travel « Mrs. Conception

One Week Later

December 20, 2007 at 5:43 pm | In Experiences, Places | Leave a Comment
Tags: Pets, travel

Wireless Internet has been a thing of the past since we left the Homewood Suites, but I have finally gained access to a computer plugged into the wall. I am still alive, still have the ability to type. I can’t wait until I can get Wi-Fi in my car. Or at least an iPhone.

Over the weekend, we spent some time in Charlotte, NC with the Greens, Mr. Andrews’s grad school roommate (and my former bowling teammate), and his wife.

Mr. and Mrs. Green

Our bowling team, circa 2002

We had originally planned to take the new Charlotte light rail downtown and walk around the city. When we got downtown, it was freezing and raining so we quickly got back on the train, went back to our friends’ house, and watched Scrooged. We also had lots of fun with the dogs, who were a little bit scared of Tyson, the gregarious boxer who belongs to Mr. and Mrs. Green.

Tyson and Mr. Green

In Columbia, the music video shoot went extremely well, and was even done a day early. We spent a few daytime hours walking around our old college campus, eating at some of my favorite local restaurants, and impressing people with our cute Chihuahua. I took many, many dog pictures, which I am sure I will share as soon as I can upload them, which should be by Sunday night. Thank goodness my mom is technologically advanced enough for the Internet.

Since we were done in Columbia early, we drove north to visit friends who live in Greenville, SC. Mr. Zufall and Mr. Muldrow are the college roommates of Mr. Andrews, and are always happy to let us stay with them when we are in town, or passing through town, or as we are now – temporarily homeless.

Mr. Zufall, Me, Mr. Andrews, Mr. Muldrow in August 2003

Mr. Muldrow, the Mac expert, is helping us install all the radical programs we want on our new computer, and Mr. Zufall is providing hours of entertainment with his HDTV, Playstation 3, and DVDs of the British version of The Office (also, I am using his computer right now). It is also a dog-centric universe over here as Mr. Muldrow has a dachshund, Sidney, who is the mother of Mr. Zufall’s dachshund, Mayday. Mr. Muldrow brought Sidney over (as well as some white chocolate key lime cookies his wife made – yum!), and all the dogs got along quite nicely.

Mayday

Sidney

Tomorrow, we are going to Charleston so Mr. Andrews can see his family, then we are going to Massachusetts so we can hang with some people we actually know through me. Mainly, these guys:

Harris/Roberts Christmas 2006

And these guys:

Christmas with Dad 2006

My mom just bought a mattress for the room that used to be my sister’s room, but is now is a guest room since she moved out. Hooray for not having to sleep on our camping air mattress for Christmas!

Us, Christmas 2006

As usual, too, there has been lots of discussion between husband and wife about what we will be doing with our future. We know we want to do something, we just don’t know what. Maybe when I narrow the options down, I will post a poll, and you guys can help us choose. Stay tuned for trip photos and deciding my fate!

A Journey of 20 Days

December 13, 2007 at 10:13 pm | In Experiences, Places | 2 Comments
Tags: roadtrip, travel

From tomorrow at 11AM until the evening of January 2, Mr. Andrews and I are free from the daily grind, weekday monotony, and an official place to live. In the great tradition of us, we are packing our stuff and our dogs and ourselves in the car and cruising a good portion of the Eastern United States. We will be visiting our tails off, and doing lots and lots of the work we actually like to do – the independent media kind.

When we found out we had this much time off for the winter holidays, we had originally planned a trip to the west coast, but since opportunities arose that we couldn’t pass up, we decided to make our rounds around here. On this trip, we are getting to spend some time with other married couples our age, which we never get to do . The Greens live in the Charlotte, NC area and were married in May, and the Barneses live on a farm in Indiana, have been married for a long time, and have a daughter. We are going to North Carolina first and Indiana last. In between we are going to Columbia, SC, our college town, for the previously mentioned video shoot for Closer’s single, The Difference. And rounding it out, we will be pit stopping in Charleston, SC to visit the Andrews side of the family, then heading North (stop snowing up there!) to celebrate Christmas with my family in Massachusetts. Fun times.

I’ll be reporting from the road, hopefully taking lots of pictures and having exciting times that will fill the internet with joy and wonder. At the very least, it will be more interesting than anything that has happened to us while living in a hotel in Maryland. But if you like that kind of thing, don’t worry. We’ll be back here in the new year!

Honeymooning: Day 4

December 4, 2007 at 2:59 pm | In Honeymoon, Places | Leave a Comment
Tags: dolphins, Florida, Honeymoon, Key West, snorkeling, travel, vacation

We were looking for a fun ocean activity during our stay in Key West, and the Nassau House pointed us toward a Wild Dolphin Excursion with Wild About Dolphins. After spending the morning wading at the tiny beach we found, we took a rather crazy cab ride in a Pink Cab (our driver had recently had a head injury, we learned, which had resulted in short term memory loss, plus she picked up a few colorful passengers to join us) and we rode over to Oceanside Marina to meet Captain Sherry and her boat, Amazing Grace.

Mr. Andrews on the boat

We had booked a half day trip from 1-5pm, for $85.00 each. This price included snorkel gear, sandwiches, and soda as well as a trip to the Dolphin Playground and swimming with the sea life at the Living Coral Reef (the only one in North America). We were joined on the boat by a mom and three boys from Northern Florida, so it was a small group.

Wild Dolphins

We sped over to the Dolphin Playground, an area where the wild dolphins like to congregate, and got very lucky to see about fifteen dolphins. We couldn’t swim with them or anything (as far as I can tell, you have to go to Key Largo to do that) but with the boat shut off, we could get really close to them. We hung out there for a while, and it was really neat.

Me, with the Dolphins

After that, we made our way to the coral reef to snorkel. It didn’t even occur to me to bring an underwater camera until Capt. Sherry asked us why we didn’t have one (duh!), but oh well. Believe me, it was full of sea life! There tons of colorful, tropical fish, huge barracuda, giant sting ray, and even a shark! Capt. Sherry assured us we would not meet the same fate as The Crocodile Hunter, since she said he was being reckless when the sting ray killed him, but I think even she was a little uneasy around the shark! It was really pretty and so interesting, but I’ll admit fish creep me out a bit (especially fish two times my size!), so I got out a little early, and took pictures of Mr. Andrews from the boat.

Mr. Andrews snorkeling

It was really an amazing afternoon doing something we could never do at home. I am so glad we did it!

Mr. & Mrs.

That night, we had dinner reservations at Louie’s Backyard, which our guidebook called “the most romantic restaurant on earth.” It was a great setting – we ate outside on the back porch at sunset. It was expensive (our bill was $99.98) but the food was absolutely delicious. I had chicken and Mr. Andrews had salmon, which he said was the best fish he had ever eaten. They also had an extensive wine list. We got a bottle of champagne. Yum!

Me at Louie’s Backyard

Mr. Andrews at Louie’s Backyard

Day 4 of the honeymoon was a very memorable day. We ended it with a walk down Duval Street, wish was nice at night with all the live music and the air that was just a bit cooler. Day 5 includes a few museums and a gourmet dinner cruise. Awesome!

Honeymooning: Day 3

November 26, 2007 at 11:47 pm | In Honeymoon, Places | 2 Comments
Tags: Florida, Hemingway, Honeymoon, Key West, NaBloPoMo, travel, vacation

The third day of our honeymoon was when we finally made it to the highly touted Hemingway House.

It is, of course, famous for being the home of Ernest Hemingway in the 1930’s, but also for the sixty or so cats on the property. All are descendants of Hemingway’s cat, Snowball, and many are polydactyl (six-toed).

You can look around the house on your own for free, but we decided to take the tour because we didn’t really know what we were looking at. I hate to admit it, but I’m not really sure I ever read Hemingway. I think I was supposed to read Farewell to Arms once, in high school or in college, but I really am pretty sure I didn’t read it. I probably read the Cliff Notes. I am a pop-culture reader, a Stephen King kind of gal. I should be better, but I’m not. So we took the tour. It was $11 each and it was a really good tour.

We went through each room of the house, learning about Hemingway’s wives, his history, and his life in Key West. We also learned about the house itself, which had a second floor bathroom with running water (rare on the island at the time), and a very expensive swimming pool.

Mr. Andrews By The Pool

The Bathroom

There was also a drinking fountain for the cats made from a urinal taken from a local bar, as well as a cat cemetery!

It was all surprisingly interesting. After the guided tour, we were allowed to go individually to see Hemingway’s writing studio.

Overall, it was very cool. Highly recommended!

After all that education, we took a walk to find mile marker 0 on U.S. Highway 1. As roadtrippers, we are kind of highway nerds, and were very excited to see this sign. Can’t you tell?

We also got a picture of us both together at a sign at the courthouse across the street.

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That night, we decided to have dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. One of the touristy things we do in different places is to eat at all the Hard Rocks we can find, and Mr. Andrews collects the pins. They actually had a marriage-themed pin there! So that was cool. Food was good, too.

Then, finally, it was onto the first activity we had actually scheduled before hand – a Key West Ghost Tour! I love ghosts and ghost stories (remember how I like Stephen King?) so I was really excited for this. There was a huge tour group, so it seems like a pretty popular event. Our fancy dressed guide was fun, and took us around town hunting for spirits.

Honeymoon etc. 340

We went to a bunch of hotels and buildings rumored to be haunted, and heard stories of everything from a man who married a dead woman to a possessed doll named Robert. We took tons of photos looking for “orbs” but sadly, I didn’t get any. We did get to stand at the door of the building below, haunted by fire victims, and both Mr. Andrews and I felt the door shaking, and I saw a flash of light that may have been a ghost. Cool! I was so intrigued, I made Mr. Andrews go back there after the tour was over. We ate some ice cream on the sidewalk across the street, then stood against the door one more time. It vibrated again. Whoa.

Of course, afterwards I was so freaked out that I was afraid to go to sleep! But I still wanted to go back. I know I can see a ghost if I am persistant! Maybe next time…

We wrapped up the night at Captain Tony’s Saloon. They have yummy frozen rum drinks – mmm, Pirate Punch.

Capt. Tony's Saloon

Day 3 was a huge success! Stay tuned for Day 4, when we take our trip to the Dolphin Playground and snorkel with the sharks!

Honeymooning: Day 2

November 16, 2007 at 5:26 pm | In Honeymoon | Leave a Comment
Tags: Florida, Honeymoon, Key West, marriage, NaBloPoMo, travel, vacation

Our first full day in Key West was lazy, but fun. Our morning objective was to find a beach where we could go swimming. You might think that would be easy on an island, but really there aren’t that many. We did find a small area a few blocks from our hotel, and took a dip in the Gulf of Mexico.

The water was really clear and warm. I realized I hadn’t been swimming in a natural body of water since 2005 – and that was in the Great Salt Lake! This was a bit different. It was wonderful.

After about an hour in the water, we relaxed on the sand for a while.

One of the locals came up to me and warned me (very nicely and very careful not to insult me) that I was pretty pale and the sun down there was pretty strong, so I might be smart to get some strong sun block. I took him seriously, so when we left, we walked down to Duval Street and I bought me some 60 SPF. That stuff is thick and kind of yucky, but I wore it the rest of the trip and came out unburned. Good advice, Key West-er! Thanks!

We didn’t want to totally spend ourselves to death, so we had lunch that day at Wendy’s. But tourist fast food isn’t really that cheap. We decided to go the grocery store near our b&b and get lunch stuff to store in our mini-fridge. Now THAT was cheap. We ate lunch like that for the rest of the week, saving cash and calories.

Up until this point I had been wearing the “I Heart (Mr. Andrews)” t-shirt my sister had given me at the wedding (he got one for me too) and about ten people had passed said “I hope he’s (Mr. Andrews)!” (The opposite thing happened to him when he wore his shirt the next day.) It was funny, but the shirt was salt watery, so we went back to our room to change.

We spent the afternoon strolling around the area. During this stroll we happened upon The Little White House, the vacation home of Harry S. Truman during his presidency. It was in a beautiful neighborhood, with palm trees and flowers everywhere.

On the grounds, we saw our first of about a billion wild chickens scurrying around town.

How cool is that? I’d definitely like to take my presidential retreat here.

We left and went back to our air-conditioned room to just relax, because walking a few miles in 98 degree heat is kind of tiring. We took advantage of the Nassau House happy hour, read books, and dozed until it was time for dinner. Since Mr. Andrews loves Jimmy Buffett, we picked Margaritaville.

It was about 7pm and everyone had already headed down to see the sunset, so the place was pretty empty. The Cajun Hot Dog was really good! And the hurricane ceiling was pretty cool.

After dinner, we raced to Mallory Square for another sunset. This was was even prettier than the night before.

We went right to sleep after that (finally catching up on sleep!) because the next day, our activities were about to kick into high gear.

Honeymooning: Day 1

November 10, 2007 at 11:06 pm | In Honeymoon, Places | Leave a Comment
Tags: Florida, Honeymoon, Key West, marriage, NaBloPoMo, travel, vacation

On our first day as married people, Mr. Andrews and I met some family and friends for breakfast in the hotel restaurant and then headed to the airport to start our honeymoon.

We flew from Boston to Miami, then Miami to Key West on American Airlines. Amazingly, everything was on time and easy. The Key West Airport is tiny, but it was much better to fly there than to try to catch a ferry, or drive. There were plenty of taxis, so we hopped in a Pink Cab and rode to our b&b.

We stayed at Nassau House, a cute and cozy inn on Fleming St. We booked it because it was a good price and it got great reviews on Tripadvisor. They also help guests book activities, which was convenient. It was adorable, with a large front porch and a “lagoon” (or tiny pool with palm trees and bubbles) out back. They had a daily continental breakfast that included Key Lime Pie, and happy hour with wine and soda. There were actually quite a few guests even though it was the height of summer, and the owners were very accomodating. They were eager to give us tips on where to go and offer help whenever we needed it. Nice people, nice place.

We stayed in the Nassau Room, one of their king rooms, which their website describes as “our most romantic and secluded room”. That sounded good enough for us. We could have booked a suite, but I didn’t really want to feel like I had to utilize the kitchen, and we could have booked a honeymoon package but the champagne and roses seemed an unnecessary expense. It was a great room with our own entrance on the side of the house, purple walls decorated with dragonfly paraphenalia (which I took as a good sign because it matched our china), and wicker furniture. And an air conditioner of course! Ignore the blurry man in the picture and check out part of the room:

And here’s blurry me on the blurry bed:

We didn’t plan much for the first few days of the trip because I knew we’d be exhausted (see photo above) but we did want to catch the sunset at Mallory Square, because all of our wedding guests were raving about it. They were right. It was pretty nice.

That first night we were a little late to see the artists and performers that come out to make the event really festive, but it worked out later. We ended up going over there almost every night.

Even though it was only about 9 o’clock when the sun was finally down, we were hot and tired and looking to go back to our room to crash. We took a stroll down Duval Street on the way back, checking out what it had to offer, and looking for some sort of take out for dinner. We spotted the famous Hemingway hangout, Sloppy Joe’s, and found some food at Island Fries. Good lemonade, but a little pricey if I remember correctly. Definitely convenient for eating on the go, though.

Sloppy Joe’s

Island Fries

So, that was about it for day one. Airports, Bed & Breakfast, Sunset, and dinner to go. Much more exciting days to come.

Honeymooning: Part I (Introduction)

November 2, 2007 at 5:33 pm | In Honeymoon, Places | Leave a Comment
Tags: Florida, Honeymoon, Key West, NaBloPoMo, travel, vacation

The honeymoon of Mr. and Mrs. Andrews was utterly delightful. Our week in Key West, Florida was everything we were looking for in a post-wedding vacation: relaxing, entertaining, gorgeous, and hot.

Mr. & Mrs. Andrews at Sunset

We chose Key West for several reasons:

Time – In the summer of 2006, we had driven down through the keys from Miami, and we had only about a half an hour in Key West before we had to turn around and drive back – plus we had Sonny with us, and a dog can sometimes cramp our tourist style. This was a place we really wanted to be able to spend more time – and to be able to go indoors!
Price - Since it’s about 1000 degrees in Key West in July, not too many people want to go there. But we love hot and humid, and the off-season provided a bunch of benefits. We got a good price on our flights and a great deal on a cute bed and breakfast.
Distance – While we were first leaning towards Hawaii, the 13 hour flight from Boston was a downer. It only took about five hours to get to Key West. It’s still tropical, and we didn’t have to be confined to a resort like we would have on some other island nations (and we were able to avoid things like ”sand fleas” which showed up in a lot of reviews for Caribbean places).
Stress – We didn’t want any. Trekking through Europe sounded awesome but between passports, foreign languages, and rushing from landmark to landmark, it was just too much right after all the wedding hoopla. As a change from our usual roadtripping routines, we wanted a place where we could wander at our leisure (we didn’t even rent a car), and this island was just the place.

Tom Blows Conch Shell

We absolutely made the right choice. It surpassed out expectations with everything from delicious fine dining to chickens walking the streets, and we didn’t want to leave! Even though we were completely casual (and kind of lazy), we managed to fit in a lot of activities. Snorkeling and dolphin-gazing, visits to Hemingway’s house and President Truman’s retreat, a gourmet dinner cruise and a frightening ghost tour, and of course watching the legendary sunset – all of it was amazing.

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