Tag Archives: Hiking

Labor Day Weekend in Rochester

I like to travel. I also like to do things at the spur of the moment, which is why at 9PM on Friday night, a mere 36 hours after moving into my new apartment in Hoboken, I booked a flight to Rochester to spend Labor Day Weekend with Dave.

I barely slept that night, in part due to my sheer excitement, and partly because I had to be up at 3AM to catch the 6AM flight up to Western New York. I got to Rochester, a little after 8AM and was beyond excited to see Dave. After a short ride to his house, I took a quick cat nap before we decided to go hiking up by the Finger Lakes. I am not as familiar with this part of New York, so I was absolutely stunned by the beautiful scenery as we made our way to Watkins Glen. These lakes were all so beautiful, and there was so much GREEN everywhere. It was quite a stark contrast to summers in San Diego and the city!  After an hour or so in the car, we made it to Watkins Glen State Park, where we hiked and walked around. I had never been to a gorge before, and it was like anything else I had ever seen. The rock was so intricately carved by the water over time, it was beautiful – I don’t know else how to describe it.

Following our beautiful hike through Watkins Glen, we went wine tasting at one of Dave’s mom’s favorite wineries, Fox Run. We tried a few wines, and came back with a box of bottles, some cheese curds, and smiles plastered across our faces. That was my first time officially wine tasting and I had so much fun learning about what I did and didn’t like. Turns out, my taste buds liked the cheapest and one of the sweeter wines available, which I was a big fan of.

On Sunday, we had a relaxing morning and then ended up going out boating on Dave’s friend, Q’s boat. It was the first time I had ever been on one of the Great Lakes and the water was so crystal clear. Our first stop in the boat was Irondequoit Bay (I still cannot pronounce it) and we climbed to the top of these sand dunes that overlooked the whole bay – it was absolutely stunning. That night,  I had my first real “Buffalo Wing” experience with the Evan’s family. Two things I learned, 1) There are lots of different wings flavors (I liked the sweeter wings) and 2) I still need to practice “Eating” them to the bone, as I leave too much meat on them.  The wings were so good and definitely reminded me of the impending football season – can’t wait to have real Buffalo wings again.

On Monday, Q, Dave, Caden and I hopped in a car and headed back to the city. I was able to score some pretty sweet Yankees tickets through work to surprise Q’s son, Caden. He was lucky enough to not only score a baseball after the third inning, but also A-Rod’s batting glove. All in all, it was easily my favorite labor day with some of my favorite people.

A huge thank you goes out to the Evan’s family for letting me stay with them on such short notice. I had a fantastic weekend up in Rochester and am so glad I was able to spend some quality time up in Dave’s hometown.

Save Me San Francisco

It’s amazing to think how little of the World I’ve seen, let alone the United States. I recently traveled up to San Francisco to visit my best friend, Phebe, and one night we met two Swedes who were rambling on about all the countries they had visited. Their stories were impressive – they had left their home countries to visit the United States and see everything it had to offer for weeks at a time. A trip like that seemed unfathomable in my twenties – how could one just drop everything and go for six weeks, or even six months? It was this beautiful sense of wanderlust that captivated me, refreshed me. I was proud that I had “taken the weekend” off of work to visit my best friend; I was mesmerized by these new friends who had “carpe diem-ed” – seized the day.

That wasn’t the only thing I was mesmerized with on my trip to San Francisco. I hadn’t visited the Bay Area since 7th grade – nearly ten years ago (WOW, I’m getting old!) and the only expectation I had, was the inevitable fog in the morning in the city. I was gladly taken aback by the beauty of the Bay Area. Lucky enough for me, Phebe lives in Mill Valley which means not a ton of fog. It is absolutely breathtaking because it is surrounded by mountains and gorgeous views of the skyline.

During the trip, Phebe and I hiked twice – once in Mill Valley and once from Stinson Beach through some beautiful Redwoods. To say I was sore might be a little bit of an understatement – the incline was something I wasn’t used to! The weather was unseasonably warm so we also spent a couple of hours by the pool – I even got burnt! Who would’ve thought?

The rest of my weekend consisted of eating delicious cuisines, relaxing, and then taking in the sights and sounds of Marin! On my last night in San Francisco, Phebe and I embarked on a pub crawl near Nob Hill. This is where the story comes full circle; we met the two Swedes from the beginning of this post at the first stop and instantly became friends.

My words have failed to give this trip and our adventures together any justice, so I’ve created a small photo gallery instead. A picture is worth 1000 words, right?

Thank you to Phebe, Momma Pheebz, Burton, Maddie, Julian, Essie and everybody else I may have forgotten for an amazing unforgettable weekend. Can’t wait to visit again!