girlz reunion in estes park, co.

What a glorious weekend!

Last Thursday morning, I headed to La Guardia Airport to meet my friend Arden, where we hopped on a plane to Denver in anticipation of meeting eight more of our best girlfriends from college. It was, in a word, magical.

Colorado has always held a special place in my heart. My first few trips happened via my uncle's RV in which we spent two summers camping, hiking, and visiting Breckenridge, Vail, Aspen, and Durango. Then, in 2009, I did two cross-country road trips in which I got to visit college friends who were now residents in Boulder and Denver. For one of those trips, my travel partner Emily and I also stayed at her parents' property in Estes Park which is where I got to return this past weekend for our joyous reunion.

Reuniting in the main baggage claim lobby of the Denver airport was silly and heart-lifting. We hadn't all been together since graduation, when 8 of the 10 of us lived in a run-down, disgusting, estrogen-overloaded mansion. We've had several reunions since May of 2008 but there has always been one or two of us missing from the original Buell Street lineup. Finally, we were all together.

We spent the rest of Thursday getting the rental car and driving through the mountains from Denver to Estes Park. Along the way we stopped for lunch.

Upon arrival at the house, we immediately went into the hot tub and settled into the mood for the weekend - happy, giggly, and totally free to discuss and do what we wanted without any boys around! That night, we all threw down a big chunk of money and bought food, booze, and toiletries for the whole weekend. We are all about the family meals.

On Friday, we woke up early and went on a wonderful 6-mile hike that involved a summit point with a spectacular view.

smelling the butterscotch sap

we're off!

view from the top

After the hike, we visited the main street downtown for some exploring and shopping, then went home for more hot tub, family dinner, cocktails, and girly talk. The next morning, we got up to do another hike, but were a bit slower to get out the door. Our drive to the trailhead looked like this:

Sure enough, we were literally just a few steps into the hike when thunder and lightning hit and we knew we should go wait in the car. We had lunch in the cars and tried to wait out the storm but it became evident that we needed a new plan. Just down the road from the house is The Stanley Hotel, famous for ghost stories, strange happenings, and also the inspiration for Stephen King's The Shining. Stephen King stayed in one of their most haunted rooms while the hotel was closed down for the winter and had strange experiences that led to the premise of his story. So cool. Anyway, our friend Kelly went and bought the DVD at the hotel's gift shop, brought it home so we could all watch it and have it fresh in our minds, and then we went on a late afternoon tour of the hotel. And it was awesome.

blurry picture but this staircase in the hotel is also in the movie Dumb and Dumber! "I'll race you to the top!"

That night, before the boys arrived, was the best night yet. We all dressed up, played drinking games, and had quite a few epic dance parties. It was so clear to me that night, more than any other night, how important it is to get away with your girlfriends. We were in our element as we were in college, but it was better. Being 25 is so much superior to being 21. We've gained more experiences, knowledge, and responsibility, but we're still ourselves, we still love each other, and still just have so much friggin' fun together.

Also, we listened to this song on repeat (no, seriously, like 38,293 times) and determined it is still the best song in the world.

Anyway. The next morning, we opened up the house to our guy friends who live in Colorado and who wanted to hang out for the day. They showed up early the next morning to join for the hike. I gotta say - the second there was testosterone in the house, the house felt different. Not in a bad way, but the significance of the girls-only weekend was suddenly apparent - like having to close the door while peeing. Am I right, ladies?

I actually had to skip the hike and stay at the house so I could see my friend Gil who generously drove all the way from Denver just to hang out with me for less than three hours. Gil and I went on a trip to Tibet together in the summer of 2007 and hit it off almost immediately. It is always refreshing to catch up with her and I am grateful that she made the trek! Love you, Gil!

Sunday night, we ate tacos for dinner, played scrabble and ladder golf and Celebrity, and soaked up our last night in heaven.

I wish I had more photos and better photos of the weekend but alas, I am on the cellphone camera these days. Luckily, others on the trip took some phenomenal photos from the weekend which I can't wait to view and covet. It was truly a magical weekend and I hope we can somehow pull off making this an annual tradition. Love you ladies. Miss you already.

 

travel itch: domestic edition.

Recently, I talked about some of the places in the world that I'm itching to visit but lately, I've been thinking about what places I want to visit right here in the U.S. I've done a lot on this land - family RV trips from Texas to Colorado, home visits for college friends all over the Northeast, spring break road trips from Vermont to Florida, and the list goes on. Despite how blessed I am for all that I've already been able to do in my life, there are still some special places I've yet to see.

Places I'm dying to get to:

Austin, Texas

My dad's side of the family has a long history in the great state of Texas  - I'm distantly related to Sam Houston, there is a wing at Southern Methodist University named after an ancestor of mine, my grandmother's house (and my favorite place in the world) was an hour outside of San Antonio, and to this day I still have various family members spread all over the state. While I've been to Austin before, it was more of a passing-through situation and I didn't get to see the heart of it. I want to see everything that I've heard rumors about and seen pictures of - an amazing live music scene, a young and liberal population, unique watering holes, extremely warm weather, and duh, really good food. 

Traverse City, Michigan

This travel wish also has to do with my Dad's family - my dad and his four siblings all grew up in Lansing, Michigan and all hold a special place in their heart for this state. My parents took me to Traverse City when I was one-years-old and clearly I can't remember it but have seen in pictures how picturesque it can look. What I love about the idea of Michigan is that it's not cliché - many people try to vacation in Hawaii or Florida or Los Angeles, but who tries to go to a gorgeous little lake town in Michigan? A child of a Michigan State Spartan alum, that's who.  

New Orleans, Louisiana

This is where I want to go the most. And this one should be pretty self-explanatory. Take everything there is to love about a place - culture, art, music, food, history, and landscape - and multiply it by ten. That's how I imagine NOLA to be. As a teacher, I'm not quite sure what trips I'll be taking during the school year (ok, none, really) but I would love to get my butt out to New Orleans for the Jazz Fest at some point in my life. If not though, I'd be happy to go any other time as long as I can revel in the quirky, unique, and beautiful scenery there that I've heard so much about. 

What places in America are YOU dying to visit?

Burly Burly.

Burlington was, as always, a delight.

As lovely and nostalgic as it felt, Nick and I couldn't help but feel the stark differences between Burlington and New York City. To our surprise and satisfaction, we realized that while Burlington has changed in small ways, we have changed in big ways, and this last little trip made those changes truly palpable. There were things we missed about Burlington - knowing where everything is, an abundance of recycling bins on outdoor sidewalks, friendly people chatting you up in the cozy coffee shop, actual feelings of winter, and of course, lots of memories. And then there were some things we realized were too New York about us - we felt like everyone walked too slow, we hated having to call a cab instead of hail one, and we realized the town felt dead when we went down to Church St. at 9 a.m. in the morning. The differences and conflicts we felt and realized were neither good nor bad though, and when we arrived home last night, we both took a second to appreciate the variation of all the homes we have had and loved, from Burlington to New York City to Albany and the Bay Area too. We may change and things in our life may change, but the love we feel for the little city on Lake Champlain will never.

Some phone photos:

J and N checking out some metal art in Battery Park

glorious day in the park post-parade

pretending to be college kids for the weekend

blissful in Burlington

reunions at the Zach Deputy show on Church St.

Zach Deputy outdoor show

twinkly lights and dusk on Church St.

Risa's and my friend from high school (Taylor Shell, middle guy in the top hat) and his band , who are based in New York City, coincidentally were in town to play at our music venue on Saturday night

feeling cozy in Penny Cluse as snow falls outside

Green Mountains looking glorious out in the distance (at the airport)

plane shots

sun and snow

adios Burlington. <3

travel itch.

A friend of mine just went to Bali, Indonesia for a week with his father. When I found out he was going, my jaw dropped. Bali has been my #1 travel destination wish for as long as I can remember. I dream about travel anyway and would love to see so many parts of the world, but if I had to pick only one, it would definitely be Bali.

My maternal grandfather was born on the Indonesian island of Java and my mother has always strongly identified with being half-Indonesian. She is also half-Dutch and while I visited Holland during the summer after high school graduation (and loved it, and want to go back again), something in me aches to see Bali on a much stronger level. I'm drawn to the pictures and stories of Balinese Hinduism, the temples and architecture, the rich jungles and the vast presence of the water, the friendly locals, the beautiful arts and culture, the transportation (bikes! boats!), the markets, the plants and animals, the food....I could go on. The icing on the cake? I have a family friend who lives there and could show me the secret, non-touristy parts of Bali.

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I just need to keep telling myself, I will make it there someday.

I'm curious though - what are other people's #1 travel destination wishes? And why? Others places on my list: Greece, Scotland, and Morocco.

three-day-weekend.

On Friday night, Nick and I hopped on the Fung-Wah bus to Boston. The plan was to visit his cousins who live in Marshfield but because we were getting in so late (and Marshfield is in the 'burbs), we planned on spending Friday night with college friends who live right in the city. We didn't get in until 11 p.m. so it was a brief visit with the friends, but still so much fun. We also missed a lot of people so we're going to have to schedule another trip in the future.

The next morning, we woke up in our friend Adam's apartment, got an amazing but ridiculous brunch at The Friendly Toast, then hopped the train to head south to Marshfield. The rest of the weekend was lovely and quaint, filled with driving tours of oceanside towns, lots of football watching, lots of giggling at their adorable 9-month-old son, and just some all-around quality family time. It's always nice to get out of the city and change up the routine a bit.

Nick, demonstrating how we all felt after an insane brunch

But, you guys! There's more. On Saturday morning, I got a text from one of my best (and pregnant) friends from home who had been in a slow and uneventful labor for over 48 hours. Sure enough, I checked my phone, and there it was, a tiny little picture text of her beautiful baby boy who had finally joined us in this world. Richard Anthony Davis Jr., who we will be calling RJ, was born at 9.49 a.m. at 6 lbs., 10 oz., and was 49 cm long. Notice TWO "49" statistics in there. Megan, loyal San Francisco fan, told us all that the 49ers were absolutely going to win that day thanks to RJ's statistics. And they totally did. All I want to do is meet my precious little godson (!) but I have to patiently adore him through pictures and stories until my next trip home. Ain't he a cutie?

look at that hair!