Long Road Home. (Day Four)

Monday
Beautiful sunrise on the road....at 5:30am.

Sharing a chocolate chip scone makes life easier.
Me: How's the coffee?
Tim: It's ok, but I like the lid. Closed, open, closed, open!
A whole disc of King of Queens makes any drive faster.
Nebraska is endless.

Last Day in Boston.

Our last day in Boston was a chance to check a few more things off our to do list.

Getting a stamp at the Saugus Ironworks National Park site.

Exploring the Sowa Market, which involved talking to a cop about driving the wrong way down a one way, buying orange cranberry bread, and sharing a delightful brie and pear grilled cheese from a food truck.

Our first (but definitely not last) Sunday Jazz brunch at Johnny D's.
Checking in to the Copley Plaza, and checking out our crazy room view.
Rock Your Asana yoga class at Back Bay Yoga. A solid two hour class that made me feel like I was a kindergartner yogi in a 6th grade yogi class. Talk about being out of my league. Whoa buddy.

A walk through the North End during Saint Anthony's Feast led to very long lines at the bakeries and some very interesting cash happenings in the streets. But dessert was still acquired....and smuggled into dinner.

Tim picked this restaurant for us to try over this visit. Mainly because they have beef wellington. He has been DYING to try beef wellington. Let's just say that he is STILL dying to have beef wellington. And that I am really glad desserts were in the bag waiting to be eaten back at the hotel.....

Good Night Boston. Every time I come back, it's like I never left. At first I am reminded of why I left, but by the time I leave, I don't want to go.

Prancing around Boston.

Yeah, two posts in one day. It's like Christmas for you! ;-)

We had pretty much two free days to do our thing in Boston. Thursday was spent walking downtown, from the Emerson bookstore to Fanuiel Hall, and up the Downtown Crossing, doing some shopping. Quick lunch and then Tim walked me to Back Bay Yoga, where I was pretty pumped for a Hip Hop Yoga class. I won't go into it too much, but when you are in a dark room, with Eminem blaring for 8 minutes, I would never thought that self guided sun salutations could be that exhilerating. But for who knows what reason, it was absolutely fantastic. I want to do it again.

After yoga, we changed into our baseball getups and walked to dinner at the Salty Pig. Tim loved his meat and cheese platter (I gotta say, his was pretty tasty) but my fig and goat cheese pizza left me desiring actual figs, not just fig jam. Especially since I splurged on a pizza order! Oh well. Not too much time to lament the fact since we had to race to Fenway to make it the Red Sox / Yankees game. We got their in time, but finding our seats was harder than one would think, so the game had barely started by the time we sat down.
Let's just say that I do not find baseball to be entertaining, to put it nicely. I had meant to bring some magazines, but totally forgot, at least I had my iphone, right? And by the end of the fourth inning, Tim went and got me a GINORMOUS ice cream sundae and himself a Dunkin coffee. It was quite a chilly night, so the combo was pretty much perfect. But by the end of the seventh inning. My phone goes dark. Battery dead. Ultimate despair. What am I going to do? I somehow made it to the end, but I was definitely antsy to go. I mean, game started at 7, and then didn't end until after 11:30. That is a LONG time to sit in a seat after two days in a car. Watching baseball nonetheless. But Tim got to see a Yankees/Sox game at Fenway. So its worth it. Once. ;-)

Friday brought on something new for us. We finally went on a Ducktour. It was pretty entertaining, glad to be able to say that we have now done the tour that I spent much of my freshman year quacking at. Mac, our driver, was decent, but once you've lived in Boston, you've pretty much seen everything there is to see on a Ducktour, other than when the Ducks actually go in the water.

Stopped by the pru afterwards for some lovely Lululemon shopping (how can I resist?) and had the great debate about lunch. After quite the logistics thought process, we ended up at Mikes Deli in Coolidge Corner, eating the largest sandwiches on the planet. Washed down with Red Velvet Party Favors cupcakes. More shopping, including a massive drama session at Macy's. I finally picked to Coach purse to use my gift card on, and it turns out that our card number had been cleared out last July in a big hack, but yet, they didnt contact us until now that we were trying to use it. So no purse. Oh well.

One workout later, we were meeting Caroline at Friendly Toast. I swear everytime I see that girl its like I saw her last week. The dinner was cut relatively short though since my leftover sickness from the week before was kicking up pretty hard again, but it was great getting to see her. Back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and shopping bag destroyed room for our evacuation the next day to Plymouth for the wedding!!!!

Day Two of Driving to Boston.

I guess I know that something that happened three weeks ago is of zero interest to the world wide web, however, I have turned this into a journal of type so when I am old and crazy I can look back (Im sure I will have forgotten to even bother looking back, but not the point)! So here's a bit more of our journey out to Boston.

The second day we got to at least sleep until a decent hour, but were on the road by 8 in order to maybe hit up a few stampie sites before getting into Hartford. But first, we raced the clock in order to get into Dayton by 2pm so we could have First Watch for breakfast. Yes, people, it is that good. But we were going to miss it by minutes. So what do we do? 20 minutes outside of town, we order takeout. So the food was ready by the time we got there at 2:10, our only chance at getting the deliciousness. Off to the Dayton Aviation stamp site, which was a CRAZY maze of roads and exits to finally get to the site. But we did!

We made it to Hartford in time for dinner before Cirque Du Soleil, and in true Clare & Tim form, found an Irish Pub close by. Tim's shepard's pie might look like an albino cow pie, but sure didn't taste like one!

Next door at Cirque's Quidam, we were....not as thrilled as normal with the show. It clearly was one of their older shows. I mean, I love conceptual art and the whimsical creativity that Cirque brings to their shows. But I equally love the athletic tricks and talented body work segments that each show has as well. And this show was far lacking on the impressive stunts, and heavier on the concept art. Dark concept art at that. It had a very mental institution vibe. But it was a good time nonetheless.

Afterward, we drove the last two hours to pull into Boston for the night. And no matter what time it is, you have to take a walk down Tremont and Boylston as soon as you check in to the hotel. Its just. Demanded tradition! As is NYP....

On the way to Boston!: Driving to Incubus (Ohio)

Apparently despite sleeping about four hours Monday night, and six hours last night, my body does not want to sleep. Bah. I care more because I know today is going to be just as long as yesterday and being tired is just not an option! Well, it is, but coffee as a pick me up. I hate that, knowing that you can't/shouldnt go to the bathroom any time you want, and then that just making you think about it ALL THE TIME, and then have to go ALL THE TIME. Oh well. Yesterday I did pretty well.

We were up at 4:30 (despite being up til near 1) and on the road by a few minutes after 5. There isn't much you can really say about 9 hours of driving. It happened. At seemingly a turtle's pace. By 8am, it felt like mid afternoon. It got a bit better as we realized that our original calculations were quite a bit off and we would be there really early (which would have been nice to know before getting up so freaking early). We raced to make it to Dayton before 2:30 so we could make it to a First Watch. I mean, yogurt and apples and beef jerkey are great, but a real breakfast meal would be fantastic, and First Watch? HEAVEN.

We made it in time that we called about 20 minutes out, ordered takeout, and picked it up about 10 minutes after they closed. Eating in the car wasn't exactly super comfort, but it was still delicious! Stopped at the Macys in Dayton, more to kill time and stretch. Then was the most roundabout backwards way of finding the Wright Brothers/Dayton Aviation National Park Site so I could get my stampie! Worth it though, three stamps in the one location!

Two hours onto Columbus, drove past the venue, went through town (and insane traffic) to find a Whole Foods in order to get a post concert snack for the road. It was seriously the biggest Whole Foods ever. It has to be the largest in the country. It was ENDLESS. It was good we had a time constraint, I would have wandered that store all day. It was so large, there was more than one prepared food station. Like, not just more than one kiosk, but numerous throughout the store. Holla!

Escaping only with one bag, we took the much faster highway back to the venue, got in line, and were annoyed that the concert was supposed to start at 6:30 (we are a-ok with missing the opening act), but they didnt start letting people in until 7. The outdoor grassy area facing the back half of the building venue/stage was ridiculously nice. I'd go there again. Good job PromoWest. Got a good spot, but after so long in the car, sitting longer just wasn't top of the list. Waited, opening act, Young the Giant, was decent. Kind of a 50s vibe, but with the voice of The Killers. Waited some more, finally around 8:45/9:00 Incubus came out. I adore them, and their shows are always so so worth it. Outside you could still smell a LOT of other people more illegally enjoying it too. But their light/CG show is so good. This year it was like a screen save from earlier computers on steroids in the future. Yeah. Like that! ;-) They also know their audience and play at least half of their setlist from old albums. Loved it.

Back in the car, snacks eaten, two more hours to the hotel. Too tired to care about anything else, we crashed.

That Arch feeds me well!

Last week, I was treated to a bit of happy times before the torment of dental extraction. Tim and I had gotten tickets to Ke$ha quite awhile ago, and Mom decided she wanted to be part of the road trip down to St Louis, minus the concert. As a sidenote, Tim had the Ke$ha cd hidden in his car for quite sometime before I found out and was pissed that he hadn't shared it with me!

But anyways, so we all made the unexciting trip down early Tuesday morning. Wicked early, only so that we could endulge in just one more meal at First Watch while down there. Egg white omelet with turkey, spinach, feta, & tomato. Turkey sausage. And then Tim and I shared at banana crunch pancake. Holy breakfast in my belly. I would eat there every meal if i could. Not even kidding.

And then just like any twoday getaway, the shopping craze started. In a matter of hours we hit up REI (no dice on the desired sandals, but lots of clothes tried on!), Container Store, Gap (yay to the Buy a pair of pants, Get a shirt free deal, although the hoodie "jacket" I wanted was cheaper than the sweater I was allowed to get), and Macys (where the gift card went unspent).
My big excitement part of the shopping was supposed to be the fact that they have a Lululemon in StL. But then, we got there. I was pretty disappointed in the selection at this store. They had very few options, and even few fewer sizes. Like, they have maybe 4 different sweatshirts, and each style had maybe two or three sizes in stock. And sizes are 0-12 mind you, not S/M/L. And when I walked in, I did a quick lap just to see what I was working with, and a lady came up to us and asked if we were lookging for a gift! I was ridiculously offended. Who starts their greeting with that? What about me right now says I am looking for a gift instead of for myself....not amused. Even less amused when there was a lady in there with three SHRIEKING children. One of them was playing with a box of safety pins used for hemming. Like, what kind of mother let's their kid do that? Geeze. But I ended up getting two sale items. Mom bought me a sweet pair of gray pants, kind of hard to describe them actually. And then I got a bra/tank combo that i really dig, but also hard to desribe. Let's just say, I love workout clothes.

A quick jaunt into Williams and Sonoma had my mom buying a crap load of lavender, and on our way out, I saw a HUGE glass jar of  "Nut & Grain". Tim bought it instantly, its totally delicious. Well worth the overpricedness of such a jar of glory.

Dinner @ Pi Pizzeria. It actually turned out that it was directly across the street from the concert venue, but it wasnt really relevant since we had to take Mom back to the hotel inbetween dinner and the show anyway. However, it did mean we got a sneak preview of the 14 year olds going to the Ke$ha concert all dressed up and ready to go. It was insane. I thought Lady Gaga was crazy, those were weird, but these were SLUTTY. Like, I cannot believe 75% were allowed to leave their house looking like that. Both mom and Tim ordered the same pizza, only Tim got deep dish and mom got thin crust. Both were delicious, The Western: mozzarella, spinach blended with ricotta and feta, mushrooms, onions, and garlic. And I got the Bada Bing salad: field greens, toasted almonds, gorgonzola cheese, dried bing cherries, with raspberry vinaigrette. Only swap the gorgonzola (GROSS) for goat cheese. Yummy! http://www.restaurantpi.com

We totally lucked out getting back after dropping mom off at the hotel, parked a block away, and saw there were two lines. One was like two blocks long, and the other was maybe 10 people. And we knew it was a long shot, but we figured we would just attempt the the short one. Silly kids, it wasn't a special line at all, and we got in way before we would have in the other line. It was an all ages show, but we got split into lines of 21+ and underage because the underagers got charged an extra fee to get in. The staff of the Pageant was absolutely amazing. Best staff I have ever encountered at every level. Door security, ID check, bartenders, ushers, everyone. I loved it. And then there is the venue itself. Its amazing. Upstairs seated balcony thats 21+, has its own bar, assigned seating, and great views. Although the lack of jr high girls and stretching room was the best perk. Show was great, pretty sure there was lots of lipsyncing, but frankly, I dont care that much if the stage show makes up for it. And her and the dancers totally did. Including the stage director in the Santa costume....yup. Just really fun in general.
As a side story, the opening one man band was called "Beardo the Trailer Park Hero". Yup.

I slept like a rock, and despite the super early wake up call the day before, and a crazy busy day, and going to bed later than I had wanted to, I was awake enough when my alarm went off at 6:55 in order to go down to the hotel gym. Mom even went with me! The room was like a sauna. I wasn't on very long and I was quite moisturized afterwards ;-)
Breakfast Feast at First Watch. Coffee, fresh fruit crepes, turkey sausage links, and shared a carrot cake pancake with Tim. The granola and blueberry muffin that came with got saved for the car ride home at least. I was STUFFED. 
We then went to my mecca, Whole Foods, we spent 90 minutes there, and I could have spent 90 more. But my mom had finished her shopping and Tim had put up with enough of my aisle wanderings. We got quite the haul though. Including a peanut butter and jelly on banana bread for the road home. We pulled out of town around 11:30, and I have officially added St Louis to my ok long weekend destination visit list. Their food choices are growing and are pretty sweet looking (not including the ever fantastic First Watch). Their shopping is grand, and it seems like there is plenty to do. I vote yes. 

Ryan and Bonnie, sittin in a tree.

Two weekends ago, Miss Bonnie and Mister Ryan got hitched. After a Ukrainian Orthodox ceremony in the woods (involving a crown ceremony, a three times walk around the altar, acapella singing only, and standing the whole time), we made our to the kickin reception. Absolutely gorgeous and the food....good lord, best wedding food EVER.

A woman asked if I was with catering. In my $350 dress I frickin hope not!

We don't see John very often, so when we do, its always a special and hilarious treat.

No ALPHA kids, he did not smell like chlorine....

Julie hooked Ryan up by flying in his bestest friend in the whole wide world (his heterolifemate) Lance up from Arizona. There was crying involved.

Oh Ryan.

This picture warms my heart beyond belief.

And then. Oh yes. A trip to Whole Foods. Its my Mecca.

Karl.

Today is Day +11 for Karl. This is good. Very good. Mom and I went to visit him last week, on Thursday. Which happened to be the day of a big street fair. He's a trouper. As is his whole adorable family. Here's to many more + days for Karl.

Boys like Baseball?

Last Thursday the whole Nordyke clan set out across the midwest. Baseball was calling the men. We spent the night in Peoria after watching Veronica Mars the whole way. Ice cream at Chevys (the only thing I personally deemed safe to eat). And while I watched Conan, Tim disappeared with Mitch to the bars of Peoria.

Friday started with free breakfast at the hotel, and now its such an awesome rarity these days that it deserves its own sentence in this post. The long driving day involved a showing of "Hes just not that into you" and "Fanboys." Checked into the Hilton downtown Cincinatti, a magnificent piece of hotel. And hit up some Rock Bottom BBQ before I walked the boys over to the stadium. I chose to work out in the biggest gym I have ever seen instead of feeding my face with free food at the game. But I did get some shots in before the gates opened up.

I met up with mom for dinner, only to be ignored at the hotel restaurant, but ended up at McCormick and Schmicks. (The Carribbean Shrimp salad is DELISH). And then the amazing purse recovery expedition occurred. It involved me barrel rolling over vehicle barriers and spiraling up 7 floors in a parking garage. But then I managed to talk my way into the stadium to get up to the boys to watch the huge fireworks display after the game. It was awesome. 20 minutes of set to music fireworks. Great show.

Chris and I were up early to workout on Saturday, but it was well worth it. I somehow convinced the family to trek to the Cincinnati branch of First Watch.

Oh how I love thee fruit crepes. Hotel check out was far too early and we were forced to wander the streets of Cincinnati as well as Newport, KY. But I did get my stamp at the Taft NHS. We eventually found the zoo, but by then there wasn't time. And the black people museum was too expensive. So we found a strip mall and dad bought me some cute tops at Dillards (because hes the man).

We dropped mom off at the shuttle location so she could go back to the B&N and the restaurant area, and went to the second game of the series. PS. Cubs playing the Reds, hence why we made the hike to Ohio. Game took forever. The boys had to see all of the warm ups, so we were at the field for about 6 hours before we left in the 11th inning because we had to make it to Dublin.

I was well entertained though, I read some magazines, ate a pretzel, and took lots of pictures. Made it to Dublin super late and crashed in the small childrens room on the floor. Woke up, chilled with Aunt Carol and Uncle Mike through breakfast, and then the men left to the Memorial Golf tournament, only blocks from Carol's house. They were gone for a few hours. And Carol's son, wife, and kids came by and we hung out until lunch was put out, the boys got back from the golf tournament and seeing Tiger Woods practice (all nice and crispy from the sun). And by 2pm, we hit the road for the 10.5 hour drive back to Iowa. For our viewing pleasure, we had "Defiance," "Outlander," and "Veronica Mars" but Christopher had other plans.

The kid can sleep in any position for hours. Despite a Frosty break, a Panera dinner stop, and a bathroom break at a truck stop, we were home by 11ish. I swear it was the weekend that lasted a month. A month! But all was grand.

Kansas City ended.

Continuing on from the last post, where I so abruptly ended. I'll be honest, I was just sick of typing.

Not that I had much more to say really. After dinner we headed over to the Sprint Center for some lovely Dane Cook action. Tim got a killer parking spot on the street a mere two blocks away, which was good because once we got to the building, I learned I couldn't take my camera in (hence the no delicious Dane pictures) and had to take it back. ALTHOUGH, once inside, I saw a million and one people with their cameras had gotten in. This always frutrates me. It's like, really, why do they care so much if I take the guys picture? TMZ does it! Why can't I?

We crashed after the show and woke up super early on Sunday, hit up the BEST BREAKFAST PLACE ON THE PLANET and ate the most scrumptious strawberry banana crepes. I would have taken a picture, but I was so focused on consuming them, that it totally skipped my mind. Plus it was ungodly early. But oh! I found them online!

Then yada yada we drove home for 4 hours yada yada boring stuff, nothing exciting happened then, but who just ends a story like that? Apparently I do.

Out like trout.

KC was the place to be!

Belated Birthday weekend 2009! I had bought Tim tickets to see Dane Cook for his birthday a few weeks ago, and so we were off to Kansas City this weekend to complete the gift! We left Friday evening after my training session and Tim got off work. But we didn't make it all the way to Kansas City, we paused in Des Moines for a heavenly fajita dinner at On the Border and to meet up with Travis and his girlfriend (who we had never met) for some pie. It was a quick catch up session, but good to finally meet the one we hear about so much. Plus, it was nice to get there by dark since the roads were wet with rain....and lots and lots of deer blood.

Sidenote: We stayed at a Marriott, which seemed nice, I've never stayed at a bad one, but this one had gross sheets. There were hairs, so we called to request new ones, and they were lippy about it! They didnt want to give us new sheets!! The did, but still. Gross.

After a bit of a sleep in and some yummy bagels on the road, we made it to Kansas City! The weather was gorgeous, a bit chilly, but the sun was beating down when we rolled up to the City Market. That's one thing I miss about big cities, fresh produce markets. I really like this one though, not just produce, but spices and nuts and seafood too. Seeing those bags of spices makes me wish I knew what to do with them all! I have a spice book, but haven't really been able to figure it out. The fruit all looked super delicious so we got some apples for ourselves, but also some HUGE scallion onion things for my mom and a bag of cherries for my father. AND THEN THE BEST PART....I FOUND BUBBLE TEA!
How glorious does this look?! Mango bubble tea with yummy orbs of chewiness at the bottom. How I missed you.

Dropped off the purchases at the hotel, checked in, ate our nummy Doubletree Hotel cookies (makes me think of Adriano) and went to the next heavenly location on the list. Whole Foods. It is virtually impossible to explain how happy going to a grocery store made me. So I won't even try. But we spent over an hour in the smallish Whole Foods and came out totally happy with ourselves. Tim made quite a few purchases, I was able to hold off all the crunchy granola urges. Ok, no more on the topic, I will start to drool.

Part of Tim's Kansas City Musts is to eat at Jack Stack Barbecue. Now, I like barbecue, but not all crazy like him and the other men in my life. But what I didn't expect at this place was that they would have such a delicious salad. Bed of spinach, strawberries, plain walnuts, and some feta. A picture is needed to document a very rare occasion that took place soon after said salad was served:
During dinner, we were informed of a less than fortunate event that happened as my brother and his girlfriend headed over to her prom. Now that its over and everyone is fine, its ok, but throughout dinner there were a few rather stressed phone calls made.

. . .

Road Trip Wishes. And Gasoline Dreams.

A good friend of mine is planning a road trip this summer. Full scale, across the country, taking their time.... just hearing a tiny bit about it makes me want to get up and do the same. Not that I'm not happy here, but it would be just that much more amazing to pack up the car, and start driving. All summer, top down, constantly flipping through the cd case, trying to find the best mix, eating only fresh fruit from road side stands and ice cream.

We would see everything. World's largest frying pan (Brandon, IA) to the Creation Museum (Kentucky) to the Execution museum (Texas) to VooDoo Doughnuts (Portland, Oregon). Maybe some regular places in there too. Mormon Central in Utah (less than normal, but still), Vegas, Alcatraz, Nashville, Hershey Pennsylvania!

Fourth of July in Boston, a weekend eating lobster on Cape Cod. Blueberry picking in Maine! Escaping from hillbillys in Carolina. Rodeo in Texas. Area 51, alien hunting in Roswell, NM.

I am just salivating at the thought of getting to do all this stuff. All with the sun on my back and the wind in my hair.

Let's just go on vacation. The whole nation. For one month. Let's see what happens. Who's with me?