New Orleans- Day 1 Recap

We're back from our trip to Colorado and New Orleans. I wrote a little about our time in Colorado HERE. I had planned to write about our visit to New Orleans a little sooner but we were very busy and our hotel had an internet/ WiFi issue.

Kim, Lucas and I started off our visit to New Orleans feeling a bit tired but we still managed to have a pretty productive day. We spent a good deal of time walking around the French Quarter, tasting a bunch of local specialties and exploring some interesting parts of the city.

Here is a recap of some of the things we did:

• Breakfast at Cafe Beignet
• Katrina/ City Tour with Gray Line
• Lunch at Johnny's Po-Boys
• Visited the French Market District
• Shared some beignets at Cafe Du Monde
• Had amazing burgers at Port of Call for dinner 

Lonely Planet: Win $4000 Towards A Dream Vacation- Ends Tonight

Lonely Planet is running a sweepstakes in honor of their 40th anniversary. They are giving away three prizes to celebrate!

To enter you need to complete the entry form and write in "40 words or less your amazing travel experience, real or imagined".

The Prizes:

• First Prize: US$4000, provided courtesy of Lonely Planet, which the winner can use towards their dream vacation, to be issued via cashier's check/wire transfer; AND one copy of Lonely Planet's Travel Book, Premium Edition, approximate retail value US$80.
• Second Prize: One voucher to rent a car from Budget Rent A Car (redeemable for a 7 day rental period for any car type up to a large convertible rental anywhere in the world where there is a participating Budget Rent A Car location, up to the value of US$ 1,497). This voucher shall be valid until August 31, 2014 and shall apply to vehicle rentals by the second prize winner that are reserved prior to August 31, 2014. The voucher is courtesy of Budget. Additional terms of use of this voucher apply, some of which are set out below and some of which will be provided to the winner when the prize is awarded. All statements made in relation to this voucher are made by Budget Rent A Car and not by Lonely Planet; and A collection of books provided by Lonely Planet comprising of: One copy each of France's Best Trips 1st edition, Ireland Best Trips 1st edition, Italy's Best Trips 1st edition, California's Best Trips 2nd edition, New England's Best Trips 2nd edition and Pacific Northwest Best Trips 2nd edition. 
• Third Prize: A collection of books provided by Lonely Planet comprising of: One copy each of The Book of Everything 1st edition, The Travel Books 2nd edition hardcover and Food Lover's Guide to the World 1st edition, Great Adventures 1st edition.

The Rules:
Open to legal residents of the United States

Must be at least 18 years or older at time of entry

Sweepstakes ends May 16, 2013 at 11:59pm PST

Enter for a chance to win HERE

A Quick Visit To Garden of the Gods- Colorado Springs

While heading back to Denver from Colorado Springs we decided to stop at Garden of the Gods, a National Natural Landmark. 

We were in Colorado Springs for the BoardingArea Conference aka BAcon. The conference was a great experience. I learned some new things which I will try to put into practice to improve the blog in the future. I also met many great people and fellow bloggers, the bulk being from travel blog aggregator site BoardingArea.

Garden of the Gods

Pikes Peak

Patsy Grimaldi Returns: Julianna's Pizza- Brooklyn, NY

Back in 1998 Patsy Grimaldi sold his famous and successful pizzeria Grimaldi's which is located under the Brooklyn Bridge. 

The Grimaldi's brand went on to expand to various locations around the country. 

Fast forward to 2012. The owners lost the lease on the original Grimaldi's in Brooklyn and had to leave the coal oven behind.

Patsy Grimaldi regretted selling off his beloved pizzeria and recently had an opportunity to get back into the pizza business in his original spot. From what I understand, Patsy went partners with the owners of the building at 19 Old Fulton Street while Grimaldi's moved to the corner at 1 Front Street. Here's the catch. Grimaldi's could not bring the historical coal oven with them. Apparently, coal ovens are illegal to install but if they are already existing they are grandfathered in. So Patsy got his original oven back. 

The new pizzera could not be named after Patsy Grimaldi so it was named in honor of Patsy's mother Julianna.

Recap: North Face Endurance Race Weekend- Bear Mountain, NY

Even when we are not traveling, Kim and I like to keep busy and do and see things in our city (New York) or around the tri-state area. We are always visiting new restaurants, street fairs, festivals and exploring new neighborhood...

Especially when traveling with a child, I think it makes sense to make a weekend out of activities that are a bit further from home. For us it's more about balancing things that we enjoy and activities that will entertain the little one.

A couple of weeks ago I ran in the North Face Endurance Challenge 5K for the second year in a row. (Check out my post about last year's race HERE) 

Last year the race kicked my butt and after doing it a second time I'll say that this is definitely the toughest race that I've entered.

I guess that I like torturing myself because I'm already looking towards next year's race and  thinking about entering the 10K race. Kind of crazy since I've haven't yet run a 10K!

The race took place upstate New York at Bear Mountain State Park. Due to the early start we slept in the vicinity of the park. I wasn't going to just head up there at night to sleep so we headed upstate early and made a mini-trip out of it.

Here is what we did over the weekend:

We were looking to check out an area upstate that wasn't too far from Bear Mountain. After considering a few different ideas (nothing too exciting), Kim came out with a good option. We could stop by Warwick, NY to visit the Pennings Orchard & Farm Market to check out the market and their "barnyard buddies". Lucas loves dogs so we figured that he would love to see some of the farm's buddies like goats, llamas, chickens, rabbits, ducks and sheep.