Our week of relaxation on Orcas Island continued. We spent a lot of time at the house, reading, playing games, napping and hanging out. Mid week we decided to check out Orcas Island’s namesake and went on a whale watch. It was a cool and damp day, but we saw seals, sea lions and plenty of orcas. Nothing got super close to the boat, but it was still nice to be out on the water and see some wildlife.

While on the island we did a fair amount of cooking at the house, but did hit up a couple of local restaurants: The Kitchen, Rose’s Bakery & Cafe, Lu Lu’s Pasta Rustica and Aaron’s favorite, Cafe Olga. Cafe Olga served a Dungeness crab, baked egg dish for breakfast that Aaron was particularly fond of. On Friday, we left the quiet of the island and moved into Seattle for the weekend. Patrick and Aaron attended PAX, a gaming conference and met up with friends, while Bonney and I shopped and wandered the city. It was a great vacation. Click on the image above to see the second half of the photos.

Back in August, Aaron and I spent a relaxing week with Bonney and Patrick on Orcas Island, of the San Juan Islands, off the coast of Washington state. We flew to Seattle where we met Bonney and Patrick, spent the night in a small inn right on the coast and drove onto the ferry, first thing the following morning. The day we arrived on Orcas was sunny and clear, knowing this was unusual weather for the area (it is often misty and overcast, or rainy) we decided to make the most of our day. We went to an outdoor farmer’s market and stocked up on local produce (and some fresh baked cupcakes) and then we drove through Moran State Park and up Mount Constitution (2,409 feet high), knowing a clear day would mean great views. Mount Constitution is the highest point of all the islands and the panoramic views are breathtaking. The above photo is of Aaron and I at the peak, with a view of Mount Baker behind us. Then, we finally drove out to the cute house that we had rented for the week, right on the water. Click on the picture above to see the first half of the photos from our vacation.

Back at the end of May, Bonney and Emily came east for the second annual Girls Weekend. Last year they came and stayed with me in Salem and we had so much fun, we decided to do it again, but this time to go somewhere new – so the three of us ventured north, to Ogunquit Maine. We rented a 2 bedroom cottage at The Dunes, which was perfectly lovely. It was nothing fancy, but had a small full kitchen, living room with fire place and TV, bathroom, 2 bedrooms, screened in porch and some Adirondack chairs outside from which you could see the ocean. It was pretty sweet. We got pedicures, watched movies, shopped, chartered a sailboat, took a walk along the shore, lounged outside, read books and ate lots of yummy food. Here were some of our favorites:
- The Silver Lining – the sail boat we charted – it was great to be out on the water and we had the boat to ourselves, minus the crew.
- Harbor Candy Shop – an amazing home made candy store – Emily in particular was thrilled to find some candy called divinity? And Aaron did enjoy the fruit slices I brought home for him.
- Caffe Prego – casual pizza/salad/gelato place – we had dinner there one night. Good pizza.
- Barnacle Billy’s – dive fish fry place on the water with outdoor seating. Bonney must have eaten 4 or 5 lobster rolls over the long weekend and claimed theirs was the best.
- MC Perkins Cove – pricey, but good food, beautiful views, nice ambiance.

We had a great time. Next year Girls Weekend might be extended to Girls Week :) Click on the above photo (sorry the colors a little off) to see the album of photos from our trip.

In the beginning of April, Aaron and I took a short vacation to Chicago to visit our friends David and Emily, who are both professors at Northwestern University. We also had a brief visit with Bonney and Patrick, who met us out there. AND, completely by coincidence, Molly was in Chicago for a performance with her singing group – so we were lucky enough to spend an evening with her as well.

We had a great time and managed to do a lot in a few days. Weather wise we lucked out and were able to spend a lot of time outside exploring the city on foot. We visited Northwestern, walked around Millennium Park (saw Cloud Gate or “The Bean” and the Pritzker Pavilion), shopped on Michigan Avenue, took an architectural tour of the city by boat on the Chicago River and saw the Hopper exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago. In addition to all of this we did some fabulous eating: Chicago style pizza, an old school steak house (Gene & Georgetti’s Restaurant), Latin American food at De La Costa, sushi, etc, etc. We had a great time and hope to go back again soon. Click on the photo above of Molly and Aaron to see the album of photos from our trip.

Ages ago, back in September, Aaron and I were joined by Emily, Bonney and Patrick for a quick visit to the shore. It was a low key weekend of relaxing, gaming and good food. It was even warm enough to swim. Here’s a photo of the five of us at the end of the weekend.

At the end of March, Aaron went away for a week on vacation to a board game convention, and I thought – what a perfect time for a girls’ weekend. I invited our dear friends Emily and Bonney to come east for a long weekend with me. They both arrived in time for a brief visit (and a couple of rounds of guitar hero) with Aaron, before he left for his vacation. Then, Bonney, Emily and I enjoyed a relaxing weekend of pedicures, chick movies, good meals and even a long walk in the woods. The three of us had a great time together and I hope have started a new tradition…we’re thinking next time we may even travel somewhere.
Click on the above photo to see the few pictures we took during the visit.

This past weekend, I drove out to Mount Holyoke to meet Abby and Jill, good friends from my college days. This year was the 10th anniversary of our graduation, but none of us made it to the reunion weekend in May – so this was our own private reunion. We met up at the new and improved campus center and spent a couple hours walking around campus, both admiring what had changed and reminiscing about things that had not. Afterwards we wandered over to the Village Commons for lunch and chatted about what’s new and going on in each of our lives. It was a quick visit, but fun to catch up and see campus again.

So on our last day in Sedona, we got up early, stocked up on coffee and baked goods and headed north to the Grand Canyon. It’s about a two and a half hour drive – but well worth it. We headed for the South Rim of the canyon, as it was closer and we only had the one day. We got there before lunch time and had plenty of time to explore. We visited many overlooks, had lunch at El Tovar Hotel and hiked from Mohave Point to Hopi Point. The path between Mohave and Hopi was rocky and narrow. The proximity of the path (which had no guard rails mind you) to the actual rim of the canyon varied, but at times the two were separated by mere inches. Good news though, I only came close to falling into the canyon once or twice. We watched the colors of the rocks change all day from bright orange when we first got there to deep purple at sunset. After the sun went down we loaded back into the car and headed back to Sedona.

And before we knew it, our week was over. We had a great vacation and really enjoyed our time in the Sedona area. Click on the photo above to see the last chunk of our vacation pictures.

Later during our week in Sedona, Bonney and I took Aaron and Patrick on a sunrise hot air balloon ride. We got up very early and met the Northern Light Balloon Company in a local parking lot. We were transported to a big field where we watched them inflate two balloons. We spent the next hour and a half flying over various red rock formations and the Coconino National Forest. It was absolutely beautiful – a very smooth, gentle ride with unforgettable views. We all really enjoyed it.

Later that same day, at sunset, we took the Broken Arrow – Pink Jeep Tour. This was an off-road tour of the red rock back country. I can say without a doubt that this was the craziest tour I have ever taken. For some of the tour we were riding on dirt paths, but for much of the trip we were actually driving on big rock formations. Our driver took us up and down inclines I would have thought were impossible for a vehicle to navigate. The ride was totally exhilarating. My feelings alternated between excitement and terror, but wow it was fun. It also gave us the opportunity to see a side of Sedona we otherwise would have missed. I think we all were pleasantly surprised at how fabulous the Pink Jeep Tour turned out to be. Click on the picture above to see the photos from our balloon ride and the jeep tour.

Aaron and I recently returned from a great vacation with Bonney and Patrick in Sedona, Arizona. We were away for nine days and took a bunch of pictures, so I will divide the vacation into several posts with associated albums to break things up a bit…here goes.

While planning the trip we found a very nice house we could rent for around what a hotel was going to cost us. The opportunity to have a private pool, kitchen and hang-out space was too good to pass up, so even though the house was bigger than we needed – we went for it. It was situated up on a mesa looking over Sedona and the red rock formations. The above photo was taken from the front porch of the house at sunset. We spent the first couple days relaxing and unwinding and then started to explore the area.

We visited the misnamed Montezuma’s Castle and Montezuma’s Well – neither of which have anything to do with the Aztec ruler, Montezuma. They were apparently incorrectly associated with Montezuma by early European Americans and the name stuck. In actuality, they are well-preserved cliff dwellings thought to have been built and used by the Sinagua Indians around 1300 AD. The Well is a collapsed limestone cavern fed by underground springs. Later that day we drove to Jerome; a town literally built into the side of a hill around a now defunct copper mine. The following day we took a beautiful drive via the scenic route up through Oak Creek Canyon and up to Flagstaff. The view from the top of the canyon was much greener (thanks to the Ponderosa Pines) than we had seen in days. It’s amazing how quickly the terrain changes out there. Click on the image above to see the first batch of photos.