November 26, 2011

Zip zip zip

In October, Andrew and I redeemed our Living Social deals to Kersey Valley Zipline in High Point. Ziplining is something I’ve wanted to try for a while, and when the deal popped up we had to get it.

Basically, it was awesome. I was a bit freaked out for the first one, but adrenaline kicked in soon and I got the hang out it. Figuring out how to stop made me the most nervous, but I quickly learned how much pressure to apply to come to a stop. The first time, I put WAY too much pressure on the line which hurt my shoulder a bit, so I quickly learned my lesson.

Our two guides were really funny and entertaining, which made the experience even more fun. One of the women in our group was pretty terrified, so naturally our guide, nicknamed Mouth because he always runs his mouth, decided that she would be a great target for teasing. I was glad that he picked on her instead of me!

While ziplining, if you tuck your knees into a ball, it makes you go faster. I liked getting the extra speed to fly even faster through the woods. At times, the course went over a corn maze and other activity areas in the amusement park, and it was thrilling to fly high over people’s heads.

I’d really like to zipline again, probably in a tropical destination instead of North Carolina woods. Ziplining is a great activity for adventure seekers, and I really enjoyed Kersey Valley Zipline.

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November 23, 2011

Girls Only Wine Trip

In late September, my boyfriend’s mom orchestrated a girl’s-only wine trip in the Yadkin Valley area of North Carolina. A group of 30 women, ranging from early 20s to early 80s, met early in the morning and hopped on a bus, which drove us to three different wineries during the day. I’d met some of the women before but not many, and it was really nice to get to know them.

Our first stop was Raffaldini Vineyards and Winery. We were given a behind-the-scenes tour to see how they actually make the wine, and were able to sample wines at various stages of the wine-making process to see how each step affected the taste, texture, etc.

Check out how cloudy this white wine looked – it wasn’t quite ready for mass consumption.

Our tour of Raffaldini finished with lunch inside the Italian-style villa and a wine tasting. Throughout the day, I stuck mostly to reds because I don’t normally like white wine – it was until I visited The Wine Feed in Raleigh last month that I finally discovered TWO white wines that I liked! The Sangiovese Reserve was the best wine I had at Raffaldini, so a few bottles came home with me.

Next, we made a quick detour to Laurel Gray Vineyards. This winery makes the most amazing chocolate wine sauce, and I think our group bought their entire stock of the chocolate sauce! I snagged a few pictures while everyone was inside making purchases – I thought this was the prettiest place we visited all day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, we stopped at Shadow Springs Vineyard, which recently opened about to the public a few years ago. One of the owners brought us downstairs for the wine tasting, and he was so knowledgeable about wine. An interesting fact I learned was that planting roses at the end of each row helps to show how healthy the grapes are. If the roses look sick, then the grapes are likely sick too. I always thought the roses were just for decoration, but was fascinated to learn that they serve a purpose too.

Here again I tried some delicious reds. The green asterisks denote which wines I tried. I don’t think I bought any here, but definitely enjoyed the ones I sampled.

On the way back to Charlotte, we stopped at the Shiloh General Store to stock up on sweets. It’s an Amish bakery, and just like at Laurel Gray, we cleaned out the bakery of all their huge cinnamon rolls, breads, fried apple pies and cookies.

This trip motivated me to get out and explore other North Carolina vineyards and wineries. While this state is known for sweet Muscadine wines, it produces some really great wines that I must try. I know my girl friends will be up for our own girls wine trip!

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October 4, 2011

Living like a local; NYC edition

Last weekend, I went to visit Pegi, one of my best friends from college who lives in NYC. I had not been to the city since I was nine years old, so the trip was long overdue, especially for an adventurer. Southwest was running a great deal where you could get tickets for $40-$80 each way, so I got a great deal too.

I’m happy to say that we didn’t do anything overtly touristy the whole time I was there. When I travel, I want to experience what it’s like to actually live in that place. Museums, landmarks, monuments etc are great, but I prefer to just walk around and pretend to be a local. Eating and walking made up the majority of the weekend – not complaining there! For some reason, we ended up eating a lot of French food throughout the weekend. I’ve been intrigued by French cuisine lately, I think because I haven’t eaten much of it in my life. We went to French Roast, L’Express and Café Lalo (which was featured in You’ve Got Mail):

Saturday night, I ate the best pizza of my life at Otto Enoteca Pizzeria. We ordered the pane frattau, made with tomato, pecorino and egg. Seriously delicious. We actually ordered so much food that the waiter wouldn’t let us order any more!

Other trip highlights included:

  • A hippie lover’s dream: a smoothie in a bowl from Juice Generation - I think I got the Amazing Green
  • Finding poppy seed sweet bread at Zabar’s. This was one of my favorite treats that I’d enjoy with a cup of coffee at the café around the corner from my housing when I studied abroad in Prague. In Czech they are called kolache – I really want to make them soon.
  • Taking a spinning class called Soul-Cycle, which was a full-body workout set to great music. The instructor was a lot of fun, and encouraged us to chuck our water bottles at her when they were empty. My legs were seriously sore after that class.
  • Vol De Nuit, a Belgian beer lounge.
  • The Strand, a bookstore with 18 miles of new, used, rare and out-of-print books. And they have a photo booth in the basement. If I lived in NYC, I would live in this bookstore; it’s a book nerd’s paradise.
  • Wearing leggings as pants. This is not something I’d feel comfortable doing in Raleigh, but I figured since people wear crazy clothes all the time in New York, surely I can wear leggings as pants.
  • I finally tried Pinkberry! The peanut butter and chocolate was a great combination.
  • Coming across a light saber convention in a random park and witnessing a light saber mosh pit. And then convincing someone to let me borrow their light saber for an epic photo.
Random collage of weekend pics. The goat man in the upper left is from Zabar’s, and I want one for my kitchen!

Overall, my favorite thing about NYC was the freedom I felt from being able to walk everywhere and take public transportation. In Raleigh, people just don’t walk places very often. I drive everywhere, even if my destination is just down the road. I’m going to try to make walking more of a priority, especially now that it’s slowly getting a bit cooler.

I’m already finding things to do on my next trip. Pegi, you’d better start resting up now for my next visit :)

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October 1, 2011

Baa Haa-baa

In August, I flew home to Maine for a mini summer vacation with my parents. Last summer, we went to Boothbay Harbor, and this summer we went to Bar Harbor, or Bah Habah if you’re a true Mainer. Bar Harbor is a popular tourist destination in the summertime; it’s on the east side of Mount Desert Island, the largest island off the coast of Maine, and it’s home to Acadia National Park - the park is 47,000 acres!

One morning, dad and I rented bikes and biked along the carriage roads in Acadia. This was one of the highlights of the trip for me. John D. Rockefeller built the roads in the early 1900s, and they cover about 50 miles throughout the park. Cars are not allowed on the trails – only bikers, runners and pedestrians are – and the absence of cars made the experience very serene. Although as pretty as the scenery was, it didn’t quite distract me from the burning sensations in my legs as we climbed hill after hill (note to self, need to bike/do lunges more). But seriously, how beautiful is this place!?

   

Another day, we hiked Acadia Mountain. The hike was pretty short but the view from the top was beautiful even though it was an overcast day. The summit overlooks Somes Sound, the only fjord on the east coast of the U.S. The photo shows the view of the Sound looking out to sea.

Look: real Maine blueberries!

During the afternoon, we took a cruise on the Margaret Todd schooner around the islands in Frenchman’s Bay. Unfortunately, it started raining – and none of us brought raincoats, naturally – but the scenery was still great. On our way of Bar Harbor the next day, we drove through parts of Acadia to see Thunder Hole (TWSS) and The Jordan Pond House. And most importantly, we stopped and ate lobster rolls for lunch; I have a lobster quota to fill every time I go home.

       

And what post about Maine is complete without cheesy lobster and moose pictures?

      

As soon as we made it home, my best friend Amanda came to visit from New Hampshire. We went out to Novare Res Bier Cafe, which is my favorite place to go out in Portland, and tried lots of beers, including a chipotle beer. In retrospect, we probably shouldn’t have had so many beers that night, because the next morning we were up bright and early for a bikram class! In case you were wondering, beer does not make for an enjoyable bikram class. But we both enjoyed trying a new studio – even if we did have to take a few lying down breaks.

I love going home to Maine. There are so many beautiful places to visit, and it’s a treat every time I go back. I’m heading back for Thanksgiving (and bringing le boyfriend) so I need to plan an extra special adventure – have any great adventure ideas to share?

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July 4, 2011

There’s a bullet in my pocket

Last Saturday, Kelly and I spent the ENTIRE day shootin’ and drinkin’ out in Fuquay Varina, NC thanks to a great LivingSocial Adventures deal. As usual, I hadn’t really read the details of the adventure … we showed up at 2pm thinking it’d be a 2-3 hour event, and were extremely surprised when we were handed a card saying we wouldn’t be done until 8pm! I guess it serves us right for not paying attention.

We met at the Aviator Brewing Company and boarded a bus and were taken to Drake Landing for the shootin’ portion of the event (don’t worry, we didn’t have ANY beer before shootin’). Once there, we were split into groups, shown how to load the gun and sent on our merry way without any more instruction. Prior to this, my shootin’ experience involved two shots with a bb gun and an aluminum can, which I definitely did not hit. So I didn’t have high expectations for being a good skeet shooter.

Continue reading →

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May 31, 2011

Too bougy for blacksmithing?

After day one of the two-day blacksmithing course, Courtney and I feared we were too bougy for blacksmithing. We had both expected to be naturals and for it to be pretty easy – why we thought pounding hot metal to form into objects would be easy, I have no idea – and we quickly learned that it was not. By the end of the day, our hands were blistered, forearms were sore, and we were covered from head to toe in black ash (we’re both sporting some pretty great mustaches in these pictures :) ).

 

To back up a bit, several months ago Courtney found a Groupon for a weekend blacksmithing class in Floyd, VA. A random art activity that involved a road trip had our names ALL over it. Saturday morning, we were up bright and early to drive to Floyd, which turned out to be an adorable small hippie mountain town. After we checked in at the Jacksonville Center for the Arts and were introduced to our fellow blacksmiths (all middle aged men, fyi), we were set loose to make a hook. Way harder than you might think. The instructors quickly became my new best friends because I needed A LOT of guidance slash they fixed everything I messed up and made my projects look nice. Continue reading →

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April 17, 2011

Unexpected

When I woke up yesterday morning, I could never have predicted the crazy tornado-filled adventure that would become my weekend. I’m happy to say that I survived my first tornado warning, but it was a truly terrifying experience.

Yesterday afternoon, I went with friends to see the Carolina Rollergirls play at Dorton Arena. None of us had ever been before, and were excited to see what the rollergirls’ derby was all about. Before the derby began, the announcer talked through an evacuation plan. What?! We knew there was a potential for storms, but didn’t know why an evacuation plan was necessary. Also, the sound system is terrible in the arena, so we couldn’t hear the plan. Off to a great start already. Continue reading →

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