Going: San Francisco

I've been home from San Francisco for almost three weeks. It's actually been nice to have a break from traveling to catch up with friends, focus on getting some projects at work done, and get caught up on school. The 21 days between my San Francisco and Scotland trips (I leave on Friday!) has been the longest "travel break" I've had this year, and with how busy the rest of my life has been, it was a needed break. I'm definitely itching to get overseas later this week, but first I need to jot down a few details of my first time in San Francisco!

This was a work trip, and it was pretty jammed with work. I flew into Sacramento and immediately drove two hours to a meeting. After the meeting I had to drive down to San Francisco, which took almost five hours because of a huge rain storm and washed out roads. The meeting was fantastic and definitely the highlight of such a long travel day! Needless to say, I was exhausted and a little weary from the drive, so I opted for an easy dinner of In 'N Out in my hotel. My first choice would have been to try out some fun restaurant in San Fran, but I had to be practical and give up that dream.

I stayed near the airport, so I was south of the city, but it suited my purposes very well. My hotel was clean, comfortable, and on the water. There was a nice walking path along the water, which was a great way to start and end my days.

The meetings I had on the second day didn't start until noon, so I had a chance to get up early and go to the top of Twin Peaks, a park with a panoramic view of the city. After that, I got coffee and breakfast at a "toast bar", something I had heard about on a radio program. It was delicious, and I even went back there for a snack later that afternoon between meetings. The rest of my day was full of driving and meetings. Between meetings, I did have a chance to visit the park that is on the show Full House and drive past Fisherman's Wharf and the Golden Gate Bridge, but that was the extent of my "sightseeing". 

My final day in San Fran was nothing more than a meeting and heading to the airport. I had such a productive trip, but I was a little bummed to not be able to do more sightseeing or try more restaurants. The weather was generally great, other than the rainstorm, and it was a wonderful break from the junky Minnesota weather. I'm excited to visit again when I have more time to grab some good food and enjoy a park. I've heard great things about the Alcatraz tour, and that will be my top priority when I'm back there!

Going: Indianapolis

For the last three years, my sister and I have gone to the Big Ten Basketball Tournament. It has become one of our favorite weekends of the year!

The tournament was back in Indianapolis this year. We LOVE the tournament in Indianapolis. Downtown Indy is easy to get around (we don't even get a rental car - you can walk everywhere) and the city does such a good job of hosting big sporting events. The streets are renamed for the teams, there are designated bars for each team, the hotels are decked out and prepared for all of the fans.....it is all such a fun atmosphere. 

We were lucky to get a hotel reservation - we literally couldn't find a room for months in advance, but I have a higher hotel status due to travel with my old job, so we were able to finagle a reservation. We stayed at the the Homewood Suites - a brand I've never stayed at - and we really, really liked it. The room was huge and they even have dinners during the week, so we could have had a nice, free meal on Thursday (but we chose to go to our favorite downtown restaurant). The breakfasts were great, too.

We went to all of the 11 basketball games in the four days. It really, truly is SO MUCH FUN to see so many good games. We enjoy chatting with people sitting around us, eating stadium food, and doing our best to participate in the festivities (I played a halftime game this year). My sister has Gopher season tickets and she generously takes me to quite a few games, so we get very familiar with the players on the Gophers, as well as the other Big Ten teams. 

Scotty's is our favorite place to grab a bite to eat and a drink between game sessions. If you are ever in Indy, you need to get their pickle chips and a flight of martinis. So good. 

Of course it's great to have four days of uninterrupted time with my sister to catch up and relax, too. All in all, it has become a tradition that we really look forward to, and one that makes us bummed when it is over! 

Going: Kansas City and Camp

Four days after I got back from Vegas, I turned around and went to Kansas City for the weekend. My best friends' youngest kid was having his 1st birthday party and I just couldn't miss it. We had a great weekend of just relaxing and talking and eating and not getting out of our pajamas. I drove down with a friend (who is actually my best friend's sister) and we also had a good road trip - talked about all kinds of good things and hard things, sang LOTS of songs, and just enjoyed the drive. It felt like it had been a long time since I had gone on a long drive, and since I love windshield time, it was fun to have a quick road trip.

The following weekend I went to Camp for Quilt Retreat. I brought along two friends who were new to Quilt Retreat, so it was a fun weekend of them seeing Camp (which is such a significant part of my life) first-hand. We happened to be there on what would have been Grandpa's 95th birthday. I've missed him a lot since he passed away in November, so it was very special to be at Camp on his birthday. He was one of the founders of Camp in 1947. I always feel so at home and spiritually refreshed when I'm at Camp, and that weekend was no different. 

These quick trips made the month feel pretty busy, especially in the midst of all kinds of other travels, but I'm very thankful for quick weekends away with people who know me well, love me deeply, and truly care about what is going on in my life. These trips were definitely more about who I was with than what we did. I'm thankful for the ability to get away to spend time with people who mean so much to me.

Going: Vegas

Well, it's almost been a month since I've been back from Vegas, and I've already gone on 3 more trips since that time....so I'd say it's about time I caught up on the blog! 

We left for Vegas on a Wednesday night and had a hilarious pilot - we had a ground stop because of the Vice President's visit to the cities, so once we were finally cleared for take off he said "okay folks, we're gonna fly this plane like we stole it!" The general atmosphere on a flight to Vegas is rather festive, so the passengers loved him.

We stayed at the Mandarin Oriental, which was GREAT. There is no casino, which I LOVED. I know, I know, not many people go to Vegas and love having no casino, but I just can't handle the smoke and the noise! Seriously, just get me my AARP card now! :) There was also a nice pool at the hotel, which I sat by every afternoon, and there were great (free) workout classes, which I love so much more than working out on my own, so that was awesome! 

Because of the time change, I ended up being awake VERY early every day. It was nice to get a coffee, do some reading, go to a workout class, sit by the pool....and still not even be noon! We typically ate lunch by the pool and then got cleaned up to go out for the evenings. 

I would say my favorite buffet that we went to was at the Bellagio, and I would say you could skip the buffet at the MGM. My favorite meal was at Olives, where we sat right by the Bellagio fountains. We made a reservation for right when it opened at 5, which allowed us to get a great spot to sit. I would highly recommend it!

We went to the Tim and Faith show and the Donny and Marie show. Both were SO GOOD! We had the perfect seats at both shows and I really, really loved them both!

Other than going to dinners and shows, we just had a really nice, relaxing time. Vegas has never been a place that I've been dying to visit because casinos and night life is not really my scene, but I had a great time with Mom and Ang, and I'm so glad I was invited along. Thanks for making it a fun, relaxing, affordable trip, Ang!

Going: Mexico

We've been back from Mexico for a week already! The worst part of vacation is definitely the coming back part. Lots to catch up on and lots of COLD. 

We had SUCH a great time in Mexico. With 8 girls traveling together for 5 days there was bound to be some drama...but there wasn't at all! We all got along great and had a completely wonderful time. 

I was admittedly a little anxious about our accommodations. Having made the reservation, I was hoping it would turn out to be a clean, safe place that was as close to the beach as advertised. It's always a little hard to know what you are getting when you do a timeshare exchange, but we were MORE than pleasantly surprised. We stayed at the El Cid El Moro Beach in the Castilla tower. It was a 2-bedroom (one room with a king bed and another room with two double beds) with a murphy bed in the living room. It was very spacious - plenty of room even in the living room, dining room, and kitchen, and there was a balcony that stretched the entire length of the suite. Also, there were 3 full bathrooms with tons of counter space, which really came in handy when 8 of us were getting ready to go out for dinner. So, all in all, it was a GREAT room! So happy about that! In addition, the resort was clean and safe, and there were two nice pools just beneath our room. The resort was right on the beach, and the beach was nice as well. We had the GREATEST view of sunsets from our balcony. Here is a picture:

We left the states at 9 on Saturday and had a direct flight to Mazatlan. When we got checked in, we put our suits on immediately and went straight to the pool. We had a few hours to relax there before some of us went grocery shopping and then we went out for dinner. We ate at Gus Gus, which was a great little open-air place with yummy Mexican food and live music. 

On our first full day, we decided to hang out at the pool and beach. We all just did whatever we wanted to throughout the day - walking the beach, grabbing snacks and drinks by the pool or in the room, laying on the beach, reading, chatting, playing the resort games (darts, volleyball, etc.), and on and on. It was a very nice, very relaxing day. We took a taxi to a different part of the city for dinner. It had a cute, vacation-y atmosphere and we ended up eating at Pedro and Lola's - more good Mexican food!

The next day we did an excursion to another beach where we rode horses, rode a banana boat in the ocean, relaxed in the sun, got fake tattoos, and talked and laughed. It was fun to change our scenery and get away from the resort for the day. That night we went to a nice Italian restaurant just across the street from our resort.

On our last full day, we did another pool/beach day. Every morning we ended up waking up pretty early (by vacation standards), which was nice since it made the days seem long and relaxing. After another great day of sun, we got more dressed up for our final night out and went to a place (that I can't remember the name of) that a few of the girls had been to on other trips to Mazatlan. There weren't many other people there, so we took it upon ourselves to start a dance party after dinner. A really fun final night in Mexico!

We didn't have to leave the resort until noon the next day, so we were able to be at the pool for a few more hours before we left. I was so glad that we didn't have to rush off in the morning. We wanted to soak in all of the sun and relaxing that we could! Of course all eight of us stood in the pool lamenting the fact that we were leaving and planning our next trip :)

The best part of the trip was having extended time to talk with my friends. We make good efforts to see each other pretty regularly, but a few hours in an evening is nothing like having hours by the pool to chat. We also had fun conversations at dinners - one person would ask a question and then we would go around the table answering the question. It was refreshing to share about our lives and have so much uninterrupted time together.

I loved this trip and I'm so thankful for my friends that made it so memorable. I feel REALLY blessed to have such fun, beautiful, godly women in my life. I feel even more blessed that we were all able to escape reality together for an extended time. I know that isn't something that everyone gets to do, so I was soaking it all in!

I have a few more posts I could do about this trip - the advantages and disadvantages of traveling "internationally", things I forgot to pack, the advantages of traveling with girlfriends, etc., etc........I promise I'll get to these posts at some point! But my next few posts will be about the plane tickets I bought this week - to Vegas and London! Wheeeeee!!

Going: Tomahawk, WI

I have a new favorite word. It is "cabining". I can't believe I haven't used it more in my life, considering all the cabining I've done over the years. 

When it comes right down to it, cabining is simply the act of going to a cabin and having a great time. It really means whatever you want it to mean. In the summer it means boating, swimming, playing yard games, reading, grilling, etc. And in the winter it means snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, cozy fires, games, etc. 

Last weekend my small group went cabining. I haven't done a ton of winter cabining, but it is great fun to make the most of the cold temperatures. We had a great group make the trip to Tomahawk, and we had the greatest hosts EVER. What a great weekend of relaxing, playing in the snow, enjoying outside and inside fires, games, food, great conversations and fellowship....the list goes on.

I used to drive through Tomahawk every month for work, so I knew it would be a little bit of a drive, and once again, the winter weather made the trip out a bit longer than expected. But everyone arrived safely and we enjoyed a great time together. 

I literally brought a bigger bag for games than I did for clothes - going to a cabin in the winter only requires sweats and pajamas! It also requires that you pack a good amount of snow gear, so the SUV I was in was packed to the brim, even though it was just two of us and a dog!

I can't put my finger on any particular highlight from the weekend because it was all so good - the people, the conversations, the food, the games, watching football, winter walks, streaming church by the fire, and playing with babies....just the best!

Going: Michigan

Once again, I don't have any "planning" post for this trip because not a whole lot of planning went into it!

Friends of mine moved to Michigan about a year ago. I was able to visit them in May, but I hadn't spent any time with them since, so I was anxious to have a reason to visit them. Their middle daughter was having her 5th birthday party, so that seemed like as good a reason as any to make a trip out there!

Here's the thing about traveling in Minnesota/Wisconsin/Illinois/Indiana/Michigan in the winter - WEATHER. I was holding my plans very loosely since I would be going on the first weekend of January - with potential of snow or bad weather. It is about an 8-9 hour drive on perfect roads, so I decided that if there looked like any chance of inclement weather, I would just cancel my trip. 

I checked the weather a lot on Wednesday and Thursday, and other than Chicago getting a few inches on Thursday, everything seemed fine along my route, so I decided to go. I drove on Friday and got there late Friday night. The girls had stayed up to say hi to me, and I had a great late-night chat with my friends after the littles went to bed. 

Saturday consisted of a great breakfast in PJs, a super fun birthday party, and a night out with the adults. Such a great day. I really love and miss that family, so I was just trying to soak it all in.

On Saturday night it started to snow and there were reports of about 20 inches coming. YIKES! Then on Monday the temperature was supposed to PLUMET. So my choice was to drive on Sunday in some snow (and try to beat most of it) or wait for it to pass and drive in extreme cold (and risk anything happening to my car and being stuck on the side of the road). Originally, my plan was to hang out on Sunday some, but with that report I decided to see what it looked like on Sunday morning and adjust my plans according to the weather. They got about 5 inches overnight, but it wasn't supposed to snow more until the afternoon, so I decided to go to church with them and leave from there. 

I'm glad I drove on Sunday - the reports on the roads out of Chicago on Monday were TERRIBLE. It was slow-going on Sunday, too, but at least everyone seemed to be taking their time and not going into the ditch! The only portion of the road that was treacherous on Sunday was through Indiana - they actually had closed the Toll Road, but there was a detour that was totally fine, so it all worked out. 

So, the summary of this post is that I had a WONDERFUL time and that it is important to be flexible when traveling in the winter. AND to always have a car full of winter clothes. I honestly wouldn't have felt as good about leaving on Sunday if I hadn't packed my full snow suit and boots and extra warm hats and gloves. Even though I wasn't expecting the storm when I left, it's always important to have those things in your car during Minnesota winters! I also was giving myself plenty of time to not feel rushed, and I decided ahead of time that I would pull off and get a hotel room if I needed to. There's no reason to push something beyond what is safe. In the end, the travel wasn't that bad, but it never hurts to be prepared and have those plans in the back of your mind so that you don't worry. 

I'm already excited for another trip out to Michigan - once the winter goes away!

Going: Milwaukee

Notice how I don't have a "Planning" post for this trip to Milwaukee? Well, that's because there wasn't a lot of planning that went into this trip! It was a short trip, so there wasn't a lot of planning needed - when all was said and done, I was only gone from my house for less than 30 hours - it was a quick, fun trip!

A friend of mine has a cousin who plays in the NBA, so we had talked about going to see a game of his. It just so happened that we were both free on the Saturday after Christmas and he had a home game in Milwaukee, so we decided to set the day aside and see if a trip would work once we both figured out what our Christmas plans looked like.

We talked the Saturday before Christmas and confirmed that we should go. We got a hotel room online and planned to leave the next Saturday around 11. My roommate and her brother also came with. We drove straight to the hotel and checked in, and then met up with some others from their family who were in town for the game. We had dinner and then got tickets for the game. We ended up on the lower level in row H, so we had pretty good seats. It was so fun to be with them to see their cousin play in the NBA! After the game we met up with their cousin and talked to him for just a little bit before he needed to get back to his place with the family that he was hosting. The four of us went to grab a drink and then headed back to the hotel for the night. We slept in, had breakfast, and headed back home.

I really enjoy road trips and I don't mind riding in the car at all, so even though it was a really quick trip, I didn't mind the time in the car. We talked a lot on the way over and on the way back we listened to NFL games on the radio. We stayed at the Fairfield Inn right in downtown Milwaukee, which had a really good rate and a great breakfast. The only bummer of the trip was that I was hoping to see another friend of mine who works for the Bucks, but she was on Christmas vacation. Maybe next time!

Going: Christmas

I'm sure my Christmas plans were similar to many people - multiple stops over many days, full of food, family, and fun! We spent two nights at my parents' apartment in the cities, three nights at my childhood home, and one night at my sister's house in Wisconsin. It was full of activity AND full of relaxing. A very wonderful Christmas, indeed!

I used to think trips like this were difficult to pack for, but now I appreciate that I can re-wear some outfits, or mix-and-match just a few things so that I don't end up over-packing. It's also nice to be packing for a road trip instead of a plane trip so that I could bring along "extras" - like my laundry and my quilting - that I got done during down time.

The last few years we have done a stay-cation in the cities in December. My parents both have December birthdays, so a weekend downtown has been a great way to celebrate. In past years we've stayed at a hotel, but now that my parents have an apartment in the cities, we decided to stay there. We went to the Holidazzle parade, the Melting Pot, had brunch in bed and a lazy Saturday morning, went to a movie, saw Fiddler on the Roof at the Chanhassen, and went to my church on Sunday. After that we headed north for a Christmas Tea at the house of our good friends, and we celebrated Christmas with Mom's side of the family on Christmas Eve. Christmas Day was a nice relaxing day at my sister's with games, movies, and good food.

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas, as well!

Going: Chicago

I'm killing time in the airport on my way back from Chicago. I'm pretty tired, but I had a great trip!

This trip was primarily focused on work (I went to 16 conference sessions!), but I also had some evenings free for fun. Thankfully, my friend Helen had work meetings in Chicago as well, so we were able to spend time together on Saturday and Sunday. 

After my conference on Saturday, Helen and I met up and went to RPM Italian for an early dinner. There were no reservations available online, but we went early enough that we were able to grab a nice table in the bar area before the Saturday evening rush. I would HIGHLY recommend RPM - everything I've ever eaten there has been delicious, the service is great, and it is reasonably priced. 

After RPM we grabbed a bus out to the United Center for the Bulls game. It's too bad Derrick Rose is injured, but we sill had fun at the game. Then we went back to Michigan Ave and got Garret's Popcorn for a late night treat at the hotel. 

Sunday I went to my conference and then met up with Helen and we walked down to Millennium Park to see The Bean and the ice skating with live Christmas music. Chicago at Christmas time is DREAMY and COLD! I'm not really a "lightweight" when it comes to the cold, and neither is Helen (she grew up in Russia), but we were pretty frozen after our time in the park, so we decided to grab Chicago-style pizza at the closest place, which was Giordano's. 

We stuffed ourselves silly, but we still made room for wine and dessert at Disotto Enotecca, which is has become my favorite place to end my Chicago evenings. It is a cozy, downstairs wine bar with yummy desserts, great wine, and a great atmosphere. 

I didn't do much on Monday evening since I was exhausted from my time at the conference and the previous evenings' activities. I felt bad "wasting" a night in Chicago, but I also enjoy a lazy night watching TV in a hotel room - since I don't travel much for work anymore, I haven't done that in a long time! 

All in all, it was a terrific trip to Chicago. Still one of my favorite cities, despite the bitter cold!

Going: Day Trip to Green Bay

Dad has taken us (his three daughters) to the Vikings/Packers game in the Dome for the last 25 years. It is such a fun tradition. For the last 5 (maybe 6?) years, he's also taken us to the Vikings/Packers game at Lambeau. My parents moved to Green Bay 5 years ago, so we've made a weekend out of it and had a good time seeing some fun games.

This year, my folks have just moved back to the cities, so instead of having a place to stay in Green Bay, we had to make the trip in a day. I was leaning toward not wanting to spend my day in the car to see a pretty bad Vikings team get beat by the Pack, but Dad talked me into it. 

Luckily my sister lives just over the MN/WI border, so we stayed at her house the night before to save us time in the morning. We still got up EARLY and were able to see a very pretty sunrise while on the road.

Then we went to see some of Dad's friends at a tailgate party and we went to the game. You guys. IT. WAS. COLD. We went to the Vikings/Packers playoff game at Lambeau last January in cold weather, so I thought I was pretty prepared with my clothing. But....no. For some reason this time seemed so much colder. The windchill at kickoff was 2 degrees. The real problem was my feet. I did have some small hand warmers that I was able to stuff in my boots, but they only worked for about 30 minutes. I was pretty ready to get to the car and get warm......and then the game went into overtime. And then it ended in a tie! Total letdown. I will admit, a tie is better than losing to the Pack, and the game was much more interesting than I anticipated. So it was at least a little bit worth the cold. Here is my sister demonstrating just how bundled up we were at the game:

And here I am with my other sister in the stands:

I had to pack an annoying amount of stuff for the weekend - I went to my sister's straight from a work event, I had to bring all of my overnight stuff, I brought all of my schoolwork so I could get some stuff done in the car (which I followed through on, thank goodness!), and I brought all of my dress clothes for work in case I decided to crash at my sister's again on Sunday night if I was too tired to finish the drive home (which is what happened). All in all, it was quite a bit of planning for just a day away, but making football memories with my family is always fun. And not losing to the Packers is good, too.

Going: Weekend in Dallas

I just got back from a weekend in Dallas with my family. It was SO much fun! I think one of the things I liked most about this trip was that I didn't plan a single thing - I just showed up! (Hence the lack of a "Planning" blog for Dallas!)

It's not that I don't like to plan trips - I really, really do. But the circumstances of this trip lent itself to being planned more by Mom than by anyone else. Which ended up being great for me since I haven't had much free time since I started school in October...plus I've been planning other trips to Chicago (blog coming), Mazatlan, and London. So this time around it was nice to just show up at the airport. I didn't even buy my ticket! I have very generous parents!

Every fall, my family goes to a Vikings game at a stadium we've never been to. Other than the "never-been-to-that-stadium" requirement, we also try to pick a game that isn't during the Holidays, and we try to pick a place that we think will also be fun to be tourists in on Saturday. The last few years it has worked out to have friends visit us who aren't far from the city we are visiting, and they've also joined us at the game. 

This year we chose Dallas. Mom worked on the plans with our friends who joined us from Oklahoma, and we had a blast. 

We flew in on Friday night and met up at the hotel (maybe I'll write more about the Residence Inn in another post - a GREAT option for traveling with family). Saturday was packed. We toured AT&T Stadium in the morning, which was awesome, and then grabbed a quick bite on the way to the tour at the former Texas Book Depository, where JFK was assassinated. Then we headed to the Fort Worth Stockyards where we took pictures on a steer, ate some steak, and watched an honest-to-goodness rodeo! It was quite an experience - and MUCH more anxiety-inducing than I anticipated. I thought that I might want to find myself a cowboy while I was in Dallas, but after the rodeo, I think I would settle for a cowboy who has no interest in bull riding! After the rodeo, we headed back to the hotel because we were EXHAUSTED after all of our activities - peppered with great conversations and lots of laughing during the car rides. Good thing we got an extra hour of sleep thanks to Daylight Savings.

Sunday was the Vikings game. We didn't expect to win, so the fact that the game was even close was fun. The stadium had the "windows" and ceiling open, so it was a really fun outdoor/indoor atmosphere. And we had the best stadium nachos we've ever had in our lives. We headed straight from the game to the airport, and I even said hi to some of the football wives who were also on our flight :)

All in all, a WONDERFUL football trip. This is quickly becoming one of my favorite family traditions. 

Here are some fun pictures from the weekend (please excuse the phone-quality photos):

Going: Weekend in Kansas City

I went to Kansas City this weekend with two friends to visit my best friend and her family. We had such a relaxing weekend - lots of talking, laughing, eating, playing with the kiddos, beautiful weather, and watching football. Perfection.

Since they moved to Kansas City a little over two years ago, I've made the trip down six times (that I can remember...maybe more?). The trip is so easy to make - just hop on 35 and get there 6-7 hours later. Since I know this is a trip I will continue to be making a lot, one of the things I did early on was make a list on my phone of exits along the way that have the essentials: gas, food (Pizza Ranch, specifically), places to stretch my legs, etc. I learned on one of my first trips to KC that Iowa does not always have another exit just down the road where you can get gas! Especially after you pass Des Moines, it can feel a little bit like No-Man's Land. So my list has come in handy to know if there is another exit coming up with a place to stop, or if I should just get gas while it's there.

Over the years, we've done a lot of exploring in KC and we've definitely seen the sights and eaten lots of the great local food (BBQ!). This trip was more focused around chilling at the house, watching kids soccer (too funny), relaxing with football on TV, and catching up with long lost friends. I loved every second of it!

Leaving is always the worst - especially with a sweet little three-year-old in tears about it. We also didn't love that it was 72 degrees when we left KC and it was in the 30s when we got home! Gross! One nice thing about being back is that I barely have to unpack - I'll be staying with friends across town this coming weekend, going to Dallas the weekend after that, heading to Quilt Retreat the following weekend, and then there will be a trips to Green Bay and home for Thanksgiving......I might never unpack after all! Happy Trails! 

Going: Day Trip to Brainerd

Took a VERY quick trip to Brainerd today to close up the cabin. It's always my least favorite day of the year - taking the boat out of the water is just depressing! Thinking about the long winter to come is even more depressing!

We were barely at the cabin for three hours today - not even long enough to consider it a "trip". But we did stop at a family restaurant on the way home. I find that I so often just want to get to the cabin that I never make any stops at the places that look interesting on the way there. On my way home, I'm just in too much of a hurry to make any stops. So it was nice to take some time to try a place that was new to us, and the food was pretty good, too. It reminded me of the family restaurant in my hometown, so that felt very nostalgic.

Oh! And the colors in the trees on the drive were amazing! The colors were just a little past peak at the cabin, but the drive up was really pretty. Go for a drive this week if you can while the colors sneak toward the cities!