Big Events in the Big Apple

It has been an eventful summer, despite the lack of blogging on the topic. Just since the return from Alaska, there have been multiple trips to the lake house, a triathlon fail and surprise birthday in Chicago, a trip to Memphis for MommyCon, and our 6^th wedding anniversary. We’re probably overdue for a recap blog on the aforementioned.

Regardless, a trip to the Big Apple is always worth a blog post, especially if a family wedding is involved. So here we go…

Labor Day weekend we left Cincy in the afternoon and flew (via Newark) to New York City and our weekend digs at the Sheraton Tribeca. Since we have family with a condo only a few blocks away, TriBeCa is like our home base when on the island (we’re so chic), so we were familiar with the surroundings. My (Jeff’s) parents were already at the hotel as we arrived so met us and helped settle us in.

Before the trip…way back in December for Christmas…Susan and I had decided to plan date nights for one another as our present. One of my dates was a dinner at Tamarind which was the first Indian dining experience either of us had ever had about 5 years ago on a trip to NYC (thanks Craig and Teresa).  If you aren’t aware, Indian is now Susan’s FAVORITE food group…and I’m quite fond of it, too.

The Friday evening weather was perfect, so we left Lily with her grandparents a little early and walked from the hotel past the restaurant and to the Hudson River. After some time meandering, we returned to the restaurant where dinner was terrific as expected. Then we returned to the hotel for the night.

Saturday morning started early for me since I had a long run (10 miles) to complete. The weather was clear and mild as I left from the hotel. My run took me across the Brooklyn Bridge and back, the around the southern tip of Manhattan before running along the Hudson River paths and finally returning to the hotel…awesome scenery.

After the run and everyone waking up, we spent the late morning walking the Highline then heading through Chelsea Market.

  

We took the subway back south to TriBeCa and walked to the Tribeca Tap House for lunch and a little football watching, then took a break before leaving for the main event of the weekend…the Kissel-Foskett Wedding near the NYC municipal buildings downtown. The wedding ceremony was beautiful and had some interesting wrinkles like having the whole audience gather around the stage for the exchange of vows and the bride and groom exiting the church to a naval sword arch.

Post wedding, we walked back to the hotel for a little relaxation before heading to the reception, which was kicked off with a rooftop cocktail hour that was amazing! The views were spectacular and the hors d’oeuvres offered a “tasting trip” around the world. There was a table with a Mediterranean theme, a sushi table, and a taco and nacho bar. There was also wait staff with trays including foie gras, quesadillas, sliders and fries, stuffed mushrooms…and that’s only what I saw.

 

Once the wedding party arrived, we were moved to the interior dining room for the toasts, dinner (as if the cocktail hour food wasn’t enough), and dancing. The band was another highlight with three lead singers giving them almost unlimited range. Unfortunately all the sight-seeing hype kept Lily from getting a good nap, so Susan and I had to duck out of the reception early to put her to bed.

Sunday morning started with another early run along the Hudson. Then the rest of the morning was spent relaxing in the room and letting Lily sleep in. We had a (wedding family) brunch scheduled at ROC at 11am so finally ventured out to walk to the restaurant around 10:45. The “brunch” was actually a 4-course meal, so took a few hours giving us quality time to spend with the Kissels before many people left town that afternoon.

With our bellies full after lunch, we took the subway to the north side of Central Park to walk the food off. We meandered south and around the reservoir where we got some cool pictures of the skyline mixed with nature. Lily also got a chance to stretch her legs in the park before our trip was cut a bit short by a pop-up thunderstorm.

    

During the afternoon rains, we rested at the hotel for a couple more hours before meeting again to head to a dinner to celebrate my parents’ wedding anniversary at The Harrison. My aunt and uncle whose daughter was the bride happened to also be dining with a different group at the same restaurant and gave us a great gift by sending us wine and champagne for our meal. They know their way around a wine list too (unlike us), so the selections were great. The dinner was excellent and perfect for a celebration. Lily slept most of it, but woke up just in time to eat (she rarely misses a food opportunity).

After dinner, a few of us decided to head out on the town (Lily and Susan stayed in for bedtime). My brother-in-law, Jason, was looking for live music so we walked about a mile to a venue that we hoped was promising only to find it overcrowded and loud. Luckily it was good weather for an evening walk. We cabbed back to TriBeCa and tried a few more bars with limited success (too crowded or closed) before settling down at a dive just around the corner from the hotel.

Monday morning Susan wasn’t feeling well, so I took Lily and went to brunch with my family at Bubby’s. The pancakes were the highlight. Unfortunately the brunch brought an end to our time in the city, so afterward we bee-lined back to the hotel to finish packing and grab a car back to the airport (where we enjoyed a 2.5 hour delay).

What a great weekend!

North-By-Northwest: A Vancouver and Alaska Family Vacation Days 9 to the End

Thursday morning was another rainy one in the interior.  I grabbed a quick run early then most of our group headed back into town to the Denali Brewing Company to watch the USMNT vs. Germany game (it started at 8am local).  It was a small crowd, mixed of locals and tourists, crowded around the TV behind the bar.  They had self-serve coffee, water, and iced tea…then opened the bar and offered biscuits and gravy for the 2nd half.  I don’t think anyone took them up on the drink or food offer, but we appreciated them offering us a place to sweat out the game.

Post-game, we packed up and departed the wet Talkeetna with a big day of driving ahead.  A couple hours in, we stopped in the Wasilla area where we had an interesting experience finding the trailer of the guy who rescued my planner.  Then we grabbed lunch at a sandwich shop before continuing southbound.  Our end destination for the day was Seward.

As we made our way south in the early afternoon, the skies finally started clearing again for the first time in a couple days.  The environment also changed to more densely packed mountains and lakes…very scenic.

We reached our final cabin stay of the trip and unloaded.  This cabin was smaller, but laid out with an open floor plan and a huge cook’s kitchen (with Viking range).  Once settled, Susan and I took a walk while the rest of the family got short workouts in.  Then we headed into town to see what Seward was all about.  The town in a fishing and shipping hub for Alaska and is also where many of the cruise ships dock.  The town itself is small, with a couple commercial districts at each end of about a mile long set of parallel roads.  We chose the Chattermark, which was not very crowded, but had good food and a small but locally focused beer selection.  The service was also very friendly.  After dinner, we relaxed at the cabin the rest of the night before our early boat tour the next day.

Friday morning we were up and going at 6:45 to get to the port by 7 to check-in for our Kenai Fjord National Park Cruise.  The 6 hour boat trip took us about 100 miles total in a large horseshoe out of Resurrection Bay and into the neighboring bay that makes up a portion of the Kenai Fjords National Park.  As soon as we embarked we passed some sea otters reclining in the bay…a good sign of things to come.  Before we even made it out of Resurrection Bay we also had some bald eagle, dall’s porpoise, harbor seal and orca sightings. 

Ships in the harbor

Sea Otter     &      Dall’s Porpoise

Group of Orcas (with baby in the middle!)     &     A couple Harbor Seals

Once we cruised the rough waters into the national park, we saw a humpback whale before witnessing a bald eagle on the hunt.  It captured a fish too large to lift from the water, so instead swam backstroke with it to shore before jumping out and adjusting its hold to take the fish back to eat.  It was amazing, as were the pictures Susan captured of it.

Our destination in the national park was Holgate Glacier where we slowly cruised to about 1/4 mile away and watched the glacier break off into the bay.  On our way back, we hit some rough waters and many of the passengers were feeling sick.  Lily threw up on me twice.  Our captain knew it was rough going so cruised quickly past sea lions…luckily we found more later when we got back to Resurrection Bay and back on our feet.  Our tour ended with sightings of many sea-birds including puffins.  It was an amazing cruise aided by a spectacularly clear day in a normally rainy area.

Humpback Whale

A few birds by the glacier

Ice falling from the glacier

A puffin    &    A sea of seagulls

Sea Lion

With our cruise tickets, we also got free access to the Alaska Sea Life Center, an aquarium and rehab center for local wildlife.  Here we got more up close access to the wildlife we saw on the cruise along with those that were hiding beneath us.  The center also included many interactive exhibits to convey the human impact on the oceans…it was worth the visit, especially at no cost.  Leaving the center, we rewarded ourselves with a gelato treat for a hard day’s work.

After an already eventful day, it was back to the cabin where I took a quick run before I got to play in the fancy kitchen.  On the menu was surf and turf (sirloin, shrimp, and salmon) with roasted potato hash and ginger garlic carrots.  Mom added some garlic bread to the mix and we feasted.  As I was prepping, a number of birds including hawks and eagles gathered around the river behind our cabin.  A couple of us ran out with cameras and captured the group hunt of a fish, which eventually went to the eagle with the rest of the birds conceding.

   

Saturday morning was taken leisurely before starting our journey back north toward Anchorage.  We attempted to stop for a couple hikes along the way, but chose our routes poorly (one was flooded) so only managed short walks.  We did get to check out some of the ski town of Girdwood where we stopped for lunch.

Once back in Anchorage we did some last minute shopping at the Saturday Market we visited when we first arrived.  Then we checked into our last night’s accommodation which was pretty shady, but near the airport for our super early 5:50 flight Sunday morning.  I took a run around the seaplane airport that is adjacent to the major airport and got to see a few float planes take off and land.  That evening since the weather was nice we had our final dinner on the rooftop at the Snow Goose.  Susan and I went all out and split the Alaskan king crab legs.

Sunday morning came way too early and the whole day was spent travelling (and losing time to time zones).  It went smoothly though, with Lily sleeping for 5 hours on the two flights combined.  Another solid vacation in the books.

Now, looking forward to the 4th of July weekend at the lake.