Day 1: Pennsylvania to Jackson Hole

Posted in Trips, Uncategorized by Annie T

On Wednesday, October 9th Matt and I woke up at 4AM and drove to the Philadelphia airport. We parked in long term parking, bypassed the bus stop and power-walked to the terminal (isn’t that how normal people begin their travel days?) before being thoroughly sniffed by an official TSA German Shorthaired Pointer in security. Eight hours later we were greeted by this view as our plane landed in Jackson, Wyoming.

In August I planned a last minute vacation to Yellowstone. Our itinerary would take us from Jackson Hole through Grand Teton National Park, then onto Yellowstone with overnight stays at Old Faithful, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, the North Entrance near Mammoth Hot Springs and a final night in Bozeman, Montana. But my meticulously planned schedule was almost derailed before it began thanks to the weather. During our layover in Denver I received several text message alerts from Yellowstone NP advising that ALL roads in the park were closing due to winter weather conditions.

I had been monitoring the weather and knew that a snow storm and unusually frigid conditions were forecasted to coincide with our arrival on Wednesday. In preparation Matt and I packed all of our winter layers and mentally braced for the cold. Our plane landed just as the cold front was moving in. It was 35 degrees out as we deplaned directly onto the tarmac. That seemed cold at the time compared to the weather we’d just come from, but 35 degrees sure felt nice later in the week after we experienced REAL cold!

The temperature steadily dropped throughout the afternoon as we wandered around Jackson. We checked out the elk antler arches in the town square, stopped at a warm bakery for super rich hot cocoa and braved the blustery wind on a trek to the Visitor Center.

Elk Arch

Jackson Hole

Before dinner we hopped in our rental car and headed north on Route 191. (The same 191 that runs through Moab!) Seeing other cars stopped along the road we pulled over near the Gros Ventre River and snapped a few photos. Apparently we had JUST missed a female moose and calf. Darn!

Gros Ventre River

Elk Refuge

Not a bad view

As we headed back to the car Matt noticed something on the other side of the road… a bull moose!! He was at least 100 yards away and was slowly making his way through the brush towards the river. As we watched, the moose lazily crossed the river before turning away from us to continue on his evening stroll. Cool!! We had been in Wyoming for less than 12 hours and had already crossed a major animal sighting off our list.

During dinner at the Snake River Brewing Company I realized that we had been up since 2AM Jackson time. No wonder I was tired! When we got back to our hotel I checked the Yellowstone road status one more time – roads were still closed – before collapsing into bed.

Stay tuned for day 2… onto Grand Teton and (maybe???) Yellowstone!

31Jan2016

A Weekend in Sedona

Posted in Trips by Annie T

Last weekend the East Coast was pummeled by a massive blizzard that dumped more than 2 feet of snow on our suburban Philadelphia neighborhood. If Matt and I had been home, we would have slow-cooked a stew, played with Piper in the snow, and stayed on top of shoveling our driveway. But we weren’t home… we were 2200 miles west in beautiful Sedona, Arizona!

Map of all trails & points of interest mentioned below.

Matt and I had been in Las Vegas for work during the days leading up the blizzard. Normally we would have flown home on Saturday (aka blizzard day), but, as luck would have it, we had already decided to extend our time out west with a long weekend in Sedona that culminated in a flight home from Phoenix on Tuesday.

Saturday morning we rented a Jeep at the Vegas airport and set out for Arizona. The 4 1/2 hour drive took us past Lake Meade, the Hoover Dam (which we couldn’t even see from the giant new interstate bridge!) and sections of historic Route 66 before twisting south into Oak Creek Canyon, the gateway to red rock country.

Oak Creek Canyon

Driving into the Canyon

First glimpse of red rocks!

If you approach Sedona from the north like we did, your first glimpse of red rocks will occur in this dramatic canyon. The road switchbacked constantly as we followed Oak Creek and descended a few thousand feet through snow-covered forest. We initially thought about returning to the canyon for a hike later in the weekend, but realized after our climb up Devil’s Bridge that red rocks + snow and ice can be a little treacherous. Someday when we return to Sedona in less snowy conditions we’ll definitely spend more time in Oak Creek Canyon.

Little Horse Trail to Chicken Point (4.2 miles)

Little Horse Trail

Sedona Rocks

We pulled into Sedona at 3PM on Saturday and wasted no time getting our first hike underway. We followed the Little Horse Trail up to Chicken Point and were rewarded with beautiful views of the Chapel of the Holy Cross and Cathedral Rock. After hiking 2 miles into the wilderness I was surprised when a pink jeep rolled up the rock from the opposite direction… apparently this lookout point is also a stop on the famous Pink Jeep Broken Arrow tour that leaves from Uptown Sedona. Matt and I really enjoyed this relatively easy hike, but if you’re not in the mood for a hike I hear that the jeep tours are very popular!

Chapel of the Holy Cross

Look, a GoPro selfie!

Orchards Inn and Elote Cafe

We drove back into uptown Sedona just as the sun was setting and checked into our hotel, Orchards Inn. Although the entrance to the hotel is smack in the middle of a very touristy section of route 89A, all of the rooms face east towards a serene wall of beautiful red rocks. It was easy to forget about the commercial strip out front when gazing out at the view from our private balcony!

Saturday night we had dinner at Elote Cafe, a Mexican restaurant that was highly recommended by a friend. Elote doesn’t take reservations so we waited 45 minutes for a table while sipping margaritas and munching on free spiced popcorn on Elote’s back patio. (As you can imagine, the wait went by in no time!) Dinner at Elote was all we hoped it would be and well worth the wait. Everything we had was delicious… elote (a fragrant corn dip), tomato salad, smoked pork cheeks, and buffalo mole poblano short ribs. Yum! The meal was so good we bought Elote’s cookbook, so be ready for some Elote-inspired recipes on my blog later this year!

Mescal Mountain – Devil’s Bridge Hike (10 miles)

I woke up before sunrise on Sunday, thinking I might be able to snap a few photos of the sun coming up from our balcony. Since we faced east my photos didn’t turn out (the more dramatic views were looking west, where the morning sun was turning the rocks a fiery red-orange), but this got us up and out of bed and ready to start our day. We had a hearty breakfast of french toast and pancakes at Wildflower Bread Company (which I didn’t realize was a chain until we saw another one in the Phoenix airport) and then set out on our first hike of the day: Devil’s Bridge.

Devil’s Bridge is a natural sandstone arch located 400+ feet up the side of a mountain. Brave visitors can walk out onto the bridge, making this a popular destination for hikers and Pink Jeep tours. I was thrilled to see that we were the very first car to arrive at the Dry Creek Road trailhead (no crowded views for us!!) but my excitement was immediately crushed when I saw a little U.S. Forest Service sign at the start of the trail… CLOSED due to dangerous icy slippery conditions. NO!!

A map of nearby hikes was posted in the parking lot and we realized we could salvage the morning by taking the Mescal Trail north, away from Devil’s Bridge, and looping around Mescal Mountain. This 5 mile hike ended up being our favorite of the trip. We had the well-marked path almost exclusively to ourselves and Mescal Mountain loomed over us in the morning sun as we circled it clockwise. The best part of this hike was when we entered a horseshoe-shaped curve along the side of the mountain – it felt like we were walking in a natural amphitheater that had been carved out of the rock. Very memorable!

Mescal Mountain Views

The Mescal “amphitheatre”

That’s me!

The parking lot was packed when we returned to our jeep. Lo and behold, the danger sign had been moved aside! We stopped at the car for a quick water break then set out south on the Chuck Wagon trail to access Devil’s Bridge trail. The trail was easy at first with no sign of snow, but then we began to climb up the north side of the mountain. The higher we went the more snow and ice there was… at first it was just on the sides of the trail but eventually the ice stretched straight across the natural rock stairs and narrow single-track trail that skirted the edge of the mountain. Eek! I don’t usually have any issue with heights but the combination of being on a cliff AND being on unsure footing was very unsettling.

Icy Devil’s Bridge

Shade vs. Sun makes a big difference here

Finally Devil’s Bridge came into view. A few insane people (with their kids!!) were actually sliding across the ice to walk out on the arch but Matt and I were satisfied with taking photos from the relative safety of our icy, sloping trail. We headed back down the mountain and made it back to our car in just under 5 hours. Not bad for a 10 mile round trip with lots of photo stops!

Cathedral Rock from Crescent Moon Ranch / Red Rock Loop Road

By the time we made it back to town it was after 2PM and we were HUNGRY! We recharged with a satisfying lunch of beer, soft pretzels and pizza at the Oak Creek Brewery in Tlaquepaque Village (an artsy, walkable shopping area) and planned our next move for the day.

After a quick stroll around Tlaquepaque we headed west down Red Rock Loop Road to Crescent Moon Ranch. This park offers fantastic views of Cathedral Rock across Oak Creek. We wandered around the trails along the creek snapping photos and taking selfies with my new GoPro Hero. This was the first trip that we’ve had the GoPro and we loved using it to get a different, wider-angle view of the beautiful landscapes around us. (And also for selfies… I realized that I have hundreds of photos of Piper but hardly any of Matt and I; hopefully now we’ll have more than three “us” photos to choose from for next year’s Christmas card!)

Cathedral Rock

Buddha Beach

Cathedral Rock and Oak Creek

From Crescent Moon we drove clockwise around Red Rock Loop Road back to 89A. Most of the best views seemed to be in the eastern section between 89A and Crescent Moon, so we circled back down the loop road again, this time stopping at numerous pull offs and overlooks to see Sedona’s gorgeous red rocks in the setting sun. (Note: this was the only time we needed an SUV as some of the pull offs were a little rough; a sedan would have easily gotten us everywhere else we went on this trip.)

Courthouse Butte and Bell Rock Hike (5 miles)

Monday morning we woke up early once more, this time to fit in one last Sedona hike before driving south to Scottsdale and the airport. After another breakfast at Wildflower we headed to Bell Rock, one of the most famous energy vortexes in Sedona. We followed the Bell Rock Pathway to connect to Courthouse Butte Loop, an easy trail that took us clockwise around the butte. The conditions were perfect – mid-50s with an intensely blue sky – and we were glad to take this final hike before leaving red rock country.

Bell Rock

View of Cathedral Rock

Courthouse Butte

After circling Courthouse Butte we had lunch at nearby Red Rock Cafe in Oak Creek Village. Matt had a southwestern chicken fried steak scramble and I enjoyed a grilled roast beef sandwich with green chiles. Yum!

Pinnacle Peak, Scottsdale, AZ

We said goodbye to Sedona and pointed the car south towards I-17 and the Scottsdale/Phoenix area. The drive only took 2 hours so at some point I decided that we should try to squeeze one more hike in. On our way into town we stopped at Pinnacle Peak, a popular hiking/trail running spot that offers great views of northern Scottsdale. We didn’t have a lot of time but made it up to the Grandview overlook before heading back down to our car.

Pinnacle Peak Overlook

Saguaros everywhere!

Before I wrap up this (very long) post I have to mention the amazing dinner we had Monday night. From our hotel in Old Town Scottsdale we walked to Bootleggers, a “modern American smokehouse.” We ate on the back patio, right next to the stacks of wood that fuel the restaurant’s giant smoker. We’ve been paying more attention to smoked food ever since Matt bought a smoker last summer and Bootleggers was easily the best BBQ we’ve had thus far. We started with a tray of nachos heaped with smoked brisket and smothered with a perfect mixture of avocado, lime and cilantro (perhaps the best nachos I’ve ever eaten) and then enjoyed more BBQ brisket and smoked sausage for dinner. Our server brought us Bootleggers’ signature apple pie moonshine as a complementary dessert. Cheers!

The next morning we headed back to Philadelphia on an 8AM flight. Despite the fact that we had hiked 23 miles in 3 days we arrived home feeling refreshed, recharged, and full of energy. (The magic of a mini-vacation!) It was a good thing we felt energetic because we were greeted by 2 feet of snow waiting to be shoveled off the driveway. Welcome home! 🙂

24Aug2015

Weekend Getaway to Skaneateles, NY

Posted in Piper, Trips by Annie T

Matt and I have been having a great summer so far, with lots of long weekend vacations including the Hunting Camp, Bethany Beach, and a 4th of July celebration on the Jersey shore. We still have a few trips ahead of us, including the Poconos and Vermont in September and a combined business/pleasure trip to California in October. (We’ll be driving up the Pacific Coast Highway in a convertible… I’m SO excited!!)

Our most recent weekend getaway took us to the gorgeous Finger Lake region of New York. We stayed with my brother and his fiance’s family at their house on Skaneateles Lake. I hadn’t been to the Finger Lakes before this and wow… I never knew what I was missing!! The views were breathtaking, the water was crystal clear, and the whole area had a relaxing, laid back vibe that was perfect for a mini vacation.

Piper is now a total water-loving fiend, so naturally she came along with us and spent hours in the lake. The water was so clear that I could stand knee-deep and still read the logo on my shoes. Unreal!! In fact, the water was SO clear that I actually went swimming… a rarity for this “dark-water” fearing girl!

So good she retrieves with her eyes closed

Waterdog

The house that we stayed in was built in the 1890s. It was floor-to-ceiling dark, varnished hardwood and featured a wraparound porch, 9+ bedrooms, a huge kitchen, and, of course, amazing lake views out of nearly every window.

Fallbrook Point

Skaneateles Lake

The sides of Skaneateles Lake are very steep so in order to get down to the house and lake front we drove straight down a half-mile long ~~cliff~~ driveway. This made for a fun start to my run on Saturday morning!! A creek bisects the property as it tumbles down from the main road to the lake. My brother, his future father-in-law and I followed the creek’s course up to the road and scaled several waterfalls in the process. The water was perfectly clear and I loved how it slid effortlessly over the shale rock formations on its way down to the lake below.

Waterfall

View of the lake from up on the road

Scaling a waterfall

Fall Brook

There were six dogs at Skaneateles including Piper. We tried to get Piper to follow the yellow Labs as they confidently jumped off the dock but she wasn’t so sure she wanted to take the leap. Instead, Piper entertained herself by retrieving EVERY SINGLE STICK we could find on the edge of the lake. After paddling each stick safely to shore Piper would proceed to chew it up until it was unrecognizable. (Unfortunately she also found the S’mores stick stockpile and chewed those to smithereens… oh well, she was on vacation!!)

To jump or not to jump?

An excellent stick

Maneuvering around Lady the GSD

This stick doesn’t have long to live

In addition to fun at the lake and house, we also visited the local winery two (two!) times and had dinner in the cute little town of Skaneateles, New York. Our hosts recommended that we stop by Doug’s Fish Fry for dinner and they were spot on… best fried fish sandwich I’ve ever had!! I was too busy stuffing my face to take a photo, sorry. 😆

Anyela’s Chardonnay was my favorite

Anyela’s Vineyard

We wrapped up each night with a big bonfire by the lake. The weather was pleasantly cool and breezy and the views of the full “blue” moon were ridiculous. We sat by the fire as this moon rose up over the horizon… I sure was happy that I still happened to have my camera on me!

Blue Moon over Skaneateles Lake

Bonfire Moon

Matt, Piper and I thoroughly enjoyed our weekend at Skaneateles Lake. Thank you to our hosts and hopefully we’ll get to return next summer! I know Piper has certainly spent many happy nights dreaming about sticks and blue water ever since… 😄

19Apr2014

A Weekend in Wine Country

Posted in Trips by Annie T

As promised, here’s a review of the weekend that Matt and I enjoyed in California’s Temecula wine country earlier this month! I’ll pick up where I left off in my last post – Las Vegas, NV.

On Friday afternoon Matt and I finished up our work week at the Sands Convention Center around 5PM. We picked up a rental car at the airport and set out on a 4 hour drive over the mountains and through the Mojave Desert to Temecula, California. The sunset was beautiful!!

Sunset on I-15

We arrived at Ponte Vineyard Inn in what felt like the middle of the night and went to sleep immediately, oblivious to our surroundings. (Between the long week in Vegas and still sort of being on East Coast time, we were exhausted!) It wasn’t until I woke up early the next morning and peeked out the window that I realized we had arrived in a beautiful fantasy land of vineyards, sweeping vistas, and gorgeous weather. I snapped this photo through a crack in the drapes before going back to sleep for an hour to dream about wine and hot air balloons. 🙂

Matt and I officially began our first day in Temecula with a 3 mile run that took us past 4 wineries, orange groves, and a horse farm. Then we set out by car to Mount Palomar Winery where we feasted on an outdoor lunch at Shorty’s Bistro before enjoying a leisurely 6-wine tasting in Mount Palomar’s relaxing, flower-filled courtyard. True to its name, Mount Palomar is situated on a high hill with breathtaking views of wine country. We wandered up to the terraced gardens and took a few photos – the blue California sky with perfect fluffy white clouds was unreal!

Mount Palomar Winery

Annie at Mount Palomar

Mount Palomar’s Event Space

We next visited Wiens Family Cellars, which is conveniently located less than a quarter mile from Ponte Vineyard Inn. (Which should have been an easy walk except I was in heels and it was a deep gravel road… good thing there was wine waiting for us at Wiens!!) We did another 6-wine tasting at Wiens while snacking on cheese and crackers before trekking back to Ponte (where I promptly changed my shoes!). Then it was time for our final tasting of the day at our ‘home’ winery, Ponte Family Estate. We took our time working our way through Ponte’s selections (our favorite was their 2011 Zinfandel Holiday Reserve), then headed back to the room to relax (and blog about the Security 5K) before enjoying a late dinner at The Restaurant at Ponte. All in all a great day!

Ponte Winery

Ponte’s Tasting Barn

Ponte Vineyards

On Sunday we visited Miramonte Winery. Like Mount Palomar, Miramonte is up on a hill overlooking the vineyards and they had a beautiful outdoor space that encouraged relaxed, comfortable wine tasting. The Miramonte bar tender served our Sangria with a little champagne and ice and we liked it so much we bought a bottle to bring back to Ponte with us. Once we returned to Ponte we walked over to the other neighboring winery, South Coast, where we split a few glasses of wine over lunch. Then we took a guided tour of Ponte’s vineyards, tasted some “young” wine straight out of a steel cask, and sampled a port wine that was still in the process of barrel aging.

Ponte Vines

Matt looking at an orange grove

Ponte Vines

Enjoying ourselves in the vineyards!

All of that tasting and touring made us tired, so we settled down with our books (well, Kindle and iPad, to be exact) in Ponte Inn’s courtyard for some reading accompanied by Miramonte’s Sangria. Reading, sunshine, and sangria made for a lovely afternoon but I have to admit that by the time we made it to our 8PM dinner at Ponte’s outdoor restaurant, I was super sleepy and just felt like drinking water!!

Miramonte Sangria

The view from Ponte Courtyard

Ponte Inn Courtyard

On Monday morning we said goodbye to Ponte paradise and headed back to the real world of business meetings. Fortunately we finished up our meetings (and made it thru LA traffic) fairly quickly which gave us time to explore the area around our hotel in Irvine. I did a quick web search and discovered that we were fairly close to Laguna Coast Wilderness Park, so we drove to the access point at Woods End Wilderness Preserve and set out on a hike on the rolling hills above Laguna Woods.

The weather was pleasantly hot (80°?) and we jogged a little before being startled by a loud noise on the side of the trail. We stopped and discovered a huge orange rattlesnake casually sunning himself on the edge of the trail… eek! (I guess he thought 80° was pleasantly hot, too!!) We gave him a wide berth and continued on our hike (keeping away from the trail’s sunny side), but I was a little freaked out so we didn’t make it much further before I voted to turn around and head carefully back to the car.

Woods End Wilderness Preserve View

RATTLESNAKE!!!!

Woods End Wilderness Preserve

Tuesday marked the end of our west coast adventure. After some meetings in the morning we headed to LAX (again, somehow managing to miss all LA traffic, which was awesome!) and returned home. I always like arriving home after a long trip, but I have to say that California was pretty amazing. Our weekend in Temecula wine country was completely relaxing with beautiful weather, good wine, and, of course, good company. 🙂 I thoroughly enjoyed our time there and I would go back in a heartbeat!

26Feb2014

Weekend Getaway to Virginia’s Eastern Shore

Posted in Trips by Annie T

This morning it snowed (AGAIN!!) but as I type this huddled next to our propane stove I am thinking of the warm, sunny, amazing weekend that Matt and I just spent with our friends in the quaint seaside town of Cape Charles on Virginia’s Eastern Shore.

We drove down to Cape Charles on Friday afternoon and checked into Cape Charles Blue, a cool boutique hotel with exposed brick walls and super high ceilings. Then we walked down the little main street to Kelly’s Gingernut Pub, a great restaurant/bar in a converted bank that dates back to 1907. We ate in the old bank vault and the food was delicious… I had bangers and mash (yum!!!) and Matt had a rich shepherd’s pie with lamb and beef. In addition to excellent food Kelly’s also had 10+ beers on tap which made it the perfect place to hang out with our friends the next day.

That’s where Cape Charles is

Cape Charles Blue hotel

Matt is happy after a great dinner

Our room at Cape Charles Blue

Eastern Shore sunset on our drive down

On Saturday we woke up to perfect blue skies and amazing temperatures in the mid-60s. After the insanely cold winter we’ve been having in Pennsylvania it felt like we had traveled to an exotic tropical island! I went for a run that I had intended to be around 4 miles, but I felt invigorated by the great weather (and the total lack of hills) so I kept on running until I hit 6 miles. I paused a few times to take photos of the beach and fishing pier. What a beautiful day!!!

Saturday morning run

Cape Charles Pier

After my run we joined our friends at Kelly’s for drinks before hopping on a chartered minibus and heading up to nearby Machipongo, Virginia for the weekend’s main event – the Barrier Island Center’s Annual Oyster Roast. The Oyster Roast is an all-you-can-eat oyster and clam fest that benefits the Center’s mission of protecting and preserving the history of Virginia’s barrier islands. And when I say all you can eat, I mean it! There were huge metal counter-height tables set up on a grassy lawn and the caterers continuously delivered perfectly roasted, steaming hot oysters and clams to the tables by the bushel-full (or maybe by the half-bushel-full… either way it was a lot of mollusks!) We crowded around the tables with little containers of melted butter and cocktail sauce and ate oysters as fast as we could. They were delicious!

That’s Matt shucking an oyster in the photo above. I was a little hesitant about using the oyster knife so Matt opened my oysters for me. Luckily the clams were already steamed open so I could eat those while I waited. 🙂

After a late post-Oyster-Fest night at Kelly’s we woke up to another unseasonably warm day on Sunday. Matt and I went on an easy 3 mile run around town before joining a few of our friends for breakfast and saying our goodbyes. 5 hours of driving later we returned home to our snow-covered yard and cold temperatures which was a bummer, but at least we got to enjoy two days of spring-like bliss in Virginia!

19Jan2014

Viva Las Vegas!

Posted in Race Recaps, Trips by Annie T

As I mentioned earlier today, Matt and I just returned from a week-long trip to Las Vegas, Nevada. Despite the fact that we were in Vegas for work (we go every January), we still managed to squeeze in lots of good meals and fun. We even went running! Here are some photos from the trip.

It was too sunny for Matt to open his eyes

Excalibur Castle

Me after our 3 mile run on Monday

Luxor Pyramid

Matt after our 3 mile run

Venetian Bell Tower

New York, New York!

Venetian Bell Tower

My brother and I ran nearly 7 miles to get a photo in front of this sign!

The most epic run of the trip (or actually maybe the most epic run of my adult running career?) was on Friday when my brother and I ran nearly 7 miles to see the famous Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign. The length of this run shows you how HUGE the Las Vegas Strip is. We were staying on the Northern end of the strip at the Palazzo and the sign is located at the southern end of the strip near McCarren Airport and Mandalay Bay. So the run to the sign involved us running on the sidewalk past several casinos… easy, right? Nope!! Not only did we run by casinos for 3 1/2 solid miles (that’s a LOT of casinos!), we also crossed 8 or 9 pedestrian bridges (3+ flights of stairs up and down for each) and got waylaid as we wove around construction sites (Vegas is always changing!).

It was totally worth the crazy journey once we got to the sign though. We were the only people there who had made the pilgrimage on foot and a group of friendly tourists took our photo for us in exchange for us taking theirs. We also saw Elvis and a taxicab full of reallllly drunk guys who told us that they had been awake for 48 hours (for the record it was about 8:15am at that point). Fun times!

All in all we had a great time in Vegas. Matt and I will be heading back in April for another work trip and I’m already looking forward to it!

Miles since last post: 75.3
Days since last post: 15
Avg. Daily Miles since July 18th: 4.86
2014 TOTAL MILES: 91.6
_____________________________

Have you ever been to Vegas? What was your favorite attraction or activity?
Any running recommendations for when Matt and I return to Sin City in April?

13Sep2013

Dogs, guns, and hiking… a typical weekend at the Hunting Camp!

Posted in Bailey, Trips by Annie T

Dogs, shotguns and the great outdoors… sounds like a good time, right? Well that’s how we spent our Labor Day Weekend at a “hunting camp” in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania! The “camp” is actually a private fishing and hunting club that my step-father’s grandfather helped to found back in 1913. One hundred years later it is still a rural paradise complete with a large house that sleeps 20+, a beautiful lake and – the best part – hundreds of acres of quiet, uninhabited woods. The camp is surrounded by other similar hunting clubs and a huge state forest, making it one of the only places in the world where we feel comfortable letting Bailey run off leash. Bailey absolutely loves it there, as demonstrated in this photo of her wallowing in a mud puddle after a long run in the woods!

Happy as a pig in mud!

Bailey’s not completely off the grid when she’s at the hunting camp, however. We learned a few years ago that it’s nice to know roughly where in the wilderness she has wandered to, so we now strap a GPS collar around her little neck to keep track of where she is and how many miles she’s gone. On our first day there we arrived at lunchtime and Bailey ran 10 miles before dinner. The second day she covered 17 miles and on day three she was a little tired so she only did 14 miles… She’s nuts!

Bailey shows off her GPS collar and its really long antenna. We tied her up occasionally for mandatory resting time... otherwise she would have never stopped running!

Bailey showing off her GPS collar and its really long antenna. We had to tie her up occasionally for mandatory resting time… otherwise she never would have stopped running!

Bailey had lots of canine friends to play with at the hunting camp this year. My family brought along a whole pack of pooches including Hershey the chocolate lab, Ganon the 9 month old puppy, and Clyde, the adorable newfie-lab mix. All of the dogs had a blast running through the woods, swimming in the lake and cooling off in mud puddles mid-hike.

Mud Puppies

Ganon and Hershey on a hike

Bailey rarely stopped moving

Hi, Ganon!

Happy Hershey in the lake

Ganon cools off in the mud

When we weren’t hiking with the dogs we enjoyed playing in and around the camp’s beautiful lake, riding ATVs through the woods and shooting clay pigeons with shotguns. We also made sure to spend plenty of time relaxing in the rocking chairs on the hunting camp’s big wraparound porch!

Wildflowers at the Hunting Camp

The Hunting Camp

My brother on an ATV

Matt trap shooting (2008 photo)

Hunting Camp Lake

After a fun-filled Labor Day weekend at the hunting camp we headed home with a VERY tired Bailey. I can’t wait to go back next summer!

Bailey catching some Zzzs after a weekend at the hunting camp.

9Jul2013

Our St. Lucia Honeymoon

Posted in Trips by Annie T

Matt and I enjoyed a fantastic 10 days on the beautiful island of St. Lucia for our honeymoon. We spent the first week at Crystals, a boutique bed and breakfast on top of a mountain in the rain forest. Our cottage, “Papaya,” featured a shaded porch, a private pool, a bright red sundeck and oh yeah… drop dead gorgeous views of St. Lucia’s iconic Piton mountains!!

Here’s a shot turned around 180° looking back at the Papaya cottage. Can you see Matt relaxing in the shade?

While were at Crystals we used our 4×4 rental car to brave the windy roads (Lucians drive on the left!) to do some sightseeing in the Soufriere area of the island. We visited the botanical gardens, drove into the drive-in volcano, smelled the sulphur springs, relaxed on sugar beach (Anse des Pitons), hiked the Tet Paul nature trail in a rainstorm, and spent a day on a 42 foot yacht sailing along the coast. Perfect!

Sugar Beach (Anse des Pitons)

Matt snorkling on our day-long yacht trip

A botanical garden gecko!

The town of Soufriere, from the south

Boiling sulphur spring

Petit Piton, as seen from Tet Paul Nature Trail

We passed a scenic overlook every day on our way into Soufriere but it was rainy and/or overcast for most of the first week so we didn’t bother stopping to take photos. Lucky for us, on our last day at Crystals the sky cleared and the sun came out so we finally stopped and got our photo opp. This photo shows Soufriere, nestled in a volcanic valley in the shadow of Gros Piton and Petit Piton. Beautiful, isn’t it?

After our time at Crystals we left Soufriere and drove 40 minutes north to Anse Cochon for our last three days. We stayed at Ti Kaye, a cliffside resort with amazing views of the Caribbean Sea everywhere we looked. Ti Kaye had a restaurant on site so we returned our rental car and settled in for a very relaxing finale to our honeymoon.

We had our own private cottage at Ti Kaye with an outdoor shower and a large sun porch with — you guessed it! — beautiful views. We spent a lot of time lounging at the pool and beach, ate wonderful meals at the Kai Manje restaurant, indulged in a luxurious “honeymooners” couples massage at the Kai Koko spa, and – during what was possibly my favorite 3 1/2 hours of the trip – enjoyed an epic 13-bottle wine tasting session with Cleus the Sommelier in the Ti Kave wine cellar.

The view from our bedroom at Ti Kaye

Kai Koko Spa entrance

Spa Jacuzzi overlooking the Caribbean

Ti Kaye’s picture-perfect pool

Enjoying lunch at Kai Manje restaurant

Photos from our 3 1/2 hour wine tasting

After our 10 days were over we headed back to reality. It was sad to leave St. Lucia but also nice to come home to Bailey and officially start our married lives together! 🙂

If you’re interested, you can view a Flickr album of my favorite photos from St. Lucia here: Annie’s Honeymoon Picks. If you’re really interested in seeing lots and lots of photos, you can view our complete honeymoon photo album here: The Entire Honeymoon Album. Thanks for stopping by!

20Nov2012

DockDogs Worlds Recap!

Posted in Bailey, Trips by Annie T

We had a BLAST at DockDogs World Championships!! This invite-only event was basically an awesome dog convention because throughout the weekend we found ourselves continuously bumping into old friends, catching glimpses (or elevator rides!) with reigning World Champions, and meeting new friends (and dogs!) that we’d only ever read about on Facebook. Cool!

That’s me posing with Bailey. Check out her super-warm “Trover” jacket… it’s like a big red doggie robe!

Much to our relief Bailey enthusiastically jumped during both of her qualifying rounds! We had been worried that she might decide that the water was a bit too chilly and embarrass us by stopping on the dock in front of the big crowds but luckily she brought her ‘A’ game and jumped without hesitation. She wasn’t actually competitive score-wise — 20’8″ was her longest jump — but we had fun nevertheless!

One of my favorite things about Worlds was seeing so many DockDog “Celebrities” in one place. We got to watch all of these current World Record holders in action:

Taz, a black lab from Canada (Outdoor Big Air Record and Outdoor Iron Dog Record) and Cochiti, a whippet from Washington (tied with Taz for Big Air)
Remi, a black lab from Minnesota (Speed Retrieve Record) and Jordan, a chocolate lab from Iowa (previous Speed Retrieve record-holder)
Baxter, a Belgian Malinois from Missouri (Indoor Big Air Record)
Vhoebe, a Belgian Malinois from California (Indoor Iron Dog Record)
Yeager, a Belgian Malinois from Massachusetts (Extreme Vertical Record)

Yeager actually broke his own indoor EV world record on Friday night with an 8’3″ grab. Yeager competes as part of GoTeam21, an organization that raises awareness for children with Down syndrome. You can check out Yeager online here: http://goteam21.org/.

The long road trip to and from Dubuque, Iowa wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. We stopped in Ohio for the night on the way out and made it to Dubuque for the official competitor check-in by Thursday afternoon. I wanted to go through as many states as possible so we made a slight detour into Michigan and then took a route that brought us through Wisconsin on our way into Iowa. Bailey has now visited 13 states! In order they are NJ, PA, DE, MD, NY, VA, OH, CT, IN, MI, IL, WI, IA (just in case you care…).

When it came time to drive home, we left early on Sunday morning and Matt drove us the ENTIRE way home (15 1/2 hours!) with only a few short stops. I helped out by “navigating” and overseeing the selection of numerous NPR podcasts. After listening to that many hours of current events I now feel like an expert on the Israeli-Hamas conflict, the Fiscal Cliff, and a variety of other issues. 🙂

Matt handled Bailey AND did all of the driving on our 1895 mile round trip… nice work!

I’m very thankful that we got a chance to compete at Worlds and we’re already looking forward to the start of the 2013 season next Spring! Congratulations to all of our friends that made finals (and a BIG congrats to Carlyn and Max from Chesapeake DockDogs for their Big Air Junior win!!) and I hope that everyone had safe trips home.

11Jun2012

The Grand Canyon of… Vermont?

Posted in Hikes, Trips by Annie T

We spent our Memorial Day weekend in Quechee, Vermont with Matt’s family. Quechee is a tiny town nestled on the banks of the Ottauquechee River. It took us about 7 1/2 hours to drive to Quechee but once we got there the lush green mountains and river views made the long drive worth every minute.

The town is home to the Quechee Gorge – “Vermont’s Grand Canyon.” Here are some photos from our trip, enjoy!

View of Quechee Gorge from Route 4 Bridge (aka from the “top.” We walked all the way to the bottom!)

Route 4 Bridge over Quechee Gorge… beautiful!

Memorial Day Weekend at the base of the gorge

At the bottom of the gorge the river widened into this vast “delta” of crystal clear water. Dozens of people were scattered around enjoying the water and sunny 80° weather.

A view looking back up the gorge – gotta love that perfect blue water!

Quechee Covered Bridge: The Quechee Covered Bridge crosses the Ottauquechee River in the heart of the village of Quechee. Sadly this bridge and a few of the surrounding buildings were badly damaged during Hurricane Irene in August 2011.

Another casualty of Hurricane Irene – the Taftsville Covered Bridge. We took a gravel road to get from Quechee to Woodstock, VT and passed right by the closed entrance of this beautiful old bridge.