Disney 2014

It had been 11 years since the group had last visited Disney so it was about time! Big thanks to Andy and Maria for spearheading this and getting us all there to celebrate!

But before Disney 2014 begins, Rachel and I decided to head out early and start the vacation with some R and R. We stayed at a great hotel (a couple miles from Universal Studios), The Point Orlando Resort. When we saw the website of folks hanging by a poolside bar we knew we had to stay there - those were our people! :) And that is exactly what we did. Checked in, immediately donned swimsuits and hit the pool bar for lunch and relaxation til dinner time.  Our hotel was on a local public transportation system called, I-Ride Trolley and it worked well for us. It was a $2 bus ride up and down Universal Blvd or I-Drive and found on the stop was Maggiano's. Oh beloved Maggiano's! Our dinner and service really didn't live up to our memory, but the cheesecake did!

Next morning, we hopped on the iTrolley and made our way to brunch at the Hilton. It was right across the street from the spa we were going to, but "right across" was in Vegas terms, the distance is very misleading with giant structures! Anyways, brunch was fab - one of the best I have had. Avocado and goat cheese wrapped in a wheat tortilla? Yes please! Then it was time for the spa. The 4 hour spa experience called the Serene Retreat...ahhhhh.... I had no idea what to expect at the spa at Rosen Centre but it was wonderful. After a relaxing start to the day, we were ready for the wildness of Downtown Disney! And we were ready for more friends to start arriving! We met Joel and Kerry at Raglan Road Irish Pub and Restaurant - it was fun and loud and I was excited for everyone else to start arriving!

Time to leave our hotel and head to Disney Beach Club Villas! Andy and Maria were able to finagled their time share points to all get us rooms at their resort. Because of that we special clips on our magic bands and people went above and beyond to "Welcome us home"... thinking we were all time share owners. heehee. When we left our first hotel we played it smart and put on our swimsuits, no sense in getting dressed if we were going to be poolside the whole time! And poolside we were...for 6 hours. Finally got dressed to have dinner at downtown Disney because the group had arrived!  

The next day started early, but we had a lot of Disney to cover in 2 days! We took the Villa boat over to Hollywood Studios where we hit the highlights: Star Tours, Great Movie Ride, Tower of Terror and Rockin' Rollercoaster. Then even thought the heat index kept climbing we decided to head spend the afternoon at Magic Kingdom where I nearly passed out from the heat at the Haunted Mansion. I think I might be a ghost there actually. We only did a couple more things: the Swiss Family Tree House, Pirates of the Caribbean and then some shopping. I crashed at the hotel for a while and recovered and then finally made it to dinner at Nine Dragons at Japan Epcot. Then we caught the firework show at Epcot and because we hadn't had enough food :) we ended up at Spice Table Road where they had a special Wine Down after hours that we could sample wine and food. 

Next full Disney day started us out at Animal Kingdom where we went on the Safari ride, then the Dinosaur ride, Yeti and Primeval Whirl. I really like the Animal Kingdom park! Then - Epcot. With the goal of drinking around the world. I only made it to 6 countries or 7 if a weird cherry drink at China counts. Others pulled off the 11 drinks. Andy maybe shouldn't have... I did some rides in at Epcot because Maria scored us some free fast passes, so I did the Norway ride, Soarin' and Test Track.We had dinner at Morocco and ended the night at the hotel (super) hot tub.

Last day, time with everyone was way too short. Got up, got packed and had a bit of time to do some shopping at the Boardwalk. The Boardwalk encircles all the Disney resorts in that area and is Disney charming. Before we knew it, it was time to board the Magical Express for a ride to the airport. Then we got separated from the group and only Rachel and I ended up together, having lunch at the Outback Steakhouse. There were not a lot of choices for us! But I am so glad we did, because I now know about the blue cheese vinaigrette, that I must find a copy cat recipe for! A couple of drink at lunch and it was time to board the plane. It was a somewhat memorial ride when we hit turbulence and the plane dropped from the sky. I haven't experienced that before, where the only thing holding me in the chair was my seat belt. It only lasted for a second, but the amount of screaming it induced, yikes. Thankfully the rest of the flight was not memorable! Land safely and I have started to save my pennies for Disney 2024! :)

MN Wine Trip: May 2014

The 7th Annual MN Wine Trip brought us to 3 wineries this year! We repeated the Northeast/Central area of the state. First step of wine trip - start off with a good brunch! This year since we were headed north, we ate in Northeast Mpls at an Ecuadorian restaurant, Chimborazo. 5 stars!! The food was amazing and the server was wonderful, explaining all the unique items on the menu and offering suggestions. I want to return immediately.

Now, usually the charm of wine trip is that we find these small towns with odd buildings that have now been converted to B&Bs (like a jail house or an old church), but this year, considering the location we didn't have that charm so we took the plunge and stayed at a hotel with a water park! Holiday Inn in Otsego. I am pretty sure the best way to prevent a hangover is to burn it off at a water park. :)

Sometimes convenience is everything and in this case it also provided us with a great meal to start our day of winery visits, the hotel restaurant had a great breakfast! Now, time to check out the wineries...Two Rivers Winery was first on the list. The owner of White Rabbit Vineyards & Winery recently opened Two Rivers in Ramsey so instead of heading to Andover we sampled wine at Two Rivers. The winery is large and is getting ready to host classes and events! I purchased the bubbly and I am excited to try it, not many MN wineries offer bubbly!

Second winery of the day, Goose Lake Farm and Winery. Located in Elk River, this is a farm winery and adorable. Lots of animals roam free (chickens and birds, plus they have goats and other furry friends) and because of this they have natural fertilizer and weed control! Most exciting find at this winery... soft packs! They have pouches of wine that you can purchase, equals 1.5 bottles of wine. So single serve. Heehee. We finished the day with dinner at Pour Wine Bar and then back to the water park!

As always the end of the weekend comes too soon! Thankfully we had one more winery to stop at Willow Tree Vineyard & Winery in Ham Lake. This winery was great, we had a fun time bellying up the bar and chatting with the worker. We found out that they have a seasonal pumpkin wine so we are excited to return in the fall and try that!

MN Wine Trip: June 2013

Sixth annual! And a return to the southeastern quadrant of MN.

We had hopes of a picnic lunch at Lake Harriet before hitting the road, but because spring just won't come, we had to settle for lunch at Fireside Pizza. Which of course is not settling at all but gorging at a Richfield tradition! Now we were ready for it first winery! We hit the road and headed to Plainview. Off the beaten path, we found a super charming winery and vineyard. Whitewater Wines. The owner was wonderful and welcoming. I liked the Coral Bell, which was a blush. Summer might be coming but I still can't get my taste buds to like white wine, so I'm hoping I can get by with dry roses for upcoming patio season!

Onto our lodging for the evening! Heavens Valley Lodge. Super cute! It is in the valley of a hobby farm. The 2 bedroom lodge is right next to the hen house. So we got to pick eggs right from the hen house for breakfast the next day (by the way: this is the best egg bake ever!).
After breakfast, we packed up and traveled downtown for a bit of shopping. We stopped at the Watkins museum and shop. Then, and I was real excited for this, we stopped at Bloedow Bakery. I needed a donut! We bought a bunch. Pretty darn good.

Then I got to visit my old college campus, Go Warriors! The campus has changed so much! I couldn't remember my dorm's name, but we found it finally – I needed a photo op! Time for a wine tasting! We left the valley of Winona and traveled up the bluffs to Garvin Heights Vineyard. I didn't find a wine I really liked here, but it was still nice to sit on the patio and take in the views.

Next, we had a winery in Rochester to visit, so time to travel to our next destination! First we checked in at our hotel for the evening, Aspen Suites. Perfectly fine, 2 bedroom suite in a chain hotel, clean and roomy. Before we got too settled, we had to get out the door and visit Post Town Winery. Again, didn't find a wine I was really into, but it was a nice winery to visit. It was just a store front, the vineyard was a few miles away. They serve pizzas and had a guy playing the piano for some atmosphere, pretty nice!

Then we stopped for an early dinner in Rochester and headed back to the room to just chill and hang out. Unfortunately, on Sunday we didn't make it to our fourth and final winery of trip, so stay tuned, hopefully a bonus wine trip will be added here later this summer!

Chickens!

Korea 2013: final days

Day 9: traditional folk village
We had another late start today, all this walking is tiring! All we really had on the agenda was to visit a traditional folk village. We booked a tour package that picked us up at our hotel and drove us about an hour out of town. Once at the village we had about 2 hours to tour the grounds and watch some performances. It kind of reminded me the renaissance festival back home, but obviously from a different era of time! There were food vendors, replicas of old farm houses and traditional dance shows. It was neat to see.

That took up a huge chuck of the day, so by the time we were back in the hotel, it was time to head out for dinner. We never really explored our original neighborhood, hongdae, so we decided to get on the subway and do that. For being in a university area, it took us forever to find a restaurant with some English. I had to stop at a food vendor just to have a snack (hard boiled egg in a sweet bread, good!). Finally found a restaurant and they had the egg drop soup that we had in the bar in Gangnum! That was soooooo good, I was getting it again for sure. Although we still haven't figured out the portion sizes...again, we ordered 2 dinners when we just needed one!  We wandered a bit more after dinner. I am just amazed at how nothing closes and people must not sleep here!

Day 10: we leave :(
There isn't much to share about this day. We got up early, checked out, caught the cab to the airport railroad and started the long trek home!

Thanks to all that followed along through my travels in Seoul! The people there are wonderful and I recommend everyone buy themselves a plane ticket and go!

Korea 2013: day 7-8

Day 7: shopping in Seoul!
We spent most of the day shopping in Insa-dong. This area is full of shops and kiosks selling pottery, souvenirs and food. On Sundays the streets are closed to traffic which makes shopping easier! We stopped at a tea house and shared this large bowl of tea. It was iced, fruity and floral, very refreshing!

After taking a rest from a hard day of shopping, we headed back out to visit N Seoul Tower (picture below). The tower is located on a mountain (Mt. Nam) so I hiked a mountain! Well we hiked a bit of it and took the cable car most of the way. The long lines were killer and it was really crowded . But the view was worth it (kind of :) ). Seoul is beautiful at night, so many lights. When we got to the top of the mountain, we ate at the Italian restaurant there. Not too bad, the risotto was really white rice in gorgonzola cream sauce. The cream sauce was super tasty!

Day 8: more shopping
We were sleeping in today! Finally made it out if the hotel for lunch. Um, we ate pizza. Always a good base for shopping! In the Sinchon neighborhood, where we are staying, there are back alleys filled with stores, fun to shop around. We then hopped the subway (have I mentioned how awesome the subway is here!? So easy to figure out, will bring you anywhere) and went to the Namdaemun market (picture below). It has over 10,000 stores. Oh.my.god! So many stores! But in the end it seems like there are only 5 different types of stores. Still, really amazing to see.

For dinner we meet up with another friend of a friend. A coworker of mine has a friend going to school here, so we meet him in one of the university areas, Hyewha. Such a cute area! We ate at a traditional Korean restaurant, shoes off, sit on the floor. Really good, purple rice, tons of sides and egg soup. Then we went to a beer mart. It was like being at an American bar, except you go to the beer coolers and get your own beer. Then as you drink you put the empty bottles in a bucket that you bring to the cash wrap at the end to pay. Fun!

Korea 2013: day 5-6

Day 5: explore Busan
First, I need to address our toilet here at the hotel. There are so many buttons and I only understand a few of them! I must say, the button with the face on it scares me the most. I don't want to press it. And then I realize this is something you probably don't discuss, but I never read anything about this while researching and only found out days before I was leaving, but you don't flush toilet paper here. They have the fanciest toilets around (picture below), but culturally it is just something you don't do. It is hard to retrain oneself to remember this!

This morning we started late. We headed down to the beach and hiked along it a bit. Gorgeous scenery. And nice walking paths. We didn't really have breakfast so it was time to get food. Always a bit of struggle. We just start to wander and hope we find a posted menu with some English on it. And we did! I got a spicy tofu stew...with mussels. But I could just pick around them since they were still in the shell and it was full of tofu, not the biggest fail. It was really good. So glad I got a seafood allergy test before I left!

Then we caught a taxi to visit Haedong Yonggungsa Temple (picture below). A buddhist temple right on the beach. It was really beautiful. Some people were there to worship, some just to tour. We got some grape ice cream and sat on the beach rocks and just enjoyed the sun.

Dinner time came soon enough and we were craving pasta. It is nice that there are so many food choices. Love Korean food, but I couldn't eat any food every day of the week. So we googled a nearby Italian restaurant and headed out only to discover it was closed (explanation in Korean) so then we returned to our main strip where there 2 other pasta places. We picked the one with people in it, always a good sign! I gotta say, some of the best pasta I have had!

Lots of people were on the beach enjoying the pleasant evening weather and listening to the guitarists play on the boardwalk,  so we did the same!

Day 6: travel back to Seoul
Time to repack! I was ok saying good-bye to our Busan hotel. While it was nice to have a large bathroom, the decor was really outdated and wifi didn't work in the room (which is disappointing cuz everywhere you can get free wifi, even in the beach). Although it was a great location, a block from the beach. We needed lunch before we left so we started walking! After a few failed attempts at finding a readable menu we came across a Chinese restaurant. I ordered the noodles in black bean sauce with green peppers. Turns out the green pepper was jalapeno and it was crammed full of seafood (again, glad I got that seafood test!). Plus the noodles were just not that good, way too chewy (and Rachel said the squid was chewy too). Not the best lunch, but I have failed lunches at home too!!

We cabbed it to Busan station where you catch the express train to Seoul. It was really busy for a mid-Saturday afternoon! After taking time to get a donut for the trip, we only had to wait 1 minute til we could board. Oh and donuts here...not as sweet. The honey dripped on my donut was the sweet part. The train ride is a pleasant one, nice to stretch out just sit back and relax.

Arrived in Seoul and checked into our final hotel of the lag. After a minute or two pause to freshen up it was time to go on the hunt for food. We ended up making a big circle and eating right across from the hotel! I got a tofu dish (no seafood! ) and loved it. We spent hours after dinner walking and shopping. It was 11 at night when we returned to the room and no shops were even closing, crazy!

Korea 2013: day 3-4

Day 3: explore Seoul
Had breakfast on the rooftop garden of our hostel today. Beautiful sunny morning! Then we started out early to visit gyeongbokgung palace (picture below). The palace grounds are huge with beautiful mountain scenery behind them. We had a group of 13 year old boys very excited for us to take a picture with them. Um, sure! We spent the rest of the morning wandering the grounds til lunch called. 

We traveled to a small neighborhood, close to the palace and found another restaurant with pictures and some English descriptions. Very helpful! Plus, it looked busy. So we walked in and realized it was maybe more traditional? We had to take our shoes off and sit on the ground. My body is not use to sitting cross legged for that long! But it was real good! I ordered a red bean gruel with dumplings. Yum! The server wanted me to add sugar to it, but I liked it better salted, so I tried to slyly swap it our when they weren't looking.

We returned to the room for a break and to figure out evening plans. We were meeting a friend of a friend for dinner. She had us meet her a Hanjeongsik restaurant, it serves a full-course korean traditional meal with an array of savory side dishes. It was amazing! But I really can't understand these portion sizes over here (picture below). We sat down at the table and they rolled over a table top that slipped over the table top in front of us. The entire table was FILLED with food. I ate and ate til I could eat no more and there was so much left, I felt bad! We also ordered an earthen jar of rice wine that you scoop with a big wooden spoon into a smaller cup. Super good! Our new friend, Annie, then brought us to Gangnum where we ordered another jar of rice wine. Most bars require you order food with drinks so we had to order more food! We got an egg dish that we could share, it was really good too but I didn't need more food! Gangnum was amazing to see at night, vibrant neon lights, similar to New York's times square, but still different.

Day 4: travel to Busan
This morning started rainy in Seoul. We took our time having breakfast and repacking the suitcases, it was time to check out of studio 41st. This hotel was wonderful and served us well, the staff was super friendly/helpful and amazing accommodations (kitchen, laundry and a computer in the room), but we were off to Busan! For lunch we just picked up a sandwich at Paris baguette (pastry shops found all over the place) and made our way to Seoul station, a main hub. We were taking the express train. If you ever find yourself doing the same, get the first class seat for sure. It isn't that much more and is so worth it, you are on the train for 2.5 hours. But the free wifi helps the time past!

We headed to the taxi stand after exciting the train and even though we had the hotel address in Korean we did not end up at our hotel. The cab driver got us to the general area but dumped us at a really posh hotel. I figured that would be ok cuz they'd have a concierge that could help and they did! The guy got us a new cab and told the driver exactly where to go and we made it!

There seems to be a lot less English signage here and just from being tired and needing a break from Koran food we ended up at the most American place they probably have here, a tapas bar. I gotta say, the food was tasty! Afterwards we walked around a bit and then stopped for some Turkish ice cream. Tomorrow we really check Busan out!