21 Reykjavik, Iceland

It was approaching 8:30am on a mid-February morning as we pulled into the city of our latest travel adventure. It was as pitch black as the dead of night and the streets possessed an uncanny solitude. We were unsure if this could be attributed to a different lifestyle, a sort of sleepy metropolitanism, or simply the fact that it was a Saturday. After a few days in Iceland we realized that it was unquestionably the former.Reykjavik is a truly charming city. The center of town is filled with little shops and cafes, and there are no skyscrapers in sight. We spent our time visiting museums like the Reykjavik 871 +/-2 exhibit built on the ruins of an old settlement, and the National Gallery where we learned an impressive amount about Dieter Roth, who was actually Swiss-German, but after moving to Iceland in his late 20s grew to become seemingly the nation's most celebrated artist. Our favorite was the National Museum of Iceland. The halls of the museum are expansive and present the country's history in a very modern format with a great collection of artifacts, multimedia displays, and hands-on activities like dressing up in historical outfits. Make sure to put aside several hours for this one!

We also had fun visiting the huge 3D map of Iceland located in City Hall and Hallgrimur's Church with its statue of Leif Ericson outside. On the weekends there is also an indoor flea market by the harbor where we found Icelandic board games, 80s tshirts, and other fun items. Right outside is the most popular hot dog stand in the city--always a line! Be sure to ask for one "with everything" - onions, remoulade, ketchup, and what they call mustard. The fixings were a bit sweet for our tastes, but definitely worth a try.

Reykjavik has a surprisingly wide variety of restaurants, including the northernmost Indian restaurant in the world. We enjoyed sandwiches at Geysir, pizza at Eldsmidjan (where you can get snails as a topping!) and pastries and coffee at Sanholdt Bakery. Our favorite spot of all was Cafe Paris overlooking the town square. This restaurant is super cozy and offers a great combo of European dishes and traditional Icelandic fare. They also make a killer hot chocolate.

The city awakes from its slumberous state every Friday and Saturday night for what the locals call the runtur. The 20-somethings of Reykjavik hop between the bars and discos of the city from 12am to 6am for this weekly event. Our favorite stop was a bar located on Klapparstigur. It was so hip it didn't need a name--just a sign with a very serious man in a bowler hat. Though we did not put in the requisite six hours of revelry, we had enough Gulls to make the chilly 15 minute walk back to our hotel a little more palatable.

The really striking thing about Iceland is the setting--snow covered peaks and ice capped water guard the city of Reykjavik. Once you venture a few miles outside of the city you almost immediately enter an unaffected landscape of rolling hills speckled with rivers, lakes, and the occasional church steeple surrounded by a cluster of houses. It is hard to imagine that the Iceland we discovered for the first time was that much different than the one its settlers saw a thousand years before.

A popular day trip from Reykjavik is the Golden Circle tour. It's easy to join a group on bus through one of two rival companies: Reykjavik Excursions or Iceland Excursions, but it's much less expensive and more fun to rent a car and do it yourself. First stop is Thingvellir, where Iceland's first parliament was located. The backdrop for this landmark is an amazingly picturesque rift valley where the North American and European tectonic plates meet (for all you geography geeks like Patrick!)

The next stop is the original Geysir--that's right, the geysir from which all geysirs got their name! Unfortunately the original is no longer active, but it is still filled with steaming water and right next door is the very active Strokkur geysir. We watched maybe five or six blows that shot water 30 feet high and it never got old.

The final Golden Circle site is Gullfoss, the largest waterfall in Europe. The beauty of the falls were seemingly enhanced by the frigid landscape of frozen ice and snow surrounding the cascading water. It was also frigidly cold at Gullfoss and starting to rain, so we took some pictures and scooted out of there!

Another one of Iceland's natural wonders is the Blue Lagoon. Here we bathed in eerily blue geothermal waters that are part of a lava formation. The weather was crazy when we went: cold, drizzling, and very windy, which made swimming in the steamy lagoon that much more dramatic. The water is reputed to be very good for your skin, but it also made Katrina's hair distinctly hard and sticky for about a day. The Blue Lagoon is quite close to the international airport and it is very easy to arrange for this as a two hour stop on your way out of the country through one of the bus companies previously mentioned. Plus if you buy your entrance ticket from the bus company it is considerably discounted.

We were very excited that our visit to Iceland coincided with the annual Winter Lights Festival. We had read that this annual celebration of the return of longer daylight hours would be filled with performances, museum events and more. Unfortunately, the festivities turned out to be rather absent. We hiked to a beach where evening ocean swimming had been scheduled, but no swimmers showed. Disappointed, we made our way to the skating rink for the advertised performance of the Ice Skating Club of Reykjavik only to find that it was essentially a kids' recital. Not only were we the only tourists in attendance, but we were definitely the only people not related to one of the young skaters. So word to the wise, no need to plan your trip around the Winter Lights Festival.

Our home base in Iceland was Hotel Cabin. This very clean, comfortable hotel is about a 15-minute walk from downtown. The staff is very helpful (though not very cheery) and they not only let us check in at 8:30am on our day of arrival, they even upgraded us to a larger room for free because their standards were occupied. There is also a free basic breakfast buffet in the mornings. We've never been so comfortable for $25 a night! In closing we would like to give a shout out to the Sheffield High class of 2010. Breakfast just isn't the same with out these quirky, teenage Brits.

6 La Paz, Mexico

Located less than 100 miles from Cabo San Lucas is the sleepy capital of Baja California del Sur: La Paz. It is here that we celebrated a white Christmas (sand not snow) with Katrina's family.

Flying to La Paz is not an easy feat. Though it has its own airport, getting there from the east coast requires at least two layovers to be affordable. Much easier and less expensive is flying to the tourist destination Cabo San Lucas's airport. From there, we took an airport shuttle to the San Juan del Cabo bus station to catch an Aguila bus to La Paz (they leave every hour or so). For the return trip, you also have the option of taking a Peninsula Ejecutivo bus directly to the Cabo airport from the La Paz bus station--a much comfier ride for only a few dollars more that we highly recommend.

Experiencing La Paz is best done on foot. Though the city is a sprawling grid, most of the action is contained to a condensed area. The Malecon, the paved promenade pictured above that stretches a mile or so along the coastline, marks the length of the compact city center. Many of the larger restaurants are located close to the water and as you walk uphill, you find many small taco stands and street vendors selling candy, mini donuts, and some of the most delicious churros we've ever eaten. Also downtown is the Mercado Francisco Madero where vendors display heaps of luscious fruit and vegetables, fresh fish and seafood. Directly in front of the Mercado was our favorite tortilleria; the tortillas de harina (flour) melt in your mouth.

La Paz is an absolute mecca for seafood-lovers. Between the two of us we ate shrimp, lobster, marlin, manta ray, oysters and salmon during our five-day stay. One of the best taco places in town is Bismarck-cito--but at night they only serve full entrees, which are nowhere near as good as the daytime taco fare. But one of the real culinary highlights of La Paz is La Fuente, an ice cream parlor that caused Pavlovian responses. They offer unusual flavors like corn, tequilla almond and lemon cream in delicious cookie-like cones.

Though La Paz is located on the water, there are no real beaches in town and locals do not recommend swimming in the bay. A 30-minute drive up the Pichilingue Peninsula takes you to many beautiful beaches, so originally we thought we'd rent a car. No luck: all eight or so rental spots in town were completely out of cars (we recommend reserving ahead of time if you want to go this route). We then found a local bus that goes to Playa Tecolote, but alas, the bus schedule is a bit more flexible in the winter months and after being told three different stories about departure times (from the same Aguila employee) we grew wary. Katrina's dad then found a cab driver who agreed to take six passengers in his compact cab and pick us up at a designated time for about $20 each way. Deal! Omar dropped us off at Playa Balandra, a beautiful beach in a protected cove where we played the day away.

The highlight of our stay was undoubtedly the day-long trip we took to Isla Espiritu Santo. We hired a motorboat, kayaks and snorkel gear through Marlin Adventures, and our guide Javier took us on an unforgettable excursion. Our first stop was when Javier spotted the fin of a whale shark and encouraged us to hop in. We thought he was joking, but apparently these huge creatures only eat plankton and don't have a taste for humans. So we broke out the snorkel gear and chased after him. John and Nicole actually touched the 20 foot beast (we found out only later that touching is not recommended) and we found that the real danger was some vicious agua mala--three of us got jellyfish stings. We also got to see some rollicking dolphins and a spouting whale on the boat ride.

Our next big stop was a rock formation off the coast of Espiritu Santo that is home to some 500 sea lions. We again outfitted ourselves in snorkel gear and got to swim with them! Absolutely amazing, but a bit scary as these large creatures get awfully close--especially the young ones that act like playful puppies (one took a major liking to Daniel!) The water was also teeming with exotic fish that would make any snorkeling trip even without their rambunctious sea lion neighbors.

Back in the motorboat, Javier took us to the stunning Playa Ensenada Grande in a northwest cove of Espiritu Santo where we ate the delicious marlin ceviche we'd picked up from Javier's aunt at Playa Tecolote on the way out that morning. The woman makes a mean ceviche! We then hopped in our kayaks and spent the remaining daylight hours exploring the island shores.

For most of our time in La Paz we stayed at Las Gaviotas, where the family rented a two-bedroom condo. The condos are very comfortable, each with its own private oceanview deck, and there is a shared swimming pool. It was great to have our own kitchen to cook with the delicious ingredients and fresh fish from the mercado.

Since we arrived before the reservation at Las Gaviotas began, we spent our first night in La Paz at Casa Jalisco. This was a very nice hotel--spacious rooms, bubblers of purified water on every floor, beautiful pool, and an exceptionally friendly staff that spoke excellent English. The one drawback is location: Casa Jalisco is approximately a mile and a half from downtown with not much going on in the immediate neighborhood.

Though La Paz is much further than many Mexican destinations, the longer haul definitely paid dividends in the end. We found La Paz to be the perfect Mexican mixture of one part idyllic beach, two parts seafood tacos and one part ocean adventure.

La Paz on Dwellable

9 Puerto Rico

In celebration of the US election, Patrick's company, the VAN, flew everyone down to Puerto Rico for a relaxing staff retreat on the shores of the glistening Atlantic. Katrina was happy to tag along and do some sunbathing while Patrick was in meetings.

The flight to San Juan was the easiest we've taken in a long time. Direct, three-and-a-half hour flights from Boston are offered at low rates by many airlines including JetBlue and American. Once we arrived, we took a 15-minute, $20 cab ride to our hotel: La Concha, an absolutely beautiful beachfront hotel in the community of Condado just east of Old San Juan. Every room has spectacular, head-on ocean views and the facilities, including a number of pools and a posh pool deck (seen at right), are very modern. But the most important amenity is the gorgeous beach (seen at left) that is the hotel's backyard. The only odd thing about La Concha is that the lobby becomes a very trendy nightclub in the evenings that just oozes hip. This is great if you don't want to go far for nightlife, but the blaring music can be startling as you make your way to your room.

In addition to lounging on the beach, Puerto Rico offers a variety of outdoor venues for adventure. We took a nighttime kayak tour of Fajardo Bioluminescent Bay where dinoflagellates light up the water. The experience of kayaking through a narrow, winding, mangrove-lined canal in the pitch dark is worth the trip alone, but seeing your oars glow as they blade through the water is absolutely amazing. There are only five locations in the world where you can see this phenomenon. Try to go on a night without much moonlight because the darker it is, the easier it is to see the bioluminescence.

We did not have time to take advantage of more of the excursions from San Juan, but other VAN employees reported great things about the rainforest, and opportunities for surfing and snorkeling abound. It is very easy to arrange for transportation to all of these activities if you don't want the hassle of renting a car--many of the tour companies will pick you up at your hotel as part of the package. Plus, then you get to meet some great characters like our van driver Jose who imparted much of his local knowledge to us.

One might expect this bevy of outdoor activities from a Caribbean island, but a wonderful surprise is how fascinating Old San Juan is (seen above). Brightly colored buildings line the cobblestone streets of this historical part of the city, and there are two Spanish colonial forts good for hours of exploring. Also be sure not to miss Paseo Del Morro, a stunning walkway (seen below) that hugs San Juan Bay on the west end of the Isla San Juan. Beware however, there is apparently a huge cat overpopulation problem in Puerto Rico. All along the path we saw stray cats lurking around and signs saying "Save los Gatos!" Who knew? The path finally led us to Paseo de la Princesa, a stylish promenade home to charming cafes and dozens of street vendors and an ideal place to watch the sun set. We waited in line to buy the very popular snack of china dulce, which is a giant peeled sweet orange with the top removed to suck out the juice: a very messy treat. We also learned that while taxis are a little pricey in Old San Juan, it is very accessible by public transportation. If you are staying in Condado it is easy to get to and from Old San Juan by the C53 and B21 free public buses.

The dining scene in San Juan offers something for everyone--tapas and Mexican cuisines are popular in addition to traditional Puerto Rican fare, and it is easy to find sushi, American fast food, and a very reliable pizza joint or two (Mike and Charlie's across the street from La Concha was our mainstay). One of the most popular restaurants around is Raices in Old San Juan. We were told that this was the place to try the national dish mofongo: mashed plantains stuffed with meat or vegetables (which Katrina enjoys at left). Delicious! The restaurant is an experience in itself with waitresses in traditional dress and beer served in tin mugs, but be prepared to wait in line for this popular joint. For less of a wait and equally tasty dishes, head to Cafe Puerto Rico in Plaza de Colon. Closer to our hotel we found traditional food at the Latin Star; for the adventurous eaters, the menu is full of stews like goat and oxtail in addition to their many mofongo varieties. Patrick's favorite treat during our stay (other than an ice-cold Medalla) was limber: frozen fruit juice usually served in a small plastic cup. Without a doubt a tasty way to cool down under the hot Caribbean sun.

In the end we found this charming Caribbean island to be a great place to experience Latin culture with US comforts. It's also a whole lot of fun to enjoy the beautiful beaches and natural wonders. Taking only six hours to travel door to door from Boston, a trip to San Juan is an easy getaway worth a spot on any travel list.

13 Nicaragua

After deciding it had been much too long since we had left the country, we settled on a brief weekend trip to Nicaragua. Upon arrival at Logan we were joined at the American ticket counter by the New England Revolution who were on their way to LA for an upcoming match. While our flights were uneventful that day (the way we like it!), we found out on the news later that the Revolution were not as lucky.

We arrived in Managua, Nicaragua's capital city, after dark and quickly found our hotel shuttle. Along the road we saw numerous red and black Sandinista flags being waved as people were getting ready for celebrations marking the anniversary of the 1979 revolution the next day. Our first and last nights of the trip were spent at the Intercontinental in Managua. The accommodations would certainly be considered deluxe by Nicaraguan standards, with spacious rooma, a pool, and a bar that served delicious cherry daiquiris. Thankfully, the hotel was practically free thanks to a great Orbitz flight plus hotel deal.

Still unsure of the safety of our surroundings, we gently settled in to our time in Nicaragua with a visit to a nearby mall that offered a number of restaurants. This mall was not too dissimilar from an American one on a Friday night, with teenagers abound waiting to see dubbed versions of Mamma Mia! and The Dark Night. Though we do love ABBA, we passed on the movies and settled on Tacontento for dinner and Tonas--Nicaragua's most popular domestic beer.The next morning we hopped a bus to Granada (pictured above) to get out of town before the Sandinista rallying, and presumably American villifying, really began. Riding a Nicaraguan bus is an experience in itself. There is no schedule--the buses leave as soon as they fill up with enough people. Along the way an agent stands at the open door of the speeding bus yelling out the destination, hoping to coax more passengers aboard.

Granada is best known for being the oldest colonial town in the Western Hemisphere, founded by Spanish conquistador Francisco Hernández de Córdoba in 1524. Upon arriving in Granada we oriented ourselves by first visiting the Parque Central, the city's hub of activity. We refreshed after our bus ride with juices and a vigoron--a local favorite of yucca and fried pork skin. As we slowed our eating pace we were approached by a 12-year-old boy who pointed at our food and gestured to ask if he could have some. He sat down, finished off the plate, and told us the dish was "picante" and pointed to our juice. Before slurping down the last of the drink he was joined by his friend, who was not going to miss out on this fun. And thus, we made our first Nicaraguan friends: Kevin and Jonia!

Unfortunately they did not recognize our hotel name, but we knew it was south of the Parque Central, so we set off to explore. Two blocks later we were in the middle of the bustling city market, the street lined with vendors selling everything from fresh produce to homemade cheese to new white sneakers! We navigated our way through the busy streets, asking people for directions to the Hotel Terrasol, finally realizing we had gotten ourselves much too far from the center of town to be anywhere near our hotel.

Back at the Parque Central (pitctued above), we finally found someone who could direct us. For those of you who decide to stay at Hotel Terrasol--which we highly recommend--it is located three blocks west and one block south of the Parque.

The Hotel Terrasol is owned by a married couple, Victor and Katja, who built the hotel from the ground up just last year. They are wonderfully attentive and helpful; within minutes of arriving they directed us to many must-see sights and booked us on an afternoon boat ride on Lake Nicaragua to explore Las Isletas.

The archipelago is composed of 365 little islands off the coast of Granada that are said to be formed from a volcanic eruption by nearby Mombacho some 20,000 years ago . Our tour weaved in and out of the many islands with a few stops along the way. Our favorite stop was Monkey Island--residents of the neighboring islands rid themselves of these pests by transporting indigenous monkeys to a single island of exile. Since they can't swim, they're stuck there. As we sat in our boat watching the monkeys swing on trees, another boat of visitors arrived and two monkeys hopped right on board! One of them moved to an empty seat in the back and sat patiently waiting to go for a ride. The other (pictured above) was pushy and wanted food. Both took a good amount of coaxing to disembark the boat, and the pushy one put up a real, and momentarily terrifying, fight.

We spent our time on land visiting Granada's old cathedrals, museums, eating delicious food and drinking delicious Tona. The best view in the city is to be had at Iglesia de la Merced. For the price of one dollar you can climb the bell tower of the city's oldest church, built in 1538. To catch some of the sights we missed by foot, we took a horse-drawn carriage ride through Granada's colorful streets to the city's outskirts. Our carriage driver, Otilio, brimmed with pride as he described the sites and history of Granada. The only problem was his descriptions all came in Spanish, leading to many interesting exchanges between him and Patrick who speaks Spanish on a pre-school level. After one particular miscommunication where Patrick generically asked "personas entrada?" we ended up on a private tour of the closed and dark Forteleza la Pólvora.

We were sad to leave Granada after only a short time there. It is beautiful, charming, and most amazingly, wholly unspoiled. The people living there are some of the friendliest and most welcoming we've met in all our travels.

Managua, on the other hand, is one of the most depressed cities we have seen. It has yet recover from the catastrophic earthquake of 1972. Even the cross on the top of the historic old cathedral has been left broken. Managua is not safe to explore by foot, but there are guided bus tours designed for visitors. However, we found a surprisingly cheaper option--hire a taxi for a few hours! At a rate of $10/hour, our cab driver, Guillermo, took us all over the city, offering us his personal narrative in very good English. We saw Loma de Tiscapa crater lake, the 6,000-year-old footprints of Acahualinca, the official presidential palace, as well as the real, heavily-guarded mansion residence of President Ortega. We also saw the huge city plaza, still dotted with red and black flags, that had the day before been packed with tens of thousands of Nicaraguans rallying in honor of the Sandinista Revolution Anniversary.

On our last morning in Nicaragua, we scavenged the Mercado Roberto Huembes. Much larger than the Granada market, we got lost in the aisles of hanging raw meat and walls of T-shirts. We polished off a final plate of gallo pinto, a popular rice and bean dish served for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and then returned to our hotel for final packing.

As we sat by the Intercontinental pool waiting for our shuttle, we brainstormed destinations we can cram in to our next year of travels. Stay tuned.....

8 Budapest, Hungary

In Patrick's free time he searches for travel deals online. A week and a half prior to Martin Luther King Day he found a trip to Budapest at a big discount at Best Travel Store, by Monday Katrina had her day off approved, and that Friday night we were off to Hungary.

We took a red-eye to Amsterdam where we connected to our flight to Budapest on Malev--Hungary's national airline. At first Patrick was shocked to see how many blue-passport toting Americans were on the flight. He was also surprised to see one of these Americans wearing a cossack hat. Turns out that Hungary's passports are also blue and that we were definitely the only people on the plane who were not Hungarian.

Upon arrival, we went through the easiest customs we had ever experienced and were out within two minutes. Our plan was to purchase the Budapest Card first thing: a tourist card that allows free transportation around the city via bus and subway and free or discounted admission to most museums. Patrick spotted the booth immediately and asked if the vendor spoke English. "Of course," was his reply, and he promptly sold us a 72-hour card for our stay in the city at the hefty price of 8000 Forint each (170 Forint=1 dollar).

Unfortunately, we found this card to be a major rip-off. We walked nearly everywhere during our stay, and many of the high-profile sites and museums were barely discounted or not at all.

The bus from the airport took us to the subway station, and there we hopped on a spray paint decorated Soviet-era train to the city center. Our arrival in Budapest was nothing short of stunning. We stood in Buda in the shadow of Castle Hill looking out across the Danube to Pest which was punctuated by Parliament (at right) and statuesque old churches. We navigated the quiet cobblestone streets of Buda to find our accommodations for our visit, Hotel Carlton.

Our hotel was in the perfect location at the foot of Castle Hill, mere minutes from beautiful Széchenyi Chain Bridge (pictured with Buda Castle below), our gateway to Pest. After checking into the Carlton we hiked up the hill to the castle to take in fantastic views of the city at dusk. Buda Castle is the latest of a number of incarnations of a royal residence to sit atop the hill. We visited the art museum that is currently housed inside the castle, which features Hungarian paintings ranging artistic periods from the last 5 centuries.

A short walk from Buda Castle is the seven towers of the Fisherman's Bastion (one of which is pictured at left), a neo-gothic tribute to the guild of fishermen that defended the hills of Buda during the Middle Ages. The winding staircases, narrow corridors, and beautiful vistas from the Bastion definitely make it a must explore.

Underneath Buda castle are six miles of tunnels originally used as a wine cellar. During WWII, the subterranean layer became a bunker and now it is a tourist attraction known as the Labyrinth. We had a blast navigating through the tunnels—especially the "Labyrinth of Courage", a pitch-black section where a rope along the wall is your only guide. Patrick was very excited to have a chance to prove his bravery.

In Pest, we got to see many impressive buildings including Parliament (and the very intimidating guards at its gate), St Stephen Cathedral, and the Great Synagogue: the largest synagogue in Europe. Patrick enjoyed his first opportunity to wear a yarmulke and had trouble giving it back. Attached to the synagogue is a museum on Jewish history that we got to visit as well. This was the only place we went in Budapest where we had to pass through security.

The Museum of National History is also in Pest. While only some of the exhibits were translated into English, it was fascinating to see the maps of Hungary's changing borders throughout the ages. The most interesting part of the museum was the exhibit on the Soviet Era. While we have of course read a great deal about this time period and seen pictures and propaganda, it was an entirely different experience to be seeing this in the country where it happened, surrounded by people who lived through it. We found ourselves not only taking in the exhibit, but also watching the other visitors' reactions.

Our experience at the Museum of National History primed us for the House of Terror (pictured
at right). This museum, dedicated to telling the story of Hungary under Nazi and then Soviet
rule, is actually housed in what used to be the Nazi Party headquarters and then the Communist Party headquarters, during their respective regimes. We heard stories and saw pictures of unimaginable misdeeds that happened in the very building in which we stood. The aura in the building alone was enough to chill one to the bone.

In need of a lifting of spirits we sought out one of the public baths for which Hungary is renowned. As it turns out, Hungary is situated over a number of natural hot springs, including the springs that lie underneath the biggest public bath in Europe, Széchényi Spa. Once at the spa, we rented towels and changed into our bathing suits (Patrick's rented), and walked from pool to pool to test the waters. Outside we found steam rising from the biggest pool into the chilly January night. We hopped in with the teenagers, grandparents, and new moms with babies in tow. If you do anything in Budapest, go to Széchényi Spa.

One of our most surprising cross-cultural interactions came the night of the AFC Championship football game. Patrick had researched sports bars in Budapest prior to our trip, so we were able to find one of the few places showing American football in Hungary. Upon arrival we were told that all tables had been reserved and that we could try to squeeze in at the bar. Instead, we found a table of twenty Hungarians clad in Patriots gear who invited us to join them. Hungarian Patriots fans? We were intrigued. We befriended a few during the course of the game who spoke English and who introduced us to a variety of their favorite libations: a pear-flavored schnapps, a very strong blackberry liqueur, and Unicum—a Hungarian alcohol similar to Jaegermeister, but less sweet and more herbal.

Unfortunately, before we knew it the time had come to return home. Though it was not the most relaxing vacation ever (not counting the spa), our whirlwind tour of Budapest was exciting, thought-provoking, and ultimately an amazing weekend getaway.