Jacs and I just got back from an amazing (and very fast paced – I’m looking forward to a good night’s rest!) trip to New York, Philadelphia and Washington DC. It may not have been a ‘traditional’ spring break since it was pretty cold (we wore layers of jumpers and jackets and it was close to freezing), however we ended up doing our fair share of nights on the town none the less.

Our first stop was New York for Brenna and Dutch’s wedding (which is why we decided on the East Coast for Spring Break). We were in Brooklyn Friday and Saturday for that and then Keiren’s apartment on the upper east side until Wednesday, where he has just moved in to a nice little 1 bedroom apartment after relocating to New York just a few weeks ago.

We landed at the bright and early hour of 5am on Friday morning and hopped on the subway to the Marriott in Brooklyn, where luckily we were able to check in to our room and have a quick nap before Keiren and our good friend from Sydney, Xummy, came to meet us for breakfast. Xummy had literally just moved to New York on the Wednesday, so it was an unexpected surprise to be able to see him. After some quick Yelping, we headed to Iris Cafe just a few minutes walk away, which turned out to be delicious (we later found out it was one of Brenna’s favorite cafe’s). Xum then headed off apartment hunting, while Keiren, Jacs and I walked along the water, over the Brooklyn Bridge, and around downtown Manhattan through the financial district and up through TriBeCa to SoHo where we stopped for lunch. After lunch we were all exhausted (Keiren is working the night shift and hasn’t been home yet) so headed home for an afternoon nap.

That evening, we met back up with Keiren and Xum to explore Brooklyn a little more with drink at a bar called 61 Local, which served lots of yummy beers, followed by dinner at an Italian restaurant and drinks at a cool dive bar called the Boat Bar.

Saturday morning, Keiren (he stayed at ours instead of heading home), Jcas and I decided to continue exploring Brooklyn with a walk over to Williamsburg which was really cool. It was a long walk but we decided it would be our exercise for the day. Again with the help of Yelp, we found an awesome little cafe for brunch called House of Small Wonders, built around a tree, and could easily be missed as the only sign of it from the outside was a small wooden door. After brunch we continued to wander around the area, and came across The Meatball Shop, which we had wanted to try when they did a pop up store in Oakland, but they had sold out. Given that, I decided to head in for a beer and some meatballs despite having just eaten. Jacs and Keiren kept me company! After that we were ready for an afternoon nap (a habit this trip) before getting ready for the Wedding!

It turned out the wedding was in Williamsburg so a few hours later we were back in the area at a super cool venue called the Brooklyn Winery for both the ceremony and reception, which turned in to a great night of dancing! Brenna looked beautiful and the ceremony was touching. Ethan, Brenna’s brother married them. It was quite the family affair with Dutch’s sisters, Haley, Erin and Caitlin as bridesmaids and baby Gray as the cutest little ring bearer. Big congratulations to the bride and groom and thanks so much for having us!

The following morning we got up earlier than I would have liked to check out and move over to Keiren’s apartment, and then turn around and head back down to midtown to meet a friend from BCG Sydney, Kieran, and his girlfriend Anne, at a Jazz club for brunch. It was a cool experience and was great to catchup with Kieran! After brunch, Keiren became tour guide and used his Bloomberg pass to take us to explore the MoMA and the Met for free. Both museums were incredible, and it was great to see all of the very famous art in the MoMA. Jacs could have spent the whole day in the MoMA, but I’d somehow worked up an appetite again, so our food tour continued with a trip to Shake Shack, a local institution, for a burger for me on the way home – it was tasty but I think In’n'Out still wins

Keiren then headed to bed for a few hours before work, while Jacs and I had a short rest before heading out to meet our friend Nick (who used to live in New York and was also there for the wedding), his fiancée Nicole, and a few of their friends for dumplings in Chinatown, followed by cocktails at an awesome bar that he used to work at called Apotheke.

Despite the late night, we dragged ourselves out of bed and I went for a run past the Guggenheim and through Central Park, while Jacs headed off to SoulCycle, an almost cult like exercise program that she had read about and was dying to try, and happened to see round the corner from Keiren’s. She had a great time, and an awesome workout, but I think at over $30 per class, not something she would be interested in all the time!

Jacs and I then spent the whole day wandering down 5th avenue (unfortunately in snow and drizzle) to see the shops, buildings like Rockefeller Center and the Empire State, and continue the food tour! We stopped for a pizza for me, met Caitlin, Erin and Nicole at a cool Italian market and deli called Eataly for cheese, charcuterie and wine, and went to the famous Katz’s Deli for a pastrami sandwich, which was to die for!

After all that walking, we headed home for a rest before Keiren, Jacs and I headed over to Brooklyn for dinner (from Best Pizza!) with a group of friends that Jacs knew from School at our friend’s Matt and Stephanie’s place. After dinner we headed back to Apotheke with Nick and Nicole to see their friend, Cole’s, band play which was really fun.

Our pace didn’t slow on Tuesday, with a trip to Chelsea Market where I started the day with an Aussie meat pie at the Tuck Shop, and some doughnuts from the Doughnuttery, followed by a beautiful walk along the High Line, which is a park built along the top of the buildings where an old railway track ran through the meat packing district. We continued on to see Cole at the shop he worked at, Mantiques, which is a collection of antiques, many from designers like Chanel and Louis Vuitton, which was cool to see!

After that, I was ready for some more food, and headed to Gray’s Papaya, which is famous for its hotdogs, and then a place called Pommes Frites for some Belgian fries with a curry ketchup sauce. Jacs grabbed a coffee from The Roasting Place which she said was the best coffee she has ever had. Glad both of our taste buds were now saying yum yum!

After heading home to see Keiren one last time before he headed out to work, we went it to SoHo to meet our friends Xum, Jim and Erin (who we met at BCG Sydney, Matt Henderson (an old family friend of the Fishers) and his friend Laura. We started at a fun bar called Puck Fair for beers, befor grabbing dinner and continuing on for more drinks with Matt! The night ended up being a little later of a night than expected given that we had to get up at 6 for our 8am bus to Philly! New York was awesome though, and it was so good to make it to the wedding, see all of our friends, and spend some time with Keiren.

We were in Philly at 10 and walked over to our hotel, the Wyndam, which was conveniently located right in the historic district. First things first however – I was in Philly for the Cheesesteaks, so we dropped our bags and walked down to south Philly for a cheesesteak at Genos (one of the famous places, across the street from the original cheesesteak at Pats). After ordering in local lingo (provolone wit, which means a cheese steak with provolone cheese and onions) I devoured the sandwich which was pretty delicious, if not the healthiest meal ever With my tummy filled, we walked back to town through the Italian Market, and hopped on the metro out to Wharton, the business school Dad went to, before heading to the hotel for a rest before dinner.

For dinner we headed over to the Rittenhouse square neighborhood, to a nice little restaurant across the road from the Dandelion, an old Irish pub in a cool building where we met our friends Edy and Lydia, who worked with me at Groupon, for some after dinner drinks. It was great to catchup with them both!

Thursday it was time to explore historic Philly which was all around us! I had no idea that it was so important in US history, and I learned a lot as we went to see the Liberty Bell, walk around Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence was signed, see Benjamin Franklin’s grave and learn -bout the writing of the US constitution. It was really interesting stuff, and Jacs was loving it That afternoon however it was time to get back on the bus to Washington DC. It was a fun time in Philly however and exceeded my expectations.

We arrived in DC, the final destination on our trip, at 8pm and quickly headed to our hotel, the Hilton in Dupont Circle, to drop off our bags before signing up to the City Bikeshare bikes, which are like the Velibs in Paris where you can get bikes at hundreds of locations over the city and for a daily fee, 30 minute rentals are free. With the bikes sorted, we rode over to Logan Circle to meeting some friends of our friend Gabe (who goes to school with me) who took us out for drinks which was fun. One of them, Katrina, is actually moving to Sydney later this year!

The next morning, we were back on the bikes again and headed downtown to see all of the main sites. We started at the White House, and then walked past the Washington monument, the World War 2 memorial, along the reflecting pool to the Vietnam memorial (which is very moving!) and in to the impressive Lincoln Memorial where you can look back along the entire Mall to the Capitol Building at the other end, which marks the center of the city. It really is a well laid out city which is impressive considering how long it has been around.

Next we checked out the Korean War memorial before hopping on our bikes again around the tidal basin. Unfortunately the famous cherry blossoms weren’t blooming yet due to the unusually cold weather, but it was still beautiful and was cool to see the FDR and Jefferson memorials. After the tidal basin, we headed back to the Mall and wandered around the holocaust museum which is interesting, moving and disturbing and has exhibits on genocide in Rwanda, Bosnia and Sudan. We finished our tour with a trip to the Native American museum and a walk past the Capitol, before biking back to the hotel to get reay for dinner. Thursday had been my birthday, but we had decided to celebrate a day late, and Jacs was surprising me with dinner somewhere!

Dinner turned out to be at a cool tapas restaurant called Jaleo where we had a delicious meal and a few gin and tonic based cocktails, and even a little birthday cake for dessert! That afternoon, our friends Nadia and Jay had driven down from Pittsburgh to stay with us and see DC, so we all met at a fun area up on U street for drinks at a lounge called Melvin’s, followed by some Belgian Beer at a bar called Saloon. DC really had a lot to offer!

Unbelievably, Saturday was the final day of our trip! We got up fairly early despite yet another late night, and rode the bikes to a place called Busboys and Poets, which is well known in DC and is a bookshop and restaurant, for brunch, before continuing down to the Mall to see some museums. First stop was the Smithsonian Natural History Museum which is really impressive, followed by the Newseum, which had been recommended to us by a few friends as being well worth a visit, despite being one of the non-free attractions! It certainly was with exhibits on the Berlin Wall, September 11th, Pulitzer prize winning photography and the history of the FBI among other things.

After the museums, we grabbed a quick lunch and headed over to Georgetown by bike. Georgetown is a neighborhood that is slightly separate to a lot of the rest of DC, and is home to lots of cafe’s and shops and runs along the river. It was fun wandering around, but it was amazingly crowded…too crowded for a relaxed stroll. After a little while in Georgetown, we rode home for a beer and a relax in the room before heading up for one last night.

First, we headed round the corner for a delicious and very spicy Thai dinner which Jay and Nadia kindly treated us too, before walking about 15 minutes to Adams Morgan, another neighborhood with a lot of nightlife, where we spent the evening in a Hookah Lounge with Nadia and Jay, my friend Arup from Berkeley who was also in DC, his girlfriend, and another old friend of the Fishers, David, who is a lawyer in DC, and his wife Roxy. We had a great evening, and it was fun catching up with everyone, but by the time we got home (via a stop at the pizza stop) we only had 3 hours till we had to leave for the airport!!

We weren’t happy when the alarm went off, but we made it and we’re now back in Berkeley, after an amazingly fun and jam-packed spring break.

Time for an early night!

Ben and Jacs

Jacs and I are now both home in Berkeley from Baja California Sur, Mexico where we both had amazing (but very different trips)! I was on a trip with a friend from school, Andrew, while Jacs had 16 days in a yoga teaching training course called Yandara, just south of Todos Santos. You can read about my trip below, and Jacs will post about her trip soon.

Jacs got back from Mexico on her birthday (last Sunday), so we had a lovely evening celebrating that before heading straight to Tahoe where we spent the past few days – we have a house there for the winter and season passes at Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows. It was lovely and sunny so we had a wonderful time boarding. We also had a great time catching up with John and Shirley.

Hope 2013 is off to a great start for everyone!

Ben and Jacs

Ps. For those that are interested, here is a review of stats from our blog from the last year.

Alpine Meadows on Dwellable

Ben’s version

Part 1: New Year’s in Cabo San Lucas

On New Year’s Eve, after a couple of days relaxing in Berkeley after our Brazil trip, I headed down to Los Cabos to meet my friend, Andrew. We were staying our first two nights in Cabo San Lucas (the touristy party town ) at a hostel called the Cabo Inn which worked out really well because it was right in the middle of town. Another friend, Tyler, was in town with his family so after checking in and settling in, we headed out to meet them at a great restaurant called La Golondrina, where they kindly took us out to a delicious Mexican dinner to celebrate New Year’s Eve. After dinner, Andrew, Tyler and I headed to the beach to watch the fireworks and also went to quite a few bars around town which was great fun, but left us all feeling a little hazy on the 1st.

Being in Cabo though, Andrew and I decided to start the day with some beers and margaritas at the beach at a bar called ‘The Office’, which helped get the day going. After breakfast we headed out to Playa Del Amor (Lover’s beach) and Divorce beach, out by the point, which are beautiful beaches only accessible by boat. After hanging out there, we headed home for an afternoon nap before heading out to dinner with Ty again (although admittedly, we were 30 minutes late as we slept through our alarm … oops) at a place called Maro’s Shrimp House. Maro’s specialized in seafood as well as a drink called the Bulldog which kickstarted another fun evening around town (and more than a few late night tacos).

Part 2: Road Trip!

The following morning we picked up a rental car and headed off on a 5 night road trip around the peninsular. We hadn’t planned anything but had a general idea of things we wanted to do. It was a lesson in adjusting to the local speed of life in some of the smaller towns, but was amazing fun – and we loved having the car and having the freedom to just turn up random dirt roads whenever we felt like it to see a different side of Cabo.

Our first day we drove via San Jose del Cabo, a small town called Santiago, and the Tropic of Cancer, and on to our first stop, Cabo Pulmo National Park. As we got closer the nice highways gave way to bumpy roads and finally a dirt and gravel road along the coast. As we got closer, there was less and less development with gorgeous scenery (we spotted our first whale offshore!), until in the park we were staying at a little one-street town with only 50-100 permanent residents. Our first step was to book a dive and find a room for the night which ended up being quite an adventure – a 20 minute walk around town, booking a room, later finding out it was double booked and having to do the whole process again. Luckily we ended up with a little casita owned by an American lady called Nancy who had lived there for 20 years – it only had 1 bed, so Andrew and I were getting a lot closer! As dark approached, we had a dinner of delicious fish tacos by the water (we ate a huge number of fish and shrimp tacos on the beach!) before getting an early night since there wasn’t much to do after dark! The following morning we headed out for our dives, which unfortunately were nothing special. We did dive with sea lions and see a turtle but visibility wasn’t amazing and the coral wasn’t as nice as we were hoping for – we’re spoiled I guess!

After getting back to town, we headed off to our next stop, Los Barriles, a little town on the East Cape famous for kitesurfing and windsurfing with a lot of expats living there. We pulled in to town, and again the first adventure was finding somewhere to stay (my spanish was quickly improving!), followed by a shower and heading out for dinner and drinks. We started with very strong margaritas at a place called Tio Pablo’s which Jacs recommended from when she had been there years ago, followed by big beers and more tacos at a sports bar called the Smokehouse. It was a great fun night!

The following morning we got up and had a stroll along the beach and watched some kiteboarding before getting back on the road to La Paz, the capital of the state. We had a beautiful drive to La Paz – at one point I turned up a little dirt track (our poor car!) that took us up a mountain for amazing views of the Sea of Cortez from a viewpoint that had been put up so people could look around the land that had been bought for an eco development! We then stopped in a town called El Triunfo, which had a cute little church, cobblestone streets and an abandoned silver mine – we felt like archaelogists! After that we continued on to La Paz, where we managed to find a little hostel called the Pension California without a map – not bad in a big city! Our first stop was delicious fish, scallop and shrimp tacos at a stand by the hotel, followed by a walk along the Malecon (the water front). We then had a sunset beer, and a delicious dinner of a local stew accompanied by a few too many tequila shots. It was still early (night life there didn’t get going till late) so we decided to have a quick nap (and somehow managed to get back up!) before going out to watch some live music. From there we went back to the Malecon where our good luck continued – we ran in to some people from our hostel, as well as people we had met in Cabo San Lucas (an american guy, his brazilian wife, and 2 other brazilian girls)!

The next day we got up and as we were getting ready to hit the road, we ran in to the people from Cabo San Lucas again! We couldn’t believe it! We grabbed breakfast with them, and then got on our way to the stop I was most excited for – 2 nights at the Pescadero Surf Camp, which is just outside Todos Santos (a cute ‘artistic oasis’ and rumored home to THE Hotel California), 2 minutes from Cerritos (an excellent surf break), and just 10 minutes from Jacs’ yoga camp. We got to the camp where we had another little casita, picked up a surfboard and headed down to Cerritos – it was awesome! We sat on the beach with a cooler of beers and spent the afternoon surfing and spotting whales out past the break.

As sunset approached, we decided to go for a little drive to find a good spot to watch sunset and have a beer on the beach. After picking another dirt road and ignoring some private property signs, we found a beach with no one else around that we thought was perfect. In a funny twist, we discovered when Jacs saw our photos that we were in front of her yoga camp! What a coincidence! After dark, we decided to walk to a little restaurant called Pizza Napolitana, which was a little shack by the roadside that had amazing thin crust wood fired pizza – it was delicious! We were exhausted, so decided to have an early night. I was super excited because we were seeing Jacs for brunch in Todos Santos in the morning. After waking up early for a morning surf, it was wonderful to meet Jacs for breakfast (and amazing breakfast burritos) and hear all about her trip! In another random experience, someone loved the pink sunglasses I was wearing (which I got for free at a birthday party in Vegas), and so I sold them! We then went to Pescadero to look around a farmers market, snuck in to Rancho Pescadero (a luxury hotel) to check it out, and then headed down to Cerritos until I had to get Jacs back to her camp. While I drove Jacs to her camp, Andrew stayed at the beach. When I got back 20 minutes later, I couldn’t believe it but the 2 brazilian girls from La Paz were sitting there – they just happened to have walked past Andrew on the beach! They’d got a bus from La Paz so we decided to have dinner with them in Todos Santos so we could give them a ride there for a better bus back after dinner. After dinner, we headed back to the camp for a few drinks by the pool with the other people there.

Part 3: The Westin

The next morning, we finished our drive back to Cabo San Lucas, returned the car, and got a bus to the Westin, half way between Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo. We had 4 free nights at the Westin thanks to Andrew’s fiance Amanda who had been given them – she really hooked us up (Thanks Amanda!)! We had access to the lounge for breakfast and drinks from 5-7 every day, an amazing room looking out over the beach, and it was a gorgeous hotel – quite the change from the hostels we’d been in.

Check out the view from our room:

During our time at the Westin, we spent a lot of time relaxing on the beach, whale watching (we could see them from our room!) snorkeling in front of the hotel (I even saw a group of about 20 rays!), going to the gym (we thought we should make up for all of the eating and drinking!), playing mini golf and taking advantage of the lounge – each morning started with breakfast in the lounge, and each afternoon involved 2 hours of drinks and food in the lounge. Our first 2 nights we didn’t even eat dinner after the lounge, so were really getting everything out of it Our third night however the drink policy randomly changed to not include spirits (hopefully not because of us!) – but there were some confused and annoyed guests which seemed like a strange decision for the hotel to take with no communication.

Other than hanging out around the hotel, we did do some more exploring. One afternoon we went exploring in San Jose (which is less touristy and more low key than Cabo San Lucas) and had tacos and beer at a rooftop bar called Shooters. We also went there one night for a cocktail and a boutique hotel called Casa Natalia’s, drinks at Shooters (again!), and dinner at the Retro Burger Bar (we were craving a burger!) – I even ordered a dessert burger .

We also really wanted to go whale watching, so one morning we got up early and got the bus to Cabo San Lucas where we had been offered a good deal (it turned out that was because they had an old price list so we got an awesome deal) on Ocean Riders, whale watching in a big zodiac. The time we wanted was only from San Jose however, but the ride included a cab to San Jose, so off we went all the way in the other direction. It was amazing and well worth it! It was a beautiful day and we followed a mother, calf and 2 males for about 45 minutes. There is a clip below from the ride.

Our final night, we decided to have one last night out in Cabo San Lucas and check out some of the bigger and more famous places that seemed overly full on New Year’s. After drinks in the lounge we got a bus in to town and started with a hookah and a beer (the Hookah was 50% off – our luck continued!), before tacos at one of our little taco stands, drinks at a cool bar called Mandala, and then on to El Squid Roe, a Cabo San Lucas establishment. It was really funny actually and we had a good time – it was like being at an undergraduate college party with dancing on tables and jelly shots! It was a great way to end the trip!

The following morning, we relaxed by the pool for a few hours before getting a bus to the airport – sadly the adventure was over!