Here are some photos from Quito and Nono Ecuador. I have yet to finish editing our photos from the Galapagos – soon!

Fair Trade Shop

Where we bought some chocolate and coffee.

More Quito graffiti

Nectarine Dessert

in Nono

Square in Quito

in front of the San Francisco church

Pre-Lunch Soup

Nono

Cool Trees

in the courtyard of the library, Quito

Hummingbirds

Alcohol for Canelazo

Lorena shows us sugarcane alcohol that has been steeped with raisins, orange peel, and oak bark (?). This was to put in Canelazo, a traditional hot drink. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canelazo

Shrine with moving flowers

Nono, Ecuador

Shrine

Nono, Ecuador

Peeking into a Garden

Nono, Ecuador

Trumpet Flowers

"Brugmansia have also traditionally been used in many South American indigenous cultures in medical preparations and as a ritualistic hallucinogen for divination, to communicate with ancestors, as a poison in sorcery and black magic, and for prophecy."

When we were in the village of Nono, north of Quito, we saw these flowers and our guide told us they were often used to drug people and steal from them - it basically puts you in a conscious but nonresistant state, like date rape drugs.

Turns out it was used to synthesize the same drug I was wearing on a patch behind my ear for sea-sickness (Scopolamine).

This might explain why I hallucinated several times when I woke up in the middle of the night. Hilariously, I hallucinated Galapagos animals. A penguin by the doorknob, sea lion climbing the door, iguana on the lamp. Otherwise, no side effects and kept me from getting seasick which is basically miraculous.

Hummingbird

at Lorena and Carlos' house

Quito Graffiti

Glass Fence

In Nono, Ecuador

Green Landscape

in Nono, Ecuador

We went on an amazing trip to the Galapagos last month. We saw and did so much, I knew I had to keep a journal to remember everything. Some of my fellow travelers asked me to scan it, so I figured why not share with the internet too? (Click for an interactive version).

I love to keep a paper journal but it’s been difficult to find the time in the last few years, so I relished the chance to spend a computer-less vacation with pens and paper. The notebook is made by Michael Roger and the markers are Staedtler Triplus Fineliners (both found at the Brown Bookstore during a quick lunchtime shopping spree). I have very little drawing experience and sometimes I feel held back by a perfectionism which I have little chance of achieving, so I ONLY brought pens, no pencils. If I made a mistake, I made a mistake – it was freeing and fun.

I thought the journal might be interesting to anyone considering a trip to the Galapagos who wants to get an idea of what it’s like. You have to visit the islands with a guide, so an organized trip is the best way to go. Our trip was organized by Beyond Your Backyard Adventures, a small trip geared towards people who really want to get out and see everything (no whiners!) We had an amazing experience and are still working through thousands of photos.

As a frequent bus rider, I don’t know how I ever lived without the transit directions in Google Maps.

I’ve discovered an even easier way to access bus schedules from my Android phone. I simply created shortcuts to transit directions for my favorite destinations (like work, home). This means that if I’m running late at work and miss my usual bus, I can just click the shortcut to see the next 3 buses. It doesn’t matter where I am, clicking the shortcut gets me home!

How to create a shortcut to transit directions:

1. Go to your Apps (on my phone, I click the round icon on the bottom middle of my home screen)
   
2. Along the top, click Widgets
   
3. Flip through your widgets until you find the one called Directions & Navigation. Press and hold to drop it onto your home screen.
   
4. Add your home or work address (or anywhere else you like to go a lot). Don’t forget to choose transit (click on the bus image).
   
5. Remember to put a screen lock on your phone. It’s good for many reasons, but especially important if someone could steal your bag with keys and easy directions to your home

I grew up in the NYC area but hadn’t been back lately, so I was excited to take my in-laws on their first trip to the city the day after Thanksgiving.

Staying in the city with four people would have been pricey, so we decided to try the Hilton in Stamford, CT, which we snagged for only $90/night. It’s not too long a drive from Providence and it’s in walking distance from the train station, where you can catch a 50 minute express train to Grand Central Station.

We walked over 10 miles a day, all over Manhattan – the best way to sightsee.

The Statue of Liberty in the Fog, from Battery Park

Here are some of the places we went. It sounds like a lot of food for 2 days, but when it’s cold and you’re burning a thousand calories walking, you’d better stop for a snack or two.

Food & Drink

• Poutine and a smoked meat sandwich from Mile End Sandwich
• A good Belgian beer at The Burp Castle
• A pretzel and beer at the Hofbrau Bierhaus (trying to get out of the rain)
• Hot cocoa at La Maison de Chocolat
• A New York bagel (something I miss terribly) at Ess-A-Bagel
• Good espresso at Blue Bottle (in the Rockefeller Center concourse)
• Pastries at Bouchon Bakery
• Pizza at John’s of Bleeker St.
• A cheese snack at Murray’s Cheese Bar
• Late night snack at Milk & Cookies Bakery

Sightseeing with First Time Visitors

• Battery Park (for a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty)
• The Charging Bull statue
• Central park
• The MOMA (I was looking forward to the Brothers Quay exhibit)
• Times Square
• FAO Schwartz for our inner kids
• Rockefeller Center (tree up, but not lit yet)
• Holiday window displays at the department stores
• Union Square holiday market
• Top of the Empire State building at night

Charlotte’s new bike sharing program, BCycle, had only been installed a month and a half before our visit. I’ve never tried a bike share and we were car-less in Charlotte, so I decided to explore Charlotte by BCycle for a day.

For $8, you get a 24-hour pass (longer-term passes are also available). As long as you return each bike within a half hour, you can take unlimited rides without any additional charge. Bikes come with a lock and basket but not a helmet, so I brought my own. The system was hassle-free and easy to use.

I started uptown, rambled down the the Sugar Creek Greenway, followed the almost entirely bike-laned East Boulevard to the Trolley Rail Trail, then took the trail back to uptown, switching bikes at each station along the way (Link to Map).  Though the bike rode smoothly, a heavy 3-speed was totally exhausting for this road bike girl! So on my way, I stopped for a necessary snack at the Common Market. Later in the day I took another bike for a spin down to Elizabeth Creamery for a scoop of praline ice cream. By the end of the day, I had ridden 8 bikes!

I didn’t see a lot of other people riding bikes in Charlotte, and when I did they were riding on the sidewalk, a practice that is illegal (or at least frowned upon) most places but seemingly the norm in Charlotte.  Some of the streets uptown had bike lanes and the drivers were courteous, but if you’re skittish on the roads, the Little Sugar Creek Greenway and Trolley Rail Trail would be good places to ride.

It was a foggy but unusually warm weekend in Chicago.

Our flight landed early in the morning; a quick train ride later, we were downtown and walking to XOCO for the perfect rainy day breakfast – amazing drinking chocolate and churros. I had the Aztec (fresh-ground chocolate + water + chile + allspice) while J had the Champurrado, a rich and thick chocolate thickened with corn flour.

We walked around for hours. Soaked with rain, we decided to stop in to Berghoff’s for a warming lunch before the Art Institute.

At the Art Institute, we were lucky to catch a free talk on Joseph Cornell (the museum has quite a few of his famous boxes). Among other sights, I loved the surrealist art in the Bergman collection, the Claude Cahun photos, and the Thorne miniature rooms. What a great museum.

We ended the day with my first real Chicago pizza – Lou Malnati’s. It was as good as I hoped (or better).

I’m so behind on posts – I haven’t even finished telling you about my exciting adventures in Las Vegas – but I wanted to quickly share a tip for finding places to hit while traveling. Of course there are review sites like Yelp, plenty of periodicals, and even just a virtual walk down the street with Google Maps’ street view. But sometimes I want more personal advice.

I follow a lot of blogs on Google Reader and have many well-traveled friends who post photos on Flickr. When I’m getting ready to travel, I like to  search those two sites to see whether my friends (real or virtual) have visited my destination. Here’s how I do it:

Flickr:
If you don’t use Flickr, you can simply head over to flickr.com and search for your destination (maybe add a keyword – like ‘food’ or ‘park’). But if you do use Flickr, and want to search your contacts’ photos, click ‘More Search Types’ after you type into the search box on the top right and choose ‘Your Contact’s Photos.’

Google Reader:
If you’re not familiar with Google Reader, it’s a RSS reader – a tool that allows you to follow blogs (the benefit: no need to visit each blog to look for updates). Simply search at the top and your  results will show you whether that search term was used in any of the blogs you follow. Sometimes, it’ll be a surprise to see which of your friends have visited your destination.

What about you?
How do you research the places you’re going to visit?

My in-laws visited last weekend and we crammed as much sun, ocean, and seafood as possible into four days. This is almost the perfect Rhode Island holiday weekend, so I had to share our itinierary.

Saturday

• Sailing lesson in the morning (just J & I, it was our first)
• Wine tasting at Newport Vineyards
• Polo (our picnic of choice is antipasto from Federal Hill)
• Walk for an ice cream cone

Sunday

• Beach day! First to Scarborough. Swam in the ocean.
• Lunch at Matunuk Oyster Bar
• More beach time at Matunuk beach.

Monday

• Eggs benedict at home
• Bike ride to the nation’s oldest 4th parade in Bristol (40mi round trip)
• Sushi
• A drink at the neighborhood bar
• Watched Providence fireworks from the comfort of our street

Tuesday

• Dunkin’ Donuts breakfast (a Rhode Island tradition, ha)
• Tennis at the Intl Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, a historic building with grass courts
• Lunch between matches at The Mooring, where we were drawn in by the seafood donuts on the menu. They were as good as they sounded - Bag of Doughnuts: Lobster, crab & shrimp fritters with chipotle-maple aïoli

Do you have a favorite Rhode Island (or local to you) 4th of July tradition?

We took a whirlwind weekend trip to DC.  The timing was perfect – leave at 6am on Friday, return late Sunday night.  The price was also perfect at $98 round trip!  It’s such a short flight from Providence, just a little over an hour.

Fairy Duster flower at the Botanical Gardens, lights at Birch & Barley (fantastic brunch)
Chinatown gate, The Silk Rainforest by Sheila Hicks at the Renwick Gallery

We walked at least 12-15 miles a day, visited every museum we could find, and ate some memorable meals (I promise you’ll see another post or two about those…)

We went to Tennessee a couple of weeks ago, and took every opportunity to sample some barbecue…

The first photo was actually in Nashville, coming from the airport – stopped at at Jack’s for lunch (http://www.jacksbarbque.com).  I had a pork shoulder plate and enjoyed trying all the sauces (there were at least 6).

Exhibit B, a rack of ribs from Rendevous (http://hogsfly.com), a bustling joint that people have been walking down an alley to dine in since 1948.  Second barbecue of the day for us, and my first rack ever in the dry style.

And last but not least, a chicken plate from Corky’s (http://www.corkysbbq.com), one of the few places open for Sunday lunch. I’m glad fate led us there!