Cape Cod

Here are some snaps (mostly food pictures) from a roadtrip to Cape Cod, MA.

One of the stops was East Syracuse, NY at the Bull & Bear Roadhouse, where we discovered salt potatoes and locally brewed hard apple cider.

1911 Original Hard Cider and Mango Mojito.

Fiesta Salad and Cubano sandwich with loaded salt potatoes

We were staying in West Yarmouth, which had lots of great spots to grab some grub. Most of the places had some high-end prices for things like lobster rolls and scallops but had a casual feel with picnic benches and paper plates.

On the Waterfront

Local Cape Cod breakfast joint

First lobster roll of the trip at Moby Dick's Seafood Restaurant

Highland Lighthouse, Truro, MA.

Kennedy House as seen from the harbor tour

  One of my favorite knickknacks at the Edward Gorey House.

Lobster roll platter at Sesuit Harbor Cafe. The best one of the trip!

We drove through NYC on the way home. 

Hall of Heroes

If you find yourself traveling through or near (or in) Elkhart, Indiana, check out this small but awesome shrine to superhero memorabilia. My pictures won't do it justice so I recommend checking out their website for a sneak peak of what you can find there. But see it in person! It's insanely cool.

hallofheroesmuseum.com

Chicago

It felt like we took a bunch of pictures in the Windy City for a milestone birthday celebration, but it turns out there aren't a lot. Here's some of what we saw.

Looking up into "The Bean." Or "Cloud Gate" if you want to call it by it's real name.

Full view of the sculpture.

Mexican bakery. 

Pan Dolce.

Aye yay yay.

Sugar skulls for el Día de Muertos 

La Virgen de Guadalupe at Madonna Della Strada Chapel

Signpost Up Ahead

Taken from the Toodle 2.0 Convertible somewhere along I-71.

Lake Erie Island

I visited some friends on Kelleys Island this summer and saw new things that I didn't see a few years ago like Inscription Rock and the Glacial Grooves.

Hey look! Glacial Grooves!

One of the scenic photo ops while walking around the Glacial Grooves.

Interesting rock formation in the lake.

View from the Jet Express.

Jet Express dock.

Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station.

Boats. Probably boat drinks.

View of Cedar Point from Lake Erie.

Hotel and rides.

Coasters, etc.

This is an awesome restaurant in Huron, Ohio.

LEMmy!

LEMmy's is named after the Lake Erie Monster. I like how there is a specific look to the monster. He's a friendly lake monster. Next time I'm in the area I am definitely stopping for a bite.

Ohio Wine Trail

A few friends and I spent a weekend in Ohio wine country this past summer. We went on a tour of the wineries on the Lake Erie Vines and Wines Trail, which is east of Cleveland. I wasn't fastidious about taking pictures of every place we stopped but took enough to give the flavor of the trip.





Grape vines outside of our first stop, Tarsitano Winery and Cafe.





The place was cute inside and out. The cafe wasn't open since we got there kind of early, but we sampled some wine. Like a lot of Ohio wineries, the sweet ones were better than the dry.





Covered bridges dot the trail and are tourist attractions in their own right.





The next stop was the Old Firehouse Winery, which is in the resort town of Geneva-on-the-Lake. There was a wine festival going on in the park next to the winery so we had the benefit of being entertained while we drank. I got their Pink Crush Cooler, which is described as "a refreshing blend of wine, soda and cherry juice served in a souvenir pitcher with ice." It was a sweet delicious concoction that I would order again in a heartbeat. The ultimate girly drink.








Fun resort town tourist traps!





Authentic Hawaiian Shave Ice on the shores of Lake Erie!

Views from the deck of our next stop, The Lakehouse Inn and Winery.

Even on a cloudy day, the view was beautiful. The wine sampler here came with a souvenir glass.

We stopped for ice cream at Mr. C's, which was near our hotel. Then we ended the night at Laurello Vineyards & Winery, where some older patrons were in their cups. It was a decent place to hear live music and had fairly good wine.

The next day, we headed back to Geneva-on-the-Lake and wandered around a little. We stopped at Madsen Donuts where I personally purchased too many doughnuts.

We happened to drive through the quaint town of Ashtabula, which was holding their 3rd Annual Harbor Beach Glass Festival on the weekend we visited. The Harbor's Lift Bridge went up just for us!

I bought of bunch of jewelry at the festival, mostly necklaces made with the many colors of beach glass.

After lunch we hit a few more wineries. Here is the fountain on one of the outside patios of Ferrante Winery and Ristorante.

For a change of pace, we sampled beers at the Cellar Rats Brewery at Chalet Debonne Vineyards. The darker beers were my favorites.

Our last stop was Grand River Cellars Winery & Restaurant where we had dinner and more wine. We ate on the deck where we caught the end of a jazz band's set. I got the dry to semi-dry sampler because I wanted to get a glass of ice wine for dessert. It was really the perfect end of a great girls' weekend.

NYC

I spent a whirlwind day in New York City this past spring to celebrate a good friend's birthday. One of the purposes of this trip was to see the Spider-Man musical, which was still in previews at the time. The signs were everywhere!

The show was... interesting... I wouldn't call it good, in fact, it didn't really make much sense. Even the name of the show is puzzling. After seeing it, I have no idea who or what turned off the dark. Someone must have turned on a light at some point, but it wasn't the one over my head. There were some very cool things in it: the webspinner girls at the beginning, the comic book set pieces, the villains' costumes and the performance of the Green Goblin were pretty spectacular. And I would recommend seeing it for the amazing wire work, especially the fight scenes between Spidey and the Green Goblin. But if you want to be entertained with a coherent storyline or memorable songs, then you should see something else.

We visited the Apple Store.

Saw the fun subway signs and weird buildings.

H & H Bagels was pretty awesome, if no frills. They had fresh bagels, cream cheese and some drinks, but they had no coffee and were not located anywhere near a coffee shop. Sadly, H & H has since closed for business.

We went to the Jekyll and Hyde Club for lunch, which had talking inanimate objects and decent food.

I liked the way these two businesses were side by side. I wish we had time to have some noodles while there. Of course, we hit a Starbucks.

Two of my favorite things. A food truck and a duane reade.

This sign contains so much delicious food! Biscotti! Cupcakes! Soup! Risotto! and Oatmeal! I don't know why we didn't stop there!

This was a great sign that we came across on the day of the supposed Rapture.

Goodbye New York! Hope to see you soon!