Tag Archive | travel

the palmetto state, 2

Nov24

I thought I’d show a few more photos from our trip to Charleston.

Mr. strivingcynic and I wanted to go to a plantation. As I was looking over possibilities, there was one that not only had a lot to offer (house, grounds, tours, programs), it was close by, and we had coupons to knock the price off the admission. And we liked the “tree lined road” into the plantation.

how’s that for tree lined?

The trees were described as oak trees, but mr. sc and I had to say, they didn’t look like oak trees as we knew them (what’s all that hanging stuff?)!

The house tour was brief (it’s still owned privately, so only 5 rooms on the bottom floor are open).

porch of the house on Boone Plantation

There were also slave cabins close to the house and the history of slavery at the plantation was discussed in the programming and exhibit narrative.

One of the facts that came up as we toured? Weeks before, the open air “barn” area of Boone Plantation was where the wedding of Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively took place! I was walking in celebrity wedding footsteps!

We also decided to take the ferry to Fort Sumter, where the Civil War began. It’s an island, and I couldn’t get over how small it is. It’s basically just the fort and a museum.

Fort Sumter from the water

One fun thing I couldn’t get a good picture of were the dolphins swimming around the boat. They were fun to watch! Although, I would have a mild moment of panic when just a fin would appear somewhere…

Once we got to the fort, the ranger there gave an interesting lecture about the history of the war at Fort Sumter and the differences between different types of cannons.

cannon (unloaded, of course)

There really was a lot to do and see in Charleston. I would definitely be happy to go back.

Have you had any “brushes” with celebrity? Where have you visited that you’d like to go see again?

some new sights

Aug18

I always love it when I can add another “pin” to my map. Mr. strivingcynic and his sister have a competition of sorts on to see who will visit all fifty states first (she’s totally going to win). He definitely has me beat…I tallied it up a few weeks ago and have been to 22 states (we’re a little fuzzy on what constitutes a visit…it does have to be more than being at an airport [the number of times people have told me they've been in NJ because they had a layover at Newark.....rolling eyes now].

But, even if it’s not a new state, I’m excited to go somewhere different. Last week, I went to San Diego for a few days. I’ve been to California before, but mostly the San Francisco area. I was there for work, so I didn’t get to tour around too much…but here are a few things I saw.

land meets water

Petco park (I love that this is named for a pet care company…)

palm trees….so very southern california

cool building (no idea what it is beyond looking like a house)

heh. a bar, naturally

I love being by water

my “arty” shot of rocks in the water

an (old) synagogue in Old Town

not a bad sunset to sail into, don’t you think?

Have a great weekend!

the lake district

Jun2

As promised, more pictures from my UK trip. We were in the Lake District for a few days, near Lake Coniston. I always love a water view..and there was lots of good hiking.

Some things I saw in my travels.

Have a great weekend!

a small sampling

May26

Now that the UK vacation is over, I’m left with pleasant memories. And lots of photographs. I’ll be going through them more this weekend, but thought a very small sampling of five photos from Yorkshire and the Lake District might be nice for now…and I’ll hope to get more photos up and out in the next week.

Have a great weekend!

in-flight entertainment

May24

As my reappearance on the blog scene in the last few days indicates, I’m back from my vacation “across the pond” (funny, I find this expression obnoxious, but I can’t help using it)! I was visiting my family in England, which meant that I got to take 2 transatlantic flights in a little over a week.

I have no complaints about the flights..they went really smoothly. It’s just amazing to think you can get on a plane, on the ground, in the US…hang out for 7 hours in the air, and then next time you touch ground, be in the UK.

One of the things I’ve grown to love about the US to UK flight is that I can commandeer my own little tv embedded in the back of the seat in front of me and watch movies or tv to pass the time on the flight. Between the two flights, I ended up watching umpteen tv shows and three movies.

The great thing about plane movies is I watch things that I sort of want to see, but probably wouldn’t make the effort to at home. Two out of the three movies I chose fit this category.

Movie number 1. What’s Your Number? Now…I love a good in-flight chick flicks and for some reason, have caught a number of wedding-y chick flicks on flights (27 Dresses, Man of Honor, Bride Wars…I’m also fairly sure I saw He’s Just Not that Into You on a flight). What’s Your Number? does have a wedding in it, but the story is about a woman named Ally (played by Anna Faris) who reads in a magazine that women who sleep with more than 20 men usually don’t end up getting married. Her solution having just hit number 20? Track down all her exes and see if she’s compatible with one of them so that she can avoid being an “over 20″ statistic. It was a fun movie, but nothing special…although Anna Faris was really funny [best moment involves a cartoon dancing, um...male body part...that was the moment mr. strivingcynic looked up from whatever movie he was watching to look over at my screen and shoot me quizzical looks].

Movie number 2. Ugh…this one was the classic “I’ll probably never watch this otherwise.” One for the Money. This was okay…but this was not good. And I guess it depressed me since I really wanted Stephanie Plum’s leap to the big screen to be spectacular. And it just wasn’t. Part of this was just how not right all the New Jersey depictions were (people born and bred in central Jersey don’t sound like they’re from New York; and there wasn’t too much that actually looked like Trenton or Hamilton to me). And I never felt that Katherine Heigl and Jason O’ Mara were Stephanie and Morelli. As I was watching it, I kept thinking this might have turned out better as a Lifetime movie…

Number 3. I totally would have watched this at home…The Muppets. I grew up with The Muppet Show and was excited when the movie came out last year since I have a soft spot for them. I thought the movie was fun and sweet and hit all the right notes for Muppet fans with moments to appeal to the sweet and cynical sides of us all. I actually got a little misty-eyed from nostalgia at one point. 

If you fly, how do you pass the time on flights? And if you’ve seen any of these movies, please share your thoughts!

roam

May10

So, it’s on the road again time! Off for a family visit for the next week and a half.

No worries: I’ve scheduled a few posts to appear while I’m away. But, I won’t have much internet access, so I probably won’t be reading or commenting on other blogs…or even replying to comments on my own!

It’s probably a good thing I’m getting away, as I’ve noticed that I’m getting crabby in the way I get crabby when I need a break! But, I’ll miss my bloggy routine.

And I’ll definitely miss this guy!

What?

 [Couldn't resist using that picture again]!

Don’t worry about him either. He will be looked after…

by the sea

Apr16

I was able to get away for a few days. I went about as far “down the shore” as you can in New Jersey.

a pretty view

I was down in Cape May. Hopefully, beyond the parking lot, you can see the ocean.

If not,

for your beach/ocean viewing pleasure

not bad, right? I was pretty jealous of the year-round residents.

Cape May street

Cape May is also known for its Victorian houses. They’re rather spectacular.

I’ll have more photos to show for my weekend photo post, but I wanted to give a little taste of what I was up to…

Speaking of taste….

gotta get ice cream!

Mr. strivingcynic and I managed to head over to the boardwalk in Wildwood for some Kohr Bros. frozen custard (basically like soft serve ice cream..). I had the chocolate vanilla twist cone, he had the orange vanilla twist cup. The flavors of the Jersey shore!

airport rules

Nov20

As I type this, my brother should be waiting at a gate at Newark airport for a flight to the UK, where he lives (lucky). Rewind a few hours, and you would have witnessed my father (who he was staying with) and I having a little conversational dance about who would take him to the airport. I did offer a number of times, but ultimately, my father said he’d take him.

I always find going-to-the-airport-when-I’m-not-the-one-traveling considerations amusing. I think it’s pretty clear that a lot of people consider dropping off/picking up to be the sort of thing you only ask someone you’re really close with to do. In my case, I’ll admit that I don’t really enjoy airport runs, (major highways with traffic, loading/unloading, parking, paying for parking, and a lack of atmosphere or even places to sit at the airport play into this) but I will go to Newark or Philly for any close friend or family member; flying out of /into JFK is a test of love in my family (and most people “fail” with a “I believe there’s a train you can get.” [Newark is about 40 minutes from me, Philly an hour...JFK more like 2+ hours. It's not close]).

I’ve had my own varied experiences as a traveler (and note, I have on occasion parked at the airport when I’m the traveler, but that can also be a hassle). Back in August when I was stuck in Chicago thanks to Hurricane Irene, I ended up in a situation where I would have had to wait extra days to fly into Newark or Philly. When discussing alternatives with mr. strivingcynic, he offered to drive to airports 2-3 hours away so that I could come home earlier. And that’s what he ended up doing, which ranks up there as one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for anyone!

Getting back to my brother, most of the times I’ve gone to visit him, I’ve gotten the “there’s the train” option. I don’t blame him; the airport is an hour and a half away from his home and my flight always gets me in around morning rush hour, not a convenient time. Of course, after flying overnight, trailing disobedient luggage (even though it has wheels, it manages to tip) through an airport to a train station and then getting on one train, staying awake, and changing trains before getting to my destination tests a number of my abilities. Every so often, he does come to pick me up, which again, goes to show some brotherly devotion!

It really does feel good to know that someone wants to see me off or is waiting for me at the end of a flight, particularly a long one. And knowing that feeling is what compels me to do the pick up/drop off for loved ones. If it isn’t a time conflict, it just feels wrong to make someone find another way, (even though, yup, there is a train; Newark in particular has a train line that runs relatively close to where I live). So, if it had come down to it, I would have taken my brother to the airport, and I would have enjoyed the extra time with him in the car.

That being said, I was also happy to let Dad do it.

What are your “airport rules” for pick up/drop off? How do you handle your airport arrivals and departures (and what have been the easiest/most complicated)?

recent activities

Oct23

All right folks, the day came last week. I am now 40! I was planning to do a longer post, but apparently, I’ve reached the end of my storage space for new photos on my computer (nothing like a 40th birthday reminder of my technological unsavvyness)!

I’m having a great birthday (I like to take the whole week)! I had some shopping excursions with my mother, an aquarium visit with mr. strivingcynic, a lovely tour of pretty north Jersey towns (we went to look at the leaves yesterday, they were mostly past peak, but still very pretty in some areas).

I’ll write more about all these things in the coming days, but for now here are some of the photos I managed to retrieve!

opal (birthstone) necklace from mr. sc...

I love opals, so I’m lucky they’re my birthstone. They say it’s bad luck to buy your own, so the ones I have are presents. I love the opal and silver combination!

present for sc kitty

Strivingcynic cat loves playing with a gift bag (I’ll show that present another post)!

some Camden aquarium penguins

The iPhone definitely took better fish pictures, so those will have to wait until there’s enough room on my computer. In the meantime, the penguins made for good subjects!

Lake Mohawk, New Jersey

Mr. sc and I went to Sparta which sits on Lake Mohawk.

another road shot, northern nj this time

Yellow isn’t my favorite color, but I do love yellow leaves.

pretty trees (and poles) Stokes State Forest

We also went to Stokes State Forest and wandered around a bit. It was a little cold (although there were people wearing shorts). We went to Stony Lake.

Stony Lake at Stokes State Forest

So very pretty!

fallen leaves on the trail

I guess I like my “path shots” too.

Anyway, a little description of my activities the last few days as a new 40 year old!

What are your birthday traditions? Do you have a birthday day, week, month? What is the autumn leaves situation where you live?