Life List #51: Ride in a Hot Air Balloon

WOO HOO! What a great weekend in Stowe with my good friend Steve. We went for a nice (but hilly!) bike ride, I baked a quintessential New England blueberry pie, we had lunch and walked around the property at the Von Trapp Family lodge... and OF COURSE! we had an incredible 45-minute hot air balloon ride.

It was an amazing experience. There was a bit of a delay because of the direction of the wind (they were afraid we would go up to the mountains and not have anywhere to land!). But after patiently waiting and watching the other balloons set up, we finally left the ground! Our balloon was GORGEOUS as was the sunset and views. The experience was very scary though... we went up REALLY fast, the heat from the balloon was REALLY hot (especially on Steve's bald head!), the basket was particularly tiny and the railings were lower than I expected. Every once in a while I would peek out to look down, and I was so freaked that the basket would tip slightly. Definitely not for those with a fear of heights.

We went up to about 6,000 feet above sea level (starting at only 70) and traveled about 10 miles, landing in the backyard of a lovely couple. Once landed and packed back up into the chase vehicle, we celebrated a lovely tradition of sharing a bottle of champagne with the owner of the property we landed on.

I'm still in shock with how surreal it all seemed. Absolutely unforgettable and amazing but scary as hell! I'm so glad I did it!

Here are a few videos (two more on my youtube site) and there are TONS of photos here too!

#51 on the ole' Life List

So... its not definite yet (have to see if I can get a reservation and the lady is out of the office today), but I may be knocking "#51: Ride a hot air balloon" off of my list! I am heading to Stowe, Vermont this weekend for the "Stoweflake Balloon Festival" and I am so ridiculously excited. I've always had a weird fascination with hot air balloons. I've never been in one and I've always wanted to ride one a la Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.

I'll keep you posted! Should be a great weekend either way. They have a phenomenal 5.5 mile Recreation Path too that goes past another weird childhood obsession of mine... the von Trapp Family (Sound of Music) cottage where they moved to and are now all buried (well, mostly buried actually as a few are still around and kicking). Sounds like the perfect spot for my 11-mile run!

Hoorah!

Hotel for Montreal Booked!

WOo hoo! Silvia and I are all set with our hotel for Montreal. Hotel Nelligan is uber-chic (and so appropriate for two gals about town like us). We leave on July 18th and come back on the 20th.

Any other shopping / food / bar recommendations, send 'em my way in the comments section! YAY!

Oooo Dang... Making Plans to Hit Off Another Life List Item This Summer

WOO HOOOO! Could I be more excited about the weekend of July 18? My fabulously awesome friend Silvia and I are making plans to go to Montreal! Neither of us have ever been... not only will I be checking off #45 of my Life List, but it will be so much fun to go on a trip with her. That girl knows how to have fun!

I cannot wait (between that and the iPhone and the NYC half-marathon and the fact that I'll hopefully have my stupid air conditioners installed by then, July's going to be a kick-ass month)!

Japan and other travel photos are posted!

I promise to write more blogs about my specific journeys but in the meantime all my photo albums are live on the picasa site:

Organized into little folders so you can chew on whatever you want, plus the thumbnails are scale-able (in the top right corner) so that way you don't have to click through hundreds of photos!

The "Japan Design and Architecture" folder is duplicates from the other folders but thought I'd pull those out for those who just want to see the cool design stuff and pass on the shrines and other random miscellany...

http://picasaweb.google.com/skydivinginstilettos

Enjoy!

Vacation 2008: Days 1 + 2 (San Francisco)

As an addendum to the post I wrote earlier, here are some photos (I can't believe I didn't take any at dinner/drinks with Danielle + Scott!).

The photos are all along my early morning run (6 miles... although as you can see, it was more of a scavenger hunt since I stopped so often to take photos!).

Alive and Well!!!

So much to tell the blogworld and literally so little time... I've been seeing pretty much EVERYTHING and its all incredible. But if I don't hit the hay early for a change, I may run completely out of my Energizer Bunny juice!

Tomorrow is my last full day in Tokyo and I just got back from Kyoto and Osaka tonight. Still have lots to cram in but I'm confident I can do it and still have time to have lunch and hang out with a new friend Matsuo tomorrow (not that kind of friend, sillies -- my dad's business associate's son who lives here).

My pictures are incredible and there are a lot of great stories and posts to write! Stay tuned!

Vacation 2008 :: San Francisco

Well, I'm just getting ready to leave for the airport to head to Tokyo.

I've had an incredible 14 hours in San Francisco. I had a bit of hairiness with my flight to Chicago -- all flights were delayed about two hours so I tried to get on standby for the earlier flight so I wouldn't miss my SFO connection... to which they said there were only 2 vacant seats and 12 people on standby so they wouldn't even put me on the list... but I proved it pays to be persistent. I stayed near and miraculously was the second to last lucky person to hop on my flight since many people never showed up!

So I made it into San Francisco at about 8:05 to PHENOMENAL weather... hopped in a taxi to Danielle + Scott's house in Russian Hill. Arrived very timely (and HUNGRY)... to be introduced to their cute and cozy apartment (I use 'cozy' as an ambiance and decor description as their place is ANYTHING but small. its in fact very airy and spacious). So we headed down the street to a great small plates seafood place called Pesce on Polk Street. The food and 'refreshing' prosecco was all amazing and the company as well. It was so good to see them after so long and it made me sad that I didn't hang out with them more when they lived in Boston (I guess that mean more San Francisco visits, eh?). Afterwards we headed to Rex bar down the street for some Chimay.

I woke up early this morning and went for a 'run'... I did in fact run but I stopped so much for pictures that my nike ipod says my pace was 18:00 miles for the 5.5 miles I trekked. Funny...

I first went just down the street to the Marina... the sun cast a gorgeous glow on everything even making Alcatrez look picturesque. Went along the bay towards the Golden Gate Bridge and then back-tracked past Ghiradelli square and down the Embarcadero with the sound of the barking sea lions on Pier 39. Kept going until I found the notorious Filbert Steps (which I had never experienced when I lived here in 2000)... my thighs were burning but the views were worth every second of it... as were the unique and brilliant flowers everywhere. Finally made it to the top to Coit tower for more panoramic views...

Then I headed back to Danielle and Scott's house stopping first for some cute white tulips for them and a phenomenal (and well-deserved, I might add) iced coffee and almond croissant from the most adorable French bakery around the corner from them.

Can't wait to show you the photos...what a great morning! I'm trying to edit my sure-to-be massive album already but there are too many great scenes to capture.

Off to Tokyo!!! Syanora!!!

A Week From Today!!!

Woo hoo! A week from today I will be leaving for vacation... this is what I have to look forward to. I'm a little scared.

Flights are Booked!!!

My around-the-world-tour is on! Man, I never needed a vacation more either...

Here's my itinerary:

May 14 - I leave at 1:55 and arrive in San Francisco at 8pm (with a layover in Chicago for two hours. Any of my Chicago friends interested in a super quick visit?).
I hope to meet up with my friends Danielle and Scott (and Ranjit if that punk emails me back!).

May 15 - leave for Tokyo at 1pm and arrive at 4ish on May 16. Perfectly, Vik's flight lands around the same time so we can share a taxi to the hotel (yea - work expenses for him = free for me!).

May 16-May 18 - fun and insanity in Tokyo! (including karaoke, sumo wrestling matches, mad shopping, and getting dressed as a geisha!

May 18-May 20 - to Osaka via bullet train. We're in Osaka for Sunday through Tuesday (I think?) and I definitely hop over to Kyoto only a half-hour away since its supposely the most picturesque town in Japan with temples, cherry blossoms (if they're still there mid-May), and beautiful parks.

May 20 - back to Tokyo for more fun and insanity!

May 21 - leave for Vancouver at 6pm / arrive in Vancouver at 11am the SAME DAY! Two days for the price of one - awesome.

May 21 - spend a few days seeing the sites of Vancouver with my good friend Stephen.

May 22ish - spend a few days in Seattle seeing the sites. doing some hiking.

May 25 - leave from Vancouver to NYC. Arrive in NYC around 9ish.

May 26 (Memorial Day) - I can either jet directly back to Boston on a 7am flight, or stay in NYC on my day off to squeeze a few more friends into my vacation! Yet to be determined... I may be BEAT by this time!

See?!? World-tour, right?! I'm SOOOO excited... any travel tips for the bevy of cities I'll be hitting are definitely appreciated!