California Dreaming: San Francisco

September 12, 2024September 12, 2024 / azlotnik / Leave a comment

I was born a Valley Girl. I lived in LA (Northridge) until I was nearly six and my family moved to Atlanta. I have spent over 30 years in the South but I don’t consider myself a Southerner. I’ve been back to California many times since the big move, mainly to LA. I have an aunt and Uncle who live in San Francisco and I’ve visited them many times since I was a kid. Recently my husband and I took our son to see them and the Bay Area. We had many fun experiences during our San Francisco vacation (and a few setbacks) but thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

From touring the city to an amusement park, a county fair, a national park, and a sailboat ride, we packed it all in during our stay. It took a full day’s travel there and back, so we had five days of sightseeing and activities in the Bay Area. (and a sixth unplanned day, which I will cover later)

Day 1: Sonoma-Marin Fair
We had a great time at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma. It was my second visit to this fair. I went when I was thirteen years old and visited my family over the summer. Now, I got to experience the fair with my husband and son. We enjoyed the rides. My son and I loved going on the Ferris Wheel. My husband would not get on a Ferris wheel, so he watched us from the ground. My son rode on a pony, rode his first little roller coaster, and rode all day. There were livestock shows, rabbits to look at (raised by kids in the local 4H club), artwork, and farm animals. It was a wonderful day.

Day 2: Train Town
My son LOVES trains. He plays with toy trains and runs model trains. He could talk about trains all day. He knows the names of all the parts and how they work together. He loves Thomas and Friends and The Polar Express. On the second day of our trip, we went to Train Town, a train amusement park. He was in heaven. We rode a small train that went throughout the park. It was a wooded area with waterfalls and a small town similar to those used in model railroad displays. We got off the train and went to all the shops, the fire stations, the school, etc. It was so neat to look at everything. We fed llamas and goats at the petting zoo.

Train Town also has amusement park rides. We went on the scrambler and that was the most fun I’ve had in a long time. We all loved it. We then rode the roller coaster. The coaster was much bigger than my son rode the day before at the fair. He was so brave. I went on it with him the first time. It had been so long since I’d been on a roller coaster, and even though it was a kid’s ride, I still felt a rush of adrenaline, and it was a little scary for me. My husband and son went on it next and then my son rode it all by himself. He was so brave and had so much fun. Train Town has a few old caboose and train cars that have been renovated and restored. My son had a blast walking through and climbing on these cars playing a pretend game riding the train. We stopped for lunch and then returned to the park, closing it down. He still talks about going back.

Day 3: The City. San Francisco
There is so much to see in San Francisco, you can’t possibly do it all in one day. We drove across the Golden Gate Bridge. It was foggy, so not a great view. We started our city day by driving down Lombard Street, the crookedest street in the world. It’s neat to look down from the top and see the winding road. We stopped at the bottom to take pictures and headed to our next stop, Fisherman’s Wharf. We played vintage arcade games at Musee Mecanique. This was my first time there and we all loved it. The arcade is one of the world’s largest privately owned collections of coin-operated mechanical musical instruments and antique arcade games. You can play any of their 300-plus machines in original working condition. Most games are between 25 cents to a dollar. We played some of the musical instruments. My son especially enjoyed the self-playing mechanical pianos and wack a mole. I liked the fortune teller and the mechanical carnival. They also had pinball machines and some more modern games from the 1980s. Many of the arcade games are from the early 1900s.

We then had lunch on the Wharf at Boudin Bakery. Their calm chowder in a sourdough bread bowl is the best. Afterward, we went to Ghiradelli Square and got huge ice cream sundaes. I still can’t believe we at the whole thing! Delicious! We ended our day with a cable car ride, my son’s favorite thing of the day. He sat in the front on the outside of the car and loved every second of the ride. San Francisco cable cars are the only man-operated cable car systems operating today.

Day 4: Muir Woods
We enjoyed being in nature at Muir Woods National Monument, where you can walk among beautiful, huge redwood trees. It was very serene and incredible to be among the giant trees. We walked the trails and then drove up Mount Tamalpais, the mountain in which Muir Woods is located. We saw the beautiful scenery of the Bay Area. You could barely see the Bay Bridge beneath the fog. We had lunch at In N Out Burger, one of our favorite burger places on the West Coast that we don’t have at home in Atlanta.

Day 5: Sailboat Cruise on the Bay. Pier 39
My husband booked us on a sailboat cruise on the Bay, and it was wonderful! We boarded the boat on Pier 39, a touristy place with shops and restaurants. The famous seals relax on the docks at the pier, but there were not as many seals as usual that day. We boarded the boat and were very excited to set sail. Then, a camp group boarded with about 15 kids and two counselors. We were less than thrilled about all the children on the boat, but they were very well behaved and my son made friends with a little boy from the camp. They played pirates and my son tried to give this little boy he’d never see again our address, which was very cute.

The boat was a bit rocky on the bow. You could ride on the very front of the sailboat in the open air and see the beautiful views. We passed Alcatraz Island, the prison, and saw dolphins riding behind the sailboat. The boat passed under the Golden Gate Bridge, which you could only see clearly for about a minute beneath the fog. The ride was one of the most enjoyable highlights of our trip.

Baggage Issues and Flight Delays:
We had 3 major bag issues on the trip. Three! When we arrived at the airport in Atlanta, we checked in our bags and decided to go on the Plane Train. We didn’t even need to go on it because we were departing from T gates, but we wanted Nathan to experience the ride. Ryan was in charge of my carry-on bag. We got off the plane train and stood by the exit to decide what to do next. We wanted to let Nathan ride on the moving sidewalk. Then, I got a phone call. An airport worker told us he had our bag and tried to return it to us. What?! We didn’t even know it was missing! Ryan left the bag on the plane train! The guy was very nice and returned the bag. We were very thankful.

Our bag struggles had just begun. We landed in San Francisco and it was time to get off the plane. I got off first, thinking Ryan would grab the carry-on bag and come behind me with our son. Well, I got off and waited for them. They didn’t come. I called Ryan and he asked if I had the bag. I said no. He told me it wasn’t in the overhead compartment. Someone must have taken our bag off the plane by mistake! He stayed on the plane and talked with the flight attendants about the problem. He told me to go to baggage claim and see if I could spot someone with our bag. I was a little intimidated about confronting the person who took our bag. I didn’t see anyone with the bag. I also got my checked bag off the baggage carousel and my son’s bag.

Ryan called me and said that one bag was left on the plane. It must belong to the person who took our bag. The flight attendant told him to take it, call the number on the luggage tag, and see about swapping bags. They said if it didn’t work out take it to bag services. We crossed our fingers that it would work. Ryan called the number on the bag tag. No answer. He texted them. No answer. Finally, they picked up the phone and said they would return to the airport to exchange the bags.

Meanwhile, Ryan’s bag did not come off the baggage carousel. It was lost luggage! What was happening to us? We have the worst luck with bags! Ryan went to claim his lost luggage. We looked at the bag tag the agent had given us when we dropped off the bag in Atlanta. It said “Greg Storm, McAllen, Texas.” What?! They had marked the wrong bag and it went to Texas instead of San Francisco.

While Ryan was handling his bag situation at bag services, I exchanged the carry-on bag with the strangers. They had left the airport and returned to meet us outside the baggage claim for the swap. I recognized our bag and we swapped. They were very apologetic. We have the bag back! I still couldn’t believe that this was happening.

My aunt and uncle took us back to their house without Ryan’s bag. It was supposed to arrive in 24 to 48 hours. We put our son to bed and then went shopping for some clothes and necessities for Ryan. We were planning to go to the city the next day and all he had were the clothes on his back. He needed something warm and we did not find anything warm for him at Target. We pushed back the city trip and bought him shorts, T-shirts, and toiletries to get him by. The bag finally arrived the next evening at 10 pm, almost 28 hours later. Whew! What an ordeal!

Unplanned Day 6:
The morning we were leaving San Francisco, we got an email saying our flight was delayed and we would miss our connecting flight. Therefore, they changed our itineraries. Since we booked the flights separately, they put us on different flights! They had Ryan going to Miami, and then to Atlanta, arriving the following morning. They had my son and me flying to Dallas and then staying overnight to arrive in Atlanta the next day. What?! Just our luck… Ryan called the airline and got us all on a reasonable flight, but we would have to stay an extra day in San Francisco. Luckily, we were staying with family so we did not need to get a hotel. We were ready to come home but made the best of it by taking our son to the local park and out for lunch.

Finally, we flew home and arrived in Atlanta late that evening. Our son fell asleep on the ride home. He had the worst time recovering from jet lag. He couldn’t fall asleep until very late and struggled with it. His sleep was interrupted for nearly 10 days. It was a struggle. Kids and time change do not mix!

Overall, we had a wonderful family vacation. We experienced fun and exciting things and look forward to our next adventure.

Cousin Vacation: Asheville, North Carolina

June 30, 2017September 28, 2017 / azlotnik / Leave a comment

I haven’t been on vacation in a while because we are trying to live on a budget. But, this past weekend I was able to get away for a short period of time. I went to Asheville, North Carolina with my husband, cousin and my cousin’s boyfriend.

We had been talking about going on this trip since last November, when we met my cousin’s boyfriend while on a family trip to California for our grandma’s 100^th birthday. My husband and my cousin’s boyfriend really hit it off and we thought it would be fun to meet halfway between Atlanta and D.C. (where they live). Asheville is not really halfway, it’s a lot closer for us than it was for them. But, we decided it would be a good meeting point and we all wanted to visit there. After a few months of planning, it was time for the trip.

The drive wasn’t bad for my husband and me. It ended up being about three and a half hours. We live on the north side of Metro Atlanta so that helped shorten the drive some. We chose to go through backroads in the mountains to save some time and avoid morning Atlanta traffic. It was a neat drive and we ended up in Asheville around noon. My cousin had started the trip the night before and stayed over at the halfway mark in Virginia.

We had made a plan to meet at Tupelo Honey Café in downtown Asheville for lunch. This chain is in both Atlanta and D.C. (along with many other cities) but this one is the original location. I had eaten brunch at Tupelo Honey in Chattanooga, Tennessee once, and wanted to try it for lunch. Parking in Asheville is no easy task, especially around lunchtime on a Friday. We drove around for 30 minutes and then found a lot. Turned out the sign was deceiving and public parking was not available in that lot until 5 p.m. A little discouraged, we drove around for quite a while and after passing two full parking decks, finally found street parking relatively close to the restaurant. We put our name in and waited for my cousin and her boyfriend. My cousin was dropped off and waited with us outside the restaurant while her boyfriend found parking. It was so good to catch up with them over the entire weekend.

Lunch at Tupelo Honey was amazing. In fact, everywhere we ate on the trip was delicious. I guess I pick good restaurants! After lunch, we walked around the shops in Downtown Asheville. We then went back to the AriBnB to check it out and drop off our luggage. We stayed at a nice 3 bedroom, 2 bath house in West Asheville. It was time to go out again and we decided to not deal with parking and took Uber.

Our next stop was Urban Orchard Cidery, which is a family-owned hard cider production company and tasting room in West Asheville. It is one of only a handful of “True Cider Bars” in the nation, where you can order house made, craft hard apple cider. Asheville is known for its breweries, but my husband and I prefer cider over beer and luckily my cousin and her boyfriend enjoy cider as well. We ordered flights of cider and enjoyed trying all the different kinds. You could even mix some of them for a different flavor.

Our next stop was for dinner at the Jerusalem Garden Café in Downtown Asheville. We enjoyed delicious Mediterranean food while watching a talented belly dancer and live music. One of the belly dancer’s moves was to balance a sword on different areas of her body and that really made me nervous! Luckily she was very talented and had good control of the sword. The restaurant also had the option of sitting on the floor on pillows, but we decided to be comfortable and sit on regular chairs. After dinner, we watched the Friday night drum circle in the middle of downtown. It was really neat to see all the musicians play the drums while the crowd danced along to the beat. We walked around downtown some more, admiring the architecture and shopping in the neat and eclectic stores. We had an early morning the next morning going to the Biltmore estate, so we Ubered back to the Airbnb and called it a night.

Friday night Drum Circle

The crowd grew even larger than this

The Biltmore Estate was such an awesome experience. I had been once before when I was about 10 years old, but going back as an adult was much more fascinating. We arrived a little early so we took a lot of pictures of the outside of the estate. The Biltmore is an enormous and mesmerizing sight. Once it was time for our tour, we headed inside from room to room, up the stairs and down throughout the estate.

The Biltmore estate, a 250-room French Renaissance chateau, was the former home of George Vanderbilt. In 1898, He brought his 25-year-old bride, Edith, home to the estate for the first time after their honeymoon. Vanderbilt is known for his family’s shipping and Railroad Empire and his love for literature. The Vanderbilts were once the wealthiest family in America (mainly speaking of George’s father and grandfather). I found the history of the Vanderbilt’s very interesting. Georgie Vanderbilt lived in the estate until 1914 when he passed away due to complications from an appendectomy, leaving his wife Edith to run the household and raise their daughter. In 1930, the estate was opened to the public to increase tourism in the Asheville area. The estate is still run by Vanderbilt’s great-grandson and great-granddaughter.

I would have to say my favorite part of the tour, besides the décor was the “Designed for Drama” exhibition that was on display. Inspired by George Vanderbilt’s love of literature, Designed for Drama showcases many award-winning movie costumes from films based on favorite books in his collection. The movie costumes from films such as Jane Heir and Sherlock Holmes really felt like they belonged there in the massive home, as if they were from the era. I took a lot of pictures of the costumes and the rooms of the Biltmore. My favorite room was Mrs. Vanderbilt’s quarters. It was an oval shaped room that was the essence of femininity. I also enjoyed seeing the bowling alley and swimming pool. There are 35 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms and 65 fireplaces in the Biltmore estate. At the time it was built, in the 1890’s, most homes didn’t even have indoor plumbing or central heating, and the Biltmore had both.

Mrs. Vanderbilt’s room

I love her bedding!

Bowling Alley

Swimming Pool

Banquet Hall

After touring the massive home, we walked through some of the Biltmore gardens. The gardens are home to some beautiful plants and flowers. My phone quickly filled up with pictures of beautiful roses, orchids, cacti and many other plants and flowers. After our walk through the gardens, we took a bus back to the car. The bus driver told us about some of the history of the estate as well as one of the many good restaurants, a buffet called Deerpark Restaurant. It seemed like great food for a good price, so we decided to give it a try. At Deerpark Restaurant you can experience “a taste of the South.” We enjoyed salads, dips, southern comforts, a carving station, decadent desserts and more. It was one of the best meals we had on our trip.

After lunch, we headed toward Antler Hill Village and Winery. We enjoyed a complimentary wine tasting and tried over 10 wines. After choosing our favorites, we bought some bottles in the wine store. Antler Hill Village has many other things to do, such as shopping, various restaurants, a petting zoo and farm, and more. We watched a fascinating glass blowing demonstration outside of one of the shops. We put on these special glasses so that you could really see into the flame as the glass was being blown into ornaments.

Wine Tasting at the Biltmore

My cousin and I really enjoyed a display at Antler Hill Village called: the Biltmore legacy, which was an exhibition of the Vanderbilt family weddings. It highlighted the details of the weddings, including the fashion. On display is the Lee family veil, which was worn by Mary Lee Ryan in 1957 at her wedding to William A.V. Cecil, George Vanderbilt’s grandson. It was also worn her cousin, Jacqueline Lee Bouvier in 1953 when she married John F. Kennedy. It was really neat to see all the famous wedding dresses, veils and shoes.

Later that evening, we went to New Belgium Brewing, a cool brewery with a lively outdoor area. We also ate delicious tacos for dinner at the White Duck Taco Shop in the River Arts District. My cousin and her boyfriend had to leave early the next morning because of their long trip home. My husband and I decided to stay a little longer that day and go out to breakfast in West Asheville near the WNC Farmer’s Market at a spot called Moose Café. It’s a farm-to-table southern cooking restaurant. Stuffed, we decided to walk around the River Arts district after our meal. Since it was Sunday, many galleries were closed, but we still got to see quite a few galleries and many pieces of art on display. We watched in on a one-on-one glass blowing lesson for a bit and saw many paintings, pottery, woodworking pieces, jewelry and other one-of-a-kind art.

It was time to head home and we drove about 3 and a half hours home to Kennesaw on the same route we took on the way there through the mountains. We truly enjoyed our time in Asheville and will have to go back someday. Asheville is a great southern town to visit, and I highly recommend it.

Israel with My Love

February 6, 2017 / azlotnik / Leave a comment

This past summer, my husband and I had an amazing opportunity to go on Honeymoon Israel. On a Honeymoon Israel (HMI) trip, you can “spend nine exhilarating, romantic and memorable days exploring Israel with your partner, while building friendship and community with other couples from your city.” The experience was like nothing else we had ever done. We bonded, explored, and made friends with couples like us who are now like family. Over six months has gone by since we got back from Israel, and we still get together with the other couples and enjoy the community. HMI welcomes couples with at least one Jewish partner early in their committed relationship. On our trip, almost every couple was interfaith, so we really had a lot in common. My husband and I were part of the first Atlanta trip to go on HMI.

During the trip, they encouraged us to take notes and journal about our experiences. Almost every night I would write down what we did that day and what I thought about it. I had planned to write a story about it and hopefully getting it published in the Atlanta Jewish Times, since I’m a freelance writer for that newspaper. After we returned home, I started writing a bulleted list of everything we did while referring to my HMI program we were given. It ended up being nine pages long. I used that to write my story and spent months working on it. I edited it down and then pitched the idea to my editor at the Atlanta Jewish Times. He decided to publish it and it went to print late December of 2016. My story was called “Honeymoon Israel: 9 Days to Last a Lifetime.” Click here to read the four-page spread in the travel section of the AJT (pages 62-65). Click here to read the online article.

There were so many things we did that I did not have room to share in my article, so I will share more of what we did in this list below.

Jerusalem:

When we first arrived, we had a welcome dinner with the New York Group. We heard from Avraham Infeld that evening as well as the next morning. Avraham Infeld is the President Emeritus of Hillel – the Foundation for Jewish Campus life. He talked about the five-legged table idea and that we are all family, the Jews. He touched on Jewish identity as well. “My vision for the Jewish People is to find a way to be unified without being uniform. We can achieve this vision by constructing a “five-legged table” which allows each person to choose at least three of the following legs to express their Jewish identity: memory, family, covenant, Israel and Hebrew.”
– Avraham Infeld
We joined our friends at a bar on Ben Yihuda Street. We walked down through the shook (market) and it was very interesting seeing all the bars and the people. During the day, the shook is an actual market where they sell fruits, veggies, spices, etc. It looks completely different I hear. I didn’t get a chance to go during the day.

Yad Vashem: The World Holocaust Remembrance Center

Touring this museum was very emotional for me, but I learned a lot.
The Avenue of the Righteous is dedicated to righteous gentiles who helped save/hide Jews during the Holocaust. There are trees dedicated to them throughout the complex and throughout Israel.
The Children’s Memorial: when you walk through it, it is like you are walking a night sky and see the stars. There is an audio recording that constantly plays the name of the children who died in the Holocaust along with where they were from. It is a very emotional piece of the museum.

Sea of Galilee:

We stayed at a hotel on a Kibbutz called Kibbutz Ginosar. We learned about the history of Kibbutz life and what it is like now. We learned about the women’s revolution regarding the children. It was interesting to know that children in a Kibbutz used to be raised by everyone. All money and goods were shared with everyone. It was very socialist. Now, about one third of Kibbutzim in Israel are still socialist.
We went to Mt. Bental and saw a panoramic view of the Golan Heights and looked from afar into Syria and Lebanon. The next day, we were told there was bombing in Syria that would have been visible from the Golan Heights.
We also went rafting down the Jordan River. There weren’t very many rapids, but it was still fun. We got stuck on rocks/ran into the shore and trees. It was very shallow water due to not enough rain. (I saw a picture of the Jordan River recently and it is much deeper now due to winter rains).

Tel Aviv:

On the way to Tel Aviv, we stopped and overlooked the ocean and went to Ceasarea, one of the land of Israel’s most important cities in the Roman period.
In Ceasarea, we saw the Herodian Theater, which is still in use today. The acoustics are awesome. Then, we saw the new excavations along the Mediterranean shore. It was so pretty to be right by the water. We put our toes in the sand and you could even see the tiled mosaic floors of the what was once the King’s quarters that lead to the sea. We also saw the arena where they raced horses. Our tour guide told us the history and made it feel like we were actually there in Roman times watching a horse race.
We did a beach cleanup project with the Zalul environmental organization. Zalul (“clear” in Hebrew) is one of Israel’s leading environmental NGOs. They are dedicated to protecting the seas and rivers in Israel.
We picked up trash on the beach. The sand was so hot, we had to bury our feet in the sand so they would not burn. Unfortunately, we got so much tar on our feet from the beach that we had to scrub it off at the hotel. I feel sorry for the maid who had to clean the tar residue from our bathtub!
While shopping in the Carmel market, we saw a woman in a shop down the street made a commotion. We think she was trying to steal. My husband saw a man kick the woman and then she caused a fight. We were very uncomfortable and left the shop as soon as we paid. We don’t know what they were yelling about because it was all in Hebrew.
The evening we flew out of Israel, we ate at a Georgian-Jewish restaurant called Racha for a late farewell dinner. It was in a historic building in Neve Zedek. It was so ornately and originally decorated with fine china dishes. They gave us dish after dish after dish. There was a lot of meat. I thought it was funny that they said “Chicken is not meat, its salad!” It was a ton of food and probably wasn’t the best meal to have right before a long plane ride. But, we enjoyed it and they had good hospitality.

We had such an amazing tour guide for our trip, Koren Eisner. He was very knowledgeable and taught us so many things. Even his voice was soothing to hear. While I was writing my story for the AJT, I asked around for quotes from various HMI staff and from Koren. He sent me a quote as a recording, and it was great to hear his voice. I couldn’t use it in my story because it was on a subject that I didn’t write about, but I thought I’d end this blog post with his quote. I asked Koren, how does the HMI tour differ from other tours that you usually do?

He said, “In my of my tour groups that I get, people are not just sightseeing, but are searching for something spiritually, religiously, culturally, historically, through a Jewish perspective, through a Christian perspective, through a Muslim perspective, etc. So, that is pretty much a motif. But, with the Honeymoon Israel groups, there is a certain sense of urgency because of the unique stage that the participants are in — getting married, having their first kids. These issues are on the table and need to be addressed. This sense of urgency creates lots of creativity. People come to these tours needing to work, needing to participate, to really have their own spiritual quest as individuals and as couples, and to the community. That is a very powerful thing, the productivity.

Another aspect is the way that people seek one another. You see the friendships, the bonding between people that happen in such a short time but go very deep because of the many things that participants share with one another. I guess it is the need to be a part of the greater community. That’s really inspiring to see. I’m truly grateful that I can play a role in such an amazing project.”

Don’t Mess with Texas!

December 13, 2015 / azlotnik / 1 Comment

In November, I flew to Dallas/Ft. Worth to visit my parents. They are living in Texas temporarily for my Dad’s job, and it was really nice to see them. This wasn’t my first visit to the area. I went to Ft. Worth last year with my husband, brother and sister-in-law for a visit and was overall impressed with the Ft. Worth area. My parents live in a nice apartment and there are a lot of things to do there. This time, my husband and I went just us two and we really had an eventful long weekend with my Mom and Dad.

The first thing we did when we arrived was to go to the Gas Monkey Garage. You might be familiar with the show Fast and Loud about car restorations. They are located in Dallas, and although we couldn’t see anything because they were filming, it was still cool to be there. We visited the gift shop (which was quite expensive, in my opinion) and my husband bought some merchandise. Then, we headed over to the Gas Monkey Bar and Grill for lunch. Yes, they have a restaurant too. It’s only about a five minute drive from the garage itself and the food was really good. We decided to spend the whole day in Dallas since we were already there and then went on to our next activity.

If you ever get the chance to go to the George W. Bush Presidential Library, you should. We went there next and it was very interesting. When we arrived, we bought tickets and walked into the exhibit. As we were handing in our tickets, we saw Laura Bush herself, and she said hi to us! At first, I didn’t really realize it was her and then my parents told me. I think it’s great that she comes there regularly. I know former President George W. Bush was just there a few days before that for Veteran’s Day. The library was very cool and modern. It talked about everything from his life growing up in Texas, to his campaign, to his presidency, etc. There were a lot of short videos, and plenty of things to read on the walls and tables. They have a tribute to 9/11 and it was very moving. It actually made me cry and think back on that dreadful day in history. I composed myself and moved on to the next display. As part of the library, they have an exact replica of the oval office and it looked just as it did when Bush was in office. You could even sit at the desk and have your picture taken if you wanted. It was cool to see their outfits to state dinners and the gifts the Bush family was given during his term. Every gift a US president is given belongs to the American people. So, many of the gifts were on display in the library and outside in the lobby. I will have to visit more Presidential libraries in the future. Since this was the newest one, it must be the most modern and the nicest. What a great way to spend an afternoon in Dallas.

After the library, we met up with my cousin who I have not seen for 9 years! My parents have seen him quite often since they moved to Texas, but it had been a very long time since I had seen him. We went out for Mexican food and got a chance to catch up with him.

Dinner with my cousin

The next day, we enjoyed brunch at my parents and went for a walk on the trail by a river. That afternoon, we went to a store that specializes in cowboy boots called Cavender’s. I actually found a pair of cute cowboy boots that were comfortable and affordable. I am now the proud owner of some great cowboy boots!

Me and my Cowboy boots!

Close up of my boots

In the evening, we went to a Greek Festival put on by a local Greek Orthodox Church in Ft. Worth. The gyros, Greek fries and spanakopita were very tasty. After we ate dinner, we enjoyed some traditional Greek dancing. Everyone was in costume and they put on a good show. Later on, we went to the Ft. Worth Stockyards for a rodeo. This was my first rodeo experience, and it was quite a sight. The show itself was a little long — 2 ½ hours, but it was really exciting. I didn’t know there were that many types of events in a rodeo. It was cool to see the guys ride the bulls and horses. I kind of felt bad for the calves when they had to lasso, tie, and rope them. It was all harmless though. There were also events for women in the rodeo as well.

At the Greek Festival

During our time in Texas, we met some friends of my parents, went to the movies, a cool grocery store called Central Market, and ate some really good food. In Ft. Worth, they have some of my favorite restaurants that they don’t have in Georgia. We made sure to take advantage of visiting some of them. We had sandwiches at Potbelly and burgers, fries and a milkshake at In-N-Out Burger. Before we knew it, it was time to come home. Our long weekend trip with my parents was over. I will see my parents this month though when they come for the holiday break. We may go back to Texas sometime next year, but soon enough, my parents will move back to Atlanta and we will be moved out of their house and into a home of our own.

Me and my mom

Cow roping

Happy Birthday Dad!

A bull at the rodeo

Celebrating my Dads birthday early

Greek Dancing

September: A Month of Milestones

September 2, 2015September 2, 2015 / azlotnik / Leave a comment

My 29th Birthday, 2014

My 23rd Birthday, 2008

My 17th Birthday, 2002

My 26th Birthday, 2011

My 22nd Birthday, 2007

My 27th Birthday, 2012

My 21st Birthday, 2006

Ah, September. It’s my favorite month! A lot is happening for me during the month of September. First of all, it’s my birthday month. I was born on the 17^th and sometimes my birthday falls on the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah, but usually not. As a child, I always looked forward to September to celebrate my birthday. I would look forward to it months in advance. So far in advance that my parents would tell me that I’m not allowed to talk about my birthday until a few months before it! I started school young, so I’m always the youngest in my grade. Everybody reached their milestones before I did. But, to my advantage, I am the last of my friends to reach the Big 3-0 birthday! I’m looking forward to my birthday, but not so much the turning 30 part. If being the youngest wasn’t enough, I also look really young for my age. I still get carded for rated R movies, and always at the liquor store. Once, in college, an airport security worker asked if I was in middle school when I was with my mom. Crazy. I’m not THAT young looking!

Secondly, September is the month I got engaged. People who know my husband and I know that I waited a LONG time for that proposal! 7 years to be exact. My husband (then boyfriend) and I moved in together in the summer of 2011. We had been dating since junior year of college and were twenty when we met and first got together. Then, after graduation, my husband did the prosthetics program at Northwestern University in Chicago and had to go on site for 3 months in addition to a 6 month prior online program. He moved back home after he graduated from the program and began his residency. He went on to take boards and become certified and licensed in prosthetics. I lived with roommates for a while and then eventually we moved in together.

We’re Engaged! 2012

Our Family Engagement Celebration, 2012

My ring! 2012

Engagement Photos, 2013

Marietta Square Engagement Session, 2013

Save the Date Session, 2012

I knew the engagement was coming, but I didn’t know he was proposing that day. He picked up my ring on September 11, 2012 but decided 9/11 was not a good day to propose. So, he proposed on September 12 in our apartment after I had gotten home from work. I was so happy and my ring was gorgeous! We started planning our wedding, and set the date a couple weeks later. I set the date around my Rabbi’s schedule. We probably would have gotten married in the beginning of October if Rabbi had been available then. He wasn’t, so we decided on September 29, 2013. When we chose our venue, we made sure they had that date available and booked it during the tour. We had already been to the venue before at a friend’s wedding and knew it was going to be perfect. We got married at Villa Christina in Perimeter area in Atlanta, Georgia. I highly recommend that venue. Everything was perfect and I loved our event coordinator, Julie!

Perfect Wedding, 2013

Husband and Wife, 2013

Cutting the Cake, 2013

Our Wedding Party, 2013

Our First Dance, 2013

True Love, 2013

Wedding planning was so much fun! Read more about my wedding plans here and here. Read my advice for newlyweds here. We went on the perfect honeymoon to Kauai, Hawaii and it was amazing.

First Anniversary Road Trip, Napa Valley, 2014

First Anniversary Road Trip, Redwood Forrest, 2014

For our first anniversary, my husband and I went on a road trip from San Francisco to Vancouver, Canada and back. It was very rushed, as we did it all in 6 days. But, we still had a great time and saw very cool sights. We wine tasted in Napa, Drove through a redwood tree in the redwood forest, went to a rose garden and Powell’s City of Books in Portland, went to Pike Place Market and Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle, and spent time in Stanley Park in Vancouver. You can read about our first anniversary trip here.

On the day of our first anniversary, we went to dinner at a nice seafood restaurant called Chequers. The next day, we picked up our anniversary wedding top of the cake from our cake lady Eileen Carter. She tells the brides and grooms to go ahead and eat the top of their cake after the honeymoon and then makes a replica of the top of the cake for all her client’s first anniversaries! It’s such a nice thing to do. The cake usually doesn’t taste so good after being in a freezer for a year, so that’s why she does this.

This year, we are not going on a lavish anniversary vacation. We had a nice vacation in the spring where we spent a week in Las Vegas. So, this year, we decided to take the day off work and spend time together doing something fun in Atlanta. We decided to go to Fernbank, an interactive science museum. I used to go there on field trips in elementary school, but I think it will be nice to go back as an adult. We plan on going to see one of the IMAX movies there and enjoy the exhibits. Then, for dinner, we will dine at Villa Christina’s restaurant. We have never gone there for dinner before and can’t wait! From what we tasted at our wedding tasting and the food they made for our wedding, it will be a gourmet treat!

My husband and I have been keeping up with the tradition of giving the customary anniversary gifts to each other in addition to something each of us had wanted. The first anniversary gift is paper and the second anniversary gift is cotton. We use Amazon.com with lists so that we know we are getting each other what we want. It works out really well for us.

There’s a lot to look forward to this month. I will be having several birthday celebrations with friends, family and my husband. My mom is coming in town for my big birthday and I’m really excited to see her!

Here’s to many more years of birthdays and anniversaries in September!

Honeymoon, Hawaii 2013

Hawaii Honeymoon, Beach in Kauai, 2013

On a boat touring the Na Pali Coast, Hawaii Honeymoon, 2013

Hold On, Let Me Check My Calendar…

July 26, 2015 / azlotnik / Leave a comment

I don’t know what it is, but this summer has been incredibly busy for me. Perhaps even the busiest summer of my life- and I didn’t even go on a real summer vacation! I had time off, but only went on trips for the weekend, usually visiting family. It’s gotten so busy that I’ve traded in my planner notebook for Google Calendar, which has been a lifesaver. I can view it on the computer or my phone and it syncs to let me know what’s going on from anywhere. It’s gotten so bad that my husband and I have to check our calendar before we make any plans. I know a lot of people are like that, but I used to be able to keep track in my head. Not now. We try to make plans and I have to say, I don’t have a free weekend until the middle of August! Today was the only real weekend day where I didn’t have any plans. We made a nice day of it, went out to lunch, shopping and to the movies. It was really nice to just decide in the moment and go and enjoy ourselves. With our friends, we have had to make dinner plans on weeknights because the weekends are too busy. I like being busy and having things to do, but sometimes it can be overkill and burn you out.

I think our busy summer started when I was off for two weeks from work and planned activities for my husband and me to do most days. He took a couple days off work to relax and spend time with me. We went to “the beach.” OK, it was the lake beach, but it was still a good time. We ate at new restaurants and really just enjoyed ourselves. Then more and more plans were made, my husband had a few more photo jobs, and our calendar really filled up. Last weekend, we traveled to Tennessee to see my husband’s niece play in a softball tournament, and they won! It was nice to spend time with my in-laws and I discovered I actually like watching softball. I’m not really a sports fan and don’t enjoy going to baseball games, so this was surprising to me.

This upcoming weekend, we are going to visit more of my husband’s family at Lake Helen, Florida. I’m really looking forward to it. Maybe we’ll go canoeing and ride on the four-wheelers again. The next weekend I will be in Athens for a celebration for the return of Delta Phi Epsilon at UGA. That is the chapter I initiated at, so I’m really excited to see the chapter come back and visit with some of my sisters from that school who I have not seen in years.

It’s looking like things will slow down for me in the fall. I’m looking forward to my birthday, not because I turn 30, but because I love my birthday- who doesn’t? Well, some people dread turning older, but I love celebrating with family and friends. My mom will be in town for my birthday and I have a couple days off work to celebrate with her. After my birthday comes, it’s my husband and I’s two year wedding anniversary! We won’t be on a fancy vacation celebrating, but we have both taken the day off work and are going to do something fun during the day in Atlanta and have dinner at a nice restaurant.

Life gets so busy, especially when you have two jobs (and so does your husband) but I wouldn’t trade mine for the world. Here’s to living life to the fullest!

Our Vegas Experience Part 2

June 1, 2015May 25, 2015 / azlotnik / Leave a comment

I had so much to say about our Vegas vacation that it was too much for one blog post. Here are more of our experiences in Sin City.

A Show:
The one show we saw in Vegas was the Blue Man Group. Going into it, I didn’t know what to expect. I guessed that it would be out of the box and musical. It was awesome! The Blue Man group really captures their audience and has the audience participate as much as possible. They used music, paint, technology and more to put on a spectacular show. They are, of course, covered in blue paint. I was surprised that The Blue Man Group did not talk the entire time. They communicate through gestures, facial expressions and props. It was certainly worth the money. We got tickets from the Tix4Tonight discount booth. We would have loved to go to the Circe de Soleil Beatles show called Love, but even the Tix4tonight booth wanted too much money for the tickets. Oh well, another reason to come back to Vegas and see it one day.

The Blue Man Group

Restaurants:
As I mentioned in my last post, it felt like all we did in Vegas was eat. The restaurants were SO expensive! We spent way more money than we thought we would in Vegas, because we spent so much on food. We didn’t realize the food would be that pricy. Drinks were especially expensive, $4 for a soda, $10.50 for a mixed drink and $7 for a mocha coffee.

We ate at a lot of places, but these were our favorites:

At the Wicked Spoon

Buffets:
Wicked Spoon: Cosmopolitan Hotel. This was the best buffet we have ever eaten at. The food was fabulous, the presentation was outstanding, and a wide variety was offered for brunch. My favorite things about the food presentation were the mini Chinese food containers for the fried rice and the mini fry baskets for the fried chicken. The pancakes, asparagus risotto, sushi, and the eggs Benedict were the best. I wish I could have eaten more food there, but I got full and had to leave a lot of food uneaten. The desserts were great too. I would love to go back to the Wicked Spoon one day.

Bellagio buffet: We went to the breakfast buffet at the Bellagio a few days before we went to Wicked Spoon. It was not as good as Wicked Spoon, but it sure was tasty and had a wide range of breakfast/brunch items. I really enjoyed the French toast, eggs, baked apples and the yogurt parfait. It was a ton a food and, once again, I was stuffed when I left.

Gordon Ramsay Burgr: Planet Hollywood. The first time we attempted to go here, the line was too long and we gave up. We then decided to go another day right when they opened for lunch to ensure we would get a seat right away. The food was a bit pricy for burgers and fries, but it was one of the best burgers I have ever eaten. I got the euro burger and loved it. The Truffle fries were very good as well. It was definitely worth it. Anything with Gordon Ramsay’s name has to be good!

Gordon Ramsay Burgr

Shopping:
Toward the end of our stay, we were running out of things to do. We decided to go shopping and found out there was a Garrett Popcorn shop at the Miracle Mile shops at Planet Hollywood. Since I love the Chicago popcorn, we went and bought a bag of the Chicago mix (which is cheddar and caramel popcorn mixed together). It was quite delicious! We also happened to see an art gallery of one of our favorite artists, Michael Godard, called Oh My Godard. We would love to own a painting of his one day. The next day, we caught the free shuttle bus from Bally’s to the Rio so that we could go to another Michael Godard art gallery. This one had a lot more paintings and the art dealer was super nice. One day, when we decide to buy a piece, we’ll call him up in Vegas and order from him. The art dealer at the Rio informed us that Michael Godard himself would be in town and at the gallery the day we flew home. To our dismay, we missed meeting him by only a few hours. It would have been so cool to meet him!

Oh My Godard

Gambling and the Old Strip:
One day, we took the bus and went all over the south portion of the strip. We also went to the Las Vegas sign and later that evening to downtown Las Vegas. Downtown is where the old strip is located. We gambled a bit at the El Cortez. My husband played blackjack and I played at the slot machines. The El Cortez is an old casino that takes you back to the good-old Vegas casino days. It still has actual coin-operated slots. The old strip is known for the Freemont Street Experience. Most of Freemont Street is blocked off for traffic and turned into a pedestrian walkway surrounded by casinos, stores and restaurants. In the evening, the whole canopy is transformed into a neat light show, which reminded me of a music video. It was pretty cool, but I was a bit disappointed because I had heard so much hype about the light show. I guess it didn’t live up to my expectations.

The Golden Nugget in Downtown Las Vegas

Like I mentioned in my last post, we felt most comfortable gambling at the Bally’s. I lost a small sum of money at the slot machines. I preferred the penny slots to the 25 cent slots because you got to play longer and typically won more often. My husband played roulette at Bally’s and I watched him play. We had only played roulette once on a cruise ship and didn’t win a thing that time. Our luck changed tremendously in Vegas. My husband bet about 8 dollars’ worth of chips in between two of the sections of the roulette board. After the wheel was spun, the dealer was gathering a lot of chips that were our color. I thought she was organizing them. Much to our surprise, the dealer pushed a mountain of chips towards us. She said, “It only takes hitting once.” We couldn’t believe that we won! We thought we lost. We ended up winning about $150 in chips. We played a few more hands and then cashed out. Turns out, we came out ahead while gambling in Vegas. I’ll take it!

Overall, we enjoyed our stay, but we won’t be coming back to Vegas for a while. Maybe we’ll come back one day with friends. Next time we’ll stay for a shorter amount of time.

What was your trip to Las Vegas like? Leave me a comment.

Vegas Vic, Downtown Las Vegas

Viva Las Vegas: Pre-Trip Post

March 21, 2015March 21, 2015 / azlotnik / 1 Comment

It’s time for our next vacation! I always get inspired to write posts about vacations, but hey, going to new places is what makes life interesting! After much contemplation, we decided to go to Las Vegas this spring for our next big vacation. I’ll get to cross another destination on my Travel Bucket List. See that blog post here. My husband and I like to go on a big trip at least once a year. We had originally planned on going to London. We have always wanted to go to Europe and had wanted to do the London trip for years. But, we found out how much it was going to cost, which was a lot higher than our budget. A London trip may not be in our near future, especially since we may plan to have kids in the next several years, but we WILL go one day! My husband accrued thousands of American Airline miles for our London trip to pay for the flight, but we will keep on saving them for our next great adventure.

A few months ago, my husband and I were talking about what vacation we would like to do next, since London was out of the question. New York and Chicago came to mind. We talked about it for about an hour in the car (not sure where we were going but it was somewhere pretty far away) and it took us that long to think of going to Las Vegas. We said, “How did it take that long for us to think of a Vegas vacation!?” Some time went by, and then a few weeks ago, we seriously considered going to Vegas in June. We looked up flights and hotels and priced things out. Then, we realized Vegas in June can be over 100 degrees. So, a sooner date was picked. We looked at hotel prices for the last week in April and they were a bit high. Then we looked at the week before and the hotel prices dropped dramatically. So, we booked our trip for mid-April. We used Delta miles for our flights and somehow were able to purchase them with fewer miles than anticipated and no surcharges. The flight was totally free! We decided to stay at Bally’s because they are a nice, centrally located hotel with good prices.

Bally’s

This is my pre-trip post and I will be posting a trip after our Vegas vacation too of course. Despite what others told us, we decided to go to Vegas for a week. We already had the time off work, and we don’t think we’ll get bored since we are not big partyers.

We will also be going on a few day trips during our time in Vegas. We plan to go on the Pink Jeep Tours trip to the Grand Canyon. It is an all day tour that will pick us up at our hotel at 6 a.m. The Grand Canyon is a few hours away from Vegas. That is something we have always wanted to see. They have a skywalk where you can see great views of the canyon. If we decide we are tired of the strip, we may rent a car for a day and go on the Hoover Dam tour as well as explore the areas surrounding Las Vegas.

I plan on relaxing on a lawn chair by the pool while in Vegas. April is the start of pool season and I heard Bally’s has a really nice pool. I purchased a new bathing suit and cover ups for the trip. I really need to get my body in shape so that I am swim suit ready. My husband and I are doing a weight loss program together with the My Fitness Pal app. So far, we’ve been sticking to it and it’s going very well. So far, I lost about a pound and he lost 5 ½ pounds! Men always loose more. So unfair!

While in Vegas, we of course have to go to a show. We definitely plan to go see the Blue Man Group and have heard very good things about that show. I have also heard good things about the Beatles tribute Circe de Soleil show called Love. We may go see that show as well if we can get discounted tickets the day of at the Tix4Tonight booth. I’ve heard there are a lot of free shows in Vegas such as the fountain show at the Bellagio and the volcano show at the Mirage. We plan on doing all the free shows while we are there. You can’t beat free!

Here are some other things we are going to try to do while in Vegas:

Eat well: Straying from a diet for vacation makes it all worth it. Besides, if you’re on vacation it doesn’t count, right? We’re not sure where we will go out to eat yet. I know I want to do a breakfast or brunch buffet. I’ve been dying to go to In–N-Out Burger since we were in California last September. I saw there was one in Vegas, so we’re going! We also got a few restaurant recommendations from family and friends. We are going to Gordon Ramsay Burgr because we’ve always wanted to eat at one of his restaurants. I plan to read up in my Fodor’s Las Vegas 2015 Guide Book about good places to eat in Sin City.
Walk thorough all the hotels: From the Eiffel Tower in Paris to the canals at the Venetian, we’re excited to see it all. I’ve heard each hotel is incredibly unique and different from the rest.
Downtown: We were told to go downtown and see the strip in old Las Vegas where the original casinos are and where it all started. We plan to gamble a bit at the Golden Nugget or the 4 Queens. The gambling is cheaper at the old strip. So are the hotels. We also plan to see the Freemont Street Experience, which is a cool show under an arched canopy with tons of lights, cool music, and dancers.
Shopping: My guide book told me to check these places out- Grand Canal Shoppes (stores near St. Mark’s Square at the Venetian). The Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood and The Shoppes at Mandalay Place, which is, of course, located at Mandalay Bay.
Bally’s Gym and Spa: It will be good to have a nice gym in our hotel, especially a Bally’s gym. Use of the fitness center is included in the resort fee of the hotel (which we were required to pay).
Ride the tram/bus/monorail to get around: We will have to use public transportation since we don’t plan on renting a car for the majority of the trip. We may take a few taxis, like to and from the airport, but I’ve heard the bus/tram/monorail is the way to go. And the trams are free!
Paris

New York New York

There’s less than a month to go before we leave! I’m ready for a vacation where there’s no schedule. No more road trips! (See my post called Pacific Northwest Road Trip about our first wedding anniversary vacation). We are going to see all the sights in Vegas but not make a schedule. As I have explained, we have a few things planned out, but we plan to just enjoy ourselves and not be burdened by the clock.

The lights, the sights, the casinos, the people — it can all be overwhelming and over stimulating, but that is what makes Vegas unique. I’ve even heard that walking down the strip makes you feel like you’re on acid. I wouldn’t know about that!

I am so excited for the Vegas trip! What’s your favorite thing to do in Vegas? If you don’t want to tell me, I understand. After all, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

The Venetian

Luxor

Planning the Ultimate Vacation

June 5, 2014 / azlotnik / 2 Comments

Vacation. Time spent away from home in a far away place for the purpose of resting, relaxation and doing things you enjoy. It’s a time to get away from it all. Where should you go on vacation? Well, it depends on the type of person you are. Some people vacation at the beach and some go to big bustling cities, while others prefer to go on the road less traveled.

Here are some popular vacation destinations and some great things to do there:

Paris, France: Eiffel Tower, Louvre and Notre Dame, alluring cafes, vibrant markets and trendy shopping districts.

New York City: Central Park, the Met, Broadway shows, SoHo’s stylish boutiques, trendy restaurants, and diverse neighborhoods.

Rome, Italy: Monuments, churches, and restored ruins. Food: pasta and gelato.

Cancun, Mexico: Miles of beaches, endless luxury accommodations and resorts, and a party atmosphere.

London, England: Tower of London, the British Museum, historical landmarks, Portobello Road, Borough Market. Food: High Tea

Orlando, Florida: Theme Parks, Disney, Universal, City Walk, Downtown Disney, Water Parks, and Sea World.

San Francisco, California: Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, Wine Country, Cable Cars, Fisherman’s Wharf, Ghirardelli Square, Golden Gate Park and China Town.

U.S. Virgin Islands: Carnival season, hear reggae music, snorkeling, surfing and other water sports on beaches with clear Caribbean water.

Other noteworthy destinations: Beijing, Las Vegas, Washington, D.C., Bora Bora, Maui, Puerto Rico, Sydney, Vancouver, Zurich, Montreal, Budapest, Maldives, Rio De Janeiro, Crete, Barcelona, and wherever your heart desires.

Personally, I don’t go on vacation very often. It can be expensive and my husband and I are currently saving up money to buy a house. But everyone needs a break from work sometimes. But when we go on vacation, it’s usually a big trip. Like Hawaii on our honeymoon, a cruise to the Bahamas, a road trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco, etc. I am lucky that I get about a week off in the summer and almost two weeks around the Christmas holidays in addition to the three weeks of vacation I can roll over at the end of each fiscal year. In addition to summer and winter break time off, I usually take a week here and a long weekend there to go out of town on vacation when I can. I usually don’t use all of my vacation time each year. Sometimes when I’m off in the summer and don’t have any place to travel to, I just relax at home and catch up on things.

This year in September is our first anniversary, and to celebrate, we are going on a road trip. The destination was sort of chosen for us already because my entire family is traveling to San Francisco for my cousin’s Bar Mitzvah. We will leave from San Fran after the weekend celebration and go on a trip of our own. We decided to take a road trip from San Fran up the PCH to Vancouver, BC. I have never been to Canada and I’m really excited to see the beautiful scenery of Oregon, visit Seattle and other cities in Washington as well. We probably wouldn’t have picked this vacation if we hadn’t have already been in the city by the bay, but I’m sure glad we get the opportunity to go on this fabulous vacation!

Planning our anniversary trip:
Here are some of the Places we want to go in Northern California, Oregon, Washington and Vancouver:

• Wine Country: Tastings in Napa Valley, California. Artesa Winery
• Redwood Forest: Drive through a redwood tree called Chandelier Tree in Leggett California
• Portland: Lan Su Chinese Garden, Powell’s City of Books, Washington Park: Japanese Garden and International Rose Test Garden, Eat at food carts.
• Seattle: Pike Place Market, Olympic Sculpture Park, Space Needle, Seattle Center, Chihuly Garden and Glass.
• Hiking on the coast of the Olympic peninsula
• Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada): Grouse Mountain, Capilano Suspension Bridge, Stanley Park, possibly take a ferry to Victoria Island.
• Back to Portland and then back to San Francisco

We bought these books to help us with planning our vacation:

If any of my readers have suggestions of other things to do in Portland, Seattle or Vancouver, please comment on this post!

Helpful tips in planning vacations:
• Budgeting: Decide how much you are going to spend BEFORE you go
• Save money on flights: use airline miles or a companion ticket if you have one.
• Flight Prices: Begin checking flight prices as soon as you begin the planning process. Try to make the purchase at least thirty days out for the best price. Airlines change their prices daily, but major price changes occur weekly.
• Be sure to pick the right place: where you really want to go, a place you can afford. If you have children, decide if it is kid friendly.
• Plan ahead: Do all these things before you go and do your research- Make an itinerary, book rental cars and hotel rooms, decide what activities you will do and sometimes where you will go out to eat.
• Trip Advisor: Check this site for other traveler’s reviews on hotel rooms, tourist attractions and other things to do. Read the reviews but keep in mind that all reviews aren’t the gospel.
• Discount hotel websites: Use these common sites- Expedia.com, Hotels.com, Booking.com, Kayak.com, etc.

NOTE: I was recently doing some research on those discount hotel sites and I found that Booking.com was actually more expensive than the hotel’s own website. Imagine that. Not every deal you find online is necessarily the best or the cheapest.

All the places I have traveled to in my life:
California (born there)
Georgia (Grew up and currently live here)
Tennessee: Nashville, Chattanooga, Oak Ridge and Kingston
Charleston SC
Washington DC
Virginia
Baltimore MD
Houston TX
New York City
Chicago
Israel
North Carolina
Bahamas
Kentucky
Alabama
All over Florida
Key West
Cancun, Mexico
Caribbean Cruise: Cozumel Mexico, Belize, Grand Cayman and Costamaya
Mexican Riviera Cruise: Puerto Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas and Mazatlan
Hawaii

Where I’ve been in the US

Make yours @ BigHugeLabs.com

Future vacation spots:
There are plenty of places I’d like to travel to, but next on the list is a visit across the pond to the UK. We would want to travel to London and then over to Paris, France on the same trip. We will probably go next year. That will be the first trip to Europe for my husband and me. We’d also like to go to New York during Christmas time and travel on a road trip to the Grand Canyon. On that trip, we’d probably stay over in Ft. Worth Texas, where my parents currently live. So many places to go, and so much to plan for in the future!

Here is a link to my travel bucket list that I posted in August of 2012. So far the only place I’ve been to is Kauai, Hawaii, but there’s plenty of time to check the others off my list.

Where are you traveling to this year? Let me know in the comments section.

Honeymoon in Paradise

November 17, 2013November 22, 2013 / azlotnik / Leave a comment

On September 29, 2013 I married my best friend. It went by in a whirlwind like everyone said it would. It truly was the happiest day of our lives thus far. I couldn’t have asked for a better wedding. Although there were things that did go wrong that weekend, I didn’t let them bother me and my wedding was everything I had hoped for. I couldn’t believe how beautiful the banquet room was decorated for the reception, how lovely the flowers looked, and how delicious and enticing the cakes were. I had a blast on my wedding day. During the ceremony, I felt very honored to say my vows and to marry such an amazing man. Everyone who attended our wedding kept saying how beautiful our wedding ceremony was, how everything was nicely decorated, and how fun the party was! We danced the night away and it truly was very special. I often look back on our photographs from the wedding and relive that amazing day.

The day after our wedding, we left bright any early for the airport to go on our Honeymoon. We flew 9 hours and traveled a total of 18 hours when we finally arrived to our condo in Kauai, Hawaii- a true paradise! We are so grateful to my aunt and uncle for allowing us to stay in their condo. We were so surprised to find a nice gift basket from my aunt and uncle waiting for us with gift cards to local restaurants and every type of food you could think of made with Macadamia nuts. It was such a thoughtful wedding gift. The condo’s view was amazing and every day we would eat breakfast on the porch and revel in the beautiful scenery.

View from the Condo

We were lucky that we got to do a lot of fun activities during our time on the island of Kauai, and here is what some of what we did:

Helicopter Tour
Now going into the helicopter tour, I was a bit scared. I had never flown in one before and it seemed frightening. I’m not a big fan of turbulence anyways. But this tour was beyond my expectations. We flew around the whole island, from the high mountain tops to the sandy beaches and rocky cliffs. We went with Safari Helicopter tours and our pilot was great. At some points the pilot flew very close to the mountains and that was a bit unnerving, but I got used to it. The scenery was utterly breathtaking. From the waterfalls to the tree tops, to the farms and flatlands of Hanalei Valley, to the beautiful beaches, it was an amazing sight. My husband took video of the whole flight with his GoPro camera. (The GoPro was a great tool to capture our honeymoon memories and is the camera we used in the videos on this blog post. It’s waterproof and was a must-have for this kind of adventure). That was probably the most exciting and my favorite activity of our honeymoon. Too bad we waited to do it until the very end of our vacation!

On the Helicopter Tour

Hiking Adventure
My husband and I went on several hiking trips during our stay on Kauai, and I’m not much of a hiker (or an outdoorsy person) so some of them were a bit of a challenge for me. We hiked up cliffs overlooking the ocean, hiked through the trails through Waimea Canyon to the highest elevation on the island (5,148 feet above sea level), and hiked up a trail on the North shore. I would have to say, our best hike (and the one that pushed me the most) was our hike to the Ho’opi’i waterfalls. My uncle gave us a great guide book called The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook: Kauai Revealed, which was a valuable resource during our honeymoon. I highly recommend you buy this book if you ever go to Kauai. The book, written by a Kauai resident, not only tells you the best beaches to go to, what restaurants to go to and those to skip, and where to stay, but it also tells you places to go on the island that most people don’t know about. The waterfall hike we went on was one of them. Known, only by the locals and those who have this book, the waterfalls were very secluded and upon finding we felt like we unearthed a hidden treasure.

We parked on the side of the road outside of a neighborhood and found the beginning of the trail. We hiked next to some pastures and then trekked down the trail and through the woods. We made it to the first waterfall and it was so peaceful. The water rushed down the falls and into a lagoon. We were not the only ones there. There were several other people enjoying the falls and we saw them jump into the lagoon and climb up the rocks on the sides of the waterfall. We were not daredevils like them and just took in the scenery and snapped a few photographs.

The book said there was another waterfall a little farther down the trail and we decided to check it out. We walked what felt like forever and finally heard some rushing water. There were two trails you could take, one very small Billy goat path, and one skirting high along the mountain. We took the high road thinking there would be an easy way for us to go down. There was not. We literally had to climb down the extremely steep mountain holding on to tree branches and rocks to hold us up. It took me quite a while to climb down and then we saw other hikers come by and several women and young kids climbed down very quickly with no problems. Like I said, I am not very outdoorsy!

The falls we hiked to

We finally make it to the waterfall, and it is spectacular. I couldn’t believe the beautiful sight. These falls are less intense and the water does not fall as rapidly. The left side of the falls is a slow trickle and the right side has a more rapid waterfall that leads to a pond that you can swim in. We decided to cross the rocks and get in to the water near the falls. This must be done very carefully, as the rocks are very slippery. We literally were crawling across the rocks on our hands and knees so we wouldn’t fall down. We got about chest deep into the water and hung out beneath the falls. I was very proud of myself for climbing up the rocks and standing next to the waterfall. We saw the locals move very quickly climbing through the less intense left side of the waterfall, gliding gracefully across the slippery rocks. We also saw another local bathing in the pool beneath the falls with rushing water all around her. Needless to say, we didn’t try it ourselves! Our hike really was a great adventure. We got a few bug bites, a few scrapes and there was a little complaining from yours truly, but it was a day we will never forget.

Read more about our honeymoon of a lifetime in the next installment coming soon.

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