Balloon Rally

Last weekend, we watched the balloon rally at the 2009 F-bo Airfest. I'd never been to the airfest before but I wanted to watch the balloons take off. I don't know where my recent fascination with hot air balloons came from, but I've been thinking a lot about trying it out one day. Matt and I had a very expensive chance to balloon over the Serengeti, but, at $475 per person, we opted out. Now I wish I had. My only other sort of chance was at Downtown Disney this past summer, where they have a moored balloon that floats straight up 400 feet over Disney World. I was ready to drop 20 bucks on that but it was way too windy the day we went. Oh well.

So I settled for a local balloon launch. Actually Matt and I stalled until the last minute. Matt was napping, and I was exhausted. We didn't want to pay the money to get into the airfest, and neither of us really wanted to go to the airport, since it's a place that holds some difficult memories for us. But we rallied (hahaha) and drove out to the industrial park nearby to watch about 6 balloons took off from the F-bo airport. They floated over our car and over the corn fields, and soon Matt and I took off like tornado trackers.

I've been down a lot lately, feeling tired, sad, and stressed. The airport here is a place of great sadness for me, not exactly a place I expected to find some joy, yet chasing the hot air balloons with Matt made me happy. It was a really simple distraction, something we almost skipped out on, but for that day, it made all the difference.

The Cost of Being A Princess

All over Disney World, you can see young girls dolled up like Disney Princesses. There's Belle and Ariel, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and Jasmine... The Disney Princesses have become a major marketing theme at WDW; they even have their own website where you can play games and watch videos (oh, and shop for princess gear).

The packages aren't cheap. The least expensive, at around $50 includes only a princess-style hair-do and a tiara. A full makeover, including a princess dress and shimmery make-up, runs between $189 and $250.


For a very special treat on a Disney-rific vacation, and for a little girl who really wanted it, I guess I can understand spending the money. You know, for a once in a lifetime princess makeover.

But, it was so hot and humid in Orlando in July. No adult, other then the cast members employed by Disney, would even think of wearing a polyester dress and uncomfortable princess shoes while caked in an inch of make-up with their hair pulled back in a tight bun with a tiara. I could understand why we saw so many of the little princesses crying.


(Jasmine and Cinderella)

Summer Travels

Well, Matt and I have been feeling kind of cranky because we don't have any exotic destinations planned for this summer. We didn't take any trips over the holidays in 2008, but we did take a big trip to Hawaii in March. That should satisfy most normal people, but I always want more adventure. Alas, there will be no super adventure this summer.

Instead, we are spending time with family and friends. I'm pretty frank with everyone: I don't believe visiting family is the same as vacation. But this year, I spent nearly a year away from the east coast, and I've missed it.

First we are DRIVING with TWO DOGS to Massachusetts and Connecticut to see my family. Driving with the pooches will surely provide some interesting tales to tell, and if it doesn't, all the creatures great and small at my mom's house (3 cats and 3 dogs with my sister and me in town) will surely inspire.

Then (after DRIVING back to Minnesota with TWO DOGS), we are flying to Walt Disney World in Orlando to see Matt's mom and family. Matt's cousin planned the trip and asked for all of us to consider joining her and her family. Now, I haven't been to Disney World since I was 12, and while I am definitely intrigued, I am always a little unsure of traveling in large groups. But, my long simmering desire to return to Journey to Imagination, the Land of Tomorrow, the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, and the Mexican restaurant at Epcot (as well as see family, of course) won out! I'll be stepping on that light-up floor piano and making hand shapes in that needle table before you know it. I have some Disney nostalgia, and seeing how things have or have not changed since the 80s will be fascinating, I'm sure. I'm curious if Land of Tomorrow (or Tomorrow Land?) has changed...

And finally, we are heading out to Portland to see some dear friends who have just recently had a baby! Hopefully, some of my other college compatriots will join us. I've never been to Oregon, but I am thrilled to see D.Baby and knock another state off my list.

So, the summer isn't poised to be full of exotic adventures, and we will definitely be staying state side, but as I write this out, I feel a little guilty for whining and a lot more grateful for the time we'll have to get away from school for a little while, be home, and see the people we miss so much.

Cortadito, Little Havana, Miami

Today is one of those magical days when I have a coffee that reminds me exactly why I love coffee as much as I do. Today I had my first cortadito. These days are few and far between: that coffee at the Smithsonian ten years ago, Iceland, Gibb's Farm at Ngorongoro Crater, Kopplin's Coffee... and now I have Miami.

As we finished our meal at Versailles (a popular Cuban restaurant and bakery worth its own post) in Miami, Matt told me that he heard that you can't leave this place without having a cortadito. Not that I would have, but I didn't know what I was in for.

This little drink is a pull of Cuban espresso, brewed into a decanter with sugar, and finished with steamed milk - mine was about half and half. The espresso was that perfect kind of strong - not bitter, not overwhelming. I'm not good at describing the notes and bouquet and finish of wine and coffee, so you'll just have to trust me that it was perfect.

We'll be going back before we leave Miami!

not my image.... my cortaditos were in little styr0foam cups, but I wanted to whet your appetite.... image found at: http://offthebroiler.wordpress.com/2006/11/30/florida-dining-latin-american-cafeteria-restaurant/

If you want to learn more about some of my other favorite cups of coffee, check out Kopplin’s Coffee in St. Paul and Gibbs Farm in Tanzania! Or, if it’s easier, you could check them out at these links, but you can’t drink any coffee that way:

http://www.gibbsfarm.net/

http://www.kopplinscoffee.com/

Another day, I’ll write about them!