hollandlm

[hollandlm]

Modern art on the Donum Estate Vineyards in Sonoma Valley

#modernart #donum #donumestate #carneros #sonoma #artandwine #sfbayarea #gaoweigang #aiweiwei #zodiac #yearofthedog #mikadotree #pascalmarthinetayou #contemporaryterracottawarriors #yeuminjun #yayoikusama #travel #winetasting #northamerica #unitedstates #california

[hollandlm]

The Mastaba on the Serpentine in Hyde Park, London

#mastaba #london #londonmastaba #england #unitedkingdom #britishisles #travel #vacation #modernart #hydepark #serpentine #wanderlust #photography #travelphotography #europe

[hollandlm]

Dublin sightseeing at Dublin Castle, the Samuel Beckett Bridge, and enjoying the colorful modern art all over the city!

#dublin #ireland #travel #europe #dublincastle #modernart #wanderlust #travelphotography #photography #castles #samuelbeckettbridge

[hollandlm]

Edinburgh couldn’t be any more beautiful. Old Town was build before 1400, New Town before 1700. The entire town is castles!

#edinburgh #scotland #castles #edinburghcastle #travel #vacation #photography #travelphotography #britishisles #greatbritain #europe #eurotrip #wanderlust

[hollandlm]

Backpacking Yosemite NP Alder Creek

In July a group of us hiked from Wawona Road into Yosemite National Park to the Deer Camp Trail. Our trek started at the Deer Camp Trailhead (37.646644, -119.701454) and hiked 7mi up the mostly uphill trail to Deer Camp. The marquee feature of the trail is the Alder Creek Falls ~4.5 miles up the trail, seen below.

As you can see Alder Creek is several miles south of the Yosemite Valley. The easiest way to access the road is from the South via Oakhurst. Wawona Rd does connect to the valley, so an Alder Creek trip could be added onto a traditional Yosemite Valley trip.

(Google Maps)

The hike is 7miles out and back to Deer Camp from Wawona Rd. In the outbound direction the trail varies from gently rolling uphill to low to mid gradient uphills. The trail is never so steep one feels uneasy with a heavy backpack, but you definitely get more tired climbing up and out than you do on the hike back down to Wawona.

Around mile 4.5 the trail really opens up for a view of the Southern and Western parts of Yosemite National Park. As this region of the park is so far from the Valley, you can really get some solitude both on the trail and in the backcountry campsites.

Alder Creek continues to run next to, and sometimes through the Alder Creek trail hike to Deer Camp for the entire hike. That means lots of opportunities to fill up your filtration system to refill on cold snowmelt water.

That being said, have your waterproof hiking boots ready. The trail does frequent cross tributaries of Alder Creek, as well as the creek itself multiple times. In the hot summer of July in Yosemite NP, that cold water in your shoes is a welcome cooling relief, just beware of chaffing.

#yosemite #national park #waterfall #scenic #california #wawona #backpacking #backcountry #survivalist #hiking #optoutside #themountainsarecalling #united states #travel

[hollandlm]

The must visit list: Leshan Giant Buddha in the Sichuan provence of China

#Asia #China #Sichuan #Leshan Giant Buddha #to do list #UNESCO World Heritage Site #photo

[hollandlm]

Bar Review: The Edison, Los Angeles, California

(Photo Credit eastsidescene.com)

The hot "speakeasy" bar of Downtown Los Angeles, Edison takes their 1920s theme to the pinnacle of Luxe. The bartenders are dressed to the 9s in 1920s style hispters suspenders, and the waitresses are sporting flappers. The most unique character at Edison is the green absinthe fairy that occasionally makes an appearance urging you to take a ride with the green fairy.

(Photo Credit venuetastic.com)

The entrance is at street level, but once you've passed coat check is a very long stairway down into an almost cave-like open space with stone walls and sky-high ceilings. One end of the bar is more music and dancing focused, the middle is filled with standing bar patrons, and the opposite end is filled with luxurious lounges and seating. Edison is also downright civilized, as many of the table and lounge areas are open to general customers, without requiring them to pay exorbitant bottle service prices.

My favorite part of Edison is the 1920s-era dawn of electricity machinery and light bulbs. Not only does Edison embrace their speakeasy theme, they decorate with industrial equipment and dim glowing antique looking light bulbs. The only anachronistic thing to be found in this bar are the patrons who have come to enjoy it.

The most beautiful bar I have ever seen, with a nerdy authentically 1920s feel I've never experienced before or since. An amazing bar and a must-visit on any Los Angeles trip.

#California #Downtown LA #Downtown Los Angeles #Los Angeles #The Edison #bar #cocktails #drinking #food #review #speakeasy #North America #United States #1920s #absinthe fairy #industrial

[hollandlm]

Hostel Review: Parami Guesthouse, Chiang Mai, Thailand

(Photo Credit chiangmaigrapevine.com)

Parami Guesthouse is located just outside the central city loop across a short walking bridge. A 15 minute walk from anything you may want to see in central Chiang Mai, the sweet demeanor of the owner/operators, and the convenience of offered daily activites and friendly social guests to explore with was well worth the location.

Here you can see just how close the hostel is to central Chiang Mai.

For just a few dollars a night, I had this guestroom all to myself. This guestroom included a full bed (not exactly hotel comfortable, but after a full day exploring Chiang Mai you will sleep quite well), an en suite full bathroom, and very critically an air conditioning unit. As with many oversees guesthouses this room came with a few particulars. The air conditioning unit could only be turned on while you are home, so you always come back to a rather sweltering room. You also can't put toilet paper down the toilet. Human waste goes in the toilet, but toilet paper and everything else gets put in the trash. That being said, the water pressure and temperature were decent, and a little privacy is very appreciated after a long day sweating in the Thailand sun.

Above is a shot of my small seating area.

Another shot of the shower / bathroom facilities in my guestroom.

The guesthouse was happy to help you book your activities for the day. This includes my favorite activity in Chiang Mai, the Baan Thai Cooking Class (http://hollandlm.tumblr.com/post/35867479401/baan-thai-thai-cookery-school-chiang-mai-thailand), as well as trips to the Elephant Sanctuary, and trips up to the Doi Southep temple. The one tour I was unhappy with was the Cockfighting tour. While I hope the tour was one of the dark history of cockfighting in Thailand, it's still a pretty popular sport in parts of Thailand, and is disappointing to see that tradition continues.

#Chiang Mai #Parami Guesthouse #Thailand #hostel #hotel #review #Asia

[hollandlm]

Monsoon Season Day Trip in Karon Beach, Phuket, Thailand

One of the hazards of traveling to Thailand in the off season is heat, humidity, and cloudy raining monsoon days. While traveling in the off-season shouldn't scare you, there are lots of opportunities to save, my lack of planning ended in a beach vacation monsoon disaster. In Chiang Mai and Bangkok it's easy enough to make your plans with rain in mind, allowing you to enjoy the vacation cost savings of off-season travel. That being said, Karon Beach is not the place to try off-season travel.

I arrived at Phuket Airport planning to catch one of the many ferries each day to Koh Phi Phi, and another ferry to Krabi Province where my hostel was booked. It was way to expensive to fly directly to Krabi, so this rather convoluted travel plan was meant to save some money. Unfortunately, when I landed at the Phuket Airport, I was greeted with some bad news. The Phuket Airport is full of hotel and tour vendors aggressively seeking your business, and those vendors informed me that the ferry to Koh Phi Phi and Krabi was cancelled that day. Apparently this is common in the off season.

Unsure what to do, I went to my default and booked a hotel room at the closest Hilton hotel with Hilton points. In this case, it was the Hilton Phuket Arcadia resort in Karon Beach. (http://hollandlm.tumblr.com/post/36359749767/hotel-review-hilton-phuket-arcadia-resort-karon) Sadly, it was almost an hour drive from the Phuket Airport, leaving me with not so many options to get back on my original Krabi travel plan.

Arriving in Karon Beach, the town seemed promising. Dozens of stores and restaurants along the beach boardwalk as well as the main street of town. While Chiang Mai had a healthy mix of tourist and local neighborhoods and markets, Karon Beach didn't have that culture and history. The area was mostly new development built to cater to the tourism industry. The locals clearly don't spend much time in Karon Beach unless they can satisfy all of their needs with screen printed t-shirts and novelty bikinis. Not even so much as a local produce market anywhere within walking distance of the Hilton resort.  

Most of the restaurants in Karon Beach are hawking burgers and mac and cheese for the unadventurous tourists, so it was a real challenge to find a decent Thai restaurant. The off-season monsoons started to move it, so rather than exploring my options a little further from home, I ducked into the first decent Thai restaurant. Settling for a generic tourist option close to the Hilton, I got to experience a Phuket guitarist covering American classics right on the beach. The Thai food was tasty, but it certainly wasn't the way they prepare Thai food for their families. Traditional sticky rice was substituted for easy to prepare jasmine. Asking the restaurant about the many traditional Thai dishes missing from the menu they told me that they travel several miles away from Karon Beach to find those traditional dishes.

On the walk back to the Hilton, there was a very popular food truck with a line of both locals from the taxi stand across the street, as well as tourists.  The food truck was a one-women operation which specialized in crepes, giving you the option of dozens of fruits and toppings. I asked for their speciality which turned out to be a banana and nutella crepe. Creamy banana, smooth nutella, and a crepe dripping in cooking oil, it was exactly what I would expect from indulgent late-night snack food.

Final advice, plan ahead. Make sure your ferry tickets are booked ahead of time, and fly as directly to your destination as possible. The off-season doesn't allow for as much spontaneity, so take the uncertainty out of the off-season to enjoy both everything Thailand has to offer, while saving money. The beach towns are not going to be as much fun during monsoon season since frequent rain showers don't allow much time for lounging on a beach, and as always, avoid the mega resorts. If you are going to fly around the world for a vacation, go where the locals go and really get to know your destination.

#Asia #Hilton #Karon Beach #Phuket #Thailand #beach #day trip #travel #street food

[hollandlm]

(Photo Credit alierturk.deviantart.com)

No wonder so many of our friends keep traveling to Zion and Arches National Parks to pop the question to their soon-to-be fiancees. Striking beauty in the Utah desert.

#Arches #National Park #North America #United States #Utah #desert #southwest #sunset #west #photo

[hollandlm]

Photo Credit (world-visits.blogspot.com)

Reading Into Thin Air may not have me jumping to Climb Everest, but a trip to Everest Base Camp (already at nearly 18,000 ft) is still on the adventure travel to-do list.

#Asia #Everest #Mt Everest #Nepal #Tibet #adventure #mountain #mountain climbing #photo #to do list

[hollandlm]

Aegean Downpours and Transportation Strikes in Santorini and Athens, Greece

Arriving in Santorini our first day the weather was sunny, warm, and beautiful. Taking advantage of the phenominal weather, we took a sailing expedition to the Santorini Volcano and hot springs. (http://hollandlm.tumblr.com/post/37383678495/day-trip-to-the-santorini-volcano-and-hot-springs-in).

The second and third days of the trip, the tropical rains of the Aegean Sea moved in, and it was time to find some rainy day activities on the island. Don't underestimate the flooding that comes with these storms. The roads were entirely washed out on our walk home from Fira in the rain, so be prepared for the sewage in the streets. A pair of Wellies would have come in handy.

We had already explored the attractions near our hostel in Karterados near Fira (http://hollandlm.tumblr.com/post/11670036088/hostel-review-caveland-hostel-karterados-santorini), so it was time to pick up a rental car to better explore Santorini. There are plenty of exciting things to explore on the island that are definitely outside of walking distance. The entire island from North to South will take no more than an hour to cross including time for getting lost on winding island streets, so it's easy to make a list of island attractions you want to visit during a one-day driving trip. Another great island transportation option is renting 4-wheelers to explore, but that wasn't the best choice for a rainy day. Be prepared for driving a manual transmission automobile, and driving on the right side of the road for you Brits and Aussies.

We started at the South end of the island, at the black beaches of Perissa. We originally went looking for the famous red beaches near the Southwest tip of Santorini, but the roads are poorly marked and after much searching and no finding, we settled for the much easier to find black beaches of Perissa. Perissa is clearly a more tourist-focused town with developed beach resorts and tropical food options along the shore. While the summer season is probably packed with tourists, the beach was all but abandoned on a rainy cold autumn day.

Wanting to make it to Oia before it was too dark for picture-taking, we hopped in the car and headed to the Northern tip of Santorini. Oia is the cliffside town you see in postcards of Santorini. There actually seems to be more Santorini locals living in Oia as there seem to be more churches, community centers, and non-hotel homes. Oia has all of the white buildings with blue doors you dream of on Greek Island vacations so bring your camera to make your own postcards.

The walkways are beautiful smooth marble, which can be a bit of a deathtrip on a rainy day in a cliffside town so take it nice and easy exploring on a rainy day. The top of the cliff is the main walkway with all the tourist shops and art galleries. The entrances to the restaurants and hotels are on the downward slope side of the city, with cramped stairways and small signs that will take you to those private expanses.

Like so much of Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean, stray dogs are everywhere. For a town as beautiful as Oia, even the stray dogs are cuter. Grabbing some sweet Greek treats for walking the streets of Oia, you make many new best friends who will follow you for blocks and blocks begging for a bit of your sweets.

Although we managed to dodge the heavy showers for our afternoon trip to Oia, by late evening the downpours were back. We didn't travel half way around the globe to stay in at night, so we got a group together from our Caveland hostel, and enjoyed a trip to a local nightclub in Fira. The people at the bar / club were very Mediterranean, despite the resort location. Lots of very forward men moving in for a dance, much more forward than the American bars we were used to. The one uniquely European feature of the nightclub was the stripper dance cage seen above. That's not exactly new, but the high end Russian prostitutes dancing in it was new to me. There were a few wealthy looking older men in this nightclub, and each of them was accompanied by at least two more young Russian escorts. They kept to themselves and didn't stay in the club long, but it was definitely the first time I had seen such an obvious pay for services exchange in such a small club.

While the sun was shining and the seas were calm our first day in Santorini, but by the time  we were supposed to be heading off to Mykonos, the seas were ruff and all the express ferries, seen above, had been cancelled for several days. Apparently the ferries are frequently cancelled. According to some of the locals, because Greek workers dislike labor, but also obviously because the Aegean Sea is frequently rough and dangerous to travel.

Rescheduling travel to skip Mykonos, and catch the first flight we could manage back to Athens was a pain. People who frequent Santorini know to rebook travel as soon as the skies get gray, so we were apparently the last people to get the memo. Luckily, with all my business travel, my Star Alliance Gold status allowed me to skip ahead in the line to make a flight back to Athens. We added an extra day to our stay in Santorini, and would arrive in Athens a day early. The last minute flight was not cheap, but was going to save us more money than rebooking our InterContinental flight back to the US.

The Santorini Airport in Thira was everything you would expect from a small island airport. One landing strip / runway / taxi way. No mechanical arms to dock to the aircraft, just four glass doors that allow you to walk out to the runway and hop onboard. Everyone who was supposed to be on the ferries was now packed into the airport waiting for flights. Apparently the pilots are much gutsier about facing the storms than the ferry captains. The good news is you will probably make your flight, though frequently delayed up to 12 hours, the bad news is the flight is incredibly rough and tests your faith in the science of flight.

Arriving back in Athens a day before our connecting flight to Los Angeles, we were unpleasantly surprised to find Greek workers were on strike again. No taxies, no trains, no busses were connecting the Athens Airport to the city. There was no way to make it from the airport to the city without bribing a private car hundreds of dollars to take you. Not wanting to risk the money, or our ability to make it back to the airport, we decided to spend the entire next day in the airport. We ate, we slept, and we explored just about every feature and amenity the airport had to offer. Luckily we were exhausted from our exploration of Santorini and found a way to sleep on airport benches as many of our fellow travelers had also chosen to do.

#Aegean #Athens #Fira #Greece #Greek Islands #Oia #Santorini #beaches #travel #vacation #Europe #mediterranean

[hollandlm]

Day Trip to the Santorini Volcano and Hot Springs in Santorini, Greece

From almost anywhere on the Western coast of Santorini you can see the Santorini Volcano just offshore. If I was a local resident I might think of challenging the swim. Although we arrived in the middle of the night, we didn't want to waste a day in Santorini so we caught our hostel's (http://hollandlm.tumblr.com/post/11670036088/hostel-review-caveland-hostel-karterados-santorini) shuttle into Fira where we could catch a boat to the volcano.

From the clifftop city of Fira, it's actually a pretty long hike down to the boat docks. There are three options for making it down the hill. 1) The speedy but expensive cable car, that frequently has long lines and long waits to get on. 2) Donkeys which can take you down the precarious winding steps more quickly than you can walk, at a moderate price. 3) Walking down the steps. Slow and arduous, but free and grants you lots of photo ops on the way down.

I took option 2 to get down the hill. Watching out for steep steps caravans of donkeys, and lots and lots of donkey poop we made our way down the hill. Our shuttle driver from the hostel dropped us off with 30 minutes to spare before the boat set sail, and we *barely* made it to the boat, practically jumping from shore as the boat was already untied and setting sail.

When we arrived at the volcano there were already several tour boats weighing anchor in the cove. Not a problem, as there's plenty of volcano for everyone. The tour boats fit at least 100 people each between the upper and lower decks. Our group had the premo spot on the top deck at the rear of the boat so we had 270 degree views of everything. On a beautiful warm and sunny day, it was absolutely a dream come true.

The left us to our own devices on the volcano for about an hour. We were able to hike up to the very top, and check out the volcano peaks and sunken valleys. Awesome vistas of eroded lava fields as well as of Santorini Island itself.

Although I had the perfect footware for a day at the beach, Rainbow sandals, I really wish I had a little more robust footware for hiking over a mountain of lava rocks. None of the trails were really that challenging, but if you're going to bring your parent or grandparent to Santorini, I would encourage real sneakers.

(Photo Credit scottsantoro.blogspot.com)

The day tour ends with another brief sail to a hot springs cove. The water was definitely warmer than the Aegean, but smelled pretty strongly of sulfur. A refreshing dip after hiking around on black lava rocks. The real fun was getting to jump off of our sailboat into the sea. A little like walking the plant of a pirate ship.

The tour ends dropping you back off at the bottom of the cliff in Fira. You have the same three choice to make it back up to the top of the cliff. I went with walking so I could stuff myself with a falafel sandwich back in Fira. Totally a rockin trip made even better by our Australian friends from the hostel. Perfect weather, perfect company, and an awesome day trip to a volcano.

#Greece #Santorini #beach #day trip #hot springs #island #travel #vacation #volcano #mediterranean #Europe

[hollandlm]

Paleo Thanksgiving 2012

(Photo Credit flamidwyfe.wordpress.com)

Last year when the family got together for Thanksgiving, we experimented with "Super Food Thanksgiving", which was such a delicious and healthy hit, we took it one step further to a full "Paleo Thanksgiving". Luckily a traditional oven roasted turkey is a great start to a Paleo Thanksgiving, so a few side dish modifications later we not only enjoyed a healthy tasty Thanksgiving, we had healthy leftovers to enjoy the rest of the week.

( Photo Credit tessadomesticdiva.com)

The first substitution is going to be sweet potatoes for mashed potatoes. Mashed potatoes are heavy, nutritionless starch balls, while sweet potatoes have the same potato texture, with more fiber and nutrients required for a healthy lifestyle. Rather than loading up mashed potatoes with milk and cream, these sweet potatoes are roasted in the oven with a little sage, parmesan, and olive oil.

(Photo Credit simplyrecipes.com)

Our next substitute is roasted asparagus instead of the traditional green bean casserole. No heavy cream soup or friend onions here. Instead oven roast asparagus with a little balsamic vinegar and olive oil, garnished with shaved almonds.

(Photo Credit simplysugarandglutenfree.com)

Who says you can't have dessert before dessert? No substitute required here, instead we modify. I am addicted to Pumpkin Bread. Substitute almond flour for wheat flour, and Splenda for sugar, and you will have yourself a little less guilt-filled holiday celebration.

(Photo Credit budgetpaleo.blogspot.com)

And finally, for dessert, we whipped up two Paleo pies. An apple pie using Splenda and coconut flour for the crust, and a Pumpkin pie using almond flour and nuts for the crust. Both pies were totally gluten free, and while not calorie free, certainly less terrible for us than the go-to Costco pies of previous Thanksgivings. One note, the coconut flour really sucks the moisture out of the pie, so maybe stick to the almond flour unless you are making a really wet and soupy pie.

These healthy Thanksgiving modifications shortened the prep time for many of these dishes, and allowed us to enjoy a feast with family, without the guilt and stress of how we're going to lose the lbs gained during the holiday later. Best Thanksgiving yet!

#Paleo #Thanksgiving #apple pie #cooking #family #food #holiday #sweet potato #turkey #pumpkin bread #asparagus #super food

[hollandlm]

Day Trip to the Parthenon and Acropolis in Athens, Greece

Looking up at the Acropolis from the ruins at Ancient Agora in Athens, you can actually picture yourself transported through time to 430 BC as construction on the Parthenon was finishing, and the Acropolis was truly the seat of power for Greece. The structures on the hilltop are unmissable from anywhere in Greece, a constant reminder of who was in charge back then. (The new dramatic night lighting also helps).

On your walk up to the entrance archway to the Acropolis you will get some great views of the Odeon of Herodes Atticus. This Odeon is the best preserved and restored theater of the Acropolis complex, enough so that it looks like the theater can and potential is actively used for live performances.

Don't forget your outdoor shoes for you exploration of the Acropolis. There are steep hills and lots of stairs to make it to the top. The photo above shows the gateway entrance or Propylaia through the Acropolis defensive wall. As you can see, even bright and early in the morning the Acropolis is flooded with tourists, and the Propylaia acts as a bottleneck resulting in some wait times to make it to the top. Not a bad place to be stuck, as you can take lots of pictures of the well maintained gateway, as well as the Temple of Athena.

As soon as you make it through the Propylaia, the first thing you see is the kind of sad backside of the Parthenon. Obviously buildings don't last forever, but the entire back of teh Parthenon is covered in scaffolding to restore the structure. The scaffolding made the Parthenon a little underwhelming to behold after seeing it lit up at night from the city below.

As you make it around the Parthenon the second most impressive structure at the Acropolis has to be the Erechtheion, and specifically the Porch of the Caryatids. Structurally less stable than simple columns, it is amazing the feminine form of the Caryatid columns has survived millenia. Because the Caryatids are more delicate, there is a pretty large no-entry zone around the porch, so for a closer look at the Caryatids, check out the Acropolis Museum back down the hill in Athens.

Finally making it all the way around the Parthenon, you get the postcard worthy shot. While only one of the original two layers of columns still survives, you can really get the sense of awe the Ancient Greeks must have felt seeing the structure.

Before you head back down the hill, check out the view from the East end of the Acropolis where the Greek flag is raised. It's really a phenomenal view of the city, and might give you a few ideas of which Ancient Greek historical sites to check out next.

#Acropolis #Athens #Greece #Parthenon #day trip #travel #vacation #Europe #mediterranean

[hollandlm]

Restaurant Review: The Jacobson, Kansas City, MO

(Photo Credit eatitkc.blogspot.com)

I ended up at The Jacobson for a weeknight dinner and cocktails with a local friend in Kansas City. The Jacobson totally falls in line with this awesome new trend of turning abandoned industrial manufacturing spaces in KC into trendy new bars and restaurants. Recycling available real estate, while taking advantage of a unique modern industrial vibe. The bartenders are awesome, suited up in vests that let you know you can trust them to make you a well balanced cocktail.

(Photo Credit mingle.kansascity.com)

The Jacobson sits in a neighborhood called the Crossroads District. My local friend described it to me as an up and coming neighborhood, with an artistic flair, and an older artsier crowd that comes out for drinks on weeknights which seemed about right. The bar space was huge, and the open patio with heat lamps looked like a great social space that I assume would be packed on a weekend for how crowded it was on a Tuesday. The industrial atmosphere lends itself to an open dress code, so you're not out of place dressing up or dressing down.

(Photo Credit thejacobsonkc.com)

This post is going in the eating and drinking category because the cocktails here were creative, unique, and delicious. My personal favorite was the Blood Orange Coin cocktail. Not to sweet, not to tart, and not too boozy, which made putting a few extra cocktails down pretty easy. This bar also has something I don't see very often, Flask Service, which is sort of similar to bottle service, in that you get a bottle of booze served on ice, but with the portions more like a pitcher, as each flask only has 2-3 servings of drinks.

Rather than loading up on entrees, we decided to stick mostly to small plates so we could get a maximum variety of flavors. Maybe it was a coincidence, but 3 dishes in a row all had a balsamic vinegar based sauce. I love balsamic, but I was still a little bummed out on the repetition of flavors.

I started off my night with a cup of the Butternut Squash Soup. This was one of the richest, creamiest squash soups I've had, served with a crispy spicy tortilla like flatbread for dipping and a healthy serving of parmesan garnish. To die for rich and tasty, but probably a little too heavy for a repeat performance.

(Photo Credit petedulin.com)

Next up was the deep fried Crispy Sesame-Crusted Oyster Mushrooms. I was a little hesitant about how much flavor would be left over after the deep frying process, but the sesame crust was an awesome unique coating, and the spicy mayo aioli and ponzu dipping sauces made this a dish you couldn't stop snacking on.

Another small plate on our culinary adventure was the Blue Cheese and Tomato Tart. A puffy pastry was on the bottom, covered in blue cheese and roasted tomatoes, submerged in a pile of greens all drizzled with a balsamic vinegar sauce. Awesome rich flavor from the blue cheese, lightened up with the greens, while the vinegar would cut through the cream of the cheese to balance the flavor. Our first dish featuring balsamic, with really bold awesome flavors that really impressed.

The Braised Short Rib Grilled Flatbread looked like a simple flavor combination of short rib meat, onions, and bread, but the rib meats had an interesting flavor mix of balsamic vinegar and bbq sauce, while the flatbread was so sweet it almost tasted more like french toast than a flatbread crust which was awesome. Totally unique flavor combo we weren't expecting.

For our main event we split The Yard Bird entree. Pretty straight forward, and actually pretty tame on flavor. Another balsamic vinegar based sauce. A well cooked crispy skin bone in chicken, served with asparagus and (something less memorable). Twice the portion, twice the price, and half as memorable as the small plates.

Overall, and awesome place for cocktails and appetizers / small plates. An awesome vibe with great service; the kind of place I could sit for hours with friends chatting, drinking, and munching some small bites.

#Kansas #Kansas City #Missouri #North America #The Jacobson #United States #bar #cocktails #drinking #gastropub #modern american #restaurant #review #small plates #midwest

[hollandlm]

Hotel Review: Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort, Karon Beach, Phuket, Thailand

I ended up at the Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort by accident. I landed at the Phuket Airport, expecting to easily catch a boat to Krabi Province. Apparently in July, the off season, the boats don't travel every day, an dI was stranded on Phuket. As a Hilton frequent traveller I'm comfortable falling back on the comfort of a Hilton resort in a pinch, so I grabbed a limo (same price as a cab without the line) from the Phuket Airport and headed south to the end of the island and Karon Beach.

The drive was at least an hour from the Phuket Airport at the north end of the island, to Karon Beach in the south. Definitely wasn't expecting that, but once we pulled into the Hilton resort, I was blown away. Wild peacocks roam everywhere on the property. I took this picture of the peacock above within the first 20 minutes of exploring the resort.

The resort is more of a mega resort complex than a hotel. There are about a dozen buildings spread over several acres of manicured tropical grounds. As a Hilton Diamond member I was lucky enough to get a free upgrade to a honeymoon suite for my stay in Karon Beach.  Walking into my suite I was blown away. 3 rooms, a living / dining room, a massive king suite bedroom, and a massively upgraded bathroom. All the tropical wooded furniture gave the suite a warm inviting island feel with distinctly Thai decorations.

Don't forget that you must remove your shoes before entering any home in Thailand. When the bellman let me into my room, he quickly slipped off his shoes to show me around the room. I don't want to leave my shoes outside of my hotel room, so I would take them off, but set them just inside the door. Hopefully that's still ok by Thai traditions.

Both the bedroom and living room had huge balconies with tropical views of the gardens and pools. I don't think many if any of the resort rooms have beach views due to security fencing around the property, but the beach is so incredibly close you aren't missing out.

There are several different types of pools at the resort. A pool with slides and waterfalls wrapping around buildings for the kids, a calm quiet lounging pool like the one above, and a move adult drinking and lounging pool like the one below. The more adult pool is also so close to the beach you can hear the waves crashing on the beach while relaxing in your resort lounge chairs.

Less than 1 minutes of walking from the beach front pool you find yourself on Karon Beach. It must be an off-season / rainy season thing, but Karon Beach was always cloudy while I was there, with intermittent chilly tropical downpours. Most of the beaches in this southern part of Phuket are coves like this one, breaking up one beach town for the next. Karon Beach is one of the largest coves on the island leading to a much larger tourist-focused city.

Returning from a walk on the beach, you can follow gorgeous little walking paths like the one below back to your hotel room. Getting back to my honeymoon suite was extra special; there was a private stone walking path leading to a stairwell that took me directly back to my suite.

The turndown service before bead at Hilton Phuket Arcadia really blew me away. They left me a fresh bottle of water, and a tropical fruit basket full of fruits I was familiar with and several indigenous fruits I was not familiar with. Made for an amazing breakfast the next morning. There was also a Hilton branded Thai-style hand fan left next to my bedside. That touch was really memorable.

The one drawback, which turned into a total nightmare scenario, was the shower situation the next morning. After running, beaching, hiking, and a day of general adventuring, I wanted to hop in the shower and wash off. Something terrible had happened to the plumbing, and as you can see in the picture below, it looks like brown sewage was coming out of the shower. I was wearing a bathrobe for 5 hours as various repairmen came in and out of the hotel room to repair the shower. Several hours after I was supposed to have checked out, I was still waiting to take a shower. The hotel finally let me change rooms to an entirely separate building to take a shower, which meant I had to put my sweating running clothes back on and pack up just to take a shower for the day. I really appreciate that they eventually rectified the situation, and the room was quite beautiful, but the incident was traumatic enough, that I ended up canceling the rest of my Thai vacation and flew back home, cutting my vacation several days short. A really sad end to an exciting vacation.

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