Travel

Seattle and Vancouver

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I have been neglecting you guys!! My loyal blog-readers. Well I am back, hopefully with a vengeance. Things in my life have been crazy recently, between realizing we couldn’t afford the crazy rent increase for our apartment, trying to find an apartment within 2 weeks’ time, applying for an apartment… ok, this whole apartment business deserves its own blog post, which is coming soon.

Anyway, I’ve been busy. And one of the reasons is because I’ve been gallivanting around the west coast of the US and Canada with my best friend. I know, I know, play the world’s smallest violin for me. Too bad, so sad.

I had a blast. I can’t share all of the details from my trip on here because, quite frankly, you don’t want to read them. But I will give a highlights reel in bullet-point form, because lists are easier to read, and hopefully this way you don’t skim through all of my hard, carpal-tunnel-inducing work on LongLegsBigCity.

  • Flight actually left on time. WHAT? Crazy. Yes, this requires its own bullet point. I highly recommend JetBlue to absolutely anyone. Also, their points NEVER EXPIRE. And they have free wifi! And legroom! This trip was off to a great start.
  • Late night happy hour at Toulouse Petit. Their menu touts that it was rated 5th Greatest Restaurant in the USA by TripAdvisor. It was good but that is very aggressive.
  • First Day: Food tour of Pike’s Place Market. Highly recommend, yet again. I’d been to Pike’s Place before, but I learned so much history from the tour guide! Also, we got to eat at 6 different places (Daily Dozen Doughnut Co., Elleno’s Greek Yogurt, Beecher’s Handmade Cheese, Pike Place Chowder, Chukar Cherries, Piroshky Piroshky AND Etta’s Seafood). How could that be bad??
  • Drove to Vancouver. Holy hell that took a long time. Who knew that border-crossing lines took long than Disneyworld pre-fast-pass? We arrived 2 hours later than planned. Thank goodness we bought $30 in gas station snacks for the 3-hour (turned 5-hour) drive.
  • Our air BnB was awesome!! It was an adventure trying to get the keys though. There was a fire exit involved. Also, the way the host gave us the keys… he just left the door propped open? For how long, no one knows. I made my friend come with me and check every closet and shower (there were 2.5 bathrooms!) for a hiding serial killer. Spoiler Alert: there were no serial killers.
  • The Parking pass our Air Bnb guy gave us for the parking garage (one of the reasons we picked this air bnb) clearly stated 6-hour-parking all over it. Also, the spots in the garage said that. We were worried all weekend that we would be towed. Air bnb man did not speak English very well in his messages and his response “Sure! 😊” to our question “The parking pass says 6 hours. Can we park there overnight? Will we get towed?” did not help. Spoiler Alert #2: we were not towed. PHEW!
  • Discovered 2 liquor stores within 3 blocks walking distance. Purchased booze at said liquor stores. This also came in handy later.
  • Hooked up to the wifi, googled best dinner places. Found a place called Gringo. The reviews for the food were FAMAZING, and they had drinks called “White Girl W@$sted” and “Poor Man’s Sangria.” We knew we had to go. The wait was 45 minutes AND it was raining. But after 20 minutes, we were tipped off that we could go inside and take tequila shots while we waited. Game changed. Food was AMAZING (especially after the tequila shots).
  • Day 2: Hit the free gym in the condo complex first to sweat out some tequila. Works every time. Pro Tip: Running on a treadmill with a hangover is bad in every country. Even with the lights dimmed.
  • It stopped raining! Tried to go on a walking tour of Vancouver. Couldn’t find the fountain meeting place. Asked inside a museum. Was informed that the plaza was “re-landscaped” aka paved over, and there was no fountain anymore. Still couldn’t find the walking tour. Did come across a man cleaning a public restroom. He found a Livestrong Bracelet in the toilet. Remember those? We gave up on the walking tour.
  • We decided to instead give ourselves a walking tour on our way to brunch. Great compromise. We walked around downtown and then ended up at Lamplighter Pub for a Bluegrass Brunch. It was amazing because they served poutine and did a bluegrass version of Hit Me Baby One More Time. It was already a great day.
  • We walked alllll the way to Granville Market mostly because we had time, and it had stopped raining. Also, because I had just eaten poutine. Granville was adorable. Lots of food booths, but after our 80-minute walk we were tired.
  • We took a cab back to our condo. I LEFT MY CELL PHONE IN THE CAB. Uber doesn’t exist in Vancouver, so we had no way to track it. Of course my cellular data was off because I was in Canada so I couldn’t call it. I tried to track down the cab from my credit card charge, but it wasn’t even pending yet. I found a Parking Police Person. I asked her what to do. She told me to try and remember what color the cab was, and find the company to call based on that color. Unfortunately, I thought it was blue and my best friend thought it was yellow. Also, I didn’t have a phone to call a company. My best friend google-image-searched Vancouver cabs, and was CONVINCED it was from a company called Black Top Cabs based on the photos. I scheduled a cab by using their website. Two minutes later, a cab pulled up, and it looked just like the one we were in… but it wasn’t. I asked the driver to call dispatch and ask about a cab coming from Granville where the customer left a phone. Sure enough I hear someone over the radio say “Yep, I’ve got it.” (WTF!?). The dispatch said “Either you can go get it or he can bring it to you but he may charge a $15 delivery charge” (aka like $12 American). I am not an idiot so I said PLEASE PLEASE BRING IT. I prepared to wait on the street for a while. Less than 3 minutes later, the guy pulled up with my phone. I handed him $20 American, and he seemed thrilled. It worked out for both of us. Cue the 3-minute walk to the liquor store because I REALLY needed it at that point.
  • Pre-drinking at the condo. Planning out Spain girls’ trip for May. (SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS!) Googled “Best Indian Food in Vancouver.” Discovered Salam Bombay. So. Delicious.
  • We wanted to go dancing and failed miserably the night before, so we tried harder the second night. We even waited in a non-moving line at a club. We eventually gave up and started wandering looking for a bar. We came across Relish The Pub. We saw a woman dancing like crazy inside. Just one woman. She was a bodybuilder. She did bodybuilding poses every 2 minutes within her dance marathon. We knew it was up to us to join the party. They had an amazing DJ who played all of our requests. We danced for 3 hours straight. We got 14,000 steps after midnight. My Fitbit registered more than 2 hours of “aerobic activity.”
  • At one point in the night, my friend pointed to the floor and said “look.” I looked. It was $100!!! In American money, nonetheless. She told me later she thought it was $1! This paid for our next night.
  • Late night shawarma.
  • Meaning well, we set the alarm to go to the gym. It didn’t happen. I checked my fitbit. Remembered the 14,000 steps after midnight. Decided it was ok.
  • Drove back toward Seattle. Both of us had Global Entry so we got to drive in the fastpass Nexus Lane. It saved us at least an hour at the border!
  • We stopped for a stretch break and walk at Deception Pass. Photos do not do it justice. SO. BEAUTIFUL.
  • Lunch in La Conner, WA at Santo Coyote. We had amazing (and inexpensive) food this whole trip.
  • Relaxed at my bff’s house for a quick bit, while her psycho-energetic-puppy jumped all over us. Then we googled “Best Ice Cream in Seattle.” I can’t help myself! #30Years30IceCreams will stay with me forever. We met up with one of her friends at Kurt Farm Shop, where we had cheese ice cream, and many other unique and delicious flavors. It left a weird film on the roof of my mouth, but besides that, it was pretty darn good.
  • Even with this bullet list, is this blog getting long? I think it is. I’ll try to wrap up. We did so many things!!
  • Day 4: MLK Day. Hike up Little Si with Charlie (the girl puppy with a boy name). She was happy we brought her. The views were amazing! A totally clear day in January in Seattle. Complete miracle.
  • I met my best friend’s boyfriend at dinner. We went to Tai Tung, which is famous for being Bruce Lee’s favorite restaurant. He even has a table dedicated to him. But more importantly, I got to meet my BFF’s bf. This is important because I have a history of hating her boyfriends. I know hate is a strong word, but it’s entirely appropriate here. Anyway, I actually liked this one! MIRACLE. Also, he picked up the tab. Doesn’t hurt. We made him take home the leftovers.
  • Went to VERY divey dive bar called Joe’s. VERY. Divey. Cash only. They don’t even have a website for me to link. I was introduced to pull-tabs. We won $4!! We spent $20… but still. All drinks paid for by our found Benjamin.
  • Late night 2nd Dinner at Ba Bar. Vietnamese. Pho. Moscow Mules at Late Night Happy Hour price. Who could ask for more?
  • Day 5: SEGWAY TOUR OF SEATTLE!! Y’all know I love to Segway. The tour guide kind of sucked, but Segway-ing is so fun it didn’t even matter. Plus, we got a Groupon! Plus, it wasn’t raining! PLUS, it was called Magic Carpet Glide. It couldn’t be bad.
  • Lunch at Ivar’s. Fish and Chips. So. Good. Plus the view was amazing. It still wasn’t raining!
  • Stopped at Tiffany’s. Had to make sure my BFF knows the kind of ring I want. You never know, right? 😉 LOL
  • Spent the rest of the afternoon on the couch watching Sex & the City DVD’s to round out a perfect trip.
  • My flight back to NYC left EARLY! JETBLUE FTW. 21 days ‘til my next flight. Also JetBlue because I am now a loyal customer.
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Travel

Park City, Utah

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Hello! My name is Elder LongLegsBigCity. And I would like to share with you the most amazing book…

JK, I did not turn into a Mormon missionary, but I did spend nearly 6 days in the beautiful state of Utah with 13 of my bf’s friends. I went on hikes, did innumerable flights of stairs at nearly 9,000 feet, took photos with multiple posters boasting puns about polygamy, and stayed in a 5-story home with a panoramic view of multiple ski slopes. Just look at the banner photo. Talk about #LifeElevated.

The emoji bf and I tend to have horrific travel luck, but the Mormon All-American prophet looked down upon us and blessed our journey and we departed NYC EARLY!! Unheard of. We arrived in Salt Lake City late on Wednesday night, met up with one of his friends, and took an uber to Park City. One of my bf’s friend’s family owns a house that they usually rent out, but lucky for us, it was vacant for (an extended) Labor Day Weekend. I got the grand tour when we arrived, and I don’t know if it was the lack of sleep or the elevation, but I actually got lost. There were 5 stories in this place! 6 bedrooms, 2 decks/patios, a shuffleboard table, a hot tub… I was floored. We arrived after midnight and the party had clearly already been going on for a while, but I skipped the drinks for the night and went straight to bed. When I woke up, I had a sleeping beauty moment when I saw on my phone it was noon. I thought I had woken up from a minor coma! Thankfully, my phone just hadn’t synced with the new time zone and it was only 10 am.

I sat on the balcony taking in the amazing view as I waited to meet up with my friend from middle school/high school/ college/NYC. She happens to live in Utah now, and she has an ADORABLE baby who I had never met yet. Luckily for me, she liked me enough to drive out to Park City with her husband and daughter to hang out. We spent the day eating amazing fried food, window shopping, and exploring the “downtown” area of Park City. Oh, and of course taking many many photos. We even saw a Banksy original! You think maybe my emoji bf is responsible???

The girl whose parents own the mansion where we were staying also have their own permanent residence in Park City in a neighborhood called the Promontory Club. Legend has it that the developer for the neighborhood went bankrupt in the middle of building, and when they same developer bought the land back (in foreclosure), he had so much extra money that he built these amazing amenities for the neighborhood to use. We decided to take full advantage of them. After a busy day in town, we went to the bougie AF clubhouse (“The Shed”), where they had an indoor bball/vball court, jump ropes, pinball, foosball, pool tables, and of course, bowling lanes. After working up an appetite, we ordered food and ate it outside as they turned on the gas fire pit that lined the patio. I didn’t quite break 90 in bowling… I probably didn’t deserve the pizza. Once the temperature dropped, we went back to the house and drank some more wine in the hot tub.

For some reason (time change?) I woke up early the next morning. A few of us took a trip down Shorty’s Stairs (actually, I did them 4 times trying to work off the booze from the prior night, this became a tradition), and we found this place called Little Donuts. The owner is a Michigan fan, which I will only forgive because these donuts were phenomenal. Fresh AND you could watch him hand dip and decorate each one made-to-order. They had a maple bacon one. I mean, come on. Clearly the 500 stairs/day were not going to be enough. After eating too many donuts, we put on swimsuits (thankfully I brought my one-piece) and headed back to Promontory, this time to “The Beachhouse.” There were 14 of us, and thanks to some A+ planning, we had rented a cabana, which we had all to ourselves with cookies, cheese, crackers and fruit. The best part was, the cabana was situated basically in the man-made lake, so as we took advantage of the free watersports, we could paddleboard/kayak etc. right up to our group of friends! We played some frisbee in the pool and soaked in the high-elevation rays before heading back to our mansion. After pregaming a little TOO hard, we walked down Shorty’s stairs to a tapas restaurant called Bodega 718/ We had picked up coupons for the restaurant earlier in the day, but (due to the heavy pregaming) we forgot them at the house. I offered to walk back to get them, which would also, hopefully, help me walk off the pregame overboard. On my way, I found an owl. I know what you’re thinking, I was hallucinating it. TBH, I thought I was, too! I walked right past it! But then I backpedaled and I was like, “nope, that is a f*cking huge owl.” His name was Hoot, and his handler informed me that he was, in fact a FAMOUS owl. He had a movie book full of photos of Hoot with the likes of Adam Sandler and Robin Williams (RIP). I am not an animal lover, but I knew I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take a photo with Hoot #DoItForTheInsta.

After my owl photoshoot, I got the coupons, went back to dinner, and proceeded to fight with my bf. I mean, what’s a vacation with your significant other without a fight, AMIRITE? Anyway, as I have already stated 20 times, I had too much to drink and it was a good time for me to go home anyway. I walked back to the house, got a cider out of the fridge, and read my kindle in the hot tub. Arguably one my favorite parts of the trip (minus the fight).

The next morning, I woke up early again. Wtf? Anyway, it allowed me some time to sweat out the booze again, and tackle Shorty’s stairs 8 times. Almost 1,000 stairs. Unfortunately, I did not know that this was the day we were going to hike. But hike, we did. At almost 10,000 feet. Luckily, the trail itself was not too challenging, and the views were totally worth it. I even hopped in the lake at one point, which was freezing since it is formed by snow run-off from the mountains. It was worth the adventure, and it was the one time we got a group shot of all 14 of us. On our way back up, we ran into a group of students from University of Utah (“Utes”), who were using a not-so-sturdy rope swing to jump into the not-so-deep lake. One of the guys said he hit his head on the rock. Then he tried to get us to try it. I decided that Saturday, Sept. 2, 2017 was not the day I wanted to die, so I passed.

We got home, showered, watched some football, and just as I was sure UF was going to lose (SIGH), we went to the girls whose family owns the house’s parents’ house (that’s a mouthful) for a BBQ. Since they also own the 5-story mansion we were staying in, I figured their full-time house may be more modest, but I was wrong. The place was GORGEOUS. It had a wrap-around deck where we could see the perfect sunset, a wine cellar, a “drive-through shower” (NEED this in my future house) and a firepit. We drank wine and Moscow mules, ate amazing burgers and brats, and then finished the night with more wine by the fire, while Amazon Alexa serenaded us. Oh, AND we made s’mores. Does it get more perfect than that!? When I was a kid, I didn’t think it got better than s’mores. But then I realized you can have them with a side of wine. SCORE.

The next day was low key because we were tired, and because it was HOT! It wasn’t humid, but being 10,000 feet closer to the sun makes for some high temps. We went into town for the weekly summer street fair called Park Silly. We didn’t last long there thanks to the temps, but we did find our way back to Wasatch brewery where they had $2 bloody marys. Somehow I only had one. Maybe I was tapped out for booze. Or maybe I felt guilty because it was Sunday and it was Utah. Or maybe it’s because it just tasted like tomato juice thanks to Utah’s liquor laws requiring no drink to have more than 1.5 ounces of booze in it. Anyway, eventually we went back to the house where we watched the new Baywatch. Incredibly underrated, if you ask me. The Rock AND Zac Efron? I mean, clearly 5-star-worthy.

Our last real night in Utah, we went as a group to Butcher’s Chop House, where we miraculously got a last-minute reservation for 13 people. The meal was great, and was made better by a BOGO deal on entrees. I can’t resist a good deal. I can, however, resist taking photos of food. I hate people who do that sh*t. So no photos. I got to know the restaurant well, since my bf forgot his phone AND wallet, so we went back twice. Once for the phone and wallet, once for the ID, which I had luckily reminded him specifically to check for since we were flying the next day. Another charming thing about Utah: they card everyone under the age of DEAD. So your ID is oftentimes out of your wallet. Once we had the ID, we stopped at No Name Saloon for a drink on the way home, as one does when they are relieved they did not lose their entire identity (aka phone and wallet) in one fell swoop. BF had whiskey neat (the strongest drink you can get in the whole state), and I had a bottle of cider, because anything on draught is less than 4% ABV. At that point, I was happy to be leaving the next day, back to the land of the alcoholic a.k.a. New York City.

The next day we cleaned up the house and headed to the airport, where we were through security before noon. Only problem, our flight wasn’t until midnight. Luckily for me, and to the sole credit of my boyfriend, I have started credit card churning (full blog on that another time), and therefore I had an AMEX Platinum Card that got me into the Delta Sky Lounge. (Highly recommend that card. USE MY LINK!) We had 12 hours of free booze, free food, and free wifi. I read the entire book, The Young Wives Club, and did some blogging. Watch out for my next Student Loan installment coming later this week!

Overall, I didn’t see too many Mormons except at the airport (disappointing) but I did have a blast. Also, any number of days where I am not breathing in NYC’s unique and trademarked mix of smog, trash, piss, and sadness is a good weekend overall.

Ready for our red-eye back to smelly NYC.
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