Birthday Fun in the Finger Lakes: Day 2

After our night at the Belhurst Castle, we headed straight to Three Brothers Wineries and Estates.  We were pleasantly surprised when we arrived to discover they offer a passport option that permits you to partake in tastings at all three of their wineries AND their brewery.  The passport option also comes with a souvenir wine glass!  We had a great time at this venue.

Each winery was unique and provided a fun morning for us.  I really enjoyed trying the four levels of Riesling and the wine slushy.  The brewery was a hit, too!  We loved the cider...and their homemade root beer, too!

Next, we ventured to Fox Run Vineyards.  Before our tasting, we managed a private tour.  It was the last of the day and we just happened to be the only takers!  Our guide was quite knowledgeable about not only the grape growing and harvesting process, but also the bottling machine since he works the assembly line there during peak production time.  It was really neat to see how the whole process works from beginning to end.  And we got a fabulous photo with the vineyard and Seneca Lake in the background, too!

Since the wineries close between 5-6pm, we figured our day was done and began our journey south toward our hotel in Elmira.  Out of nowhere, we see a sign for Magnus Ridge Winery that indicates they are open late so we do what any good Finger Lake visitor would do - turn around at the next opportunity and go check it out!

We were SO glad we did because it turned out to be quite a unique experience!  Each of the wines in the tasting were paired with a specific cheese (that they also sold there) or a dipping sauce.  I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this winery since I'm not the most daring with my food choices normally.  We actually wanted to buy a couple blocks of cheese, but unfortunately we didn't have a way to keep it from spoiling before we arrived back in the city.  Guess we'll just have to return more prepared in the future!

We were surprised to find this winery offered a cider tasting as well.  The 1911 cider was familiar to us from the Good Cider event last spring, but we were able to try a new flavor (Sweet Apple) that was spectacular!!  Definitely went home with a bottle of it!

Eventually, we made our way to Elmira where we enjoyed dinner at Curly's and rested up for our journey home the next day.

Chris and I had such a wonderful weekend getaway in the gorgeous and peaceful Finger Lakes region.  I highly suggest spending some time here if you enjoy wine at all.  It is absolutely lovely and we could have spent a full week checking out even more of the area.  We hope to visit again before too long!  Truly a great trip!

Andrea :)

Birthday Fun in the Finger Lakes: A Night at Belhurst Castle

After spending a wonderful day headed north checking out wineries along Seneca Lake, we finally arrived at Belhurst Castle.  My big birthday treat!  After we checked into the Bronze Room and found the wine spigot in the hallway, we decided to go for our free tasting before dinner!

We both selected our favorite and decided to have a glass of it with dinner that night.  The meal at Edgar's inside the castle was delicious!  Every single part of it!  The warm bread they served as an appetizer was amazing...and it just kept getting better.  We thoroughly enjoyed our meal and they were so kind to bring me a slice of cake with a candle in it for dessert!  And even a couple chocolate covered strawberries to go!

Earlier that day, we stopped to get a mini cake for us to share that night so after we had a somewhat lengthy photo shoot of me blowing out candles and posing with my pretty cake, we stuck it back in the fridge and saved it for breakfast!  Yum!

The next morning, we spent some time checking out the grounds and all the fun decor in the lobby area before we hit the road to visit more wineries in the area.

Chris did a great job planning such a fun trip for my birthday!  He really knows how to make a girl feel special!  

Andrea :)

Birthday Fun in the Finger Lakes: Day 1

To celebrate my birthday this year, my wonderful husband planned a weekend getaway to the Finger Lakes!  We spent Friday (my actual birthday) and Saturday checking out the area with a night at romantic Belhurst Castle in between.  Stick with me the rest of this week as I take you along our adventures to the vineyards and wineries on Seneca Lake...

We started our Finger Lakes journey with lunch at my all-time favorite chain restaurant - Cracker Barrel!!  This birthday girl couldn't pass up the half pound hamburger steak with carrots and a sweet potato (don't you dare forget the cornbread!) and a caramel mug sundae!!  And yes, I do in fact order the exact same meal each and every time I dine at this fave of mine.

Our first winery stop was Penguin Bay.  It was only fitting that we began there since penguins are my thing.  We did a brief tasting before all the super cute penguin stuff became overwhelmingly distracting for me.  I loved this place!  Chris even indulged me in a fun photo, too!  He's a keeper! :)

Next, we ventured to nearby Hazlitt Vineyards.  We liked their cider back in March at the first ever Good Cider event we attended in NYC so we figured their wine would be a win, too. We were right!  They had popcorn to snack on and the tasting was free if you bought a bottle at the end.  I even selected one wine during my tasting they suggest pairing with chocolate and they gave me some to try along with it.  We really enjoyed our time at Hazlitt.

Our final stop of the day was at Standing Stone Vineyards.  We caught them just before they closed up shop for the day.  I was SO glad because this place was gorgeous!  The inside was beautiful and the view of the lake outside was perfect!  As it turned out, there was a graduate student conducting a study the day we were there so we participated and received a free tasting in return.  Hopefully we didn't skew her data since we aren't regular wine connoisseurs, but we had fun with it.

Before we made our way to the Castle for the evening, Chris was gracious enough to partake in a selfie photo shoot with me!  So far, my birthday was a hit and we hadn't even arrived at the biggest treat of them all yet...

Andrea :)

It Shoulda Been You...

Every year, my friend, Mary, and I go see a broadway show for our birthday!  We both celebrate in the lovely month of July...and I always look forward to this fun time with her!  We've been mostly on a Disney kick the last few years but we've finally seen all those so we selected something a bit outside the box this time.

It Shoulda Been You was much different that either of us were expecting.  We definitely had a few good laughs, but there was almost too much going on in this show.  The general plot follows Jenny, the sister of the bride that feels less than...in every possible way.  Her family is Jewish and the groom's is not.  That alone is enough for a show, but there are even more twists and turns along the way - for better or, perhaps, worse! 

Everyone had such a lovely voice in this show!  I loved that the lead character was a normal (some might say plus-size) woman.  She was phenomenal.  I identified with more than one of her solo song performances, but none more than when she sang Beautiful.  Throughout the song she questions why no one ever acknowledges her as beautiful...instead always saying she looks nice.  The show is definitely worth a watch for her performance alone!  

Andrea :)

My Training Plan for 2015 NYC Marathon

The 2015 NYC Marathon is on November 1 this year - just three short months away!  I searched several different online plans and developed something that I hope works for me.  I know from my previous experience running this marathon that ultimately just finishing the race is my number one goal.  Of course, I'd like to improve on my time, but at the end of all this preparation I really just want to have a fun day running through all five boroughs of NYC!

As you can see from my plan, I'll be attempting to run four times a week.  I will probably use Sunday as a rest day especially as the mileage increases throughout September and October.  The other two days, I hope to incorporate cross-training either via 30-minute workout DVDs or bike/elliptical and weights.  It all seems pretty overwhelming at this point, but I am hopeful that once I lock into a routine (and the weather cools a bit) that it will start to feel like a natural progression from week to week.

In the end, I know from my training experience last time that much of this type of distance race can be mental.  Knowing that I have done it before will certainly work on my side.  I also know that if I don't make every single run or if I need to cut some of the long run short that it will be fine.  I want to enjoy this training experience as much as possible so I may need to make tweaks over the next few weeks to adjust and I'm ok with that.  One thing I am hoping to incorporate into my runs (particularly the longer ones) are audio books.  I'm quite curious to see how that goes since I've mostly run with music in the past!

Do you have any marathon training tips for me?

Andrea :)

Health & Fitness in July

July was a bit of a rest month for me.  Mostly due to our crammed travel schedule having us away nearly half the month on various trips.  I did stick with the daily challenge for everyday this month except my birthday weekend!) and managed a few low intensity workouts mid-month.  This daily challenge was by far the most difficult one I have completed.  I felt the burn often!

Tomorrow, I will be posting my training plan for the NYC Marathon so running will be back to top priority in August and the coming months.  I am looking forward to getting it back on the schedule so that must mean the July break was a good thing for me...at least mentally.

Andrea :)

Saturday States: Minnesota & Iowa

Minnesota

State Nickname: The North Star State

Year of Family Trip: 2003

Cities Visited: St. Paul, Minneapolis, Bloomington

Can't Miss Tourist Attraction: Mall of America

While in Minnesota, we made a quick stop at the capitol building in St. Paul before spending the bulk of our day at the Mall of America in Bloomington.  This mall is like none other!  They have all the usual stores alongside a small scale amusement park in the center of everything!  We loved the roller coaster and log flume.  So awesome!  It was also the first time we had ever seen a Rainforest Cafe so we gave that a whirl as well.  We even ordered a chocolate volcano ice cream dessert to share!  It arrived with sparklers aflame making it all the more exciting...and delicious!!

Iowa

State Nickname: The Hawkeye State

Year of Family Trip: 2003

City Visited: Sioux City

Can't Miss Tourist Attraction: 

You tell us!  Apparently, we missed them all...

Unfortunately, Iowa was a dud for us.  We definitely drove through it, but none of us can recall anything particularly interesting or noteworthy about our experience there.  We *think* we ate in an IHOP somewhere near Sioux City.  And apparently we were only able to find a hotel with smoking rooms available.  That didn't sit too well with our crew.

Have you been to Minnesota or Iowa?

What did we miss?

Andrea :)