Final Installment: New England Vacation Part 3

It's been so long since we got back from our vacation, that I almost forgot that the last stop on our trip before heading back to Connecticut, was to Portsmouth, NH. One of the main reasons we stopped in Portsmouth is that for four years, DG has been begging, pleading, and generally on all fours trying to convince me that we need to move back to New England. Several years ago, in the "get off my back" category, I told him that the only town that I would consider moving back to was potentially maybe Portsmouth. (I also told him I would rather move to Seattle, WA or Portland, OR. Please don't groan so loud Mom, you're hurting my ears.) Since we were in the same state, we had to stop in and say hello to the town and two of my girlfriends from High School, Roxanne and Ellen.

New Hampshire has about 13 miles of coast and Portsmouth is located on it. The architecture is beautiful, with gardens that are even better. An historic seaport town, it consists of roughly 20,000 and was incorporated in 1653. That is old. Older than John McCain. And if you get confused and take a wrong exit in the round-a-bout, you end up in Kittery, Maine.

Seen here is the dock we had lunch on one day. My mother and David opted for the lobster roll. I got salad. NOTE: When you are on a dock overlooking an Ocean, don't eat salad. Eat Seafood. Gawd, party pooper.

Portsmouth is gorgeous, and my friends did a really good job of promoting the area, discussing it's housing markets, jobs, and economic temperature. I just like Denver, in a forever kind of way.

New England Vacation Part II

The next part of our vacation was an historic journey through northern New Hampshire to see where my parents grew up and to introduce David and Hadley to where I came from. Literally. Where does the story begin? What are the events that lead up to the story of me? Heritage is a crazy thing.

So we headed off and travelled up through Massachusetts (going through Hadley, MA), into Vermont where David's biggest excitement was that they served Green Mountain Coffee at the rest stops. One of the beauties of travelling through New England, is that you come across small towns like this that look like they have not been touched in 50 years. Here is a wooden bridge in Bath, NH.

First stop on our tour was the "center of town" in Landaff, NH (pop. 378 - no I didn't forget a number) which consists of a church and another building. Located here is a World War II Memorial with my grandfather's name on it.

The next stop was to the Allbee Farm in Landaff. This farm has been in the Allbee family since the 1800's and is where my paternal grandfather grew up. The Allbee Farm is on Allbee Road, you know where Allbee Road and Cemetery Road intersect. And not to be disappointed, the Landaff cemetery IS on Cemetery Road.

About a mile in, the unpaved road ends at the Allbee Farm. How absolutely gorgeous in this barn? Though it is no longer a working farm, the site is pristine. I wish my Grandmother were here to tell stories of meeting my Grandfather and all of the fun they had at the farm.

We spent the afternoon with with my dad's cousin Sally and her husband Cliff who live there. Sally's mother was my Grandfather's sister, and the last of the 5 Allbee siblings to pass away just last year. Sally gave some great family tree info to me. She has all the historical records. It's wonderful to hear her talk, as she and her husband are quite lively with some wicked accents. It's fun to see pictures of her Grandchildren as well with the traditional Allbee features. (i.e. big Allbee teeth and eyebrows). After our visit, we headed out to the Landaff Cemetery to see what is virtually the Allbee family tree with graves going back to my Great Great Grandfather.

Following Landaff, we took a brief tour through Littleton, NH where my father grew up. My grandfather had his own farm there. When he sold the land, they put a highway through it, and built a neighborhood of homes which is where I remember visitng them. In 1996, Littleton was also rated by Outdoor magazine as one of the top 10 places to live in the country. There is also a Vietnam Memorial here with my Dad's name on it. Unfortunately we will have to visit it and take pictures on our next trip.

Our final stop was Whitefield, NH where my mother grew up. This is a very small town of 1,800 people. Can you imagine living in a town so small? That is less people than I went to college with. We lived there until I was 7. I remember ice skating on this common in the winter and going to Blueberry Pancake breakfasts in the summer.

Just on the other side of town lies the Mountain View Grand established in 1865. This is a little gem nestled in the heart of the White Mountains. Aunt Betty has memories of working there as a teenager. Every Memorial Day, the rich folk from NYC would get driven up to spend the entire summer there until Labor Day. Aunt Betty was a waitress all day which included several outfit changes.

The Resort was shut down for most of the 90's, until it was purchased and completely renovated. I would love to spend the entire summer there and watch Hadley run up and down this porch. While sipping on a pre-dinner cocktail of course.

The Lobby, bar, dining rooms, and rooms were just as gorgeous. I am going to be posting for Restroom Critic soon about the beautiful bathrooms.

Our final destination before heading home was a visit to Hadley August's namesake, August Gronemeyer, my mother's father who died when she was 14. It may seem gruesome to have a picture of Hadley near a grave, but the entire time, it felt like she was talking to someone. It was quite cute.

Our New England Vacation Part I

We take you away from all the political posts to bring you important non-breaking news about our fun trip to New England. Hadley and I had gone out a week early, so when David came out to join us, we were ready to get our vacation on. Our first trip was up to Plymouth, MA to visit his good friends Marcus, Alyssa and their son Brody. After a rainy start and a flat tire on the Mass Pike, we all made it there in one piece. Nothing like watching your man change a flat tire on a truck to rev up some lusty thoughts. But I digress.

I had never been to Plymouth, so we saw all the historic icons like Plymouth Rock (through tempered glass) and the Mayflower II. It is hard to imagine the Maritime perils that those original settlers went through on the voyage, cramped into the under part of the ship. I would surely have gotten scurvy and not made it. Wuss.

Marcus and Alyssa showed us quite a good time and they made us Lobster for dinner. 2lbs of succulent lobster meat with steamed clams and salad. Truly a New England meal.

We couldn't leave the state of Massachusettes without buying H. her first Boston Red Sox hat. And of course she looked like a boy for the rest of the day.

Nana was so glad when we got home. Then she could have some alone time with H. telling her all about the hummingbirds and birdies again.

The next day we headed to Mystic, CT to check out the aquarium. Hadley loved the Beluga whales and Penguins. The best part of the day however, was the bird house. What started off as an innocent treat for the birds turned into a menagerie of hungry birds perching all over us. Here is the video to prove it. If you can make it through the whole thing, I squeel like a school girl near the end when a bird lands on my head.

When you are in Mystic, CT, you can't leave without reliving 1988 and eating at Mystic Pizza.

Part II coming later this week is our trip to the family farm in Landaff, NH and dinner with friends in Portsmouth.

Vacationland 2008

DG and I just got back from our big New England tour. We hit 5 states just last week. Oh so many stories to tell. Unfortunately, I have a baby shower to throw this week, so a lot of them will have to wait. But in just two weeks, our baby girl has been thriving and growing like a weed. Just a couple of days ago, she started to understand and use the sign for more. Prior to going, she had a good grasp on saying va va va and na na na. She greeted her Nana by throwing her arms in the air and yelling hiiiiiiii na na. By the end of the trip, we got her to say gpa. (translation = grandpa) And FINALLY, in the airport, she looked at me and said MA. Once. After I picked my jaw up off the floor, and wiped the lone tear in my eye, I started dancing around her begging for more. She just giggled and gave me a gushing round of DA DA DA DAs. Have not heard it since. We are happy and home. Details coming soon to a blog near you.

Fun in Connecticut

We have had a whirlwind of a trip so far. It feels like we have only been here a couple of days. On Tuesday evening the Kamerzel's came over for dinner. Mark and I went to high school together.



His family is beautiful and so well behaved. I was taking copious mental notes the whole time hoping that some day Hadley could be so good.



Yesterday, my Dad drove us down to Madison, Connecticut to visit a friend of mine from Denver that had moved to Connecticut just over a year ago. She picked a great restaurant called The Wharf, facing the ocean. It was great to see them and Hadley got to stick her feet in the sand and water. LOVED IT.



Here are a few things that make Connecticut different from Colorado, besides the spelling. (joke)
1) Connecticut is mostly a Blue state. I think it makes me less stressed.
2) In Colorado, directions to get somewhere are: "Get on the highway for 20 minutes, exit, take a left, then a right at the light. Directions in Connecticut are: "Take Route 4, to 84, to Route 9, to Route 17, to Route 3, to Route 10. etc." Oh man.
3) In CT, all routes are 2 lane roads curving though forests.
4) In CT, you can't spit without hitting an Italian Restaurant. Though I haven't seen too many sushi or ethiopian restaurants.

I will post more on this later.

The Mother of All Diaper Bags

The heavens opened up and the angels sang ahhhhhhhhh. This bag is aptly named the Mothership and it is made by Fleurville. When the ladies who threw my shower wanted to get me a diaper bag, this is the one that I chose. I just liked the pattern. "Oh a new purse", I thought. "It's a fun accessory." But when I saw it for the first time, I thought "Holy Crap, this thing is way too flippin' big, what the H-E-double toothpicks am I going to put in it?"

Well let me tell you. I am packing as we speak so Hadley and I can jump a few planes and head east to Connecticut to visit Nana and Grandpa. We are very excited, but this diaper bag has to hold everything I need on the plane including: diapers, wipes, formula, bottles, and enough food to last an entire day of traveling taking into account layovers and possible delays and cancellations; wallet, cell phone, ipod, and a magazine (I can dream right?); outfit, sweater, rattle, book, and toys to keep Hadley occupied on the plane. This bag is so full it is bursting at the seams.

It has also withstood leaky diapers, spit up, and a dog peeing on it. (Not mine.) The vinyl nature of the outer shell makes for easy cleanup. This thing is the tank of diaper bags. I give it an A+ for appearance and effort.

A Beautiful South Korean Wedding

My brother was recently married to his long-time girlfriend Yoon Mi in South Korea. Due to Hadley's hospital stay, lack of a passport or proper shots, my inability to leave her for more than 2 hours at a time, and the loss of income, we were unable to go. It is one of my biggest disappointments in life. Family is so important, and especially my love for my baby brother and his wife, it broke our hearts not being able to be there. That being said, my parents took the 14 hour flight and 23 hour travel time to go to Daegu, South Korea to be a part of the festivities.

On their wedding day, they had two ceremonies. The first was in front of 200+ guests. Some of the highlights included a runway, bubbles, and fog machine. Can I take this time to ask if you've ever seen a more picturesque bride? Yoon Mi is a vision of beauty. She is glowing like an angel.

I would also like to take this time to state that I am not going to use this space to make a joke about how my father looks like Yoon Mi's butler. It is so very hard for me, but I'm going to take the high ground.

Following the large ceremony, the immediate family went to a separate room to have a traditional korean ceremony. I never thought I would say this, but fuschia is a great color for my brother. I also LOVE the backdrop on the wall. I would like to order some wallpaper please for our office.

Here is a great family portrait of Yoon Mi with her parents, younger brother and younger sister. What a handsome family.

And finally, there was a part of the ceremony in which my parents had to toss the newlywed couple some dates and nuts representing how many children (boys and girls) they would have during their marriage. By the looks of it, you can see they caught everything thrown at them. You better get cracking you little rascals.


Should your curiosity get the better of you because I was not descriptive enough, feel free to ask any questions that you have about traditional South Korean Weddings and I will have my brother and Yoon Mi chime in with all of the answers.

Fun in San Antonio, Texas

Upon arriving in San Antonio on Saturday, my parents had the Toyota Highlander gassed up and ready to go from Hertz. We got the car seat installed and were off immediately to the River Walk.

Downtown San Antonio is truly the bright spot of this city. The Riverwalk is vibrant, full of energy, and is the heart of the action with it's restaurants, shopping, and hotels. Doesn't my mom look awesome? She's lost almost 50 pounds since her heart attack! She is truly an inspiration. And no, there's no magic pill to lose weight. It's all diet and exercise.

First things first, we sat down for margarita's and chips. Mmmm, icy cool liquid lunch.



Nana and Hadley are reunited at last.


















Grandpa is equally as excited to see baby girl.
We had to slug down our drinks fast so that we could go check into our motel in Helotes and head to the surprise dinner for my Aunt Betty. The anticipation was building for us as we sat and waited for everyone to get there. In the car ride over, we called Susan to let her know we were running late, but she put Betty on the phone with my mom who had to FIB about being in between meetings in Pennsylvania. I told everyone to move away from her in the car because lightening was going to strike for sure. My mother is awful at not telling the truth, but apparently she did a really good job because doesn't Betty Lou look surprised?

Aunt Susan made reservations at a restaurant called The Lodge, which was located in an old mansion that had been converted into an eatery. The head chef is only 31 and quite the up and comer in the city. We had a beautiful private room on the first floor and the seasonal menu was a fixed price meal with six courses. I had a seared scallop over brioche with a potato puree appetizer, followed by an heirloom tomato with grilled watermelon and balsamic reduction salad, seared salmon over wild rice with fiddlesticks and olive tapenade main course, and for dessert a Soufflé Inspired Nutella-Dark Chocolate Cake with Homemade Caramel, Banana Fritter and Peanut Butter Mousse. There was also a complementary pasta course and a bacon wrapped fig with blue cheese. Good thing we were on a diet last week.

Before dinner, we watched a slide show that DG made of 70 years worth of photos of Betty Lou. Our entire group included: (From l-r back row) Aunt Susan, DG, Janny, Dad, Aunt Betty, Betty's daughter (my cousin) Linda, and Hadley and me. (bottom row) Loretta, Sue, and my mom.



After falling into a food induced coma and sleeping through the night, we got up and went to Susan's for breakfast in the morning, followed by a trip to Sea World.
Even with the big crowds, we never lost each other, because all you had to do was look for the ladies wearing bright cantaloupe.

We saw the Beluga Whale and Dolphin show first. At the end as I was clapping, Hadley started trying to imitate me, arms flailing about, attempting to clap, and hitting herself in the face. It was just about the cutest thing I have ever seen.

Then we headed to the Sea Lion, Otter and Walrus show. Well, minus the walrus because she was still sleeping. The main woman in this show lives on my Aunt's street, so she gave us a backstage tour afterwards. It was so fun. We got to see the walrus up close, all 2,100 pounds of her. And we had our picture taken with Spanky, who at 600 pounds has retired from show biz and lives out his days eating fish and swimming around. That's actually Spanky smiling on cue.

We also bought some slimy fish treats to feed the Sea Lions. They are greedy little buggers who catch fish really well.
















Of course, you can't leave Sea World without seeing Shamu. Now which one is Shamu again?
Hadley managed to beat the heat and remain cute through the moist humidity.

Until it got to be too much and she needed a nap. She missed the dolphin petting pool and sharks, but by then it was time to go home for all of us.

The Babymoon

It's the new thing. Expectant parents go away for a final vacation together before the baby comes. The calm before the storm so to speak.

DG suprised me on my birthday when he snuck a birthday card onto the background of my computer screen. When I turned my computer on, he had made my background a picture of Crested Butte, CO with a note to pack my bags. Crested Butte (CB) is a small mountain town about 5 hours SW of Denver. We packed up and headed out Friday afternoon. The air was crisp, the aspens were changing, and every part of the drive was beautiful. Here is a shot I took from the car.



We stayed at a brand new lodge in Mt. Crested Butte which has an elevation of just over 9,000 feet. We had such a large room that you should have joined us. We were stocked with a bedroom, kitchen, two huge baths, and a living room with a pull out-couch. Our room faced the base of the mountain, which will be prime real estate in about two months.

The drive down into town was a quick 3 miles where we saw a gorgeous fox run in front of our car and an elk. The town was a typical mountain town of one main strip filled with shops, restaurants and bars. Here's DG at the end of the strip with the mountains in the background.



It was a nice relaxing time and a great time to tree peep to see all the fall color.

I May Get Published

The Denver Post has a new travel magazine called ROAM. David is working on the design of it and I am writing an article for it's first issue about our Alaskan Cruise. Writing a few lines for a blog is one thing. Writing for an article that people might actually read is another. I’m already past my deadline and when I finished up today I was at 1,250 words. And in the hard to believe but TRUE files, not one of those words was poop.

Black Jack, Craps, and Horses Oh Yes!

DG and I just got back from Vegas baby. We stayed at the beautiful and lovely Paris, oui, oui. I learned how to play Craps and it was so much fun. Lost over my limit on day one at the black jack table. I know better than to play first base. It's never good to me. But then I took a break and went to watch horses. My first race, I picked the trifecta box, holy crap! I actually picked the first 3 horses that won. $6 turned into $70. That was exhiliarating. Jinnie got us on the guest list to Tao a hot club in the Venetian. We got to walk in front of the 100's of people in line. At the entrance, there are bath tubs filled with water, rose petals and naked ladies. Our only star siting was Robin Leach, though Jinnie was trying to convince everyone that Joaquin Phoenix was supposed to be there. The next day, I had another star siting at the Forum Shops in Cesar's Palace. This totally hot guy walked by me and I actually did the full open mouth stare, as it was Jeremy Sisto, someone I recognized from "Six Feet Under". Later that night we ate at Bobby Flay's restaurant, Mesa Grill. Great food, as you would imagine. I'm going to have to do some research and see if I can find his pumpkin soup recipe. Bowl licking good. Now it's off to cuddle with the babies and maybe take a bath as our house is still 55 degrees and warming slowly.