the traveling cupcake: happy

Showing posts with label happy. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 07, 2013

Yellowstone National Park (Old Faithful, Grand Prismatic)

The next stop on our Jackson Hole adventure was to get out of Jackson Hole. We were about 50 miles south of Yellowstone so decided to take one day to drive up and see some of the sights. In reality you need at least three days to see a good clip of Yellowstone, but I'm pretty sure that you could spend two weeks there and still not see it all. We only had about 10 hours so we had to see as much as we could in that short amount of time. The drive up there itself was actually really beautiful. We essentially had to drive through Grand Teton National Park and past Jackson Lake to get to the entrance to Yellowstone. From the entrance it was another hours drive to our first official stop - Old Faithful.

We parked near the Old Faithful Inn so we had a wander through it on our way to Old Faithful. What a cool looking hotel! It was very dark and rustic on the inside and the wood work was just gorgeous. Next stop - Old Faithful herself. We had enough time to grab a quick lunch before making our way to the show. She decided to erupt about 10 minutes past the estimated time so we had plenty of time to get a great seat. As did the hundreds of other people that were there to see the show! If it doesn't look that impressive in the photos...well...it kind of wasn't. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that we went and that I had a chance to see it (bucket list - check!) but I expected something...more. That and we were standing down wind so we mostly just saw the mist coming off from the spray of water. We had gorgeous weather though and for that I am grateful.

Next stop on our Yellowstone Mini Tour was Grand Prismatic Spring. It is the largest geyser in the park and is also probably the most beautiful. It is about 250' x 300' and something like 160' deep! There is a boardwalk that covers most of the area which makes for a nice and easy stroll. Don't get caught near the steam for too long on a hot summer day though - talk about hot! This was easily one of the most fascinating and beautiful places I have ever been. I could have stayed for hours taking photos and wandering around. Alas, a hungry and tired baby called (loudly in my ear) and we were on our way back to Jackson Hole. Even though we didn't get to see that many sites and it was a lot of driving (6 hours total there and back) it was definitely worth the trek.

Monday, August 06, 2012

Lake Waccabuc

We spent the last couple of weeks driving all over the state of New York on vacation. We visited both of our families in Central NY and Long Island, but first we took a few days to ourselves and had a little vacation just the three of us. We knew we wanted to have a few quiet days to ourselves before the madness of visiting family. Don't get me wrong, we LOVE our families and LOVED introducing Kaitlin to everyone. But we knew it was going to be crazy town. We wanted somewhere quiet for us to go, but that wasn't too far out of the way (we had limited time and a newborn in the car with us after all). Our good friends knew of a place we could rent, in a location that we discovered last year at their wedding - Lake Waccabuc. You heard all about their amazing wedding at Winvian, but what I only briefly talked about their rehearsal dinner at the grooms parents lake house on Lake Waccabuc.

It was perfect - exactly what we were looking for. We had a small two bedroom cottage on the lake (which happened to be right next door to our friends place!) which had a big deck and access to the water. It was small but perfect for our family of three. Lake Waccabuc is small (less than 150 acres) and only small boats are allowed on it, making it a peaceful retreat. It is located in Westchester county in New York but is very close to Ridgefield, CT which is a super cute town with lots of shops and dining, perfect for an afternoon stroll.

What did we do while we were there?

A whole lot of nothing.

Well, I guess that's not entirely true.

Our friends have a couple paddle boards which made Brian a happy boy. They also have a small boat which we would take out to go swimming. (there are lots of rocks to jump off of and rope swings to jump from)

We grilled almost every night, and had a few friends stop by to meet Kaitlin. We even got a chance to sleep in once or twice now that Kaitlin sleeps almost through the whole night.

We set off fireworks and took walks around the lake. We watched a lot of sunsets and ate a lot of smores.

And by the time our stay had come to an end we were relaxed and recharged, ready to ~~finish~~ start our vacation with all of our friends and family.

Friday, January 13, 2012

Hotel Mayr - Italy

Even though we don't even own our first house yet, we already know where we want to own our second house. Yes I realize I am putting the cart before the horse here, but stay with me. The first time we went to the Dolomites in October 2010 we fell in love. We fell in love hard. We had a full on affair with the Dolomites, returning there for Christmas 2010 and 2011. We would have gone back a few more times last year but we forced ourselves to explore new places.

Whats so magical about the Dolomites?

*read more*

Thursday, September 08, 2011

Around town...in the South of France

Toulouse

The night that we arrived in France we decided to stay in Toulouse and head out on the open road the following morning as we were arriving quite late. After quickly checking into our hotel we headed straight back out for dinner. Honestly, I hadn't given Toulouse a thought. We were only there for a few hours, most of which would be spent sleeping. However, as I have happily experienced many time before, often times when you have no plans or expectations is when you can have the best time.

St. Stapin

One objective for taking the back roads during our drive to Neffies the next morning was to explore the countryside. We wanted to see rural France rather than the endless, bland motorway. Along the way we found a lookout point. We parked the car and worked up an appetite (which was to be rewarded with cassoulet) and when we finally got to the top (all of ten minutes later...) we were rewarded.

Pezenas

Our last night in France we decided to go to Pezenas for dinner. It's much larger than Neffies and we knew they would have restaurants open even though it was a Sunday evening. We were told to make sure that we found the "real center of town" for the best restaurants, and to avoid the touristy bit at the beginning. I think all the sun had gone to our heads because we didn't listen. Our dinner might not have been the best of the weekend, but this town sure was lovely.

Neffies

I awoke early on our last day in France. We had a couple hours until breakfast but I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep. The sun was out and I could feel it getting hot already. I took this chance to take a walk around town and enjoy the peace and quiet that only early morning can offer. Early morning light is the best light, to me at least, even though I rarely see it. It was a perfect way to say goodbye to this town I felt so at home in, even only after a couple of short days.

Marseillan

We spent the last day driving along the coast, visiting small town after small town before heading to Montpellier and then onward back to London. The sun was strong and the heat made me tired (though I was not complaining). We arrived at Marseillan and had a wander around this sleepy town on the Mediterranean. It was almost as if I was in a dream. Lunch on the marina, a cool breeze from the sea, gelato in the shade - a perfect way to end our trip...