Chicago for Easter 2014

April 2014

Easter in Chicago

I traveled on business to Chicago several times in the 90's. I enjoyed the city having been able to avoid winters there for the most part. I remember the night the local catholic bishop passed away and the local news devoted half their broadcast to his legacy. I thought at the time-Teresa would like it here-very catholic city. 


We finally made our first trip together in 2008. After an evening concert at Millenium Park Teresa turned to me "this is my new favorite city". And so we have returned many times since 2008, moved our oldest daughter there for grad school in 2010, and  hepled her buy a condo there in 2014. We are headed back in January 2015, the weather is always nice when we are there in the spring and fall. We want to try and survive true cold. Uh, no thanks-we will both take the beach any day. But she has survived there and we thought why not...for 3 days only thank you.





Some of our favorite Chicago things:

Purple Pig on Michigan is a great spot for good food, fun atmosphere and a well worth it long wait. Only place I've ever been that the waitress refreshed my drink and I was still waiting for a table. 

Lou Malnatis
and 
Portillos
Everone knows. So go.

The Girl and the Goat
Famous Top Chef Stephanie Izard, wonderful service, good food. We ate there with a nun and she liked it so...endorsed.

Millenium Park Monday Concerts
Free concerts on Mondays in the summer. Magical and wonderful. This one thing reflects all the good things about Chicago in one place. The city the view the culture the people the transportation the civic pride all in one place at one time. 

Walk, Water Taxi, The El.
Do it all to soak up the city from every beautiful angle. Shop and walk and visit a bar. The people are warm midwesterners.

Shaws Crab House
If you like Oysters head here for the Happy Hour. Freshly shucked with some great beers or bubbly makes a nice end to a day of walking and shopping.

Blues and Bars
Hit up Yelp or TripAdvisor and find one and go.

Chicago Institute of Art
We only spent a couple hours here which is enough for museums in a day. They have a guide to the museum for a quick visit. Follow it, a wonderful taste of the museum and you will want to return.

San Francisco Trip March 2014

San Francisco #1 

March 2014

A quick weekend at the end of March to enjoy our favorite city in the Spring. Not too many picture and we set out with no agenda. The weekend was one of our best there. Most trips to SF start at the Ferry Market for Blue Bottle Coffee and Hog Island Oysters. But this time we headed for Anchor Oyster Bar in Castro. Sat at the bar for a wonderful lunch of perfectly shucked oysters and an a-mazing crab melt. 

After lunch we took the F car back to Powell street to walk around enjoying the sights, sounds, people and smells (city skunk!) found in this great city.  Good shopping in and around Union Square. We gravitate to Macys, they always have a sale.

We had heard of the roast chicken at Zuni Cafe on Market Street. We didn't have a reservation so we plopped at the bar and waited about an hour. We ordered the famous chicken and waited the noted hour to get it. After more than a 2 hour wait we ate the best roast chicken on earth. 

Thanks for the view Marriott Marquis

Goodies from the Ferry market to enjoy in our room

Denver March 2014

March 2014 

Denver

Teresa's old homestead. Visited her old houses and school. Hooked up with an old friend and have rekindled a relationship after many years apart. It happened with an "accidental" linkedin post that connected quickly and we were off to dinner. 

We drove by a 104 call pile up on I-25 March 1st. We were headed the other way in snow and ice. My first time driving a highway in nasty weather. 

Garden of the Gods

A beautiful place you must see in winter with some snow on it. Check out the video.

Breckenridge

I wish we both grew up skiing because we would do it more and this place is heaven on earth for skiers.  

Fruition

Small place with great food. Sooo cold outside, 16 degrees as we left that night. A personal record low for me. 

Brown Palace Hotel

Old school Denver and in the Autograph collection with Marriott. Charming and historic. Breakfast in the dining room included every day under our Gold level Marriott membership. Great food and a view of the snow outside. Amazing water that we later found out comes from a spring under the hotel! Fill up your water bottle in the lobby. 

New York at Christmas 2013

December 2013
Christmas in New York City

Teresa's first time in New York at Christmas and we visited....

Ground Zero 

Make sure to visit with the docents, amazing information and iPad presentations

Radio City Christmas Spectacular

Get tickets on Goldstar to save $. Get a cocktail with a lighted swizzle stick.

Grimaldi's Pizza Brooklyn

Walked in the rain to get there. Worth it!
Gramercy Tavern Restaurant

 2 thumbs way up, one of our most favorite dining "experiences" ever. (Food, waiter, ambiance, dessert, timing etc) we brought a bottle of Hendry wine from California to the restaurant and it was perfectly poured to last our 2.5 hour meal. 

Colicchio and Sons Restaurant

So very disappointed. So very..

Kinky Boots on Broadway

Theater in New York, it doesn't get any better. 

Vienna Boys Choir in Carnegie Hall

Surprise for Teresa I found online using "things to do" searches

Picture with Santa at Macys

Yup. Get a reservation from a kiosk and your on Santa's lap in no time. 















Katz Deli

As advertised. Orgasmic.

St. Patricks under scaffolding.

NY Subway trivia

TnT Travel Food Adventure

2014 Travel*Food*Adventures

We are starting this blog to share our travel and adventures at home in Los Angeles and on the road. We like to take 3 or 4 day adventures and explore cities we love and places we've never been.  The first post is a long one to catch us up to December 2014. Then with any luck we will post as we adventure.

It all begins with a good airfare. Teresa scouts the sites like www.airfarewatchdog.com. Years ago she found us $130 round trips on Southwest to anywhere in the USA. We picked the furthest point on the map and headed for Portland Maine after flying to Proidence RI and stopping for dinner on the north end of Boston Mass. 

Now we tag team, she finds the flights and I get a good hotel rate at our chosen chain Marriott. www.marriott.com Love these guys and they have great properties at good values if you shop ahead. Re-book and re-book for pricing (don't forget AAA rates!) as it gets closer to the date.  I don't use a hotel pricing site because we focus only on Marriott and we rack up points that have been used in New York and Hawaii. Point prices don't increase with seasonal rates so we booked Christmas in New York on 3rd ave near Times Square. This is a pricey time of year in NYC so the stay with points yielded an excellent value. 

Once air and room are in place, it's time to plan a rough itinerary. We don't want to be booked solid and yet we always are on the go. Time in our room with local cheese and bread or snacks and cocktails is on the itinerary. 

So we start with New York 2013 to get caught up to our most recent trip to our favorite city San Francisco-for the third time in 2014.

We will remark about the remarkable and unremarkable. Things that make us smile like Blue Bottle coffee at the Embarcadero San Francisco or trying to spot a Corgi in every city we visit. (We are doing pretty well in fact) A big part of our visits is the local fare. Using YELP and www.tvfoodmaps.com and TripAdvisor along with Zagat when budget allows trying the "best" in town. 

Join us and comment, we want to hear what makes your travel adventures magic. 

TnT