Vermont & Montreal

In our attempt to see as many places on the East Coast as possible we decided to explore Vermont and Montreal.  We are only about 3 hours from Burlington, VT and Montreal is only a couple more hours from there.  Of course, we planned our visit to Burlington with a visit to Ben & Jerry's Factory tour in mind. Who doesn't want to see how ice cream is made and then enjoy some at the end?

We made a quick stop by Magic Hat Brewery- thanks Jennifer for the heads up 

Burlington is a great town that has a little bit of everything.  It backs up to Lake Champlain, has skiing in the winter, a wonderful downtown area in the summer. I would love to go back and spend a couple more days relaxing and exploring in this quaint little town.

Beautiful church in Burlington, VT

We spent the next 2 nights exploring Montreal.  Jon and I ended up walking over 13 miles in one day and still didn't see all there was to see.  A lot of our time was spent in Old Montreal which has a very european feel with cobblestone streets and a smaller Notre Dame.

Bonjour!! The sign as we crossed into Canada

Notre Dame at night 

One of the longest treks we took was to see L'Oratoire Saint-Joseph du Mont-Royal.  It is a beautiful church with a million steps leading up to the Basilica which is the highest point in Montreal . In fact, some people climb up the steps on their knees praying at each step as they go. There were a few people on their knees as we climbed up the steps, one man was at the very bottom when we started and was only half way up as we were leaving.

View of Montreal from halfway up the Basilica 

On the last night in Montreal we were walking around after dinner and saw this giant raccoon just wondering through the streets. It was really big! The best part was watching Jon as he chased it down the street and took like 15 pictures. 

We found an amazing dessert place called Juliette & Chocolat.  It is a dessert lovers dream! This was the chocolate sampler that we shared.

Jon eating a pot-o-chocolat 

Of course we had to try poutine....when in Canada!! 

The olympic stadium from 1976 

We were also able to knock out a couple more state line photos on the way back to Boston...

Boston Week 1

Here we are on the road again continuing our adventure in the city of Boston where you do not pronounce the "r" sound. We could go to the "habah" or catch a sox game at the "bah" or maybe even eat some "lobstah" that's wicked awesome.

Jon enjoying a lobster roll on our 1st day here

Everything we need for 13 weeks stuffed into 4 suit cases and 2  backpacks

Our first week was full of excitement with the Boston Marathon, hotel hopping, Jon's first few days of work, and celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary.  We had trouble locating place to stay for the first week due to the marathon and marathon pricing at hotels all over the city. We spent a couple nights at a Marriott Courtyard that we had stayed at before and then moved to another hotel we found on Hotel Tonight for a steal of a deal.  If you do not have the Hotel Tonight app for last minute deals on hotels then get it now (let me know if you want my referral code and we can both get some free $$). Also, if you like to play on the risky side to save a few dollars you can wait until right before you arrive to see if your rate will drop even more throughout the day.

The male winner of the Boston Marathon

Our late night trek to the seaport and back...it was only 2 miles each way!

The BEST cannoli and marzipan- its our favorite pastry shop

For our 5th Anniversary we decided to take a trip to The Cape and stay at a nice little B&B.  We found a great, romantic place called The Captain Farris House located in S. Yarmouth. It was the perfect place to celebrate our anniversary.  Highly recommend it if you are ever in Cape Cod.

Captain Farris House Bed & Breakfast 

Afternoon tea at the B&B

Chatham Beach 

Austin #keepthehiggysweird

We spent just shy of 8 months in Austin from September 2014 to mid-April 2015. We have traveled to Austin so many times that it didn't really seem like we were away from home so I didn't feel the need to capture each moment in pictures and document it here. So here is my one Austin post with a brief overview of our time in Austin.

There were 2 main reasons Jon wanted to travel to Austin:  Rob & Jett

Jon was so excited to live in the same city as these two again. When he found our apartment he called me and said, "It's the perfect place to live because it is 5 minutes from Rob's house and 5 minutes from Jett's house."

I spent a lot of my time painting old furniture that I found at garage sales and estate sales. So many good sales in Austin. I spent most Saturdays with Rob going from garage sales to estate sales for several hours trying to find the best bargains in town.  I like to take pieces that are beat up and give them new life. Here are a few pictures of the pieces Jon and I completed in Austin:

Besides painting, I learned how to walk again in Austin. When we first moved there I could barely walk and was still wearing my boot with an open wound. By the time we left, I was almost running and had graduated from physical therapy. 

We also spent a lot of time eating. Amazing restaurants in Austin are basically on every block and specifically taco places. A couple of our favorites include: Taco Flats, Franklin's BBQ, Fork & Taco, Torchy's Taco, Terry Black's BBQ, Tyson's Taco, Via 313, Pinthouse Pizza, Kirby Lane, Cow Tipping Creamery, Tortilla Flats, Amy's Ice Cream, Curra's, and Chez Zee just to name a few. This list is a tiny sampling of the delicious places to eat in Austin.

We loved our time in Austin and were grateful to be close to home during this time especially since my mom was so sick from Oct- Feb.  It was nice to be able to go home and take care of her whenever  needed. This was a very brief overview of our time there, but we enjoyed it and we both miss it. #keepthehiggysweird