fear of a past-bedtime meltdown? And why is it a combination of the words "breakfast" and "lunch" when most places only start serving "brunch" at lunchtime or later? Because you can add an egg to your pizza? Should we base these names on the time they are served or the type of food? I think the "b" really stands for "booze" not "breakfast." But here I am, kettle calling the pot black. I love that getting brunch means your weekend is relaxed enough to start off the days with a meal out.  Plus, I'm on a self-appointed mission to find the best biscuits and gravy possible.)

Before this trip, I hadn't had time for my normal amount of restaurant "reseach," but preliminary analysis suggested that Littleneck in Brooklyn was supposed to be good for brunch, so we went way across town to get there, only to find that the door was locked.  I'm really not sure what was going on because people were inside, and we felt rather silly as we attempted to open the locked door while the people inside laughed at our confusion.  A few blocks from our hotel I discovered my camera battery was dead, so since it wasn't even noon and we had already failed at our two goals for the day (brunch and pictures), we just started walking towards downtown Brooklyn.  

We conducted our own food tour that day, as we walked.  We stopped for some cheap and greasy pizza at My Little Pizzeria. I'm not sure what makes a slice "NY style", but for $2 a slice, it was perfect! We got the lunch special at Ki Sushi. I thought the place was great for lunch: good value, fast, and nice atmosphere. We popped into shops to browse and walked whatever way looked fun.  I told Jason I was "following my heart"as to which direction to go.  I'm not really sure where we should have gone, but we had fun browsing furniture and antique shops along Atlantic Avenue and hipster clothing and coffee shops on Smith Street.  We seem to have opposite taste on most things, so it's like a game to us to in home furnishing stores to point to a piece of furniture and ask, "What do you think about that?" and see if our opinions match. The answer is either a vehement "I think it's so ugly" or a tentative "I kind of like it." We usually end up laughing because either we're so surprised that we agree or of course we don't agree.   We will probably never buy furniture and just have empty rooms.

Ever since visiting Portland last year, I've been craving chicken wings from a place called Pok Pok. Of course, when I saw mention of a location in Brooklyn, my mind was made. I tried to play it casual with Jason, like if we didn't go it was no big deal. I even gave him other options and agreed with his vote to get Italian. This man is some kind of mind reader though, because somehow he (or was it me?) came up with the idea of getting chicken wings at Pok Pok as an appetizer and Italian pasta elsewhere.  I guess we were just continuing our "food tour" from lunch. (Ooh - I also just had a light bulb moment regarding a new career - food tour conductor.) He was skeptical that something as ordinary as chicken wings could really be that good, but I assured him they were. (Obviously our furniture shopping experience taught me nothing about how rarely we have the same opinion.)  In effort to "go with the flow" (which for me means not planning activities around food and eating in places that aren't research or planned), we had walked a mile and a half through Brooklyn Bridge Park (gorgeous especially during sunset) even though it was in the opposite direction of Pok Pok. I assumed Jason knew this and we would eat elsewhere.  So when we got to the end of our walk and Jason asked, "Where's the restaurant?" we both were in for a surprise:  I was didn't know he still wanted to eat there and he didn't realize that it was so far away.  By this time the sun had set, the temperature was below freezing, and we figured we'd just walk the 30 minutes since finding a new place would take as long. 

Funny story though. After speed-walking the entire way, we arrived to find out that I got the opening time mixed up meaning we arrived twenty minutes before the place even opened. So that meant more time waiting in the cold.  It worked out nicely though since the line forming at the door was already over a dozen people long and if it really had opened when I thought, I'm not sure we could have gotten a table right away. After spending 50 minutes in the cold, my appreciation for Jason, as well as his expectations for these chicken wings were getting pretty high.  As we waited I peered into the small restaurant, comparing the number of tables to the number of people in front of us. I started to get nervous that we'd have to wait even longer for a table and that Jason wouldn't even like the food after graciously waiting so long. The good news was that we did get a table soon after they opened, and- even better - Jason agreed the wings were worth it!

Totally worth the wait! Pardon the grainy iPhone photo.

Next on the "food tour" was Italian, specifically gnocchi. (Yeah, I also forgot we did anything but eat at Pok Pok since I just wrote a whole story about chicken wings, and it wasn't even that climatic!) After being in the cold so long we decided to find somewhere closer to our hotel. According to yelp, (warning sign #1), the best gnocchi to be found was by Time's Square (glaring warning #2) at Scarlatto.  We waited a few minutes in the drafty entry way despite having reservations, and were eventually seated with the next table so close they started chatting with us. We ordered our single dish of gnocchi, which clearly annoyed the waiter. Rather than tasting like "pillows from heaven," the gnocchi tasted like spaghettiOs. The waiter even swiped my card for another table's $200-plus bill. He was able to cancel the charge, but it certainly solidified my negative opinion.  I was tempted to tip less than normal, but the highlight of the place were the courteous and attentive busboys, who would likely have suffered more than our rude waiter from a small tip. Needless to say, I learned my lesson about taking advice from Yelp.

We were back at the hotel before 9 pm.  I felt a little lame for turning in so early in the city that never sleeps.  Maybe if we had been there longer or planned better, we would have tried to do something else, like a play or live music, but the goal for the weekend was just to do whatever we wanted without having to rush around, so turning in early to take advantage of the nice room and some Netflix was perfect.

We finished off the weekend with a lazy morning brunching and walking through the shops in the Flatiron District the next day.  We ate at Maysville. The food was Southern. The decor that ubiquitous, industrial, reclaimed wood and staff clad in plaid. But we thought it was good, and it was really easy to get in without a wait or reservation, which isn't always easy.

Before getting on the bus home, we picked up snacks at the Doughnut Factory and some sandwiches for the ride. As a Top Chef fan, I couldn't resist getting mine from 'wich craft, Tom Coliccio's local chain.  Jason got a BahnMi from Num Pang, which was both more tasty and messy.

So overall, the weekend was a great chance to enjoy the time together.   My one regret was that we never made it up to the rooftop bar at our hotel, which is supposed to have amazing views of the skyline, but we had a pretty great view from our room anyways, so it never felt like we were missing all that much.  There's always next time.

Update: I downloaded an app called "city mapper" to get around and it was AMAZING!! It showed all my transit options, their cost, and how long they would take - including walking and taking a cab. Highly recommend it, especially compared to my other transit apps.

Go West, Young Man

When we first arrived in Phoenix, I kept anxiously checking new sources, hoping that the government shutdown had ended.  The main attraction to come to Arizona for was to see the Grand Canyon, but as our trip coincided with the government shutdown, it was closed along with all the other National Parks.  Once we arrived in Sedona though, we realized the shutdown was somewhat of a blessing in disguise.

If Phoenix had me wanting to be a cowboy, Sedona made the quote by Horace Greeley ring with truth, as not much has changed since 1865 except maybe the food: "Washington is not a place to live in. The rents are high, the food is bad, the dust is disgusting and the morals are deplorable. Go West, young man, go West and grow up with the country."

Sedona is beautiful.  It's beautiful in a way that's different than the Grand Canyon.  Known as "Red Rock Country," the mountains are a rusty red.  Rock formations rise up in all directions dotted with yellow flowers and green valleys.  With hiking trails are all over the place, wine country only 20 minutes away, and a beautiful resort to relax at, spending the day in Sedona instead of driving two hours each way to and from the Grand Canyon didn't seem like much of an inconvenience.  Without the shutdown forcing us to stay in Sedona, we wouldn't have had the chance to experience such a beautiful part of the country.  We've both seen the Grand Canyon before, so missing out on it this time wasn't too crushing.  I did feel pretty bad for travelers at our hotel from Europe who had their once-in-a-lifetime plans derailed.

We took the scenic route, SR 179, from Phoenix, and it certainly lived up to it's name. On the way we stopped at Montezuma Castle National Monument, which had some ancient dwellings carved into a cliff face.  Well, at least that's what the guide book said because it was also closed as part of the shutdown, and we were never able to see it from the road like we had been hoping.  We also stopped at Chapel of the Holy Cross, the church built into the rocks pictured above.

The town itself is a little touristy, but there's a section where 179 and 89A meet that's got a bunch of art shops that looked like they'd be fun to poke through.  Also, I'm not going to be the best person to explain this, but there's a lot of New Age belief in "vortexes" in Sedona, which from my understanding are places of spiritual energy.

One of the fun things we did the first night was go on a star-gazing tour.  We drove about 20 minutes from the town to where the tour group, Sedona Star Gazing, met, then walked into a field where chairs, blankets and telescopes were set up.  When we first got out of the car that night and looked up into the cloudless night sky, the stars were brilliant enough to see the Milk Way.  The woman who got out of her car next to us audibly gasped and the tour operator commented, "You must live in the city."  That's exactly how I felt.  Even growing up in the suburbs, there is way too much light pollution to see the stars like we could out there.  The tour guides had some powerful laser pointers with which they were able to trace out the constellations before giving us glimpses into the telescopes.

Armed with new knowledge about navigating by star and leftover airplane pretzels as rations, I felt like Lewis and Clark exploring uncharted wilderness on our hike the next day. Or maybe Jason was whomever was the cooler of the two, and I was Sacagewea.  Of course, Sacagewea probably didn't forget to bring a backpack for the water and camera, or use her Banana Republic purse with one strap over each shoulder as a substitute back pack when two hands were needed to climb up and down the rocks.  Also, Sacagewea probably didn't ask other hikers to take their picture, just not too close up because she forgot her makeup bag at home.

There are so many hiking trails in the area, but I thought the ones we did provided a good sampling of scenery and views.  Most of them are state run, so remained open during the shutdown.  The first was Cathedral Rock Trail, a short but pretty steep 3/4 mile hike up to the top of what's known as Cathedral Rock, a unique rock formation with nice views. We also went to Red Rock Crossing, where a few feet from the parking lot the river runs in front of a beautiful view of Cathedral Rock, said to be the most photographed view in the state.  We did walk along the river a little here, but as it was pretty flat and forested, so none of the other views were very spectacular.  I think you can access the spot from a few different directions too if you want to hike more (and not pay the entrance fee).

The Cathedral Rock Trail took us to the gap in the rocks on the left

The view of Cathedral Rock from Red Rock Crossing

The last hike we did was called Devil's Bridge.  Because we had a tiny compact, our car wouldn't make it up the road that lead to the trail head, so it was about a mile and a half from the parking lot off the main road to the trail head, and another mile and a half to the main attraction of the hike, a large natural rock arch, although the scenery on the way was pretty nice.

We picked up some more "wilderness survival tips" at one of the more themey restaurants in town, the Cowboy Club, where they served deep fried prickly pear cactus.  So I figured if we got lost, I could navigate by the starts, and if we found a deep fryer, we could eat cacti.  As far as eating goes, I think the best meal we had was at our hotel restaurant, Hundred Rox (Kimpton restaurants FTW again).  We didn't have time, but if you are going and need a recommendation, the Elote Cafe is supposed to be good too. A hot sauce shop in town, the Jerome Ghost Pepper Company had some great fresh salsas.

The day we drove back to Phoenix, we thought about hiking the Airport Mesa trail, which is supposed to have good views, but we decided stopping along the way for wine tastings sounded better.  So good thing we actually weren't Lewis and Clark because the maps would have only gone as far as one day's worth of hiking.  And without a way to fry the cactus, who know what we would have eaten.

We didn't take the scenic route on the way back, but we did take the wine route!  Go south on 89A to Page Springs Road, where at least three different wineries are all clustered in the middle of the road.  We did a wine tasting and got lunch at our first stop at Javelina Leap Winery.  The guide book mentioned they had tours, which we thought would be fun, especially since we made it right in the middle of the harvesting season.  We were directed to where the owner was sitting at a table in the middle of the outdoor work area and invited to take a seat for the introduction of the tour.  After explaining some background about agriculture, he started pointing to the vats that held the fermenting grapes, the presses on the other side of the patio and the barrels just visible in the room across from us, and then the tour was done.  Mind you, we were sitting in the same place the whole time.  Jason and I thought it was pretty funny, and probably the only one-stop "tour" we've ever been on.

At least we didn't have to go far on the tour at Javelina Leap Winery.  The view from Page Springs Cellars.

The next stop, Oak Creek Vineyards was right next door.  Good thing too, since we were pretty wiped out from that intense tour!  Our favorite vineyard was the last stop, at Page Springs Cellars.  The wines were less expensive and tasted better least to our unsophisticated pallets, plus a shady deck out back overlooked the scenic grape fields.  The guys pouring the tasting were extremely knowledgeable and chatty, which might have been more appreciated if we weren't ready to head back to Phoenix.

So even though we didn't get to see the Grand Canyon, we hope to come back for that in the future.  We both were glad for the unexpected chance to see more of Sedona, and also that we didn't actually have to blaze a wildness trail ourselves.

Should Have Been a Cowboy

"... Should have learned to rope and ride/ Wearing my six-shooter/ Riding my pony on a cattle drive"

That Toby Keith song was going through my head a lot on our recent trip to Arizona because it is so scenic out there that it made me wish I was a cowboy (cowgirl, I guess)! Plus, we rode horses for the first time, so it only fueled my cowboy dreams, while also making it clear that it is only in my dreams that I have the proper horse riding skills.

After our recent city-centric trips, we were itching for something a little more natural and scenic.  A few months ago, we took a night to look at our budget, vacation schedule, and how to use points for free travel, we settled on a trip to see the Grand Canyon.  (PS - most of it we did for free thanks to points.  More on that to come.)  The timing worked out nicely that we could count it as a bit of an anniversary trip, since that was later in the month, and, like most milestones in our family, turned into excuses to celebrate all month.

We flew into Phoenix and stayed that first night in Scottsdale, before driving out to Sedona.  Our plan was to stay in Sedona two nights and drive out to the Grand Canyon during the full day we had there, and then stay in downtown Phoenix before heading home.  The US Government shutdown started the day we left though, which meant that the Grand Canyon was closed.  (They reopened the Grand Canyon during the second week of the shutdown, which meant we basically went at the worst time possible.)  Of course, we didn't know how long the shutdown would last, and with plans and hotel deposits already made, we figured we would still go and make the most of it.

We didn't have a whole lot of time in Scottsdale and Phoenix, but I had borrowed the perfect travel book on Phoenix, Scottsdale & Sedona from the library and poured through it on the 5 hour plane ride down there.  The guide book, plus recommendations on where to eat from the hotel, gave us more options than we even had time for.

After checking into our hotel in Scottsdale, the Kimpton Firesky, we went down the street for some amazing gourmet tacos at The Mission.  The meat was so flavorful and the perfect place for a romantic date night, though the prices made me glad we had only stopped in for lunch.  Their salsa was also delicious, and this is coming from a person who doesn't eat raw tomatoes (me, that's me).  I also have to mention that I've been on a really awful streak of forgetfulness and while we were in AZ I left my credit card at the restaurant three times.  I had also lost it right before the trip so four times in one week.  One time was at The Mission, and when I called about it later, the person I spoke to, Sam, went above and beyond the call of duty to get it back to me.

Another good meal we had while in Scottsdale was breakfast at Breakfast Club, where the portions were enough for more than one meal.  That's my huevos rancheros with hot sauce in the picture below.  The curious thing about the Breakfast Club was that the wait staff, who happened to be all female, wore yoga/workout type clothing as their uniforms.  I think it made you feel like their breakfast was healthy for you, as if you too had just come from your sunrise yoga class? 

Delicious but small tacos at The Mission and delicious but huge breakfast at the Breakfast Club.

We only had time for a short hike through Papago Park where there is a good view of the city after a short 835 foot climb to Hole-in-the-Rock.  Another top attraction, the Botanical Gardens are also in that park.  If we'd had more time, hikes on Camelback Mountain and walking through Old Town Scottsdale would have been fun.  I also wish we'd had time to take advantage of the hotel bikes for a ride along the Arizona Canal.

The view through hole-in-the-rock - trying to be high tech with my iphone panorama app.

Besides the bikes I mentioned, the Firesky hotel provided excellent transportation options with a free shuttle to anything within 3 miles and free parking.  After acclimating to $40/night DC hotel parking prices and impossible street parking, this was a bit of a wonderful shock.  (Although as an economist, I cringed inwardly thinking of the inefficient results described in the "The High Cost of Free Parking" by Donald Shoup.)

Our time in Sedona deserves its own post, but we hung out there for a few days ten came back to the Phoenix before flying back home.  Back, in Phoenix, there was still more to do than we could fit in.  One of the highlights was riding on horseback for the first time for both of us.  It was just an hour long ride in South Mountain Park, but long enough for me to wish I had brought my faux cowboy boots and hat.  My horse kept wandering off the main trail, lagging behind, and stopping for snacks.  The more experienced riders in the group kept telling me to give her a nudge with my heels to keep her moving, but with tendencies to do the same, I couldn't blame the horse too much.  It also didn't help that the guide kept trying to give me directions in Spanish, so I could only guess as to whether or not I was doing what he said.  I think I'm either supposed to hold the reigns the way he is motioning or he could be saying never to do this as it will get me thrown off the horse.  Jason's first ride fared a little more smoothly though because his horse kept up with the rest of the group, we weren't really close enough to chat during the ride.  Afterwards, since we were in the park, we drove along San Juan Road where we got some more nice views of the city at the end.



Our hotel, the Palomar Phoenix, was about a mile and a half from the arts district downtown, so we were able to easily sample Arizonan culture as well.  We happened to be there for the monthly free admission night at the Phoenix Art Museum, which was my thing, and we also got to see a behind-the-scenes preview at the Arizona Opera, that was Jason's thing.  And yes, we were the only people there under the age of 65.  (Because of the time difference, we also tended to wake up at 6:30 NATURALLY and get tired by 8.  We also hate it when technology changes because it's hard to keep up.  So yeah, it was basically a real-life glimpse of how we will still be doing the exact same thing in 30 years.  Maybe with more prune juice.)

The hotel was also were close enough to walk through Heritage Square, where really, unless you have kids and are going to the museums there, or want to tour the old Victorian-era house that's there, the only reason to go would be Pizzeria Bianco.  The small restaurant (read: go early or prepare to wait) housed a wood burning oven and simple, quality ingredients made it clear why it was recommended.

While in Phoenix, we also ate at Matt's Big Breakfast, where the line is long, and the food was simple and delicious.  We were impressed enough with Pizzeria Bianco, that we got sandwiches for the flight home from sister restaurant, Pane Bianco.  We had a dining credit at the hotel restaurant, The Blue Hound Kitchen, which had some of the best chicken and waffles I think I've ever had.

Of course, we did our best to get in as many tacos as possible.  I basically make tacos every week because I crave cilantro all the time, so being in the southwest was like a food dream come true, because so many good, real (ie: with cilantro and corn tortillas), and cheap tacos were all over the place.  America's Taco Shop had surprisingly good tacos for a local fast food franchise.  A waiter at The Mission told us about the street taco shops he stops at in Scottsdale.  One was Jaylisco Tacos on Thomas, and the other, American Market Place (AMP) was on the corner of 68th and Thomas.  We went to AMP, which totally looked like a cheap convenience store on the corner, but with totally legit tacos at $1.50, it was definitely a highlight of our trip.  We went here the morning we flew home, so the day went something like this: breakfast, pick up sandwiches for flight home, eat tacos, go to airport.  So if it seems like all we did on this trip was eat, that's pretty accurate.

If we had been there longer, I would have loved to check out Taliesin West, which was another Frank Lloyd Wright studio, or the Japanese Friendship Gardens.  Hiking Piestewa Peak in the Phoenix Mountain Preserve also was on the list of things to do, and is supposed to have good views.  But since the government was still shut down by the end of our trip, Jason and I had to go back to DC and save it.  (Not really, we just sat at home another week and tried to cash in on some shutdown freebies.) 

Farewell, land of beautiful mountains, cowboys, and tacos.  I hope we meet again.  I hope remember my boots.

Chicago Pt 3: What We Ate

The belated third and final installment of our trip to Chicago this past May.  Here's what we did and where we stayed.  I put so much planning into eating that it deserved it's own post.  Feel free to move on to something more interesting (ie: watching paint dry, peeling carrots, etc.).

Confession: sometimes when traveling, I am way more concerned about what we will eat than what we will do.  The Chicago trip we did earlier this year was so so long ago, but I figured since most of my planning was dedicated to meals, I'd share our experience, as well as my list of restaurant recommendations.   (I am a nerd.  This is a spreadsheet compiling recommendations from a few of my favorite sources, to which I added my own ranking based on how many lists the restaurant was on.)

So yes, I was that person at restaurants taking pictures of food when it came.  Jason is amazing that he patiently waited for me to get the right focus/lighting/iphone shot while his food got cold.  When did this become normal?  How did our country become so concerned with food?  And does anyone really want to know what we ate?  Here it is!

The City of Brotherly Love... and Hotel Love

I promise you, I do not work for Kimpton. (I did look into one of their job postings for a media coordinator. I didn’t think checking Instagram every ten minutes is quite what they meant by 2-3 years marketing experience.) Nor do they give me anything other than what any other loyalty member gets. I just wanted to clarify since Kimpton hotels seem to be the only thing I can talk about recently. Today is no exception.

Chicago Pt 2: Where We Stayed

I will just start out by saying, my husband is very patient with me.  I think he was a little distracted when I asked him if he'd mind switching hotels every night when I planned our trip to Chicago a few months ago.  I had a good reason, of course, to get free stuff, and thankfully the hotels were so close to each other it was actually really easy.  So now that we did that, I kind of feel like I need to do a little report on all those hotels.  This will probably only be interesting if you are going to Chicago and need a recommendation on where to stay or like pretty hotel pictures.

Let me just back up a bit.  Part of the reason we decided to go to Chicago was that our new favorite hotel chain, Kimpton, has a few properties there.  When Jason was gone for work earlier this year, he signed up for the loyalty program of the hotel chain where he stayed.  (What a good husband.  He knows how much I love capitalizing on any travel perks, so signed up while he was there.  He also brings home hotel toiletries for me.  Two months worth of hotel toiletries!)  He was there enough nights that he achieved higher "status."  One of the nice things about Kimpton is that if you have status with another hotel chain, they will match that status by letting you into their "Inner Circle," something you normally get after 15 stays or 45 nights with them. 

Anyone can join their loyalty program, In Touch, which gets you free wi-fi and a mini-bar snack.  It's just once you stay enough times that you get to be part of the Inner Circle.  Inner Circle Perks include complimentary nights at their new properties, room upgrades, plus a welcome gift of your favorite snacks (chocolates, fruit, and even some wine - heck yeah).  There are four different Kimpton hotels in Chicago, so because they were all within a ten minute walk of each other, and because we are a little crazy, we (if you could call asking Jason a question while distracted "we") decided we'd try a new hotel every night.  All the bouncing around got us a free night since their "Passport Rewards" program, gets you free nights based on how many properties you stay at, in addition to their normal rewards.  Just Another Points Traveler has a good write up explaining the whole program here.  So without further ado, here are the Kimpton Chicago hotels:


Nicest Room: Hotel Allegro

The first Kimpton hotel we stayed at was the Hotel Allegro.  It was a great location, actually all the Kimpton hotels were very conveniently located within a block or two of the L.  We got upgraded to a King Suite after only booking the most basic room.  I think the hotel room was as big as our house or at least was the biggest hotel room we've ever stayed in. 

The lobby was beautiful and pretty spacious, which made it a perfect place to hang out during their complimentary happy hour (definitely another reason this is my favorite hotel chain).  The jacuzzi tub made it tempting to skip out on the sights entirely. 


Closest to the River: Hotel Monaco

These rooms were pretty small, so I forgot to take many other pictures, however, there was a reason real estate was so sparse: the hotel was right on the river. We had some great views in the evenings looking over the water from the window of our room.

The staff at the Monaco were extremely friendly, and there was a couch type thing overlooking the window, which was nice.  The rest of the room was so small though, it just wasn't our favorite.


Best View: Hotel Burnham

According to the staff, the building the hotel is in was the first skyscraper in the city.  It been renovated to looked it did when originally built as an office building, so the door to your room looked like a door to an office.  We got upgraded to a corner room with a view of Millennium Park in one direction and State Street in the other.  The bathroom was pretty small and basic.  Located close to an L station, we heard the hotel restaurant was good, but never actually ended up eating there.

The lobby here was the smallest, making it less comfortable to hang out for wine hour, and the elevators were really small.  We just took our wine back up to our room though, where we could enjoy the view that made it Jason's favorite hotel.


Most Modern & Nicest Bathroom: Hotel Palomar

This hotel was in one of the really big high rises on the north side of the river, so I think if we had been in a room on one of the higher floors it would have been even more scenic than it already was.  We really liked our "welcome snack," huge jacuzzi tub, and floor to ceiling windows.  They also had served pizza at wine hour and had a huge lobby with a glass-enclosed fireplace, making it my favorite.  (I am easily bribed with food.)

It was super funny checking into all these places since our reservations noted the "Inner Circle" status.  It seemed like most of the staff at all the hotels really went out of their way to make sure we were comfortable and happy, more so it seemed than if we were normal guests.  It was funny to us because neither of us every received special attention anywhere before.  Back to reality at home, there were no wines or chocolates waiting for us, no one to welcome us by name.  At least I have enough hotel shampoos I'll get to enjoy a little sliver of hotel life for another few days.. or maybe weeks in my case!

(All opinions are my own.  I was not comped or paid by Kimpton in any way.)

Chicago Pt 1: What We Did

Sometimes when we are sitting around with my family, stories start being told about the lengths to which my sister, mother and I will go to get free stuff.  Now, none of the stories involve stealing, lying or being rude to customer service, likely because we all have husbands who make sure we don't cheat the system.  But, most of the stories do involve persistence, kindness and maybe acting a little bit crazy.  For example, when a sales person says the defective jeans are no longer available at the sale price and he really wishes there was another discount he could give you, you can kindly remind him, "What about your employee discount?"  Or, if your car is making funny noises, you explain how you are afraid for your life so it really is something that needs to be fixed right away.

After one of our plane debacles in Africa that ended in us paying a hefty bill due to an airline error, I wrote to the airline, explained the situation and in what I hope was a polite way, asked for our expenses to be reimbursed.  When I finally got a response back, the bad news was that they wouldn't reimburse our expenses with cash, but the good news was that they gave us airline vouchers for a good bit more than our expenses actually were.

So, with tickets to anywhere and a three day weekend looming, we figured we should use them while we had the chance.  We talked ourselves in circles trying to decide on where to go, but since we had a short amount of time, and a dollar limit for the vouchers, we decided on Chicago.  Both of us had been there before, but only for a less than a day, and it seemed just close enough and manageable enough for a long weekend.

        

We found the L, the name for Chicago's public metro rail, to be pretty easy and convenient.  Most of what we did was in the downtown area and we were pleasantly surprised to find that it is an extremely walkable city.  Most everything but the baseball stadium, Oak Park and a few of the theaters were within a mile of where we stayed, in the middle of downtown, aka "the loop."  Another thing we liked about this city, is that a lot of the places we went had good discounts (ex: military, student, federal government), so count that as a friendly reminder to ask!

Here is what we did:

Day 1:
-Walked around Millennium Park: I'm a big Frank Gehry fan, and there are some beautiful gardens on the south side of the park.

Millennium Stage

-Andy's Jazz Club (with discounted coupons from the hotel concierge): It felt somewhat old-school, totally laid back and nice way to spend some time.  I think the waitress also jokingly called us the "slow-couple" since we took so long to decide on drinks.

Day 2:
-Architecture River Tour: I saw a lot of recommendations for this, and it was definitely fun, but I don't think I'd label it "must-do." I'm not a huge architecture buff, but it was definitely interesting to learn about the different styles and history of the city, especially since the architecture in the city is really amazing.  I can't remember which company it was, but they all kind of seemed similar, so we just went with the one our hotel could book for us.

-Field Museum: I really don't know why, but one of my all time favorite movies is "The Ghost and the Darkness" about the man-eating lions in Tsavo.  The stuffed lions are in the Field Museum and as he says in the end of the movie, "Even now, if you dare lock eyes with them, you will be afraid."  We didn't give ourselves much time.. maybe an hour so we jut kid of dashed in, saw the lions, saw what I think might be the biggest T-rex skeleton in the world, and dashed out. (After deciding on what kind of dinosaur we would be if we had to pick.  I know, I am blessed to have a husband who humors me so.)

-Magnificent mile: this was another common recommendation that we found a bit overrated.  It's the main shopping street and not a lot else.  Although if you don't live near any of the big chain stores or tend to shop at the designer stores, this would be a good place to blow a lot of time and money

-John Hancock Observatory: We went at dusk and the views were pretty awesome.  There is also a bar on the floor below the observatory if you'd rather spend money on a drink instead of an admission ticket.  When we went, the line for the bar was pretty long whereas we could get in right away for the observatory.  Plus, I think we are prepared for the future since we both already have the mentality of old people in that we would rather just avoid the crowds jostling for drinks or a view.  We are "the slow couple" who doesn't like crowds, so yeah.. we'll join AARP soon enough.

Day 3:

-Took obligatory pictures by "the bean": somehow we missed it while taking our initial tour of Millennium park.

-"Smoky Joe's Cafe" at the Royal George Theater: this was a musical play, that had a little bit of a story line, and lots of talented singer.  It's a bit of a medley of Lieber and Stroller's hits from the 50's.  Musicals aren't quite up our alley, but it was pretty fun and I think we got discounted tickets at the Hot Tix store by our hotel.  The theater was also right next to where we had dinner the next night, Balena, so too bad I didn't plan that one better. 

Day 4:

-Oak Park and Frank Lloyd Wright's Studio: This neighborhood took a bit of a time to get out to, but was a perfect way to enjoy the nice weather.  We didn't take any guided tours (mostly because we didn't reserve tickets ahead of time or plan on waiting, so would have had to wait 2 hours to take the tour of Frank Lloyd Wright's studio.  They did offer walking tours of the neighborhood (many of the houses designed by FLW), but I think we were too hungry/cheap/rushed to want to bother with that.  If we had to do it again, a tour might have been nice, or maybe if we had taken more time to explore Ernest Hemingway's house, which was also in the 'hood.

One of the FLW-designed homes in Oak Park

Wright's home and studio (or is it Lloyd Wright?)

-White Sox Game: Another fun way to spend time outside since the Cubs weren't playing.  The polish sausages with caramelized onions were so good we got seconds.  (And they were a shockingly low price for ball park food.)

-If I hadn't already been, the Art Institute of Chicago has one of the best art collections in the country, so I'd rank that pretty high on the "things to do list."

Our itinerary wasn't all that packed, since part of "vacation" to us means just hanging out and reading or napping.  Another reason our itinerary looks a little sparse is that a big part of our travelling is eating, which I'll have to save for another post.  All in all, it was a really fun trip.  Definitely worth the time it took to call and write in about my airline experience.  And yeah, I'd be a triceratops.... you know, since it has my name in it (tri-sarah-tops).