Friday 5: Trips I haven’t blogged about

One of the motivations for starting this blog was a desire to talk about the trips that The Wife and I were taking. In theory, this is a great place to share those stories. In reality, it’s hard to find the time to do so, because being gone from home and work always means that I’m having to play catch up when I return.

But since we’ve got three trips planned for us this summer (Baltimore in May, Denver in June, and San Francisco in July), I figured it was time to practice my post-trip blogging skills just in case I can find the time to write about them. You know, if universe radically realigns itself or something.

So here, in no particular order, are five excursions that will never get the full blog recap they deserve:

New York 2009

I had been to New York before (see below) and The Wife had been to New York before, but we had never been together. So last year I decided to take her there as a surprise birthday present.

It was cold when we went there in mid-March; in fact, it even snowed a little while we were there. Despite the cool temperatures, we had a great time time. The Wife over came her fear of heights to venture up to the top of the Empire State Building and we managed to swindle a few scalpers into reasonably priced tickets to a Knicks game. We stayed at the semi-famous Algonquin Hotel. The Wife had just gotten her iPhone, so this trip gave her plenty of opportunities to find out how crappy AT&T’s 3G coverage was in the Big Apple.

Highlights: sneaking into a Fleetwood Mac concert at Madison Square Garden, visiting Ellis Island for the first time, and seeing both a panhandling panda AND a slightly confused Elmo. The only part of the trip I regret was the Kidz Bop talent search competition during halftime of the basketball game.

Click here for more pictures from this trip.

New York 1999

One night, Ed (my college roommate) and I got a wild hair to send off for tickets to The Late Show with David Letterman. A few months later, after we had completely forgotten about it, they arrived in the mail and a plan to ditch a week of school and head up north was born.

The trip was done totally on the cheap and we had a blast. The youth hostel we stayed at was kind of scary, but it only cost $15 a night and afforded us the chance to watch Happy Gilmore with a group of very confused Swedish students. Good times.

Sitting in the Ed Sullivan theater was surreal. We were in the third row and actually had an aisle seat until Biff Henderson – yes, THE Biff Henderson – tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I’d slide over so an elderly lady could have the aisle seat. The guests for our episode were Martha Stewart and Mitch Hedberg. After watching Dave and Paul on television for so many years, it felt really weird to see them just a few feet away from me. I also remember it being as cold as snot in the theater.

But we didn’t stop there. No, we did the town up right. We met both Mujibar and Sirajul and somehow made into the audience for the taping of a pair of episodes of The Ricki Lake Show. We had to leave prior to the start of the second show so we could make back in time for Letterman and bumped into Ricki Lake on the side of the stage as we were exiting. She asked why we were leaving and I sheepishly explained the situation. She agreed that she’d definitely go too and cheerfully wished us a great rest of our trip. Only in New York.

Click here for more pictures from this trip.

San Francisco 2006

If it’s great to travel to wonderful cities, it’s even better to do so over the holidays. San Francisco was quite simply incredible. We had such a great time, I had absolutely no hesitation about booking our trip back there for this summer.

San Francisco is one of the rare places that lives up to its reputation. The San Francisco you see in movies and on television is the real deal. It’s a big ball of freakiness, chicness, earthiness and elegance all rolled up into one.

Alcatraz was incredibly fascinating, although if I ever go back I think I’ll take the daytime tour so I can explore the grounds a little bit more. Seeing the Golden Gate Bridge, visiting Muir Woods, taking a tour of AT&T Park and hanging out in the Japanese tea garden – it was all just really great. Probably the most relaxing and enjoyable vacation we’ve taken in our decade of traveling together as a couple. I’m really looking forward to going back there in a few months.

Click here for more pictures from this trip.

London/Paris 2004

Two my favorite places on Earth wrapped up into a nice little six-day trip. Sure, we spent a lot of time in airports and train stations, but it was still great to be able to do both cities on the same trip. My inner nerd also thought it was pretty cool to get to ride a high-speed train through the Chunnel not just once, but twice.

After arriving in London, we immediately boarded the train and headed to Paris for the first half of our trip. The Wife hadn’t ever been to Paris before, so we checked out some of the big tourist draws such as the Louvre, Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower (although I couldn’t convince her to go up to the top). We also took a really cool tour of the Parisian catacombs and had a nice, relaxed morning at the zoo. Plus we had a fabulous dinner at a tiny little Italian restaurant that we’d never be able to find again if we tried.

We then crossed under the channel again to return to London for a few days. After meeting up with Lara and Mike at a bar on the Thames, we spent a day at the Tower of London (always endlessly fascinating) and went on a really great walking tour covering the trail of Jack the Ripper.

We didn’t have quite as much time in London, so we spent our second day mostly walking around and seeing what we came across. Sometimes that’s better than trying to map out an itinerary and on the last day of such a whirlwind tour, it’s probably the most realistic way to approach it.

Click here to see more pictures from this trip.

San Diego 2010

I went to San Diego this past January for a convention. It was hosted at an incredible resort property on an island in the middle of the bay and the setting couldn’t have been any more perfect. Although I spent most of my time there doing convention stuff, I did manage to tack on an extra day at the end of my trip to do a little exploring in town.

My time was limited, but I squeezed in a tour of Petco Park (I’ve got my priorities) and did some sightseeing along the water. Overall, it looks like they’ve done a really great job of mixing in the old with the new and it seems to be a really great place that a whole family can enjoy. Hopefully I’ll make it back there with The Wife and kids in tow so we can all check it out together.

And the weather in January? Freaking fantastic. I could seriously live there.

Click here for more pictures from this trip.

Honorable mentions

Narrowly missing the list were:

• Chicago 2005 – It really is the Houston of the north. And I mean that as a compliment.
• Orlando 2003 – Magic Kingdom + Sea World + trying to sell a house in Colorado at the same time. Exhausting.
• Caribbean 2001 – Our honeymoon. Mexico is a hell hole. Grand Cayman is good. Jamaica would like to braid your hair, pretty lady.
• Western Europe 1995 – My first trip abroad. Spent three weeks traipsing about Europe with kids from Wyoming, Utah and Ohio that I had never met before.
• Wyoming 1999/2000 – A trip which straddled the Fool’s Millennium Eve. I introduced The Wife to some extended family and bruised my ribs falling down a flight of stairs. Not at the same time, though.