A Girl's Weekend in Lake Geneva

Back in the spring, my sister and I got it in our heads that we should plan a girl's trip somewhere at the end of the summer before she had to go back to school and I had to go back to work. Jeff was actually away for a weekend for his brother's bachelor party, and we started talking about how Ellen didn't end up getting to go on my bachelorette party because she was super pregnant, and decided we needed a re-do! A little time away from the kiddos to rest and recharge was just what the doctor ordered. We had grand plans of flying off to somewhere on the ocean or heading back to New Orleans, but then never managed to actually plan something or buy tickets. But then I thought, we don't have to go very far at all to have a fun weekend! My mom ended up coming along too, and it was such a nice little trip.

If you haven't been before, Lake Geneva is a cute little lake town just across the border in Wisconsin, and is just a 90 minute drive. Lake Geneva used to be where wealthy Chicagoans would go during the summer so there are huge historic mansions on the lake. There is also a small but adorable little downtown with a surprising number of ice cream restaurants per capita. I could see staying for a longer trip if you rented a house outside of town, but really it's great for a long weekend trip if you stay downtown.

Where we stayed: 

I looked at a bunch of hotels but we were booking pretty last-minute so there weren't a ton of options. I ended up finding a room available at The Cove, and once we realized there was a huge pool with a bar it seemed like a no brainer. The hotel itself was interesting because parts of it seemed super dated (hallways, balconies, etc), but our room was actually updated with a gorgeous bathroom and pretty hardwood floors, plus a little kitchenette for keeping all of our wine and snacks. We booked a studio suite, which had a queen and a pullout couch, which ended up being perfect for three people. The pool was crazy busy every day with people out drinking all day every day and live music, but it was still very family friendly with lots of kids running around. The location was also perfect, we were one block off of the beach and just a couple blocks from the main downtown area.

What We did: 

When you're in Lake Geneva, you have to get out on the lake! We booked a Jazz Dinner Boat Tour with Lake Geneva Cruise Line to have dinner out on the water. The boat left from downtown at 7, and we got to cruise through the whole lake while having drinks and dinner. There was a little bit of history about some of the big mansions on the water, but for most of the ride there was a live jazz band! The food is nothing to write home about (my sister said, "Oh, it's like wedding food") but the sunset views and music more than made up for it.

We also spent a surprising amount of time shopping downtown. I thought Marigold was so adorable, and ended up buying a set of cute minimal Christmas plates at C.R. Goodfinds because apparently I'm the kind of person now who buys sets of Christmas plates while on vacation. We also did a mini wine tasting at New World Wine Shop (you can just walk in and taste things for free), and I'm pretty sure my sister tried every kind of beef jerky at BJO. We also got ice cream twice from Scoops because it's vacation and calories don't count ;) But really, it was so good we had to go back for round two.

And then obviously we spent a lot of time at the pool! We thought we were going to go for a walk around the lake too, but a thunderstorm blew through so we ended up having a couple of drinks at Hogs & Kisses instead. My kind of exercise ;)

Where We Ate: 

Oakfire
We stopped in for lunch at Oakfire right when we got to town, and got the last table on the upstairs balcony with an amazing view of the lake. We split some apps plus a pizza and a salad, and everything was so good. I'm basically always pro burrata, but the calamari was so good!

Sopra
We went for dinner to Sopra and it was packed. I made a reservation two weeks in advance and was so glad I did because we saw people being turned away at the door. My sister and I both got the duck, and it was so good I wanted to lick the plate!

Joni's Diner
I realized once we wandered in that I actually have been to Joni's before, and that diner breakfast didn't disappoint! The menu is small and standard, but everything was really good! Probably because it was covered in butter ;) It's a fun place to visit too because it's a vintage diner from the 1950's so it's really old school and cool inside.

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Our Hawaii Babymoon

We had known Jeff's family was planing to go to Hawaii for Thanksgiving for literally a year and a half (it got pushed a week earlier to save money on flights), and when we found out we were expecting, Jeff and I decided to turn the trip into our babymoon! The timing was actually perfect, since my doctor told me to cut off all flying after Thanksgiving. We traveled during my 24th-25th weeks of pregnancy (or the sixth month for those of you who aren't pregnant and have no idea what the weeks mean ;) which is really in the sweet spot as I still felt really good for the majority of the trip. Since we've gotten back I dropped into the third trimester and have started getting pretty uncomfortable! 

When we first started researching the trip, I was initially discouraged because so many of the outdoor activities you can do in Hawaii were either off-limits for pregnant women, or were off limits for me specifically since I was suffering from pregnancy-related motion sickness. But it turned out there was still tons for me to do, this was really one of the more active trips we've taken!

As far as an itinerary goes, we spent 6 nights on Oahu in a rental house on the southeast side of the island, and then 3 nights on Kauai at the Grand Hyatt on Poipu Beach. If I were planning the trip completely myself, I would definitely have spent more time on Kauai and less on Oahu. Kauai was beautiful and felt more like Hawaii, if that makes sense. We were staying with Jeff's family in Oahu so we didn't have as much control over that part of the trip.

I'm going to split my recommendations up into Oahu and Kauai to make this a little easier for you!

Things to Do on Oahu: 

Hiking: 

I wasn't really sure on hiking, as being pregnant throws off your center of gravity and makes your heart beat twice as hard. I did some research on easy hikes, and ended up being able to do all of these no problem! 

The first day we woke up super early because of jet lag, and headed out to the Diamond Head Trail at 6:30am. The trail opens at 6am, and it was already crowded! I'd heard that the trail gets extremely crowded to the point where it's not even fun by mid-day, so definitely plan to do this one early. There is a lot of elevation and a lot of stairs, but just take breaks if you get out of breath and you should be fine. The view from the top is beautiful from all sides, with the beach and mountains on one side and Honolulu / Waikiki on the other. It was $5 per car to get in, and the fresh pineapple stand at the bottom actually served up the best fresh smoothie I had in Hawaii. 

We also went to Waimea Falls to do the "hike" there - really, it's mostly a walk through some botanical gardens with a waterfall you can swim in at the end. Unfortunately, the waterfall was closed due to a mudslide the whole time we were there (nooooooo!!) so I didn't think the hike was worth the cost of admission (I think $17 per person) without getting to swim in a waterfall at the end. I would recommend calling before driving over to make sure the waterfall is open for the day! 

And then another cool and easy-ish hike was Manoa Falls. This one also ends in a waterfall, albeit a much taller and cooler waterfall than Waimea, but one that you cannot swim in. The beginning of the hike is the coolest part, you walk through a little valley that looks like something straight out of a movie (and they actually were filming a movie while we were there - Godzilla vs Kong!). The hike itself is mostly through jungle and is muddy / slippery and uphill to the waterfall, but not a huge incline. Jeff did have to give me a hand for a lot of the downhill bits. I recommend taking this one on early too. We got there around 7:45 am and only met a few people on the trail on the way up, but there were tons on their way up while we were hiking down. I can imagine if it gets much more crowded it's actually hard to make your way through the narrower and slippery parts of the trail. There is a parking lot at the bottom with a confusing sign telling you to go somewhere to pay for parking, but we didn't pay since we were there so early - no ticket for  us! 

Visit the beaches:  

I mean, you're in Hawaii, you have to go to the beach! I was a little unsure of what Waikiki Beach would be like since it's the main tourist hub on the island, but it was surprisingly uncrowded, even on the weekend! We stayed near the eastern end of the beach, where there's a giant sea wall that makes basically an ocean swimming pool. I always get a little nervous in open water, and loved that I could float in there without worrying about sharks or currents. We parked at the zoo both times we visited, and it was only $1/hour! We stopped into Tiki's for drinks and lunch one day while we were there, and were pleasantly surprised by how good it was. There's a beautiful view of the beach from their balcony, and I had a surprisingly good chicken papaya salad. Plus, if you couldn't tell by the name, this is a great place to grab all of your tropical cocktails (they had a bunch of virgin options for me too). 

We also loved Hunakai Beach for watching the sun rise. It was an easy walk from our rental and had spectacular views on the mornings it wasn't too overcast. You can swim here too, but it is a really small and narrow beach - definitely not for laying out! Wai'alae Beach Park was also near our rental, and we're told it's where the locals go to the beach. It was pretty, big, and nice and quiet, with easy parking. 

Drive up the North Shore: 

The North Shore was beautiful! We did this as a huge group but ended up splitting up since we had different vehicles. Jeff and I decided to shoot over the middle of the island and head straight for Haleiwa since I had my eye on some shrimp scampi from Giovanni's Food Truck. This truck is famous and was the most amazing thing that we ate in Hawaii. Beware that it is surrounded by copycat food trucks, don't get lured in by the wrong one!! We got there around 11am and it was already packed, so definitely get there early or plan to wait. If you go, be sure to bring wet wipes or similar because it was messy - luckily the family we sat next to shared with us.

We headed in to the main part of Haleiwa after our shrimps, but I found the town itself a little disappointing - the main drag felt too touristy / manufactured to me. If you're into shave ice, get it from Matsumoto in town - supposedly the best place!

From Haleiwa, we drove west around the island, stopping at beaches and shops and other food trucks along the way. Laniakea Beach is supposed to be a good place to see sea turtles sunbathing, although there were none while we were there. You can also stop at Sunset Beach to see the huge waves at the Banzai Pipeline, one of the huge surfing sites. Sunset Beach is also, in case you couldn't tell, supposed to be a great place to watch the sun set ;) You can also stop in at Kualoa Ranch, which is where they've filmed a bunch of movies including Jurassic Park. There were a ton of activities and tours you could do here too, but we just wandered in (and probably went further than you're supposed to without a guide!) to take in the views and of course get some pictures pretending to be dinosaurs.

The drive on this part of the island is gorgeous so definitely pick a pretty day to do it. You're right on the ocean for most of it with great views!!

Polynesian Cultural Center + Luau: 

This was the part of the trip that got mixed reviews between me and Jeff haha - he loved it, I did not. The Polynesian Cultural Center is basically like the Epcot for Hawaii, with educational workshops and presentations spread across six different islands representing the six Polynesian cultures. We were with Jeff's whole family for this, which meant 14 people including 3 six-year-olds, and so decided to hire a guide. If you're in a big group like ours, definitely hire a guide, as they make sure you get to see everything! I can only imagine what trying to wrangle a group of 14 would have been like without a guide. 

That being said, I did not enjoy the experience because of the guide. What I didn't realize until about halfway through was that it was the guide's job to get us to a show at every island, not to let us see the exhibits or participate in the workshops like basketweaving, learning to play the ukelele, etc. And sure, some of the shows are fun (who doesn't like to watch someone spin around with fire or pull a coconut off a tree?!) but most of them somehow had a distinctly Disney feel. So, if you choose to go, I recommend going in a smaller group sans guide so you can do what you want, and not watch other tourists get pulled on stage to play the drums. 

The coolest part of the experience by far though was the Luau and evening show. The luau is recommended by everyone who lives on the island as the most authentic one you can visit. It is a buffet dinner with a show, but the buffet was actually really good, way better than we expected! Amusingly, eating from a buffet was literally one of the only things my doctor told me not to do on the trip (because germs! and food safety!), but we just got to the dinner early and went through the buffet line first so I felt safe eating everything. During dinner there were fire dancers, hula dancers, singers, and more. If you want to get some pictures in, this is the time to do it, as the evening show does not allow for cameras! 

After dinner we went to the show, which I was also apprehensive about but it ended up being really cool. It was basically a story of Polynesia told mainly through dance and was really well done. The coolest part though was the fire dancing show at the end, where they were literally chucking flaming torches across the huge stage and used big skirts to be able to dance over flames. 

Check out the KCC Farmer's Market: 

The KCC Farmer's Market is open on Saturday mornings and was packed! I'm told that locals don't go to it anymore because it's so crowded. It opened at 7:30am when an air horn blew, and people literally lined up ahead of time and ran in!! While it was really crowded, it was still fun to see all of the fresh produce and flowers and interesting food being prepared. And of course, I got my smoothie fix taken care of too ;) We grabbed a few small souvenirs here plus fresh fruit to eat during the week and some snacks. 

Visit Pearl Harbor: 

This was the one thing Jeff and I really wanted to cross off our list, and we just managed to sneak it in on our last morning. I had a hard time finding information about Pearl Harbor ahead of time - when you google it, all that comes up are tours you can sign up for. You do not need to sign up for a tour! Visiting Pearl Harbor is actually free, all the tour gets you is a ride to Pearl Harbor. We went around 9am, and were able to basically walk right up to the ticket counter, where they give you a free ticket for the next available tour of the Arizona. Ours was only half an hour after we got there - I was expecting to have to wait a lot longer. The tour was an hour long, and included a video with footage from the actual attacks and then a boat tour of the harbor. The actual Arizona monument was still closed for construction while we were there, but the boat took us up and around it so you could still see. There's more to do at Pearl Harbor, but we were a little tired / shell shocked afterwards (seeing everything in person is really powerful) so we headed out after that. Just a note if you go - they do not allow any bags in larger than a wallet, so leave everything at home! 

Things to do on Kauai: 

Check out the hotel pool: 

We stayed at the Grand Hyatt Kauai, and the pool was basically the reason we booked the resort. It is spectacular - very lush and natural feeling with lots of hidden coves. My favorite part was floating down the lazy river with a virgin frozen drink in hand, of course, but there was also a beautiful saltwater pool that I loved, as well as an adults only pool and a big kid-friendly pool (and a waterslide!). We really just needed to relax by this point in the trip, and spent the majority of our time on the island at the pool. 

Visit Waimea Canyon: 

I hadn't researched what exactly this was ahead of time, I just knew that a friend had recommended we drive up. It's a huge canyon that takes up a big chunk of the island, and the views are breathtaking. Jeff described it as, "like the Grand Canyon, but green." There are some beautiful hikes you can do up here too, but literally two minutes after we got to the lookout on the top I got stung by a bee, so we opted to leave pretty quickly after that. Our friend had recommended skipping all of the scenic overlooks on the drive up and just going to the main lookout, and I agree - the view from the top is the best! The only reason to stop would be if you're feeling carsick - it's a wind-y, scary drive up!! 

Eat and drink and eat and drink: 

What Jeff and I do best on trips! We didn't check out many restaurants on Oahu since we were with Jeff's family and cooking in our rental for most of the trip, so I was excited to go out when we got to Kauai. We loved Little Fish Coffee for breakfast - the acai bowls and bagel sandwiches were really good, plus I loved their hibiscus tea! We also went to Beach House Restaurant for dinner one night which was beautiful - it's right on the ocean so you can watch the sun set from your table! We booked a table for half an hour before sunset which was perfect. We also had one dinner at the resort at Tidepools, which has a pretty view of the ocean as well and really good desserts. Like, the fish was good, but definitely save room for those Portuguese donuts!!!

Other recommendations: 

Ha, we really didn't get down to much in Kauai! We were only there for two and a half days, and really we just wanted to relax! Some of the other things that were recommended to us but we didn't get a chance to try were to drive up to the Princeville area to see the rain forest-y part of the island (or even stay the night there if we were staying longer), to take a helicopter tour or a boat tour of the Na Poli coast, and to hike the Ho’opi Falls Trail (easy) or the beginning of the Kalalau Trail (beautiful but gets really hard).

Want to see more from our trip? Check out my photo diary or my guide on packing for Hawaii in a carry-on. Aloha!!

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Another Weekend in Wine Country

A few weeks ago we headed to Napa to celebrate our third wedding anniversary! I really can't believe it's been three years already, but it's easier to remember when I look at my three year old niece (she was born a week and a half after our wedding - my poor 9 month pregnant sister at the wedding!). I'm fortunate to be sent to San Francisco for work a lot, so Jeff and I decide every now and then to have him fly out to meet me for the weekend. This was our third trip to Napa Valley, and we basically copied our itinerary from the last trip, just with a hotel down the street and a few different dinner reservations.

We stayed at Napa Valley Lodge in Yountville, really only because we loved Yountville so much but Hotel Villagio (where we stayed on our last trip) was under construction! The Napa Valley Lodge was a little quieter because the pool didn't have a full-on bar, but really it was basically the same experience, with a champagne breakfast looking out into the vineyards in the morning and a pretty pool. The Napa Valley Lodge had prettier rooms than what we saw at the Villagio, but I assume the Villagio's rooms will be gorgeous when the remodel is finished!

Yountville is a great place to stay in Napa Valley for a couple of reasons - the first and most important being that it's really walkable with great restaurants, so after a long day of wine tasting you don't have to worry about driving! As city kids, that's really important to me and Jeff ;) Also, when I say great restaurants, I mean some of the best in the country! We still haven't made it to French Laundry (almost squeaked into a lunch reservation this trip!) but have loved Bistro Jeanty (omg the rabbit pasta!!), Bottega, and Brix for fancier dinners, and R+D Kitchen and Redd Wood for more casual meals. Yountville is also a really cute little town with little boutiques and parks - one night we were there they showed a movie in the park next to our hotel, and there were tons of people out enjoying their fancy bottles of wine.

As far as things to do, we went on another wine tour with Platypus. We love their tours because they take you around to smaller wineries you probably would never visit otherwise, and because it's usually a really fun group of people. This time we went on a weekday and it was a smaller group and more relaxed experience. Besides the wine tour, we visited Bennett Lane again and got the VIP experience since we're members there. They really have the prettiest gardens of any of the wineries I've been to in Napa! We grabbed sandwiches from Giugni on our drive up to the winery and sat on their back patio with a bottle of wine for a couple of hours - so beautiful and relaxing!

Besides drinking all of the wine, we also did some pool time and hammock time and played bocce at our hotel. I had just learned how to really play bocce earlier that week from a bocce national champion (which yes, is a real thing haha) at a work event and it turns out that training paid off, because I beat Jeff in both of our games! And that, my friends, is quite an achievement, because I don't think I've ever previously beaten Jeff at any sport ;)

(I told Jeff he should start his own Instagram, "Jeff Hearts Sandwiches")

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