Cherry Blossom Season

Today we took a bus tour around DC to look at the beautiful Cherry Blossoms. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Cherry Blossoms. Here are some photos:

Signs, signs, everywhere are signs

When traveling, I’m always intrigued by the signs that decorate the city. Here we are at the start of our cherry blossom bus tour and we have to meet the bus next to this building. This particular sign isn’t that exciting but since it’s coming up to tax season I couldn’t help myself.

As I was taking pictures of the sign a woman walked out and joked “you know we charge for pictures.”

Yeah, you ain’t kidding.

 

And the journey begins

Ah, flying. Not so fun anymore. My flight is currently delayed. The good news is they called me early this morning to let me know , which was nice, but now my travel day just got extended for a half hour. We’re not off to very good start.

I got to the airport and measured my bag to see if it would be considered a carry-on. It was which is good news except I had to forgo my brand new face cream because it was too big. Give me a break. Since when is face cream a weapon? “Stand back everyone, this woman is armed with face cream.” What am I going to do moisturize people to death?

Anyway, I’m at the airport blogging from my Nook which is slightly better than blogging from my phone, so all is well and my adventure has begun.

Packing for Washington DC

Tomorrow I leave for Washington DC to visit family and celebrate my late mother’s birthday. As an added bonus it happens to be Cherry Blossom season – sweet.

For this trip I am not bringing my laptop and I’m kind of stressing out about it. I usually love to travel with it because if you get stuck in an airport you can either blog, email or watch movies to kill time. Also, having my computer makes it much easier to post pictures and stay connected.

But this trip I’ll leave my little Macbook at home.  I’m only going for 4 days and 2 of them I’ll be traveling so I want to pack light and only carry on one bag. Oddly enough, I have to fly all over the east coast and beyond to get to DC from Vermont, so the less I have with me the better.

That being said, I’ll be updating my blog via my lovely iPhone (or any other computer I come in contact with) and yes I still have a first generation 3G (scary I know). I just downloaded a great camera app so I can update you quickly with quality photos of the city, if nothing else.

So check back tomorrow as I embark on another fun journey. And if you have any recommendations on where to eat for while I’m in town please send them my way.

Happy trails!

Heading to Ireland

 

Photo Credit: Media Landscape

The time has finally come to plan a trip to Ireland. I’ve been playing traditional Irish music for quite some time now, so I am excited to finally see where this beautiful music comes from.

We’re planning to head out sometime in late April for a vacation and will most likely visit the west coast in places like Dingle, Limerick, Clare and more. I haven’t yet started planning but I’m hoping to find a nice little house to rent and possibly do some day trips along the seacoast, hit some sessions, drinks some Guinness.

If you have any suggestions on where to go, what to see and what sessions to hit,  please let me know. I’ll keep you posted as my plans take shape.

Happy traveling!

A Trip to the Seacoast

No matter where I travel I almost always bump into Vermonters. It’s no surprise that while I was visiting Portsmouth, New Hampshia (which is how it is pronounced in these parts) this weekend, I of course got to enjoy a fun band from the great Green Mountain State, called The Vermont Joy Parade.

They were performing on the street in downtown Portsmouth. I’m always intrigued by street performers so of course I had to stop and take a little video. Check it out:

They were so fun to watch.

From Durango to Burlington

Kat & Tori

I arrived in JFK after an uneventful flight from Denver. Luckily, no babies crying or cats meowing and I even got to spread out a little as there was no one sitting next to me. I still couldn’t sleep though the guy sitting behind me seemed to have no problem as every 20 minutes or so he’d let out this big Fred Flinstone snore. I was envious that he could actually sleep. How do people do that?

We arrived on time into JFK and as I walked around aimlessly trying to figure out how the hell the breakfast line works, (either because its pretty confusing or because I have been up now for over 24 hours) I was struck by how terrible us Americans eat. I literally couldn’t find one healthy thing in the breakfast line. I ordered eggs but oddly they didn’t come from a shell. They came from a big plastic yellow bag. Totally grossed me out. Then I went to pay for my coffee and of course there was no raw sugar to be found, agave in my coffee – pipe dream. Why can’t they just have an organic cart or cafe in the airport for people who actually care what they put into their body? Okay, that’s my rant this morning. I think I’m just tired and grumpy and seriously considering trying to sneak onto the flight to Aruba instead of Burlington. Though I have to say I can’t wait to play my fiddle and sleep in my own bed.

One more flight and my vacation will be officially over, although can you count spending 24 hours of flying part of your vacation? I don’t think so. The sun is shining in New York and I’m hoping it is also shining in Vermont.

I don’t know about you but as I sit here waiting for my flight, I’m looking around at everyone at the gate wondering who is the person that is going to be sitting next to me. Do you do that? I always make a guess and am pretty much always wrong. Anyway, its amazing the little games you play when you’re exhausted and completely bored. I can’t wait to breath fresh air, I’ve been in an airport now for way too long.

Heading home

I enjoyed my last day in Durango riding first tracks at Durango Mountain Resort. It was awesome. I was amazed at how different the snow is at 11,000 feet. By Colorado’s standards this morning wasn’t considered a powder day but 5 inches of freshies is powder to a New Englander who rides on ice most of the time. It is just amazing that you can be biking in 50 degree weather and 20 minutes up the road you’re riding a snowboard in powder. Durango rocks. I enjoyed the last morsel of my vacation having a nice dinner at a Thai food restaurant not too far from the Denver airport.

I’m now enjoying the inside of Denver Airport. Oh the joy. My flight leaves at 1:00am and arrives in JFK at 6:30am EST and then I have a 3 hour layover until my flight back to Burlington. Not sure you all need to know all that detail but I’m just really bored right now and wishing I could take a nap in a nice comfy bed. I do want to say that I love JetBlue. My bag was 5 pounds overweight and the woman at the counter said she wouldn’t charge me tonight. I appreciate that, especially because I wore everything in my suitcase except one outfit. So dragging the 55 lbs of clothes around for the last 12 days was well worth it.

Anyway, it was so great to be able to enjoy quality time with old friends and new. This was a great vacation. Thanks to all who carried my bags, gave me a bed to sleep on and chauffeured me around to all the fun activities.

Bantering & Bickering in the Bar

Bantering and bickering in the back of Carver Brewing Company kicked off the annual celebration for the repeal of prohibition last night. Townspeople dressed up and played out the scene in the back of the bar. (I am told this is just one of many dress-up activities that goes on in this town). Women dressed up in costume with signs discouraging the use of alcohol, paraded through the bar as they bickered with townsmen and acted out scenes of what it might have been like way back when.  So, of course we toasted appropriately with our beers, then enjoyed some music from a local band that was playing.

We then headed out for some dinner with friends, some pool and an unsuccessful search for some real cowboys. This morning I think we’re going to end my vacation with a trip to the mountain to go snowboarding. It’s been a great trip to Durango.

Deer and Bison and Elk, Oh My

One of the things that is fun about this neighborhood is how brave and friendly the deer are. Almost every day you can see a handful of deer perusing the neighborhood looking for the best grass to feed on. I think if I had food in my hand, these guys would have eaten right out of my hand. It’s not like we don’t have deer in Vermont, but these ones don’t really care if I’m out there taking pictures of them. They aren’t afraid.

Last night Tori and I hosted a girls night and I got to meet some of Tori’s friends including Jack’s cousin Carol (sorry inside joke). One of them is going to open a Bison farm. I’m not really sure what a bison is but I hear the meat is better for you than cow’s meat and there aren’t too many Bison farms around here. So Kudos to Sarah and best of luck.

This last picture is a picture of a herd of Elk. I guess this is a common occurrence in these parts. We had elk burgers for dinner one night. Yum.

Ah well, my vacation is winding down. I haven’t taken any pictures in the last few days. I’ve been too busy chasing deer, getting a massage, a pedicure, going to yoga and taking a spinning class. This morning’s yoga was wonderful, complimented by a live guitar player. It was invigorating. If you’re ever in Durango, I highly recommend checking out Bill Carver’s class at Yoga Durango.

After my yoga class this morning I walked around Main Ave and checked out all the shops. I bought myself a cool belt buckle and a new purse. I know, exciting huh? Just winding down the week and mentally preparing to head back home. I tried to write as much as I could without taking away time from my vacation. Hope you enjoyed my posts.