Waking up to a wanderlusting gallery wall

Since I don't have any big trips booked, I'm decorating my bedroom with travel mementos. Read all about it on She In The CLE: http://www.sheinthecle.com/lifestyle/waking-up-to-a-wanderlusting-gallery-wall/

Take a biz trip to the max with some "me" time

If you know me, you know that I love to travel. You’ll also know that since I left my job where I traveled a ton, I haven’t been on many trips for work. So, when I had the opportunity to pick a conference to attend, I made sure to CRUSH IT.

I found a great marketing conference in a great location (Miami Beach) when it’s typically cold in the CLE, at an amazing, newly renovated hotel (Fontainebleau). And I even got accepted as a speaker, which erased all guilt of enjoying the beach when I could. Even better, two former colleagues and friends traveled with me!

Some trips are packed to the gills, but when I can afford the time, here are my tips for taking any biz trip to the max.

Plan your meals

A former colleague who also attended the conference made us dinner plans for our first night in Miami Beach before she even booked her flight. While I wouldn’t recommend putting plans in place in that exact order, it was great to have reservations. We ate our weight in sushi at Nobu (which just relocated next to the Fontainebleau the day before we went) and Katsuya.

Be the best version of your healthiest self

Sometimes gorging on a fantastic meal prevents this, but these days I am all about restoring myself while traveling: eating well, sleeping well and working out. We were lucky enough to have beach workouts scheduled during a couple of mornings during the conference. Loved them!

Squeeze in a manipedi

The resort was pretty contained and had a spa with a great rate on a manipedi so I booked it, but usually I just find a walk-in nearby my hotel. I always feel a bit more put together once my nail and toes are done.

Extend your trip pre or post

Luckily, I had some extra time the first day the conference started to enjoy the beach. When time and business permits, I try to book a trip near the weekend to make it easier to stay an extra day to see the sights and fit in a meal at a spot I want to try.

My all-time favorite extension of a work trip was when I went to London in 2008 and extended my trip to take the new Chunnel and stay in Paris. That trip actually inspired me to blog my first post.

What’s been your favorite biz trip extension?

Since it had been 5 years, I went to see the POTUS on his bday

Just like me, the city is home improving

Man! A habit has obviously been forming. Charlotte is down to an annual trip vs. a few times a year. D.C. -- a place I visited annually for years -- has not seen my face since 2010 when I was secretly pregs with D. No wonder I keep randomly thinking about cherry blossoms.

This visit was a quick biz trip and I was fortunate enough to spend time near the Smithsonian and in Logan Circle, an up-and-coming historic neighborhood. Nail Saloon (trendy nail spa with the best light fixtures I've ever seen), Donovan House (renovated Kimpton hotel with a fun rooftop pool & bar) and the seasonal small plates restaurant Lincoln (bacon-infused bourbon!) were great spots in Logan Circle.

Rooftop pool bar view at Donovan House

Although I could have spent days visiting my favorite museums, I focused on the Freer Gallery of Art, one of my all-time favorite museums, known for its harmonizing collection of American and Asian art by a Detroit collector. There was an interesting exhibit on display that dove into all of the dirt between Whistler and a collector (not Freer) about the Peacock Room, an over-the-top dining room and living work of art, which was shipped to America in something like 27 crates. Although I've visited the museum many times, today I learned a bit more about Freer himself, who grew up with modest means, and the artists he commissioned. Fascinating as to how he created enough wealth in order to retire at 45 and then travel to collect enough art to partner with Teddy Roosevelt to build and establish the first art museum as part of the Smithsonian. Give me that life!

Hoping that I make it back to D.C. before I am schlepping my children there on a Spring Break years from now to help them appreciate our nation's history. :)

Lake Norman revival + hot yoga

Well hello there! It's been a while. I haven't been on a legit trip in over a year in my new job, which is a far cry from the travel I did on the reg during my last gig. But, with starting a new job and moving twice in the past year, I think it's been a blessing since our family has been craving stability.

So, just like last year, we kept our family vacay chill and spent some time with friends at Lake Norman near Charlotte. It's been surprising to me the frequency of endearing sighs of familiarity I've encountered when mentioning our trip. Seems like lots of folks love that lake.

Our days were spent rotating between the pool and the lake, and I finally broke down and tried hot yoga. I didn't hate it, but I also think I would do just fine with intensive yoga and no extra heat thank you very much.

Certainly didn't turn down the extra help with the kiddos for a day date spent getting couples massages. Phil and I fell asleep not only during the massage but also in the waiting room beforehand. Haa!

A couple more trips planned this year, so I won't be totally dark. Till then...

Squeezing in a summer trip to Charlotte

Fam portrait downtown

I am woefully behind in writing this post since we got back from Charlotte almost two weeks ago. I have a good excuse though – in the past two weeks, I started a new job and we’ve been packing up our house as we prepare to move at the end of the month.

Before we left for Charlotte, Phil told me I had no business going on the trip since we were in the midst of so much upheaval, but I really wanted to squeeze in some family and friend time before I started my new gig, particularly since Jen has been encouraging us to come down for summer boating fun for years.

We had a great time! Our friends were so hands on with the kids, and Phil and I even had an afternoon to ourselves getting massages (!!!). Jen and I shopped for some last-minute work wardrobe finds and Dylan got to drive another boat, this time on Lake Norman.

Sienna finally warmed up to pool time

Strolling/swinging around downtown Charlotte during restaurant week

Captain Pickle with Big Tom (Jen's dad)

Touring the children's museum while mom & dad get massages

Ah, well. Back to packing.

Family fun daytrip to Put-in-Bay

Lots happening with our fam this month, but we squeezed in a fun day trip to Put-in-Bay thanks to Miller Ferry. I haven't been to PIB in years and Phil had never been so it was a great chance to experience it as a foursome.

Family selfie at the Put-in-Bay Butterfly House

It's just shy of a two-hour commute for us to catch the ferry and we hopped on the noon one just minutes after getting our tickets. The kids loved riding with the cars and staked out a spot by a porthole to catch all of the action.

Best spot in the house...err ferry

Once on the island, we borrowed a four-seater golf cart from Island Bike & Cart Rental -- something I had never done before on the island. The kids had a blast "driving" and we rigged our stroller up on the back.

• Since we were running out the clock against the nap time fairy, we stuck to just a few activities: 
• Lunch at Mr. Ed's (Such a different experience with kids! ;) They loved the live music)
• Fishing at the Aquatic Visitors Center where kids fish for free with poles, bait, life jackets, etc. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday during the summer)
• The Butterfly House, which hosts 900 butterflies, including 50 different species
• Ice cream and coffee at the Chocolate Cafe

Our first-time fisherman!

Had we had more time, we might have explored Perry's Cave or the Fort aMAZE'n maze, but we packed in what we could before taking the 4:30 p.m. ferry back. Thankfully, nap time during drive time was not a problem:

I think D's entire preschool knows that we were on an island and drove a golf cart, so the trip definitely made an impression! 

I was compensated with ferry passes and a golf cart during my trip to Put-in-Bay. All opinions are my own.

Albuquerque museum hopping

Exploring hot air balloon baskets at the International Balloon Museum

When Phil first announced that he was going to a conference in Albuquerque, I googled things to do in Albuquerque with kids and found this gem of a list. It sold me right away that we could have a fun family trip there.

I couldn't wait to check out hot air balloons inside and out at the Anderson Abruzzo International Balloon Museum. Added bonus: the museum hosts an award-winning story time every Wednesday morning. 

The museum is a few stories high (to accommodate legit blown up hot air balloons) and the back wall is all glass and overlooks a huge field. It's a great spot to check out balloon sightings, particularly during the  annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta in October when more than 700 hot air balloons take to the sky. The coolest! I also loved how inexpensive museum admission is ($8 for our family).

(Clockwise: bubbles!, hands-on instruments, my chain reaction scientists, Sienna flying a plane)

During our first couple of days, we kept getting suggestions to visit the Explora! Science Center and Children's Museum. It definitely didn't disappoint. We had so much fun there that we drove to the hotel to pick up Phil after his conference sessions were over and brought him there so he could see what we did all day. 

We probably spent the most time in the front of the museum where you could build chain reaction experiments with pulleys, little balls and all kinds of other contraptions. I also love the section of the museum with instruments and sound experiments. And, older kids can ride a bike on a high wire near the museum's ceiling. 

Extra friendly geese at Tingley Beach

If we had more time, we definitely would have visited more museums, particularly those in the ABQ Bio Park, which features the zoo, aquarium and botanical garden and a fun train that takes you around to all three (extra ticket needed if you don't buy the combo pass). Because we wanted to enjoy the outdoors after Cleveland's unforgiving winter, we only visited Tingley Beach, a series of fishing/duck ponds near the Rio Grande within in the Bio Park. There's a designated kids' fishing pond, which I had to distract D from big time, and a trail along the river. 

One additional museum we visited was the Rattlesnake Museum in Old Town. Great area close to downtown that I'll talk about in my next and last ABQ post.

Climbing Albuquerque mountains and volcanos -- toddler-style -- with a dose of adrenaline

Climbing the Sandia Mountains via the world's longest tramway (3 miles) to the summit at 10,300 ft!

A couple of nights ago, I finally watched The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. I knew when I first watched the preview in the movie theater that I would love it since it's about imagining adventure in your life and then making it happen.

As I watched the movie, I couldn't stop smiling thinking about the travel "risks" that I've taken over the years that turned into incredible experiences:

• Crashing the dinner party of my Eurostar seatmate in Paris
• Going to Bangkok and taking a 3-hour bus ride with chickens and fruit peddlers
• Taking buses in remote areas of Japan and trying to match kanji on the bus to our maps 

The movie reminded me of that wonderful yet scary feeling of adrenaline when you're in an unfamiliar place and you're wondering, "Am I crazy to do this or would it be crazy not to?"

In Albuquerque, I had a milder version of that feeling when I took the kids on the world's longest tramway up the Sandia Mountains to a peak more than 10,000 ft high. When I was researching things to do with the kids for the trip, I thought the tram would be so fun, particularly since I loved the one I went on in Hakone, Japan, near Mount Fuji. But, doing it alone with toddlers? Although I called and talked with the staff there and got advice from the Albuquerque visitor center and everyone said it would be fine, I still didn't sleep well the night before. 

The tram station was about 20 minutes from downtown and when we got there, there was a sign that said the weather at the mountaintop was 31 degrees (it was about 60 degrees in Albuquerque). What?! I asked if that was for the legit top of the mountain or where the tram was taking us and the man looked at me funny and said both were the same thing. Then he said it probably was closer to 45 degrees and he had to update the sign. Whew!

I put an extra layer of clothes on the kids and we were off! The staff and tourists were awesome since they let me keep our ginormous double stroller unfolded so I could better manage the kids.

The littlest mountain climbers atop the "North" Mountain. Elsa would be proud!

I'm so glad we went! The scenery was beautiful and Dylan LOVED the dips our car took each time we came up to one of the towers. Hilariously, he kept calling it the North Mountain (Frozen).

From the Sandia Mountains, we drove another 20 minutes to the National Petroglyph Monument, which stretches 17 miles across Albuquerque's west mesa throughout volcanic cliffs and canyons. The trails feature petroglyphs, rock picture carvings, on volcanic rocks dated 400 to 700 years ago made by Native Americans and Spanish settlers.

Toddler trail climbers at Boca Negra Canyon

We "hiked" as best we could along the trails at Boca Negra Canyon and admired the carvings of drums and animals. Definitely not stroller friendly since there are giant rocks in the middle of the trails, but we all still had a great time and even made friends with some lizards.

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Albuquerque family vacation was a blast!

(Clockwise) Rattlesnake Museum, hot air balloon basket, Sandia Peak tram, Tingley Beach

Who knew? Albuquerque was a fantastic spot for a family trip! And, New Mexico is now checked off of my list of states to visit. Lots to do indoors and outside, including exploring Albuquerque's Sandia mountains and 19 museums. The kids loved the range of things to do, from climbing mountain trails to hands-on activities at the museums to dancing to music in the park to swimming in the hotel pool.

I only have two regrets: no hot air balloon sightings or pink sunset views that gave the mountains their namesake ("sandia" is the Spanish word for "watermelon). While Albuquerque boasts that it is the best location in the world for hot air ballooning (because of its cool early morning temperatures and the "box" effect, which provides predictable wind patterns in between the mountain ranges), the weather was more windy than normal so the skies were empty. Regarding the lack of sunset sightings, I was banished indoors at dusk to put the kids to bed. Silver lining: I caught up on lots of sleep!

Phil and I both agreed that it would be amazing to be in town for the city's annual International Balloon Fiesta, which is held every October and hosts about 750 hot air balloons. It's on my bucket list!

In the interim, more to come on mountain-climbing (toddler style), museums and fun things to do in Old Town.

Next stop: The Land of Enchantment

The kids are pumped for our trip & can't wait to use their Skootcases

I don't know what it is about New Mexico, but it has been calling to our family. I've heard "The Land of Enchantment" reference three times in the past couple of weeks and D keeps wanting to read books about hot air balloons, something Albuquerque is known for hosting. We're headed there later this month for a family trip since Phil is already going for a conference. 

I am envying my pre-parent trip planning self right now as I have made a minimal effort to plan activities for the kids and me during the day while Phil is going science bonkers. I literally have three pins on my Pinterest board:

But quality over quantity, right? If we can check out hot air balloons, swim in the rooftop pool of our hotel, drive through the mountains and catch a mariachi band, I think that's a total win. Also, I will be happy if I can finally spell Albuquerque correctly.

Any other ideas? Send them my way!

Hitting the beach in Miami after a long break

I’m back from hiatus - travel certainly slowed down for me during the second half of the year. I did have a trip to Indy last month, but I was too lazy to blog, to be honest. But now I’m back after what I hope is an annual girls’ destination trip with my friend Jen. Our first destination was Miami for a long weekend – more specifically, Sunny Isles Beach.

The past four days were absolutely fantastic, particularly after the bruising winter we're having! So happy to retreat from polar vortexes while basking in Florida sunshine. I've only been to the Miami area once before - in 2006 with Phil when he had a conference in South Beach. 

The Trump international Resort where we stayed and Sunny Isles Beach were amazeballs in general for 3 reasons:


The beautiful hotel had wonderful service, a fantastic pool and great beach- and pool-side dining options. We booked on Expedia and I liked that there were lots of inclusions. For example, we didn’t have to pay extra for beach chairs, umbrellas and towels on the beach. The hotel is kid-friendly too and I hope to bring the entire fam back.

Quiet, soft, well-kept beach. Even though I only dipped my toes in the water, I liked that we were close to the lifeguard station. I loved running in the sand each morning…sometimes barefoot and sometimes with running shoes.

Great location with lots to do around the hotel. There was a “utility” shopping plaza across the street for anything from groceries to nails to breakfast to booze to souvenirs, and there also were a couple of lux shopping options within a 5 minute cab ride. And, not once did we have a challenging tab getting a cab back to the hotel. 

Such a great trip and I can't wait for my next vacation, which will be in a few months when our who fam heads to Albuquerque.

Tips for 36 Hours in Hilton Head – Plus Some Additions

We’ve been back from Hilton Head for a couple weeks, and I’m still talking about it! A good, long vacation is so amazing because you get a chance to truly let go. Incidentally, when we were on our trip, The New York Times published one of its 36 hours stories for Hilton Head. We hit a lot of places mentioned like Coligny Beach and Coligny Plaza (where we biked often), Frozen Moo for yummy ice cream, the Harbour Town Lighthouse Museum, and Daniel’s for nighttime outdoor music and drinks. 

Here’s a list of things I would add to that itinerary:

Frosty Frog Cafe (Frosty's) – AHMAZING frozen drinks and kid-friendly during the day

Old Fort Pub – delish, fancy meal with great views

Reilley’s – lobsters on Mondays for $12.95

Gregg Russell’s kids’ show under the big oak tree in Harbour Town

Live music in Coligny Plaza (so close to where we stayed in South Forest Beach)

Clockwise: Old Fort Pub, Reilley's, Frosty's

In addition, bike riding is a huge part of the culture of Hilton Head…there are trails and families on bikes everywhere. Tandems, babies on the back, trailers – we saw them all and tried all but the tandem bikes.

This trip was really active for us. Each morning, since our fam was usually the first ones up, I would scoop them up so we didn’t wake up the whole house and head out for some exercise to kill two birds with one stone. Usually, I’d push them in the stroller or bike with D on the back up to the beach and then run/bike in the sand (soooooo hard) on the way back.

 

D rode his bike two miles to lunch & back; my morning jogging buds

My friend Kim also organized outings a couple mornings a week for the girls to bike to a barre class and back (with a stop for coffee and some goodies).

Oh, what I’d do for a little surf and sand right now…

Are we there yet? – How to survive 12 hours in the car with 2 kids under 3

Our cheery backseat drivers

I have to admit – I was anticipating some serious traumatization during our lonnnng drive to Hilton Head with D, who will be three next week, and S, who just turned one. For sure, I knew that Phil was dreading the drive. But, I’m happy to report that both of them pleasantly surprised us and were complete angels – even when our first day of driving turned into 12 hours on the road from crazy traffic.

Our secrets?

Splitting up the drive over two days, each way. Each time, we left in the morning and drove during daylight. I know others like to drive overnight, but this worked well for us.

Lots of snacks (graham crackers were our go-to distraction for the baby).

Stops for lunch and dinner so they could stretch their legs.

Lots of toys:

• iPad for D and iPhone for S (both in Fisher-Price Apptivitycases) loaded with new apps (PianoBall, Balls, Endless Alphabet, Elmo ABCs, SoundTouch, and Real Guitar were all awesome)
• Snack and Play tray for D
• Crayola Color Wonder coloring book/marker set
• Coloring books and crayons
• Melissa & Doug reusable vehicle sticker pad
• Doodle/erase board
• Board books

 

A mosquito-bitten Pickle with his sticker pad and Real Guitar app

I honestly can’t recall any moments of feeling frazzled from backseat craziness – just traffic during the drive down. To combat those moments of frustration, we turned to Waze. Pretty cool to get real-time info from other drivers and even have the opportunity to message with them. 

Screen cap of Waze, a super helpful traffic app

 Totally would get in the car with these two again for a long haul!

"We're the three best friends..."

How lucky am I?!

I saw three of my BFFs during our amazeballs HHI vacation.

Kim (top left) organized our HHI trip (thank you!!!!)

Jen hosted us in Charlotte during our drive home (she's in the upper right with D during a live music show)

Sarah flew into HHI a few days early just to spend time with us since her fam vacay there started the Saturday that we left. This was the first time our hubs and littlest babies met.

Love these girls and was glad to get time with them!!!

Real World: Hilton Head (family style!)

We’re back! We had a fantastic time away during our first family vacation as a foursome.

All of our prep for the long car rides and swimming really paid off – the Pickle was indeed a fish in water and I couldn’t have asked for two better travelers in the car (no frazzling moments to speak of!).

As a kid, I never did beach vacations. In college, no spring breaks on the beach (nerd). My first experience was almost 10 years ago while nannying for some friends during a trip to Topsail Island in North Carolina for nearly 2 weeks. I’m bitchy when I’m hot, so I didn’t think I’d be crazy about the beach, but boy was I wrong! But, it took me a long time to get back. Last year, Phil and I took Dylan while I was super pregs to St. Pete Beach to celebrate our friends’ wedding. The weather was cool and D and I both got sick, so we didn’t spend much time in the ocean or the pool.

For this trip, we shacked up with five other families in a huge house on South Forest Beach. 

 

Our super sweet pool and the view of the ocean/beach path from our deck

Some stats for you:

25 houseguests (12 kids, 11 parents, 2 babysitters)

8 bedrooms

7 bathrooms

1 awesome pool

This trip was a great blend of time with family and friends. Sooo clutch that we had babysitters along for our vacation so that we could spend some time out at night (hello, Frosty’s!). 

 

D was a maniac in the pool and Sienna warmed up by the end of the week. D would wake up in the morning, jump on me and grab my face and tell me two inches away, “Mama, let’s go in the pool AND the ocean!!!” And, that we did! The poor kid tripped and skinned his knees at least five times on our path from the backyard to the beach, so he was not a fan of the beach by the end of the trip. S, however, became a little daredevil and would power crawl into the waves. (Unfortunately, she also was a sand snacker.)

My little sand letters were a big hit with the kids!

I really, really liked Hilton Head because there was a lot to do, and I hope to go back. The pool and ocean were great, obviously, but you also could bike everywhere, there were lots of restaurants and there were other little areas to visit like Harbour Town, which hosts the iconic lighthouse.

As I mentioned, I loved Topsail, but it was pretty isolated. If you tire of the beach, you’re pretty much screwed. I’ve heard that it’s similar with the Outer Banks.

Where have you been that you’ve loved? Looking for ideas for future summers!