Colorado

Hello Lovelies!

Josh and I ventured to the west for our first big trip of 2022! We visited Estes Park/Rocky Mountain National Park, Denver, and Colorado Springs. We kind of got lucky on timing for the trip, I learned through the middle of my booking that ‘busy season’ for most of Colorado starts Memorial day (which we were back home by then) and what ended up being a blessing in disguise was that it snowed lightly the day before we flew in. Colorado is much more prepared for snow than KY and IN ever will be so the roads were perfectly clear, and we got a snowy mountainous view.

Our time in Estes Park/Rocky Mountain National Park was spent mostly hiking. We started the morning with a hearty breakfast from Coffee on the Rocks. I had the iced coconut latte, and their sausage burrito. The burrito was greasy and coffee wasn’t the greatest but they had a really cute setup outside with a pond and mountain both in their backyard. I’d rate them a 5/10. We then headed out to our first hike, we tried to take it easy on our first full day due to the elevation change and trying to avoid getting sick. We hiked Alberta Falls and hiked a very short bit to see Bear Lake. The snow covered falls and lake were just breathtaking! We also learned that hiking in snow, is made easier by buying chains to put on the bottoms of your shoes. We had some time to kill before our dinner reservations, so we had a wine tasting at Snowy Peaks Winery, the wines were all good but they did seem to do better with the sweeter wines. We brought home their Riesling. We then went to The Barrel and I had a Pineapple mango mead that they had on hand (it was a bar so they didn’t make any of their things) the mead was ok but not great. We went to dinner at Twin Owls Steakhouse and was impressed with the food! They had beautiful mountainous views. We started with their wedge salad, then split the ribeye served twin owl style (blue cheese crumbles and pistachios) paired with potatoes au gratin. I’d rate them an 8/10.

Our second day we fueled up at Egg of Estes, I chose their banana strawberry waffle and Josh had their lump crab Benedict. I thought the waffle was good, but Josh wasn’t super pleased with his dish. I’d rate it a 6/10, just your typical small town breakfast spot. We decided to go full fledge hike and hiked up a small mountain (deer mountain trail), it was around 8 miles total, which for us was an accomplishment! After we were finished we decided to kill time from our dinner reservations by checking out a few of their breweries. We first went to Estes Park Brewery and I’m pretty sure this brewery was established before breweries were considered ‘cool’, they hadn’t done much to update the place. Beer was ok, I had their blueberry wheat and Josh had their porter. We split their super nachos, I’d rate them a 5/10. After we went to Lumpy Ridge Brewing and it was a much smaller location but the cool thing with them was they restored an old abandoned gas station. Their beer was pretty good, I had the sun lion pale ale and Josh had their german lager. I’d rate them a 7/10. We ended the night by having dinner at Hunter’s Chop House. We started with their elk carpaccio and I was surprised by how excellent this was (given the decor, I thought it would be your average run of the mill steakhouse), we then split their bison sirloin. The entree was not as good as the carpaccio, so it brought their rating down a bit. I’d rate them a 7/10, we still really liked them!

Our third day was split between Estes Park and Denver. We had some time to kill before we could checkin at our airbnb, so we took a relaxed pace with our breakfast in Estes. We went to Kind Coffee and I had their carmelo latte with a parmesan bagel and herb cream cheese, Josh had the avocado brioche toast. The food and coffee was amazing, and it was a cute place! I’d rate them a 10/10, they also had a cute outdoor area with a stream in their backyard. We ended up stumbling across a cute game store Frames, Games, and Things Unnamed next to the coffee shop so we went in and there was a kind older gentleman running the store whom I believed ran the store by himself and he was so passionate about games and very easy to talk with. He showed us how to play cribbage, and we ended up buying a board as a nice souvenir for ourselves. After spending more time than we initially had intended we headed to Denver.

We had lunch at Biker Jim’s and were surprised at the lack of decor in the place, but the hot dogs were pretty tasty! I had the conspiracy bacon cheddar brat and Josh had the el diablo elk jalapeno dog with splitting some smothered fries. We’d rate it 7/10. We then walked to Great Divide Brewing and really enjoyed their dark beer lineup. For dinner we started by going to the Cruise Room Speakeasy and I had their old fashioned with Josh trying something different with getting a sidecar. It was a cool place but their cocktails were overpriced. We walked through the Central Market and Dairy Block. We had dinner at Dio Mio and it was super yummy Italian pasta. We had their radiatori and agnolotti - I enjoyed my dish so much I’d rate the place a 9/10. We ended the night by going next door to The Infinite Monkey Theorem, I had their sauvignon blanc and Josh had their cab sauvignon. They were having trivia that night so we sat and watched for a bit.

Our next day we grabbed coffee at River and Roads Coffee and I just loved the place - it was so cute! Their coffee was great too. Next door they had a glass blown studio that we stopped in to look and ended up buying something for Josh’s mom there. We stopped for lunch at Kike’s Red Tacos and I highly recommend - we split their quesataco combo and got pork, steak, and burria as our protein of choice. I’d rate them an 8/10. Between lunch and dinner - we did a ton of brewery hopping. We started at Crooked Stave Taproom and I had their blueberry sour with Josh having their stout. Place was cool, beer was ok. We then moved to Bruz Beers which specialize in Belgian style beers, we had a few beers there and split a Denver chip company bag (you saw them in all the breweries) and understood what all the fuss was about - those chips were tasty! We then went to Clyfford Still Museum, the museum was cool but quite small - we aren’t huge into the art scene but still like to visit museums when we are on vacation and this one didn’t stick out to me much. We then moved onto Bierstadt Lager and had their slow pour pilsner (of which they are known for). It was worth the wait - it was quite tasty and they had a cool setup. They were in an old warehouse. After that we went to Our Mutual Friend and I think they were one of my favorites beer and decor wise, it was a colorful place and I really enjoyed my fruit sour there. We had dinner at Q House and split the chicken wings and duck lo mein, it was good - I’d rate it a 7/10. We ended our stay in Denver by drinking at the highly rated Cerebral Brewing and yes, their smaller oz pours are in legitimate beaker glasses. They had a cute space, and the beer was good but not as great as everyone else made it out to be.

Our last few days were spent in Colorado Springs. Our first stop was lunch at 503W and it was a cute space, and had some tasty food! I had their poke bowl, Josh had the Korean tacos and we shared their Korean french fries. I really enjoyed the meal and would rate it a 7/10. Next we took a tour at the US Olympic Training Center and I thought it was really cool how the tour was actually run by a para-olympian. Our dinner was at Four by Brother Luck and we were so excited because we always enjoy supporting the Top Chef contestants, but I think this might have been the worst high-scale restaurant we have gone to. Everything we had was a disappointment - we had the pappardelle with wild boar chorizo, duck chili, goddess salad, and the duck breast. The salad was so bad I had to send it back. The restaurant also did not portray high scale in my opinion, with the biggest downfall being the restroom. They were rundown and had cheap stalls - definitely not a restroom high dollar customers would want to use. I would rate it a 3/10 and it pains me to rate anyone that low. Afterwards we went to check out Cork & Cask and I have to say it was the cutest bar I’d ever gone to. They had the cutest velour sofas and chairs for each diner, along with a cute patio - it definitely lifted my spirits after the bad dining experience! Our last full day was spent going to Garden of the Gods and driving up Pikes Peak. Which, I must warn you that if you visit close to memorial day, they make you purchase a timed entry ticket to drive up, but it’s a 2 hour window to get there and checked in. We went to Dos Santos for lunch and had their guacamole, fish taco, and chicken Tinga taco. It was a good restaurant, I liked it, I would rate them a 7/10. After lunch we hopped over next door to Frozen Gold Ice Cream and split their cookie crumbles ice cream - it was yummy and was a nice treat after walking a lot at Garden of the Gods! Throughout the day, we visited Colorado Mountain Brewery and Pikes Peak Brewery - both cool places. Colorado Mountain Brewery was a huge space and could host a ton of people but seemed to cater to the older crowd, I’d say Pikes Peak was a bit more hip. We ended with dinner at Shuga’s and I must say we were pleasantly surprised with Shuga’s, we knew it was known for being eclectic and they certainly did not disappoint with that statement, but I also liked that they were big supporters of the LGBTQ+ community. I must say their food was absolutely delicious - which I was not expecting with them being mostly a lunch spot. We had their snack board, jalapeno bacon mac n cheese, spicy Brazilian coconut shrimp soup, and their Saskatoon sandwich. It was a ton of food - we ended up taking some of it home to eat later. All in all, I would rate them an 8.5/10. We really enjoyed Colorado and hope to be back in the near future!

Las Vegas, NV

Hey friends!

In September of 2021, I traveled to Las Vegas for the national HR conference. I thought it would be a great cheaper way to explore a city I’d never gone to before, so I had Josh fly in one of the last days of the conference and we stayed for 4 days. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with Vegas, I thought I wouldn’t like it much because I’m not much of a gambler but Vegas had lots more to do besides just gamble!

I stayed close to the hotel when I was by myself, but I did venture out to Casa Calavera one night and had some good Mexican food! I had the classic guacamole and the grilled shrimp taco, the guac was very good! Space was also cool. I’d give them a 7/10!

On Josh’s first night we ventured out to Sparrow + Wolf and enjoyed ourselves. We had the oxtail hummus, that night’s special of squid, and halibut for our main dish. It was a little on the loud side, but we would rate them an 8/10.

Our first full day together we spent walking the Strip going in and out of most resorts (such as Park MGM, NY NY, Paris, Venetian, Mirage, and MGM), we stopped for lunch at fellow Top Chef Alum Richard Blais’s The Crack Shack. Josh and I split the Mexican Poutine fries and he had the fire bird and I had the California drip - it was a lot of food! We probably could’ve gotten by with splitting just one sandwich. It was all really good though - we would rate 7.5/10. When we were in Park MGM, we walked around their Eatily marketplace (inspired by Italy) - it was super cool! Definitely recommend it! We ended up having lunch there another day. We had tickets to see Gabriel Iglesias in the evening and I gotta tell ya - he is absolutely hilarious! He is one of Josh’s favorite comedians, and he did not disappoint! Before the show we had dinner at Mott 32 and I have to say it was amazing! We had the hot and sour pork dim sum, crispy Szechuan chicken, crispy duck salad, prawn clay pot, and ended with coconut ice cream. I’d rate everything a 9/10!

Our second day together we drove out to explore Hoover Dam, Willow Beach, and the Red Rock Canyon Park, it was all so pretty! We stopped for breakfast at Sunrise Cafe for breakfast, I had the vanilla cold brew and cinnamon swirl french toast, Josh had the Fiesta Benedict. It was very yummy - rating would be 7/10. We wanted to kayak but didn’t want to spend an arm and a leg for a full day ride, it wasn’t beginner easy either so we opted to skip it. We did explore the area though and stopped at a local brewery Boulder Dam Brewing while we were out that way, and also stopped at Mariscos el Soto Loco and had corn in a cup and tacos - very good too 8.5/10. We went to Best Friend for dinner and had the bancho sampler, slippery shrimp, and kolbi beef. Josh liked it more than me, but I was having stomach issues that night. Still a very cool place and good food - 7/10.

The next day we ate lunch at Mr Fries Man and split the lemon bacon parmesan fries - they were very good but the location was junky and run down the food I’d rate 8/10 though. For dinner we went to Top Chef Alum Jamie Tran’s The Black Sheep and had the poached pear salad and duck confit we would rate 8.5/10 - we also got to meet her as she was working that night and she’s just as sweet and down to earth in person as she is on the show! We walked Fremont St and also did the zip line at night and it was so much fun! After the zip line, we went to Lucky Day Tequila + Mezcal House and Commonwealth Bar. Both were cool spaces, Lucky Day was very loud but I think that’s what the crowd likes late at night. We also lounged in the Flamingo’s adults only pool and it was really really nice, I wished we had gone more times than the one time we had!

The day we headed back home, we stopped at an In N Out - we had to since it’s such an iconic burger joint. It was good, but honestly think it’s a bit over-rated in my opinion.

Our trip to Vegas was awesome - I will definitely go back!

Atlanta, GA

Hey there friends!

Josh and I spent a few days in Atlanta to split our drive back from Charleston up, it was a very nice stopping point for us. I picked Atlanta mostly because I have been obsessed with a boutique called Red Dress Boutique who has exploded in popularity online and they have a store front based in Athens which is an hour drive away from Atlanta. Josh and I have also been wanting to check out Atlanta for a while now and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to do so!

We arrived around dinner time and we decided to check out their popular Ponce City Market and grab some dinner there. We stopped at JIA, a Szechuan inspired Chinese cuisine and it was very yummy! We had their fish in chili oil and their fried pork belly although I will say I wish they were both spicier (because that’s what that type of cuisine is supposed to be known for). We would rate them a 7/10. Following that I stopped at Batter Cookie Dough Counter and got their bourbon brown sugar cookie dough and topped it with some caramel bits, it was delicious! We ended the night with a stop to City Winery and ended up staying there a while and eventually got their Burrata and it was really yummy!

The next day was our day to shop, we traveled to Athens where Red Dress Boutique’s store front is. We looked around Athens once I was finished in Red Dress, but honestly there wasn’t a whole lot there so we headed back to Atlanta and did more shopping. I have a separate blog post for where I went shopping and pictures of what I purchased here! We had dinner at one of our favorite Top Chef alum Kevin Gillespie’s restaurant called Gunshow. They have a 10 dish tasting menu that is meant to be shared amongst two people. Some of the dishes were amazing and some were lacking. We would rate it a 6/10.

On our last full day we started with the World of Coke and the Georgia Aquarium. Both places were pretty cool, my personal favorites at World of Coke was the tasting room where you could taste various drinks that are popular from all over the world as well as their mock coke factory where you could see the various machines in action. The Georgia Aquarium was one of the largest I’ve been in and they had some animals I hadn’t seen before including the fat bellied seahorses, I also really enjoyed their Dolphin show as Dolphins are my favorite animal!

We were so hungry after seeing the attractions back to back that we picked somewhere we could walk to and stumbled on this hidden gem called Aviva Mediterranean inside a shopping center, I totally forgot to take any pictures but they were SO yummy! The owner was there and he was such a character, it was nice to see the owner there and interacting with the customers. I’d rate his place a 9/10. We ended our last day with dinner at Umi Sushi. We had their red snapper appetizer, sweet shrimp nigiri, octopus nigiri, tamago, unagi nigiri, wagyu beef nigiri, tuna nigiri, and lastly their crunch lobster box. It sounds like a ton of food but we split all of it and all nigiri were just 2 pieces. I’d rate them an 7.5/10.

The nice thing about driving is you have more leeway with when you leave, so we decided to leave after lunch. The first time we were at Ponce City Market we stumbled across The Splatter Studio and I thought it was so cool I made reservations for Saturday (the day we were leaving). It is what it sounds, you book a time you want to come and you get to splatter a bunch of paint on a canvas. It was a lot of fun! One thing to note is it takes about a week for them to dry, so keep that in mind if you are just visiting Atlanta you’ll have to pay to have them shipped back to your home. After we ate some lunch inside the market again, this time Josh had Botiwalla and I had Minero Mexican. Josh had the lamb boti kabab and I had a steak quesadilla and chips and queso. I would rate Minero a 7/10, it was very good!

That about sums up our experience in Atlanta, we enjoyed our stay here and hope to be back one day! Have you ever been to Atlanta?

Charleston, SC

Hi Friends!

What a year 2020 has been for all of us, we had planned on going to Australia this year but the pandemic had other plans us. Josh and I love to travel each year so this has probably been the longest we had gone without traveling. It had been over a year! I was starting to get really antsy and fed up with being stuck in our home town for too long.

I wanted to plan a trip but didn’t know where, I knew it had to be drivable as we didn’t feel comfortable flying yet with the pandemic still in place. I was stuck on where we should go, Josh was actually the one to suggest Charleston. I researched it and picked a date for us to go!

Charleston is a really cute city, with endless great food options and quite a few beach spots to go to as well. We ended up staying in an Airbnb on the beach of Isle of Palms and it was very nice! We loved being right on the beach. It’s a 9-9.5 hour drive for us from southern Indiana, and we aren’t morning people so we got in around 8 pm.

We started with dinner at The Obstinate Daughter on night 1. We had their geechie frites, Pappardelle pasta, and Rutledge pizza. We thought their pizza was really good and the frites were good, we were a bit disappointed with the pasta, it just didn’t have a fantastic flavor profile. The space itself had a cool vibe, but it was a little difficult to find as it was in a space that had other stores and you had to walk upstairs to find it. Overall I’d rate it a 7/10.

Our first full day we started with seeing The Drayton Hall and Magnolia Plantation & Gardens. Both were cool places, I recommend seeing if you have time! The Drayton Hall is an 18th century estate that is the nation’s earliest example of Palladian architecture. Shown below are the original blue walls and ceiling that were hand crafted. At Magnolia Plantation & Gardens we toured the main grounds, I don’t believe you can enter their plantation currently. It was a pretty place, but I bet it is even prettier in the spring when the flowers are in bloom. I loved all the moss trees and they had a cool bush maze we went through too!

We ate lunch at the historic 82 Queen Street, it was my favorite restaurant of all the ones we went to! I had their Bloody Mary, and barbeque shrimp and grits. Josh had the crab cake benedict, and we split a bowl of their famous she crab soup (it was my favorite thing we had).

After lunch we had explored The Battery and shopped along King St. The Battery is an extensive row of really pretty mansions, below are a few shots of my favorites. King St is a really cool area of local boutiques and restaurants, I will talk more in depth about what shops I enjoyed and bought stuff at here!

For dinner we went to the award winning Rodney Scott BBQ and split their whole hog, hush puppies, and mac n cheese. Rodney Scott BBQ is known for smoking it whole hog and serving Carolina style. Josh was looking forward to this so much, we were both a tad disappointed. I guess you can call us BBQ snobs, it just wasn’t that exciting but it was good! I’d rate it a 6/10. After we ate dinner we explored some of Charleston’s breweries and they did not disappoint! We went to Palmetto Brewery, Revelry Brewing, and finished at Holy City Brewing. Revelry had super cute balcony seating and Holy City had the best loaded fries I’ve had in a long time! I guess Josh and I were so hungry that we forgot to snap a photo of said fries.

Monday we hung out on Isle of Palms Beach which is where we stayed. It was nice and sunny, Josh and I stayed there until lunch time. For lunch we just went somewhere we could walk to and that would also not take much time as we had a sunset sail tour to go to at 4. We ate at Acme Kitchen and I had their whistle top shrimp and grits with fried green tomatoes, and Josh had their fish catch of the day sandwich. Place was okay, about what we expected. I’d rate it a 5/10.

The sailing tour we did through Charleston Harbor Tours and it was amazing! It was actually REALLY windy at the time so it worked out perfectly for the sails. We had time to kill before our dinner reservations so we checked out Edmund’s Oast Brewing Co and they had a really cool outdoor seating area and great beer! Highly recommend! We ended the night with dinner at Husk. At Husk we started with their house cured meats charcuterie board and then split their catfish and ended with apple pie. Husk was good, we would go back for sure! My personal favorite was the apple pie. I’d rate them a 7/10.

Tuesday we visited Folly Beach as it was one of the highest rated beaches on the internet in Charleston but honestly we preferred Isle of Palms beach. Folly felt too touristy for us, it definitely had all the souvenir shops and family friendly restaurants. We did find a light house on Folly Beach though! For lunch we ended up going to Lewis BBQ. When I was doing my initial restaurant research the highest rated were Lewis and Rodney Scott, I didn’t want to eat at 2 BBQ places in a few days time so Josh and I had narrowed it down to Rodney Scott because of the Carolina style BBQ for something different. Well we talked to the locals in passing at shops and other restaurants and they all told us to try Lewis, so we did and we are SO glad we did! It had such a cool indoor and outdoor space and was hands down the best BBQ we have ever had!! We had time to spare before our dinner reservations so we killed time at Wine and Company and happened to walk into their special wine tasting night and got to taste 5 wines for the SUPER cheap price of $10 a person! It was such a fun experience. We ended our final night in Charleston at Darling Oyster Bar and we both tried raw oysters for the first time and definitely understand what all the hype of oysters are now! They are SO delicious! We also had their blue crab tagliatelle.

Well ya’ll, that concludes our trip to Charleston. We absolutely loved every second of it and all that Charleston has to offer. We will for sure be back! Have you ever been to Charleston? What did you love?