Grand Canyon & Vegas: Las Vegas

After a super-boring drive and some really bad food (in my humble opinion) at Sonic Burger, we made it from the Grand Canyon to Las Vegas in around 4 hours.   Passed by Hoover Dam, which Matt really wanted to see, but could not see it at all from the highway (next time, I guess).    Found our hotel, the Red Rock, which is around 10 miles from the strip in the upscale suburb of Summerlin.   Even though it still has a huge casino, it is a little more modern, and a lot less cheese-y, than the other Vegas Casinos.   Rooms are really big and we got two at a good price, so everyone got their own bed for a change!    Had to run out after check-in to go to the last tour of the day at the Neon Museum in downtown Vegas, which is in the boneyard, where old neon signs go to rest.  So cool, just to see all the old signs lying next to each other and our tour guide gave us great facts about Vegas History.  Fun Story #1:  the Moulin Rouge was the first casino to open to both blacks and whites in 1955 when Vegas was called the "Mississippi of the West" because of its strict segregation policy.  It became a big after-hours hangout for all the cool performers until it went bankrupt after six months.  Fun Story #2:  The Stardust casino used to hold "atomic parties" while the US military was testing nuclear weapons out in the Vegas desert.  They had special drinks and people used to book their spots at the pool so they could look up at the sky during the testing!   Girls used to wear outfits shaped like mushroom clouds.  Too weird!  

 After the museum we went to Fremont Street, which was the old location of all the original casinos.  It suffered in the 80s and 90s and was just revived with a big overhead canopy for an LED light show, a zip line, and all these tacky performers.  Matt promised us that the Las Vegas strip would be classier than what we saw there.   We came back  to the hotel and had dinner at the Yard House, which is an LA chain with hundreds of beers on tap and a pretty good menu.  Our waiter was a young army vet who served in Afghanistan, recently arrived to get a fresh start out here.  Food and service were really great (fish tacos, sliders, 'smores brownie and salted caramel butterscotch pudding for dessert).

On our last full day of vacation, we woke up late and went out for breakfast to the and came back to the hotel to sit by the pool.  When the boys got bored, they went to bowl a couple games in the Red Rock lanes, Yamini made a friend in the pool, then went to the "Kids Quest" for an hour.  Around 4pm, we headed over to "the strip" and parked at the Bellagio - the lobby there looked super tacky to me, until we visited all the other casinos, which made me like the Bellagio the best.  The boys liked the Luxor, which I will admit is kinda cool, and we all hated the Excalibur, which looks like a giant, ugly, lego castle.  We started and ended our walk with the water show Fountains of the Bellagio on the mini-lake in front of the property, which is much better when it gets dark.   We stopped at Pinkberry for some great frozen yogurt, Walgreens to buy a few souvenirs, and the "Sugar" shop in the Paris, so the kids could pick out some dessert for after dinner.   For dinner, we went off the strip to a highly rated Thai restaurant in a run-down strip mall. Lotus of Siam, and it was amazing!!   A good place for our last big meal, and everyone is now looking forward to getting home and getting back in gear for work and school.

Arizona & Las Vegas: Grand Canyon

After a pretty 2+ hour drive from Sedona, we reached the outskirts of the Grand Canyon.  You pay $25 to enter the park area, and though the pass lets you go back in and out, we realized, once you are in, there is no reason to leave.  Went to the Visitor Center to get a quick look over the rim and got some advice on hikes, etc.  Checked into Bright Angel Lodge, which has a main lodge and then a bunch of guest cabins.  Our two adjoining cabins were "Rim Cabins" (booked a year in advance), and the view did not disappoint.  The canyon is literally right outside the rooms!!  Settled in and took a short walk over to the lodge and the more upscale El Tovar hotel.  We ate in the lodge, which was just fine and not too expensive.  The best part was that while you wait, you can hang out in the cocktail lounge, which had live entertainment and great beer.  The kids hung out in the lobby, taking advantage of the wifi, which only really works there . . .Boys and Matt shared a room and watched some bad TV, while Yamini and I did some before bedtime reading. . .

Woke up to some chilly air, but the day got warmer as it went on and we shed some layers while hiking.   Took the shuttle bus over to the shopping area which had a full supermarket, so we packed up some sandwiches and lots of water and waited for the next shuttle over to the South Kaibab Trailhead.  Decided we could do the 3 mile roundtrip hike to Cedar Ridge.  Once we got down the fairly steep but mostly smooth trail to the first lookout (ooh ahh point), it wasn't too hard to get to the next one.  Our lunches tasted so good after the hike and we had fun taking pictures before the hike back up.  Boys were pretty speedy, Yamini was pretty tired, but she found a trusty walking stick and we just took our time up and enjoyed the view.  Back to Bright Angel for ice cream and some R&R before dinner in the Arizona Room.  Our waiter was great, and even though Will thought he could eat two racks of ribs, we ended up with leftovers.  On the walk back to our cabin, I think I could see every star in our galaxy. . A great day!

Second full day in Grand Canyon, we went back to the market in the morning to eat breakfast and make our next round of sandwiches.  We walked over to Hermit Road from our cabin and took the Rim Trail to all the view points over the next four miles.  It was a long walk, but not very steep, and the views from each point were fabulous.  We could see as far down as the Colorado River, so that was cool.   Yamini and I went to a ranger talk about the California Condor, which was nearly extinct (only 22 left) and was bred in captivity until the young birds were able to be released to the wild.  The canyon is a very good environment for them, so there are now around 80 in the canyon alone and some hundreds more in CA and the Southwest.  In the evening we took a guided bus ride over to some of the same points we had visited during the day to see the Sunset.  Hard to take good pictures, but fun to try and cool to see how the canyon and river looked in the changing light.  Had drinks and appetizers for dinner at the El Tovar lounge and made lots of friends (but not our waiter, who got very stressed out over our food order) - I tried the prickly pear juice margarita which was a bit sweet, but yummy.

On our last morning, we ate some breakfast in the rooms and did a one hour hike on Bright Angel Trail - down to the second tunnel and back.  I stopped off at the Kolb Studio on the way back to the room to pack.  The Kolb Brothers, Ellsworth and Emery, came to the Grand Canyon in 1901 and set up a photography studio.  They did all these crazy stunt photos and were the first guys to make a movie of a trip down the Colorado River.  They also were some of the first people to establish the village on the South Rim and were part of the whole community that makes the place run so well to this day - really cool. (Grand Canyon History / Kolb Brothers) As we packed up the car, it was looking pretty cloudy, so we probably got the best of the canyon while we were there.

Arizona & Vegas - Part 1: Sedona

Started off the Spring Vacation with a delayed flight to Phoenix on United Airlines with no TV/Movie seat backs and no Wifi.   Made the best of the 5 hour trip by watching "Singin' in the Rain" with Matt and Yamini.   Found a good place to stop on the 2 hour drive from Phoenix to Sedona - Rock Springs Cafe, with almost 20 kinds of pie.  We chose the Chocolate Creme and Blueberry Crumb.  Yummy.  http://www.rockspringscafe.com/

Got to the Enchantment Resort in Sedona http://enchantmentresort.com/when it was dark, so saw nothing of the property and went to sleep.   Woke up to find ourselves in the middle of the beautiful red rocks of Boynton Canyon.   Had to wrangle the activity desk in the morning because all the guided canyon hikes were booked up for the week, which was disappointing, so they kindly added a hike for us out in the Coconino National Forest. . Mund's Wagon Trail.

   Later in the day, my cousin Jonathan and his wife Jelena, who live in Phoenix, came up to hang out with us by the pool and have dinner.  We found two other PS234 families at the pool, and Yamini made lots of friends while swimming until her fingers looked like prunes.   Had dinner at a nice pizza and salad place in town, Picazzo's.  http://picazzos.com/

Day 2 - Yamini went to "Camp Coyote" at the hotel, the boys played cardio tennis and I did a mellow yoga class at the spa.   Took the boys into town for lunch and then went on a little hike outside the hotel property in Boynton Canyon before picking up Yamini and hanging at the pool some more.  We got all the contest-winning flavors of Lay's potato chips ("Chicken & Waffles," "Siracha," and "Parmesan Garlic Bread") and Matt walked around offering samples to people at the pool.  Drove 40 miles or so to the "Ghost Town" of Jerome which used to be a Copper Mining boom down until the Great Depression hit.  Now the town is kind of run down and artsy at the same time, and from what we read, slowly slipping down the hill at 4 in. / year.  Had a good dinner at the Haunted Hamburger http://thehauntedhamburger.com/, which included $1.99 margaritas for the grown ups.  Everyone had a bit too much sun today, so early to bed!

Day 3 - After similar morning activities for all, we took the boys for a nice filling lunch at the "Coffee Pot" http://www.coffeepotsedona.com/ which Matt voted best diner food ever (Omlette #32 out of 101 choices - avacado, mushroom, and spinach), then we went for a hike at Cathedral Rock, about a 30 minute drive away.  It was spectacular to look at from below and a short, but all uphill climb to an area of flat rocks with great views then a shimmy up a crevice (for the boys but not for me) to a higher plateau.  Very cool.

Great dinner at night after a 2 hr. 15 minute wait at Elote http://www.elotecafe.com/ - but worth the wait and enjoyed hanging out with our fellow downtown New Yorkers - Linda, Jonathan, Lucas & Maya.   Tomorrow we will try to get in a bit more swimming, yoga and tennis before packing it up for the Grand Canyon!!

Our Virginia Vacation (History Lessons Included)

Day 1 - Left the Philly suburbs in the morning, and made good time to Manassas, VA for lunch and a visit to the site of two early and very deadly battles of the Civil War at Bull Run.

http://www.visitpwc.com/manassasbattlefield/

Saw a great film about the battles in the visitor center and then walked the grounds of the battlefield. There was a reproduction of an old woman’s house that was right in the middle of the first battle (yes, she died), a monument to the soldiers that died from both sides, and a larger-than-life sculpture of Confederate General “Stonewall” Jackson, since this was the place where he got his nickname. Pretty cool.

Continued the drive to Charlottesville, and met up with the caretaker of the house we rented in the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains. Nice property, and we found a great Mexican restaurant in the nearby town of Crozet - Cocina del Sol.

Day 2 - Relaxed at the house in the morning, planned the week’s activities and headed to Charlottesville to see a bit of the UVA campus and the downtown shopping area. The UVA campus was filled with visitors, but the downtown area was pretty quiet. After a caffeine boost at Starbucks, we went to Monticello, where we got to take the last “Slavery at Monticello” tour of the day.

http://www.slaveryatmonticello.org/mulberry-row

Learned that Jefferson was probably more against slavery than I imagined him to be, though very much a man of his time who looked the other way sometimes and didn’t really expect that all races might ever live together equally. I think he would be pleasantly surprised by today’s world.

Heard a little bit about Sally Hemmings and her family and some other stories of slave families that lived at Monticello. Also learned that Jefferson was pretty deep in debt when he died, but did manage to arrange for 5 of his slaves to be freed, which took some financial and legal maneuvers on his part. Took an evening tour of the house, which was really cool. We got to spend a long time in each room, and see a lot of the books, artwork and architecture that inspired TJ before the Declaration of Independence and occupied him in his later years. What a fascinating life! Made it back to our little town outside Charlottesville to scarf down a couple pies at Crozet Pizza by 9pm.

Day 3 - Tuesday Started off with a drive to Lynchburg, about an hour or so south. Found a place to eat lunch before renting bikes for a ride on a trail along the James River.

Next stop was another Jefferson home Poplar Forest. http://www.poplarforest.org/retreat

It was smaller than Monticello and just starting to be renovated for visitors after people had actually lived in it through the early 1980s. Now a private trust took over the property in the middle of a residential neighborhood and they are doing research into what it actually was like in Jefferson’s time. We met some “agricultural archeologists” who were looking for old plant samples in the soil, so they would know what type of trees and shrubs to plant outside the house.

After that we zipped over to Appomattox Court House, which is actually the name of the town, not an actual court house where Confederate General Lee surrendered to Union General Grant on April 9 (day before we visited) in 1865. The surrender took place in the parlor of someone’s private home.

http://www.nps.gov/apco/the-meeting.htm

We never realized this was only 5 days before Lincoln was killed, and a guide told us it was this surrender which compelled John Wilkes Booth to act. One of the highlights of the trip was dinner next along the “Brew Ridge” Trail where team “Mario Kart” from NYC came in 2nd place at the Wild Wolf Brewery’s weekly trivia contest, beating out many of the locals!!! Gotta give it to Matthew for knowing that Magnum, PI drove a Ferrari! Lots of nice people there and we gave our prize $20 gift certificate to the crew of 20-somethings next to us at the bar who all work at the local ski lodge in the winter.

Day 4 - Wednesday

Drove about an hour and a half to go to King’s Dominion and ride some big roller coasters. The day was a bit chilly and VA schools were not on vacation, so the park wasn’t crowded and the lines for rides were short. We paid $38 / person for the day and went on tons of rides, so it was a pretty good deal. My FAVORITE was by far the “Volacano” which whipped you at a really high speed right away and then flipped you around in seats attached to an overhead attachment instead of strapping you down in a seat like most roller coasters. There was a stand up one with a loop (Shockwave) that I didn’t love. My second fave was the Dominator which Yamini went on 5 times. Trevor and Will liked the Intimidator the best which I liked for the 305’ high 85 degree vertical drop, but I didn’t like all the zig-zags at high speed afterwards. For dinner, we went back to Charlottesville and went to one foodie spot in the Belmont neighborhood called “The Local.” Good food overall, but nothing really remarkable except the truffle mac ‘n cheese.

Day 5 - Thursday - Took it easy today and didn’t really head out for any activities until 1pm. Picked up some good sandwiches from Hunt Country Market and Deli and ate them in the theater for the Hunger Games movie. Loved it. Great casting and really captured the spirit and best scenes from the book. Well done.

Got a car wash and went for a walk, then back to Belmont for a tapas dinner at Mas Restaurant. Everything was delicious!! Beet and tahini spread, tuna salad, jamon & manchego, grilled shrimp, steak, and good wine . . YUM. A great last meal in Charlottesville.

Last day of the vacation - Left the house in VA by 9:30am and actually drove a bit further south, so we could drive 40 miles on Skyline Drive in the Blue Ridge Mountains Shenandoah National Park. Nice quiet ride with lots of scenic overlooks. Stopped at lunch in the town of New Market, VA for lunch at this great place called the Southern Kitchen off of Rte 81. Had peanut butter soup (!) good fried chicken and pork bbq and chocolate and coconut creme pie slices for dessert. Thank goodness the portions weren't too big. Got back to NYC by 7pm and ordered some sashimi and spinach to get back into eating healthy. . . nice to go away, nice to be home.

Yamini's Brownie Troop Loves Water

Here's a video the Girls in Brownie Troop #3367 made about how important water is.

Watch it and then sign Yamini's petition at:

http://www.change.org/petitions/protect-new-yorks-water-stop-fracking

Fall Turns to Winter

Can't believe it is already holiday season!! This fall went by in a nanosecond!! It seems like just yesterday that the Occupy Wall Streeters were camping out and drumming up a storm in Zuccotti Park across from our apartment, and now its just a quiet concrete rectangle with holiday trees and an abnormal amount of police protection. . .

I started a new job in September at the NYC iSchool in Soho. Smaller than my old school, with more personal attention for the students, more creative scheduling of classes, and more technology in the classroom. So far, so good, but I had many more students and more new lessons to prepare, therefore, lots of work!! Matt's company has been keeping him busy too, but he has "no comment" on any business matters at this time! :)

Trevor too has been feeling the pinch. In 7th grade, he added two more teachers and classes to his schedule and is dealing with more homework than last year at M.A.T. He was on the varsity soccer team and is playing JV basketball now.

William is enjoying his new 7th grade homeroom and his advanced math class. He is also learning a lot of Spanish, so we are hoping to get to a nice Spanish-speaking country in the next year or two -- Argentina, anyone? He is still doing tennis lessons once a week, and he had lots of homework last year, so this year is just more of the same in that regard. He did manage to start his own blog -- www.willacademy.blogspot.com

Both boys are doing a Saturday basketball clinic, have been doing a "Math Circle" at NYU and just started Junior League Team Tennis up in the Bronx on Saturdays too. So our Saturdays are packed, but Matt and I discovered the most awesome Arthur Avenue restaurant so we enjoy a good meal with Yamini while the boys play tennis.

Yamini has some fun stuff going on this year too. Her new favorite after-school activity is fabric and textile arts, she is doing a very creative classical and modern dance class on Saturdays, and she is now a Brownie Girl Scout!! So yes, we ARE selling cookies - e-mail me if you want some Samoas or Thin Mints!!

Had fun on Thanksgiving weekend celebrating Pop Pop Leonard's 70th with family and we are looking forward to getting away with Matt's parents to San Diego for Christmas and New Year's! Legoland, here we come. . .

Summer in Bucks County

Ah, the last day of a month in Pennsylvania! I should be cleaning up and putting labels in Yamini's camp clothes, but instead I am sitting on the porch because it is a beautiful (not too hot) day, and I am just happy to have a porch on which to sit!! Thought I should update our blog with a little of what we do out here in Bucks County. . .

On the weekdays, the kids have fun at camp - Trevor and Yamini at the most awesome Camp Briarwood, and William at the Doylestown Tennis Club. Once everyone gets home we like to take a swim, have a nice dinner, read, watch some TV -- basically the house is all about relaxation and fun!! As for me, I am a bit of a stay-at-home mom during the day -- food shopping, cooking, laundry, exercise, cleaning house -- though I do manage to do some lesson planning and catch up on my "to do" list. On the weekends, we try to just enjoy being out of the city by getting outside a lot and making good use of our barbeque grill!

We swim, go for walks in local park

s (lots of 'em) and do some fun activities in the area. July 4th weekend is great because there is a great symphony concert with fireworks at Tinicum Park and then an Old-Fashioned 4th of July Celebration at Fonthill, the old Henry Mercer estate in Doylestown. They have everything from sack races to watermelon eating contests. Our favorite is the "cake walk" where they have a circle with 20 numbered spots. 20 people walk around, a bit like musical chairs without the missing place, and when the music stops, they pick one number from a bowl and the

winner gets to pick a cake from a big donation table! The cakes include delicious home-made treats and disgusting-looking supermarket made objects, but it is fun to imagine which one you would pick if you win. (Of course, we never win!!)

On regular weekends, we love to have friends and family over for a swim and to make some of our favorite meals with food from our favorite local places - Haring Brothers Butchers, or None Such Farms for meat, Carroll's Seafood Market for fish & clams, and Penn Vermont Farms for PEACHES and other fruits. We finish it all off with a drive to Owowcow Creamery for the best locally made ice cream.

As for restaurants, our favorites are Luberto's for brick oven and the best (and least expensive) home-style Italian food and El Mariachi in Plumsteadville, PA for yummy homestyle Mexican.

This summer, Yamini and I found a local potluck farm dinner to attend where everyone brought a dish (we made colorful carrot salad) and then we got a tour of the farm.

There's often a good CARNIVAL going on to support one of the local fire stations and we hit at least two of those every summer, so we are honorary "carnies". On one weekend, we take a drive into Philly to hang out with some friends there, and maybe catch a baseball game there or in Trenton (Yankees Triple-A Thunder).

For the past couple years, I've taken the kids to see Philadelphia Freedoms tennis at Villanova University (met the Bryan Bros. on "twin night" and got Billie Jean King's autograph). This year, I took the kids to a Hollywood Classic Movie night (Kids are free!!) at the County Theater in Doylestown for "Rear Window". Basically, if we didn't already live in the greatest city on earth (go NYC!), it would be nice to live here, so we really enjoy the time we have "in the country".