New England in Snapshots

Sadly, fall is a fleeting season. Leaf colors are passed their prime at this point. Luckily though, Mark and I definitely got a year's worth of fall fun during our New England trip the other week, and some great pictures to gaze at all year round:

It was a beautiful trip, and a much-needed break from the routine. Since our one-year wedding anniversary was right around the corner, this trip was kind of our nerdy honeymoon getaway.

Highlights of our trip:

• Going to Concord, Mass. to see a piece of history. Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne lived in this town for a time. All three famous writers are also buried at the same cemetery in town. (Thoreau's very plain headstone is pictured above. He's buried with family members, with a larger headstone naming all of them.)

• Exploring downtown Boston via the Freedom Trail. On the trail includes Paul Revere's home, the site of the first public school in the United States, the site that inspired the Boston Tea Party, among other momentous U.S. historical events.

• Eating some delightful clam chowder. We had bowls at Union Oyster House, in downtown Boston, and had a fancy dinner with soup at Legal Seafoods in Cambridge. (Another food Boston is obsessed with: Doughnuts!)

• Seeing one of the largest rowing races in the world: The Head of the Charles. This was big for me because I am a longtime rower. I always heard about this race. We never raced in it because it was too expensive to enter and too far away for it to be at all practical, but it's kind of the stuff of legends. After that, we walked around Harvard Square and took a peek at the university.

• Spending our last night of the trip in Salem, Mass., home of the Salem Witch Trials. One of the oldest marked cemeteries in the United States is in this town, with death dates going back to the 1700s. There was also a lot of hubbub with Halloween happenings. They really capitalize on the ghost story tours and goofy touristy stuff. But my favorite part was probably seeing the Salem Witch Trials memorial. Twenty people were executed during a one-year span the late 1600s for being witches or wizards. It's kind of crazy how far hysteria went in that case.

One thing I won't miss: Boston drivers. It's not an easy town to navigate at all, and drivers are super aggressive, but I managed.

How has the fall been treating you?

My trip to Texas: Expectations vs. Reality

Obviously, Texas is one of the largest and most populous states in the country, full of all kinds of people. However, the kid in me always seems to think of it like this silly scene from Pee Wee's Big Adventure:

The closest thing to wide open spaces that I saw during my five-day trip, complete with cowboy hats and boots, was at a house show I went to my first night in town. But even then, it wasn't so much what people were wearing as it was the warmth, the hospitality, the hugs from strangers.

It was at a ranch house about an hour outside of town, with a bunch of local bands and artists playing.

The 20- or 30-person audience was mostly made up of Jenni and her boyfriend Neil's friends, acquaintances, at a beautifully constructed cabin. Surrounded by open fields on a clear night, the stars were bright and it was a beautiful sight. Part of me wishes I had pictures of it, but I would've never been able to capture it on film the way I saw it anyway.

Intimate live performances are always the best. My favorite band by far from that night was RF Shannon, which is a local folksy band with a trippy side to it. Also: The band has a lap steel guitar player. Case closed. Haha.

So now that I have the experience of visiting Austin, Texas under my belt, I have a few things to take away from it.

Expectation #1: Texas is going to be damn hot in August.

Reality: It was hot, mostly in the mid to upper 90s when I was there, but wasn't nearly as hot as I was expecting, since the humidity (at least in Austin) didn't come close to what it does here in the Northeast. Also, I wasn't outside for crazy amounts of time, making the little bits when I was more tolerable.

Another unexpected thing: There were cacti everywhere. If it's a place that's dry enough for cactus, then the humidity probably isn't all that terrible.

Expectation #2: Tacos will be damn delicious.

Reality: The tacos I ate while I was there may have surpassed my expectations.

I think we had tacos three different times, and I never got sick of it. Breakfast tacos at Veracruz All Natural (pictured above) were unlike anything I've ever eaten. I'm hoping to make my own migas at home. (Eggs with tortilla chips!)

Expectation #3: Austin is freaking huge.

Reality: I'll admit that a city of 800,000, with roughly 1.8 million living in the region, I was expecting a ton of congestion. However, the downtown area was fairly small, and had a lot of sprawl.

I always seem to compare Pittsburgh in other cities in this regard, since Pittsburgh city limits are relatively confined and there's relatively little city sprawl, more just burbs. I've still have never found another city that's quite like Pittsburgh in that way. (The book The Paris of Appalachia, one of my favorite texts about Pittsburgh, talks about this concept with a ton of detail.)

Overall, my favorite things about Austin, besides the fact that a great friend of mine, Jenni, lives there, were THE TACOS and variety of food trucks, Barton Springs, and the overall vibe I got from the place. It was an artsier town, but people seemed relaxed and not crazy in competition with one another.

Also, I loved the vintage shopping there, but my thoughts on that are worth a separate post.

Have you ever been to Austin? If so, what were some of your favorite things about it?

Hot (Weekend) in Cleveland

I'm embarrassed to say that after all these years, I haven't spent a lot of time in Cleveland. Pittsburgh and Cleveland, two rust belt cities that are only about 130 miles apart, have always seemed been rivals. In professional sports; with cultural amenities; with bodies of water.

I also have in my mind the ongoing Portland and Seattle rivalry, in real form and on Portlandia, playing in my brain.

But for my birthday weekend, my 26th birthday, I wanted that to change. I wanted to get the know the city better, not just pass through. And I wanted to give Cleveland a fighting chance, instead of watching and giggling over this YouTube video for the 700th time. In the end, I love and appreciate my hometown through and through, it's MY place, but Cleveland has some gems that are uniquely its own.

Cleveland Museum of Art

Our first stop was the Cleveland Museum of Art; we pretty much drove straight there on Saturday morning. We had considered going to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but between Mark's previous visit being less than spectacular there and steep ticket prices, we opted for the museum, the free option.

The breadth of collections and the beautiful museum building made it worth the visit. We spent the first hour and a half on the main floor, before realizing we still only hit less than half the building, but had to keep moving. The classic Italian and French art, from the 1600s and 1700s, was most impressive to me. There were also a few Van Gogh pieces that were great.

It's definitely worth another visit next time we go.

We were off to eat tacos next.

Barrio

At the suggestion of Midwest Muse, we tried out this very hip taco restaurant. (They have a few locations in town, as well as a food truck!)

Tacos have always been a thing for me, so it was an easy sell. Mark and I got two tacos each, plus we shared a strawberry margarita. The food was great. One of my tacos had pulled pork, and it was magnificent. And the prices were great, too; 20 bucks for everything.

Our bellies were full, and now it was time to look out for some sweet deals.

Unique Thrift

This was voted best thrift shop in the city, according to the Cleveland Scene, but Mark and I weren't very impressed.

I know selections have their good days and bad days, but anything I did see was kinda pricey for a thrift store. Most dresses were $8 to $10, shirts were $6 and up, and there wasn't anything very special.

I think my favorite part of going here was watching one of the employees sing songs that were listed on CDs to a guy looking through them. He was in a wheelchair, and had a boombox next to him, so I guess he was just in need of some good jams. She had a pretty good rendition of "We Will Rock You".

The only thing I got was a ceramic turtle, with a shell lid, and that was $8. I probably paid too much, but I hate leaving thrift stores empty handed. Plus, it was my birthday and turtles are freaking adorable.

Over the weekend, there were other thrift stores we shopped at, and had the same issue. I don't know if it's a Cleveland thing or if Pittsburgh has super cheapy thrift stores, but the price points were all high and the selection was pretty drab. Meh.

On the other hand, past trips to Columbus were way different. Great finds, great prices, great selection. So who knows.

Sweet Lorain

I have to preface this part by saying I don't shop in vintage stores very often. I tend to prefer the grittier thrift stores and estate sales. Also, vintage clothing in bigger sizes that also looks nice is hard to come by, so I get easily frustrated shopping in them.

With that said, while Sweet Lorain was unassuming on the outside, it was spectacular on this inside. This was another one of Midwest Muse's suggestions, although I had also heard of the place thanks to Orchid Grey's post from earlier this year.

Whether it was vintage clothing, old postcards, glasses, plates, photos, artwork, nick-knacks, this place had it. It was wall-to-wall, crowded but well organized. I'm surprised that there isn't a full-time staff member to lead search parties; it's so easy to get lost in here, taking in all of the beautiful things to see.

I'll admit the prices were a little high, (a lot of the dresses ran $50 to $60), but for the convenience of potentially getting some great finds, particularly if shoppers have specific items in mind, the prices are probably justified.

I got a small stack of Pittsburgh postcards here. I was also tempted to get some old family photos, which they labeled in a bowl with "instant relatives", but I resisted. (But it's on Instagram, which is almost as good.)

Flower Child

Yep, we hit a few vintage stores one after the other. This place felt very reminiscent of a vintage shop we went to Columbus last year, but then I looked at their business card when we got home and realized they have another location in Columbus. Ha.

This place also has a ton of stuff. The store layout is a little more spread out, and prices are a little more reasonable than Sweet Lorain. I tried on a few vintage dresses. While they looked great on the hanger, they didn't look so great on me. One of them was put together like a hospital gown. It's the black and white polka dot one on my arm in the picture above. My entire ass and back were exposed wearing it. There weren't even any buttons there, just a tie! Thanks, but no thanks, guys. Haha.

I got a banjo pin here, made from a sea shell. I thought it would be a cute accent piece next time I make it out to banjo night. :) (More details on that below.)

Melt Bar & Grilled

This local chain was probably the highlight of Mark's trip. As the name implies, Melt Bar and Grilled specializes in grilled cheese sandwiches. My co-worker Amy, who recently graduated from Kent State, recommended this restaurant.

The wait was long, both before and after we were seated, (probably because of a huge neighborhood event they were hosting that evening) but it was worthwhile.

Mark got "The Dude Abides", which had fried mozzarella sticks and meatballs. I had a bite and holy crap it was delicious. I just wouldn't want to eat one everyday or anything.

This may just become our regular stop in Cleveland.

(Unfortunately, all of the pictures I took of our glorious sandwiches were super dark. Just use your imagination.)

:(

We stayed in a cheap motel, and everything went to shit Sunday morning, for lack of a better term.

We made plans to go to West Side Market, only to realize they're closed Sundays. Damn. We planned on going to a Cleveland Indians game Sunday afternoon, but a huge storm front came in and we didn't want to risk buying tickets. We tried going to a few flea markets to kill time, but most of them sucked, mostly due to the crappy weather. I also realized we hadn't made it to The Cleveland Flea the day before, which sounds like a great monthly market.

It was a sign that Cleveland is probably just worth a day trip rather than an overnight one. And I should probably plan things out a little better.

So after our series of fails, it was time for brunch.

Beachland Ballroom & Tavern

If Pittsburgh's banjo night and Zenith were to have a love child, I could imagine a place like The Beachland Ballroom's Sunday brunch being the outcome.

(If you need Sparknotes: Banjo night has a very blue collar environment; it's held at an Elks Club every Wednesday. It's exactly what it sounds like: a Banjo Band rehearsal. Zenith is a hip vegetarian cafe and antique shop with a bumping Sunday brunch.)

In addition to a number of locally sourced foods, there's a small vintage clothing and record shop in the basement.

Mark and I ended up splitting the biscuits and gravy, which is apparently made from scratch, according to Cleveland Scene.

The atmosphere of this place left something to be desired, since the brunch drink menu was longer than the food menu, and there was a DJ (I guess it's also a great concert hall), but the food was excellent and reasonably priced.

All in all, I wish our plans went a little more smoothly, but I don't regret the trip. It'll just give me another list of things to do again for next time.

Thanks, LeBron!

One more thing: We got there the day after LeBron James went back to the Cleveland Cavaliers. I'm not a sports fan, especially not a basketball fan, but I even know that's a huge freaking deal.

The town was in a damn frenzy all weekend, which was kinda funny and awesome.

For anyone who's been to Cleveland, was there anything that I didn't mention that's not to be missed for next time?