Overpacked

To my friends who've heard me extol the wonders of being a parent and how you should have a child pronto, just stop reading this post now. It will freak you out.

Parenthood is magical, but the packing is insane. We just went on a short trip to Ohio to attend a funeral - 2 days worth of driving and only one day there. Knowing we needed to keep Indio entertained for the 6-7 hours to and from Ohio, as well as dressed and fed during the whole excursion, we packed the following in his interest:

• One pack of stickers with a composition book to stick them in (genius idea, thanks Mom)
• 5 mini machine construction toys
• Portable DVD player with 12 DVDs
• 1 Thomas the Train figurine
• 9 plastic safari animals
• 16 wooden animals
• 22 piece wooden train set
• 7 miscellaneous books
• Snacks: fruit leathers, freeze dried yogurt snacks, cereal bars, juice
• 3 sippy cups
• 2 sets of toddler utensils and 1 plastic bowl
• 1 Pack 'n Play with mattress, sheets, 3 blankets and 1 monkey doll
• Bath toys, towel, 3 washcloths
• 2 gallon bags filled with toiletries - including bathwash, toothpaste and brush, sunscreen, buttpaste, an assortment of medicines (just in case), thermometer, snot sneaker, Vaseline.
• 6 outfits - one outfit a day is sometimes not realistic, so I doubled the number
• 2 sets of pajamas
• 3 pairs of shoes - no idea why we needed that many
• 1 Cardinals hat
• Diapers and wipes

The Tetris skills we diligently honed in our youth are finally paying off when it comes to packing for trips. Thank you, video games, thank you.

Stockholm Synopsis

Upon our return from Stockholm...months ago...Daniel had the foresight to jot down a few notables about the Scandinavian destination. Good thing he did since I am just now sitting down to write it up.

Public Transportation: In a word, fantastic. Buying a pass granted you access to the metro trains, the commuter trains and a few ferries (or so I am told on the ferry part, we didn't try that out.)

Fika: A coffee break, as I experienced it. But not American style where you grab a cup of whatever your poison is and scurry back to your cube. This was sitting in a lounge for 10-15 minutes with your colleagues, chatting and eating goodies that people brought in.

Lots of English Speakers: Everyone we encountered spoke English and was very accommodating to the tourist that didn't speak a lick of the native tongue. Even when we were addressed in Swedish, the speaker slipped into English quickly after getting the old 'deer in headlights' look from us.

Vasa Museum: Even when viewed under completely jet-lagged conditions, this museum is cool. It is a building surrounding a recovered wooden gunship from the 1700s that was perfectly preserved in the cold harbor mud for the centuries after sinking immediately after launch. A stop that was recommended to us repeatedly, and we will definitely pass along the recommendation.


[Vasa gunship]
Scandinavian Design: All I needed to go on a huge shopping spree was a whole lotta money and a ship to courier my purchases back to the states. Not for everyone, but I saw lots of fantastic furniture and accessories that made me drool just a bit.

Everyone is in a hurry: We aren't sure if this is unique to Stockholm, or we weren't in Kansas anymore, but people clearly had places to go and people to see.

Seating at a movie: You choose assigned seats using the same self-service terminal used to purchase your tickets. Depending on which side of the coin you find yourself on, it eliminates the tension of seat saving.

Restaurants are expensive: Lunches are subsidized by the government, making them somewhat affordable - although still on the pricey side by American standards. Fast forward to supper and the bill adds up quickly (starting at $20 per person but more commonly hitting $30 per person.)

Soda and sugary cereals are virtually non-existent: Can you believe they don't have a full aisle dedicated to each of these beloved sugar-chocked treats?

Maternity leave: Maternity leave in Sweden is insane by U.S. standards. Swedish paternity leave is actually better than most U.S. companies' maternity leave. Don't quote me on the specifics, but maternity leave is something along the lines of 15 months to split between your first two children. Paternity is 3 months. Lots of rules and regs that I am leaving out, but with U.S. maternity leave often times being 6-12 weeks, they still have the upper hand.

Taxes: Someone has to pay for all the maternity leave time, so the downside of all the benefit is the taxation. Sales tax was 25% for just about everything we purchased. The real stickler for Swedes is the income tax - with the highest bracket being over 50%. Ouch. Having kids is starting to look pretty good, huh?

Postage: It cost the same amount to mail something to the United States as it does within Sweden (at least a postcard).

Coin op laundry: Doesn't exist. As previously mentioned, we were caught in Sweden for a few extra days and our clean clothing options were dwindling (the first time overpacking has actually paid off). Fortunately, one of my co-workers reserved a time slot in her apartment building to do laundry, otherwise I guess we would have continued to clean our clothes in the hotel tub.

Photojournalist: Stockholm sweet 'holm

Whew...volcanoes must take a lot out of a person because I have just now uploaded and sorted through all my Sweden pictures - only 2 months late. There on business, we did manage to get in some sightseeing on the weekends and evenings around various neighborhoods of Stockholm. More on that later...give me a few months.

Clockwise from top left: Overlooking neighborhood Gamla Stan (Old Town); old church in neighborhood Norrmalm; train coming in at Radmansgatan station; view from an alleyway in Gamla Stan; escalator to heaven in train stop.

Excuses, excuses...

I have been a very bad blogger for quite some time now. I meant to post something...anything...just to keep it going - but obviously that didn't happen. So then I meant to post a list indicating all the reasons why I haven't been a diligent blogger - and that didn't happen. But now I have an awesome excuse for not blogging (even though I am able to actually blog my excuses, just think of it as one of those "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" kind of things.)

[picture via reuters]

1) The volcanic eruption in Iceland.

Seriously, this counts because we are currently in Sweden trying to get back to the States. We were supposed to fly out today, but no flights means no flights and we can't get on anything earlier than Thursday. Until then, no pictures for you.

I was going to list other reasons, but do you seriously care that we upgraded a computer, traveled to LA for a week or were just plain lazy? I think not.

[Update . 04/22/10: The ash clouds parted and all our flights went off without a hitch, placing us firmly back on American soil after a short 4 day extension.]

Eagle Days Revised - taking out the milquetoast

A few of my loyal readers (ummm, so really just my husband and sister) confided that my last post on Eagle Days was a bit milquetoast. Where were the pictures? Where was text that didn't sound like it was plagiarized from a 3rd-rate travel website? Never one to settle with mediocrity - or at least this time I decided not to settle - I have come to re-write my wrongs. Don't misunderstand: the writing won't magically get any better, but I do have more pictures.

We've got eagles!

Eagles!

Eagles!

...and small towns.

Clockwise from top left: Clarksville V.F.W.; Clarksville looking up one of the main streets; Elsberry - home of Unk's Bait, Tackle and Liquor; Elsberry commercial strip.

And one more thing: in the small burg of Elsberry, this small town girl (Mexico, MO: population 12,000) got made fun of by even smaller town people. Go figure. Daniel stopped in at Unk's Bait, Tackle and Liquor (because what else do you need?) and I decided to snap a few pictures of the immediate surroundings. I look up and see a face staring out at me from inside of Unk's clearly talking to an unseen person behind them. When Daniel came out he gave the full scoop that they were in fact trying to figure out what the hell I was taking pictures of.

Eagle Days

From St. Louis, it is just a relatively short jaunt down a country highway before you find yourself on the Mississippi River amongst bald eagles during the winter months. Watching bald eagles definitely has an allure, though I am not sure if it is the size and soaring grace, the striking contrast of the head against the body feathers or our devotion to our nation's symbol. Ben Franklin's take on the majestic bird: “I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country; he is a bird of bad moral character; like those among men who live by sharking and robbing, he is generally poor, and often very lousy." Okay, but he wanted a turkey as our nation's representative for crying out loud, so the Father of France doesn't know best.

From St. Louis - you have a few options on eagle watching. Last weekend we set our sites an hour northwest, going west on I-70 and north on 79. Getting there is half the fun as highway 79 is sprinkled with several small towns that you drive through. From south to north, here are the towns we 'visited', with posted populations:

O'Fallon 17, 425
St. Paul 1634
Old Monroe 250
Winfield 723
Foley 178
Elsberry 2047
Annada 48
Clarksville 490



Our destination was the small town of Clarksville and host of Eagle Days - a weekend of eagle watching on the edge of the river sitting just downstream from a lock and dam. The lock and dam is key to the operation as the dam prevents the river from freezing over and the fish shoot out of the dam a little bit stunned and a whole lot easier for the eagles to catch. During Eagle Days you will also find a handful of shops open - ready to sell bent willow furniture, natural bath products, antiques, and hand-blown glass. Be sure to wander by the V.F.W., where the smoker outside was advertising some kick-ass BBQ, or the concession stand to order up your hot dog or funnel cake. After a few hours taking in all we could, we hopped back into our car and headed home - glad to have ridded ourselves of cabin fever for the day.

Short list: 22 Course list at Saam

What could a 22 course tasting menu possibly be comprised of? The one I briefly mentioned at tasting room, Saam, was absolutely fantastic and surprisingly less filling than many meals I've had before. Fortunately, the menu for the evening is rolled up and presented with the bill for posterity.

1 Nitro Caipirihna . 2 Artichoke Chips . 3 Caviar Steamed Bun . 4 Bagel and Lox Cone . 5 Olive Oil Bonbon . 6 Olives Ferran Adrià . 7 José's Ham & Cheese . 8 Boneless Chicken Wing . 9 "Canned" White Asparagus . 10 Sea Urchin Ceviche . 11 Japanese Baby Peaches . 12 Guacamole "New Way" . 13 "Corn on the Cobb" . 14 Kampachi "Nigiri" . 15 Norwegian Cigalas . 16 "Smoked" Arctic Char . 17 Not your Everyday Caprese . 18 Tournedos Rossini . 19 Dragon's Breath Popcorn . 20 Thai Dessert . 21 Warm Chocolate Mousse with Pear . 22 Bonbons

Photojourna.list: Sunday in the 'bu

Upon arrival in L.A. last week, our accommodating hosts agreed to make the haul from Pasadena to Malibu to get in a little bit of beach time - I think they felt sorry for my landlocked butt. We had a wonderful afternoon in Paradise Cove, capped by a dinner at the restaurant (NOTE: validation at the restaurant means parking only cost $3 vs. a hefty $25 parking fee. No matter we ate a bill way more than $22.)

Short list: Los Angeles

Ahhh, a work week in Los Angeles is just what the doctor ordered. Who cares that they are in the middle of a heat wave (triple digits in the Valley) with fires to the west and north? But seriously, getting back to Southern California is always good. Here is my off-the-cuff list of songs dedicated to this town:

L.A. . Murs
Under the Bridge . Red Hot Chili Peppers
California Dreamin . Mamas & Papas
California Love . Tupac
Walking in L.A. . Missing Persons
L.A. Woman . The Doors

Tips for traveling in Toronto

Toronto, we hardly knew ye - which is a bummer, because you seem cool.

We drove in to Toronto on Sunday sometime late morning. By the time we returned our rental car and settled into sight-seeing, it was mid afternoon and time was slipping through our fingers quickly. While we didn't do anything touristy, we did get in a good afternoon and evening of window shopping at the art galleries and shops in the West Queen West neighborhood and then on to downtown for more self-guided wandering.

During our brief stay we tried every type of land transportation Toronto had to offer: (rental) car, subway, bus, taxi, street car, on foot and train. In case you find yourself in Toronto, here are the lessons we learned, so you don't have to the hard way.

• Toronto had a very good transportation system, so forgoing a rental car is a very real possibility unless you need to go to the outlying areas. Additionally, the public transportation and areas we traveled to all seemed very safe. My measure of safe: I spotted elderly women and teenage girls using public transportation alone. If they can do it, I figured it must be safe.


• A public transportation day pass can be obtained at the currency exchange booths in the Pearson Airport. This means you don't have to freak out looking for exact Canadian change every time you ride the bus, subway or street cars.


• Money saving tip: On weekends, 2 adults can ride Toronto's public transportation on just 1 day pass. They also have other family configurations on the back of the pass, in case that applies to you.


• Amtrak is an American company. Toronto is in Canada. Even though you may be taking the Amtrak train back into the U.S., Canadians (understandably) don't know what you are talking about when you say Amtrak, so just call it the train.


• The Toronto traffic we experienced from the airport rivaled Los Angeles. To be fair, the highway was undergoing construction so I don't think it is like that all the time.
  
• Get used to the metric system if you are driving. 1 km = 0.62 miles. The sign showing a speed limit of 100 is in km/hour, which is a decidedly less cool 62 MPH.
  

Clockwise from top left: Building in downtown Toronto I thought was shutter-worthy; streetcar passing by in West Queen West neighborhood; he asked me to take his picture; street food selling just about anything you can think of in downtown Toronto. Above, left: Toronto Union Station in the somewhat early morning.

A Raving Review of The Drake Hotel . Toronto

Full disclosure: I need to start this review by telling you I am completely and unabashedly smitten with The Drake Hotel in Toronto. On paper it seems so wrong: really small rooms at more than a budget price. But, I saw the pics and read the reviews and they had me double-knotted around their cleverly packaged little pinkie. As I write this entry I have Whitesnake's Is This Love? song running through my head - fitting for both my affection of the hotel and inserting a bit of tongue-in-cheek trendy vibe the hotel exuded. How could a hotel conjure such emotion, you ask? Let me elaborate:

The upgrade. For reasons unknown, we were upgraded from the smallest room (dubbed the 'Crashpad') to the next largest size ('Den') free of charge. Already a step in the right direction.

Fantastically chic decor. The hotel was a mix of modern and camp with a twist of eclectic. As soon as we got to our room the look of idiotic giddiness must have been written all over my face as Daniel remarked, "Oh God, you are going to want to take tons of photos, aren't you?" Beyond just the wallpaper and furniture choices, the utilization of space was a thing of beauty. Rooms, a rooftop garden bar, cafe, restaurant, meeting room and performance venue all resided in the old hotel. Rethinking traditional layouts was a must and our room was about the size of a bedroom with the sink, toilet and shower fitting at the short end of the room - allowing for all the necessary components in a cozy environment.

The amenities. A hip location and forward-thinking designs deserve cutting-edge amenities, no? Available for fees were yoga classes in the Yoga Den, in-room spa services and the Pleasure Menu. What is a Pleasure Menu? I would just say "I think you know" with a raised eyebrow and leave it at that, but I had no idea what one was so I will spell it out. The Pleasure menu is a list of packages and a-la-carte items you can order up to...ummm...provide pleasure for those in the room. And, no, not escort services, but adult toys and movies for your viewing pleasure. I will add that taking the actual Pleasure menu from the room incurred a $100 charge on your bill - so I didn't take it and will not be able to discuss options verbatim.

The service. Though it may seem trivial, the staff was friendly and inviting. I feel if The Drake was dropped into L.A. the same could not be said (shame, shame). For example, upon checking in the concierge asked if we had a nice outing and seemed genuinely interested. Not enough? Also, we dropped off our bags before check-in and returned to find they were delivered to our (upgraded) room...it is the little things that count.

Did this place of goodness have its faults? Yes, 2.5 faults by my calculation:

1) The public bathrooms outside the hotel bar smelled like urine - though this was a common issue in Toronto.

2) The shower in our room was just a degree or two too cold for comfort.

2.5) Everything in the room marketed The Drake hotel in some way - labels, brochures, books. I studied all the materials like I had an upcoming quiz, but Daniel thought it was overkill (hence the only half point ding.)

Linked list: Toronto

O Canada...here we come again! We are heading back to our friendly neighbor to the north for a friend's garden party wedding outside of Toronto. We decided to make it a long weekend hovering in and around Toronto for the wedding and extracurricular activities, then taking a train down to Niagara Falls to round out the trip. (A map of our overall game plan, below, because I like maps.)


I have heard so many good things about Toronto and my excitement is mounting with each suggestion of places to go and things to do. Here are some websites I keep going back to for my research:

NY Times Travel - I love reading the NY Times articles about travels both exotic and mundane, so it follows that I should at least see what they have to say about Toronto. I was pleased they executed the trip tips portion of the website very well with guides on where to stay, shop, eat AND an interactive map to boot.

The Drake Hotel - To be perfectly honest, I was first intrigued by a hotel review noting it was a favorite of the hipster community. I clicked on the link with a scoff at the ready, because the hipster community easily induces scoffs. What I found was an amazing looking boutique hotel that I booked immediately - maybe these hipsters are on to something.

Design*Sponge - My sister, Alyse, recently turned me on to this design/lifestyle website, which includes a city guide section. The city guides are typically written by locals and include all sorts of goodness that might not be on the typical tourist checklist.

Toronto.com - Every self-respecting city's tourism board must have a website. Toronto is no different.

Toronto Transit Commission - We plan on the old self-guided tour approach using public transportation. To do this, you need maps...and at least a partial plan.

Alaskan Cruise

Having just returned from a 2 week cruise to Alaska and inland to Denali National Park, I wanted to dedicate some serious space to our adventures. I finally have my pictures sorted through and uploaded - with the list being over the course of 13 entries that I backdated to correspond to the dates of our trip. If you'd rather start at the beginning, click here and select the 'newer post' link to walk through in chronological order.

Day 13- 14 . Anchorage to...Phoenix?

Daniel and I hot-trotted around Anchorage for the day...and I mean hot-trotted, we walked to a movie theater 2.5 miles away to burn the afternoon until his cousin, Gaelen was off work. Everyone in Anchorage was very polite to pedestrians and they had very cool art galleries. We ate lunch at Orso - which was a global fusion view with local ingredients (my favorite view and ingredients) and a good selection of cocktails and microbrew beers. The kitchen was cool enough to let me take a quick picture, all the while one of the chefs stood next to me yelling comments to the chefs in the picture.



Later that night the big plan was to catch a flight from Anchorage at 1:45 AM for a ridiculously short layover in Phoenix and on to St. Louis. The incoming flight to Anchorage was delayed and, of course, we missed our layover flight. The 20 minute layover* in Phoenix became a 10 hour layover in Phoenix...awesome. But don't worry, we got a $5 lunch voucher and $10 dinner voucher. Not sure if you have ever bought food at an airport, but clearly the airline customer service employees have not - $5 won't even buy you a smoothie drink. The upswing is Daniel has an aunt, Andrea, in Phoenix and we were able to have a fun day hanging out with her - but I will fail to mention that in my complaint to US Airways.

*I blame the travel-booking genius of the travel agent. Don't get me started on that.

Day 12 . Talkeetna

Talkeetna is just a small spit-in-the-bucket kind of town south of Denali. It was roughly the halfway point back from Denali to Anchorage and from the train it looked a few dirty buildings that had nothing to offer.

	Actually hitting the pavement in the small town proved otherwise. Having grown up in a small town by the 'lower 48' standards, I would say this is true of most small towns: the highway/railroad views belie the true nature of the town itself. This makes sense - who wants a highway or railroad running through the most charming parts of town? But I digress...

Talkeetna held the biggest revelation of this whole trip: The Roadhouse. A small cafe and boarding house with surprisingly good food and was a magnet for both young hippies and cruise-goers alike. The aroma of good food was mixed with an inhale of someone who didn't believe in purchasing deodorant - but it gave the place a bit of authenticity rather than being off-putting. With only about 6 entrees, a few soup specialities, cinnamon rolls and brewed tea* as their main menu, this cafe seemed to be following all the rules of restaurants shows: small menu and good food - with an eclectic atmosphere. A quick trip down the hall gave a brief view into the bunk rooms and laundry services offered to the house guests, with amenities rivaling a maintained summer campground. The waiter was friendly and clearly liked to make friendly fun of tourists by answering the question "do you take credit cards?"** with "no, only seal skin furs." Poor guy, though, as well all looked at our table mates with a look as if to implore "do you have a seal skin fur?" We didn't have any furs and he quickly relented and they accept our credit cards.

*Good ice tea was really hard to get and most iced tea consisted of crap instant mix. Just saying.
**Side note: To defend my question - it seems there are some establishments that don't take credit cards, take a weird assortment of credit cards or have minimums, so I thought it a fair question. Especially since we had no cash and they wanted to be paid.

Day 11 . Denali National Park to Mt. McKinley lodge

For those of you not 'in the know' (myself included until this trip) Mt. McKinley and Denali are one in the same. Personally, I like the name of this 20,320 ft mountain as Denali and especially now that I've heard the history of the name. I take this excerpt from Wikipedia, which is similar to the account I heard in Alaska:

"William Dickey, a New Hampshire-born Seattleite, who had been digging for gold in the sands of the Susitna River, wrote, after his return to the lower states, an account in the New York Sun that appeared on January 24, 1897. He wrote “We named our great peak Mount McKinley, after William McKinley of Ohio, who had been nominated for the Presidency”. By most accounts, the naming was a pure political one; he had met many silver miners who zealously promoted Democratic presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan's ideal of a silver standard, inspiring him to retaliate by naming the mountain after a strong proponent of the gold standard."

But this mountain demands respect:

• One of the 7 summits
• Has a larger bulk and rise than Mt. Everest
• To climb (helicoptered from base camp) is something along the lines of 18-21 days with a 50% success rate. To hike into base camp and then climb I think was 6 weeks - though don't quote me.
• The mountain creates it's own weather, causing clouds to surround the mountain and only 20-30% of visitors (depending on who/what you listen to) get to view Denali. When it's visible, it can be seen from Fairbanks and Anchorage.
  

So we saw the peak from within the park (70-80 miles north of the peak) and driving into the Mt. McKinley lodge (40 miles south of the peak) - very lucky indeed. I have pics from Denali National Park, but unfortunately failed to snap pics on the motor coach to the lodge and some views are very brief, this one included. At the lodge overlooking the park and mountain, though completely cloudy, was still an awesome view.

Day 10 . Denali National Park



Denali National Park. A 9 hour train inland, so the park has to be good right? It was. Full of landscapes my camera struggled to keep up with, the experience itself was interesting and relaxing. The day consisted of an almost 8 hour bus ride only 56 miles into the park (and back out the same way). I thought they must have stopped at every possible mile and forced us to hike up a mountain at that rate - but actually we were on the bus almost the whole time navigating the winding roads and, despite seeing a completely unmasked Denali, the bus driver did not slow or pull over for silly things like pictures. Still, the trip was good. Fortunately, towards the back of the bus someone noted a caribou running through a creek bed that was an amazing site to see. We were driving parallel to it and the caribou was alone and hauling ass*. Our bus driver struggled to keep up with the siting and floored it to get us to a vantage point with clearings so we could get a good view of the animal. Later we viewed far glimpses of Dall sheep (with the big ram horns) and bears. These were all dots, even zooming in with my camera lens, but it was wonderful to see animals thrive in such a beautiful setting.


*Stop reading if you are eating or at all queasy: In the Denali National Park Visitor Center we later learn mosquitoes lay their larvae on caribou; the larvae burrow into the skin and grow - to the great discomfort of the caribou. For this reason, when caribou are near water they run at fast speeds to avoid mosquitoes. I think we all agree this seems reasonable.

Day 9 . Train from Whittier to Denali

Like my postcard writing, I feel my entries getting shorter and shorter....

We took a train to Denali National Park.

We ate, we slept, we drank champagne.

The scenery was beautiful.

Some were happy and some looked serious.

Wish you were here.

--Anica

Day 8 . College Fjords

Day 7 . Glacier Bay

Letting the pictures do the talking on this one.