Trip to St. Lucia

I'm finally taking the time to blog about our trip to St. Lucia! In a word, it was lavish. 

We stayed at the Calabash Cove resort at the northwest part of the island.

Travel included two quick flights and a 1.5 hour drive to the resort. We were greeted by the friendliest staff and our drink of choice. Rum punch it is! 

I was in awe from the moment we arrived. Billie and I opted for "all-inclusive," meaning anything we wanted, we could "just dial 0" and ask for. Unlimited food and drinks! 

This is the view from our back patio in the swim-up junior suite. We walked right out our room and swam into the infinity pool. It doesn't get any better than that! 

The first morning, I ordered room service coffee and had quiet time with this view. I felt like my heart might burst! 

This is the view from the resort restaurant. We ate breakfast here one day and ate dinner here every night! 

View of the swim-up bar from our room. 

The first suite to the left of the pool bar was ours. We swam across the pool to lay out in the sun... 

and to get this view! 

After breakfast, Billie and I spent most mornings at the beach. We paddle-boarded, jet-skied, and swam. 

In the afternoon, we ate lunch at the pool bar and spent hours in the sun until dinner. 

After catching the sunset, we showered and dressed for a fancy dinner at the Wingsong restaurant upstairs. 

Here is a glimpse of some of our meals! 

For breakfast, we ordered room service every day except one. We ate coconut pancakes, eggs Benedict, cocoa tea French toast, local fruit plates, and a traditional St. Lucian breakfast with figs, boiled egg, salt fish, and fried bread. 

For lunch, we ate at the swim-up bar each day. Meals included a pork belly sandwich on ciabatta, Mediterranean tomato chicken mozzarella on ciabatta, duck breast Ceasar salad, tempura shrimp with wasabi mayo, and conch stir fry with glass noodles, to name a few. 

Dinner meals included Scotch eggs, lamb, and lobster encrusted salmon. I truly couldn't get enough. Each dinner meal we had was one of the best meals of my life. By the time we left, I was so full... I though I could never be hungry again! :) 

I'm so thankful for this time I got with Billie post-deployment. I feel SO lucky to have visited such an amazing place. One word of caution...we don't recommend renting your own car in a place like this. We had a wreck on our way to the airport. Billie did GREAT, but driving on the wrong side of the car AND road with no speed limits and no center lines dividing lanes... that can be tricky. We were completely side-swiped by an 18-wheeler on a roundabout. We were ok! Very thankful it wasn't worse. 

Asheville!

Billie's 30th bday trip to Asheville was a success!!

It started with lunch at Farm Burger downtown...

Followed by cider tasting at the only cider brewery in Asheville... Urban Orchard.

Friday night, we ate dinner at Strada Italiano downtown...

tuna, sauteed spinach, risotto, and salsify puree

Then we dropped in at French Broad Chocolate Lounge, which I have wanted to visit since they were featured by Southern Living. Lounge style atmosphere with drinks, coffees, tortes, truffles, cakes, and more... I left with a bar of dark mint chocolate. Mmmmmm.

 

Saturday morning, we went on a white water rafting trip down the French Broad River... one of the 3 oldest rivers in the world. It was beautiful. And cold. I wish I would have gotten one of the pics of our raft! I think this was Billie's favorite part of the weekend!

My highlight of the weekend though? Dinner with Catherine and Jon. Since Catherine and I finished grad school, I have seriously missed having her in my life! It was so fun to get to spend a night with them. We ate tapas at Curate in downtown Asheville, followed by ice cream at The Hop!

One of my favorite things about Asheville... Every coffee shop/cafe we checked out had almond milk and/or coconut milk options. Almond milk latte? Um, yes please.

 

Sunday morning, Billie and I drove up the Blue Ridge Parkway to hike/run/walk Graveyard Fields. It was misty, foggy, and muddy, to say the least. It was a bit of a "fail." Amateurs we are.

But any time with this guy is good time.


I'm already compiling a list of what I want to do my next trip to Asheville, including Wicked Weed Brewery, hiking at Dupont State Forrest (where "Hunger Games" was filmed!),  the Farmer's Market, the Biltmore, and White Duck Taco Shop.

Can't wait to go again!

Chicago Part 2

Day 2 in Chicago started with a scenic walk to breakfast. We considered doing an architectural boat tour in this area, but I felt like our dinner cruise the night before met the need. 

Breakfast was at Wildberry! We arrived at 8:30, and there was already a wait. But it was worth it! Our food was served in probably 3 minutes. And. it. was. delicious. (See proof below.)

Billie's pancakes (He also got eggs benedict)

My eggs benedict

After breakfast, we walked RIGHT across the street to Millennium Park!

We witnessed a yoga session on the Great Lawn

The Bean! That thing is so stinking cool.

The Crown Fountains-- the facial expressions change when water isn't spewing!

From Millennium Park, we took a taxi to the Museum of Science and Industry-- about 8 miles away.

Military and spouses get in FREE. How cool it that?

My favorite exhibit was the body exhibit. Mannequins displaying each of the body systems, a large heart projected onto the wall which would beat in rhythm with your heart, and a display slamming a Twinkie. I mean, listing all of the artificial ingredients which make up a Twinkie.

We did pay extra to see the WWII Omni max presentation (thanks Dramamine, for making that possible) and the tour of the German U-505 submarine. Both exhibits were totally worth it.

This U-505 was brought to the museum in 2004, lowered down, a roof built over it. 

The U-505 still has some of it's original flooring...

After leaving the museum, we went for some deep dish pizza at Pizzeria Uno. Funny thing is, since it's always crazy busy, a Pizzeria Due was built across the street! Same menu and everything.

After our lunch induced carb coma, we took naps, then visited Argo Tea Cafe for some caffination.

Check out this building...

Here is a church down the street from our hotel... I loved the architecture and the greenery.

We still had some Chicago eateries to check out, but I felt so sick from lunch that we ate dinner (and Sunday lunch) at the Whole Foods salad bar downtown.

Hard to enjoy vacay with a belly ache. Am I right??

***

Sunday morning, we jogged from our hotel down to Lincoln Park. Did you know you can go to the Lincoln Park Zoo for free?

View of the city from Lincoln Park

After our run, we had breakfast at The Yolk. It had me at the name.

 

I got the Ironman Omelet, which also had me at the name. Funny thing though, it was made with egg WHITES only. Hmmm. So I told them to send me yolks and all. Side note: If you're scared of eggs, or egg YOLKS, check out this post from my favorite dietician. Just eat the yolks people.

And that's all folks! We had a great trip. Thanks for reading.  

And if you're planning a trip to Chicago, check out this post from Radical Possibility for more great insider tips.

Chicago Part 1

Part uno. Because you know I couldn't condense a story if my life depended on it. 

Get ready to see lots of food.

Because you know, that's our thing.

Billie proudly picked out all of the eateries for our trip. First stop on our way into town: Lunch at Greek Islands. In downtown Chicago I mean. 

"Cold Spread Sampler" of 3 sauces which I cannot pronounce

gyro appetizer, my FAVE

Athenian Salad, add chicken kabob

Billie found this little gem on the USA today 10 best lunches in Chicago list.

I can't say enough about our lunch here. I was immediately enchanted by the downtown location, complimentary valet parking, outdoor seating, perfect weather, inexpensive prices, fresh food options, and authentic Greek staff. I mean, we couldn't understand a thing they said. Doesn't get more authentic than that.

***

Next stop, check-in at The Whitehall Hotel. Quaint and European, I loved it here. Half a block from Magnificent Mile, Michigan Ave.

After checking in, we walked the 1.5 miles to Navy Pier.

 

We saw the Cirque Shanghai while we were there. I'm a sucker for Cirque shows. I just think it's amazing what the performers can do!

Billie had planned a surprise for me on Friday night. All he told me was to wear a dress. He wore a suit. We were fancy.

The surprise? A dinner boat cruise on the Odyssey ship from Navy Pier to watch the fireworks! 

 

We had several choices for each course. Here were mine! 

Amuse bouche

lobster bisque

chicken with veggies

It was beautiful. And I stayed up until after midnight. If you know me, you know this is big.

Part two coming soon!