travel – Page 4 – emerald city diaries

thirty before i am thirty.

the weekend before last – when we were in indiana – i was able to check another item off my thirty before thirty list thanks to our friend colt!

number twenty-eight: attend an NLF game. i always assumed that the nfl game i would attend would be a seahawks game, given that they play roughly eight games per season in the city i call home. obviously i haven’t made it down to a game in the almost seven years i have lived here. i digress. when we got to colt’s house on friday night, he surprised us with tickets to the colts game that up-coming sunday. to say that we were surprised would be an understatement. aaron is an avid colts fan, being from indiana & all, but had never seen them play at lucas oil field, & obviously attending a game was high on my list. we got to tailgate outside the stadium before the game started, & once inside at our seats, we experienced what a fun stadium lucas oil is. the roof was open to let in the sun & the crowd was great. the colts ended up losing a close game at the last minute, but it was still fun to be there cheering them on in person!

go colts!

have you been to an nfl game this season?

a shower for baby garner-ballard.

one of the reasons we picked the weekend before last to take a trip to the midwest was so that i could attend meg’s baby shower. {sidenote: meg is a cousin of one of aaron’s cousins, but that is just semantics & i consider meg family!}

one of the really fun parts about the shower is that kendra & i kept our trip on the DL, & showed up as surprise guests for meg. so fun!

aaron’s aunt & cousins – sharon, abbi, & maggi – threw the shower & they did such a wonderful job. the décor was so adorable & i was loving the color scheme. meg knows that she is having a boy, but i love that the shower didn’t scream “BOY!”

{those cake pops were delish // a fun sign for baby GB}

{stripey straws for the drinks // fun colored candy}

{maggi, meg, kendra, & kenley // mama & daughter}

{meg was spoiled with lots of love in the form of presents!}

{meg opening presents with her sister kait by her side // kenley wanted in on the present-opening action}

{meg enjoying a handmade card // i made some art of meg’s nursery}

{love you meg & happy shower!}

where is the farthest you have flown for a baby shower?

p.s. maggi, abbi, meg, & kendra all have blogs, so if you aren’t already a reader, you should definitely check them out!

my long weekend in pictures: indiana edition.

we left last thursday for a long weekend in the midwest to spend time with aaron’s family.

{waiting for the bus to take us downtown to catch the lightrail to the airport. #myhusbandlovespublictransit}

{hers & his lattes.}

{look at all of that leg room! glad we upgraded our flight.}

{we got to meet beau, my in-laws’ new dog.}

{we stayed with aaron’s friend colt, his girlfriend erin, & gertie the bulldog. i spent friday night cuddling with gertie.}

{i finally got to meet kenley! she is the daughter of kendra – aaron’s cousin – & such a doll!}

{teddy – aaron’s nephew – is already a slugger. let’s go 6-7!}

{aaron’s grandfather neal with aaron’s nephews teddy & frankie.}

{we crashed a wedding reception on saturday night. a cousin of a cousin is family, right? congratulations logan & vanessa!}

{me, kenley & kendra hanging out. finally!}

{um, 43 degrees indiana? definitely not ready for the cold yet.}

{we spent sunday morning tailgating at the colts game with colt & his family.}

{#letsgocolts}

{it was a bit sunny with the roof open at lucas oil field, but aaron made do.}

{the tomatoes at colt & erin’s makes me want my own veggie garden. someday.}

{waiting for our plane to take us back to seattle.}

{the beautiful sunset somewhere between indy & seattle.}

we had so much fun catching up with family & friends – thanks for having us indiana! aaron has quite a large family, most of whom still live in indiana, so we get spoiled whenever we go because we get to see so many people. we also got spoiled this time & got a chance to see family that flew in from out of town – thanks for making the last minute trip kendra & kenley! thanks to everyone for such a fun weekend!

how was your weekend?

my weekend in pictures.

{sadie decided sitting on the table was the best place to be at lunch.}

{frog dog.}

{we stopped for lunch at emigrant springs in the blue mountains & it was gorgeous.}

{i had to make it back into town on saturday to see my good friend from law school sarah.}

{my grandmother, my mom, & i shopped the nordy’s anni sale. it was crazy. why didn’t i pre-sale?}

{we ended the weekend with a fierce game of dominoes.}

i was in boise last week & drove home on saturday. my mom joined me on the drive back much to my delight & she will be here thru the middle of the week. i am still getting used to the almost forty degree temperature difference between boise & seattle – where is that beautiful summer weather we had just a few weeks ago? how was your weekend?

a visit to new england: maine, connecticut, rhode island & massachusetts.

we headed out east from manchester for maine. though we wanted to drive further along the coast, we didn’t have enough time. we stopped in kittery for some lobster (duh!) lunch at warren’s & even sent some fresh lobster home! we drove a bit further into maine to york to see the nubble lighthouse. maine was lovely.

on our last day, we headed south from manchester towards connecticut. we didn’t spend much time there, but did have a delicious lunch. we stayed pretty far north so we would have a straight shot over to rhode island.

rhode island was our next stop & it was the one i was looking most forward to. it is probably because it is the smallest of all of the states (i think being small means you really like small things), but there is something about rhode island that has always charmed me. i literally squealed when we crossed over the state line from connecticut & then made aaron pull the car over so i could get a picture with the state sign. we drove to brown university so that we could stop and take in rhode island. plus, my great uncle attended brown & lived in providence for some time, so it seemed like we needed to see it. the school is right in the city near RISD & as we drove thru it, i couldn’t help but fall in love with providence!

our last stop in new england (on our way back to boston for our flight) was in milton, massachusetts. milton is a very small suburb of boston & it is where my grandmother & great uncle grew up. they both attended milton high school & i was chatting on the phone with my grandmother as i was standing in front of her alma mater – that was kind of fun!

well, that wraps up our trip to new england! it isn’t a place that i daydreamed about visiting (i like to save my daydreams for sandy beach locales!), but it was such a fun trip & it made my thirty before thirty list.

have you made it to new england? what places are on your travel list?

a visit to new england: boston.

{there are lots of photos so i thought it would be best to share the trip over a couple of posts.}

aaron and i had a chance to visit new england last week as a way to celebrate valentine’s day, my birthday, & to get away just the two of us. while it may not have been the best time to travel (um, winter), we only had a few days of really, really cold (thanks beantown!).

we flew in & out of boston on a direct flight via jetblue & it really lived up to the rave reviews: first checked bag free, nice flight attendants & in-seat tvs. {sidenote: aaron & i both watched in time on the flight home & it was really good. i had never heard of it before but if you haven’t seen it, definitely put it in your netflix queue.}

…

we took the T out to the sam adam’s brewery tour almost as soon as we landed. {this was aaron’s favorite part of the trip; me, not so much.} then we took the party trolley to doyle’s & dined on the best reuben sammie & clam chowder that boston had to offer.

our hotel {the omni parker house} was right on the freedom trial, across the street from the old city hall & just a few short blocks from the boston common. we were able to walk or take the T everywhere we wanted to go, it was fantastic!

even though the red sox were in florida for spring training, we couldn’t miss an opportunity to visit fenway park. it was great to hear the tour & learn about all of the secrets of the old park – it is actually bigger than when i was last here! we got to sit out in the green monster seats – very hard to get tickets for as there is a lottery system each season – & up in the press box – the biggest in the MLB.

while we were strolling around the common, we also visited the granary burying grounds where we paid our respects to mother goose, samuel adams & paul revere.

we also took the T out to cambridge & visited harvard university.

that wraps up our time in boston! stay tuned as i will be posting pics from the rest of our trip.

have you ever been to beantown?

thirty before I am thirty.

number six: visit New England. {pics will be posted soon!} i had never visited any of the new england states before (except for boston) but it has been on my travel list for as long as i can remember. my grandmother is from the boston area and her brother went to school & lived in providence, rhode island, so i feel a bit of a family connection to the area. unfortunately other things just got in the way of ever visiting – living on the west coast, lots of other places on the travel list – until now! aaron & i were able to visit the entirety of new england while we were vacationing the week before last! we may not have thoroughly visited each state – i still want to visit cape cod, portland, burlington & new haven, to name a few – but we did drive thru & stop to see at least one town in every new england state.

number nineteen: go on a four state roadtrip. this to do goes hand-in-hand with visit new england as it was pretty easy to drive thru four new england states (much more so than western states!). we actually drove thru all six new england states {can you name them all?} but not all in one day. though on our way out of town, we did actually complete the four state roadtrip – so exciting! we left manchester, new hampshire & drove south thru massachusetts on our way to connecticut; we stopped for lunch in connecticut & drove east to providence, rhode island; then we headed back north & drove thru milton, massachusetts (where my grandmother & great uncle are from) on our way the boston airport.

{vermont, maine, new hampshire, connecticut, rhode island & massachusetts}

have you visited new england or been on a four state roadtrip?