new england road trip: portland day 1

Our road trip finally brought us to our destination of Portland, Maine. We checked into our hotel, the Inn at St. John (such a good deal! I highly recommend!), and immediately rented bikes to explore the city. We rode to end of the peninsula and enjoyed the most amazing view over the bay. It was insanely picturesque with the sunshine and sailboats and people lounging on the hillside. After riding along the waterfront bike path for a while (including lots of map consulting), we eventually worked up an appetite and enjoyed several delicious pizzas at Otto. Gluten free crusts! Everyone wins!

weekend in review (aka that time obama landed his helicopter in my backyard)

Sheila, I don't think you appreciate the lengths I go to post horse photos here for you!

I stayed home from work on Friday which conveniently happened to be the day that President Obama would be landing his helicopter in Prospect Park to visit a school in Crown Heights. The landing pad was so incredibly close to my apartment that I had no excuse not to witness the big arrival. Amazing! It was a little tough to see his four helicopters land, but I was thisclose to his motorcade. Highlight of my year!

In other weekend happenings (less exciting of course) Kurt and I took part in the final night of Madison Square Eats and had some wine at Eataly. Who needs a multi-hour wait at Roberta's when I can get the same thing in 10 minutes a few weeks a year?! Capitalize on that, people. One of my favorite fall events is the Fort Greene Park Pupkin Parade where people dress their dogs up in incredible costumes. It truly drove my puppy desire to an all new level. A mini Australian Shepard is my newest desire (hint, hint anyone willing to get me a puppy). I made a huge pot of Santa Fe Soup to accompany Saturday football games. Sunday was pretty low-key except a long journey to the UWS for some suburban shopping at Michael's and Home Goods (the one downside of urban living, including schlepping my spoils home on the train). Kurt took me out to a lovely Sunday night dinner at Brook-vin and BAM! the weekend is over again. Where do the hours go?

new england road trip: salem

The next stop on our New England tour was Salem, Massachusetts. At the time, Kurt was working at his old firm, and they were doing the master plan for a coal power plant transitioning to natural gas in Salem. It's much more exciting than it sounds and was great to have Kurt show us around town and explain all the concepts he had been studying for months. We explored the awesome downtown, had lunch along the water at Victoria Station (yum to the crab sandwich), and tried to avoid all the witch hunt frenzy as much as we could. Salem had this old, historic vibe but was also dense and walk-able enough to make it feel really pleasant. If there was more than industry than tourism there, it might be a nice place to live :) Cue me taking photos of all the charming old houses. Salem is definitely worth a visit if you are in the Northeast.