Kentucky Trip #2: Family Gathering

April 18-20: Travel Adventure, Celebration of Life, Cincinnati Discovery

Mr. E and I headed back to the Midwest for a family gathering to celebrate and remember my cousin's husband, who died in September. When we arrived at SMF on Thursday morning, we were surprised and puzzled to see such a long line at the Terminal, extending throughout the lobby and all the way to the sidewalk outside. We quickly learned that the AT&T network wasn't working, which meant that Southwest had to process everything manually, including checking bags and issuing boarding passes (who knew they even still had carbon copy forms available??!!). Luckily, we had checked in online the day before,already had our passes, and didn't need to drop off bags, so we could just go right to our gate. Unfortunately, this technical glitch impacted flight schedules, and our departure was delayed nearly 2 hours, meaning that we missed our connection in Denver.

Unfortunately, there were no Southwest options later that day or even the next morning that would get us to our destination (Cincinnati) in time for the 11am celebration of life service on Friday. Instead, we purchased one-way tickets on United for an evening direct flight, which just happened to be the same flight that my cousin was on! We spent our unexpected layover enjoying the United Club, thanks to Mr. E's annual membership, and finally arrived at CDG a bit after 11pm. By this time, the rental car center wasn't open, so we grabbed a Lyft to our hotel, TownePlace Suites Cincinnati Downtown (Mr. E had already cancelled our Avis reservation because we knew the timing was going to be an issue). I quickly unpacked and went to bed, since it was past midnight, and Mr. E picked up some food and wine at the hotel lobby market to tide him over.

We had to be ready for the hotel buffet breakfast by 9am on Friday morning. Mr. E then went to fetch coffee at a nearby Starbucks but had a frustrating experience with a "lost" mobile order. By the time he got our beverages and came back to the hotel, we had to leave to pick up our newly-reserved rental car, which luckily was within walking distance at a downtown location just about half a mile from the hotel. We were both surprised by the wonderful historic buildings and multiple murals that we observed during our walk, as we hadn't done any research about Cincinnati prior to the trip, since the main focus of the journey was the family gathering.

The rental car pick-up was easy and quick, and we arrived at the funeral home in plenty of time for the pre-service visitation hours, giving us time to chat with some of my family and others attending the gathering. A buffet lunch followed the lovely service, and we also spent time perusing the personal items that my cousin had brought to display in the funeral home to showcase her husband's passion for and expertise related to custom saddle repair and restoration, his second career after starting out his work life in the corporate world at Avon.

Mr. E and I took advantage of the lovely sunny weather to explore more of downtown Cincinnati in the afternoon, riding the free streetcar around the 3.5 mile loop to get a sense of the area and making a stop at Findlay Market to check out the seasonal offerings (I had some yummy sorbetto) and local purveyors. We particularly liked the window signage in one of the shops across the street.

We continued our streetcar loop to the stop closest to the Taft Museum of Art, which was our primary destination for the afternoon. Thanks to our Crocker Museum reciprocal privileges, we didn't need to pay an entry fee. I love this type of museum, housed in a historic home and composed of a family's private collection that they bequeathed to the city. We really enjoyed exploring the special exhibits and admiring the design of the historic building.

One of the primary exhibits was focused on African Modernism, and we spent most of our time in this gallery, which provided a diverse ranges of works and curatorial information about the artists and movements represented.

Across the street from the Museum were a boutique hotel and city park with views back towards the downtown panorama, including the ballpark.

In the evening, we joined other family at my cousin S's home for a light dinner and more visiting time. Mr. E and I took our leave around 8pm, and I settled into our hotel room for yoga and relaxing while Mr. E headed across the street for some Blanton's and a burger.

The weekend breakfast buffet was available until 10am, so we had a little more time on Saturday morning to get up and get going. We decided to try a different Starbucks for coffee and once again were impressed by the historic buildings and public art.

We learned that our hotel had previously been a bank, which made a lot of sense since we had seen what looked like an old vault door in the lower level near the pool. And I discovered that one set of stairs was clearly the original internal staircase of the building -- so fun to find these little unexpected gems when traveling, especially when staying at a mainstream hotel brand!

My final cool discovery happened as we were packing up to leave, when I realized that the artwork hanging over the couch was a collage made of slices of the various murals around downtown, several of which we had seen during our urban wanderings.

Our return trip to Sac was relatively uneventful, with just a short delay. Coming home on a Saturday evening was such an unusual and welcome schedule, since we then had all day Sunday to enjoy the rest of the weekend at home with the kitties.

I definitely want to return to explore more of Cincinnati. Hoping for perhaps an architectural tour and definitely a riverboat excursion!

Kentucky Trip #1: Louisville

April 6-8: AACC Conference

I headed to Louisville, KY, for the weekend (who schedules a professional conference over a weekend?!!) to co-present with two colleagues at the AACC Annual Conference. This is the second time that I've been able to co-present a session about the Finish Line Scholars Program to a national audience, and it's always great to be able to spread the word about the program and share our promising practices with other scholarship providers and community college professionals. Our President & CEO was attending the conference as well, and she came to our session, which was really thoughtful and supportive.

It was a very quick trip, since there aren't many good options for itineraries from Sac to Louisville, so I flew out on Saturday morning, arrived Saturday night, presented on Sunday morning, attended one session on Sunday afternoon, and flew home on Monday morning, arriving back in Sac in the early evening. Mr. E was in Chicago during this time to visit his Mom. He was away Thursday-Monday, and we ended up meeting at the Denver airport during our respective layovers on Monday, just in time to get a great view of the partial solar eclipse! My connection on the way to Louisville was through Las Vegas, my least favorite airport whose only advantage is the bulk candy store that also sells freshly popped popcorn. I always stock up when I'm there!

I stayed at the Louisville Marriott Downtown, which was right across the street from the Convention Center where the conference was hosted. There was even a pedestrian bridge on the second floor of the hotel leading to the Convention Center, so the short walk was easy and avoided the need to deal with any sort of outerwear. When I arrived on Saturday evening, the front desk staff had some difficulty finding a room with two queen beds, which is my preference, so I had to wait for a bit while they figure out what to do. They ended up giving me an accessible room, which was just fine, and also provided access to the M Lounge for the inconvenience of the long-ish wait. Sweet! This meant that I could grab breakfast there each morning and also partake of the evening snacks (enough for my dinner on Sunday, which was very helpful since most of the other nearby restaurants were closed over the weekend!)

Since I didn't have much time, I wasn't able to explore the city very much, but I did manage to have lunch with my cousin, S, on Sunday at the hotel restaurant The Porch. She lives in Crittenden, KY, which is about 75 minutes from Louisville. I reached out to her at the last minute (Friday afternoon) to see if she might be available, and although she had evening plans that day, she was willing to make the drive to meet up with me. So nice to have some 1:1 time to catch up before the upcoming visit to her home for J's memorial service.

As is typical with conferences, there were a number of vendors and exhibitors scattered around, and I spotted the one with the bottle of Blanton's available as a potential raffle prize. Since that is Mr. E's favorite, I of course had to do my best to procure it, but no luck. Drat.

I had a late morning departure on Monday, giving me plenty of time to work out in the morning before grabbing a Lyft for the quick trip to the Louisville airport. I didn't plan well enough for my reading material and needed to buy a book for the return journey (love the Paradies Largardere stores "Read & Return" program!), which I read for a bit at the Starbucks while enjoying my coffee from the nearby Illy kiosk since the Starbucks line was unreasonably long, with no mobile order option available.

Since I finished the book during the trip, I was able to return it for the half-price refund at the Sac airport before getting a Lyft home to the kitties. Mr. E arrived about 90 minutes later, so we were together to celebrate the 1-year anniversary of having Marlene join our family. Meow!

 

Wine Country Weekend

March 23-24: Wine & Rainbows

To wrap up my birthday month, Mr. E and I took a short trip up to Napa and Sonoma for a couple of special tastings. Our appointment on Saturday afternoon for a terroir tasting at Nickel & Nickel was our first visit to this winery, and we had a wonderful experience with our host, Joe. The tasting included six single-vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon with a lovely Sauvignon Blanc to start off. Small bites accompanied the wine, and they thoughtfully created different plates for Mr. E and me since I don't eat pig or cow.

Our tasting was hosted in the old house on the estate grounds, in the very comfortable living room with a working fireplace. Luckily, I wasn't too cold by the mid afternoon, so we didn't need to ask Joe to build a fire for us! We had such a positive experience thanks to Joe's hospitality and the amazing wines that we decided to join the wine club and were able to bring home with us the March selection plus a few additional bottles based on our tasting.

The weather on Saturday was stormy, very Midwestern-ish, with periods of rain and sun and looming clouds. This interplay of the elements gave us several brilliant rainbows, including a ground rainbow (which we've never seen before) and a double rainbow. Amazing!

We stayed at the Home2 Suites in Petaluma, which turned out to be a very nice all-suites hotel with a few local restaurants within easy walking distance for a takeout dinner from a sports bar (Mr. E) and a sushi spot (me). 

The hotel pool was heated sufficiently for me to do a short workout on Sunday morning, despite the rather chilly wake-up temperatures, and the breakfast buffet was quite extensive, including mixed fresh berries, oatmeal, sausage & egg biscuits, cheese & egg mini-omelets, toast, and two waffle-making stations. I particularly appreciated the offerings of real dishes, glassware, and silverware, so since many hotels now only provide disposable items both in the rooms and for any meals.

After a quick walk across the street to Starbucks to grab "second coffee," we relaxed and read in our room, enjoying the sunlight and the late check-out. Then we headed to our afternoon appointment at J Vineyards & Winery for the Spring pick-up party. We haven't been to one of these member events for quite some time, since we usually have our wine shipped to us, and we were a little concerned when we arrived and saw the long line of people waiting to get in.

Luckily, once they started admitting people, the line moved quickly. Since all areas of the winery were open just for this event, people were able to spread out among the indoor and outdoor areas, so it didn't feel as crowded as we expected given the length of the entry line. We claimed a perching spot at an outdoor table on the terrace and enjoyed several tastings of the Spring shipment wines (which we didn't actually receive in our pick-up, since we always customize our shipment in advance) along with some tasty small bites, both savoury and sweet. We chatted with a few other members throughout the event as folks joined us at the high-top small round table and then wrapped up the day by getting our wine to bring home. 

Our wine fridges are a bit more full now! (nothing wrong with that...)

We definitely had a lovely and unhurried weekend, and we look forward to taking advantage of our new membership at Nickel & Nickel to attend some of their events and to explore their sister winery, Far Niente, since wine club members get benefits at both spots.