It does snow in Philly!

The past 3 days have proven that it does snow in Philly! We've gotten more snow this week than all of last winter. Sunday was a surprise for us as we were heading back from NYC (more on that later - fun!). Today Mike got a "snow day" as the whole office worked from home instead of braving the horrible roads. I realize it's not as substantial as MN, but considering the hilly and congested roads and lack of plows out here, we can respect staying off the roads!

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas! 

View from the apartment!

Our entrance to the apartment

Center City Thanksgiving Weekend

Mike and I took advantage of the long weekend and booked a hotel in Center City Philly for the weekend. It was great - we used credit card miles so we got a fabulous hotel in a great location that we hadn't been to much. We were able to do lots of exploring - and even some shopping!

We finally made our way to the art museum...wow! I was so impressed with the collection! We spent about 2 hours just wandering around and could barely leave (well, me at least...imagine that...) We walked into one room and it was ALL Monet. Yup. Heaven! There were even completely reconstructed rooms from all ages from around the world - 14th century Chinese to 18th century NYC, and even a French cloister.

In art heaven...Van Gogh's sunflowers were across the room...

We'd been looking forward to dinner for a few weeks because we got reservations at an Israeli restaurant that we'd heard so much about...and all the hype was right! We had no clue what we were getting into, but sure enjoyed every bite! Any place that can make a cauliflower dish that we fight over the last bite for is definitely something!

Saturday we finally made it down to South Philly and the Italian Market. It was a great experience - so much amazing food and amazing imported Italian specialties! The fish and cheeses weren't going to make it home, but we picked up some pizzelle!

At the Italian Market. They were burning trash in the buckets just like in Rocky.

After a few successful historical tours with one group out here, we ended up signing up for a pub tour of Philly, and had our trusty tour guide Chris show us around some pretty cool places as we learned about the more recent history of the city. He even recommended a burger joint for dinner featured on Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives. Definitely a "dive" and so much fun!

We caught a couple Christmas "shows" at the stores downtown too. The Comcast Center had their giant TV (no joke: it's 2000 sq feet) with a Christmas special, and Macy's had both a light show and a Dickens Christmas Carol display - just like Minneapolis' 8th Floor! It definitely got us in the holiday spirit.

Mom & Dad come to visit!

On Halloween weekend Mom and Dad came out for a visit! We had a fabulous time showing them around the city.  We checked out a new restaurant in Conshohocken, plus our standbys - our favorite cheesesteak and Thai places in town. We went up to Valley Forge, and it was still beautiful with autumn colors on the trees!

We spent two days in the city and explored a lot. It was fabulous weather, so we could walk all over...and we did! We started walking through the theater district, then down across South street which has a completely different flavor than anywhere else in town! We got lunch at a local Greek restaurant, and took it to go so we could walk through Society Hill. When Mike are in the city, we never see anyone we know (since we know so few people!) but lo and behold, we ran into Mike's co-worker and her boyfriend, who live in the area!

We also happened across the Physick house, an old old home of Dr. Physick who was groundbreaking in surgery. My parents loved it because some of the dental tools they use were invented by this guy!

Walking tour in Old City

Mike and I had such a good history walking tour of the city back in April that we did it again with mom and dad. I'm so glad - we can't remember our facts that well after a few months! We had dinner at one of our favorite restaurants: Amada. Mom and Dad's first tapas dinner! So amazing.

We also explored Boathouse row, and walked by the Penitentiary all the way to the LOVE statue. Luckily mom had ready about the cathedral, so we stopped in and it was incredible.

Exploring Boathouse Row and the Waterworks

At the top of the "Rocky" stairs outside the art museum

It was so special to visit and show off our new city, plus, it's good to have some dominoes competition in town! Thanks for a very special weekend Mom and Dad!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's just the two of us this year, and so we get to make turkey dinner for the first time! Turned out pretty well. Happy Thanksgiving from Philadelphia!

It's official: I live in a construction zone

Here's the view from my desk today...the construction is hard at work for the new boat house. It'll be nice for the town, but I miss my backyard!

Movember!

This November, Mike is growing out a moustache for "Movember" to support men's health! Oh yeah - we'll be giving updated pictures week by week. :)

 Here's what 1 week of growth looks like. He's threatening to keep it through Christmas to show it off in MN...

NYC weekend

As promised, more details from our weekend in NYC for the Food and Wine Festival...We had a wonderful time in the city. After driving through this summer, we promised ourselves we'd never drive in Manhattan again, so we took the train in from New Jersey. It's so much fun to actually know our way around the city after visiting in April with Mom and Dad. We're really looking forward to another long weekend in December because this one was all dedicated to the festival.

GM had a couple booths at the show and Mike and I worked one booth with co-workers on Friday. It was pretty busy - about 5,000 people is what we heard. The festival is hosted by Food Network, so it's geared toward foodies in the north east. I couldn't believe how many booths there were from vineyards around the world, and restaurants from all over the city. One big perk was that Haagen Dazs was right around the corner from us. An ice cream break is always welcome!

Mike ready for festival-goers!

For dinner we found a cool old diner a few blocks from our hotel. We were wiped that night so got back to the hotel early...just in time for the dance club below our hotel room to start up. The dancing kept going until 4 in the morning! I felt very old and crotchety at 2 AM cursing the bass thumping from our hotel room floor, but I guess that's an adventure in the city for you!

Luckily Saturday we visited the festival as tourists only. We had a blast! we saw a bunch of famous chefs - the best was Martha Stewart giving a cake decorating class! (We didn't stay for the class, but pretty cool nonetheless!)

Not the greatest shot, but here's Martha at her cake class!

Happy Halloween!

We have a "treat" today: mom and dad are coming for a visit! Have a wonderful Halloween!

New pictures

After bringing our new camera to Maine, we wanted to test it out by printing some of our pictures. Not only was it such fun to go through them, but we were able to blow up a bunch of them for some home-made wall art (since we don't have enough of that based on past posts! ha!). And I have to give all the photography credit to Mike who took all of these beautiful shots!

On the trail

Today was a gorgeous fall day: low 50s and sunny. So, I decided to have my workout on the trail outside our apartment. Since it was so nice, I figured I'd only need pants and a tee shirt - it was perfect for a run. However, my local counterparts on the trail did not agree...I saw multiple winter jackets including a North Face! Ha! An ironic reminder that we're not in MN anymore... 

NYC Wine and Food Festival

Picture #1...more to come later this week. We had fun in NYC this weekend at the NY Wine and Food Festival!

Hawk Mountain

Last Saturday we took a day trip to Hawk Mountain. It's a private hawk and falcon reserve in the Poconos - about 1.5 hours from us. The fall foliage is just starting too so we had some great hiking. This spot in the mountains is on the path of migration for hawks and falcons, and in the 1930s, it was a popular hunting spot - too popular as it actually started to deplete the populations of birds of prey in the area. So, one woman created this preserve - right off the Appalachian trail - and it's a great spot for bird watching now. It was busy with lots of hikers and watchers. We had a fabulous time!

With all the hiking we're doing, we need some new shoes!

Post-Yoga Sunset

The stormy weather Monday finally cleared while I was in yoga. This was a nice surprise on the way out!

Weekend at home

Last weekend we hung out in town, and had a great time! On Friday we went to Tinto for Philadelphia restaurant week. Similar to what Minneapolis does, the city's best restaurants have a fixed priced menu with some incredible options. It was so much fun to get reservations and try out a new spot. Tinto specializes in Spanish tapas, so we got to try a lot of options: everything from octopus and sea bass to gazpacho and figs, all amazing!

Saturday we took advantage of a day in Conshy and went out for cheese steaks at our favorite spot: Ponti's! It's about a 15 minute walk from our apartment, and we're having great fall weather so it was a perfect day to walk up there and eat on the sidewalk tables outside.

We won't be in Philly forever, so we have to take advantage of cheese steaks while we can!

We've been trying out all sorts of new places near us lately: Conshohocken had their own first annual restaurant week, so we were out for that a couple weeks ago. Also, a new bar and restaurant opened up just down the street. There isn't much in Conshohocken in terms of sights, but there is no lack of things to do and great local establishments in town - and all within walking distance from us! We really do love living in this town.

Back to MN!

Last weekend we had our long awaited trip back to Minnesota! It was a fabulous weekend, and we're so grateful to have been able to see so many friends and family. Congrats to Chelsea and Sean on their wedding - we loved being able to be there to celebrate! We had so much fun that we forgot to take any pictures. :)

It makes us excited to come back again at the holidays!

Boston!

Over Labor Day weekend, we capped off our travel-filled August with a long weekend in Boston! What a fabulous city - we had a great time walking around town and seeing everything we could. We flew into town, and Mike found out about a water taxi that will take you from the airport across the harbor to the downtown area - where our hotel was. It was an incredible introduction to the city! And the hotel that Mike found...well, now I know what it's like to stay in a 5 star hotel with chocolate turn-down service. Very cool!

Our hotel's pink British style taxi cab!

We started off our first day, like we usually do, by walking, walking, and more walking! We had tickets to the Red Sox game that night, but 7 hours to get there, so we meandered through much of town seeing great sights and gorgeous streets along the way.

Old graveyard in Boston Commons

We stopped in the library...I could read here for a bit!

The game was fabulous. The ballpark is surrounded with bars and restaurants just packed with fans. And Fenway is really something: between the history and the crowd there was something entertaining the entire game! We spent a few innings just walking around looking at the stadium. Our seats were actually old wooden seats - a far cry from our usual at Target Field but such an experience! The game turned out to be a long one, so we finished watching it from one of the nearby restaurants: the Bleacher Bar which was actually under the stadium bleachers! If you're watching a Red Sox game, and see a grate in center field, that's the Bleacher Bar. Pretty cool, to say the least!

Outside the Stadium - the sign for Bleacher Bar is pointing to Mike!

The Green Monster

Saturday we took a guided tour of the Freedom Trail so we could learn some of the history of the sights we were visiting. We really have had a year of following the Revolutionary War with our trips, and Boston was so interesting to visit knowing how important of a site it was for American history. We continued the trail ourselves and happened upon the Boston Aht Festival (say it out loud...with a Boston accent...) and found an awesome new painting. Then we headed toward Little Italy. Oh, how we loved Little Italy! We had an incredible dinner, and then got cannoli and tiramisu to go from Mike's Pastry. The line was down the block, but was worth it!

Sunday, we went to the Boston Common and found the duck statues! I was very excited. :) It was a rainy day, so it was adorable to see all the real ducks and swans just playing around in the puddles. We also found the Cheers bar before we wove through Beacon Hill neighborhoods back to our hotel to dry off.

Cheers!

Make Way for Ducklings

Ducks and swans playing in the rain...good thing we packed umbrellas!

One of the most surprising and best parts of the trip: my friend Krista and her boyfriend had just moved to Boston, and we were able to meet them for dinner on Sunday night. It hadn't been planned at all, but they were able to spend the whole evening with us. We had a fabulous time!

Maine Part 3: Camden & Portsmouth

After a great stay in Acadia, we had a hard time getting in the car to get to our next destination: Camden! Camden is a gorgeous small town right on the ocean about half way between Portland and Bar Harbor. We had a late lunch with chowder and mussels right on the harbor, and as we walked the harbor, we found out there was room on a sunset harbor cruise! (We were especially excited to take the cruise as we had planned on doing a Puffin cruise in Bar Harbor, but they had already migrated for the season.) The harbor was incredibly scenic with an island lighthouse, many sailboats, and some incredible mansions looking out on the water. The boat also had their own lobster traps, and we were able to see a trap brought on board with 3 lobsters in it! It was really interesting to understand how these traps work. We kept seeing buoys on the water, but didn't realize that every fisherman has their own color/pattern to set them apart. All the lobsters were too small to keep, so they were lucky and got thrown back. We got in some great shopping at local boutiques in Camden too!

Our B&B

 

On our sunset cruise

Camden Harbor - one of the most picturesque we could imagine!

We drove south the next day, and stopped just south of Portland to get a view of the lighthouse we missed on our first stop in the city. We're very happy we did. It was a beautiful day, an incredible lighthouse, and there was a food truck selling delicious lobster rolls!

Mike's in lobster roll heaven

In order to get a little closer to home we spent our last night in Portsmouth, NH. We had heard good things, but wasn't really sure what to expect. Boy are we glad we stayed! It was an adorable old coastal town with fabulous shopping and restaurants. We were able to have apps at a local tapas restaurant, and dinner at a brew pub. We weren't there long, but we had a great time! Breakfast before we left town was at a fabulous spot: Book & Bar. It was a book store and cafe/restaurant/bar. We had a great time browsing the stacks as we waited for our coffee and breakfast.

Adorable historic New England streets and alleyways were everywhere in Portsmouth.

Book and Bar

Needless to say, we had a great week! It was definitely one of our most memorable trips, and we both came home wanting to go back again in the future.

Maine Part 2: Bar Harbor & Acadia

After our fabulous few days in Portland, we drove up to Bar Harbor. It was a spectacular drive up Highway 1 following the coast and driving through some amazing small towns. Our lunch stop was in Rockland where we had our first lobster roll at a great outdoor restaurant.

A scenic stop on our way to Bar Harbor. Fort Knox is about 1/2 a mile away...who knew?!

Once we got to Bar Harbor, we stayed at another great B&B right in town. We could walk all over Bar Harbor, and were only about 5 minutes from Acadia. We literally couldn't leave: on our last day in town we spent 4 hours hiking in the park that morning before hitting the road back to Camden!

Our B&B - the patio to the left was our room!

Mike wrote all about our stay, so I'm not going to re-create the wheel here: http://www.relaxingthetravelitch.com/2013/08/bar-harbor-acadia-natural-wonderland.html

And here are some of my favorite pics!

Matching lobster dinners!

Enjoying the view post-hike

We made it to the top of the Beehive! Mike wrote about this climb too: http://www.relaxingthetravelitch.com/2013/08/the-bee-hive-trail.html

Top of the Beehive - resting our shaky legs!

Top of the Bubble