New York City

For a flight that is just over an hour long, I am actually surprised that I have never been to NYC before. I guess it just never came up or worked out. But, this past weekend I actually did make it for a short trip there with my friend K! I am very thankful that the weather was great the entire time because we did a lot of walking. The first thing we did was visit the 9/11 Memorial preview and then went to SoHo to explore and eat dinner. The main priority on my list of things to do was to rent bikes to ride through and around Central Park! I could’ve spent most of the day there exploring, but there was so much else to see. On the way to and from different places we saw even more. Some of my favorite parts in any city I visit is to see new, modern buildings right next to huge, older buildings and there were several instances of this I noticed. We saw 30 Rock, St. Patrick’s Cathedral (we arrived during mass so we didn’t see everything or stay long), Grand Central Station, the New York Public Library (we got kicked out before exploring entirely because of a private wedding). We also ventured to the top of the Empire State Building and saw Times Square, both at night. The city was definitely different at night, a little more majestic even. The crowds were a little uncomfortable in Times Square, but quite a cool experience. The last morning we took a ferry to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. I even got to drive a little through the city on the way to the airport; the traffic there is definitely something I could never get used to, so I am thankful for a great public transportation system there. I know I am probably forgetting to mention something and while walking around I even started a list of things to do on my next trip! -A

Happy 2nd Birthday Blog

It is hard to believe it has been 2 years since we started this blog.  It has been a lot of fun to post about random subjects.  I feel it gives us more freedom to post about anything that may inspire us.  I like not being limited in what I write about.  In the past two years I noticed we post a lot about travel, food, running, biking, nature, and art.  Thanks for following and I hope we continue to be inspired by the big and little things in life.  - P

Oregon

I just took a trip to Portland, Oregon with my sister to visit a friend that had just moved out there.  It was my first time out to the Pacific Northwest, and I was not disappointed!  The city and its surroundings are beautiful.  We explored town and also went on several road trips.  We visited the coast, the high plains, and the mountains.  I can't really pick a favorite thing we did or saw, since it was all so breathtaking, but I really enjoyed the coast, the waterfalls, and Mt. Hood. I think in the four and a half days we were there, we experienced every season.  The views were definitely more spectacular than my camera could capture, you have to go there to appreciate the scale of everything.  -A

I Heart New York

Since it has been a very long time since I've been to NYC, my husband decided it was a good idea to spend Memorial Day weekend in New York City.  Although we only stayed 4 nights we managed to fit quite a lot in.  I made a list ranging from shopping to restaurants to sightseeing, which I suppose are the usual tourist type things to do .  We also met up with some good friends and spent a couple of days seeing the sights with them.

One of my favorite things was renting bikes in Central Park, what a treat.  I also was pleasantly surprised that the Stein Family Collection was at the Metropolitan Museum of Art while we were there.  The variety of art they have in the collection is amazing.  I thought a sampling of some of the weekend photos would give you a good idea on how much we managed to do in a few short days.  Enjoy!  - P