Chicago

This past weekend Dave and I took a short, quick weekend trip to Chicago. With this trip, we were able to knock off another state from our "Visit 50 States" bucket list, leaving us with 11 states down and 39 to go!

This post might be a bit long, because I figured one post on my trip is enough for you. We got into Chicago on Friday afternoon. By the time we got to the hotel and we figured out public transportation, it was nearly time for dinner, which was at Wildfire.  The food was so good, I tried the baked goat cheese, which tasted like a fancy version of a mozzarella stick. After dinner, Dave and I watched a show at Second City. It was absolutely hilarious. The best part of the night was when they brought up a German tourist on stage for an improv skit. They asked the guy if he had anything on his mind he'd like to share and the guy said "nope". They tried to prod him a bit further (you can't really go off of nope) and finally had to say "hypothetically speaking if you HAD to give an answer what would you say?" It was so funny. After the show we stopped by Portillo's and grabbed a cake shake, which was absolutely delicious. 

Saturday we walked. A LOT. We walked down to Millennium Park and checked out Cloud Gate and then walked the Lake Front to the Navy Pier. We rode the Ferris Wheel at the pier (which Dave figured out mid-ride that the Divergent series was based out of Chicago and that the Ferris Wheel was the scene for the capture the flag game). It was ridiculously overpriced for the ride ($7 for one go around on the wheel) but when in Rome...

After the pier, we went over to The Purple Pig (highly recommended by Steph!) and grabbed lunch. The food was so delicious, I tried a fried deviled egg and it was not what I expected (in a good way). I don't think there is one bad thing on this menu. After lunch, we tried to head over to Willis Tower to try the Sky Deck but unfortunately they had a 2 hour wait and we didn't have that long between dinner and the show so we didn't get a chance to check it out. That is my only regret from this trip. We had about an hour and a half before we wanted to head out for dinner so we decided to head back to the hotel to rest. We had done so much walking and had very little sleep, we definitely needed a break. For dinner we stopped at Giordano's for a deep dish pizza and then went to the Blue Man Group show, which was awesome. My opinion on the deep dish? It was good (the sauce was the best I've ever tasted) but it was way too cheesy for my taste. 

Sunday morning we headed home, exhausted, but happy for the trip. 

Here's a map of where we've been so far:

 Have you ever been to Chicago? 

Travel Bucket List

Dave and I are prepping for a quick vacation to Chicago this weekend and it got me thinking about all the places we want to go. I decided that I should probably document somewhere a bucket list of places we want to go. This list is not exclusive, just ones that I want to highlight for you. 

1. Stay in a tree house

Dave and I want to visit all 50 states, right now we're at 10 states so we have a long way to go. One place I definitely want to stay in is a tree house. Airbnb has quite a few tree houses on their site, but this one in Georgia definitely is one I'd like to stay in. 

2. Go to Paris and stay in a room that has a view of the Eiffel Tower.

I found this hotel on Trip Advisor. I think it would be incredible to be able to wake up while on vacation and be able to see the tower every morning. If you're going to go to Paris, why not, right?

3. Sleep in a hotel where one wall is missing and I can see the scenery. 

Who am I kidding? This place is insanely gorgeous. It's pricey, so I'm going to have to start saving now. Infinity pool? Yes please!

What are some places you want to go on your bucket list?

OBX

I mentioned Monday that Dave and I want to visit all 50 states at some point together in our lifetime. This past week, we were able to cross off two more states rounding out total states visited to 10! Whoo hoo! Only 40 more to go! Haha! 

Outer Banks was gorgeous. Since it was off season it wasn't crowded at all, but the weather was still warm enough for us to hang out on the beach and get in the water. A friend of ours rented a home down there and invited us and a few others to come along. It's funny, Dave and I have always been on opposite sides of the "group vacation debate". He feels that group vacations are funner, whereas I prefer one on one vacations. However, after this vacation, I will concede that with the right group and the right location, group vacations are far better, I couldn't imagine having as good of a time as I did in NC if it hadn't been with such great friends. 

Driving on the beach is so much fun!

We look like we're photoshopped into this pic, because of the light from the sun setting and the flash of the camera. 

Here's the states we've visited so far in map form:

Map created using defocus blog's map

Kiptopeke State Park

Dave and I headed to OBX at the end of last week for a quick vacation with friends. He and I have a bucket list goal to visit every 50 states at some point in our life. Since I knew we were going to pass through Virginia I went to Roadtrippers to map out our trip and try to find some attractions along the way, so we could knock off VA off the list. The site suggested Kiptopeke State Park which was literally on the same road that we would need to be on to head to North Carolina. 

Kiptopeke was supposed to have these huge beach chairs with L-O-V-E written across them, which was what really got me interested in the place. Sadly, when we arrived we found out that the chairs were no longer there, but we had already paid at that point and decided to walk around and check the place out. There is so much more to the park than what we did. There are hiking trails, fishing, hawk habitats, camping grounds and a good bit more. I took some pics and then we went on our way. Hope you enjoy the pics from the park!

So no fishing dead fish then?

The waterfront had a row of old ships sitting in a line. At first I didn't see much with my regular lens on my camera, but when I grabbed the zoom lens I was able to zoom in and see a bunch of cranes sitting all on the ships.

Philadelphia Museum of Art

My three year wedding anniversary with Dave is coming up on Tuesday. We decided to head into the city on Saturday to celebrate the day a bit early since I'll be at work then school all day Tuesday. We parked on Boat House Row and decided to walk to the art museum. It wasn't very far, maybe 10 minutes or so and neither of us have ever stopped to check out the row, so it was nice to take in. After we toured the museum we walked up Fairmount Ave and had some slices of pizza for a quick lunch and then walked back to the car to head home. It was a really simple afternoon but so much fun. 

I'm not going to lie, I almost cried when I saw Van Gough's Sunflowers. It was just so surreal to have it right in front of me.

I'll let you guess which piece Dave insisted I take a picture of for this post. 

 There were a few pieces that made me scratch my head and wonder who was smoking what when they decided to include them in the museum. For example, this sculpture that had a case of grape soda just sitting on top of it. Dave exclaimed, "What a waste of perfectly good grape soda!" which had the nearby guard chuckling. 

 Or this particular exhibit, that had a whole room devoted to this guy who created pieces of "art" that looked like this: 

 All in all, it was a great day and a wonderful way to celebrate three years with my best friend. 

Intercourse

How many of you immediately jumped to dirty thoughts when you saw the title of my post? Pennsylvania Dutch Country has some ridiculously sexual names for their Amish towns:

I'm not joking, these are names of actual towns.

Anyway, this past weekend, I met up with my cousin and we decided to pretend to be tourists for the day and walk around Intercourse, PA which is only about 20 minutes away from my house. It was such a neat experience to be so close to home and feel like I was so far away at a distant place. 

Anyway, prepare for picture overload!

First up, of course, horse and buggies abound. They are everywhere, and since I've grown up around it it's not something I'm fascinated by, but it is still neat to see them...unless your stuck behind them....in a line of 20 cars...and you're number 20. 

My cousin and I just walked around taking in the sights and checking out the shops. Where we walked was a bunch of shops that consisted of a ton of quilt shops (I got a bunch of ideas for my own quilts), homemade baked goods, jams, and relishes, furniture, and country decor. 

I loved browsing the stores, Janelle and I even grabbed some baconnaise, which is delicious!

And just in case you don't think they have something for you there, may I present you with a yeti statue for your front lawn?

There was also a band playing in the middle of the shop center. I took a video of one of their songs, I could have stood there all day and listened. 

We stopped at an adorable little coffee shop and grabbed a quick lunch and walked around a bit more. I loved seeing the signs all over the place. 

 This one is my favorite. I would love to have it hanging in my house.

Walking around Intercourse was such a great time. I got to catch up with my cousin and visit a place that was right by my house and still feel like I went on a quick vacation. It was such a scenic, fun place to go, I would definitely recommend you check it out if you're ever in the area!

Wyebrook Farms

About a week ago, Dave and I discovered a local farm/cafe near our home that we wanted to check out, Wyebrook Farm. It was such a gorgeous place and the food was delicious! I was a little bummed that I didn't bring my camera with me, so I apologize, you're stuck with iPhone photos. 

Wyebrook Farm is a 360 acre farm located about 20 minutes away from our house. All the meat cooked in the cafe is from livestock that was raised on the farm, and most of the vegetables are also grown directly on the farm. All the other food is brought in from local suppliers and is all organic. 

When we first showed up, we checked out the market located above the cafe and then walked around the building to where the cafe is located on the patio. 

The menu ranged from casual like hamburgers and pulled pork to more formal like roasted chicken, pork chops, and (for the vegetarians) tofu. Dave and I both chose the bacon burger that had "baconaise" (seriously, my mouth is watering just thinking of it) and parmesan fries. We also chose fresh squeezed lemonade to drink. The view from the patio was incredible, we both couldn't stop commenting on how nice the place was. 

After dinner, we were given free range to walk around the farm and enjoy the view even more. We checked out the pigs, piglets, cows and goats. We also checked out their herb garden where I saw fully grown onions that were about to be picked for the first time. It was really neat to see how onions looked fully grown, it's something I've never thought about. 

The patio from the bottom of the hill

 It was such a great date night, I still smile when I think about the evening and the fun we had.