June 26, 2013
Logan and I had a lovely week on the east coast and had so many amazing experiences! We spoke at the Yestermorrow Tiny House Fair, visited New York City, Boston, and little towns throughout Vermont. Since returning to Red Bluff, I’ve been trying to figure out how to write a wrap-up essay about the trip. After some thought, I decided to share a list that includes 19 things I loved about our travel adventures and three lessons I learned. Let's get started!
1. Travel logistics to the Yestermorrow Tiny House Fair were both challenging and fun. Our trip included planes, trains, and automobiles, which gave us an opportunity to gawk at the beautiful scenery on the east coast.
2. After a red-eye flight to NYC, Logan and I wandered around Central Park and spent hours in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. We were exhausted after the red-eye flight, but wanted to explore the city while we could. One of my favorite places in The Met was the roof top garden because the view was stunning!
3. Reconnecting with my family in NYC was the highlight of the trip. They made me feel at home and I loved in their cute apartment, which is across from Central Park!
4. Carpooling from Boston to Vermont with Dee and Joan rocked because we had the opportunity to catch-up on tiny house news.
5. Burlington, Vermont is a lovely city. It’s walkable, bikeable, and right on the edge of Lake Champlain. While we were in town, we had lunch with Ethan at a cute little cafe and chatted about tiny houses.
6. Speaking at the Yestermorrow Tiny House Fair, with Logan, was awesome! I loved meeting fellow tiny house enthusiasts and connecting with bloggers, designers and builders that I’ve corresponded with over the years. It was nice to have face time. I also loved camping on the Yestermorrow campus and looking at all the cute cabins.
7. Vermont’s landscape was stunning because the state is filled with green open spaces. As a bonus there are no billboards on the freeway and there are trees as far as the eye can see.
8. I enjoyed having meaningful conversations with my friend Dee about grief.
9. I loved sitting in my camp chair and writing about the meaning of home in my journal.
10. We had a memorable afternoon in Boston visiting with Logan’s former co-workers. We took a ferry to their new lab for a tour and then had a beer in Charlestown at the Ironside Grill. As we explored the city, Logan and I played the “what if” game. In May 2012, Logan found out that his boss, along with his job, would move from Portland, Oregon to Boston. He was offered the same research position in Boston. However, rather than moving to Boston we opted to move back to California. Living in Boston would have been an interesting adventure, but the opportunity came at the wrong time in our lives.
11. We splurged and had lobster rolls for lunch in downtown Boston. They were tasty!
12. My cousin makes delicious gin and tonics; a perfect happy hour beverage.
13. When I lived in Sacramento, I used to run with my friend Kai three or four times a week. We would meet at 5.30 a.m. and run around downtown Sacramento. He moved to NYC shortly after we moved to Portland in 2010 and I was so happy to meet-up with him at Joe Coffee in the West Village!
14. On our last night in NYC, we ate at Carmine’s on the upper west side. It’s an Italian family style restaurant and the food was excellent.
15. When we wandered through Washington Square Park it was a hot, muggy day. The flowers were in bloom, the bees were buzzing, and a street performer was showing off his pigeon friend to a group of tourists.
16. I loved people watching in Boston, New York, and in Vermont.
17. I don’t like underground spaces because they make me feel claustrophobic. On this trip, I decided to conquer my fear of the NYC subway. Now I see why the locals use the subway; it was fast, fun, and air-conditioned!
18. Each time I visit the east coast, I fall in love with the architecture and history. I loved snapping photos of the beautiful buildings in NYC and Boston.
19. I’m SO happy I left my DSLR at home. I used my iPhone to take travel photos and they turned out really well! I’ve been thinking of selling my DSLR and buying a small Olympus EP3.
Parting words . . .
I learned three lessons from our east coast trip, including:
1. You don’t have to plan every moment of a trip. Going with the flow and being flexible made our trip really enjoyable. For example, we planned on driving from the Boston airport to Yestermorrow and setting up camp. However, we were exhausted by the time we rolled into Concord, New Hampshire. Rather than push through the drive we stayed at the Holiday Inn and had burgers and beer at The Barley House. Making sure we were well rested — and well fed — made our travels much more enjoyable.
2. Downtime is essential. Attending conferences both inspires and drains me. Over the years, I’ve learned to build in downtime for myself while I’m traveling or at conferences. Rather than staying up late every night, I tried to go to bed early.
3. Make more time. I thought one week would be enough time on the east coast. But it wasn’t. I wanted a few more days to explore NYC and to hang out with family. On my next trip east, I’m going to add a few more days to the journey.