Wisconsin, 01/05/2012

Day Eight:

We picked up breakfast at a bakery on our way back into Waterford (and I devoured the last bites of our Tu-Lu's stash for my breakfast) and paid Casey's grandparents a visit. We had a great time getting updates on his million cousins and meeting his aunt. We had lunch at a local diner, and then made our way back to his parents' house. We just relaxed for a few hours until it was time to head to the airport. His parents were awesome and drove us all the way back to Chicago to catch our flight. And my awesome mom and sister were waiting for us in San Francisco when we landed.

All in all - the best vacation ever. We had so much fun, ate SO MUCH GOOD FOOD, saw amazing sights, shows, and art, and even got a little family visit in as well. I can't believe it's time to go back to work!! We had a relaxing day today, home at last...the weather in California is the BEST (have I ever mentioned that I'm a weenie about being cold? haha). We picked up the dogs who were thrilled to see us, and intend on continuing to enjoy the last few days of our break from the real world.

Wisconsin, 01/04/2012

Day Seven:

We flew into Chicago on the 3rd and Casey's twin sister Kelly picked us up and let us invade her living room for the night. We got to sleep in (yay!) and then drove with her to Waterford. I met the whole family, and Casey met his new nephew, Huntinton. It was great to have a little family time. They were so welcoming, and I had a great time. We stayed up too late playing cards with Kelly and her boyfriend at his house, where we stayed for our last night away from home.

New York City, 01/03/2012

Day Six:

We started our day with GF crepes, one with goat cheese, one with salmon, and one with Nutella!! We had the intention of spending the day at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, but the temperature dropped significantly and the wind off the water was unbearable... we couldn't imagine waiting in a line in the freezing cold to get on a boat and stand on an island. So we stopped at Katz' Deli for Casey's pastrami sandwich (a momentary lapse in vegetarianism), at Tu-Lu's for as many GF baked goods as we could carry onto an airplane, and then did a little window shopping on 5th Avenue. We ate our last meal in NYC at Bistango, a restaurant with GF ravioli and tortellini, as well as bread and cheesecake! I was in heaven.

New York City, 01/02/2012

Day Five:

Another day of sleeping in and staying up late (I think we just stayed on CA time, and never got over the jet lag). We spent the day at the Museum of Modern Art, where the star attraction was Van Gogh's Starry Night. We got dressed up and went to see the Lion King on Broadway. It was incredible. Afterward, we ended up unable to find a new GF restaurant that was still open for dinner, so we went back to Les Halles, and had escargot, Chilean sea bass, and bananas flambe. Delicious again! A wonderful end to our last night in NYC.

New York City, 01/01/2012

Day Four:

It was surprisingly easy to get back to the hotel after the ball dropped, and we ended up sleeping in, again. The first of the year became our food-adventure day. We went to a restaurant called Pala that specializes in GF pizza. It was....the best pizza ever....GF or not. We went to the Top of the Rock (observation deck at the top of Rockefeller Center) which had a wonderful view of the city and Central Park. We decided to skip ice-skating, since there were huge crowds and an insane wait. We had dinner at Les Halles, Anthony Bourdain's restaurant. YUM. Then we took a cab uptown to see the Off-Broadway production of Rent. It was brilliant to say the least...one of the highlights of the trip. The cast was absolutely incredible. We left the theatre with jaws dropped and haven't stopped singing showtunes yet!

New York City, 12/31/2011

Day Three:

New Year's Eve started off with a visit to theMetropolitan Museum of Art! We saw so much incredible art, and completely broke my feet with the amount of walking we did. I saw some very cool paintings by Joan Miro, my favorite artist! We left the Met for some delicious GF vegetarian food, and then got to visit with Casey's friend Tim (from the Peace Corps) and his girlfriend Violeta who was visiting from El Salvador. They were awesome! We rested in the hotel for a few hours, letting my feet recover, before braving Times Square for the NYE ball-drop madness. We arrived around 10:30pm (yes, we missed Justin Bieber's performance, waah), and were corralled in quite a ways from Times Square (we could see the ball, and the screen showing performances, but the people in the good viewing spots arrived up to 14 hours before midnight!!!). It was still really cool to be a part of the festivities.

New York City, 12/30/2011

Day Two:

We slept in on day two (our hotel was so cozy!) and made our first stop of the day at Tu-Lu's Gluten Free Bakery in the East Village. We got one mini cupcake in every flavor they had (6 total) along with a "Hostess Cupcake", a cinnamon sugar donut, and some coffee cake. All of it was fabulously delicious. I begged the owner to open a shop in California. Then we took the subway to Brooklyn to see the American Ballet Theatre production of The Nutcracker. Thank you Aunties & Uncles for the tickets! We LOVED it. It was Casey's first trip to the ballet, and we were both so impressed with the performance. Back in Manhattan, we took it easy, wandered around Wall St., caught a glimpse of the new World Trade Center & 9/11 Memorial, made ANOTHER stop at Tu-Lu's, and had the world's best Macaroni & Cheese (gluten-free, of course) at a place called S'Mac. It was our first big day for food. :)