Back in the Carolinas!!

So yesterday (Sept. 16) I left Salt Lake City to wing my way back to the east coast for 10-day trip.  I came to town determined to do something besides sit around my parents' house all day.  I decided to go the the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC.

For those of you not familiar with the Biltmore Estate, it's the largest privately held home in the United States (I include the privately owned part only because I've had people argue with me that San Simeon is bigger, but I don't think it is but either way San Simeon is owned by the state).  The house was built by George Vanderbilt (grandson of Cornelius "Commodore" Vanderbilt) and opened Christmas Eve of 1895.  His daughter Cornelia and her husband John Cecil opened the house to the public in 1930.  The house (designed by Richarch Morris Hunt) has 250 rooms and includes an indoor swimming pool and bowling alley.  The grounds of the estate are magnificent and were designed by Frederick Law Olmstead (the man responsible for NYC's Central Park).  You can tell that I love this place can't you!

Now the reason that I decided to go to Biltmore again on this trip when my schedule is already a little hectic is because they are currently hosting an exhibit of Tiffany Lamps at the Antler Hill Village.  I love Tiffany lamps! (there were not photos allowed inside the house or the exhibit, sorry)  It ended up being a wonderful day!  I stopped by to see Amelia and then went to Shelby to meet my parents and Diane and Bennie.

Tomorrow I head out early in the AM to Hilton Head, SC for the Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism Conference (ESTC).  More to come from Hilton Head!

Southwest Adventure

So I spent St. Patrick's Day this year driving from Salt Lake to Santa Fe, NM.  I went down there to attend the GWTTRA Symposium held at the Lodge at Santa Fe hotel.  I made some great connections during the conference and had the pleasure of visiting Puye Cliffs with a group from the conference.

Puye Cliffs is the ancestral home of the Santa Clara Pueblo and members of the Pueblo are the guides for the cliffs.  This makes it a more personal experience because all the guides add bits of their own family history to their tours.  It was an absolutely wonderful place to visit and if you're ever in the Santa Fe area, you should check it out!

The day after the conference ended, I spent the day exploring Santa Fe.

SLC Treasure for Southerners!

There's a place in Salt Lake City serving down-home comfort food that would make Paula Deen proud!! For any Southern transplants to Utah or locals who just want to try some great food, you need to head on down to 159 S Main St to the Bayleaf Cafe!

While I believe they're known locally for their chicken and waffles, I don't think you can go wrong with anything on the menu!! I will say I tried a dish called 2nd Coming (comprised of 2 split buttermilk biscuits stacked with 2 eggs and a pile of cheese and bacon, smothered with country gravy) and thought I'd died and gone to heaven!! Side dishes like cole slaw, collard greens, grits, succotash, hoppin' john and hush puppies makes me think I'm back in the South! (I didn't realize people knew what some of these dishes were out here) They've been named "Best Comfort Food 2010" by Salt Lake magazine's dining awards and "Best Late Night" in 2010 City Weekly Best of Utah! They're open 11am to 9pm through the week (except for Monday when they're closed) but here's the kicker: on the weekends they open at 11am Friday and don't close until 9pm on Sunday!! (Yes, you read that right, they're open ALL weekend) AND they serve breakfast all the time!!

Now I will be the first to admit that dessert is my weakness! I have not met a dessert yet that I didn't like! And I happen to be a huge fan of the dessert menu at Bayleaf. I was tempted to try more than one. They have favorites like strawberry shortcake, peach cobbler, nanner puddin' (that's how it's pronounced in the South and how it's written on the menu), apple brown betty, and a root beer float! When I first visited the Bayleaf, we went at 11pm figuring if it was open late, we might as well take advantage. You walk in past the grill to find tables that would be at home in a fifties diner. My table was covered with images of Willie Nelson. Now, I don't know if any of you realize that Willie has his own flavor of Ben & Jerry's ice cream (I promise there's a point to this) but he does and it's peach cobbler flavored. So since I was sitting at the "Willie Nelson table" I felt it only appropriate that I try the peach cobbler. This dish gets high marks from me! (but I may have to taste-test it again just to make sure, you understand)

Overall, I'm extremely happy that a place like the Bayleaf exists here in Salt Lake! If anybody wants to try it and needs someone to go with them, let me know!! I'll be sure to steer you in the right direction!! (though again, you can't really go wrong)

Visit www.bayleaf-cafe.com for more info!

(The above was written for one of my classes this semester, but I love this place so much, I thought it was worth posting here too!)

1000 Places to See Before You Die...

In 2003, the book 1,000 Places to See Before You Die came out.  I think I bought it the first time I saw it and have kept track of the destinations I've visited by checking them off in the book.  I know Patricia Schultz is in the process of creating the updated revision, but I still think I'll continue to keep track in my original.  Since I've been concentrating on school and haven't traveled recently, I thought I'd compile the list so far here along with some of my favorite pictures of some of the destinations.

Europe

1. London, England

2. Blarney Castle and Bunratty Castle, Ireland  

3.The Book of Kells, Dublin, Ireland

4. Aran Islands, Galway, Ireland

Dun Angus on Inishmore (Aran Islands)

5. Connemara, Galway, Ireland
6. Galway, Ireland
7. The Ring of Kerry, Kerry, Ireland
8. Horse Country Straffan (Kildare) Ireland
9. Vienna, Austria

Hundertwasser in Vienna

10. The Romantic Road, Bavaria, Germany
11. Oberammergau, Bavaria, Germany (I still count this even though I didn't get to see the play)
12. The Rhine Valley, Germany
13. Heidelberg's Schloss, Heidelberg, Germany
14. Bellagio, Lombardy, Italy

Boat to take us to Borromean Islands

15. Borromean Islands, Stresa, Lombardy, Italy
16. Cortina D'Ampezzo, Veneto, Italy
17. St. Moritz and the Glacier Express, Engadine, Switzerland

View from Gornergratt (took the Glacier Express from Zermatt up)

18. Zermatt, Valais, Switzerland

The United States of America
19. The Grand Canyon, Flagstaff, AZ
20. Lake Powell, Page, AZ
21. Monterey Peninsula, CA
22. The Pacific Coast Highway, CA (I haven't gone all the way to LA yet)
23. A Tour on San Francisco's Cable Cars

At the end of my cable car journey

 24. Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, FL
25. Everglades National Park, FL
26. Key West, FL
27. South Beach, Miami Beach, FL
28. Walt Disney World Resort, Orlando, FL
29. The Breakers, Palm Beach, FL
30. Savannah's Historic District, GA
31. Big Island, Hawaii

Black sand beach on the Big Island

32. Oahu, Hawaii
33. Bellagio, Las Vegas, NV
34. The Las Vegas Strip, NV
35. New York City, NY
36. Historic Downtown New York, NY
37. The Biltmore Estate, Asheville, NC
38. Great Smoky Mountains National Park, NC
39. The Lewis and Clark Trail, Columbia River Gorge, OR
40. The Heart of Charleston, SC
41. The Badlands, SD42. The Black Hills, SD
43. Bryce Canyon National Park, UT
44. Moab and Red Rock Country, UT
45. Park City and the Wasatch Range, UT
46. Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Salt Lake City, UT

Mormon Tabernacle Choir

 47. Zion National Park, UT
48. Monticello, VA
49. Colonial Williamsburg, Williamsburg, VA
50. The National Mall and Its Monuments, Washington, DC

Washington Monument

 51. Grand Teton National Park, WY
52. Jackson Hole, WY
53. Yellowstone National Park, WY
54. Mesa Verde National Park, CO

Okay, Here's the list so far!  What do you think?  What are some of the places you've been?

Christmas Break 2010

I ended 2010 in North Carolina.  I flew home on Dec. 15 and flew back to Salt Lake on Jan. 8.  It was great to be able to see my family and my friends again.  I also experienced my first White Christmas!!

I went to Marion to visit Jamie, Casar to visit Amelia, and had dinner and game night at Kelly's new house! 

I got a cold while I was home but was feeling mostly better after New Year's and so I borrowed Uncle Andy's truck and headed to Raleigh to see Linda and Catharine. 

After visiting the girls, I stopped in Greensboro to see some of my former coworkers before heading back to Lawndale.  Except for Jennifer (who left before pics) and William are still working at AAA, everyone else has left.  Also, since I saw them, Angela has given birth to her second son, Eli.

Once back in Salt Lake, I found I had a new roommate named Boyeon Kim from South Korea.  School started on Jan. 10 and I've been settling in nicely to the new semester.  Today, I attended the Sundance Film Festival (they show some of the movies in Salt Lake).  I went with Callie, Alex, and his roommate Luke to see Pariah at the Rose Wagner Theater.  I enjoyed the film, I didn't really have any prior knowledge of the film beforehand.  Callie had simply offered me a ticket to whatever show they were seeing, I took the opportunity because it is Sundance and is an integral part of the community out here.  There was a lot of material in the film that could have made viewers uncomfortable, but the story was done with style and insight that allowed the viewer to become invested in the characters without being made uncomfortable.  Very well done.

I didn't make it into the ASB program going to Costa Rica, so now I'm left without plans for Spring Break.  I'm hoping to go to the TTRA conference in Santa Fe March 17-19, which is right before SB.  Perhaps I can go to the conference and then take my time getting back to Salt Lake and see some sights in that area.  I want to go to spend some time in Santa Fe, Durango, Mesa Verde, Four Corners, Monument Valley, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands, Moab, and Arches.  That sounds like a pretty good trip, doesn't it?  I'm also looking at summer jobs and seriously considering applying to positions in Alaska.  I think it would be an amazing opportunity for me!