Zippy & Dr. Day's Blog

Broadway Voices Promo Shot

2010-04-21T13:27:00.005-04:00

Cast of What More Can I Say? -

The Songs of William Finn

@ The Laurie Beechman Theatre on 42nd Street

May 2nd & 3rd

WHAT MORE CAN I SAY? - THE SONGS OF WILLIAM FINN

2010-04-19T12:53:00.003-04:00

Broadway Voices presents their new show, "What More Can I Say? – The Songs of William Finn." Finn is the Tony Award winning composer of "In Trousers", "Falsettos", "Elegies: A Song Cycle", "A New Brain", and "25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee." This season, Broadway Voices feature the talents of Dan Baillie, Ben Coleman, Michael Connolly, Tim Howard, Sonelius Kendrick Smith, Michael Morisi, Jim Vivyan, Seth Watsky, TJ Witham and Phil Zipkin, under the artistic and musical direction of MAC nominee Adam West Hemming, co-founder of the No Square Theatre in Laguna Beach, California.

In "What More Can I Say?" Broadway Voices present their own urban gay twist on the William Finn Songbook, with all male vocal arrangements provided by Adam West Hemming.

This season's first three shows will be at the Laurie Beechman Theatre, located within the West Bank Cafe at 407 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036, on Sunday, May 2, 2010, with two shows scheduled at 1pm and 4pm, and Monday, May 3, 2010, at 9:30pm. The cover charge for each show is $20 per person plus a $15 food/beverage minimum per person (The West Bank Cafe's lunch and dinner menu with full bar will be available). Advanced reservations can be made by contacting the Laurie Beechman at (212) 695-6909.

Broadway Voices in What More Can I Say: The Songs of William Finn @ Etcetera Etcetera

2010-04-06T12:21:00.006-04:00

On Sunday, April 25, 2010, from 6pm to around 9pm, Broadway Voices, NYCGMC's small ensemble, will be making its performing/cabaret debut this season as part of Salon's "It Takes Two (or More) to Tango - Ensemble Songs" at Etcetera Etcetera restaurant at 352 West 44th Street, NY, NY 10036, phone 212-399-4141. More information can be found at:

http://www.cabaretexchange.com/news-mainmenu-55/current-news/1083-salon-returns-to-etcetera-etcetera.html.

There is a $10 cover charge and a $10 food/beverage minimum.At Salon, Broadway Voices will be debuting its company number Infinite Joy, arranged by Broadway Voices Artistic Director Adam Hemming, from its What More Can I Say? The songs of William Finn. Salon hosts a number of people from the Manhattan Association of Cabaret and Clubs (MAC), including individuals from its MAC awards nominating committee. This will be a HUGE opportunity for the Chorus to present Broadway Voices to New York's cabaret scene and we need all the support we can muster.

Broadway Voices is Ben Coleman, Tim Howard, TJ Witham, Michael Morisi, Phil Zipkin, Dan Baillie, Michael Connolly, Seth Watsky, Sonelius Kendrick-Smith and Jim Vivyan. Show your support on April 25th at Salon/Etcetera Etcetera. We look forward to seeing you there.

HARMONIC PROPOSAL PERFORMS AT THE TRIAD THEATRE, MARCH 2010

2010-02-02T13:12:00.004-05:00

NYC VOCAL QUARTET HARMONIC PROPOSAL ENGAGES IN

“FOUR-PLAY”
AT POPULAR CABARET ROOM

New York, NY- Harmonic Proposal, a four part NY based vocal group, will premiere their new show, “Musical Four-Play” at the Triad Cabaret Club on Saturday March 13th & March 20th, 2010, Directed by Matt Leahy, Music Direction by Andrew Smithson & Staging by David Rosetti. Harmonic Proposal is Brooke Ferris, Ryan Leeds, Christopher Redding & Phil Zipkin

“Musical Four-Play” is a light-hearted, sexy, musical romp which explores issues from mid-life crises to friends with benefits—and everything else in between. The performance will feature group numbers as well as individual solos from established Broadway composers like Edward Kleban, Richard Maltby and David Shire, Steven Schwartz, Andrew Lippa, Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt. It will also include titillating new works from emerging artists. With choreography by David Rosetti, musical direction by Andrew Smithson, and Stage Direction by Matt Leahy, “Musical Four-Play” promises to ignite your passion and leave you begging for more

The Triad is conveniently located at 158 W. 72nd between Broadway and Columbus Avenue. Reservations are strongly encouraged and can be made by phone 212-362-2590 or on the website at http://triadnyc.com/reservations. There is a $15 dollar cover charge and a two drink minimum.

For more information about Harmonic Proposal, please visit our website at http://www.harmonicproposal.com/ or call Ryan Leeds at 917-502-4287.

HARMONIC PROPOSAL REVIVES "ENJOY THE JOURNEY" @ THE DUPLEX CABARET THEATRE 8/21

2009-08-17T12:29:00.000-04:00

Hello Everyone,

I hope you're having a wonderful summer. For those of you who are unaware, Harmonic Proposal (a new quartet I'm involved in) will be performing at The Duplex this Friday @ 9:30pm. Enjoy the Journey, performed this past April & May, is back by popular demand. Come join us for an intimate night of cabaret which explores a variety of music. Harmonic Proposal is comprised of Brooke Ferris, Ryan Leeds, Christopher Redding and myself. Enjoy the Journey” is directed by Jeff Lettiere with musical direction by Chris Fasulo. The 1 hour performance will feature solos as well as group numbers from established Broadway composers including Richard Maltby and David Shire, William Finn, Jason Robert Brown, Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx and others. Plus the show will feature an original song written by Chris & I. If you are around, we would love to have see you. Cover is $12 with a two drink minimum. Please make your reservation online @ http://theduplex.com (click on calendar events, the click on Enjoy the Journey on 8/21). The Duplex is located @ 61 Christopher Street in Greenwich Village.

I hope to see you there!!!!! Hugs to all! Please pass this along to anyone you think would be interested. The more the merrier!!

xoPhil

Bermuda

2009-08-17T12:28:00.000-04:00

Perfection......Stay tuned for the report & pictures! :-)

Next To Normal

2009-06-08T15:05:00.003-04:00

I'm no theater afficionado, but what I do know is few shows have affected me like this one did. So much so, in fact, that I actually went to the website and wrote an audience review... which I have never done!! It is probably one of those love it or hate it kind of shows, and the traditionalists among us might not be too crazy about it, but I loved it! GO SEE IT ANYWAY, you might just be moved like I was!!

Here's what I had to say: http://www.nexttonormal.com/news Under audience views on the left side.

Harmonic Proposal Debut

2009-04-26T00:02:00.004-04:00

Harmonic Proposal performed it's debut last Thursday @ The Duplex in Greenwich Village. The show was a success! Please join us Thursday, 4/30 & Friday, 5/1 and Enjoy The Journey! We hope you can attend.

DYNAMIC NYC VOCAL QUARTET DEBUTS AT THE LEGENDARY DUPLEX CABARET THEATRE

New York, NY- Harmonic Proposal, a vocal quartet comprised of Brooke Ferris, Ryan Leeds, Christopher Redding and Phil Zipkin will debut their new show, “Enjoy the Journey” at the Duplex Cabaret Theatre on Thursday April 23^rd at 7:00PM EST. Two encore performances will follow on Thursday April 30^th at 7:00PM EST and Friday May 1^st at 9:30PM EST.

“Enjoy the Journey” is directed by Jeff Lettiere with musical direction by Chris Fasulo. The 1 hour performance will feature solos as well as group numbers from established Broadway composers including Richard Maltby and David Shire, William Finn, Jason Robert Brown, Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx and others. Audiences will also be treated to original songs from up and coming musical theater artists.The show is described as “a musical celebration of life's struggles, joys, heartaches, and triumphs”

The Duplex is located at 61 Christopher Street on the corner of 7^th Ave. Reservations may be made through the website: www.duplex.com or by phone: 212.255.5438. There is a $12 cover charge ($8 for Actors Equity Members) and a two drink minimum.

For more information about Harmonic Proposal, please contact Ryan Leeds at 917.502.4287 or visit:

www.harmonicproposal.com

Broadway Voices @ Mamas

2009-04-25T23:56:00.003-04:00

Broadway Voices Announces Return Performance

“I Want It All — A Maltby and Shire Songbook”

New York, NY, April 12, 2009 – Coming off of a successful run at the Metropolitan room, Broadway Voices — a quartet of singers from the New York City Gay Men's Chorus — today announced additional performances of their recent show, I Want It All — A Maltby and Shire Songbook this April at Don’t Tell Mama. The tribute to the songs of David Shire and Richard Maltby Jr. will feature the talents of Dan Baillie, Eric Saggese, Sonelius Kendrick-Smith and Phil Zipkin. Musical Direction is by Chip Prince and Dr. Charles Beale, with staging by Jeff Lettiere.

This all-male cast brings a unique twist to the traditionally co-ed songbook featuring songs from Maltby & Shire’s hit shows Closer Than Ever, Starting Here, Starting Now, Baby, and a song from their new project Take Flight. Show times are Saturday, April 25 at 6:15 p.m. and Sunday, April 26 at 3:00 p.m.

Don’t Tell Mama is located in Manhattan at 343 W. 46th Street (between 8th and 9th Avenues). For reservations call (212) 757-0788, or buy tickets on their Web site: http://www.donttellmamanyc.com/index.php

All proceeds will benefit the NYCGMC.

Don’t Tell Mama

Saturday, April 25 @ 6:15pm

Sunday, April 26 @ 3:00
$20.00 Cover + 2 Beverage Minimum (Cash only)

About Richard Maltby and David Shire:
Both as a team and individually, Richard Maltby and David Shire have had prolific and distinguished careers for stage and screen. Together, their best-known musicals include Baby, Closer Than Ever, Starting Here/Starting Now and Big. Separately, Shire has scored several hundred films, won an Oscar (Norma Rae) and two Grammys (Saturday Night Fever) along the way, and co-wrote the hit pop single “With You I’m Born Again;” while Maltby was the Tony-winning director and co-conceiver of Ain’t Misbehavin’, the co-lyricist of Miss Saigon and the screenwriter of last year’s Renee Zellwegger starrer Miss Potter. Maltby and Shire’s current project is the musical Take Flight, produced in London and Japan last year, and scheduled for a domestic production next season. Maltby is also directing next season’s The Story of My Life; while Shire has written the songs for a new animated musical television series starring, and co-produced by, his wife, actress Didi Conn. Maltby and Shire met their freshman year at Yale (where they wrote their first two shows) and have recently begun their second half century of collaboration.

HARMONIC PROPOSAL DEBUTS @ THE DUPLEX

2009-04-03T10:10:00.004-04:00

Hello Friends & Family,

It's that time again. Yes, you know it! It's the time where I shamelessly plug my next performance. Yay! In the next couple weeks, I'm performing with close friends in a collaboration of musical selections that differ from song to song. See the press release below:

DYNAMIC NYC VOCAL QUARTET DEBUTS AT THE LEGENDARY DUPLEX CABARET THEATRE

New York, NY- Harmonic Proposal, a vocal quartet comprised of Brooke Ferris, Ryan Leeds, Christopher Redding and Phil Zipkin will debut their new show, “Enjoy the Journey” at the Duplex Cabaret Theatre on Thursday April 23rd at 7:00PM EST. Two encore performances will follow on Thursday April 30th at 7:00PM EST and Friday May 1st at 9:30PM EST.

The Duplex is located at 61 Christopher Street on the corner of 7th Ave. Reservations may be made through the website: www.duplex.com or by phone: 212.255.5438. There is a $12 cover charge ($8 for Actors Equity Members) and a two drink minimum.

For more information about Harmonic Proposal, please contact Ryan Leeds at 917.502.4287 or visit

www.harmonicproposal.com

PLEASE make your reservations ASAP as the space is intimate and I wouldn't want you to miss out. Please let me know if you plan on attending. I'm really looking forward to it.

Also, if you missed the performance of "I Want It All: A Maltby & Shire Songbook" with Broadway Voices, the show is being revived at Don't Tell Mamas (4/25 & 4/26). I highly encourage you to come see it. For reservations, visit: http://www.donttellmamanyc.com/

Thank you for your continuous support. I hope to see you there.

Enjoy the weekend.

Always,

Phil Zipkin :-)

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

2008-12-27T00:50:00.002-05:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY CHANUKAH & HAPPY KWANZA! Wishing you nothing but the best this holidays season!!

Phil & Shawn

Mexico/Panama Canal Cruise

2008-12-10T22:07:00.000-05:00

Please stay tuned for all the details....

Bound Brook Bound

2008-11-24T09:01:00.002-05:00

Okay, don't judge! We know we've been strangers to the blog, but there's always a reason. Shawn & I are in the process of buying a house in the Piedmont section of Bound Brook, NJ. WE LOVE THE HOUSE!! Don't you worry city folk, there's a train close by that heads to NYC. It's been an elaborate journey thus far and we still have a couple more hurdles to clear before confidently calling the house our own. The timing, of course, is fantastic because we're also leaving on a 10 day Panama Canal cruise very soon. All the major components are where they need to be so we just have to be patient and ride it out. Please say a little prayer for us. :-)

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving (if you're celebrating) and we look forward to sharing the news when we return. Love to all!!!

Broadway Voices @ Merkin Hall

2008-11-05T16:10:00.005-05:00

Broadway Close-Up: Maltby & Shire @ Merkin Hall: Cast (Members of Aint Misbehavin, Martin Vidnovic, Gwen Hollander, Richard Maltby, Jr., Loni Ackerman, Gretchen Cryer, Dan Baillie, Eric Saggese, Lynne Wintersteller, Phil Zipkin, Sally Mayes & David Shire)

What a glorious night!!! It was a dream come true to be part of such an amazing event.

BROADWAY VOICES WILL PERFORM AT MERKIN HALL 11/3

2008-10-27T08:12:00.008-04:00

BROADWAY VOICES: DAN BAILLIE, ERIC SAGGESE, PHIL ZIPKIN & SONELIUS KENDRICK SMITH

BROADWAY CLOSE UP: MALTBY & SHIRE

Monday, November 03, 2008 8:00pm

Merkin Hall @ Kaufman Center

Together Richard Maltby, Jr. (lyricist of Miss Saigon and The Pirate Queen) and David Shire (Academy Award-winning composer of “It Goes Like It Goes” from Norma Rae) have created numerous on- and off-Broadway shows, including Baby, Big, Closer Than Ever, Starting Here, Starting Now and the upcoming Take Flight. Maltby and Shire will be joined by some of their favorite singers, including Sally Mayes, Loni Ackerman and Lynne Wintersteller. Also singing will be Martin Vidnovic, Ben Schrader, Gwen Hollander, Broadway Voices (Dan Baillie, Sonelius Kendrick Smith, Eric Saggese & Phil Zipkin) & members of the National tour cast of "Ain't Misbehavin. Directed by Patrick Scott Brady. Hosted by Gretchen Cryer. Come Join us for this special event.

Medieval Times

2008-10-27T08:11:00.006-04:00

A HUGE THANK YOU to all who attended Phil's "surprise" party. Okay, it was supposed to be a surprise, but still was a hoot and a holler. Next year, Murder Mystery anyone??

Broadway Massacre Party

2008-10-27T08:11:00.005-04:00

Another successful musical adventure. It was like Marie's Crisis in Queens but with scarier decorations. :-) Thank you for all who attended. And for all who spoked us with your talents! Next year's Masquerade will most likely be held in NJ. Don't be scared! BOO!!!

Selling the Apartment

2008-10-09T21:51:00.001-04:00

It's finally happened. I have listed my Forest Hills Co-op and I'm ready to move to a more remote location. I have owned the co-op for 5 years and I've enjoyed my residence here, but Im ready for a more peaceful surrounding. Hopefully, the apartment will be sold quickly, but you never know with the financial crisis. I will keep you posted!

Opening Night: I Want It All

2008-09-21T01:50:00.007-04:00

WOW! GREAT SHOW! SOLD OUT! WELL RECEIVED!!

Here are a few of the pictures!!

Broadwayworld Pictures

Playbill Pictures

BROADWAY VOICES @ THE METROPOLITAN ROOM

2008-09-05T11:44:00.002-04:00

Come and support my newest endeavor! :-)

Broadway Voices, a new quartet of singers from the New York City Gay Men's Chorus, will make its debut performance this September at The Metropolitan Room (34 West 22nd Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues) with I Want It All – A Maltby and Shire Songbook. The new performance ensemble features Dan Baillie, Eric Saggese, Sonelius Kendrick-Smith and Phil Zipkin. Musical Direction is by Dr. Charles Beale, and staging by Jeff Lettiere.

This all-male cast brings a unique twist to the traditionally co-ed songbook featuring songs from Maltby & Shire’s hit shows Closer Than Ever; Starting Here, Starting Now; Baby; and a song from their new project Take Flight.Both as a team and individually, Richard Maltby and David Shire have had prolific and distinguished careers for stage and screen. Together, their best-known musicals include Baby; Closer Than Ever; Starting Here, Starting Now; and Big. Separately, Shire has scored several hundred films, won an Oscar (Norma Rae) and two Grammys (Saturday Night Fever) along the way, and co-wrote the hit pop single “With You I’m Born Again;” while Maltby was the Tony-winning director and co-conceiver of Ain’t Misbehavin’, the co-lyricist of Miss Saigon and the screenwriter of last year’s Renee Zellwegger starrer Miss Potter. Maltby and Shire’s current project is the musical Take Flight, produced in London and Japan last year, and scheduled for a domestic production next season. Maltby is also directing next season’s The Story of My Life; while Shire has written the songs for a new animated musical television series starring, and co-produced by, his wife, actress Didi Conn. Maltby and Shire met their freshman year at Yale (where they their wrote their first two shows) and have recently begun their second half century of collaboration.

The New York City Gay Men's Chorus’ Broadway Voices sing “I Want It All – A Maltby and Shire Songbook” plays Septrember 17 at 9:45 p.m., Septrember 20 at 5:00 p.m. and Septrember. 21 at 9:30 p.m at The Metropolitan Room Room (34 West 22nd Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues). $20 cover/2 drink minimum.

For reservations call (212) 206-0440 or vist http://metropolitanroom.com/index.php?option=com_jcalpro&Itemid=98&extmode=view&extid=798. All proceeds will benefit the NYCGMC.

August Highlights

2008-08-23T14:15:00.005-04:00

We haven't been blog happy for awhile so we decided to document our August adventures as one entry. I know...we're a little lazy! Enjoy!

PUMPKIN PICKING/WINE TASTING/SEX CORN (DON'T ASK) :-)

WINE TASTING ON LONG ISLAND

THOMAS' 30TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION IN PROVINCETOWN, MA

JERSEY SHORE: LONG BEACH ISLAND WITH THE DAY FAMILY CLAN IN NORTH BEACH

Maltby & Shire

2008-08-23T14:14:00.005-04:00

Here's a picture of Richard Maltby, Jr. & David Shire in rehearsal with Broadway Voices! What an honor!!!

Haydn's 3rd Birthday

2008-07-21T22:46:00.007-04:00

The family gathered a few weeks ago to celebrate the 3rd birthday young Haydn! It was a beautiful day for it. We romped in the pool, stuffed our faces, and treated ourselves to some Blues Clues Cake! Nicely done Ryan and Amanda!

New York Philharmonic Concert In Central Park

2008-07-21T22:45:00.002-04:00

I'm glad we've made this a tradition. Perfect weather. VERY happy with how the night turned out!

Rosebud: Broadway Voices

2008-06-10T06:13:00.012-04:00

I was honored to be apart of the entertainment for the Rosebud benefit for the New York City Gay Men's Chorus in Bronxville. We sang Doors from Closer than ever, after only 2 rehearsals. :-)

Not the most flattering camera angle, but this was also recorded at the Rosebud benefit and will be featured at the Metropolitan Room this September (I Chose Right from Baby)

Phil & Shawn's Engagement Party

2008-06-10T06:13:00.007-04:00

June 14th, 2008

On a beautiful Saturday afternoon this fine spring, Phil and I celebrated our engagement with a group of close friends and family at my parent's house in New Milford, NJ.

Actually, what I meant to say was... on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, that deteriorated quickly into a full on Monsoon , a group of close friends and family were scared out of the beautifully set up back yard, and forced into the disco / karaoke basement to celebrate our engagement!!!

Thunder, lightening, and rain aside. A good time was had by all. Thanks to everyone for venturing into the burbs of Jersey to be with us on this important day. We love you all... well most of you anyway... most of the time... well you get the idea.

Kisses. xo

Poconos 08

2008-05-28T07:38:00.038-04:00

River rafting, horseback riding, field sports, a large flea market, rest and relaxation & pounds of food. This vacation was one to remember!

Memorial day weekend Jody's parents graciously offered up there vacation home in the Poconos for us to have ourselves a relaxing, rejuvenating retreat from the grind of New York City.

wait a minute... that's terrible. Please. This was a family weekend. It was all, innocent, good wholesome fun. Phil, come on, I'm trying to tell a story here... please. There were no Shenaningans to speak of. It was all singing around the campfire, alcohol free, fun...

Several cars of us made there way out to Marhsall's Creek on Friday. Phil and I drove up with Alicia and Brooke. Poor Tracy (my car, for those who don't know her) was stuffed more than she has ever been. Nary an inch of the car was left unpacked. What is worse, 5 of us had to drive to Lincoln Center from the Hill's, with 2 of Phil's friends, Olivier and Samuel, from Paris.

The drive out to the country was reasonably short and painless, and showtunes abounded!! Surprise surprise!! By Friday afternoon, we had arrived, and Dan, Jody, and Elvira had already gone shopping and set up the house for our arrival.

The first night, Dan manned the grill, and we stuffed our faces with some good old fashioned BBQ chicken, hot dogs, and hamburgers! After eating, the music started, and a dance party ensued!

After blowing off some steam, we settled in for a good night's rest and an early rise for our big rafting adventure!

Surprisingly, the next morning went without a hitch... We actually washed, fed, and packed up 9 people, leaving enough time to get to the rafting home base about an hour away. When we arrived in Jim Thorpe, PA, we were informed that while the day itself was going to be gorgeous, the water temperature was only going to be in the low 50s. YIKES! Even our guides advised us to get at least a partial wetsuit, because the water was going to be BUTT ASS COLD!!! After some pulling and tugging and some creative positioning, we all managed to fit ourselves into the wetsuits. Let me just tell you... they were dead sexy!

For those of you who have never rafter before, I highly recommend it. It is a great way to connect with nature and is a wonderful, accessible trip from the concrete jungle of NYC! We loved it!! After a brief orientation, they stuffed us into a bus and drove us to our entry point on the Lehigh River. They could not get us riverside, so we were dropped off, and after a 15 minute hike, found ourselves in front a large stack of rafts. Our teams were each assigned a raft and asked to carry them under a bridge to our launch point on the other side. This was our first introduction to the frigid water!! Thankfully the adrenaline had already kicked in, so all thought of cold was lost in minutes!

Once we got on the water, we learned quickly that our boat had a hole in the floor. Yeah, good times! That wouldn't have been too terrible, except we had not picked up one of the bail buckets at the orientation site like we were supposed to; not thinking clearly, the entire group, only grabbed one bucket for 2 boats. oops! Thankfully, we were rescued by a boatload of butch boys we met bringing up the rear of our group!

The tour itself, took about 4-5 hours, with a break about halfway through for lunch. By the end, we were spent!! We were happy to shed our waterproof skins and stuff ourselves with some tasty hotdogs the rafting company had waiting for us at the base camp! I'm not saying I had 3... I'm just saying, thank you Rafting Grillers, thank you.

That night we opted for low key, and after another grilled feast, the creative team of Bogdan Surelys set up the loft like a drive in movie... We lasted about 20 minutes into the Jerk before we called the whole thing off due to exhaustion!

The next day was less structured. Half of us decided to roam the grounds of community where Jody's house was. Bugs aside, it was a fun morning. We laughed and walked and posed for stupid pictures at every possible turn. Yes, we have problems!

After some lakeside shenanigans, we head back to the house for a snack and then packed the cars and head out to the GIANT Flea Market. We spent about an hour and a half roaming the grounds for little treasures.
As you can see... they had all sorts of peopls and items for sale. It was hard not to walk away with a carload of stuff... cough... um.... right...

Moving on...

After a good shop, some folks opted for a nap and relaxation, and others us decided to try our hands (and feet) and soft ball and kickball!! Notice the form... damn we're good!

Our final night was... well it was something else! Food, wine, sparklers, Twister, Scrabble... I think pictures will speak louder than words!

I know... and those are the tame pictures... It is nice to know that at 30 something... we are still able to just let our hair down and be silly.

The final day involved a big breakfast and then a trailride through the hills of nearby resort.

THANK YOU JODY for inviting us... and thank you to everyone who came along to share in the fun. We're so happy to have friends like you in our lives!!

Glory Days

2008-05-07T23:43:00.004-04:00

What became the opening night photo for this aspiring new Broadway musical Glory Days also became the closing night photo. We were fortunate to see the production the night before it closed. Sadness.....

Years of Entertainment

2008-04-22T15:32:00.035-04:00

Shawn and I have been very entertained for the last 2 years. Here's a list of what we've seen:

In The Heights (Original Cast)

The Marriage Of Bette & Boo (Roundabout)

Glory Days (Circle In The Square)

The 39 Steps (Cort Theatre)

Beauty & The Beast (Westchester Broadway)

The Little Flower From East Orange (Public Theatre)

Cry Baby (Marriot Marquis)

A Catered Affair (Walter Kerr Theatre)

Top Girls (Biltmore Theatre)

The Fifth Column (Mint Theatre: Off Broadway)

Kiss Me Kate (Papermill Playhouse)
Xanadu (Helen Hays Theatre) (2x)

Young Frankenstein (Hilton Theatre)

The Pirate Queen (Hilton Theatre)
Something You Did (59E59: Off Broadway)

Gypsy (W/ Lupone @ The St James Theatre)
From Up Here (City Center: Off Broadway)

Legally Blonde (Palace Theatre)

LaStat (Palace Theatre)
Ethel Fair 2008 (Symphony Space)
Fabulous Divas of Broadway (Theatre At St Lukes)

Sunday in the Park with George (Studio 54)

110 In The Shade (Studio 54)

The Ritz (Studio 54)

The Year of Magical Thinking (Booth Theatre)

Faith Healer (Booth Theatre)

The Big Voice: God or Merman? (Theatre @ St Lukes)

Spring Awakening (Eugene O'Neil Theatre)

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Circle in the Square)

Grey Gardens (Walter Kerr Theatre)

Barefoot In The Park (Cort Theatre)

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Imperial Theatre)

Bombay Dreams (Broadway Theatre)
Oroonoko (Duke on 42nd Street)
Secrets of a Soccer Mom (Snapple Theatre Center)
Two Thousand Years (Theatre Row)
Take Me Along (Irish Repertory Theatre)
Beebo Brinker Chronicles (37 Arts)
Crimes of the Heart (Roundabout Theatre Company)
My Mother's Italian, My Father's Jewish and I'm in Therapy (Off Broadway)
Runt of the Litter (37 Arts)
Naked Boys Singing! (New World Stages)
Yellow Face (Public Theatre)

Duran Duran On Broadway (Barrymore Theatre)

Cirque du Soleil's "O" (Vegas)

Cirque du Soleil's "La Vie" (Spiegelworld, NYC)

The Color Purple (Broadway Theatre)

Deuce (Music Box Theatre)

Little Mermaid (New Amsterdam Theatre)
Tings Dey Happen (Culture Project Soho Space)
Le Scandal (Taped for TV) @ The Cutting Room
The Joy Luck Club (Julia Miles Theatre: Off Broadway)

Drowsy Chaperone (Marriot Marquis)

The Woman In White (Marriot Marquis)

Ring of Fire (Barrymore Theatre)
Spain (Lucille Lortel Theatre)
Die Mommie Die (New World Stages)
Make Me A Song: The Music of William Finn (New World Stages)
Fuerzabruta (Daryl Roth Theatre)

Curtains (All Hirschfeld Theatre))

My Fair Lady (New York Philharmonic)

Candide (W/ Kristin Chenowith: New York Philharmonic)

The Pirates of Penzanze (New York City Opera)
Gazillion Bubble Show (New World Stages)
Three Mo Tenors (Little Shubert Theatre)
Greetings from Yorkville (The Soho Playhouse)

The Entropy Songs (Abington Theatre)
The Overwhelming (Roundabout Theatre Company)
All American Sport of Bi-Partisan Bashing (New World Stages)

Love Musik (Biltmore Theatre)
Walmartopia (Minetta Theatre)
Idol: The Musical (45th Street Theatre)

25 Questions for a Jewish Mother (Theatre at St Lukes)
Anti Gravity (Hammerstein Ballroom)
Be (Union Square Theatre)

Jump (Union Square Theatre)

Slava's Snow Show (Union Square Theatre)
Brits on Broadway: Rabbit (59E59: Off Broadway)

Concerts/Cabaret

Pat Benatar (House of Blues, Atlantic City)

Kathy Griffin (MSG & Scranton)

Celine Dion (Vegas)

Olivia Newton John (Atlantic City)

Jim Brickman (BB Kings, NYC)

Air Supply (BB Kings, NYC)

The Police (Giants Stadium)

Nickel Creek w/ Fiona Apple (Central Park Summerstage)

Cyndy Lauper, Debbie Harry, Dresdon Dolls, Erasure, Indigo Girls, Bette Midler, Pet Shop Boys, Diana Ross, Chaka Khan, Patti LaBelle & Gladys Knight (Radio City Music Hall)

Madonna (2x), Billy Joel, Diana Ross, (MSG), Etc.

Joan Rivers (Cutting Room, NYC)

Manhattan Transfer w/ The Hudson Valley Philharmonic (Bethel Woods)

Julie Wilson (Metropolitan Room)

Whew...that took a lot of time! :-)

A Maltby & Shire Songbook

2008-04-22T12:30:00.004-04:00

After auditioning and being called back for a Maltby & Shire review with songs from Closer Than Ever, Starting Here, Starting Now & Baby, I received word on Friday that I will be apart of the project. Performance dates & times: TBA. I am so grateful to be apart of this inspiring musical adventure. To be continued! :-)

New York Mets Game

2008-04-16T08:38:00.005-04:00

Last night, the men of Dacoda had the opportunity to see the New York Mets play in their last season at Shea Stadium. Ah, memories! :-) Overpriced beer and crappy food made the experience.......well let's just say the nachos were terrible and gave me a stomach! But on the flip side we had a wonderful time hanging out and being silly. Dacoda will be singing in July @ Don't Tell Mamas. Dates will be announced very soon.

Carnegie In December

2008-03-01T11:10:00.007-05:00

Happily, I found a clip on YouTube of me singing with the legendary Barbara Cook & Kelli O'Hara. Gotta love it! :-)

Disneyworld/Caribbean Cruise

2008-02-06T15:31:00.013-05:00

I know many of you have anticipated a lengthy report of our vacation in Florida as well as in the Caribbean. This will not be as detailed as the New Zealand adventure, but then again this was a completely different kind of vacation.

The first leg of our trip was spent in Orlando with my friend Patrick & his boyfriend Jeff, who we're the most gracious host. He welcomed us into his home and treated us like family. Not only that, we had the opportunity to spend 3 days @ Disneyworld (Epcot, Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom & MGM Studios) courtesy of Patrick. So sweet!! Shawn and I spent out 2 year anniversary dinner at a French Bistro in Epcot Center overlooking the fireworks. So romantic. :-) That evening, we stayed in the Caribbean resort (Trinidad secton) which was also a treat.

Early Sunday morning, we rented a car in Kissammee and drove to FT Lauderdale to meet up with good friends Elvira & Franz at the Princess Cruises Terminal where the Caribbean Princess was docked. Once we were checked in it and set sail, we happily were upgraded to a suite on the Dolphin. OMG, it was so awesome!!!! Living room & Balcony with a large bathroom. SWEET!

Our cruise destinations: Bahamas (private island), St Maarten & St Thomas. The Bahamas was very nice, but the weather was unpredictable. Although it was warm and the water beautiful, there were scattered showers. We still made the best of it, exploring most of the island.

St Maarten was PERFECTION, but I'm a little biased. Reason being is Shawn and I made the decision to buy rings to take our relationship to the next level. Elvira recommended the Jeweler she was familiar with, which is where we purchased the rings. It was that evening that Shawn formally asked me to marry him. :-) Yes, it was VERY romantic and something I knew was in the making. Happiness is my beautiful Shawn

St Thomas was gorgeous, just like the last time I was there. We spent most of our day at Sapphire Beach, where everyone but myself went snorkeling. I enjoyed the beach and the beautiful water. So relaxing and the perfect weather. IF only we had a few more days.

We spent 3 days at sea which was a great way to relax, watch movies under the stars, eat like no man should eat and watch both Elvira and Franz perform. this was exactly the medicine I needed to start the year correctly. :-)

New Zealand Part 20

2008-01-17T04:05:00.000-05:00

Just kidding...

Phil and I are up at God's time this morning, readying ourselves for another fun January getaway. This time it isn't halfway across the world though... it's halfway across Florida! That's right, compliments of Phil's good friend Patrick, we have a 3-day date with Mickey! Woo hoo!! And if that wasn't enough, from Disneyworld we head south for a one week Eastern Caribbean Cruise!! Thank you Elvira and Franz!! We're so looking forward to getting out of dodge!!

See you all in 10 days...

... oh, and when we get back we'll definitely start taking better care of this blog...

... no, seriously...

... hello?

... is anyone still reading this?

New Year's Day In Brooklyn

2008-01-04T11:01:00.003-05:00

What a wonderful way to bring in the New Year. Good friends, good food and lots of fun. It was perfect!

Poconos Weekend with David & Dael

2008-01-04T11:00:00.003-05:00

A beautiful weekend in the Poconos with friends David & Dael. We spent most of the time lounging, eating chips & salsa/guacamole, drinking and relaxing. It was so a desired getaway from the city.

Happy Holidays From Shawn & Phil

2007-12-24T14:14:00.001-05:00

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

HO HO in the Hill's

2007-12-18T10:49:00.002-05:00

A small intimate holiday gathering with good friends, a little eggnog, a full course meal, a few Chisttmas carols & a little booze made the perfect holiday party. Shawn & I are so grateful to have such an amazing circle of friends.

NYCGMC at CARNEGIE HALL 2008

2007-12-18T10:48:00.001-05:00

Performing in Carnegie Hall (for the 5th time) was amazing to say the least. In addition to singing two other concerts with the NYCGMC, I have sung with Barbara Cook (Encore of "Make Our Garden Grow) & The Lord of the Rings Symphony w/ New York's prestigious Collegiate Choir. Having Shawn singing by my side made this the most exciting and memorable performing experience I've ever had. It was also a privilege to sing directly with Broadway sensation Kelli O'Hara side by side and to work directly with Joanna Gleason. I will cherish these memories and look forward to the next artistic endeavor.

Kelli O'Hara, Phil Zipkin, Gary Wayne Farris, Michael DeSheilds, Lamont Mandell, Carnegie Hall, 2007

Chorus Retreat in the Catskills

2007-12-18T10:11:00.002-05:00

A weekend with 250 men from the chorus in the Catskills mountains. Yes, it sounds a little crazy (and gay) :-) But it was a ton of fun, except I had laryngitis the entire time and I had a solo performance Sunday afternoon. OY

A Vegas Thanksgiving

2007-11-26T08:06:00.001-05:00

Another glorious vacation in the desert with the Zipkins and family. When I first learned my parents were going to retire in Vegas, taking my 2nd home of Los Angeles away, I wasn't thrilled. I was skeptical, this is true, however I have learned to appreciate it. I know Shawn loves it because of the entertainment, the state parks and the mountains. We had a lovely visit with my Grandmother (& John) as well as my brother Scott & his new puppy (cutest dog ever). The highlight of our trip was a gift from my parents: 2 front row tickets to see Cirque du Soleil's production of "O" at the Bellagio Hotel accompanied by a dinner at Olives Restaurant. It was perfection to say the least. THANK YOU MOM & DAD!

To Be Continued....

LeHigh Valley, PA & The Birth Of Elliot

2007-11-23T10:27:00.000-05:00

It worked out that November 11th, 11/11 (for those paying attention) fell on a weekend... so Phil decided to take us out to a little town called Mecungie just south of Allentown, PA in the beautiful Lehigh Valley. The weekend was supposed to be a quick romantic getaway in honor of our connection to the numbers 11 11... it's a long story, that some of you have already heard... it's too cheesy to recall here, and I don't want any of you to vomit before pressing on...

It worked out perfectly, because our new little nephew Elliot was born early Saturday morning, so this trip was going to put us within a short drive to Bryn Mawr to see the little man before heading back home.

We planned to leave after I finished work, so Phil was going to take the train out to Westfield and meet me there. Unfortunately, Phil managed to "misplace" his wallet somewhere between Penn Station, NY and Westfield... not a good start. So he bought himself a lovely little man servant from Bombay and I treated him to some Baja Fresh to try and get his head back in the game! By the time I arrived back at the car with all of the food, all of the important cards were cancelled and reordered, so we were ready to stuff our faces and hit the road.

Just before the Delaware river we made a quick turn north and tried to find the 4 Sisters Winery to say that we have at least tried a Jersey Winery. Well we had no directions, and a rough idea of where it was, which made it an oh so interesting experience trying to find it, particularly since the sun was setting. We put our faith in some young teenage hoodlum hanging out with his friend at a local liquor store, and found it exactly where he said it would be... see... don't judge a book by it's cover.

The 4 Sisters Winery was okay. We weren't dazzled by any of their offerings, but were happy to get a Jersey place under our belts. After the tasting we made our way to the cute little town of Mecungie and to our B&B, the Stone House Inn and Spa. The place is a gorgeous restored and modifed Colonial home with a personal residence in the front of the house, guest rooms in the back, and a spa downstairs. It was great. We set up camp in the Kitten Room... Phil's attempt to outgay the "Rose" room from the Finger Lakes Region.... the jury is still out on who won! The only unusual thing we found, was that for a place that touted a "one-with-nature, zen," kind of feel, there were a surprisingly large number of stuffed birds and animals on display! Definitely not Buddhists!

Some of the Winery recommendations.....

http://www.cloverhillwinery.com/
http://www.pinridge.com/

http://www.bluemountainwine.com/
http://www.vynecrest.com/
http://www.lehighvalleywinetrail.com/

To Be Continued......

Gobble Gobble in the Hills 11/17/07

2007-11-22T21:13:00.000-05:00

Since Phil and I are going to be in Vegas with the Zipkins for Thanksgiving, we decided to host the Days in the Hill's the week before. My parents had not yet made the trek out to Forest Hill's, so it was a big occasion for us! The plan was set to have them over at 7 for dinner. Phil had to rehearse that day and I had to work, but we figured we could still squeek it out in time if we hustled... well things tend not to go smoothly in our world...

The first problem we faced was that Phil's insomnia struck again... so he woke up dead to the world with plans to head in town early for rehearsals for the chorus and to sing back up vocals for Our Lady J on her new CD... Danger...
Then my sister-in-law called and asked if we could push the party up a few hours to make it easier for Haydn... Shit!
Then I got held up at work and did not end up back in the Hill's until a little after 4! We're F'd !

For those doing the math, that gave us about an hour to whip up some magic!

Thankfully, the God's were smiling on us and I had the foresight to preplan one of the entrees the night before, so it just had to be thrown in the oven.

With the help of Phil's friend Athena (from San Diego) we managed to get the rest of it all together and on the table in a timely manner. Phil made his famous gaucamole, a delicious sauteed cabbage and spinach side dish, jasmine rice cooked in chicken broth with parsley, and a Stracciatelle (an Italian Egg Drop Soup), that knocked my family's socks off! All that left me to take care of the main courses ( I know, who knew I could even cook!!) ... a chicken Marbella and an Herb-roasted Pork Loin. Athena also helped Phil make some tasty Oatmeal and sour cream cookies, which, combined with a coffee cake my parents brought and pumpkin bars Amanda made, finished off a lovely evening of food and cheer!

Duran Duran On Broadway

2007-11-14T09:43:00.000-05:00

Shawn and I had the privilege to see Duran Duran on Broadway last night. A blast from the past! They were amazing

Shows shows, and more shows!

2007-11-08T17:34:00.000-05:00

FUERZA BRUTA

... thank you Theaterextras.com !

In the last week or so, Phil and I, and some good friends, took advantage of this site and hit up some fun shows. These just scratch the surface of what we've seen since joining... I know, we're theater whores now, it's embarrassing!

...Don't judge!

Yes, Phil and I are huge fans of the www.theaterextras.com site! A one year membership fee gets you free access to a boat-load of Off-Broadway, Off Off Broadway, Cabarets, Jazz concerts, comedy shows, and even sporting events sometimes... The only additional cost is a $4 handling fee, which is cheaper than a movie ticket! oh, and did I mention that they will even do movie tickets from time to time! Join... have fun!! We are!

2nd Annual Broadway Massacre-Ade Party

2007-10-28T22:54:00.001-04:00

What an evening! We had roughly 50 people venture out to the Hills to celebrate Halloween the way it should be celebrated.....to showtunes...OY! Yes, this was our 2nd Massacre-ade was a success with a cabaret style extravaganza featuring the talents of our guests. Shawn was responsible for the decorations (which were AMAZING) and Brooke and I handled food & drinks, while Kenneth was on clean-up duty. We were thrilled with the variety of music, featuring Cassandra Kubiniski, James Adamo, Rena Strober, Chris Fasulo, Douglass Wood, Rich Spector, Andy Lawyer, David Macaluso & all the hosts (Brooke, Kenneth, Shawn & myself). The sing-a-long was my favorite part of the the evening. Favorite highlights were "Suddenly Seymour" & Rena's portrayal of Fantine in Les Miz, even going so far as to simulate the turning stage! It was hysterical. We were very pleased with the evening and look forward to the next one.

Bubbles Everywhere

2007-10-24T23:11:00.001-04:00

My friend Gary & I saw The Gazillion Bubble Show tonight at The New World Stages. It was Awesome. Fun & Entertaining. Great for children. :-) Check it out!

Pumpkin Picking/Wine Tasting L.I.

2007-10-15T15:59:00.000-04:00

A group of 9 of us met one morning in the Enchanted Forest to have a hearty breakfast, and coffee for Alicia, at the Forest Hills Diner before heading out the North Fork of Long Island for some goat cheese, wine tasting and pumpkin picking!

We had to cars for the trip, mine and Alicia's, and it was very Chinese Fire Drill-like trying to get a seat. My car was dubbed the Broadway car, because it wasn't more the 10 minutes into the trip before the showtunes were blasting and the boys were singing along! It was the gayest road trip ever!

We took a 5 minute Pee break at a Farm on the way... we got a little side-tracked though when Phil and Kenneth started playing inappropriately with the gourds! Since this is a family blog, I will spare y'all the pictures they took.... shocking really. I thought I knew them both!

After the break, we made our way out into the heart of the North Fork region and made our first stop at Catapano Dairy Farm. The farm specializes in everything goat, goat cheese, goat cheese body wash, goat cheese face cream... you name it. We blew past the The Delicate Doe Goatique and made a B-line for the goat pens. Brooke was so inspired, that she snuck right in through the gates, rules be damned! She was an immediate Goat magnet, and within seconds she was surrounded! She almost fell down laughing with one particularly affectionate goat named Sadie, jumped on her back and started dancing with us!!

After some fun with goats and cheese , we piled back in the cars and head to our first winery, the Ackerly Pond Vineyards. We highly recommend this charming boutique winery. They used to just supply the regionally wineries with their grapes, but decided to start making some of their own wines. They have a small cozy little tasting room and one of the daughters was running the day's tasting. It was the perfect start for some of our virgin tasters... Kenneth, Brooke, and Ryan.
The next stop on the tour was going to be Pindar, but we passed by the gorgeous Raphael Vineyard and just had to stop! This one could have been lifted right out of Napa or even Italy. It was gorgeous. The inside was open and spacious, with high ceilings, and beautiful exposed wood beams. They had a huge round tasting bar in the center, and several smaller, more intimate bars set in the back half of the building. Between these bars were numerous wrought iron cafe tables set in front of wide set of French Doors with views of a veranda and the vineyard beyond! It was amazing!! We had ourselves a nice tasting and then went outside above the veranda to enjoy the beautiful weather and amazing views with some of our favorite tastings and the goat cheese we bought earlier .
The final wine tasting of the day was at the

Castello de Borghese Vineyard. It was one we went to on our last adventure out this way, and one Alicia wanted to revisit before heading off to Pumpkin land. They do do great wines though, and everyone had a grand old time. After the tasting, we went outside to enjoy a little down time in the vineyard, relaxing in some comfortable Adirondack chairs they had set up outside of the tasting room. Everyone was so relaxed and comfortable, that they were soon doing lawn chair Yoga. Yes, it is really a talented bunch. Once an inner zen was achieved, everyone was shaken back into reality as we were treated to the hilarious coming of age story of our good friend Kenneth. We were in tears by the end as he recounted his wedding day.... to a woman!

The final stop of the day was at Gabrielsen's Farm. Here we all treated ourselves to the much anticipated, oh so delicious fire roasted "sex" corn! In fact, I think we all had 2 pieces! Imagine corn roasted on the grill in the husk then torn open and lathered in a disgustingly fattening coating of butter... oh yeah! We have some fun, family inappropriate pictures of everyone enjoying the corn... you'll just have to use your imagination! After filling or corn fix, we went over to enjoy the song stylings of some solo guitar-playing singer where we sang and danced along with his tunes, before all piling on to a flat bed hayride. A tractor pulled us along the bumpy trail, providing a scenic tour of the corn fields as the sun was setting. The colors were great, and periodically scores of red-winged black birds would pour out of the corn, seemingly out of nowhere, and fill the sky with specs of black and red. It was an amazing site. Halfway through, the singers among us started to serenade us, and by the end we had a 4 part harmony going. After the ride, we made our way into the corn maze for some good cheesy, children of the corn fun. As the sun fell below the horizon, we piled back into the cars, and head off to the Boulder Creek Steakhouse where we stuffed our faces before heading back to the Hills.

Eagle Mountain House (White Mountains, NH)

2007-10-10T12:33:00.000-04:00

Sometime after Labor Day an interesting real estate opportunity presented itself to us. It was a little unusual, but given the location and the look of the place we were at least game to try. The deal was for a "condo" which was actually a room in the Eagle Mountain House, which is an old historic hotel listed on the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It is a marvelous place, truly. The beautifully restored edifice sits proudly up along a country road deep in the heart of Jackson, NH in the Mount Washington Valley. It is a classic imposing structure with 2 huge porches complete with rocking chairs and tables, all with views of the impressive Carter Notch.It has a full restaurant, bar, game room, gym/hot tub/sauna, 9-hole golf course, tennis courts, and a pool... It was kind of dream come true for us, especially since I fell in love with the White Mountains during my UNH days many years ago. The biggest downside was the fact that it was 6 hours away, which made it less convenient for a traditional Friday to Saturday weekend. You never know until you try though, so we prepared Tracy (my VW) for yet another long drive into the wild, and decided to give it a go.

We head up early Saturday morning, with plans to stop halfway in Brattleboro, Vermont. The Traffic Gods were not smiling on us at the start though, and the drive out of NYC took about an hour! Thankfully though, the shaky start was followed by smooth sailing! Brattleboro is a beautiful town in the Southwest corner of Vermont along the Connecticut river. It has a long main street through town with a nice collection of shops serving up the wares of the local artisans and craftsman. Scattered throughout are also a colorful mix of restaurants and bars. We had a great lunch at some place I can't remember (damn that Diet Coke!), and after a fast break, we got back on the road to try and get up there before sunset. We decided to drive straight up Vermont and then cut across into NH from the north. We picked up route 302 and enjoyed a very scenic drive past the Mount Washington Hotel and the Presidential Mountain Range, through Crawford Notch, and eventually to Jackson. Jackson is a small secluded town nestled right in the heart of NH ski country, hiking, and all sorts of outdoor fun. You drive into town by way of a classic century-old covered bridge. The town itself is a is a sleepy little place, with a only a small collection of restaurants and shops, and a handful of beautiful old hotels. The slow drive took us over the Wildcat River and then up a steep hill that followed the river up past the Jackson Falls, which are partially visible from the car, and on to the hotel a little further up the hill. The whole area was gorgeous! We parked quickly and went to meet the couple we were going to buy the room from. We got as far as the front steps of the porch when we were approached by a lovely couple with a young teen aged daughter. I guess the NY gays must stick out like sore thumbs to the locals! Oh well! They were great though, and gave us a quick tour of the place before leaving us for our trial night. We definitely got caught up in the moment and the natural beauty of the place, and had a wonderfully romantic night. We took advantage of the remaining sunlight, and set out for a nice quiet stroll over the grounds along the Wildcat River before sunset. As the sun set, the air began to cool off dramatically, so we made our way back to the hotel and settled in for nice dinner at the restaurant. We enjoyed a nice glass of wine and a delicious hearty 3-course meal, before finally camping out on the porch. We chose a couple of rocking chairs at the far end of the porch near our room, opened a bottle of wine, and enjoyed the crisp (below 40 degrees) autumn air while looking at the stars! It was perfect!

The next day, we had a great buffet-style country breakfast at the hotel restaurant and met some colorful older women who were part of the Appalachian Mountain Club up for a week of hiking adventures! We bid adieu to the place early that morning comfortably stuffed. We stopped a quarter of a mile from the hotel at the top of the Jackson Falls we had driven by the night before. The falls are actually a beautiful collection of falls that crash over several sections of a gorge in the center of town. The air was clear, the sky was blue, and we were psyched to be in the country ... again! We definitely need a country and a city home! Dare to dream! Maybe one day when we hit the lottery! Our original plan that morning was to either go on a short hike or drive up the Mount Washington Auto Road which was just 20 minutes up the road. We opted for the drive since it was such a short weekend and we had a long drive ahead of us. We head up Rt 16 north towards Mount Washington, which is actually the largest mountain in the northeast at 6288 feet. A few miles shy of the autoroad I wanted to make a quick stop at the Glen Ellis Falls, a beautiful 65 waterfall I remembered from my UNH days. It is a 15-20 minute hike off the main road, and was a good way to get the juices flowing. The sun was high enough by the time we got there to set a golden light over the face of the falls. In fact, by the time we got there, the angle was so perfect we were even treated to rainbow in the mist at the base of the falls. After enjoying the moment, we head back out to the autoroad entrance. Sadly, we were not able to head up when we got there. Apparently there was an auto-race up the face that was going to last the better part of the morning. What is worse was the fact that the peak was below freezing that morning, so they were only going to let folks up about halfway unless the conditions improved. I wanted to show Phil the drive because it is stunningly beautiful. The weather that day was perfect, so visibility would have allowed us to see potentially as far as the ocean on the SE coast, Maine, Vermont, and even Canada from the summit! It also is a road that goes above the treeline, which is a very unusual thing for east coast mountains, and something a lot of people never get the chance to see.

Our Plan B was to drive home by way of the Kangamangus Highway through the heart of the White Mountain National Forest. This is a wonderful way to get a quick taste of the forest. We picked up about 1/3 of the way along its course headed west. The whole drive is about 34 miles and offers a great mix of natural beauty, from rivers, rocky cliffs, sweeping wilderness valleys, and mountain peaks. I highly recommend it as a quick way to get a flavor of the place!

I took a different road back through a section of the White Mountains I have never seen before. It was a nice change of pace. After passing through stretches of quiet country, and numerous small towns, we eventually caught up with the main highway back into Vermont. From there it was the same trip in reverse, without the traffic on the New York end!

Another whirlwind tour under our belts!

Good times...

West Hudson River Valley & Bethel Woods

2007-10-09T22:43:00.000-04:00

Since joining theaterextras Phil and I have been seeing a lot off-the-beaten-path concerts and shows. Well, it just so happened that, The Manhattan Transfer, a group he sang with as a young lad, was going to be playing at the Bethel Woods Center about an hour and a half upstate. Well he got 4 tickets to the event and since we were going to be up there anyway, decided it might be fun to get a little taste of the Hudson River Valley Wine sc ene. Yes, for all of you who weren't aware, not only are there over 30 wineries out on Long Island, there are also over 40 just up the river about the same driving distance away! It is quite scenic, and starts just a little north of Bear Mountain. It makes a great day trip from the city, and we highly recommend it. The trail is not quite as compact as the Long Island scene, but it does make for a scenic drive. On the western shore, the Shawangunk Wine Trail is the main route, and it lists about 10-12 wineries on the trail. In truth though, there are probably 15-20 more wineries in the area that are considered associate members, they just don't get to be listed on the formal trail. That all adds up to plenty to see and taste! The uncorknewyork.com website lists most of them.

Thomas and Chris were the first to sign on, although poor Thomas didn't quite know what he was getting into with the Manhattan Transfer... me thinks they weren't exactly his cup o' tea! Ohwell! We drove up the Hudson and picked up our friend Chris in his hometown of Cornwall, just north of West Point. From there we made our first stop at a local winery his family recommended, the Palaia Vineyards . It turned out, he knew some of the people working there from growing up in the area, so it was very fun and casual. We had a great time tasting almost their entire list, and a lot of it was quite tasty. The tasting room is a large rustic old farm house that has a quaint little stage on the grounds out back that they use for weekend and evening entertainment. It is definitely worth a stop. After our first generous tasting, we decided to drive up to New Paltz for lunch. This is actually a nice little town, and home to one of the larger SUNY schools. This fact has helped keep the downtown fairly vibrant (relatively speaking) with a clear artsy / college-town feel, replete with a colorful variety of shops and restaurants along the main drag through town. We stopped at the Gilded Otter Brew House for a delicious late afternoon lunch before heading out to a few more wineries. The clock was ticking on our day though, so we only had time to squeeze in two more stops before heading out to the concert. The first was the Whitecliff Vineyard. The scenery here was very nice, with some of the rocky cliffs of the Shawangunk Mountains overlooking the grounds of the vineyard. We enjoyed several tastings and found the wines to be pretty good. By the time we wrapped up with Whitecliff, we had about 20 minutes before the area wine tastings would be closing so we raced further down the road heading to get back to route 17. Along the way, we passed the Brimstone Hill Vineyard and pulled in quickly to beat the clock! Compared to places we've been before, this was definitely an anticlimactic way to finish. Yes, the poor Brimstone Hill definitely looked like it may have lived through a little fire and brimstone... barely! The pictures on their website are a little deceiving, and make it look very nice, although I suspect those pictures may have been taken back in the glory days. When we pulled up, we found the paint on the main building was worn and chipping, with the sign so faded by the sun it was hard to read clearly. The vineyards running up to the roadside were overgrown with weeds and empty crates and rusting farm equipment littered the field. A weathered linoleum covered staircase lead you up to the main tasting room which was equally drab. Pale tan/yellow linoleum flooring clung unevenly to the floor, buckling slightly as it met with the wood paneling on the walls. Faded posters of more famous French Wineries clung to the walls desperately, their corner holds failing and slowly rolling over on themselves. At the far corner was the small wood tasting bar, with an older man looking rather forlorn standing behind it. As he flipped over small scuffed tasting glasses, he mentioned he'd picked up in France many years prior, you could get a sense that he longed to have had the chance to work at one of the places he had placed on the walls around us. The wines were average, but we appreciated his efforts, and took a bottle home anyway!

After Brimstone, we high-tailed it out of there and drove the remaining half hour or so to Bethel Woods. We got there just before sunset with plenty of time to spare. The Hudson Valley Philharmonic was set to open the show anyway, so there was no hurry. We attempted to bring in a bottle of wine, and learned that had we hid it in a blanket we could have gotten it in with no problem. As it was, we had it in a camera bag which they promptly searched and politely asked we put back in the car. The grounds of the place are beautiful, and something we definitely recommend for a day trip out of town.

Both halves of the concert were fun, but given the fact that it was Sunday night, we decided after an hour of the MT, it was time to go. Unfortunately, we asked one of the folks directing traffic what the easiest was back to the highway was, and he sent us a little off course... Okay, in truth, he sent us so far out into the wild that there was nary a light to be seen but the stars above. After about 20 minutes of absolute darkness and a seemingly endless winding narrow road through the forest, my passengers started to get a little nervous. I think visions of their scariest horror film memories were creeping into their minds... so a decision was made to open one of the screw top wines, and the nervous ones sipped their way to serenity!

We eventually saw signs of life in the distance, and after what seemed like an hour of uncertainty, we were on 17 headed back to the city... All in all, a fun day indeed!

Finger Lakes, New York

2007-10-09T13:29:00.000-04:00

Another late entry... damn we're getting lazy!
I'll just put the adbridged version here to get us all caught up.
I decided to suprise Phil for his birthday with a weekend away doing something he loves... out of the gutter people. I booked a weekend at the John Morris Manor B&B in Seneca Falls, NY at the northwest corner of Cayuga Lake in the heart of the Finger Lake Wine Country! Surprise Surprise!! Incidentally, The Finger Lakes region does make for a great weekend away for anyone. There is great natural beauty, outdoor fun, boating, hiking, a host of charming towns, great restaurants, an arts scene... and did I mention the wine. Oh yeah, between the 5 major finger lakes, I think there are over 100 wineries.

We did our usual late night road trip and left from Lincoln Center at the end of Phil's workday. Let me just tell you, trying to leave NYC at 5:30 on a Friday is just about the worst thing you can do to yourself!! We spent an extra hour just leaving Manhattan! Thankfully, things got better after that... except for the rain... and the fog... oh, and the fact that we couldn't seem to find any place to eat for a LONG time along the way!! Perfect otherwise though, really. We had fun anyway. I kept Phil in suspense for the first 4 hours, and then finally told him where we were headed... I had to recruit him to help me get in touch with the owners to let them know we were behind schedule. Thankfully our hosts were gracious enough to wait up for us and we settled into the very gay Rose Room for well earned night's rest!

The next morning we got a much better look at the room and house. It was just as gay as we figured the night before... gayer even, as the sun really accentuated the roses, especially the rose pillow! The JMM is owned by a very nice older couple, John and Tony. Tony ended up doing all of the the work, and he was our morning host! He is colorful man, not shy about giving his opinions on anything! Our plan for the day was to get up early, have breakfast, and then drive through the Montezuma Wildlife Preserve at the north end of the lake to see if we would be lucky enough to spot some of the interesting migratory birds going through the preserve, and maybe even a bald eagle, before heading south along the wine trail torwards Ithaca. Sadly, what we found by the time we finally got out the door was a marhsland filled with common ducks and a huge number of Canada Geese! Just like home! Maybe next time... but I digress, Tony treated us to an incredibly delicious and hearty 3 course breakfast. Tony is quite the cook, and the breakfast alone is worth the stay!! Happily stuffed, we decided to head out and start the day. The weather was flawless. The evening rain gave way to glorious blue skies and we were greeted with a crisp cool clean country air as we poured ourselves into the car!

Side note.. For those interested, here is a brief word about the Region. The lakes get their name from their linear shape and north-south orientation, which collectively reminded early map-makers of the fingers of a hand. The Finger Lakes were modified by glaciers over time, and as the ice retreated from the last ice age, the deposits they left behind dammed the valleys, impounding water. Cayuga Lake and Seneca Lake both are close to 40 miles from end to end, but never more than 3.5 miles wide. They are also among the deepest in America; Seneca is also the deepest at 618 feet, followed by Cayuga at 435 feet. It is their great depth that modifies the region's climate enough to help support the lush vineyards that flank their shores. Retaining residual summer warmth in the winter, and winter's cold in the spring, the grapes are protected from disastrous spring frost during grape formation, and early frost before the harvest. The Finger Lakes area is New York's largest wine producing region, and the second largest in the United States behind the Napa Valley in California. Not too shabby. All you wine lovers should definitely plan a stay.

Now back to the trip... we had comfortably stuffed our faces with an obscenely large breakfast and had made the underwhelming drive through the Wildlife Preserve. Now it was time to start hitting the wineries. I should mention something about Seneca Falls as well. The town is actually quite famous for a couple of reasons. It is actually the location of the first Women's Rights Convention in 1848 and is now home to the National Women's Hall of Fame. If that was not enough, the fictional town of Bedford Falls in Frank Capra's “It's a Wonderful Life” was modeled on Seneca Falls. Okay, now I'm really moving forward to the story. We hit the road south along the western shore of Cayuga and started at Cobblestone

I think I will spare you all the messy details... but suffice it to say, by the end of the first day, Phil was comfortably numb, and enjoying his birthday gift! The short answer is, GO GO GO... all you winoes... get on the road and drink up! We had a fantastic weekend, and are sure to be back in the near future. So much to drink, so little time... that's terrible. I mean, there's so much natural beauty, yeah, I want to go and hike, and swim, and play... and drink.

Here are the historic and natural wonders we visited...
Taughannock Falls

And here are the wineries... don't judge!
Cayuga Wine Trail
Cobblestone Farm Winery
Knapp Vineyards
Goose Watch Winery
Buttonwood Grove Winery
Cayuga Ridge Estate Winery
Thirsty Owl Wine Company
Hosmer Winery
Sheldrake Point Vineyard & Simply Red Lakeside Bistro
Lucas Vineyards
Bellwether Hard Cider
Americana Vineyards

Seneca Lake Wine Trail
Lamoreauex Landing Wine Cellars
Caywood Vineyards
Wagner Vineyards
Shalestone Vineyards
Penguin Bay Winery
Red Newt Cellars
Damiani Wine Cellars

Shawn In New York City Gay Men's Chorus

2007-10-02T16:49:00.000-04:00

That's right....you heard correctly. Shawn auditioned last month nervous, apprehensive & skeptical about the whole experience. I mean come on, the last time Shawn sang in a choir setting was 3rd grade (before puberty). OY! The process of getting him ready was a little strenuous, but through the laughter & the tears he sounded beautiful & confident. After auditioning he believed he wouldn't receive a phone call, however he did & was asked to sing in the concert at Carnegie Hall.

We've rehearsed for the last 4 weeks and I can tell Shawn is very enthusiastic about being a member. Mr. athletic is now a blending sensation. I hope you'll support the doc for his debut @ Carnegie Hall. (December 11, 2007). I will be singing right beside him with all of my heart. :-)

Labor Day Weekend in New Hampshire

2007-10-01T09:14:00.000-04:00

Phil and I have been absolutely terrible about updating this... but I wanted to get a little update out before things got too far behind... eh-hem... okay, well it's too late for that, but hopefully this will help catch some folks up on our journeys.

Labor Day weekend was going to be completely uneventful until my friend David called and saved the day, and invited us up to their country home, The Parker Mountain Lodge, for their annual end of summer party. David is a dear old friend of mine from my intern days after vet school, and his partner Michael is just the nicest southern gentlemen you ever could meet! They are a wonderful couple, and as you can see from the picture, they have this amazing getaway home in Southeastern New Hampshire that they have been slowly developing over the last 5 years. The estate used to be an old sleep away christian camp for boys, and they converted the main lodge into a truly FABULOUS... wow that word comes out more easily the older and gayer I get!... oy!... In any event, they invited us to stay over for 2 nights starting the night before the big event. It was a well deserved break and real treat for both of us.

We got a late start on Saturday, but everyone was patient and we were met Saturday evening with open arms just in time for appetizers, dinner and cocktails! It was perfect. We had a wonderful home cooked meal, and had the pleasure of another great couple they know from the Boston area. After dinner, we moved over to the big couches in the center of the main living room and curled up with our wine in front of the fire David had made! We spent the better part of the night sipping our wine, listening to fun music, and laughing a lot as we caught up with old and new friends. It was just what the doctor ordered. As the night wore on, Norman offered up some kind of tasty sipping shot of some kind that took the edge right off, and before long, Phil and Michael were singing for us... and now, as I look back, I think I may even have been coaxed into blending with something coming off the iPod... I know, scary!

The next day we woke up to the smell of a home cooked country breakfast... there's nothing like waking up to the smell of fresh bacon in the air!

We helped them set up for the party and within the next few hours folks startled trickling in from all over! It was a happy mix of family and friends, and their dogs! David and Michael's kids, Miss P (Pugglina) and Zachary had a blast running around with the pack of dogs, picking up dropped scraps, and swimming in the lake! It truly was the perfect day for all... We ate and drank our way through the day chatting with a fun bunch of guys from the Boston area, and as the sun set over Parker Mountain Lodge, we found ourselves eating leftovers and sipping a few cocktails while sitting in front of the fireplace like the night before.

Our last day in our NH paradise started happily like the day before, with fresh coffee and a big ol' breakfast. After cleaning up the last of the previous day's mess, we packed our things and head over to one their friend's houses a few miles down the road. They too have a gorgeous country hideaway sitting on a charming little hill overlooking a small mountain valley. Halfway down the sloping well manicured backyard, sat a beautiful in ground pool. We enjoyed an hour of fun in the sun lounging next to the pool, and a few of us even braved the crisp chilly water! Before saying good by, our gracious hosts cooked us up some very hearty hearty homemade hamburgers on the grill! Holy delicious!

Well-fed and well-rested, we made our way back to the big city...

New Jersey Shore 8/18-8/26

2007-08-28T15:06:00.000-04:00

Despite the cloudiest, rainiest, coldest summer week in Long Beach Island History, and my father's falling and breaking his arm on a Mr. Potato Head, this summer's family vacation was a homerun!!
We were pysched to be headed down after last summer's fabulous sunny trip to North Beach, only to have our hopes dashed with Mother Nature's cranky ways. We were quick to modify our plans though and we made the best of it... our days were spent crabbing and fishing at the end of the block, killing time in arcades, and watching the Disney Channel! Hannah Montana is now dead to us!! The evenings were lighter fare, and spent with my siblings and parents playing games and telling stories while drinking wine, beer, sangria, and mojitos! Good times!

I had to leave after a few days, and left Phil to fend for himself in the nut house, I mean, the beach house. Thankfully, the weather broke before anyone killed each other, and by the middle of the week, the crew found themselves out on the beach... the "Moody" bitches.... I mean, my lovely family.

Phil put on his uncle hat and was a total hit with the kids. In fact, Jackie is already planning their marriage! Okay, so that sounds a little naughty, and more like an Alabama family, than the high class NJ one that we are... Phil also donned his Chef hat, and treated my family to daily guacamole and a couple of his famous soups! They were in heaven.
I snuck down for one last hurrah, met up with the family at Fantasy Island, where I found Phil and Hayley screaming like little girls on a free fall ride! We then took the girls for a spin on the bumper cars before going our separate ways for a romantic Seafood dinner in Bay Villiage. Afterwards we made our way back to the house and finished the week the way it started... drunk! What's wrong with us?!

The Jersey Shore

2007-08-16T16:23:00.001-04:00

Shawn & I are headed to to Long Beach Island for a little R&R. I plan on getting a tan, drinking a lot and hopefuly I'll get some rest. We'll be back in the city on 8/26. Please feel free to give us a buzz at the beach.

How beautiful it is to do nothing, and then rest afterward.

Spanish Proverb

The Police Concert Giant's Stadium 2007

2007-08-14T16:02:00.001-04:00

Phil's first tailgaiting experience, combined with my brother Ryan getting to see his dream concert! (He missed them the first time around! ) He and his wife, Amanda, joined us for the party!!

Good times were had by all!!

Long Island Wine Tasting 2007

2007-08-14T16:01:00.001-04:00

During the summer, a group of five of us decided to spend a day out on the North Fork of Eastern Long Island for some wine-tasting as part of a celebration for Alicia's boyfriend Lorenzo. The 5th person in the group was Elvira, who some of you probably already know. If you don't, I hope you get to meet her when she moves back to the city! She is a fabulous old highschool friend of Phil and Alicia. After a quick and tasty breakfast at the Forest Hills Diner, Alicia programmed "Pre-op" tranny twinkle, her faithful GPS system, and drove us out to the north folk of Long Island into the heart of their wine country. With over 30 wineries to choose from, it is an easy and fun day trip for anyone looking for something different to do! It is great fun in the fall as well, when the apples and pumpkins are ripe for picking! Go! Go! Go!

For anyone who is interested, it is a pretty easy drive, the only worry is the ever unpredictable traffic factor. Thankfully the Gods were in our favor, and we got there in about an hour and a half with no fuss at all. Along the way, a story about a recent trip for Gellato ended up serving as a launching point of a a new musical which is destined to be a sure-fire Fringe-festival hit... or at least a cult favorite! I can't tell you much about it, or I'd have to kill you, but suffice it to say, it will be a beautiful tale of how one woman's journey from small town to big city leads her to discover the finer points of life and love and finding ones true passion in life... think Steel Magnolias meets Brazilian waxing... it's going to be magic!

We spent the better part of a perfect summer afternoon visiting 5 wineries along the trail! Sherwood House Vineyards, Shinn Vineyards, Castello di Borghese Vineyards (great reds!), Vineyard 48, and Macari Vineyards (the most Napa-like of the ones we stopped at) There was a lot of good stuff to try, and we all ended up leaving that day with at least one bottle that we all enjoyed.

After a full day of fun, we head back to town and made a pit-stop at Baja Fresh to appease the Mexican Cravings of the California Natives among us! A good time was had by all!

Kennebunkport Weekend with The Zipkins!

2007-08-14T15:46:00.001-04:00

Phil's parents decided to fly out to the East Coast to see some family and get out of Vegas for a spell. They flew up to Boston and drove north to Kennebunkport, ME where Phil's cousin Lucy and her daughter Charlotte live. We decided to join them for an extended weekend since Phil doesn't get the chance to see his family as often as I do. Phil's parents were very kind and generous, and put us up in the Kennebunkport Inn for Friday and Saturday nights, but we decided to get an early start and leave Thursday after work to try and maximize the time up there. We didn't make any formal hotel plans for that night, and simply figured we would drive until we got tired, and just pull off and see what we could find. This proved to be a poor decision on our part though! By about 1am, we started to get a little burned out, so we started looking for a place to stay. Unfortunately, for a 50 mile stretch there we found NO availability... what are the odds? It wasn't like some of the towns we were driving through were hot beds of tourism! Delirium and frustration began to build and as we got closer and closer to the New Hampshire border... and then it happened... both of us began to feel like some higher power might be guiding us back to the "Bate's Motel" in Portsmouth. (insert psycho shower screeching here) You may or may not remember our mentioning this little gem from one of our first weekend getaways to Ogunquit a year earlier. Suffice it to say that the nickname was well earned. We double-locked the door that first stay, slept with one eye open, and figured our checkout that morning was a good-bye forever. WRONG!! We found ourselves coasting into the familiar registration desk... with the same creepy man working as the last time... what is worse, we were put in a room in the back 4-story section that made our first stay look almost first class! I can promise you this, after this particular late night emergency stop... we will NEVER be back!

We got up early the next morning and met Phil's parents at the Kennebunkport Inn. If you have never been, Kennebunkport is a quintessential New England town and one we recommend you at least drive through at some point if you can. Don't let the high profile Republican residents scare you away. The Kennebunkport Inn itself is a gorgeous classic old Inn. It comes with everything you'd expect: the big porch complete with rocking chairs, charming dining rooms decorated in classic old world styles, with a fully equipped restaurant that does a great breakfast and tasty dinner. When the weather is nice, they have an outdoor seating section overlooking the town center. Our room was cozy and very well appointed with a large comfortable bed and a big bathroom. They even have a cute little pool overlooking the Kennebunk River, and a cozy little bar/lounge with live piano music nightly. The only downside is that it closes at 11pm, which we found out the hard way on our last night in town! Oops.

After a warm welcome from Phil's parents, we set out for a big country breakfast before taking on the day. Since our weather for the weekend was going to be somewhat unpredictable, we decided to take advantage of the good weather we knew we would have on the first day to take his parents to Ogunquit, one of our favorite Maine destinations. You heard all about it before in an old blog, so I will spare you the details of the town. We started by walking them down to the beach front, and then strolled back up through town wandering in and out of random shops along the way. After a little shopping time, we took them to the scenic rocky coastal walk, the"Marginal Way", where we enjoyed the beautiful views and weather as we continued down to Perkins Cove. At the cove, we treated ourselves to a well-earned beer and several pounds of steamers! Thank you Pa Zipkin! After a little more shopping, we hopped on the trolley back up to the center of town, and hit the road back to Kennebunk to meet up with cousin Lucy.

We met Lucy back at the Inn and she took us on tour of the area through Kennebunk, Kennebunkport past the Bush Residence, and out to Cape Porpoise, another coastal section of Kennebunkport. There we stopped to take in the sunset and had ourselves a nice casual seafood dinner outside at the Pier Chowder House with great views of the harbor and Goat Island Light house. We enjoyed fun conversation, some cold beers, and a LOT of seafood goodness!

That night we wandered around the town center at Kennebunk before setting up camp in the lounge at the Inn. There we enjoyed a relaxing glass of wine and the song stylings of a local pianist / singer. It was a nice way to finish the day. After a nightcap Phil's parents head off to their room, and Phil and I hung around for a few more songs and a little quiet time of our own! It was a fun first day!

The next day, we had a very tasty buffet-style breakfast at the Inn and then head south through Kittery (for a little outlet shopping!) and then to Portsmouth, a charming coastal city over the border in New Hampshire. Portsmouth is another town that I recommend visiting if you get the chance. It is a beautiful New England Seaport with a little of everything that a tourist might want! There is a beautiful historic riverfront section known as Strawberry Banke, with colonial and federal style houses. The main city is more built up with brick row houses lining the streets with a wonderful array of eclectic shops, galleries, restaurants, and bars. There is even a thriving theater and music scene.

We didn't get to experience much of this on our quick tour, and simply settled for a nice walk through the main streets to the city center and then back down to the Piscataqua river for a little waterfront lunch. It is a good thing we stopped when we did, because the sunny skies darkened quickly, and within 5 minutes of sitting down the city was drowned with a soaking torrential rain! Thankfully, the rain subsided by the time we were finishing lunch. Little did we know, we were being led into a false sense of security, because a few minutes after starting out towards another section of shops, it started all over again! Thankfully, the shop owner had a collection of umbrellas at the ready, and we made an emergency purchase to get us back to the car only moderately wet! The drive back to Kennebunk was SLOW and scary... with visibility reduced to 10-20 feet at best! Ma Zipkin was none-too-amused! We did make it back to Kennebunk in one piece, and decided to stop for ice cream before getting back to town... Lucy recommended the place highly, and since we were all stressed, it seemed a good way to unwind!

Later that evening, we walked down over the Kennebunk River to meet Lucy and her daughter Charlotte at Federal Jack's Brew House and Restaurant. Lucy is a wonderful woman. She is funny, out-going, and really quick-witted, so she had no problem keeping things light and fun over dinner! It was a great time. After too much food and few tasty local brews, we said our good-byes and head back to Kennebunkport.

We did another walk through town after dinner, stopping for Ben and Jerry's and another look at some of the local wares we had eyed the day before. I'm not saying that we ended up leaving with a goofy cute ceramic seagull from a higher end gallery, or even three for that matter, I'm just saying that we kind of fell in love with them a little bit... just a little bit. As the night wound down, Phil and I said goodnight to his parents and head back to the Inn, where we cracked open a bottle of wine and set up camp by the pool. We enjoyed a nice quiet night chatting under the stars with the soft sound of the piano music floating in from the bar. After finishing our wine, we packed up our glasses, and decided to see if we could catch the end of the show and maybe have Phil sing a song. That is when we found out that 11 is, yet again, the magic number! We showed up just after the hour to find the bar lights up and the tables being wiped down. D'oh!

The last day we were there, we ended up driving over to Lucy's house before heading home. Our plan was to see Lucy's house and then go home via Boston, to stop and say hello to my good friend Matt. Lucy lives just outside of the historic section of town in a cute little house set back from the road. We got to meet her 2 cats Roxy, "the cranky", Angel "the social", and her sweetheart of a dog, LuLu a gregarious loving golden retriever. Before we left, Lucy jumped in my car and directed us to her veterinarian's office to show me how life could be one day! It was just about the cutest place I've ever seen! The gravel drive up to the property is lined with trees on one side and a beautiful pond on the other. As the road bends to the right you see some comfortable Adirondack chairs set up near the pond under a big old tree and the main house further along the road. The hospital itself is a charming small 2 room little shack-like structure with all of the New England charm you can imagine! It might be a little too small town for me, but I could definitely see the appeal! Maybe one day! She took us back to her house where we said our big thank yous and goodbyes to everyone! It was sad to leave, but it was great that we had the chance to see them.

We stopped one more time on the drive to Boston for some steamers just because it's what you do up he-ya. And oh, they are delicioso! Although I have to say, steamers are not exactly the easy road trip food! Thank you Phil for keep my shirt butter-free on the drive! We got to Boston by early afternoon, and enjoyed a great afternoon of fun conversation with my friend Matt. We took advantage of the weather and walked from the South End to the Boston downtown area, throughFaneuil Hall, and out to the harbor where we stopped for lunch at the Chart House near the aquarium (and yes, we had to stop and see the harbor seals!). After a nice light meal and a glass of wine, we head back through the Commons, on to the Public Gardens, through Copley Square, and finally back to Matt's. It was wonderful. Don't hate me New Yorkers, but Boston is such a great town. For any of you purists who haven't tried it yet... put the sports rivalries behind you and head up for a weekend. It's great time!

Mid July

2007-07-14T11:27:00.000-04:00

An update for this week.....

On Wednesday, I had the pleasure of seeing Joan Rivers in all her glory @ The Cutting Room (NYC) with friends Rich & Alicia. If you love comedians, you will absolutely love the wacky, crazy, plastic Joan. She was truly outstanding.

On Thursday, I started drinking at around 6pm at my friend Rich's Bachelor party (For his Civil Union). My friend Thomas from Forest Hills was there as well. After about an hour I was on my way to the next musical adventure. I had the honor to see the legendary Julie Wilson @ The Metropolitan Room with my friend Chris F. from Forest Hills. Well, if you read up on the history of Julie Wilson you'll know she is roughly 83 years old and still out there performing. Although she was mostly speak singing, you can tell from her overall performance that she was outstanding in her prime. I personally loved her version of Sondheim's Ladies Who Lunch, which had a wonderful edge. Chris and I loved Ms. Wilson's pianist who's name is escaping me at the moment. It was an inspiration to Chris to start looking for gigs such as these, being the gifted pianist himself. I was happy to have the opportunity to see this show and if you love cabaret history, I encourage you to check it out.

Friday was a series of highs and lows. I was off from work at 1pm and ran over to Actor's Equity to see if there were any comps available for Broadway shows. To my surprise, La Vie (The Cirque du Soleil show for adults) was available so I grabbed the them. The show was at 11:30pm located @ the South Street Seaport Spiegelworld site so it wasn't conflicting with the my regular scheduled plans. Immediately following AEA, I had lunch at my favorite all you can eat Sushi place on 32nd St. (Todai). After 5 helpings, I wobbled back to midtown and parked ny ass at a Starbucks for a little while. Afterwards, I met up with good friend Kenneth for drinks. I invited Kenneth & a guest to see Idol: The Musical @ The 45th Street Theatre in the Theatre District. It sounded tragic, but intriguing as well. OY VEY! My beautiful boyfriend and Kenneth's date Giovanni joined us as well. Although there were a moments of uncontrollable laughter during the show, we all agreed at that the production was seriously lacking all the necessary elements to make a musical work. I will leave it at that (Inquire within). Thankfully, Shawn and I ended the evening on a positive with La Vie. Naughty, facinating, and kind of crazy. It was unbelievable. Thank God! Shawn becomes a little boy at events such as these...so adorable. :-)

That's all to report...stay tuned.

Happy Independence Day!

2007-07-05T17:01:00.000-04:00

Delaware & Philly (2 Dance Recitals)

2007-06-19T08:07:00.000-04:00

What could possibly be cuter than one little girl in a tutu prancing around the stage...

... 3 little girls in tutus!

Phil and I had the pleasure of seeing my little nieces perform on the big stage this weekend. It was the stage debut of Jaqueline (top) and Madeline (lion), and the second for Hayley (pink feathers).

After a night of bowling (no judgement please! my hospital recently started a bowling league, and who was I to say no?!) I drove in town to meet Phil at Helen's where he had just seen a performance by the very talented Jimmy James. He convinced me to stay for one drink with Shay and Jimmy... and well, 3 hours later we were still cozied up to the bar next to the piano. D'oh! We high-tailed it out of there, and made the mad dash back to the hills, finally crawling into bed around 3! This would not have been a terrible thing, except for the small fact that we had to be in Delaware by11! This meant we needed to be on the road by 8 in order to get down there in time for the first of the weekend's recitals. We woke up at 8!!!

I bolted upright out of bed in a major panic because apparently in a foggy sleep-deprived stupor I must have reached over and turned off the alarm and shut my eyes... shit shit shit... I shook Phil awake and managed to pull ourselves together in record time and run out the door!

We made it with a few minutes to spare and head over to the behind my sister Heather's house to see the show. It was so damn cute and actually a very well organized show! The younger girl's teachers were just off stage on either side, and it was so cute to watch the girls trying to focus on what they were doing while keeping them in eyesight!

After the big day, we all retired back to Heather's, conveniently located right behind the High School, and had ourselves a fun afternoon playing with the kids and enjoying some hearty BBQ offerings compliments of my brother-in-law Jerry.

That night, once the children were safely in bed, the adults had themselves a grand old time drinking, playing croquet, and laughing... a lot! I should mention that my family is extremely competitive (in a fun way!) when it comes to games, so invariably any sporting event becomes an extremely colorful experience!

We stayed up into the wee hours, taking the game very, very... very seriously!

And then when thought we couldn't laugh more, Phil and I thought it would be a good idea to take out the sparklers we had purchased the week before in the Poconos! Um, yeah, perhaps not the wisest thing to give a group of fashnickered adults sticks spewing sparks and fire! Thankfully, the lawn in the yard suffered the worst of the burning!

The following day was spent in the Philadelphia area at my Brother Eric's house where we had to change to repeat the fun and see little Miss Madeline dance her cares away.

After a fun afternoon, Phil and I hit the road... I guess I was only half paying attention to the directions Eric gave me, and soon realized that downtown Philly was getting closer and closer, when we should not actually have seen it at all!! oops! Thankfully I lived in the area for 4 years (which of course begs the question, shouldn't I have noticed we were going in the wrong direction sooner... well, we'll have none of that thank you very much!) and I managed to get us to the PENN campus where we decided it would be a good idea to defile our systems one last time that weekend with a tasty greasy Cheese steak from Abner's.

It was a great weekend indeed!

A Virginia Weekend

2007-06-11T10:47:00.001-04:00

Earlier this summer... ( I know, I know... at this rate the last of our summer outings will get posted around the holidays! ) ... NYC Pride Weekend, in fact, Phil and I decided that given recent stresses on the home front, we wanted a little weekend of private time away from the grind. After some consideration, we decided on the Williamsburg area of Virginia. If you haven't been, I absolutely recommend it as a fun little weekend getaway. It is a beautiful area with a great balance of things to do: a little history, a little Busch Gardens, a little beach time, and maybe even a winery or two if you're into that sort of thing... what is more perfect than that?

The plan was to drive down after I finished work on Thursday, crash in Hampton, and then head off to Colonial Williamsburg the following morning. In theory it sounded great, as it would then allow us to get an early start on Friday and get the most out of the weekend, but let me tell you... it was a tough drive! Not so much because it is hard to navigate, oh no, it is pretty much a straight shot... provided, of course, you read the signs right... which I...um... didn't. I took a left in Do-vuh Delaware, where I should have taken a right ( a very Bugs Bunny moment) Of course, trying to stay focused at one o'clock in the morning after working a 12-hour day, is sometimes a hard thing to do. Thankfully, I managed to catch my mistake before we got to the Delaware beaches and turned a potential 2 hour detour into a 10 minute mistake! Whew!!!

If that wasn't bad enough, the sleep bug bit harder after that first guffaw, and the last 2 hours of the drive were pain-ful! At night on Route 13 there ain't a whole lot to see... farm fields, stripmalls, the Tyson and Purdue chicken plants (HOLY SMELL BATMAN!!) , and the random unopened gas station! By the time we reached the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel we were downright delerious!! I had that window down, face-slapping, stuff-your-face to stay awake kind-a-tired going on, and we were desperate to reach Hampton to get our asses to bed!

Sleep came oh so easily that night!

Friday mid-morning we got up and decided to hit Buckroe Beach, a local beach near our hotel, before heading up to Williamsburg which was only about 30 minutes away. The beach was a little underwhelming, with a large pier that provided a view of the Bridge/Tunnel we had crossed the night before and the lower mouth of the Bay. It was nice to get some sea air, but we didn't stay around too long.

We decided to head off to Williamsburg instead and get some grub along the way. We were side-tracked by a giant "GUNS" sign we felt compelled to take a picture of, which lead us to stop at a local Beauty Salon so Phil could get his haircut. I went browsing for local wines in the Grocery Store next door, and met Phil about 15 minutes later sporting a very masculine military cut! Given the high military concentration in the area, I suspect they probably only had that one option for men, and just weren't prepared to handle the more fashion conscious New York City gay man! We hopped in the car and drove off... quickly!

The nice thing about Williamsburg is that everything that you want to see and do is within 5 miles or so of each other, so you can basically stay anywhere and have no problem getting around. As we entered the region, we saw signs for the Williamsburg Winery and decided that would be the perfect way for us to start our exploration. The Williamsburg Winery is apparently the largest of the Virginia wineries accouting for almost 25% of the entire states production. For any wine types out there, I defintely recommend stopping by. They have a great tour of the winery, a handsome shop, and a great restaurant/cafe on the grounds. We left smiling and 5 bottles of wine heavier than when we arrived! Yes, we have problems... but by now I suspect you all know that and I can stop saying it! =)

After loading up the car, we left the grounds and set off towards the center of the Historic City. Colonial Williamsburg is definitely something everyone should see at some point. For anyone who enjoys history, or enjoys the feeling of being somewhere otherworldly, or just enjoys colonial architecture, it is a must. As usual, we did something in the way of a whirlwind tour. The cool thing about Williamsburg, is that it was apparently reconstructed to what it would have looked like pre-1790. There are hundreds of buildings most rebuilt on their original foundations, with over 80 of them being originals. The whole thing was funded by John D. Rockefellar and what is kind of cool is that, allegedly, it was done at the prodding of his wife!

We parked the car and decided to walk around and enjoy the amazing weather, and settle into our second accommodation later that afternoon. The colonial city is very beautiful and charming. All of the employees are dressed in the clothing of the day. What is more, they are also in character, so it gives you a truer sense of what life would have been like in the day. We were more about looking at the architecture, the grounds, and some of the shops than getting some of the more detailed history tours. We spent a couple of hours walking around and then decided to buy a "sensitive" plant from one nice colonial farmer. The leaves are fern like, and what is cool about it is that when the leaves are disturbed, they close suddenly and the branch droops a little. I don't exactly know why it does this, because it is not carnivorous like a fly trap would be, but it is a fun novelty feature! Before taking it though, we did ask the woman about its management, and she assured us it was an easy plant to raise. Perfect. Phil is not exactly the a green thumb when it comes to plants, so we just wanted to make sure it would be managable. We chose a nice bushy one for ourselves and took it on our way excited to add a little living green to the Forest Hills apartment... I will have you know that that woman is a LIAR! Our plant lost virtually all of its leaves in the first week it was home! It is now a sad Charlie Brown Christmas tree looking thing on Phil's kitchen table. I think the prognosis is guarded at this point! =(

After getting our fix, we decided we should go check in to the new digs and unwind a little. We had reservations for a guided ghost tour later that night, so we were going to get another crack at the historic grounds anyway. Phil booked us into a place that turned out to be a fantastic find! It was called the Sunterra Powhatan Plantation . The resort sits amid 256 rolling woodland acres, with hiking trails, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, mini-golf, tennis courts, an outdoor pavilion with live entertainment, casual and upscale dining, among other things... In the spirit of Williamsburg, it also offers some American history of its own, with a beautiful restored Plantation Manor House (circa 1735) at the end of the long entrance road complete with its own British piper and drummer filling the air with the sounds of Colonial America. Full on CHEE - ZEE! We loved it! The other great thing is that the resort accommodations were not hotel rooms, but rather well appointed townhouses. It was great! We had a huge 2 bedroom place with jacuzzi tub, steam shower, deck, full kitchen, and living room with pull-out couch. It could be a very inexpensive weekend for up to 6 people if anyone is looking for a fun and different weekend adventure. hint hint...

We unloaded our gear and basically crashed! Power naps are your friend! We got up too late to do anything for dinner before the ghost tour, so we resorted to some chips and salsa to at least get our blood sugars up a little! We drove into town again as the sun fell below the horizon and got ourselves in the mood for the tour. It is kind of hokey, but it seemed like a fun different thing to do. We chose the Original Ghosts of Williamsburg Tour Candlelight tour, which is the longest running and most popular. It is based on the Ghosts of Williamsburg novel by L.B. Taylor Jr. It was fun to walk through the old city at night by candlelight and the stories varied from creepy, to downright scary, and from tragic to funny. It was a very colorful mix, and we were hosted by a small elderly British woman who really knew the Ghost history, as well as the history of the city, so we ended up getting a bit of history lesson anyway. If you do choose to do the tour, and I do recommend it, I would like to make a few suggestions: 1) Eat before you go... it is a long tour! By about an hour and a half and no sign of turning back to our starting point, Phil and I jumped ship casually slipping into the darkness! 2) If you go in the summer, apply bugspray before you head out! The mostquitoes were very hungry that night! At least for my blood, I think Phil did alright.

After the tour, we head back to the more modern town square only to find that the restaurants there were no longer serving food! D'oh! We hit the road and found the main drive through town and after looking long and hard, settled on... don't judge... Cracker Barrel! We stuffed ourselves far to late in the evening than we should have with piles of down home country cookin' I think the gays of New York would have been shocked and appalled! We had an adorable young waitress by the name of Ashley who we joked with all night, and managed to coax into a picture with us before we left. We were pleasanly surprised to find Miss Ashely was actually working that night with her twin sister Courtney, so we go ourselves a two-fer!

The following morning, I had arranged for us to take part in something called the Griffon Breakfast at BuschGardens. This is a special feature I saw online that allowed you to get into the park an hour before it opened to enjoy unlimited riding of the new Griffon Dive Coaster and then enjoy a breakfast buffet in the "New France" section of the park right next to the ride... Roller Coasters and all you can eat food... game on! For coaster enthusiasts, the Griffon is a pretty damn cool ride. It sits 10 people across in 3 rows. The seats are open air bucket seats with your feet dangling free! The outside 3 seats on either side extend beyond the track, so you are not sitting over anything but air!! The ride takes you up about 205 feet and then turns you around to get a beautiful panoramic of the park before edging you up to the first drop! It gets its name because it is truly a 90 degree dive STRAIGHT down! They totally screw with you too and just as you are about to get dropped, they allow you to fall forward about 45 degrees and stop you dead in your tracks so you are now looking at the impending drop!! It's pretty intense. The fall rockets you 71 mph straight down and throws you skyward in a twisting diving loop and up a hill to set you up for ths second dive! It is a quick ride, but a very cool experience, especially on the outside seats!!

We probably rode the coaster 5 or 6 times before deciding to have that breakfast. After we ate, we thought we might try one more time, but we weren't watching the clock, and the line had grown exponentially in that time, so we pressed on. The good news is that because people were so focused on the new ride, we managed to get on everything else in no time at all with multiple rides!! It is a charming park, very scenic and well desined, and very clean. After a few hours tooling around, we decided to call it a day, get some lunch and move on!

That afternoon we decided to drive along the Colonial Parkway which is a very scenic drive that takes you from York to Jamestown. We picked it up about halfway and too it towards Jamestown, England's first U.S. Permanent Settlement 400 years ago. It is a very scenic drive along the James River, and on our perfect cloud free day, one we enjoyed immensely. Jamestown is not unlike the historic city of Williamsburg in that it is a recreation of the original fort and Powhatan Indian village. In this case though it is right next to the original settlement, since the location still has ongoing archeological digs. The tourist site also includes a small theater for an introducotry history lesson, a large period museum and replicas of the ships the settlers arrived on in the discovery cove on the waterfront. It is all hands on and interactive, and they have people roaming around in the period roles. It is a fun way to revisit your childhood revolutionary history!

That night we ate at a nice seafood restaurant as a change of pace from the Cracker Barrel the night before and head off to the Giant Pirate's Cove Mini Golf course we had passed earlier in our trip. It is one of those mountain shaped courses, perfectly landscaped with waterfalls galore! We had a lot of fun laughing at ourselves in faux competition, and ultimately Phil came out on top... I mean he won. We had a nightcap of local wine watching the stars on the deck before calling it a night.

Sunday morning started with a drive out to Virginia Beach. Phil and I had both been there many moons ago, and wanted to see the ocean and take a trip down memory lane. The boardwalk is nice and the beaches are clean, but it has a very Atalantic City circa 1980s feel to it. After realizing it just wasn't what we remembered it to be, we had a quick lunch on a Pier over the water, and then hit the road for home..

Since it wasn't too late in the day by the time we hit the Bridge/Tunnel, we thought we might explore a little of the Eastern Shore of Virginia (that little sliver of the state that is cut off from the rest of it below Maryland/Delaware... Apparently there are a number of beautiful historic towns, beautiful beaches, and a slew of outdoor activities. We, however, didn't see any of them! It wasn't for lack of trying either. We attempted to drive through a few of the larger waterfront towns on the map, but their heyday must have been a century ago, as the main streets were weathered and tired with many-a-store front still boarded up. The main drive along Route 13 heading north, did nothing to help this image either, as there was a high W.T. feel to it with farms and trailers and stripmalls oh my... and the occasional little treasure like this one ...

touting a variety of meats and fireworks! You guys be the judge! =) We did learn that there were a handful of wineries along the way, and well, who were we to pass up on that opportunity. We were looking for anything to help The Eastern Shore's reputation!

We stopped for steamed clams at a self-proclaimed "famous" clam shack and treated ourselves to a little snack of steamers as we tried to see if they had any idea where these wineries were. We asked the staff for help, and learned that we had passed one for sure. They also knew there was one kinda sort of near by, but they didn't know where it was, but a 3rd one was up the road for sure, just a little ways away. It was late in the day, so we only had a chance to stop at this one, but it was very cute. Bloxom Vineyard has only 6 acres of grapes, but it has a cute tasting room and a friendly atmoshere. If you're driving down south on 13, it is a very easy stop right off the main road. The Bloxom Merlot was tasty and sports a sassy Marilyn Monroe Lips on the label, so for all you NY label queens, it's a fun conversation piece!

By about 5 o'clock, we were spent! We called my sister Heather several times to see if she and her family were going to be around as we passed through Delaware to try and catch them for dinner. Unfortunately they too were away, so Phil and I decided to splurge a little and enjoy one last quiet romantic meal to celebrate another successful weekend away!

The Poconos

2007-06-04T19:21:00.000-04:00

Phil has been jonesing for some country time, so we decided to high tail it out of the city. We jumped in the car, and head due west towards San Francisco on route 80. Woo hoo... California here we... Okay, we didn't quite make it that far, and ended up stopping a little over an hour into the drive just over the border of Jersey in the Pocono region of Pennsylvania... 2850 miles short of the west coast. Maybe next time! Now for those of you who grew up in the NY Metro area, I'm sure you remember the very cheesy commercials in the late 70s and 80s for the beautiful Mt. Airy lodge, and other romantic gettaways in the fabulous Pocono region offering quiet nights out of the city basking in the warm glow of a fire place while soaking in Champagne glass tubs... oh yeah, good times!

Yeah, we weren't quite sure what time had done to bring the region into this millenium, but we decided to brave it nonetheless!

We had our trusty guide book in hand, but decided to wing it a little once we crossed over the Delaware River. There are signs everywhere for the various attractions, so it isn't too difficult to find something to do. Now the first thing we realized as we drove out that morning, was that we left our beloved camera at home in Queens! D'oh... Yes, Phil and I have major memory issues sometimes! It's a wonder we are able to dress ourselves sometimes. Thankfully though, we weren't completely at a loss. We had a box full of goodies in the trunk that our friend Jace wanted us to drop off at the Salvation Army. As fate would have it, I hadn't had a chance to donate it yet and we noticed there was a little camera bag in the mix of things. It was an old school simple Olympus 35mm camera. It was kind of poetic in some way... and in the spirit of the Poconos I grew up to know and love, we set out to capture the memories with technology that matched the day!

Parts of the Poconos are really quite charming, and there are some great little communities scattered throughout if you take the time to explore it. We started up route 402 / 209 N towards Milford. We stopped at a cute little drive up breakfast hut and treated ourselves to a breakfast sandwich, a coffee for Phil, and Diet Coke for me to give ourselves a little boost for the long day ahead. While eating, we decided the first thing we'd do is have an outdoor adventure, and followed the many many.... many Billboards (did I mention there were a lot of them? you can't miss this place!) to the Bushkill Falls... The Niagra of Pennsylvania! =) It turned out to be the Jellystone National Park with its own Yogi Bear-like character greeting folks in the parking lot! As cheesy as it sounds though, it was actually a very pleasant surprise and something we absolutely recommend doing. It is popular, so on the main trails you are apt to get a little crowding, but the longer hikes around to view the smaller falls are more private and a good work out. You start right at the top of the main 100 foot falls, and have some choices as you go. We decided to walk up the Bushkill Creek to head of an stunning ragged rock gorge. We were really thrilled to have stumbled on the place! The walkways over and around the main creek and falls are very rustic and impressive natural wood bridges that hug the rock walls and cross the creek in various places, and at several points carry you over the 2 largest falls! We decided to keep the main falls as the last site, so took a detour up the mountain to the Bridesmaid's and Bridal Veil Falls. The walk is moderate at first, but flattens out quickly and takes you through a quiet expanse of deciduous forest offering the occasional view of the Delaware Water Gap in the distance to the east. The trail loops around follows the Pond Run Creek past a the aforementioned falls. These are a couple of gorgeous horsetail type falls, worth the hike. The path is well appointed and takes you down a rather steep set of man-made stairs to each of the splash pools. The Bridesmaid's falls splash into a cool rocky cove that you can walk into and right up to the base of the falls!

After the Bridal Veil Falls, the trail follows the creek down a gradual grade past mountain laureal and assorted ferns. The nature enthusiast will love it. Little Pond Run Creek merges with the larger Bushkill Creek and the trail turns back towards the main falls following the same kind of boardwalk and bridge system that took us through the more tranquil laurel glen. This path courses through a rocky pass thate takes you literally over the top of lower gorge falls and onward to the large gorge where the 100 foot main falls can be seen in all their glory. There are trails that take you around either side of the gorge, offering great views along the way and in a few months, a new path looks set to open that will bring you a even closer.

After the falls, we set out on a loop through the center of the Poconos Region heaing up through the Delaware State Forest past Peck's Pond to Lake Wallenpaupuck, a large reservoir with private camps and residences along the shores. It is a beautiful lake, but there is little access for public viewing and enjoyment, so we moved on.

We drove back south through the small town of Tobyhanna to Mount Pocono. We stopped there to feed ourselves at a Steak House and enjoyed a private dinner on their outdoor deck in our very own Gazebo! I say private because we were basically the only people there! We were hoping it wasn't because the locals knew something that we didn't... the food was reasonable though and our bowels remained unscathed the following day, so I would give it the green light for any of you passing through...

After eating we decided to head back to Jersey, by way of Stroudsburg and East Stroudsburg. The pair of cities, for you non-NYC Metro folks is something in the way of a college town, as East Stroudsburg University is the center piece of the town that bears its name. It was a nice enough school and Stroudsburg had more to offer than I thought, with seemingly nice restaurants and shops nestled on quaint side streets off of Main. Apparently they've done a lot in the last decade or so to restore a lot of the old history buildings. I'm not saying I'd rush to settle here, but if the spirit moves you to head into Pocono land, on a sunny weekend day, it is worth a stroll around.

Our last stop on the way home was Lake Hopatcong. It is New Jersey's largest lake, and a place I have actually never visited, even though it is only an hour west of where I live! I should say though, for a lot of Bergen County folks this is actually the rule, and NW / SW New Jersey is an entirely different world! It is actually rural, (yes, we're not all smoke stacks and industry!) and well that just doesn't compute for a lot of my brethren!! Thankfully Mr. Zipkin has been channeling his inner country boy, and has been itching for a patch of green outside of the city, so he was more than happy to see what it was all about. I have to say, we were both pleasantly surprised. It is actually a pretty charming little lake community. Of course, I should qualify that statement a little, as one day does not a decision make! and our pit stop at Tiny's Tavern on the way out of town could be an indication of a more... um... how shall we say... WT element.

Yes, Tiny's was definitely something else. It was something in the way of a sports bar, with a handfull of locals cozying up to the bar. The bartender was a little taken aback by the two of us, and I'm not sure if that was because she was getting a gay vibe, or if the color of Phil's souvenier T-shirt from Bushkill falls was blinding her! (I love you baby!) The walls were covered in plain worn and warping wood paneling. The occasional neon beer sign and Nasacar poster scattered the otherwise plain walls. There were cafeteria style tables wrapping around the main bar, and a dart board on the back wall. The restrooms were at the back, and you could tell about 10 feet before you got to them that you might be in for bit of a treat.... and that is all I'm going to say about that!

After a pint, we hit the road and made our way back to the Enchanted Forest...

I'm Back :-)

2007-05-25T14:29:00.000-04:00

Hello Peeps...

It's been a long time....a VERY long time.... since Shawn kind of took over as the blog reporter for our vacations. I happily stepped back, watched him work, and read his words (our memories) with admiration. Dacoda has consumed much of my personal writing time, and work as been slightly stressful. But don't you worry, I plan on getting back into the swing of things starting next week.

Happy Birthday to Dan and Alicia (Next Week)

Happiness to Mother Nature for giving us New Yorkers a touch warm weather and not the typical crappy, rainy and/or humid weather we've all come to love and enjoy.

Have a wonderful holiday weekend and expect a report next week.

"It takes wit and courage to make our way while our way is making us, with no consolation to count on but art and the summer lightning of personal happiness. - T. Stoppard

Dacoda Preview

2007-05-14T10:42:00.000-04:00

Dominican Republic (Puerto Plata 4/26-4/29/07)

2007-04-29T20:08:00.000-04:00

Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

... we're off again...

So if you loyal blog readers remember... and God bless you if you do!... Phil and I won a weekend trip to Burlington, VT including airfare and hotel in a silent charity auction about a year ago. The good news is we found out after the fact that the tickets were not attached to the hotel deal, so we ended up with 2 free tickets on Jet Blue to anywhere that they fly! The bad news is we didn't pay attention to the expiration date, oops...so we were forced into a last minute vacation before May 1st. I know, poor us! Since I couldn't get any extra time off given the recent big trip to NZ, we decided on places within a few hours for an extended weekend. After much debate, the trip that worked best with the days we could get off was a trip to the Dominican Republic.

The good news about the D.R. is that most of the accommodations in the resort towns are all-inclusive, so for the cost of your average U.S. beach front hotel, you also get the added benefit of all you can eat and drink! A big fat loss for the company when 2 bottomless pits like Phil and myself are let loose on the grounds! We were somewhat limited in where we could go though because Jet Blue only has one flight into the country each day, and that flight is into Santiago. (although we learned on the return flight that they are adding 4 more flights by this summer, so it wouldn’t be as painful for anyone looking to head there on Jet Blue in the future) Now the quick geography lesson for everyone is that the Dominican Republic takes up about 2/3 of the eastern side of the island of Hispaniola, with Haiti making up the western third. The island itself sits more or less in the center of the Caribbean Islands, with Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas to the North, Cuba and Jamaica to the west, Puerto Rico and the Leeward Islands to the east, and South America to the south. The north coast, where we stayed, gives way to the Atlantic Ocean and the south coast gives way to the Caribbean Sea. Santiago sits in the northwest corner of the island, about a one hour drive to the north coast. Because our painfully early arrival time of 3:30am gave no real travel options from Santiago other than a taxi, we chose to go to the closest resort town, Puerto Plata, to make the expense as little as possible.

Puerto Plata http://puertoplata.8m.net/about.html is the largest city on the north coast, and a growing tourist stop in the D.R. Apparently Puerto Plata was actually discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492... you know, that famous year he sailed the ocean blue and discovered the Americas, come on, you remember this… attacking the native indians along the way, introducing pestilence throughout the lands, and... um. ha ha... oops, I digress. Seriously though, it is apparently a beautiful historic town, with charming narrow streets, open parks, and an old fort to name a few highlights, and one that would have been nice to explore if we had a little more time. The northern coastal flats and foothills near Puerto Plata are covered in sugar cane fields as they blend into the Cordillera Septentrional, the country’s northern most mountain range. Mount Isabel de Torres is the centerpiece of the range in this region, and is one of the higher peaks. There are hiking trails and a gondola to get you to the top for great views of the coast. There is also a giant stone statue of Jesus Christ, a la Rio de janeiro. It is a beautiful contrast, and definitely worth a visit if you have the pleasure of getting to the island.

We arrived at 3:30am after an essentially painless flight, and had no problems getting through customs. My meager Spanish skills helped us snag a taxi at the curbside, and before we knew it we were off and running. Now Santiago sits on one side of the northern mountain range, so we had to cut over and through it to get to our destination in Puerto Plata. The road is a doozy, and it winds something crazy through the mountain. Having recently been in New Zealand, this shouldn't have been an issue, but a few things made it a nail-biter! First, what we didn't realize, and a bit of advice for some of you traveling to these parts, is that the roads outside of the main cities can get pretty bad, with large potholes mottled throughout, and whole stretches of road reduced to coarse rubble, often without warning. Furthermore, the weather when we got there was less than perfect, and the light rain falling when we got into the cab started getting heavier as we sped along our way. Oh, and did I mention speeding? The driver was a wee bit crazy at times, flying around blind curves while jamming to his satellite radio, only to stop abruptly at the aforementioned holes in the road! Then, just to make it interesting, we were fortunate enough to lose ourselves completely in some oh so scary patches of fog. It is probably better that we couldn’t see well, because we zoomed through numerous small towns with poor small one-roomed targets, I mean homes practically on the road, and other stretches looking like the road was about to collapse into the dark abyss below! Good times! It’s a good thing we were tired! Of course, as we neared the end of this adventure, we learned that this road was apparently one of 2 that take you from Santiago to Puerto Plata... what we didn't know until the ride home was that he chose the scarier of the two! Yeah, the other drive was a nice smooth drive over a real highway! Maybe he liked adventure... who knows! At least we made it one piece!

We made it to the Playa Dorado area by about 5am, and checked in to the Occidental Grand Puerto Plata http://www.occidentalhotels.com without a hitch. See, there are some perks to arriving at the crack of dawn; there are no lines to speak of! We were taken to our room in edificio once (building 11) in a golf cart by a nice gentleman. He made sure everything was to out liking, and bid us goodni- er morning. I think we were asleep before we could say bienvenido al Dominica- zzzz . We woke up around 9:30 feeling much more refreshed, and ready for our 2 days of relaxation.

Our room was actually pretty perfectly situated. It was right next to the main pool, and more importantly, the pool bar... and it was a short walk to the beach off to the left, and the main dining areas beyond the pool to the right. Not bad at all. The grounds of the hotel are beautiful, with flowering plants and palm trees galore; just what a tropical destination should be! The buildings are all 3-story white stucco with red Spanish tile roofs, and dark wood trim along the windows and balconies. Thankfully, the evening rain had passed, and the sun had come out to give us a warm welcome. We head out around the pool to get some breakfast, and found a small hut set up with the words Rancho Pandora written on the side. It turns out the all-inclusive plan included horseback riding, so we decided spontaneously to try to brave it and take a morning ride on Saturday. It seemed like a fun and different way to get off the resort grounds and actually see a little of the countryside. Feeling revived, we set out to fill up at the main international buffet at La Giralda. While nothing out of this world, the food was reliable fare, and certainly good enough to stuff ourselves silly! After filling up on made-to-order omelets, fresh cooked French toast, and some assorted breakfast meats, we were ready to hit the beach! I mean, there's nothing sexier than sprawling out on the beach with giant food babies pushing out our bellies! Look out fellow tourists, here we come!

On the way to the beach though, we were hijacked by an overly friendly Dominican, whose name escapes me. Perhaps that's because I wanted to kill him! Okay, I kid... mostly. Phil and I were having a nice chat, and this man managed to schmooze his way into the conversation and convince us that it would be great for us, and more importantly, his commission, to head back towards the reception to listen to a little presentation about a vacation package the occidental folks were offering to VIP travelers like ourselves... yeah, you see where this is going. Well we were easy targets after all, as we were still half-tired and in happy food comas... What is worse, he sealed the deal with the promise of a free premium local bottle of rum... yeah, he played dirty... we were like lambs to the slaughter! He went so far as to even promise that the rum was ours whether we accepted or declined the offer... um, well, we're still waiting on that bottle, and here I sit in Forest Hill's writing this. Yeah.... Unhappy campers, party of 2, your table is ready. Anyway, after smelling the con, Phil quickly dropped the unsubtle hint that he wasn't interested, and I soon followed... and we were thanked for our time and sent on our merry way. Although only a 15-minute ordeal, we were none-too-happy. Curses!... stress be gone.... stress be gone...

We made our way back towards the beach directly, and in short order were laughing about our morning mishap!! The walk takes you through the hotel grounds past fountains and palm trees, and out to a small stretch of mangrove forest before getting to the beach front. The Playa Dorado is a long curving stretch of beach that the Occidental hotels share with some 14 other hotels, just outside of the town of Puerto Plata. The hotel has a bar / restaurant, Las Marismas, at the edge of the grove overlooking the soft light brown sands of the beach and the turquoise waters of the Atlantic Ocean beyond. Dried palm frond huts are set up along the tree line to provide shelter from the sun, and recliners and towels are provided. We started our day by heading right out to the water. Our stretch of sand sat at a curve in the beach, with views of a small harbor, neighboring resorts, and the higher mountains to the right, and wide open water stretching out to the horizon in a brilliant combination of blues to our left. We walked along the breakers, wading in the warm waters, enjoying the sounds of the soft winds and mild surf crashing at the shoreline, and felt the stress just melting away!

After an hour or so, we turned back, and happened to pass a local artisan with a variety of crafts on display in the sand. Happily, and quite accidentally, we found a charming carved wood cat for my mother (recall the NZ ordeal) Hurray! We were feeling good about the day now… good and hot… damn! We realized that in our haste to start the day, we hadn't applied any sunscreen, and decided to head back to the room to protect ourselves before too much damage was done… yeah, let’s just say we were a little too late! Of course it didn’t help that as we were heading back towards the room, we were approached on the beach by a local man holding a notebook with laminated photographs. Apparently he worked for a tour guide and was trying his damnedest to try and get Phil and I to join him on Saturday for a 7 hour tour of Puerto Plata, Mount Isabel, and some waterfalls and caverns beyond if we felt up to it. The pictures were beautiful, and half of me was tempted to do it, but the other half was thinking 2 days is just not a lot of time, and the idea of touring all over the place, while usually right our alley, just didn't have the same happy ring to it that it normally does. Not to mention he was being awfully persistent, and I was getting a little nervous we were being set up. The websites mentioned that you should be wary of tours that are not arranged through the Resorts, as you might get bamboozled. Phil stepped back and left me to decide...yeah, thanks... although I think he was just trying to get me to make a decision, which I am often loathe to do. Finally, after what seemed-like an eternity of him trying to convince me that we should go because Phil really wanted to do it, and just wasn’t saying so, I said that I'd rather see what the hotel had to offer first and feel it out since we had so little time to relax, and we had the horseback riding already set up. D.R. travel lesson number 2: Don't make eye contact with any local man ever! because they will suck you in and try to convince you to spend your money somehow, someway!! Furthermore, if you hear someone start yelling, “My friend, my friend, do you have a minute” run!!! It was amazing... oy!

After a little laugh, we got the sunscreen well applied and realized that it was beer o'clock and hit el Lago, the pool bar, for dos cervezas. el Presidente is their beer of choice, and one we became quite familiar with by the end of the trip! The pool was very comfortable, and we had some nice R & R just lounging in the water, beer in hand, taking in the sun, the palm trees, and the mountain views beyond! This is what we came down for! We had lunch at the buffet again and on the way we saw a team of young men and women in sporty royal blue unitards with yellow stripes down the sides practicing on the resort’s open air stage. Apparently the Occidental had its own team of dancers to entertain us! Who knew! They were at it all day, work work work, and every time we walked by they were practicing something… wow! Sadly, while the troupe spent the entire day rehearsing, they were um... less than organized. We were hopeful they were just starting on some new material.

After lunch we head back to the beach for some more down time, and then returned to spend the rest of our afternoon sun in the comfort of the warm pool and cozy pool bar! I know, we're terrible! As the sun got lower in the sky, we opted on a one hour power nap before starting the evening fun. As you might imagine, sleep came oh so easily, and when we woke up, we realized just how burned we got! OUCH!!! After a very mild shower, and tons of aloe moisturizer, we got ourselves dressed for dinner. Men had to wear pants to dinner, but women could where Daisy Duke shorts and have no problem getting in... interesting double standard! No worries though. Instead of the buffet, which we'd eaten at twice already, we opted for La Fontana, which is a nice outdoor brickoven pizza restaurant with views of the stage and the pools. We ordered 3 thin crust pizzas because we are disgusting glutonous pigs (although they were smallish personal pizzas, so don't judge yet... when i tell you we decided to hit up the buffet AFTER the pizza dinner, then you can say all that you want! ) While enjoying the food and wine, we noticed that the Occidental Dancers were still at it. Now that is dedication... easily 10+ hours at it by now! Sadly, they were looking no more organized at this point. They were kind of like the Bad News Bears of dancing. Que triste! After dinner, as I mentioned, we may have decided to see what was at the buffet for the evening. I'm not saying we ate much, I'm just saying we walked in the doors...

... after our "visit" to the Buffet, we moved out to the bar next to the stage. At this point, some of the dancers had been recruited by some M.C. type with a microphone to help lead the children that were still awake at 9pm through some fun silly dance moves. They were cute as hell, but we were wondering about the adult entertainment. Where was the high-kicking Occidental Dance number we'd been waiting for? Sadly, it wasn't meant to be, and after learning that the adult show for the night was going to be 2 hours of stand-up, we opted for an early night to try to be somewhat rested for our horseback adventure.

Saturday morning we got up early to get some breakfast before the horseback adventure. We met in the lobby and climbed into the back of a truck with bench seating on either side of the bed. We head down the Resort Road and picked up a German couple from a neighboring hotel before heading out of the Playa Dorado Region and into the world beyond. We head east along a main road with a view of the Atlantic coast to our left and sugar cane fields and the beautiful mountains beyond to our right. After about 10 minutes, we turned off the main road and found ourselves on a stretch of broken road that took us through a rather poor series of towns. Humble one room houses hugged the road, with small children playing in small groups along the way, waving as we passed, and the random dog here and there, roaming the streets for what looked like a well-needed bone. Beyond the town, we crossed a wide braided river and head up the hill to Club Paradise! =) where we found Rancho Pandora. We met our guide as we got off the truck, and were lead to our horses which were lined up and ready to go out front. The first thing we noticed is that the Dominican horses are much smaller than the American ones we're used to, which was a good thing, since Phil and I aren’t exactly cowboys. I know, hard to believe that two men with such rugged exteriors are not horse-savvy, it’s a shocker, but there it is…

Phil was given Sombrero, and I was given Pepe. The trail took us into the valley beyond the stables, along the foothills of the mountains, through narrow passes in a sugar cane field, and across several beautiful mountain streams, before looping back up to a high hill with views of the ocean and Mount Isabel. It was quite beautiful. Now I should say, Phil and I faired pretty well, although our legs took a beating!! We were freshly sunburned and holding on for dear life at times, as apparently Pepe, Sombrero, and our German friend’s horse were great buds, with a little bit of a competitive streak in them! It didn’t help, I think, that they could tell that they had some inexperienced riders attached, because at almost every stretch of the route, each horse tried to jockey for first place, and none wanted to bring up the rear! Now that wouldn’t have been too bad, except some of the stretches of road were washed out leaving several wide ragged gashes in the trail, with deep thick wet mud in places that left us all thinking our horses would lose their footing! SCARY!! What is worse, is they didn’t seem to care about sneaking up on the other’s flanks, even if it meant they had to traipse through the sugar cane or into the trees at the trail edges! Oh so comfortable on our exposed legs! Even worse, was one scary moment when they all sort of trotted up to a single lane water crossing with hopes of being first… Woah Nelly!! YIKES!!

On they way back from the stables, we stopped at a point in the local town we’d passed on the way in what was clearly a mutually beneficial arrangement made by the stable owner. We were let out at a modest open air plaza with a few locals sitting around a table and various chickens underfoot to view some paintings made by a local artist and pick up some post riding refreshments if we felt so inclined. Phil was sold on an earth tone oil on canvas painting with various local symbols signifying luck, love, and family… among others. We bargained him down $20 and managed to have a smaller piece thrown in for free. Phil was sure we could have gotten him down lower, but I was a big wimp, and didn’t pursue it.

We were taken back to the Playa Dorado, and were dropped off at a little shopping center next to our resort. We did the quick walk-through a several story open-air mall of sorts, and decided after a few quick stops, that it wasn’t worth the harassment we were getting! Again, remember that when traveling outside of the resorts especially, ignore the locals trying to get your attention for business, and stand your ground… THEY ARE PERSISTENT!!!
We had lunch at Las Marismas, enjoying the ocean views, and split the rest of our afternoon between the beach and the pool, lounging, drinking, relaxing, drinking, and eating, and maybe drinking a little more… ok, I exaggerate, please, what do you take us for... we didn't eat that much. =)

After a full day of fun in the sun, we got dried off, and went to the recreation area for some shooting. Now when we saw that shooting was included, we thought it might be skeet shooting or something. It turns out we were a little off. When we got to the "range" we found that there was a stand set up for archery, and a board on the wall that looked like it mounted gun targets... okay, so maybe it's just straight target practice. Well that was fine. The last thing I fired was a paintball gun, so we thought it would be funny no matter what. Well, we were wrong again. It turned out they alternated days between air rifle practice and archery, and today was archery. Fine. What the hell. I think I last tried this in High School, and poor Phil, I'm not sure he ever did it. Of course, I shouldn't say poor Phil because he was just as good as anyone else! There was a group of about 10 of us in all, and of them, only 2 of the men managed to hit the target one time. Tragic indeed. I was so bad, I managed to hit the back wall and send the arrow shooting back at my own feet! Who does that?!

After our archery adventure, we got ourselves cleaned up, and headed to the front desk to clarify things with our dinner reservation, and to set up our transportation from the hotel back to the airport early the next morning. The sit down restaurants are included in the plan, but we didn't realize at first that reservations were required, and popular!! By the time we got there, the only availability was for the Italian Restaurant at 7. Oh well. Italian is usually safe food anyway! The taxi situation worked out even more poorly, as we didn't have the multiple taxi options like we did at the airport, and the driver set a whopping $100 fare for the hour and fifteen minute journey back. Oy!! With some time to kill, and feeling very unlucky now, we decided to change that a bit, and head out along the Playa Dorado Resort Road to try and pick up a lucky chip from one of the area casinos. Well, as luck would have it... or not have it, the first place we got to had not even opened yet! Bummer. Feeling tired and well worked out for the day, we splurged 100 pesos ( ~$3.00) for a horse and buggy ride to the American Casino down the road. The Casino was pretty much a ghost town when we got there! It was wide open and clean, and nothing fancy. It had all the basic table games on one side, and slots filling the other side. We went to an empty Black Jack table, and dashed the hopes of the lonely dealer when we explained that we didn't want to bet, and only wanted the chip for a memento! Since we were there, we decided we should probably at least gamble a little something, so we went a little crazy, and hit the nickel slots!! Look out!! Big Spenders indeed! Withlucky chip in hand, I managed to hit a 20, 40, and then a jackpot 1000 coins! Woo hoo! We ended up winning a little over $50, which paid for half the cab ride back. Not too shabby for investing $6 in coins. Suddenly things were looking up again!

We walked back along the golf course as the sun was setting over the mountains, and found our way back to the Occidental, and Via Veneto for dinner. The restaurant was very nice looking, but we were put in the back room at first, and since it was empty, we were overlooked for longer than we would have liked! We had had such a fun day though, that we were just too relaxed... or too tired to even care! And the good news was they didn't leave us empty handed, as a tasty antipasta and bread was already on the table when we sat down. That said, Phil actually had to move into a seat in view of the waitstaff to finally get their attention. We laughed it off, and just enjoyed the evening. Once the realized we were there, the food came out fast and furiously. We're not sure if it was because they rushed things, or they just didn't put enough love into the meal, but the food turned out to be a little underwhelming... so we found ourselves sneaking down to the buffet, one last time, for our second, two-dinner evening of the trip! oink oink indeed!

After dinner we grabbed a few beers and went over to the stage to see what was in store for the evening... all we knew is that the show was listed as "Sorpresa" A surprise! Fantastic... we immediately hoped it meant that the Occidental Dancers were ready to perform. Afterall, on our way to the bar after dinner we passed a group of very gaudy, I mean smartly dressed dancer types in smashing black and orange sequened outfits. Que bueno. We were poolside before we could say boo! Sadly, we were a little misled, and the folks we saw sauntering in must simply have been wearing those outfits for the, um, fun of it... wow. It turns out were were witness to some award show that was being televised for some local TV station. There was a political candidate invited up to speak and handing out awards. We think it may even have been one of the candidates for president whose posters we had seen around town, but the sound was spotty from our vantage point, and the few beers I'd had up to that point disabled what little Spanish translating ability I actually had!! Just as we were losing hope in the evening, a few musical numbers were interspersed. These were promising at first, as we were treated to a few bars sung by a very good sounding male tenor. Unfortunately he didn't stay on long enough to enjoy, and was quickly overtaken by numerous women singers. One poor diva came out in some breast popping white sequened number and sang her entire song flat. I think poor Phil's ears were bleeding by the end! Ugh! Finally, after a rousing military tribute, we think we were witness to the true surprise, a middle-aged latin songstress, whose name we never learned. The crowd went wild when she came out, and she dazzled the eager locals with her song stlyings which were a startling cross between Patti Lupone and Barbara Streisand... wow! That was enough for these tired travelers, and we decided to hit the hay and try to get a little rest before meeting our ride in the lobby.

Yon Luis, met us at lobby as he promised, and took us back on the much smoother road, for a most uneventful drive back to Santiago. Ahhh. Our flight was also painless, and we were back in NYC in short order without a hitch. We had an amazing time, as usual, and while a 3rd full day would have been perfect, we have no room to complain! We're very lucky to have had the opportunity to get out of dodge, and we're very fortunate to have grown so comfortable in each other's company.

Thank you Mr. Zipkin for making the suggestion in the first place...

P.S. If you're traveling from JFK to Forest Hills Queens, don't believe the taxi driver, as he's turning onto the Belt Parkway to your protests, when he tells you not to worry, he has a short cut!

New Zealand Final Report

2007-03-26T12:27:00.000-04:00

... the journey ends.

Thursday January 25th

The following morning, I was a good boyfriend and let Phil sleep in a little more as I walked across town to pick up the car. Our last vehicle was the big trip winner, and was a new fully-equipped Honda Civic, with AC and CD player...( of course, now that we had all those cassette tapes, the CD players wasn't going to be all that helpful! ) A comfort nonetheless! I picked up some coffee from the Brooklyn Cafe, which somehow seemed appropriate, and drove back to the hotel to make sure Phil had crawled out of bed!

We gathered the basics we needed for the day, and I grabbed the folder that had all of the wedding information in it. The trip to Martinborough was expected to be about one hour over the Rimutaka Hill. As we mentioned before, this so called hill is clearly a mislabeled mountain, and we realized quickly that it might not be the best idea to consider making this drive twice a day for the next 3 and a half days! In fact, the thought of actually trying the pass in the middle of the night sober, much less after cocktails, seemed a recipe for disaster, and the seed was thus planted for an early move out of Wellington to something closer!

Martinborough marks the center of the Wairarapa Wine Region, one of the country’s newest with some 30 wineries within several hundred yards of town. The region sits on the eastern slopes of the Tararua Range in the south east corner of the North Island.

We made it to town pretty easily and did a quick spin through the small town center. Though a tiny place, the town does have a certain old western charm about it, with old fashioned wooden buildings surrounding a classic town square. At the street level, we noticed a number of cute shops and cafes, but no obvious sign of said 30 wineries. We were a little confused! As we looked more closely at the wedding information, it also became clear that there were some very important details missing from the itinerary I had taken from the website, like the actual starting point of today’s adventure! What was worse, I realized that I did not have Vanessa's new cell phone number in my phone... SHIT!!! Panic-mode started to settle over us in a wave, as we found ourselves sitting in this little town without a clue as to what to do next! We thought about a blind drive around the region, but given the large number of wineries in the area and not the slightest inkling about what they’d be driving, we aborted that plan quickly… there was just no point driving around aimlessly! In a moment of desperation, we pulled up to the i-site we'd seen on the way into town, and walked in on a wing and a prayer!

The place was empty except for a man and a woman working behind the counter. I asked them sheepishly if they happened to know anything about one Vanessa-Jayne’s wine tasting plans for the day. Who knows, it’s a small town, maybe they’d heard something through the grape vine! All I can say is that the New Zealanders, yet again, truly proved themselves to be lovely people! They hadn’t heard anything, but without missing a beat they were online and on the phone digging up information! They called a friend, who knew a friend, who does wedding planning to see if there was anything scheduled for the day... nothing. Then they called a few of the wineries in town to see if there were any group stops planned... nothing. Curses!! I racked my brain for any other clues. I did not know Paul's surname, so they couldn't look there, and Vanessa-Jayne was not a resident! Ugh... As we went over my itinerary, they noticed a horse and carriage mentioned, and called the owner of the only one they knew of in the area. As they did that, the man let me go on their computer to check my email to see if I had her number in an old message or something.... thankfully, as if anticipating such a fiasco, Miss Vanessa had sent out a detailed itinerary some time in the last day or so and I was able to print out on site… at that very moment, the horse and buggy folks had Vanessa’s number in hand and the dynamic duo was already ringing her up! They handed me the phone, and as soon as I heard her voice on the phone, my anxiety started to fade away! She laughed at our, um, forgetfulness, and suggested we meet at the second winery since it was closer to where we were. Since they were running a little behind too, we decided to start at the beginning with them... after all, what better way to settle the nerves from the morning’s stress than to get as much wine tasting in as we could?!

We left town and quickly found ourselves in the middle of Wairarapa country living! The region is beautiful, surprise surprise, what isn’t in this country?! Once over the Rimutaka hills, the terrain becomes more rolling than rugged, with wide open fields of dry golden grasses surrounded by tall green trees, the occasional requisite sheep-filled pastures, and the geometric green rows of the vineyards scattered throughout. The softer lower hills were contrasted nicely by the rugged Tararua Mountain Range hovering over the region to the west. Our first stop was the Fairmont Estate Winery in Carterton. I met Vanessa-Jayne with a giant hug and introduced her to Phil, and she introduced us to everyone in her group. She was traveling with her bridesmaids Natalie and Julie, her brother Nigel, and her good friend Maxine. The quick back story on Vanessa is that I met her while doing a semester in London at Regent’s College during my junior year of undergrad in 1994. We have kept in touch throughout the years, sharing our life updates from time to time, and seeing each other a handful of times along the way. Despite the limited contact, she is one of those amazing people that you feel at once at home with. The kind of person, that no matter how much time has passed, you can talk to as if you just spoke yesterday! Lovely indeed! The group she had with her was a fun bunch, with a dry British sense of humor that we loved! We spent the better part of the day touring and tasting a few of her favorite regional wineries, including:

Kairanga Winery

Palliser Wines

Alana Estate

The Alana was the most beautiful of the bunch. You enter through a long narrow drive down a small hill with vineyards on either side, to a beautiful modern looking home. The grounds are well landscaped and there is a fine wide wooden deck wrapping around the facade with a stylish open air café set up out back. We enjoyed our last tasting here and then moved the party onto the deck for a fine meal. It was a most enjoyable time with good food, delicious wine, and great company. We got the quick and dirty on how everyone knew each other, holiday travel plans, and then just reverted to silly talk about entertainment and such. It was good fun.

The last stop on the trip was to a gourmet chocolate shop in the neighboring town of Greytown called Schoc Chocolate . It was delicious decadent goodness, but expensive! Poor Phil dropped $30 on 2 chocolate bars, a couple of assorted pieces, and one small bag of chocolate nuggets. It was the most he’d ever spent on such a small volume of candy! We laughed it off though. I mean you only live once, right?... and they were off the chart yummy!!

After saying good-bye, we did a quick tour through Greytown and Featherton, looking for any local artisan who might have a locally crafted cat. My mother likes to collect cats from around the word, and we told her we would keep our eyes open for something for her collection. We had only half-looked up to this point and realized that the clock was now ticking on the trip so we’d better get our butts in gear! We saw a great Jade cat in Queenstown, but thought that since the greenstone was so popular in the country we would certainly see another one along the way… Um… not so much. Finding nothing, we hit up the $2 store in the hopes of stumbling on anything! Well we found something… something special. We left there with a fabulous crystal beauty **cough, clears throat** I mean faux crystal glass mess we couldn’t say no to! It was kind of tragically sweet looking, with glued on bent wire whiskers, red nose, and black eyes… at least it was sophisticated enough to not have googly eyes! If nothing else, we knew my mother we pee laughing if that was all we could find! After a good laugh, we packed up or little gem, and head back towards the Rimutaka Hill and on to Wellington for the night. It was on this drive back that we decided that we had to get closer. The Rimutaka could not happen with even a hint of alcohol in our system, and we wanted to enjoy the last 2 nights with everyone!

That night in Wellington, we decided to explore the other recommendation our hotel concierge had made for dinner and then see about actually finding some “alternative” nightlife! We walked down to the waterfront area and actually felt like we were in a breathing city! The streets were alive and hopping with people, and it was after 6pm! We passed a number of fun modern trendy looking bars and restaurants along the way to dinner. Tucked down a quieter street, was Monsoon Poon, a pan-asian restaurant whose tagline “Love you long time” screamed eat here now! Could you say no to that?! The energy of the place was vibrant and fun. The bar area opens on to a balcony overlooking the street, and the main dining area is a fairly spacious modern looking room with large high-ceilings, fun lighting, and walls colorfully adorned with art from Southeast Asia. We were very pleased! The food was great, the service was fun, the energy alive, and the price was reasonable… we recommend it if you get the chance.

After dinner, we tried to find our way to Cuba Street to find a place called Our Bar, the city’s only 7-day a week gay bar. Sadly, my little print out map of the city’s downtown was deceiving, and things were actually a littler further than they looked! It was a nice night for a walk though, so we didn’t worry too much. Of course it ended up taking us much longer than we thought, and after an hour or so, the idea had lost some of its luster! Um, yeah, now I’m not saying that we got lost, I mean come on, look at who you’re talking to… puh-lease… I am just saying that we did have to ask the owner of an adult book store to point us in the right direction! Yeah, and ha ha, this is kind of the funny thing… the bar ended up being, um, right next door! Oops!! Our Bar is the core gay bar of the city. It is a nice clean modern space, but very sparsely decorated. A large dark wood bar was the centerpiece with several plain wooden tables and high tops scattered throughout the room. The bar also has a second floor that features a DJ and dancing on the weekend, and a small outdoor seating area. On this fine night there were probably about 10 people there! Not a real hot bed of excitement, so we stayed for one drink and called it a night. The city does have a few bars that do have gay nights on the weekends, so there is hope for one looking to cha cha... just make sure you’re in town at the right time

Friday January 26th

Friday morning, we got up early and did a quick online search for a place to stay in Masterton. We thought a relaxing B&B a few minutes from the wedding would make more sense for the last 2 nights, versus a couple more city nights and an hour-long drive through the mountains! We stumbled upon a very reasonable place called the Moata: located a few minutes outside of town. Our only formal plan for the rest of the day was to go to the rehearsal dinner at Café Cecille in Masterton that evening, so we decided to have a leisurely stroll around downtown Wellington before heading off to the country.

We checked out of the Kingsgate Hotel after talking to the owner of the Moata and head back down to Cuba St. (now that we knew where it was, it was easy to find!) and hit up a café called Fidel’s that Phil’s friend Elvira recommended from her time living there. Fidel’s is a very eclectic eatery both in food and clientele! They have a fun outdoor garden-type seating area in the back with old political posters and pictures of Castro on the walls. It was kind of fun. Given the U.S. Relationship with Cuba, we felt a little rebellious for even eating here! From Fidel’s we walked through the downtown area and window shopped for little mementos and the silly cat for my mother! To our astonishment, not a single F-ing cat in the country! They were all about the kiwis and penguins and such! =) After our unsuccessful shopping venture, we decided to pop into the Te Papa Museum. Te Papa is the country’s largest museum, and it focuses on the natural, cultural, and political history of the country. It is kind of a cross between the American Museum of Natural History and the Met (although all of the sculptures and paintings were done by citizens of New Zealand) It is a very nice museum, and one worth popping into if you are in the Wellington area.

After the museum, we did one more spin through downtown looking for a cat for mom, failed again, and hit the road to Masterton. The drive was pretty uneventful, until some teenaged New Zealand hoodlums in 2 loud obnoxious run down looking cars got pissed at Phil thinking that he was filming their driving shenanigans… okay maybe he was… but still! In any event they were none-to-happy… and got all ghetto on us, hootin’ and hollerin’ trying to tail us… good times really! Thankfully, my high powered machine was just too much for their tired clunkers…( or maybe they just didn’t want to go over the Rimutaka Hill ) but we lost them by the time we were comfortably in the hills! We stopped at the hilltop café, all that excitement having worked up our appetite, and had ourselves two surprisingly delicious venison burgers on the deck out front overlooking the pass.

Once satiated, we continued the drive over the hill and eventually found our way to the Masterton town line. The Moata B & B sits about 5km outside of the town center. We took a by-pass road just before town and quickly found ourselves in cow-country way off the beaten path. It was peaceful and scenic, and just what the doctor ordered for our last 2 nights. We turned off the country road to a long quiet dirt driveway up to the house. Cow pastures flanked us on either side of the drive, and a cattle grate marked the entrance to the Moata grounds. I guess they didn’t want the resident heifers eating in their gardens! The house sits on over 10 acres of well landscaped grounds, and as I understand it, is over 75 years old. It was acquired by the current owners, Ngaire & Ross, a lovely older couple, in the last decade or so. Their own kids have grown and gone off to college and/or have gotten married, so they decided to enter the B&B game. They also have an adorable Jack Russell Terrier as well, but sadly I cannot remember her name... I know, I know… I’m a bad vet. They were warm and gracious hosts and took very good care of us. Our bedroom was very spacious with a giant queen bed that begged us to take a nap! We didn’t have a chance really, and in short order we were counting sheep in dreams. After a few wonderfully restful hours, we were woken up by the sound of rain on the roof!

We took a nice warm shower, made ourselves look all purty-like, and set out to Queen Elizabeth Park and Café Cecille for the rehearsal dinner. It was pouring by the time we made it to the café, so we weren’t able to enjoy any of the outdoor seating, but no worries. It was a very intimate affair, with about 20 of Vanessa’s friends and family sharing in the moment. It was a lovely evening. We hung out with Natalie, Julie, and Maxine, the ladies we met the day before at the wine adventure, as well as some new fun faces: Rachel, Sarah, Lisa, Max, Marilyn, Paul, Ruth, and Terry… it was a nice time indeed! I was a good lad since I was driving, so Phil did more of the drinking for both of us! Maxine and Phil seemed to get along the best of the folks we met. She is a performer and singer in a theater group in London, so they had a lot in common, and their senses of humor seemed to gel perfectly! They got so comfortable the next day, that they took over the wedding entertainment! …but we’ll get to that later. After a few fun-filled hours, Paul made an appearance to escort his wife-to-be home in the rain, and we got a chance to meet the man, the myth… the legend… for the first time! Paul is a very gregarious, warm, and friendly guy. It was nice to put a face with the name, and by their interaction, I could tell they were a perfect fit! I was so happy they found each other! We followed the couple back to Paul’s house to meet his mother and father and to have a night cap. They were very gracious hosts, and we felt immediately comfortable there. Vanessa-Jayne turned in early, and we wished her a restful night’s sleep, and wished the bridesmaids luck in lacing up the back of the gown! We had one last beer with Paul’s father and Nigel on the porch after everyone had left and gone, and then decided we’d better get home and rest for the big day tomorrow!

Saturday January 27th

The wedding was at 3pm, so we allowed ourselves to sleep in a little. After finally deciding to crawl out of bed, we showered and head downstairs to the sunroom for breakfast where we found our host buzzing about the kitchen. She put out a huge spread of cereals, fruits, fresh-baked breads, muffins, cookies, homemade jams, juices, teas, and coffee for Phil!! It was magically delicious! After recharging, we decided to spend the early part of the day in downtown Masterton. Like so many towns before it, Masterton center consists of a long main road with various shops and restaurants lining the way. It is a bit bigger than other towns we were in, so the variety was better, and better still, if you visit at the right time, you might just catch the Annual Golden Shears Competition!! Sadly, we didn’t visit at the right time! After striking out in the Mom cat department for most of the trip, we hit the jackpot in Masterton. Every place we looked into seemed to have something better than the next. Of course, given the bad luck up until that point, we were a little careless, leaving each successful venture with a new cat not realizing another one sat waiting for us! By the end of the morning’s shopping, we had 3 more cats to add to the glass masterpiece from the day before! After a nice lunch at a corner café, we head back to the Moata to get cleaned up for our final bow in New Zealand, Vanessa-Jaynes wedding bonanza!

The wedding ceremony was held at St. Matthew’s Chapel, a small but lovely edifice on the campus of a local private Christian school across a wide field from Paul’s family home. It was perfect, as the reception was to be held on the grounds of the homestead, so guests could walk back to the reception with no fuss at all! The whole event was charming in every sense of the word, and it seemed to go off without a hitch. Though clouds covered the sky and a light mist fell from time to time throughout the afternoon, the spirit of the day was nothing but bright. We arrived in time to see the bridal party leaving the house in a handsome horse-drawn carriage. Vanessa-Jayne was radiant, with her beautiful long red hair curled to perfection and accented with fresh cut white flowers. She was beaming throughout the affair, and her love for Paul was ever apparent! The service was simple and charming. She was lead in by her two best friends, Natalie and Julie, and her brother Nigel was there to give her away. Paul’s mother Liz presided over the service and was eloquent and charming in her performance. After sealing their union with a kiss, the couple made their first public appearance beneath the steps of the chapel.

After the last of the guests trickled out of the chapel and made their way across the field to the reception, the fun really began. The grounds of the Greville home were beautifully appointed and the reception was a comfortable and casual affair. The party was kept running smoothly by the tireless efforts of the neighborhood kids Paul and his brothers grew up with! They are a very close-knit community, and everyone insisted on donating their time and services to help celebrate the happy day. It was wonderful. From the moment people arrived, the finger-foods never stopped coming out of the kitchen, and the drinks never stopped flowing. They were so persistent, (God bless them) that no glass was ever allowed to be more than half empty! Good times!

Paul’s sister’s fiancé, Richard was charged with the task of entertaining the crowd with some beautiful classical piano music. As the evening progressed, and people relaxed, things got more and more silly. Before the sun set on the day, the cake was cut, and various toasts were made in honor of the happy couple. Paul rounded out the lot, expressing his feelings for his new wife in a charming speech that was both humorous and heartfelt.

After the last of the formalities, people really started to let their hair down, and Phil and Maxine, who had been cavorting with a group near the piano, were starting to get pressured into singing a little something for everyone. Well anyone who knows Phil knows he is terribly shy, and he just couldn’t possibly be made to sing on demand… oh no, not him… he belted!! He was a hit, and Maxine was asked to follow! Though coy at first, after hearing her sultry rich voice, the crowd response eased her nerves, and before long she was sitting at the piano with Phil running through their favorite showtunes! You all saw this coming didn’t you?! In short order, people were surrounding the piano, and the cabaret duo was on!!! At one point, the couple was asked to do a first dance, and Phil and Maxine sang their song a cappella. As the booze flowed, and the hours passed, the duo turned into group sing-a-longs, which became group sing-and-dance-a-longs! By the end of the night, Phil and I were dancing arm in arm showing off our best 70’s airplane-esque dance moves much to the delight everyone around us. Vanessa and Paul’s family and friends are wonderful people, and we couldn’t have felt more at home if we tried! Before we knew it, it was almost 2am, and we had the sad task of saying good-bye to all of our new friends, Vanessa-Jayne and Paul, and New Zealand! It was all smiles and big hugs though, as it was a happy occasion, and we knew in our hearts that we had just experienced something wonderful… and I’m not just talking about the wedding… that was just the icing on the cake… I’m talking about the whole experience. Phil and I didn’t kill each other after 2 weeks together, and I think I can comfortable say that our affection and love for each other only grew as the time together passed. I consider ourselves lucky, or fortunate, or blessed, or whatever the right word is to describe that special something that happens when you 2 people just come together and fit.

Sunday January 28th

We woke up early Sunday morning to make the journey back to Wellington to catch a 10:30 flight to Auckland, and then an early afternoon flight from Auckland to home. Despite the early wake up, our gracious hosts at the Moata were up earlier to send us off with a full belly! Too kind indeed! The drive back over the hills was painless and beautiful, and we sat in comfortable silence savoring the last few hours on the ground of this amazing place! There are no words to truly convey our feelings (well, maybe a few, if you count this ridiculous 10 part series you’ve been reading through ) but suffice it to say the memories will be long-lasting! Thank you Phil for sharing… and making it so easy. XOXO

New Zealand Part 9

2007-03-19T14:55:00.000-04:00

Wednesday January 24th

We got up early, for a change, and hit the road north for Picton by way of Kaikoura . Kaikoura is a place that would have been fun to explore had we had one more day. It isn’t the town so much that is exciting, although its location on a rugged coastal peninsula surrounded by dramatic snow-capped mountains adds a certain magical something, but the coastal waters around it that is the draw! The town is an old whaling village that now draws its income from a huge ocean tour industry. The whale watching here is allegedly out of this world, offering people the chance to see a huge variety of cetaceans, the centerpiece of which is the Sperm Whale! Yep, that’s a real life Moby Dick in the house people! Alas, two weeks just wasn’t enough!! We hoped we’d get lucky enough to see something from the coast as we chugged along the Kaikoura coastal drive, but alas, it was not meant to be. Fear not though, we did not leave “empty handed” as there is a huge fur seal colony at the tip of the peninsula that more than made up for things! In fact, as we pulled into the lot, we were greeted by a large male fur seal who decided to lounge on shore right next to the car park. The fur seals are adorable, and are just big lumbering lazy looking critters on land. The one next to the car was just sitting there with eyes half-mast completely un-phased by our presence. Of course, as docile as they seem in repose, they sure as hell come to life if you cross them! Our furry little friend became one nasty Mo Fo when I tried to take a picture from his other side! I guess he’s like Barbara and prefers his left side for pictures! Oy!! All I know is the beast sat up more quickly than I ever expected and showed me a mouth full of teeth that would make a lion envious! Yeah, I was scared, and for one brief moment I was overcome with that pre-diarrhea sensation as I ran as quickly as I could back to his good side! Wow… the term wild animal quickly came back to mind as I noticed a warning across the lot with a cut-out of a person holding a camera and a seal with a line between them measuring 10m… ha ha ha… ha… oops. My bad!

After spending some time with Mr. Angry the seal, we hit the road and continued the drive north. The stretch of coast you enjoy as you head north of Kaikoura is pretty spectacular. A branch of the Southern Alps kisses the coast at this point creating dramatic views, with gorgeous shear rock bluffs, rocky coastal stretches, and secluded beaches. We also learned in short order that almost everywhere that there were rocks on the coast, there were seals! It was amazing! At various points along the road the mountains come down so sharply that tunnels have been cut into the rock to keep the road out of the ocean! As we rounded one particular bend and head into a tunnel, we passed one proud seal sitting on a rock higher than the guard rail on the road watching the traffic go by! So funny!! About halfway along this stretch of road we happened upon a small white trailer that at first glance looked abandoned. As we got closer though, we realized that it was a little seafood shack called Nin’s Bin. Apparently it’s a little treasure that both tourists and locals alike have enjoyed for several decades now! Lucky us! It sits on a flat stretch of rocky coast absolutely off the beaten path with no signs of civilization anywhere near it. We went in and ordered some garlic and herb butter steamed mussels and a crayfish (New Zealand lobster) for the drive later. We took the plate of mussels out to a picnic table outback right on the ocean. There were seals on the distant rocks and a couple of interesting shore birds exploring the beach along the breakers as we ate. A black variable oystercatcher and some pied shags picking at something in the sand. Further along, just before the road leaves the coast, we passed a stretch of beautiful gray sand beaches with sun soaked turquoise ocean waters. I was a striking contrast, so of course we stopped. We walked out along the soft gray sands and enjoyed the warm ocean breezes on what would turn out to be our last beach moment of the trip! It was hard to leave, but the ferry was a-calling, and we had a little ways to go to get back, and we wanted to try and see a few of the famous Marlborough Wineries. On the way, we decided not to wait until the ferry, and cracked open our crawfish prematurely and enjoyed the succulent bounty within its orange shell! Okay, it wasn’t as rich and sweet as a Maine Lobster, but it was damn good!

We made it to the town of Blenheim with time to spare, and after getting lost in the town center for a spell, managed to get ourselves on track to see a few of the local wineries. Blenheim is considered the center of the wine region, and given its close proximity to Picton ( less than 30 minutes) it’s a great first place to stop when you get to the South Island, or certainly before you’re leaving! Our day in the region could not have been better if we tried. The weather was flawless with temperatures near 80 and not a cloud in the sky. For those of you who have been to Northern California, the Marlborough Region has the flavor and beauty of Napa, without the commercialism. The grounds are all well landscaped and the tasting rooms are beautiful and intimate! What is more, the tastings are usually free or cheap cheap cheap! I don’t think we paid more than $2 NZ for any of them! Truly remarkable and not to be missed for the wine lovers among you!! And oh did we enjoy ourselves this fine day!! In fact, if we had a flexible ferry pass, we would have needed a driver to get us back to Picton, because we were well on our way to getting comfortably numb enjoying all of the sumptuous flavors that afternoon in the valley! We only had time for 3 wineries, but they were all great! Our first stop on the loop was Cloudy Bay . Across the street was Allan Scott , and on the home stretch towards the ferry was Hunter’s Wines !! Yummylicious! We managed to leave with a bottle from each of them! Of course, our collection was growing, and we had recently learned that you were only allowed to take back 2 liters back per person… so we had a bit of problem, as we probably had about 7 bottles now. Shit! I guess we were going to be drinking before we left! Again!

After our last tasting we hit the final stretch of South Island road back to Picton. The weather was even better than when we arrived, and we were psyched for what we knew would be a gorgeous journey back to Wellington. We pulled the car back in front of the terminal in a screech, as we had carelessly lost track of time and had only 10 minutes or so to get unpacked, checked in, and up the ramp! Oops! As we were unloading, we started smelling wine, and knowing that we were not that sloppy at the wineries, realized that one of the bottles must have offed itself on the last leg of the trip! D’oh. As we pulled the big army green bag out of the back seat, we noticed it appeared to be bleeding along the bottom edges. We tore through the bag and found the bottle of Waiheke Weeping Sands White Merlot in pieces in the bottom corner! So sad! ( Sorry Heather - Our proof that a decent white merlot actually exists outside of the U.S. was lost in a heap of stinking glass!) We didn’t have time to mourn the loss though, as we were late! We just prayed that in dying it did not ruin all of our clothes in the process… and then there were 6!. We checked the wine soaked mess into the baggage hold to put the tragedy behind us, and ran up the boarding ramp in time for the final boarding call. We apparently like to give ourselves ulcers, because it seems like we were on the verge of missing every major scheduled event we made on this trip!

We set up camp on the top deck at the rear of the ship in the glorious summer sun, hit up the concession stand for comfort food in the form of meat pies and fish and chips, and sat back and enjoyed the ride... and boy did it deliver! The trip was out of the park amazing! The water color was insane, changing in intensity with the depth of the water and the angle of the sun, with light Caribbean blue eventually darkening to a deep royal blue as we entered the deeper waters of Cook Straight! Clouds hugged the peaks of the northern coastal mountains and we watched as the waves crashed powerfully against the dramatic rock formations at their feet on our way out into the open waters. The power of the sea was apparent as several of the larger rocky crags along the way had tunnels worn right through their centers! Circling sea gulls serenaded us as we pulled into the open waters and soon the strong open water winds were whipping past our ears making it hard to hear ourselves in simple conversation!! About halfway across the Straight, we noticed the North Island was not yet visible because a wall of fog had settled over the water. It was like we were sailing into a Stephen King Novel. If any of you ever read “the Mist” you know what I’m talking about! Creepy indeed! For a few minutes, as the fog surrounded us, the whole ship sunk into the darkness of a rainy day, and we were cut off from land entirely. Before our imaginations had time conjure up the worst though, the sun burned brilliantly through the leading edge of the cloud wall and the North Island came back into view. We were welcomed back to the North Island by the same twin light houses we’d seen on the way out, and the Interislander cruised comfortably the rest of the way into port.

We collected our bags, loaded them into the first cab we saw, and sped to the Kingsgate Hotel on Oriental Bay. Oriental Bay is the body of water that the city of Wellington curves around. The hotel was sublimely located up on a hill overlooking the entire downtown and within a few blocks from the restaurant and arts scene. Perfection! Looking back up the hill our hotel sat on was very reminiscent of San Francisco, with steep streets traveling up the face and a variety of multi-colored houses hugging the hillsides. Of course… what we didn’t realize was that while the location was fabulous, the inside of the hotel itself was probably designed in the 60s, and had not changed since! WOW!! We had an antique radio on the nightstand that conjured up images of small children in the 40’s listening to little Orphan Annie on while sipping their Ovaltine! We didn’t care though. It was a spacious room and our balcony had the view that you see on the hotel website! (P.S. I’m happy to report that renovations are currently underway, so don’t be scared!)

Once settled, we assessed the damage the bottle of wine had caused, and had hope that the fact that it was a blush might save the clothes inside from permanent ruin. We rubbed our lucky casino chips and set up a few loads of laundry, conveniently located 2 doors down from our room. I also soaked the back in the shower a few times and set it on the balcony to get some fresh air. Instead of waiting in the room, we decided to pass the time in the pool while awaiting the final verdict on the clothes! The pool sits at the far end of the hotel on the main floor and has a floor to ceiling glass wall on 2 sides and an outdoor balcony all with beautiful views of Wellington and the bay. There was nobody using the pool when we arrived, so we had the room to ourselves! Fantastic! The water was like a bath, and we reveled in the moment, soaking ourselves until every last bit of stress was gone and our fingers told us we were done! I should also mention that the acoustics in the room were kind of fun, you know, like that small room echo you get in a racquetball court, and Phil took advantage and treated me to a song or two, or four, but who’s counting! It was great. He’s quite the romantic if you hadn’t figured that out yet, and I’m a sucker for a man who can sing! A good match indeed!

Once in the room, I checked the laundry, and was happy to find that everything cleaned up nicely. Even the bag had recovered! We decided to celebrate by walking down the hill to a local restaurant call Kai in the City. The word Kai means Food in Maori. The restaurant offered traditional Maori food in a modest setting at a great price! It was a cozy little place, and we had the good fortune of dining at the same time a larger Maori family was. A young woman among them took out her guitar and treated the patrons to a number of traditional songs. It was a real treat! The food was surprisingly delicious too, and aside from our absentee waitress, who was more caught up in singing back up to our native songstress, the experience was a great!

The plan for the next day was to meet up with Vanessa and company to kick off the wedding festivities by doing some wine tasting in the Martinborough area! Because we had to pick up the car early in the morning and get to the region, about an hour away, by 10, we decided not to have too crazy a night. Instead, we settled on our usual wine in the room, and enjoyed the great views and each other’s company… and then there were 5…

New Zealand Part 8

2007-03-17T11:05:00.000-04:00

Tuesday January 23rd

... after a good night’s sleep we got up and drove into the downtown of Christchurch. Christchurch is the 3rd largest city in New Zealand, and it is definitely a real city. We really only explored the downtown, and that was great, but if you have a chance, the coastal stretch is supposed to be beautiful as well, so take advantage!! The city is centered around Cathedral Square and radiates out from there. It is a beautiful mix of old meets new with classic English Gothic style architecture abutting a more modern style. The Christchurch Cathedral is the centerpiece of the square, as the name implies! The square itself has no real greenery, save a few trees, and is largely a main thoroughfare for the locals and tourists alike. We got there in the middle of the World Busker Festival, so the main square was always filled with large groups of people surrounding the entertainers! We saw glimpses of a few of the shows and they were good fun! Everything from young Irish girls river dancing, to a drag queen juggling machetes while wearing roller skates and standing on a barrel… good wholesome family fun! We were more interested in seeing the city though, so never hung around too long in one spot. The Historic Trolley, an electric trolley system a la The Rice-a-Roni San Francisco Trolleys, can be picked up near the Cathedral, and is a fun and convenient way to see the downtown sites. We had hoped to have dinner on one of the trolley cars that has been transformed into a fine restaurant on the go, but due to its popularity we had to settle for a plan B. We chose to go with The Christchurch Gondola Restaurant on the rim of the extinct Lyttleton Volcano. We'll get to that later...

From the main square we branched out and started exploring some of the coffee shops and stores on our travels through town. The early part of the morning was cold, and we didn’t dress as carefully for the weather as we should have. In an emergency effort to warm up, we made decided to make a quick pit stop into the… anyone? anyone? you guessed it, the Salvation Army and found Phil a long sleeve shirt to wear. Much to our dismay though, it was cash only and we were fresh out! The woman behind the counter was very gracious though, and without missing a beat told us not to worry and just take it. She was much more concerned that Phil was comfortable than making the $5. aw… **sniffle** It was a very kind gesture… and I suspect, in some ways, payback for all of that bad music we bought from them on the trip! I should also mention, as is often the case, as soon as we bought said shirt, the sun came out and the day warmed up considerably!

We made our way back to the center of town to a greenway surround the Avon River. The city is quite charming in this way. There are many interconnected greenways and parks making it a very scenic and outdoor friendly place to visit. The small Avon River snakes lazily through the center of town wrapping around the Botanic Gardens and Hagley Park. There are several Gondoliers along the way, and if you have the time, they can take you punting on the Avon. The walks around the river were all green with weeping willows and tall trees flanking the shores along its length, with picturesque bridges crossing here and there. On our hunt for food, we settled on a restaurant called Ferment which featured a large outdoor seating area with River views. It was a tasty modern twist on the New Zealand Standard (starting to sound familiar!?) We sat outside and enjoyed a nice crisp glass of Savignon Blanc from the region, some good food, and some people watching.

We continued along the water after lunch to the main road over the river, Worcester Blvd, and traveled south towards the botanical gardens through the cultural precinct. The main Art Gallery , http://www.christchurchartgallery.org.nz/ is a large stylish modern structure on your right as you walk south. I should mention that the reason you haven’t heard much about the art and cultural scene is because Phil and I decided that for us, the natural beauty of the country was more interesting to us. It was winter in the U.S. after all, so why not spend as much time outside as we could?!

On the opposite side of the Art Gallery, are the gorgeous stone Gothic buildings of the Arts Center, the old home of Canterbury University. The Center is now home to artisans of all sorts, crafts, candy-makers, painters, music groups, and theater troupes. We picked up a couple of local wares as we passed through, and continued our trek to the Botanical Gardens. The Gardens are open to the public so you can amble about at your leisure, and we did just that. We held hands and walked along the Avon and then through the flowering paths taking in the warm afternoon sun. After spending some time in the gardens, we hopped on the trolley and stopped off at Hagley Park. This park is more for recreation, and is just a wide open expanse of green where folks can play cricket, soccer, or just be silly like we were, doing handstands and cartwheels, and having a little makeshift photo shoot in the bright afternoon sun! My boy Phil looked damn good!

After Hagley Park, we hopped back on the trolley and head to the Christchurch Casino for our last betting chip of the trip! Yeah, we were kind of lame as we never actually bet in these casinos! From the casino we walked back through Victoria Park and stopped to see the famous working flower clock. The park sits along the Avon River, so we strolled back along the river towards the center of town just enjoying the lazy time together. It was nice to just relax and enjoy the day without having to run off to the next destination. After a full day in town, we collected our old girl from the car park, hopped in, and hit the road for the Christchurch Gondola mentioned before on the outskirts of town. The ride takes you up about 1500 feet above sea level on to the rim of an extinct volcano with panoramic views of Lyttleton Harbor in one direction (created after the last great eruption) and Christchurch in the other. The views are amazing. We took advantage of a hiking trail around the rim of the volcano before dinner since we still had reasonable sunlight. It was a nice walk, just a little on the cold side! The wind was brisk, and low clouds were blowing in quickly up the face of the rim on either side of us. It was eerie.

We turned back as the sun was getting lower and the air colder, and decided to enjoy the views from inside the restaurant instead. Unlike the Queenstown experience, the restaurant was a more modest affair, and far less crowded. It was not a buffet, and the menu was wonderfully eclectic. We enjoyed an ostrich starter and quail and lamb entrees. YUM!! During dinner, the restaurant was entirely lost in the clouds, and for a while, it looked like we were eating in the sky. It was amazing. After the hearty meal, we head back down the mountain and drove back into Christchurch proper toward the Jailhouse. We thought about hitting up the local gay bars, yes they actually had a few here, but after our underwhelming experience in Auckland and our plans for an early departure the next morning, we decided not to overextend ourselves. We wanted to be fresh to enjoy a leisurely drive back to Picton for the ferry trip back to Wellington.

New Zealand Part 7

2007-03-16T13:04:00.000-04:00

Monday January 22nd

… we got up early to bid adieu to Queenstown and get a good start on the day. Our initial plan was to take the cross country road northeast through the high mountain pass towards Christchurch, but were convinced instead to take a southern detour through Gore and on through to the southeast coastal city of Dunedin (Duh – nee’ – dun) by our friends on the Milford Wanderer. They suggested it because it offered a good chance to get up close and personal with The Royal Albatross, Yellow-eyed penguins, and fur seals. How could we say no?! The morning was cool and comfortable as we head out, and we were greeted with clear blue skies and warm rays of sun just starting to peak out from behind the mountains around town. Since it was so nice, we decided to take one last stroll along the inner harbor before we left. It was wonderful. We drove up the eastern hills for a final view of the beautiful town below before saying one last good-bye. It was sad to leave, but we were excited to see more. We did our typical quick eat and go, and took the road south along Lake Wakatipu towards the turn off for Te Anau as we did the day before. When we got to the turn though, we kept on heading south instead. In typical New Zealand fashion, the dramatic peaks around the lake softened gradually, and within twenty minutes we found ourselves driving through open pastures and rolling hills as far as the eye could see. The fields across the distance, from golden to green, created a kind of patchwork quilt over the land. The occasional farm house was thrown in to remind us that sheep were not the only living creatures in these parts! The road took a bend to the east and after about two and a half hours we found ourselves driving through the metropolis of Gore!! http://www.gorenz.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=main.home

Okay, so I exaggerate… but by New Zealand standards, it was a pretty big town. The main street of it was in the style of many of the smaller towns before it, sporting basic boxy awnings with the added bonus of hanging basket plants over the walkways. It gave the place a homier feel than others we had seen. We made a quick pit-stop in town, as we needed a new memory card for the camera and some new tunes for the tape deck! I walked up one way for the card and Phil the other, towards the Salvation Army. We met back in about 15 minutes ready to shoot more pictures and with a collection of music to brighten the mood. It was an eclectic mix, from Choral, to Symphonic, to Ally McBeal, to some local songstress who turned out to be a 60’s-style religious diva! Um…WOW!! By the time we got to the Otago Peninsula in Dunedin that afternoon, we were way down with Jesus! We turned through town and just before leaving came to a roundabout with a number of things that caught our eye and forced us to make the loop instead of leaving town! First, was a ginormous 30 foot brown fish posed as if jumping out the water attached to a welcome sign touting Gore as the Brown Trout Capital of New Zealand… Who knew?! As if that weren’t enough, we passed a large modern glass clock tower marking the epicenter of the arts scene in town (apparently there are a number of galleries and small theaters… go Gore!) And at last, the piece de resistance, a large marble tower with a guitar cut out of the center announcing proudly that Gore was New Zealand’s Country Music Capital!! Yee Haw!!! Aligned along the base were handprints of the stars (a la Planet Hollywood) with the one and only “Gambler” being the most famous of the artist’s represented!

After a good laugh, we pressed on. Gore is close to the southeastern coast and as we looked at our map we found KaKa point just south of our main course and couldn’t resist taking the small detour! Yes, I know, we are very mature thirty-somethings… Don’t judge! We’re glad we did though. Kaka Point is right near Nugget Point, naturally, at the northern extent of the Catlins,
http://www.newzealand.com/travel/about-nz/features/catlins-feature/catlins.cfm

the southernmost region of the South Island. We only got a small taste of this region, but it is known for its natural beauty, full of soft white sand beaches, dramatic rocky coastal stretches, quiet secluded bays, and thick dense rain forests that serve as the home for a number of New Zealand’s most endangered birds. Kaka point is a beautiful coastal stretch that reaches its most beautiful where it merges with the rugged peninsula of Nugget Point which features an old white lighthouse on the high hills at its tip. The beaches were beautiful white sand stretches with tall grasses flowing in the wind and scattered rocks along the surf. We enjoyed some time walking on the beach and breathing the fresh sea air before continuing on to Dunedin.

The coastal drive north to Dunedin is beautiful. There are wide open green fields across rolling hills, scattered small lakes, with hints of the grand alps just visible in the far distance to the west as you crest some of the bigger passes. We turned off the main highway and took a more narrow gravel road for a stretch that carried us to the Pacific Ocean. It was stunning… we approached from a higher elevation, so to our north we were treated with a panoramic view of the curving beaches leading up to the city of Dunedin. We stopped a few times to just enjoy the scenery, but kept a reasonably quick pace to try to get to the Otago Peninsula with time enough to see the animals. We knew that Dunedin was going to be a more formidable city when the little 2 lane highway opened up to an actual freeway. The hilltops started to fill in with houses and by the time we hit the final approach to Dunedin we were in a real city. We parked on the street just off the main square and decided to get a bite to eat before driving on to the Peninsula. Dunedin’s main square is actually an octagon with restaurants, church, and state buildings surrounding the central “square”. It was really nice, and unexpected! We walked fast down a stretch to the Old Rail Station, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunedin_Railway_Station
which is one of the most striking buildings on the South Island. It is a gorgeous old stone building, but we didn’t really stop to tour it or anything because the hunger pains were starting to kill us! We settled on a cozy vegetarian restaurant called Pot Pourri. No, I’m serious, it was vegetarian. I know, crazy talk! We figured we had so defiled our systems with meat pies that we should try and purify ourselves with at least one healthy meal! It was a real treat. It was a one woman show, and she overstuffed our plates with a colorful array veggies, beans, and cheeses… YUM! We rolled ourselves to our car, and hit the road to see the wildlife. Much to Phil’s dismay, we spotted the Cadbury World New Zealand on the way out, and missed a chance to treat ourselves to some chocolate magic! We did stop to hit up the Dunedin Casino though, for our lucky betting chip before leaving town. Of course I had to do an on the street change of clothes to actually pass “inspection” on the way in to get said chip though! Apparently they are a more sophisticated lot over there, and no one gets in with shorts, jeans, hats, or T-shirt…hurrumph.

We drove out of the main city to the Otago Peninsula http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otago_Peninsula and snaked our way out to the very end on one of the slowest windiest coastal drives I’ve been on!! Oy! At the end of the island the road winds up a hill to a high point light house and the home of the Royal Albatross Breeding Colony, the only mainland breeding colony in the world. http://www.albatross.org.nz/. We opted out of the tour though when we found that it was going to be a lot of money for a lot of talking and little to no actual bird time. No thank you… education, shmeducation… we wanted wildlife! Instead, we walked to the cliffs at the edge of the car park and tried our luck at seeing the Albatross in flight. The colony is perched high above the ocean below. From the lighthouse at its peak, the grassy surface becomes shear rock as the cliffs fall sharply to the water. Sea gulls were flying all around the cliffs, filling the sky with specks of white. Perched on various small outcroppings were a number of breeding pairs of Pied Shags. And lounging on the water’s edge we spotted a few fur seals lounging in the cool afternoon air. We weren’t sure if we’d be lucky enough to see the Albatross, as it needs a good wind to sustain itself in flight since it does little to no flapping of its wings once it hits the air! The lucky chip we picked up must have worked, as the winds picked up and within a few minutes several of the birds were seen soaring effortlessly through the skies at times high above and others hovering inches above the water. At almost 10 feet of wingspan, they are pretty impressive indeed!

From Albatross land, we drove 20 minutes or so down the road to Penguin Place, http://www.penguinplace.co.nz/ a conservation for the Yellow-eyed penguin, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow-eyed_Penguin the rarest penguin in the world! The Penguin Place is protected cove on the peninsula that has hidden walkways built within the scrub and bushes that the penguins use as their breeding ground allowing for up close and personal viewing without getting in their way. The adults head out to sea during the day to gather food for the young, and the babies just hang out in the nests or under the bushes waiting for their dinners! Those are some patient babies! We got there a little too early to see the big parental return from sea, but we did happen to catch one lone parent walking across the beach to the bush. It was so funny to watch it walk across the sand. It is quite impressive how far some of them will choose to climb into the bush, especially given their small stature; adults don’t get much more than 2 feet tall. It just looks like a lot of work for them! Since the parents were largely gone we saw mostly babies and adolescent birds, and oh my God are they cute! If you’ve seen Happy Feet, then you know what the main character mumbles looks like, all downy soft on his head, with an adult lower half! It was adorable! At one point we were within 5 feet of three youngsters that were hanging out under a tree together, like a little penguin daycare! We walked along a high embankment overlooking the cove and came across a couple of fur seals just hanging out. Their population is threatened as well, but is on the rise, so the folks of the conservation find it bitter sweet. They are happy for the seals, but since the seals are one of the number one predators of the Penguin, they aren’t thrilled to see them moving in near the birds! The other bonus was the presence of a few small nesting Blue Penguins, the world’s smallest penguin. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Penguin They were all nestled on their eggs, but they were so sweet looking, peering out suspiciously as we tried to catch a glimpse within the boxes.

After the tour, we head back to downtown Dunedin, and decided to stop at the last minute when we saw a sign for Larnach Castle: http://www.larnachcastle.co.nz/index.pasp New Zealand’s only castle. It is a small structure compared to the grand structures of Europe, but it is quite lovely and in an amazing natural setting! We only hung around long enough to walk through the grounds a little, because we had a long drive ahead to get to Christchurch.

As the sun was setting on our coastal drive north, we again happened upon a sign for another tourist trap, I mean stop… the Moeraki Boulders: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moeraki_Boulders They are written about in all the guidebooks, so we figured what the hell, they must be cool, we’re here, why not?! Well at first glance they are rather underwhelming. You step on to the beach and you can just make out a small grouping of rocks along the shore about a 15 minute walk north of the car park. When you get to the rocks they are definitely beautiful and kind of otherworldly, but just not as grand as I would have hoped.

Now that said, if you are in the area, I think it is worth seeing, but don’t make a special trip. If you read the link though, and I didn’t know this until I came back and read about them, it appears that the large 3+ foot diameter boulders are actually hollow! Very cool! Anyway, the boulders did give us an excuse to get a little more beach time, and it is actually very nice one at that. If you’re lucky like we were, you may get to see dolphins playing in the waves just off the beach! From their size and coloration, they looked like they could have been Hector dolphins, which are the rarest of the dolphins in the world, and only found in New Zealand waters… Who knows though, I obviously couldn’t be sure, but whatever they were, they were fun to watch splashing in the waves teasing me as I tried my damnedest to capture them on film. Alas, it just wasn’t meant to be. While we were waiting though, we were treated to the beginnings of a most spectacular sunset. It was not low enough to create the dramatic oranges and reds, but brilliant and striking sunbeams stretched dramatically down through the clouds touching the horizon before us. It was magical! One of Phil’s favorite moments I think! Nature astounds me continuously, and this was just one more example of why!

We hit the road from there and started really cruising to try and get to the Jailhouse before too late. Thankfully, we called ahead and there was no chance we were going to get locked out like we did in Greymouth, but we were still a little nervous. It took a few hours, and on the way we started getting peckish… as we tend to, but found that after 9pm, finding food in New Zealand is a real bear! After driving aimlessly through some small towns, we broke down and had our first and only fast food of the trip, filling our bellies with a Pizza Hut special! BBQ chicken if I remember correctly! Since we had time to kill, we decided to clean out the car and repack our bags for the Jailhouse. It was a hell of a sight seeing all of our gear spread out on the sidewalk, the roof, and hood of the car as we tried to regain control!! It’s a damn good thing the town was quiet… it wasn’t pretty!

The last stretch of the drive to Christchurch was pretty painless. It was pretty much a straight shot, with no real twists or turns, and since the sun had set it was too dark to really appreciate the landscape making it a pretty generic stretch… that is until we were reminded by a talk radio host that “comet” viewing was spectacular this evening. I should mention that the night before we had seen an odd “something” through a break in the clouds, and weren’t sure if it was an aircraft or UFO, so we kind of brushed it off. When we looked around and realized that there was ZERO light pollution around us, we stopped the car with a screech and pulled off on to the grass. When we got out and looked around, the night sky was truly awe-inspiring; like something one might see in a NASA photograph of deep space. In all directions, stars filled up every inch of the night sky shining a brilliant white down from the heavens. The spaces not covered by stars were backlit with soft pink and yellow hues creating that patchy “cloudy” look one might see with dense star clusters and nebulae. It is humbling to say the least. As if that were not enough though, illuminating the western sky, the Comet McNaught, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_McNaught was seen diving down towards the horizon leaving a dramatic long flowing tail that filled half of the night sky!! There are no words. Truly a once in a lifetime as this comet may never come back to us!

Feeling inspired and energized, the last stretch to Christchurch was easy. We found our accommodations, the historic jailhouse. This hostel is actually in the restored jailhouse and is surprisingly nice, with a an element of mystery and fun. The rooms are all converted cell rooms, and the bath rooms and showers are all refurbished original structures! It was a lot of fun… nothing like a hot shower in a prison and then getting locked in with your cellmate for the night… Oz anyone? =)

New Zealand Part 6

2007-03-08T22:32:00.001-05:00

And the journey continues.....in baby steps! :-) Enjoy!!!

Sunday January 21st

… We settled back into the Pulsar and set ourselves up for the drive back to Queenstown. Yet again, I didn’t really judge the gas situation very well from Te Anau on the way in, and found ourselves in a precarious situation where we might end up stalled out in the middle of the rainforest with the poor old girl sputtering for air. The next gas stop wasn’t until Te Anau, 144 miles away. CURSES! With no option but to drive on, we did just that; why fret what you can’t control… we hit the road and just enjoyed the scenery on the ride back hoping for the best! The fog was a little lower in the early part up to the Homer Tunnel, so we really felt like we were driving in another world. The rainforest on the western side of the tunnel was dense in places and we stopped off at the Chasm about 15 minutes up the road from the sound. The Chasm is a natural “bottomless pit” that the Claddau River has carved out over thousands of years. The falls are set back from the road but can be reached easily by a wonderful 10 minute walk from the car park. The open air of the car park disappears quickly, and you are immersed immediately in lush dense temperate rain forest. A small network of boardwalks and bridges leads you to the falls. A subtle mist hung in the air that morning, blurring the distances, making it easy for us to lose ourselves in the moment. Glistening drops of water clung to every leaf and branch and the only sounds we could hear were the singing of birds and the constant subtle roar of rushing water in the distance. A wooden bridge takes you right over the crest of the falls, and even standing over them, it is difficult to appreciate how far they fall since they are lost quickly in the narrow chasm of rock they created. It was beautiful. We were the only people there, so we spent a few minutes enjoying the solitude.

We strolled back through the forest to the car and continued on. Going back east through the tunnel was interesting because it just didn’t seem quite as steep on the way down! On the other side, we found ourselves back in the granite bowl with the “three amigos” still reeking havoc with the tourists. One of the three had perched itself on the driver side mirror of a large tour bus. The Japanese tourists on the bus were loving every minute of it! As we slowly passed the crowd, we noticed some of them staring at us… before we panicked, we heard the sharp clicking of metal on our roof, and realized one of the Keas was freeloading on the roof of our car. Phil got out quickly and snapped a picture. With nothing for it to tear at and play with though, as the brilliant minds at Nissan that designed the performance Pulsar opted for the sleek aerodynamic shell you see in the pictures, the Kea got bored quickly and flew off.

The pace back was much more leisurely, and we got to savor the views more than we had on the way in. At one point, we were passing the Earl Mountains on our right and a striking splash of purple and pink caught our eye. We turned on to a small gravel road and found ourselves driving through a meadow of gorgeous tall lupines.

The road winded leisurely through the flowers towards a creek that cut through the valley floor. The field was a densely covered with the flowers and we decided to get out and stretch our legs again. The air was crisp and clean and a subtle sweet smell filled our nostrils. We walked off the beaten path through the flowers, which were up to our chests in some places. It was amazing to be surrounded by so much natural beauty and be the only 2 people around! We had fun taking pictures and relaxing, and after feeling refreshed, we finished our looping drive through the meadow.

We got back on the main road and drove a little further to the Mirror lakes. The mirrors are a small series of connected lakes that hug the road as you head back towards Knob’s Flat. Though small, they are remarkable because they create an amazing reflection of the mountain range across the valley floor. Sadly the sun did not peak through for us this time around, and the subtle persistent breeze did not allow the water to settle completely, so our reflections were not as dramatic as they could have been! It was a stunning effect nonetheless.

Our drive took us back past the Flat south towards Te Anau, at which point I gathered up some steam to make sure we had enough forward momentum to coast in to town if we got into trouble with the gas situation!

Te Anau is a tiny little town at the sound end of the lake that bears its name, so we weren’t expecting to find anything too exciting for food. We were starving though, and were willing to eat no matter what we found…I mean, we did spend a week stuffing our faces with meat pies… we weren't exactly picky! Nevertheless, we were oh so pleasantly surprised to find a very modern and chic restaurant called the Fat Duck. It had a very modern scacious interior with a large handsome bar at the far end and dark wood trim and deep blue lighting artfully placed throughout the space. The menu was a fun mix of flavors, and we opted for a giant sampler platter of various meats, cheeses, fish, and vegetables. It was delicious! Thank you Fat Duck for filling our bellies!! We filled the tank, and sped out of town for the remaining 2 hours or so to Queenstown.

We arrived back in town in the early afternoon and went straight to the Gondola to make arrangements for dinner and a Maori cultural show at the Skyline Restaurant overlooking the city. Once set, we decided to explore the Kiwi Birdlife Park which was sitting at the base of the Gondola. We figured we probably weren’t going to see a Kiwi in the wild, so we had to see one live before we left the country! The park entrance is misleading, as it is actually set much further down the hill, so we found ourselves walking down a steep path down a hill from the car park.

The park is very cute and well landscaped. It is also on the small side, so it is easy to walk through in an hour or so. They have several Kiwi houses and a number enclosures with many of the threatened and endangered bird species found in the country. The Kiwi was our focus though, and we got to see it! It is a rather remarkable thing, the Kiwi. It looks like something out of a Dr. Seuss book, with a rounded furry looking brown body which tapers up to a small head with a long narrow tan curving beak. It is flightless, as you probably all know, and it moves much more quickly on land than I imagined. Because there were no indigenous land predators during the evolution of New Zealand, many of the local birds, including the Kiwi, lost their ability fly. The nights and days have been reversed in the houses, so the birds are active during the daylight hours that visitors normally attend. The houses are lit with subtle red overhead lighting to which allows you to view them once your eyes adjust. They are funny critters, and we had a fun time watching 2 of them chase each other around one of the pens. After a quick spin through the park, we headed back to the waterfront to get settled in the hostel. Brumbles Backpackers is pretty nice as far as hostels go, and you can’t beat the location. We had a lakefront view from a balcony off the bedroom, and we were a 5 minute walk to the center of town! After unloading our gear, we took a relaxing and well deserved hot shower!!

As I mentioned before, the center of Queenstown sits in an L shape on the waterfront and is a charming gridwork of streets lined with shops, cafes, restaurants, and bars. We strolled down the streets holding hands comfortably along the way. It was perfect! We hit up the Wharf Casino: http://www.queenstown-nz.co.nz/information/product/?product=the-wharf-casino to pick up our lucky chip. The casino sits on the waterfront and is part of a waterfront complex. Downstairs from the casino we found the Minus 5 Bar: http://www.queenstown-nz.co.nz/information/Product/index.cfm?productID=34966 and decided to head in! The bar and all of its appointments are made out of 18 tons of ice! Even the glasses you drink out of! It is totally cheesy, but a fun novelty experience you have to do! They provide warm parkas and wool gloves to help keep you warm inside the bar. The entrance fee gives you 30 minutes in the bar and one cocktail. You can drink as much as you want, but we chose to keep it sane since we hadn’t had anything to eat yet. Inside, we were introduced to our Australian bartender, who’s name escapes me! He was very friendly and funny, and totally supported and encouraged silly behavior.

He let us behind the bar to pose for shots, and encouraged ice sculpture “interactions”! I’m sorry for some of the pictures! Um… yeah… so we laughed and drank for the allotted time and concluded our stay with the traditional smashing of the glass in the trash bin before you leave… Phil had no problems, but I had to be difficult and put a little too much butch in the toss! I put my whole body into the wind up, and threw full force into the EDGE of the bin, not the body, so the glass proceeded to shatter itself all over the floor of the bar! Oops! It’s a good thing it was empty and we were on our way out! It’s hard being this strong all the time! Ha ha…ha…. Um… so moving along…

After the bar, we head over to the After the bar, we head over to the Skyline Gondola: http://www.skyline.co.nz/
to head up for the Kiwi Huka Maori cultural show and dinner. The Restaurant is stunning, sitting at an elevation of 2500 feet, over 1200 feet above the lake. The Gondola takes a few minutes to go up and is allegedly the steepest gondola in the southern hemisphere… who knows! We took a minute to clean the camera lenses with the 2nd lens cloth of our trip (the first one got lost somewhere, somehow on the north island) and prepared to capture the views as we came out above the trees.

Just beyond and above the Restaurant complex is a twisting collection of alpine slide tracks that were closed due to the weather. We had some time to kill though, so we walked up along the paths anyway to enjoy the breathtaking panoramic views of the lake. After about a half an hour, we head back down to take in the show. The show was a basic introduction to the Maori Culture. We were greeted at the entrance by a somewhat heavy set smiling Maori woman in dramatic black face paint reminiscent of Henna tattoos. She greeted the group and asked for a volunteer to be group chief. The chief was meant to introduce the group, and accept the Maori tribe’s offering of peace so that the show could proceed… well poor unsuspecting Phil had made a bee-line for the lieu and came back just after she finished her question, and offered to help not realizing what she was asking for!! So Phil became our tribe’s Chief! He was met at the bottom of the theater by a lean half-naked Maori man with full face paint shouting, stomping, and wielding a spear. Oh my!! He was walked through the traditional greeting by our friendly hostess, accepted the young man’s offering, and made it possible for the rest of us to see the show without being killed! Thanks baby!! The show was entertaining and informative. It is an interesting culture to be sure, and not something I will even attempt to write about… except for the poi episode. The poi is an exercise of sorts that both Maori men and women do to improve coordination and flexibility. It utilizes a foam ball at the end of a rope that is whirled around and deflected off the opposite hand and other body parts. This was another group participation kind of thing, and our man Phil got picked again! He was placed in the center of the line of tourists, and twirled and spun like a natural!!

After the show, we proceeded back upstairs to the main dining room. It was a massive 3 tiered room with high ceilings and walls made entirely of glass giving every patron a spectacular view of the natural surrounds. We were placed at a cozy table on the east end of the room with views of the southern extent of the lake, the town below, and the mountains behind us… not bad at all! The dinner was buffet style and truthfully, was only average, but the view and the company more than made up for any shortfalls in the meal! Average schmaverage though, we still stuffed ourselves silly!! As our meal was winding down and the sun was finally setting, we started taking pictures, and that lead us to conversations with our neighbors. I was bummed to find however, that somehow I managed to lose the damn lens cloth between the journey up the gondola and dinner, so I was sans cleaner again! SHITE! But I digress… sitting behind us was an older couple from England. They were very friendly, and were talking about their travel plans. It turns out they were headed to L.A. and they were looking for advice on the quick and dirty tour of the city! Phil, being the native, offered up some suggestions and we wished them well! To our right, was a newlywed lesbian couple from Tasmania, Rachael and Fizz. The couple looked very happy and shared with us their travel plans and a little about their lives in Tasmania. It turns out they were musicians and music teachers, and very much on the same page as Mr. Zipkin. It was a hoot. Yet another connection to Phil… We laughed a lot, and suddenly realized that the place was closing down! We said our goodnights and before leaving invited us to stay with them if we ever made it back down under. We thanked them, wished them well, and offered a space in Queens if they ever made it to the Big Apple.
On the way back down, a freaky thing happened, we stepped into the gondola and as we were sitting and chatting, Phil looked over his shoulder and found the lens cloth we had left behind! What are the odds that we would leave it in the gondola and get right back into the same one on the way down!! Spooky!! Anyway…

We held hands as we made our way back through the center of town towards the hostel. The town was such a cosmopolitan mix of people, we felt completely at ease. Before retiring, we settled down on a quiet bench on the lakefront beach across the street from the hostel. We opened a bottle of wine and had nightcap. We sipped quietly as we sat listening to the calming sounds of the water breaking on the shoreline. Phil leaned against me and with my arm around his shoulder pulled him in tight… what a night! What a trip!

New Zealand Part 5

2007-02-27T15:20:00.000-05:00

Saturday January 20th

Anniversary Part 2…. Off to Milford Sound.

We woke up to yet another gray day, and were wondering whether it was worth the 4.0 hour trip to the Milford Sound area, but decided that since it is one of the wettest places in the country it probably didn’t matter at all. We didn’t have to be in Milford Sound until 4:15 to catch our boat, so we figured we’d stroll around Queenstown first before hitting the open road. Queenstown is one of the most beautiful towns I’ve ever visited. Is sits at a bend on the northeast corner of Lake Wakatipu which gives it amazing views in all directions. The mountains surrounding the lake are bold and dramatic and in view no matter where you are in town. We drove down to the town center, parked on the street, and decided to walk around the various side streets to look for a place for breakfast. We turned towards the water and found a cute open square on the waterfront where you can pick up ferry and tour boats to take you out on the lake. Local artisans were filling up the main thoroughfare setting up tables and tents to sell their wares. Next to the square and dock is a well constructed plaza that houses numerous fine restaurants, the Minus 5 frozen bar, and the Wharf Casino. We found a great little place for breakfast right nearby called the Naff Caff Café and had ourselves a delicious meal! You’ll all be happy to know we had a proper breakfast with nary a meat pie to be found! After breakfast we hit up the artisan tables and chose a Tangiwai necklace for Phil. It was perfect, and a stone we learned was unique to the Milford Sound area which made it all the more special considering our final destination. The local legend tells the story of Tama, a Maori warrior whose wives were abducted by Poutini, the guardian of the greenstone. Tama wandered about searching for his wives and found one of them at Milford Sound. She had been turned into pounamu. He cried and his tears fell on the stone and changed into tangiwai, or weeping water, the pale translucent bowenite which is another form of greenstone valued for pendants. He searched further up the river until he came upon a waterfall blocking his way. The boulders he rested upon were his other two wives who had also been transformed into greenstone

We continued in and out of stores until about 11 o’clock and decided we should get back to the car and hit the road. We climbed into the car excited and recharged, when our hearts fell abruptly into our stomachs at the almost imperceptible **click click** of the last bit of juice leaving our battery!! It seems that smarty, that would be me (Shawn), forgot that not all cars automatically turn off the head lights and the few hours we were away were plenty enough to sap the poor old girl of her will to live… so sad! Thankfully we were parked outside the good old Salvation Army, so I walked in and asked the woman behind the counter if she could help me. She was a saint, and got right on the phone with her friend who owned a garage up the street. He arrived in short order, hooked up the sensors to the battery, and with a grim face told me we’d be wise to have it replaced. I started to get nervous though, because we really couldn’t leave any later than noon if we wanted to have any shot of getting to the sound on time, and it was fast approaching 11:30. On the other hand, we didn’t want to get stranded in Milford Sound which is way the hell off the beaten path! CURSES… I chose to replace it, and found myself pacing nervously in the garage as the minutes ticked off the clock, kicking myself for my stupidity! The funny irony here is that we thought we’d be budget conscious and decided not to get the extra insurance on the old beast, so because of that the rental agency wouldn’t pay for the repair… so the cost of the battery ended up equaling what we would have paid for the insurance we declined in the first place… I think there’s a life lesson here… hmmm

We got ourselves in gear by noon and I hauled ass out of there… I got nervous when the initial part of the drive along Lake Wakatipu was that slow snaking drive we’d grown accustomed to on the South Island, but relaxed when it finally pulled away from the lake into more open country roads. It’s a good thing the old P.O.S had all that new juice running through her, because I put her into overdrive. We made mad time and got to the Milford Drive with time enough to actually enjoy the drive. A quick geopgraphy note. As the crow flies, Milford Sound is actually not too far to the west of Queenstown, but because the mountains are so rugged, you actually have to take a long 4+ hour detour loop south and then back up north to get into the Fjordland National Park area: http://www.fiordland.org.nz/ . The Drive into Milford Sound: http://www.fiordland.org.nz/Travel-Guide/Maps/Te-Anau-Milford-Road-Highway.asp is listed in many places as one of the most scenic drives in the world! There are also several hikes in the area that are described as some of the most beautiful in the world. We couldn’t wait!!

The magic starts as you turn north from the town of Te Anau. The road takes you along the beautiful Lake Te Anau and then turns to the northeast towards the mountains in the distance. Within a half hour or so, my power driving ended suddenly when we came upon Knobs Flat. The view simply took our breath away and we had to stop. Mother Nature must have been feeling sorry for us for the morning’s drama, as the sun started smiling down on us, breaking through the clouds just in time to enjoy the moment. The Flat is a huge wide field of tall golden grasses extending far into the distance with jagged mountain crags rising on either side of the valley becoming more and more grand and snow covered the farther ahead you look! We weren’t the only ones amazed, as an entire tour bus worth of people about a half a km up the road had emptied into the fields and were twirling hands outstretched as if they were having a Sound of Music Moment…

We pressed on for another half our or so and found the path ahead narrowing and becoming more lush. Clouds started to hug the mountain tops again and fill in parts of the valley. For some stretches, we were buried in thick rain forest and in others the valley would open up again and reveal itself. At its most dramatic, we found ourselves on a stretch of road like nothing I have ever seen in my life. I think it was the most beautiful place I’ve ever been.

The valley floor was a deep dark canvas of grasses, lush plants, and small trees. Gorgeous shimmering rock faced cliffs rose sharply out of the foliage trapping us on the valley floor. Waterfalls of all shapes and sizes coursed there way down every nook and cranny from the higher elevations all the way down to the valley floor. The air was cold and crisp here, and cleaner than anything I’ve ever inhaled. Looking up to the misty peaks, you could just make out the specks of blue of the high mountain glaciers seemingly defying gravity against the steep cliffs on which they lay.

This stretch of road curves off to the west and then stops abruptly in a huge rock bowl at the entrance to the Homer Tunnel: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer_Tunnel You have to wait 15 minutes between signals, as it is a one-way trip through a steep and dark tunnel carved into the granite mountain ahead of you. With no sky in sight and the steep walls of rock disappearing into the clouds above it was a very surreal experience. We stepped out of the car to take in the view and noticed the air was starkly colder here. To our surprise we saw 3 Keas, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kea playing at the side of the road. These are beautiful green parrots found in the alpine regions of the country and are known for being extremely “naughty” to quote the natives. They will take stuff right off of your person and tear off pieces of your car. They are not afraid of people and these three before us were tossing around someone’s dropped phone card. It was really funny! The tunnel drops steeply ahead to the opening on the other side of the mountain. It opens up into another awe-inspiring mountain bound road that defies description… and I’m sure you’re sick of my rambling attempts to put them into words. Suffice it to say, if you ever have the opportunity to get to New Zealand, you MUST take the trip to Milford Sound: http://www.nzti.com/cruise-milford/milford-sound.htm

The last kilometer or so flattens out and winds you down to sea level through the very modest “town” and up to the Boat Terminal at the eastern edge of Milford Sound. We parked the car with 15 minutes to spare and packed our overnight bag for the journey on the Milford Wanderer: http://www.realjourneys.co.nz/Main/OvernightCruises/ The boat was a good size, able to carry up to 60 passengers and crew. It had viewing decks on all 4 sides of the main level, and 2 sleeping quarters down below. The main cabin had booths along the window and a longer cafeteria style table in the center. The kitchen was in full view at the front of the main cabin with a wide open counter that doubled as a bar, separating it from us. It was an interesting mix of people on the boat, the largest of the groups being a rather rowdy college-aged lot that spent a good portion of the time hootin’ and hollerin’ as frat guys tend to! Thankfully, it was more amusing than annoying, and once the sun went down we were comfortably distracted with our own group fun…

By the time we were ready to pull out of the dock, the sunshine we had seen an hour or so ago at Knob’s Flat was long gone. The air was cool, and the skies were cloudy and threatening rain. Sadly, we never got to see the classic picture of Milford sound with the clear blue skies and the dramatic mile-high sea cliffs of the triangular Mitre Peak proudly dominating the foreground. Instead, what we saw was a mystical world of low clouds and dramatic rocky cliffs rising steeply out of the water and disappearing into the mist above never revealing just how high they were. As much as it would have been spectacular to see the world’s most photographed mountain in all its glory, we were happy to have it this way since rainy days bring the mountain cliffs to life sending waterfalls careening down from the heights above in a stunning visual.

As we pulled out into the sound, we had a meet and greet with the crew and our fellow travelers. They gave us the rundown of the tour, showed us our bunks, and opened the bar! To our delight, we were given our own bunk and were able to spread out a little in the ever so tiny space. Each bunk was closed off to the public by a sliding terry cloth curtain. Tres snazzy! Inside there were dual narrow bunk beds on either side, with a walking space in between that Kate Moss would have a hard time negotiating! High on the wall on at the end of the aisle was a porthole between the bunks providing some natural light and a cool view about 2 feet above the surface of the water! Since our transformation to total winos was not yet complete, we figured we’d finish the conversion on this fine day and cracked open one of the bottles we brought on board! We made our way back up the steep and narrow ladder-stairs to the main deck to head outside to enjoy the views. Unfortunately, I misjudged the distance between step and ceiling, and clocked my head on the leading edge on my way up. To my dismay, the volume of wine I had imbibed up to that point was not enough to dull the pain! Oy!! The lesson was clearly to drink more and faster to avoid such a catastrophe in the future… I got right on it!

The starboard, port, and aft decks were covered to provide shelter from the elements, but the bow was open to allow for the full experience rain or shine! Our journey took us along the inner half of the sound past striking sea cliffs, huge and powerful falls, with sea birds shrieking past from time to time, and the occasional group of adolescent fur seals resting on the exposed rocks along the cliffs. We were in heaven, again! After a several hour loop, the boat turned us back to the eastern shores into a quiet cove for an opportunity to get more intimately connected to the sound. We had the option of a sea kayak tour or a large motorized skiff tour of the deepwater basin. Since the weather had really turned south at this point, we opted for the motorboat option. We spent about 40 minutes skimming right up to the rocks getting the detailed tour from the crew’s naturalist. He was a very nice bloke, telling us local stories with a fun dry sense of humor. He had a handle bar moustache/gotee-looking thing, big hoop earrings, bandana on his head, and slight stutter. A regular pirate he was! The tour took us past waterfalls, old avalanche sites, beautiful flowering tress, and a cute lonely fur seal basking proudly on a small exposed rock. As fun as it was, poor Phil was having a hard time relaxing as his full bladder was conspiring against him! By about 20 minutes into the tour, the wind, rain, and splashing waterfalls were just taunting him, and ceased to be amusing!! Thankfully, Mother Nature saved him, as a sudden downpour of rain forced an early end to the tour!

Once back on board, we dried off, replenished our wine, and made our way back up to the main cabin for dinner. We found a booth and were joined soon after by 3 young women on the tour, Liz, Tracy, and Colleen. They turned out to be great fun, and we ended up spending the next 5 hours with them drinking, laughing, telling stories, and playing games. Liz is a Kiwi from the Auckland area. Tracy is a fun American from Wisconsin. Tracy and Liz met in college and have remained friends since. They were traveling with Colleen, a San Diego native, who was now studying with Tracy in Hawaii. The three decided to take a holiday in New Zealand, giving the Americans a chance to see the magic, and Liz a chance to get to the South Island. This, of course, worked out well for us, as it gave us the pleasure of meeting them! To our surprise and delight, dinner was actually really tasty. The cook on board prepared a pumpkin bisque that was delicioso! This was followed by roasted lamb and potatoes for the main course, and a tasty pavlova for dessert. Pavlova is a creamy meringue dessert covered in fresh fruit, that originated in New Zealand. YUMMY!

After we cleared the dinner plates, we sat with our new lady friends and laughed a lot! Since Phil and I had run out of our wine, we replenished the bottle at the bar, and kept the spirits flowing! Tracy was a regular comedian, and had us rolling in the aisles… so much so at one point I managed to send my glass of wine splashing across the table!! Oh yeah, I’m a classy date. We talked about our lives, our trips so far, music, dating, you name it! After awhile, and the opening of our 3rd bottle of wine… I mean second, I mean, shit… ha ha… um… well it was over the course of many hours… um, yeah and of course we were sharing it with the girls… I mean please, do you think we’re that bad… wow. Anyway… inspired by our neighbors, the games began. Since Phil had actually been through college without ever playing the game of asshole, the rest of us decided to introduce him to the old college staple. It was fun hearing the different regional rules as we talked him through it. We had a lot of fun, and well, as beginner’s luck would have it, Phil actually did well, making his way all the way up to Presidente. Que bueno! After asshole, we decided to reclaim our pride and sophistication, and introduced the ladies to “In the manner of the adverb” Tracy was a genious performer, and it was hard to guess through the tears of laughter. Good times! At one point, I ran downstairs to get some paper to exchange information with them, and in my hasty return, managed to clock my head yet again on the same edge! Thankfully, this time I was numb enough not to feel it… (at least not until the morning… damn… the knot I had on my head the next morning was shocking!!) By midnight, the ladies decided to call it a night, and Phil and I stepped out onto the back of the boat to have a night cap. There we met a nice guy from the Canadian Army who was on a government paid vacation and managed to hook himself up with the aforementioned crazy big group not realizing what he was getting into. It was an interesting conversation, and while chatting and sipping we may have been persuaded to have a cigarette with said soldier… I mean who were we to deny him the company after serving so honorably in the middle east… okay, fine, we had 2.

We poured ourselves into bed comfortably after one, and readied ourselves for the next day of our trip. Our grand plans were to get up at dawn to make the most of the time, but we didn’t even stir until we heard the sound of the breakfast announcement! We met our new lady friends for breakfast, filled ourselves up on eggs and bacon, and stepped out on the deck to enjoy the morning air. The plan was to take the boat out to the west to the entrance of the sound and beyond into the Tasman Sea. As we approached though, we found ourselves staring into a wall of white. The fog was so dense you could not see anything ahead; it was eerie. The crew thought better of pressing on and turned us back into the sound. We traced the southern shore on the way back in and were taken to a large waterfall with a rock face so sheer the boat was able to get right up and touch the wall with the bow of the boat. Our resident Naturalist, the aforementioned pirate, suddenly appeared in full rain gear carrying what looked like a cup of coffee. He proceeded to step right on to the bow and under the crashing waters. After a short spell he stepped out and proceeded to tell us a story. It turns out that because this particular waterfall falls from such a height over exposed rock, the friction created actually warms the water. He had the water in 2 coffee cups, and it was warm to the touch even through the 2 cups! Amazing! Nothing like a natural warm shower!

The last hour of the trip really blew our minds. We were heading back towards the dock and got word that the resident pod of bottlenose dolphins was nearby, so they made a detour and took us over near them. The show we got was out of this world! We cruised at a snail’s pace into the cove, and noticed quickly that the dolphins were everywhere; easily 20+ in the pod. They were swimming just off to the port side of the boat, moving slowly in the opposite direction we were headed. In the silence, you could hear the gentle splashing of water as they broke the surface, punctuated by the deep respirations they made before diving back under. The water was so clear here that you could see them a fair distance underwater as well. There was an unusual effect created where the gray of their skin seemed to become almost illuminated a blue/white when they dove underwater. Amazing! We even had the good fortune of seeing several young calves surfacing next to their moms. They were so adorable. While the bulk of the group was quietly going about their business, we had the occasional wild child make a more bold statement by jumping completely out of the water! Sadly, the camera had a hard time catching them at the exact moments of their surfacing, so I missed a lot! The memories, however, are indelible... and Phil’s video footage is fantastic!! After spending a good time coasting along with the group, the crew decided to turn it up a notch and try to encourage more exciting play. They slowly turned the boat back out towards the main body of the sound and kicked up the speed. This really got them going, at least half of the pod started to chase the boat and ride the pressure waves it created! It was out the park cool. The were jumping out and ahead of the wakes, diving back and forth between each other, and at one point 4 of them were swimming so close to each other, it looked like they were toughing. I have never seen anything so exciting!! The best start of a day ever!!!

After about 10 minutes of play, they suddenly turned away, and once the show was over, the crew turned us back to port and took us home. We said our good-byes to Liz and company, wished them a safe journey, and went back below to pack or bags for the journey back to Queenstown. It was sad to leave, but we were looking forward to having a little more time to see some of the things we missed on the drive in…

New Zealand Part 4

2007-02-18T18:19:00.000-05:00

Day 5: (Narrated by Shawn)

Friday January 19th.

Happy Anniversary...

... This was a big day, and one we were both looking forward to with great anticipation. We decided, after much debate in plotting our course around the country, to have a kind of 2-day anniversary celebration. The first plan was to head south along the coast to glacier country in Westland National Park and do a half day hike on one of the two large glaciers that highlight the park, The Franz Josef and the Fox Glaciers. And the second was to take an overnight cruise in the Milford Sound in Fjordland National Park. After looking at both glacier options, I decided to book us a trip with the Franz Josef Tour Group. The drive to the glacier from Greymouth takes about 2 hours., but it is an easy drive, with lots of straight open stretches of road allowing some real zipping along! That is of course, unless you are stopped by a herd of cattle crossing the road!

About a half hour from the glaciers the road starts to get more interesting, as the flat fields, low brush, and small hills changed dramatically into more serious rises covered in lush temperate rain forest. It is like we entered a mythical world. For all you Tolkien fans, it was one of the most Lord of the Rings moments of the trip. Truly like we were in the misty mountains! Although really impossible to tell from the road, the mountains on your left as you head south are the foothills of the largest mountains of the Southern Alps. These peaks remain permantly snow covered and are the source of many of the country's glaciers. What is really interesting is that while most of the world's glaciers seem to be in recession. The Franz Josef and the Fox glaciers are still growing. What is more, they are two of only a handful of glaciers that drop so far and come so close to the ocean in such temperate climates. As I understand it, only glaciers in Patagonia have similar qualities. From its origin high in the Southern Alps, the Franz Josef Glacier descends deep into the lush rainforest of Westland’s National Park, from a height of 2700m (~8800 feet) above sea level to only 240m (~800 feet) in as little as 11 km, making it the worlds steepest and fastest flowing commercially guided glacier! Woo hoo Game on!!

We arrived in the little town of Franz Josef with 40 minutes to spare. Of course, like so many places on the South Island, I use of the word "town" loosely. This settlement was little more than a quarter mile stretch of civilization and about a dozen buildings. Sadly mother nature was not being kind, and the surrounding high mountains were completely covered in clouds and the low peaks were fighting to emerge from the soft tendrils of fog that were embracing them. My heart was racing! We packed our bag with water and power bars for the adventure to come, and had enough time left over to get ourselves some meat pies from gas station made in Phil's Bakery in Greymouth! It was the perfect energy boost. I mean, there is nothing like a half pound of beef and gravy in a crisp pastry shell to get you started for strenuous exercise!! What were we thinking?! The Tour Group is exceptionally well run, and one I would highly recommend for those of you considering a trip to these parts! They provided water proof pants, boots, jackets, stylish red fanny packs with size-appropriate ice talonz, as well as mittens and hats if we so chose.

They packed about 40 people in a bus with us that were later divided into 3 groups for the glacier ascent. The sky was gray when we started, but we didn't let that bother us. The bus ride wa short, and took us about 10 minutes outside of town. About halfway there we caught our first glimpse of the glacier through the lush foliage around the road. It was just a tease, but enough to get our hearts pounding, and we both looked at each other smiling! The beauty of this experience is hard to describe, and pictures and even video probably won't do it justice. It is otherworldly in the truest sense of the word. We started walking up a very modest incline into a beautiful rejuvenating rain forest. Though young, the canopy was developing nicely, and most of the higher sites were initially hid from view. Within a short while though, we stepped out of the green and into a wide open valley in full view of the glacier a few kilometers away. It took my breath away, and to our delight, we noticed that although we were surrounded by clouds above, the sky above the glacier was starting to clear and blue was beginning to peak through! Someone was smiling down on us!

The valley floor was cut in half by a braided river originitating from beneath the glacier itself, emerging out of a 5 story tunnel at its base! The mountains rising up on either side of the glacier itself were very steep and rugged, but still had lush forest coverage on the lower elevations. There were also a number of waterfalls streaming down their rock faces, some barely a trickle, and others crashing more dramatically to the valley floor. As we got closer, we started to see a number of warning signs that caused a nervous chuckle. Nothing like seeing 4 large caution signs with pictograms of how you might die in the adventure you were about to take! We pressed on putting our full faith in our guides! Even sitting within a half kilometer of the glacier's face, it was hard to grasp just how massive this ice sheet was! Things had warmed up considerably by the time we reached the access point, and we decided to take off a few layers before strapping on the ice talonz and moving on. We took the advanced group and were the first to step on to the ice. The hike/climb is well organized, and is designed to be user friendly for the less experienced among us. They had make-shift stairs cut into various faces with guide rope and bridges placed over areas that were more dangerous.

The ice of the first parts of the hike were more gray than blue, as the dust, rocks, and small boulders the glacier has been pushing out of its way were collecting in the crevaces near the bottom. The higher we got though,the more stunning it became, and there are few words to describe it. By the time we were about 10 minutes into the ascent, the sun had won the battle, and the clouds were burning off fast. The gray ice gave way to white, and the white soon gave way to a blue that became more brilliant and beautiful the higher we got. When staring into these blue sections, you could see spectacular patterns and markings deep within it. If that wasn't enough, the rapid movement, the warm sun, and time had molded the surface of the ice into a countless variety of shapes and textures. The combination was truly awe-inspiring. If you ever have the chance to see a glacier, or even better, get on one, I suggest you jump at the chance. We hiked for about 2 hours on the ice, over crevaces, over ridges, and through tunnels, probably getting up about 1000 feet before eventually turning back. We were sad to leave, but so happy to have had the opportunity.

By the time we reached the valley floor again we were full on sweating, and we took off all the remaining layers and even the jacket to try to cool off before packing ourselves back in the bus! Phil and I were stragglers on the hike back though, as the entire valley was bathed in sunlight now, and the views were even better than when we first arrived. It was very hard to tear ourselves away!

Once back at the car, we drove for another half hour or so to the Fox Glacier, and figured we should at least take a look, since it was a once-in-a-lifetime chance. The drive up to this glacier was a little more interesting since we were now driving through well established rain forest. The other fun thing was they had signs posted along the approach showing you how far the glacier had advanced at various pounts in history. Just before the glacier, we passed a pond on our left with some of the most brilliant blue and green water we have ever seen. To this day we have no idea what it was that gave the water this color, but it was gorgeous! You'll see the pictures soon. The Fox Glacier is absolutely beautiful and I'm sure we would have had as much fun here had we decided to hike this one. After a few photo-ops, we moved on, since we had a 4-5 hour drive south the Queenstown!

About a third of the way down from Franz Josef, we hit the town of Haast, the last coastal town before diving inland through the Southern Alps. We figured we'd gas up and have some food, since it was going to be a long stretch before hitting Queenstown. Although large on the map, Haast is so small, that we actually drove by it the first time not realizing it was actually the entire town! Our only food option here was Smith's Tavern. There are few words to describe this dive hick watering hole.... oh, did I say that? The deer and goat heads adorning every wall space and antlers hanging from all of the exposed roof beams should have been enough of a warning sign not expect great things, but we didn't want to judge a book by its cover! Well we should have! Poor Phil's seafood platter, ended up being a giant bowl of DEEP fried batter with little seafood bits buried deep within! He suffered through a few pieces before I ordered up a steak so we could leave on a happier note. This was not the romantic anniversary dinner we had in mind! The pictures of the summer festival showing a group of local women leaning over plucking ducks was the icing on the cake, and we high tailed it out of there!

The pain of Smithy's was soon forgotten though, and in short order the landscape started to look like something out of the movies!! The mountains were ragged and rocky and the higher elevations were still coated with last winter's snow.The pain of Smithy’s was soon forgotten, as we drove further inland into the Southern Alps: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Alps towards Queenstown. Within minutes we found ourselves surrounded by some of the most beautiful scenery we would see on our trip. A mountain river roared through the valley between huge ragged snow-capped peaks. Mist hung over the surface of the water highlighted in places by sun beams breaking through the clouds above. In places where the sun found the water, it was illuminated a stunning blue I have never seen in such waters before. The river soon turned away from the road leaving golden mountain fields in its place whose tall grasses were dancing wildly in the winds racing through the valley. It couldn’t get any better… could it?

We stopped for gas in a little town… I should say, in a little building complex that doubled as a town. It was all weathered and rustic like something out of a western movie. It had 2 small self-serve gas pumps outside under a drive up awning, and a little convenience store / restaurant / post office / inn within the building itself. I didn’t see a school, but I’m sure it must have been out back!

We got back on the road and continued the adventure to Queenstown. The mountains on our right were great, but the mountains beyond were tremendous, with higher more beautiful snow-capped elevations peaking through the valleys in between. It turns out we were driving just to the east of the northern most aspect of Mount Aspiring National Park: http://www.newzealand.com/travel/destinations/national-parks/mount-aspiring/mount-aspiring.cfm

The road continued south, and before long the view opened up ahead and we found ourselves hugging the eastern banks of Lake Wanaka: http://www.newzealand.com/travel/destinations/regions/wanaka/wanaka-home.cfm This is New Zealand’s 3rd largest lake, and a sight to behold. What was amazing that was except for the road we were driving on, the lake seemed completely unspoiled. There were no signs of civilization anywhere, except for the town of Wanaka at its southern banks, which we stumbled upon later! We couldn’t help but stop every 5 minutes to take in the views, as each turn of the road showed off something better than the moment before. About halfway down the eastern shore, we were bummed to find that the road turned sharply left up a hill through a small valley away from the lake. We had no time to mourn the loss of the view though, as we crested the small hill and saw one of the most breathtaking views of the whole vacation. There ahead was Lake Hawea: http://www.newzealandnz.co.nz/lakehawea/ , Wanaka’s sister lake. Because the sun was starting to set at that point, and because we approached the lake from the west, every rocky crevice of the entire mountainous eastern shore ahead of us was illuminated a warm golden brown. There are no words…

After taking a long relaxing moment, we continued on. The road drove along the western shores of Lake Hawea to its southern bank and beyond. There the we followed along the other side of the mountains along Lake Wanaka’s eastern shore which took us around to the southern bank where we found the cozy little town of Wanaka. This is a must stop for anyone traveling in the area. It provides great access to Mount Aspiring National Park, it has a all kind of lake sports to offer, and it is a charming town to simply stroll around. They have a scenic beach and park along the waterfront, and a stretch of modern restaurants and cafes with outdoor seating and spectacular lake and mountain views. We decided to stop here instead of rushing to Queenstown to have ourselves a proper anniversary dinner while we still had some light. After some consideration, we decided to try the Reef Seafood Restaurant:
http://www.wanaka-info.co.nz/restaurants.php?id=23
, since it was on the second floor and we were all about getting the best views we could to catch the last of the sunset over the lake! The staff was friendly, the ambiance warm and inviting, and the views remarkable, with huge glass panels so clear they almost looked invisible… They were so convincingly clear, in fact, that some poor Belgian tourist walked right into one next to us trying to take a picture, and shattered an entire panel!! Um, Wow!!! After what looked like an uncomfortable conversation, which I am sure included how they were going to pay for the damage, the mood settled again, and we had a wonderful, romantic dinner!

As the last of the light was fading, we said goodbye to Wanaka and hit the road for the last hour of driving to Queenstown. Queenstown sits at the north eastern bend of of the beautiful Lake Wakatipu:
http://www.experiencequeenstown.co.nz/southern-lakes-region/lake-wakatipu/
We didn’t see the lake in the evening, but the town was great. It is much more commercial than Wanaka, but still has a lot of charm and character. There are countless shops, restaurants, and bars scattered throughout the downtown, and the cutest little casino on the waterfront, and for Friday night, the town was hopping! There were people everywhere, which we weren't used to!! We continued past the bustling town center and up a small hill to our final resting place of the evening,
The Heritage Hotel Queenstown:
http://www.nz-holiday.co.nz/heritage-queenstown/default.asp This hotel is fantastic, and one I highly recommend for anyone visiting the area. It is gorgeous, well-appointed, and inexpensive with ridiculous views of the mountains and lake. Our room was spacious and beautiful, with a private balcony out back overlooking a mountain creek, and giant bathroom. We took a well earned hot shower, put our feet up on the bed, and resigned ourselves to a night in. It was already a long day, and we were exhausted. Instead, we opened one of the wines we picked up along the way, and made a toast to a great day, a fantastic trip, and to our love… what better way to cap off the first year with the man you love… thank you Phil for an amazing journey so far!!