Weekend in NYC

Good morning! Hope everyone enjoyed the weekend. 

If you follow me on Instagram or Snapchat (emilyalisonb), you might have seen that I was in NYC over the weekend.

Red Rocks Park & Amphitheatre

Last week I shared some of our adventures in Denver but knew a separate post was needed for all the beauty Red Rocks has to offer. What a dream venue for a concert!

Backing up to last month when a group of us friends flew to Denver to see Slightly Stoopid at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. We knew we were in for a treat but not hiking up about two thousand stairs.

Denver Travel Recap

The trio of us friends had a blast in Denver all prompted by the mutual love for a band and the fact that seeing them live at one of the most gorgeous venues in the US was on our bucket list. I went to Denver for the first time last year with K and really enjoyed exploring the brewery scene and catching a ballgame at Coors Field yet we never made it to Red Rocks Park which I was bummed about.

Weekend Highlights - Exploring Denver

What a weekend!
It was action packed exploring Denver on foot from morning until late night - shopping, eating, listening to live music on the streets, bar hopping, and checking out all the downtown scenery.

Denver

Happy Friday!

We arrived in Denver yesterday to catch a concert tonight so I'll be disconnected for the next few days.

Playa del Carmen Shopping Village

Since returning home from our Mexico trip, I've shared a couple posts about our adventures in Playa del Carmen and Cozumel. This is the final roundup because the shopping village in Playa del Carmen is worth talking about.

Exploring Cozumel

During our anniversary trip to Mexico where we stayed at The Royal Playa del Carmen resort, we found out that there is a 45-minute ferry ride that takes you over to Cozumel. This sounded like the perfect adventure. The locals tried to push so many different excursions on us but we decided to create our own.

The Royal Playa del Carmen Resort

When we booked our anniversary trip to Mexico, I had no idea the luxury we were in for. I always use Expedia for package deals on flights and hotels combined with airport transfers. We got a great deal plus earning more Expedia points for future travel.

Highlights from Mexico

Hello lovelies!
I've been away for a while but it feels good to be settled back home after four amazing nights in Mexico. We flew back home on July 4th which was full of delays in both Cancun and Orlando airport. Luckily Cancun airport is gorgeous with lots of shopping and restaurants. Orlando baggage claim was not so fun. Sitting on the floor and not being allowed to use your phone or electronics for over an hour because of thunderstorms and lightning outside was torture. The bitter part of a very sweet vacation in paradise but let's focus on the positives.

Interesting Finds: Travel Edition

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you have some fun plans lined up for the weekend or for 4th of July holiday next week. I'm sharing another edition of Interesting Finds, this time of the travel variety since vacationing is on my mind.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

I'm still reeling in all the fun we had while visiting Boston over Memorial Weekend. Our host did a great job at giving us the full Boston experience and a ballgame at Fenway Park was a huge part of it.

Historic Sightseeing Boston Harbor Cruise

Last Saturday we spent the day playing tourist exploring the beautiful city of Boston. Yesterday I posted about all the attractions we visited using the Boston CityPASS, with the Historic Sightseeing Cruise being my favorite of all.

Touring Boston with the CityPASS

One of the best things I decided to do was to purchase the Boston CityPASS for our day of exploring on Saturday over Memorial Weekend. For $56 the CityPASS includes admission to:

Museum of Science
Skywalk Observatory

The New England Aquarium
Harvard Museum of Natural History or Boston Harbor Cruise

Boston Trip Highlights

Happy Friday lovely friends! I'm so relieved this was a short work week because our Boston adventures last weekend left us feeling exhausted. After getting home super late on Monday night due to two delayed flights, the week started off a bit rough so the weekend will definitely help me get back on track and hopefully enjoy some relaxing even though I have a few plans with friends.

Travel Carry-On Essentials

Admittedly I'm one who always over packs for trips so we always have checked luggage even if it's one suitcase shared between K and I. Clothing and shoes go into the checked suitcase and I pack all my valuables and smaller travel essentials in hand luggage including a change of clothes in case our checked bag somehow doesn't arrive on the same flight.

2017 Travel Planning

The only trip we have booked, signed, and sealed is Boston in May but otherwise K and I have just started planning our one big trip of the year and some smaller trips to cities around the US.

2016 was a year filled with lots of travel adventures from Jamaica to Nashville and Canada to the Bahamas plus a few other fun places in between (recaps one / two / three) so I plan to check off a few more of my bucket list travel destinations this year. These are the places on my radar for 2017...

Boston

The trip is booked and accommodations are confirmed but I've yet to start researching things to do or planning any sort of itinerary.

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Ft Lauderdale Beach

This is not a new destination for us but we're thinking of returning to enjoy the beaches for our anniversary this summer.
Most recent trip to Ft Lauderdale.

Europe
This is a vague one because we're still figuring out what countries/cities to visit but the travel dates have been decided on so far.

Houston
One of my close girl friends is moving to Houston this year so I'm hoping to visit her but this is not a definite travel plan so far.
 

Chicago
Another city we've already been to but K wants to return for his birthday and to visit a friend.

Chicago 2014 Trip Recap
 

Austin

Austin is the other option for K's birthday which falls on a long weekend and is my personal preference since it's a new city to the both of us.

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Charleston

I have my heart set on Charleston for my birthday weekend but this could change between now and December, although I highly doubt it will.

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Islamorada: Final Favorites

Last week I shared the details of the beautiful resort we stayed at in Islamorada called The Postcard Inn and then did another post about the Rain Barrel Artisan's Village which was full of color and creativity. Today I have some final tidbits to share mainly some "must try" restaurants/sports bars and things to do.

I mentioned that we spent most of our time relaxing at the resort but we did venture out a few times. On Saturday, after exploring the Rain Barrel Market, we stopped in at Hog Heaven Oceanfront Sports Bar to grab a drink and watch some sports. I loved being outside on the waterfront while K enjoyed all the various games on the TVs around the bar.

 

 

When we booked our trip to Islamorada almost everyone recommended Lorelei's Cabana Bar & Restaurant for brunch so we made our way there on Sunday. It's a casual place with great food and mimosa specials for brunch and the waterfront patio seating is always my favorite kind of setting especially in the Keys.

We spotted this "Limo Boat" in the marina at Lorelei's which I thought was interesting. After doing some research, I found out this Nautilimo does cruise tours along the shoreline of the Florida Keys which would be cool but quite amusing at the same time.

K and I tasted, for the first time, and fell in love with frozen key lime daiquiris. What we didn't know was that the most popular place that makes them was at the World Famous Tiki Bar located on our resort, just a few steps from our hotel room. We had friends texting us saying "you have to try the Key Lime Daiquiris - they are amazing!" and we thought "Oh how convenient!" 

And amazing they were.

On Monday it was time to make the road trip back home so we had to fuel up before the 5-hour drive. We didn't have a place in mind but drove past The Island Grill and made a U-turn because it looked like the perfect spot for one last meal. This restaurant's claim to fame is "Home of the original tuna nachos" so we ordered the nachos along with some conch fritters to share  I've never tried anything more delicious. The restaurant was empty because it was 11am on a Monday but waterfront seating (once again) with good food was the perfect way to end the trip.

We did have one last stop on our bucket list and it was to visit The Original Key Lime Factory. Neither of us were in the mood for dessert so we bought a whole pie (frozen) to bring home to enjoy later in the week. K ate most of it but it definitely was an amazing treat!

So this wraps up everything about our Islamorada trip with all the extra favorites we indulged in and of course I'm dreaming of returning one day to explore more of the Florida Keys!

The Rain Barrel Artisan's Village

Yesterday I posted about the gorgeous and relaxing Florida Keys beach resort we stayed at in December for my birthday. While we were driving around Islamorada we stumbled on The Rain Barrel Artisan's Village and had to make a pit stop to check out the local arts and crafts.

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 The market was much bigger on the inside that I expected with several different galleries of art, sculptures, handmade crafts, jewelry along with a cafe to sip and enjoy. It was a fun experience walking through the village and exploring all the colorful local art. Since we were there in December I also picked up several pieces of art as Christmas gifts for our parents.

There's no entry fee to visit the Rain Barrel Village and it's open 7 days a week so if you happen to be visiting the Florida Keys or Islamorada, I definitely recommend stopping in to check out all the beautiful local arts and crafts.