2013 Round-up

While we haven’t done any major trips since Banff in July, we have gotten out a town several times that we didn’t get a chance to write about.

In the interest of keeping this blog up-to-date with all our trips, I thought I’d mention each one with a quick summary.

Washington DC

Jaime had a lot of traveling to do for work in the late summer and throughout the Fall.  In late July, both Lydia and I tagged along on a trip to DC.  We got to hang out with Jaime’s law school friend Melissa and her family and while Jaime was working, Lydia and I wandered around the National Mall.  It was extremely hot so we ducked into several lesser known museums just to keep cool!  The highlight was being able to see the rare corpse flower in person, although it didn’t bloom until we were on the flight home.

Traverse City

Over Labor Day weekend we went camping with some friends in Empire, MI, which is in between Traverse City and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park.  We spent a day in each location.  Traverse City is a very cute, albeit touristy, city where you just stroll around.  We also drove up a nearby peninsula and did a winery tour.  Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park has a few scenic overlooks but the highlight is the dunes themselves.  They are very high and very steep and descend directly into Lake Michigan.  There were people getting dropped off in boats at the bottom and spending several hours climbing to the top!

California Coast

In late September I went to a conference in LA, but beforehand I attended a vow renewal for some friends in Santa Cruz outside of San Francisco.  My sister and brother-in-law picked me up in SF and we spent a few hours wandering around town and touring a trolley museum.  After the vow renewal, I decided to rent a car and do the scenic drive down the coast to LA.  Google Maps said it would be about 9.5 hours but with all my scenic detours and photo op stops, it ended up being over 13 hours!  Quite a long day, but it was very nice.  The conference was in the Disneyland Hotel which was insanely luxurious and I was able to catch up with some former coworkers over dinner each night.

Salt Lake City

In late October, I was able to meet up with Jaime in SLC in the middle of a 6-city-hopping work trip.  Lydia spent a few nights with my sister which they both thoroughly enjoyed.  Each day while Jaime was working, I drove up into the mountains to go hiking and take pictures.  It was quite surreal to drive up the mountains where it was constantly snowing.  While mostly fun, I did nearly get stuck on a snowy trail and realized that I need hiking boots and a pole next time I try that!  With Jaime, we visited Temple Square and ate at a great restaurant named Eva.  We also drove about 90 minutes west of SLC to the Bonneville Salt Flats where they do a lot of racing.  By far the most unique experience was soaking for an hour in a natural geothermal crater in the middle of nowhere.

North Woods

In mid-November, we had planned for a long weekend in the North Woods of Wisconsin with my immediate family.  Unfortunately Jaime and my sister couldn’t make it, so it was just my mom, Lydia, and myself.  We still had a great time though!  It was a rather chilly weekend so we didn’t do much outdoors.  We drove up to Lake Superior and back through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with a quick stop in an Indian Reservation.  Other than that we relaxed in the unique treehouse-style resort with a toasty fireplace!

New Orleans

Last, but certainly not least, we spent a few days in New Orleans before driving up to Memphis for Christmas.  We flew in on Saturday morning and while Lydia took a nap I wandered around the French Quarter solo and picked up some famous muffulettas from Central Grocery for us.  After meeting up with Jaime’s family, we wandered around the French Quarter and went to the Camelia Grill for dinner.  It was raining the entire second day so we spent most of the day indoors at the extensive World War II Museum.  We had a great lunch at Luke restaurant and cabbed it over to the famous Cafe du Monde for beignets.  On the walk back to the hotel in the rain, we finally gave in and bought some touristy ponchos and had a quick dinner at Huck Finn’s Cafe.  On our last full day, Jaime and I went to the nearby Saint Louis Cemetery Number One before meeting up with everyone at Tujague’s for a traditional New Orleans lunch.  After some more wandering around the French Quarter, we went to the historic Arnaud’s for dinner.  Jaime’s mom kindly took Lydia back to the hotel while the rest of us went on a ghost walking tour.  Once the tour was over, Jaime and I went to Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop, “the oldest bar in the US”, and thoroughly enjoyed the candlelit piano playing to end the night.  On our final morning, we went to Mothers for breakfast and then drove up to Memphis for Christmas.