Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Road Trip to the Dirty Dirty!









Aaron and Chan are so stinkin' cute!

Chris and I took a road trip down south with our amazing friends, Aaron and Chanary. Aaron went to school in Nashville (Vanderbilt- not too shabby!) so he doubled as our tour guide and native southern gentleman for the weekend. Our trip was planned by two engineers, thus had a tight schedule down to the minute. To our surprise, we did everything on our itinerary and more! Our first stop was at the Opryland Resort. It is a sprawling set of hotels and atriums that encase restaurants, bars, shops, and a river that winds through it. It feels disneyland-esque, causing you to forget you are indoors altogether.
































Some Southern Hospitality!

We walked around the Opryland for hours and then dinned at a place with more taxidermy than tables. We ate catfish and fried green tomatoes. Everyone I met was polite and greeted you with a smile. Nashville was starting to grow on me.
We went to the Grand Ole Opry that night. It was better than I imagined it to be. The bands were all different and many were artist I knew, like Craig Morgan and Vince Gill. The thing I liked the most was that they all played together and seemed like a family, instead of rivaling musicians.
The next day we headed out to Lynchburg, Tennessee to tour the Jack Daniels Distillery. Lynchburg is a dry county but is home to the oldest distillery in the United States. As soon as you got out of the car you could smell the strong scent of whisky in the air. Aaron, being a big fan of Jack's work, was in heaven. We learned all about old Jack and how he crafted his number 7 whisky. I am a little embarrassed to say that I am not fan of the stuff myself, but after taking the tour I have a great appreciation for the people who make it and the pride and hardwork they put into it to make their perfect product.




The Distillery
















Learning how to get my whisky on.





This is where they burn the wood to make charcoal.
The group with Jack!!

Friday, March 11, 2011

The Sunshine State

Katie joined me this year in my yearly journey to Florida to attend the AFIRM (Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine) All-Hands Meeting in Clearwater. Although it was cold for Florida (in the 60s most of the time we were there), we were basking in it as a respite from January in Cleveland. Katie spent here days running on the beach and enjoying Miami Vices by the pool. She also had fun playing photog with all of the trinkets and beautiful back drops that the Florida beaches had to offer.

Katie's bounty after walking the beach

The Muschler Lab grad students (+ Jaime, our fellow grad student from MIT). From left to right: Vivek, me, Jaime, Tonya.

Katie and I taking in the sunset at Honeymoon Island State Park.

The extended Cleveland Clinic and MIT crews out for Sushi in Clearwater Beach.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Last First Day of School...Ever

This semester I am taking my last course in my Ph.D. Program. I can practically taste it. After this class, all that is left is 3 papers, my Proposal Exam, an oral presentation at a national meeting, writing my dissertation, and then defending it. That's it! Piece of cake! Katie snapped the classic first day of class picture in what will be my last semester of school ever.


Sunday, March 6, 2011

Big Sur

Our tour de California rolled on as we were San Francisco bound to spend New Years with our buddies in the Bay Area. We opted for the scenic route through Big Sur as we travelled north on New Year's Eve. Although we've done this drive many times before, it never ceases to instill awe and wonder. The grandiose shear cliffs, the myriad of ocean colors, and the Cypress and Redwoods mixed together at the waters edge do nothing less than inspire. We stopped at a number of spots along the way to take in the view and of course model the ring some more. One of our favorite spots was McKay falls where a dramatic water fall empties onto a pristine beach in a cove sheltered by craggy boulders and silhouettes of Cypress trees. The freshwater mixes with the salt water to produce a vibrant aquamarine color in the cove. As if this wasn't ridiculuosly beautiful enough, nature decided to throw in a migrating whale that would spout and flash its flukes every couple of minutes or so about a mile outside of the cove. A+ mother nature; keep up the good work!






Friday, March 4, 2011

Vinophiles

To recap, it's a beautiful day in SLO, we've already had Buzz burritos, scaled Bishop's Peak, got engaged, and it's only noon. How can this day get any better? That's right...wine tasting! We headed out to Edna Valley to sample some of California's finest. Our loop consisted of Sextant, Tolosa, Saucelito Canyon, and Baileanna wineries. We had a blast and were a hit everywhere we went. When people we found out that we had just got engaged that morning, they bought us bottles, poured us sparkling wine, and were just plain giddy. The SLOcals gave us extra props for getting engaged on top of Bishop's. We made some friends from Temecula and found a happily married old couple who had met at Case Western! We had time to snap a few photos, but mostly just had a blast sipping on wine and sharing the good news with strangers.

@ Sextant Winery

The good news is spreading

Katie getting artsy (and already planning flowers and table settings for the wedding)

Beautiful backdrop at Tolosa

What an amazing day. The icing on the cake came when we hit Firestones with Marc and Brittany for dinner. Mmmm...tri tip tastes so much better when you eat it with your fiancee.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Yes!

Our first full day in SLO, we started out with one of our favorite hikes up Bishop's Peak after picking up some breakfast burritos from Buzz. After our drive up the coast the previous day in pouring rain, we were thrilled to have nothing but blue skies and sunshine. Everything was green from the rain, the air was cool and crisp, and the heat from the sun was paired with a fresh breeze coming up the valley from the Pacific. We made our way up the trail and scampered up the boulders at the summit to reach the peak. The wind was significantly stronger on the exposed peak and Katie sat down in a huddled ball to escape it. After some coercing, I convinced her to stand up and take in the view with me. I gave my speech, got down on one knee, and asked her to marry me. Shocked at first and freezing from the wind, she was speechless and eventually blurted out a "Yes!". As I put the ring on and it started to catch the sunlight, she was mesmerized. We were both so excited.





We ate our burritos just below the summit, and then rushed back down the trail to call all of our family and friends to share the good news. We returned to the hotel, where we had champagne and See's Candy to celebrate, taking in the beautiful view from our balcony. Already a perfect day, and it wasn't even noon yet.

Monday, February 28, 2011

Montana de Oro

Katie and I made our triumphant return to SLO this December. We had a laundry list of our favorite SLO sights and sounds to tackle and we got right to work. Right after we arrived in town, we headed straight for one of favorite hiking spots from our college days, Montana de Oro. We pulled into a parking lot just past the trail to Hazards and wandered west on the maze of trails. We were met with a wall of wind coming of the bluffs just above the beach where we stopped to feel the power of the wind and snap some photos



We made our way down to the beach to escape the wind and explored the tidepools for a bit. Katie frolicked around the beach and did her best Highlander/Indian Jones impression with a huge rope of kelp. We were both so excited to be on the shores of the Pacific again, we couldn't wipe the smiles off of our faces. We walked north towards Morro Rock and headed up the creek at Hazards into the eucalyptus forests making our way back to our car.



After getting a solid dose of pristine Central California coastline beauty, we headed back to the hotel to clean up for dinner. We went to Yanagi (where we had our first date!) and had all of our favorites...Lobster rolls, Hawaii rolls, and Hungry rolls! Perfect first day in SLO.