Away and Back: Rhody

I love going to new and familiar places, re-connecting with family, and gorging on delicious New England cuisine, but simultaneously I am always so excited to return home to old and familiar routines. Sure most of the routines can get mundane, and some really suck, but oh how I missed grooming my pups and cleaning the kitchen until it sparkled.  With that said, I am so glad to be home this Sunday, laying in bed with a dog at each side, the computer in my lap and looking back at this past week's adventures in pics, - 859 pics - to be exact.   And what an awesome time we had.  Pics tell the story best.  


First, our flight to Providence RI was cancelled, and just by a hair we almost ended up in Cleveland for two days, which was just supposed to be our first stop before heading to Providence.  Yes, United Airlines was actually having us stay in Cleveland for TWO whole days before getting us to our final destination.  Insane.  Luckily we were able to change our flight to Boston where Rossy's brother lives.  In the end, the screw up turned out to be kind of awesome because Rossy got to see the Red Sox...and what is even rarer than having a screw up turn to great?....he actually got to see to Red Sox win on the ninth ining against the White Sox. Truly, an unbelievable day.

Thanks to this guy for winning the game.

We also had the most amazing oysters EVER at Island Creek Oyster Bar. Can this screw up get any better?

Strolling around MIT, where Rossy's brother works.

An MIT Nemo.  

The next day we headed to Little Compton.  First meal in Rhody was a fancy one at the Back Eddy.

And for the best part of Little Compton: Briggs Beach.  If there is ever a place to unwind and leave every worry behind, it is at this beach.  It has a view of a rock that must have some magical powers that others don't realize.  I think it's a worry magnet.

A plane left us a message "hot summer fun at Mohican..." 

Crab hunting....well sort of....we put him back where we found him.

The Perchuk's at the beach. Notice Papa in Law's cowboy hat...yes, he is the only one looking like a Texan; our acquired Texan culture is rubbing off on him.

Beautiful...

Typically, our trip consists of eating and beach.  However, this time Rossy decided to spice things up and go on a couple of small side adventures; more to come on that.

How to Beat Chocolate Cravings

So a co-worker left this on my chair.

I am on a super low carb diet.  I nearly went nuts.  Luckily, today I had brought to work a little something that would hopefully satisfy THE worst chocolate craving ever.  And it worked.  If you have not tried it before, I suggest you give it a shot, even if don't care about being healthy.     

Meet my new best friends: Stevia, 0% fat unsweetened plain yogurt, and unsweetened cocoa. 

Mix them all up.  Watch out with the Cocoa...it has it has 1.5 g of fat and 3 g of carbs per tablespoon.   

Enjoy heaven in a bowl. 

The  chocolate bar has been hidden;  my diet was saved.  

Road Trip to Hill Country

When life gets stale, we head to Hill Country.  The vino, the hills, the quaint little town.....it's the perfect combination that reminds me of what life is really about.  It's about getting out and exploring the world.  It's about experiences.  It's about the people.  It's about our surroundings.  And also, it's about being appreciative of the small things...like flowers, and ripe peaches.

Our first stop was supposed to be at a super cool place called Hamiliton Pool.  But Laaaawddd, behold, pets were not welcome.  So what park doesn't accept pets?! Apparently just this one.  Luckily, just down the road we came across a small mom and pop winery called West Cave Cellars, where pups and drinkers were accepted with open arms.  Just our kind of place. And what better way to start our road trip than with a glass of super crisp white wine...Cheers!

The owner of the winery encouraged us to walk around, take pics and sample a couple of the grapes...but we decided we like the fermented fruit better so we let the vines be.  We did take plenty of pics though. We also managed to piss off her Schnauzer who did not appreciate Izzy and Shaker prancing around her territory....I was just glad our pups were no different..maybe they are normal...

Rossy, Izzy and Shaker walking down the vines.

As much as I enjoyed our road trip, let me say we did have our moments. Like when we missed our exit by a lot...and all while I had google maps open the whole time on my iphone.  I blame it on this castle.  I just wanted to get close enough...just for one pic....and then after we passed it, I realized we were on our way back to Austin.  Yeah...lot's of bickering afterwards.

But all was well again once we reached William Chris Wines.  The anxiousness was finally put to rest when we had our picnic with a glass of wine.

And what do I love most about Texas Hill Country wineries? Their laid back atmosphere.  Sporting neon flip flops and trolling with two crazy Schnauzers, nobody even blinked when we decided to take over the outdoor area and spread our own picnic. And let me tell you, we were the LOUD ones.

And nobody broke a sweat when this little shit decided to wiggle out of his collar and chase down the winery's chickens...well nobody except me and the chickens.  

Check out this winery dog. he was just chillaxing...why are my dogs incapable of this?

The name of the third winery that we went to just slips my mind.  I will remember though...just not right now.

Obviously I was feeling kind of good at this point....

And the super sober Rossy was having fun too...don't let his seriousness fool ya'.

We didn't stay too long at the third winery though...everybody was kind of anxious of getting to our final destination.

Our road trip culminated in a small quaint cottage in the town of Fredericksburg.

And finaly what the driver wanted all along...to relax in our new bedroom.

Wine and doggy treats...what a great welcome. 

And how did they know hydrangeas are my favorite?

We felt guilty because we didn't indulge in the pastries....they looked pretty good though...

Mr. and Mrs Washington.

Another look at our bedroom.

I think our sink was a bucket.

Vintage lighting.

The second floor of the cottage...

Just to keep up with the Fredericksburg German theme, we had to dine at a German Restaurant with German beer.  Nothing else would have been acceptable.

And the next day, despite a killer headache, these guys just wanted to get out really bad.

At 9:30 am we were off and about checking out the town.

I was sure I was going to be looking like this M&M later in the day...with neon flip flops instead of the boots though...

And if you like antiques and vintage stuff...there are plenty of little shops in town...

This mannequin freaked me out a little.

A Cute little house near the restrooms.

Fredericksburg Park

According the statue's inscription, a Fredericksburg politician made a peace treaty with the local Native Americans, and it is the only peace treaty that was not broken....really?!  Here is some history on the Meusebach-Comanche treaty.   

This is Rossy feeling bad for the Comanche leader.  Could this German be trusted?  

Another pic at the park.

I love spiders, so it was a great treat to find this cuter little spider on a rose.

The town's peach truck.

After window shopping, we headed to Becker Vineyards.  

And enjoyed wine as well as walking around the lavender fields. So glad they were in bloom...

I also found some dead artichoke fields...which reminds me that we should make some time to head to the hills in the spring time when everything is blooming and alive...

See the purple fuzzes?  The last alive bloom left....

Beautiful tree...

And while I explored the area, Rossy enjoyed some live country music.

"vertical!"  I say...."put the camera VERTICAL!"....

Torre di Pietra was our second stop on Saturday. Not sure if it was the wine or the heat, but people were getting down.  The music was intoxicating, even for a non country music loving gal like myself.  My feet were tapping and  I wanted to dance pretty bad..but Rossy doesn't do country, and actually, I am glad I stayed put in our table because I would have probably adjusted some merengue steps to a country beat and made a latin fool out of myself, not like it would have been the first time anyways.

Getting away from the crowd, I searched for pretty stuff.  This flower was amazing.

Pretty tree..

Grapes everywhere....

People watching....

The rose orchard.

Smoking a Cigar and checking out his phone, like literally making sure his phone still worked.  While getting out our the cigar stuff, his Motorola Razr fell out of his pocket onto the gravel and the glass shattered.  Gorilla glass my ass.

Our fourth winery was 4.0 Cellars.  It was so posh.  

We had an AMAZING cheese tray...this was the "small" size.  We almost couldn't finish it.

Heading back into town, we had to stop at a quaint little fruit stand.  I just had to have me some Texan peaches! and Homeade Ice Cream!!!

Don't these look mouth watering?

Oh and these dipped in hummus were so good....

More peaches...

This is how I looked when I got to the cabin after 3 wine tastings, and a peach sugar rush...yep...kind of loony.

As expected I crashed pretty early Saturday night.  Vino tasting is hard work y'all!  Tonight, Sunday night, it's these two who are crashing. It was kind of funny how they went straight to bed.  They were snoring so loud while I was trying to write this blog that I just had to mess with them a little to wake them up; within 5 minutes they were snoring away again though.  I guess I had not realized how tough this trip was on them.  

We are all glad to be back home and already planning our next mini get away!