This trip was our first time spending the night! And our first time using public transport. By now, we knew our way around and could lead others around the city. This time, we actually went into Notre Dame, instead of just hanging around outside.
First of all, it’s impossible to find. It’s underground, one tiny door in a weird closed/dead shopping breezeway kind of thing, but we found it. The entire museum was just three rooms, some installation art and short films. We found ourselves lost there for a while. I loved it.
I really love planning Casey’s birthday. For one birthday while we were living in San Jose, we drove up to San Francisco and enjoyed a day of eating mushroom risotto at a fancy French restaurant. Foraging and identifying mushrooms was our favorite pastime at that point.
For this year’s birthday, I wanted to treat him to Korean food, his favorite cuisine. I poked around a few Asian Montreal Facebook groups to find out which were the best Korean bbq places in town and we drove up to have an amazing lunch. It rained a lot so we had to dash there and dash to a chocolate cafe for dessert immediately after, ha. We got so wet and so cold we bought all new outfits at Uniqlo, one of our favorite stores anyway.
We read books at two different bookshops, acted as bystanders during a protest, and found a bulgogi spot off of St. Catherine’s for dinner. The street is filled with shops and great restaurants.
Montreal is our favorite place to visit since we’ve moved to Vermont and we’ve visited three times in the span of a few months. It’s cosmopolitan feel gives us the comforts of all the foods we missed about California. It feels European in the way people behave and dress. We love spending weekends here.
We discovered a funky new neighborhood in Montreal. Mile End is where many Orthodox Jews live, so there are many bagel shops. There’s also a small little Lululemon store here! My cousin Molly and her husband visit Lululemon in every city they visit. We also stopped into what I thought would be an Asian snack shop with it’s pink walls and cartoon character murals – it ended up being “the only pink museum in the world” run by an eccentric dude.
Mile End is next to Mount Royal Parc, a random giant hill in the middle of the city. We hiked through it to get to Old Montreal, where we visited the Notre Dame square. I discovered an Arab diasporic bookshop. We happened to catch a basketball tournament with women in 3×3 teams from all over the world. We rooted for Latvia in a game against Spain. We bought baos The excitement of being in a big city was overpowering. We walked miles and went back to the hand-pulled noodle joint for dinner that Casey and I discovered on the trip prior.
Casey’s parents were in town so we knew we had to hit the casino. Despite all our excitement, the casino did not have craps. We were a little bit disappointed. If you’ve read any of my posts about Las Vegas, you can learn more about how Casey and I are craps diehards. We live for the dice.
We discovered a restaurant in Chinatown we really loved – Lotus Blu. We knew it was a good restaurant because Tom was silent through the entire meal. Ha. While it didn’t have a line out the door like the restaurant next door did, we knew we found a gem.
Our first foray up to Montreal was with two of our friends from California. Surprise – the border crossing was extremely easy and it took only 1.5 hours to make it to downtown.
We walked around the Montreal Museum of Art and then the Botanical Gardens. Because it was our first time there, we chose easy destinations to drive to, nothing we had to navigate tricky parallel parking, obeying signs we couldn’t read because they were in French.
The Garden was huge and beautiful. We loved the themes and took so many photos. It was a rainy day, so we had to run under a Chinese pagoda or sneak into an insect exhibit to get away from the raindrops whenever it started to pour.
I bravely chose a poutine restaurant in little Portugal, also known as Hochelaga. We walked there from the Botanical Gardens and had our very first French Canadian meal!
One Saturday, I drove down to Western Massachusetts for a zine fair and had the time of my life. Making zines have brought me to places I have never been and has been the best ice-breaker in new environments. I’ve taken part of zine fests in New Haven, Northampton, and Watertown, and a book festival in Woodstock. I would have never thought to come to these places on my own, without a purpose, so I’m thankful for zines that they have helped me come to love New England and see it in new ways.
Northampton has the charm of Vermont, but it’s in Western Mass, so it has way more people and the historic downtowns are much more developed. The event took place in an arts center. When I got there, there were dance classes and art exhibits taking place. The organizers were all super cool and I felt like an invited guest. I tabled next to an artist who made prints of natural and organic forms, and an awesome artist who ran a small thrift-and-arts nonprofit that does Risograph printing. I felt insanely cool that she wanted to trade zines with me.
They sold vegan pizza outside the event. Someone ran a print shop that unofficially only printed black goth-style tees and totes. Another zinester made a giant cat-pig-skull face and made it her emblem, printing it with Risograph in hot pink in giant, 24 inch prints. A brother and sister duo made laser-cut earrings in whimsical shapes, of course I had to purchase a bunch.
I felt like Northampton was the coolest place ever and I can’t wait to be back.
I came for the first time in 2018 with my friend Samantha. I got my bearings – the Isabella Gartner Stewart Museum, Fanuil Hall, Boston Market, Little Italy.
My second trip was with my sisters in 2021, where it was more of an eating trip. We ate a lot of lobster rolls on that trip and had a blast at the Museum of Modern Art.
I came again later in 2021, and spent most of my time in Salem and Cambridge, to visit during Halloween with my friend Lorena.
But this fourth trip was like a homecoming. I got to spend three nights in Boston and they were perfect.
Wednesday night, Casey and I drove down after work. It was dark and we made it to the fancy hotel where his work was paying for. Yes!
Thursday was an absolutely blast. With my laptop in hand, I co-worked all through Boston. I spent the morning at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, which is one of my favorite museums in the world. I can spend hours here. It’s not very large but I’m drawn to it, especially all the animals and gemstones they store here. The glass plants exhibit blows my mind every time I visit. I adore the room about New England animals and mushrooms. I think the exhibits are delightfully informative and the intimate setting makes me wish I lived next door to this treasure of a museum.
I discovered two bookstores: the Harvard bookstore with it’s packed, wonderful basement. There were so many books I wanted to buy but I knew I had to hold out for something better, given that I’d be mobile all day and have no place other than my bag to put all the books.
I’m glad I made that decision because I then stumbled upon my favorite bookstore ever. It’s called Grolier, it’s a block away from the Harvard Book Store, and sells only poetry. A bookstore with only poetry. I could die and go to heaven right now. I spent hours in the stacks and found poets from all around the world, right here in this dusty corner of Cambridge.
I picked up breakfast at Tatte nearby, a suggestion from a friend.
Next, I stopped at the Harvard Museum of Fine Art. I also had free admission with my membership. From there, I hopped on a Lyft to Newbury Street. The first time I came here, it was rainy and at night. In the day time was when it gets really fun. I was broke so I didn’t buy much, but I did discover some really cool brands including:
Mochi doughnuts from Mochi Dough. Conveniently, this one is inside a pho restaurant and they share a basement patio. Yes, think that over. Basement. Patio.
Top Drawer. The tagline to this shop is Nomad Provisions and I sort of see that. If you were a billionaire start up kind of guy doing travel, sure. That being said, I still want everything here.
Trident Booksellers. A bar inside of a bookstore! Recommended to me by an awesome friend.
A strange Brazilian clothing shop on Newbury St called Perfect Wear. Kinda weird vibes, 90’s body con clothing, nightclub highlighter-pink-and-yellow palette, but I mean like… why not?
A boot company called Freebird that I want everything from.
Reiwatakakiya. I don’t know what would compel anyone to purchase face products in a language they don’t understand the ingredients, but I low-key get it because the packaging is all very cute.
The spent the night hanging out at the hotel bar, then hopped over to the hotel… pub. The day was perfect. I couldn’t ask for more.
The second day was a lot of fun too. I woke up early, had the day off, and went to the New England Aquarium. I have pretty high standards as far as aquariums go and it was kind of small. However, being surrounded by families in strollers having a great time made me feel happy that one day I can take my children to aquariums.
I got on a Lyft to Chinatown and picked up baos at one of the many, many nameless bakeries. It was time to leave Boston and head to Long Island, but I had a remarkable time. This was my first semi-solo travel since the pandemic, and I really missed just meandering around the city with no real agenda.
I had never spent much time in New Hampshire, other than an hour stroll through Lebanon. I drove to Dover for a swim meet at the height of summer.
I really underestimated how much time it would take. It was a three and a half hour car ride and when I arrived, I was in no mood to swim. I looked at the map and realized I was almost to Boston. Oops.
The swim meet was interesting in it’s own way. It was my first adult swim competition. I was the only person of color. I was also the only person with a two-piece bathing suit. I felt like I was Lady Gaga or some celebrity on the pool deck with how much I didn’t blend in.
The events I was set to swim were difficult, too. Most swimmers are elderly and excel at freestyle. My events were the 50 and 100 back and fly, plus the IM. They were all back to back events. There were, at most, two heats per event, so I had to rush back to the other side of the pool and not get even a minute’s rest in between events. Suffice to say, that I died on my last event and did some illegal freestyle (during a 100 m butterfly) for survival.
The swim meet was nice, but I realized that the anxiety of competitions is probably not for me. I made a nice friend who we agreed to keep in touch via Facebook. And afterwards, I got to drive to Laconia to visit my best friend!
I passed by many cute and picturesque lake-side downs on the way there. Saturday mornings in New England are just so pure. It’s prime time for craft fairs and wandering around the center of town as slowly as your old people legs can take you.
Laconia is low-key in the same way many of the understated towns in Vermont is. We spent a rainy afternoon on the beach. Now that my best friend and I are both older, it’s so special to be able to visit each other’s homes. Not apartments, not rented spaces, no roommates, but a place of our own. I was pleasantly surprised that there was much of my art and gifts on the wall and shelves.
She is also an amazing cook and fried fish for us. I’ll make that 3.5 hour drive any day to get to be able to eat that fish again, ha.
The drive back was nice and I love just looking at the cute downtowns of small towns in New England. Vermont and New Hampshire have a different flavor, but only slightly.
The race of the summer is the Kingdom Swim. I had heard about this swim my very first week living in Vermont, and while I was too late to register for it in 2021 since I arrived in the summer, I registered in snowy March for the race in July 2022. I spent all year getting mentally and physically excited for it.
The race offers many distances, ranging from a one mile swim to a twenty five mile swim that takes almost a whole day to complete. I signed up for the 5K. It was held in Lake Memphremagog, a beautiful lake that both Canada and the US share. My husband and I came up two nights before, stayed at the only motel in town to prepare for the big race.
Every swimmer had to have a kayaker beside them, for safety and also for snacks. Casey was my kayaker! We had a pre-race dinner with everyone who was participating and there were swimmers and kayakers from all over New England. We even befriended a Canadian who had come down to kayak for somebody. A lot of strangers became friends, since many kayakers were volunteers for anyone who did not have one already selected.
I had even purchased a kayak the month before and practiced with Casey once in a nearby lake.
During the big race, I finished my 5K distance in 1 hour and 36 minutes. I was in the middle of the pack, which was great to know that I wasn’t last. The race organizers threw us a barbecue at the end.
One of the best memories was that Casey and I saw a bison on the drive up. We couldn’t believe it. It was such a cool animal!
We love the Northeast Kingdom and intend to come back again and again.
The summer of 2022 brought guests from all over to stay at our cozy ranch home. We finally got the guest bed set up and our tiling finished on the first floor. Our first guest came in June – the first of many.
My friend Victoria and her husband came to visit first, kicking off the summer of family, friends, and fun. Victoria and her husband were very into coffee.
If you know me at all, I can count the number of times I’ve had coffee in my life. While it is delicious, caffeine affects me a lot. I will have bad sleep for at least two nights after a single cup of coffee. So when they visited, I had to get my act together and do research on where the best cups of coffee in Burlington were.
Burlington’s coffee scene did not disappoint. My favorite coffee shop was one attached to a seltzer place (more up my alley), Brio. Their location is great since it’s attached to art galleries, local gift shops, a pickle shop, and more. I especially love the artwork at Brio.
I also loved the one in Essex, called Uncommon Coffee. It’s a roaster, in a nice large shopping plaza so you can park in front (I am an Arizonian and Texan at heart – I need to be able to drive up to my destinations). Since then, I’ve been back a lot with my laptop to schmooze their wifi. On the day Victoria, her husband, and I went to Uncommon, we got to catch a weekend arts and crafts market! It doesn’t get more quintessentially summer in Vermont than that.
Kestrel was very eh to me, but my friend’s husband loved it so much, we went around the whole town looking for fresh beans from Kestrel to buy!
I think the most unique drinks were from Onyx Tonics. They had interesting mixes like maple lattes and more.
In the same day, we also visited Vivid Coffee and Kru. Kru was the only coffee shop I had ever visited in Vermont, prior to their arrival since it’s on the heavily trafficked Church Street and I had visited with my coffee-loving sisters the summer prior.
I had mostly scones and small snacks at each place, and saved my single coffee of the day for the place I felt most worthy. I think I made a great choice because I loved Uncommon Coffee and Onyx Tonics the most. They had things on their menu that jumped out at me. It’s hard to market coffee at me, since I don’t like cold brew, or espresso, and I don’t drink milk products, which only leaves almond and oat milk lattes. I also don’t care for syrups or flavors since sugar affects many people in my family poorly.
Uncommon Coffee had a ube latte and hocjicha latter, which I still think are some of the most unique drinks around.
