Eating Adventurously at The Libertine

Over Memorial Day weekend, Mikey and I thought we’d try out St. Louis’ newest eatery, The Libertine. The foodies I follow on Twitter were clamoring like crazy about this place. Much of the hype revolves around the chef in the kitchen, Josh Galliano. As former head chef at Monarch in Maplewood and Food & Wine Magazine’s “People’s Best New Chef Midwest”, Galliano has made quite a name for himself in the food scene. The opening of The Libertine marks his long-awaited return to the kitchen, and I’m happy we got a taste of it only a couple weeks after the grand opening.

What I like most about The Libertine is how casual it is. If you think of a restaurant in Clayton, you’re likely to guess the dress code is categorized under “dress to impress” or “see and be seen”. I don’t think that’s the case for this Clayton neighborhood eatery. You could stroll in with jeans without a problem. And I like that. There’s nothing pretentious going on at The Libertine. The website even says, we take our food seriously, but we don’t take ourselves too seriously.

Hand-crafted tables made in the STL add to the approachable ambience.

One look at the menu, and it’s easy to see it’s anything but typical. Galliano focuses on ingredients and lets their flavors shine. And a lot of these ingredients you wouldn’t find on any ordinary menu. Frog legs, crispy octopus, bone marrow and uni, crispy pig tails. But I love seeing that there’s a high level of experimentation going on at The Libertine. It gives me a chance to be a little adventurous and try something I’ve never had before. Frankly, I don’t think there are enough chefs in St. Louis taking this sort of approach. I’m glad The Libertine is pushing the envelope.

If the ingredients themselves aren’t entertaining enough, the way the wine menu is written is a copywriter’s dream. Each wine selection was presented with a paragraph that told a story about the wine. It really brought some personality to it and gave it character. Like you would know your wine a whole lot better after reading its backstory.

Aside from the wine, the cocktail menu, featuring modernized parlor cocktails, was pretty impressive. However, Mikey and I were both in a beer mood, so we opted for the Goose Island Sofie and the Bells Two-Hearted IPA.

And as for the food we ordered, it goes like this:

The crispy pig tails were definitely our favorite dish of the night. Mouthwatering and succulent with just the right amount of crunch, I think it’s a must-have. The sunflower seed risotto comes in at a close second. Such an interesting take on risotto, and given the fact that Mikey is a sunflower seed nut (pardon the pun), this was a big hit for us. Another item worth noting is the Diner Burger. It was delicious — especially the chef’s take on “cheese whiz”, which you can see is draping oh-so perfectly around every patty, in the photo above. The Deep Water Hake (a fish) was tasty, but I was particularly in love with the gnudi ricotta dumplings that were paired with it. Give me a bag of those, and I’ll eat ‘em like popcorn.

Not pictured above is the The Libertine Candy Bar that I had for dessert. Mikey had a glass of whiskey from the new St. Louis-based distillery, Still 630, for his final course. And before the pig tails and risotto came out, we also had a sampling of roasted chickpeas with a powdery coating on the house. I meant to take pictures, but sometimes my appetite gets in the way. When the food is this good, you can’t blame me.

Anyway, The Libertine is definitely a welcome addition to the St. Louis food scene, as far as I’m concerned. As I looked around at the surrounding tables that night though, I noticed a lot of Diner Burger orders — which is fine and dandy. I just hope that the people who dine at The Libertine are willing to step just a tad bit out of their comfort zone. Eating adventurously isn’t easily accepted by your average diner. But if you’re not willing to take a risk, you’re kind of missing out on all the fun. I know for sure that the hubs and I will be back for more of those crispy pig tails and some other dish we’ve never tried before.

And Now for the Finale: Antelope Canyon

Continuing our week-long visit to Arizona. Read the last write-up here.

The thing about the tiny town of Page, Arizona is once you’ve driven that far north from Scottsdale, your mind continues to wander farther north — to the Arizona-Utah border. And once you get into Utah, there’s a whole other chapter of national parks and natural beauty to explore. So you see, visiting Page can be somewhat dangerous. It’s a jumping off point for hundreds of other things you didn’t initially plan on doing.

I had to reel myself back in a few times and remind myself that there wasn’t enough time left in Arizona to venture outside of Arizona. In fact, we were debating on whether to make the trip to The Wave, a scenic site located on the slopes of the Coyote Buttes near the Arizona-Utah border.

The Wave, located on the slopes of the Coyote Buttes

Unfortunately, time wouldn’t allow for a drive there. According to Google Maps, we would’ve had to drive up into Utah and back down south to get to The Wave, making for a two-hour drive — not to mention the time it would take to hike to the actual location of The Wave. We were due to be back in Scottsdale that evening for dinner with our friend, Kevin, before flying back to St. Louis. So we decided to pass on The Wave but managed to squeeze in an attraction located right under our noses in Page — Antelope Canyon.

I heard about Antelope Canyon for the first time while doing some research on VisitPageArizona.com. It is considered the most popular and most photographed slot canyon in the American Southwest. It exists on Navajo land less than 10 miles from the city of Page. But unlike our Horseshoe Bend excursion, a tour guide is required to visit Antelope Canyon. The terrain leading up the canyon entrance is pretty rugged too. Your car will thank you for booking the excursion through an official tour company.

That’s how we saw Antelope Canyon — through Antelope Canyon Tours. We called a day in advance and booked an 8am tour. We awoke all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed that morning, grabbed breakfast, checked out of the hotel and drove a couple miles away to the Antelope Canyon Tours office. From there, we boarded a truck with a covered back for passenger seating and endured the bumpy ride to the canyon entrance.

We arrive at the canyon entrance.

Looking up above at the top of the canyon entrance

Beautiful reds and oranges

At the entrance, our tour guide explained how the canyon was formed. The area is susceptible to flash flooding, and over time, the rush of both water and wind shaped the sandstone rock into what it is today. When seen from the surface, the canyon looks like a slash. But inside, is an amazing palette of reds, oranges and yellows and light bouncing in from the top of the canyon at all different angles. It makes for stunning photos, if you can get your camera settings right. (Bump up your ISO, slow your shutter speed, open up your aperture, turn off your flash and set your white balance to cloudy.)

Getting into the thick of it

Seeing the top of the slot

Light casting shadows

It took a while to get my camera settings right. And even still, there were a number of them that came out blurry. A tripod would’ve helped tremendously, but even if I did have one, there wasn’t much time to set up and take the perfect shot. Our tour guide was practically running us through the canyon, knowing that other tour groups were following closely behind us. At least he was nice enough to take a few pictures of us though.

Our tour guide pointed out many shapes and shadows that the rocks make throughout the canyon. This one looks like a cobra to me.

Look how the rock forms a heart.

Our tour guide threw some sand on the rock and made a sand waterfall. Or sand fall.

It wasn’t a naturally-occuring sand fall, but I was happy for the photo opportunity.

One of my favorites — the desert sun.

Sunlight streaming in above us

So many beautiful points and curves

During the floods, debris rushes into the canyon and often gets trapped into crevices — an indication of just how high the water rises in this canyon.

Like a desert plateau

Another one of my favorites. Like a mini volcano.

It’s like we were in some sort of alternate universe.

Some parts of the canyon were extremely narrow, causing us to creep by in a sideways fashion.

Picture, picture everywhere

 

Bright and beaming

Reaching the end. Exit right around the corner.

Feeling so small

Out in the open again

The tour lasted about an hour and a half, and sadly, our tour guide really did seem to be pushing us along at a pace we weren’t entirely comfortable with. Seeing something so spectacular like that, you can’t help but stop dead in your tracks and ignore the person who’s telling you to keep it moving.

Aside from that, our Antelope Canyon tour was undoubtedly my favorite activity of the whole trip. Probably because it was unlike anything I’d ever seen before. And I wasn’t expecting any of it. I had barely scratched the surface of what the canyon was about when I stumbled upon it on the Page tourism website before the trip. So much of what I experienced during the tour felt like a total surprise. Sure, one could say the same about the Grand Canyon. But I feel like I grew up knowing about the Grand Canyon. I knew what to expect when visiting it. Antelope Canyon was really more of a true discovery. It was the perfect way to cap off our vacation before driving back to Scottsdale and flying home to St. Louis.

Of course, we were greeted ever-so-happily by The Bear when we arrived at my parents’ house to take him home. He even curled up into Mikey’s arm the whole way back to our house. What a sweetheart.

It’s good to be home.

Next Stop: Horseshoe Bend

Continuing our week-long visit to Arizona. Read the last write-up here.

The town of Page, Arizona may be small. But there are some beautiful sights to see and experience there. Rafting Glen Canyon that morning was one we were able to check off the list. The next was Horseshoe Bend.

After our rafting tour ended, we drove back to our hotel room at the Courtyard Marriott to fuel up on water and reapply sunscreen before hitting the road for Horseshoe Bend. And when I say “hit the road”, I mean it was only a four-mile drive to get there. Short, sweet and conveniently located off Highway 89 — only minutes away from our hotel. That’s my kind of drive.

I didn’t know much about Horseshoe Bend until I started researching for this trip. If you haven’t heard much about it, Horseshoe Bend is a scenic overlook that draws visitors from all over the world. It offers incredible views of the Colorado River as it wraps itself around a massive sandstone boulder in Glen Canyon below. In fact, we had just rounded that sandstone boulder only a couple hours before while on our rafting tour. It’s a half-mile hike from the parking lot to the 1,000-foot drop. And on most days (as it was the day we were there), the walk is blistering hot. There’s nothing between you and the sun.

Once you get to the drop though, there’s nothing between you and the rocks and river below. No handle bars or barriers to keep you from falling. So watch your step.

If you can overcome any nerves or hesitation, you’ll agree it’s stunning. So stunning, that we took approximately 1 gazillion pictures.

Photographing Horseshoe Bend was one of the easiest, hassle-free activities we did on the trip. There’s no admission fee or parking fee. You just walk to the edge, take in the beauty and make the trek back. (Which by the way is quite a trek in the scorching sun — and slightly uphill, at that. Make sure you bring plenty of water and sunscreen.)

But there are a few things to note if you plan to leave Horseshoe Bend with amazing photos.

1. You’ll need a wide-angle lens to get everything in your shot. Either that, or the panoramic photo feature on your iPhone.
2. Give some thought to the time of day you want to photograph. According to a number of websites I read, the best times to photograph Horseshoe Bend are between 1pm and 3pm. The sunlight illuminates even the deepest parts of the canyon at that time. To see photographs of the bend at all hours of the day, reference this site.
3. If the thought of teetering over the edge of a 1,000-foot drop-off scares the daylights out of you, consider taking the shot while laying on your stomach. That’s what I did until I was comfortable enough to tiptoe around. It’s a lot less scary when you don’t feel like a brisk wind could send you flying.

And now I can say I’m one of many who have photographed this wondrous thing. I’m still contemplating how to frame or display the photos at home, but until then, I hope the image of Horseshoe Bend will forever stay fresh in our minds. (Which Mikey should have no problem doing, given the amount of times he uses that “mind like a steel trap” commentary on me.)

Rafting the Canyon on the Colorado River

Continuing our week-long visit to Arizona. Read the last write-up here.

As reluctant as I was to leave the Grand Canyon after visiting it for only a couple hours, I had to look on the bright side. We had a lot in store in the morning — a half day of rafting the Colorado River through Glen Canyon, to be exact.

When researching “things to do” at the Grand Canyon, the idea of seeing it by water immediately jumped to the top of our to-do list. One of these days I would love to do a white-water rafting trip. But given that I’m probably your worst extreme sports candidate, we chose to experience a calmer canyon rafting tour. We ended up booking a half-day smooth water raft tour through a company called Colorado River Discovery. I found them on the Grand Canyon National Park Service website. From what I can tell, Colorado River Discovery is the only company that offers single day commercial tours at the Grand Canyon.

All Colorado River Discovery tours depart from Page, Arizona. So that’s where we drove that evening. It was a long, winding drive through extreme remote desert. Little to no gas stations in sight as we made our way north on Highway 89 and then east on the Navajo Trail through Tuba City. It took close to four hours to get to Page, due to a number of road detours. When I had mapped the route in our planning stages, it looked to be about a three hour drive max. Come to find out, a major landslide occurred and did serious damage to parts of Highway 89, which explains the constant rerouting our GPS had to do.

We eventually made it to the small town of Page, checked into our hotel room at the Courtyard Marriott, had dinner at the bar and hit the hay in preparation for the next day’s adventure.

The next morning, we checked in at Colorado River Discovery’s Welcome Center and boarded a bus to Lee’s Ferry, the site of the boat launch. From there, everything we saw was nothing short of magnificent.

Tour departure at Glen Canyon Dam

All aboard the fleet of pontoon boats

Up close and personal with Glen Canyon walls. Notice the black coating on the rocks, which is known as desert varnish, a natural effect from the sun.

A beautiful reflection of river on rock

Wide stretch of water gives you a “world is your oyster” sort of feeling.

A handful of boats dot the landscape. A fabulous way to spend a Friday afternoon.

Falling rock formed an arch. The St. Louis version was even mentioned by our tour guide during his explanation.

Our tour guides pulled the pontoon boats onto a beach and led us to these petroglyphs.

Left behind by Ancestral Puebloan peoples.

Deer, antelope, sheep?

Crossed bull horns, perhaps?

Amazing how precise and in tact these still are.

After photographing the petroglyphs, we made our way back to the beach to dig into our sack lunches.

With satisfied appetites, we made our way downstream and rounded the infamous Horseshoe Bend.

Then, our tour guide started up the engine and made our way upstream to get back to the Glen Canyon Dam.

We got a few splashes of water at our feet during this portion of the tour. A chilly 47-degree water temperature was both refreshing and spine-tingling.

And from there, we bid goodbye to the blue-green waters of Glen Canyon and the Colorado River.

Gorgeous, yes. Jaw-dropping, of course. But there are a few lessons to be learned from this trip. If you’re considering a smooth water raft tour through Colorado River Discovery, there are a few things to keep in mind that I wasn’t made aware of during the time of booking.

1. Cameras are allowed and highly encouraged. BUT, backpacks are not allowed. For photo enthusiasts who travel with more than just a point-and-shoot, bring shorts or pants with big pockets, so you can stuff your lenses in them. No one at Colorado River Discovery informed us of the no backpack rule — even at the time of check-in. It wasn’t until the last minute when we learned about this strict rule, and I had to make a hasty decision to leave my backpack and long lens in the trunk of our car. I was pissed to say the least.
2. Now about lunch… I booked our tour online at raftthecanyon.com, but never did Colorado River Discovery prompt me to place an order for lunch. Apparently, if you don’t want to starve on this half-day rafting tour, you’re supposed to place an order for lunch through the River’s End Cafe. This cafe is located at the Colorado River Discovery Welcome Center. They prepare a sack lunch for you to take on the tour. This, of course, was news to me. I thought lunch was included with the price of the rafting tour. But no, it’s an additional cost. Again, would’ve been nice to know beforehand. We ended up having to place and pay for our order only minutes before boarding the bus.

Despite these little mishaps, it was an incredible day. We left with lots of great photos, more sunburn to add on top of our first layer of sunburn and — to put it in overly sappy, sentimental terms — a wealth of memories that will last a lifetime.

Fashion Takes Many Forms

I heard about it on Twitter from 4 Hands, a St. Louis microbrewery. I experienced it outside of said microbrewery, surrounded by a handful of St. Louis’ tastiest food trucks. I walked away from it with a new lace print, peplum-esque skirt. And I’m writing about it now because I think it’s one of the trendiest concepts in fashion to hit the Lou.

It’s called Rack + Clutch, a fashion truck. Yes, a fashion truck. Like a food truck, but instead of cooking and selling delicious food, it sells stylish and decently-priced clothing, jewelry and accessories.

Their grand opening took place a couple weekends ago at 4 Hands Brewery’s Food Truck Feast. I heard about the event on Twitter and made a mental note to try to attend. Not only are Mikey and I big fans of 4 Hands beer, but we’ve attended their Food Truck Feast events in the past. They’re always a good excuse to hit the brewery and grab some yummy food truck grub. But this Food Truck Feast was different because Rack + Clutch was making their debut.

So we went, filled up on some brews and food from Seoul Taco and The Fifth Wheel, and then, I ventured into the fashion truck while Mikey went to the tasting room to fill our growler. It probably wasn’t a good idea to leave me to my own devices because once I got sucked in, I knew I was going to have a hard time coming out empty handed.

You’d think a truck wouldn’t be large enough to house a big collection of merchandise. But surprisingly, there was a good selection to cull through. Very of-the-moment printed skirts, floral blouses and maxi dresses. Half a wall dedicated to the cutest clutches in all the latest trends — neon, color block, studs. And stacks of drawers filled with baubles galore. There’s even a fitting room, if you’re brave enough to change clothes behind a curtain while strangers shop only inches away from you. (Which for the record, I did. Anything for fashion!)

And if I wasn’t already impressed with the whole fashion truck experience, Owner Emily Ponath checked me out at the register (Foursquare app, actually. Registers are soooooo passé.) and was sweet as can be.

The lovely little number I went home with.

I think it’s a very cool and brave thing to pioneer such a new concept in St. Louis, and I hope it sees a lot of success. Unfortunately, there’s already been a little bit of an uproar over licensing issues for Rack + Clutch. Uproar enough for St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay to post about it on Facebook at Twitter. I won’t get into all the details of the debacle. You can read more about it here.

But here’s my two cents. I’m not a true believer of “bad PR is good PR”, but in the case of Rack + Clutch, I do think the controversy is helping to spread the word about what Rack + Clutch is and its ultramodern approach to the fashion boutique. Besides, every soul in history who has pioneered an idea or a movement has always been met with adversity in some way, shape or form. Take the first St. Louis food trucks and the city’s opposition to them only a year or so ago, for example.

All in all, I hope Rack + Clutch gets to stick around for a while and that more people check it out, embrace it and see it as a step forward for St. Louis and the people here who love fashion.

To find out where the truck is headed next, you can follow it here on Twitter.

The Grandest of Canyons

I’ve long thought about creating a bucket list. I haven’t done so yet, but if I had started one before our Arizona trip, seeing the Grand Canyon would’ve been on it. Visiting it for the first time last month proved that it was definitely bucket list worthy.

The drive from Sedona to the Grand Canyon wasn’t so bad. Just a little over two hours and we found ourselves in a long line of cars to pay the Grand Canyon National Park entrance fee. It’s $25 for a single vehicle, which gives you access to both the North and South rims and is good for seven days. Once we finally got through the entrance gates, we followed the road signs to the Visitor’s Center and encountered another obstacle — finding a parking space. The lot is pretty big, but the Grand Canyon is a mega tourist attraction, drawing visitors from all over the world. After a good 20 minutes of driving around, we snagged a primo parking spot in the second lot, located very close to the entrance.

Mather Point is the lookout point located right at the Visitor’s Center, and that’s where we caught our first up close and personal view of the magnificent Grand Canyon.

Packed with tourists from all over the world

Layers and layers of rock

Framed in trees

It stretches on for days.

Mikey and I stepped up to the railing and shared a quiet moment. It takes a few minutes to take it all in and remind yourself that this massive thing is real. And it’s hard to believe. The Canyon is so incredibly huge that it looks like a painting. So many cracks and grooves and crevices that will forever remain a mystery to you. It would be impossible to know and touch and experience every inch of the Grand Canyon. And with wind, rain and water, it’s constantly changing. If Mikey and I ever go back again, it will be a different canyon — whether visible to the eye or not.

After taking it in a snapping some pictures, we decided to grab a bite to eat at the snack shop. Another long line. At that point, I wished we would’ve planned the day better and brought our own sandwiches or picnic food. The snack shop options were somewhat plentiful, but they were overpriced, which is as to be expected. It’s the Grand Canyon, and the food prices are just as grand.

With our stomachs somewhat satisfied, we walked next door to the theater to watch a 20-minute movie about the Grand Canyon. Since we weren’t going on a tour or anything, I felt I needed some sort of explanation or expert wisdom about what we were experiencing. The movie is free and starts at every half hour. It proved to be pretty insightful. A few things that stuck with me:

1. The movie referred to the Colorado River as the chisel that carved the Canyon. It’s amazing to think that body of water created (and continues to create) something so beautiful.
2. An early pioneer was quoted during the movie, saying that the Grand Canyon was a wasteland. That no one would ever have any interest in it. No one would care to see it. If that dude were still alive, we might throw tomatoes at him. Or blast him on Twitter.
3. Millions of years ago, the Grand Canyon was completely underwater. I can’t even fathom how long ago that actually was. To think of the Canyon beneath a massive ocean is a whole other point of fascination.

Once our movie was over, we got back into the car and drove to another lookout called Yavapai Point. The grounds were much less crowded than Mather Point, so we found a peaceful rock to take more photos. Yavapai Point also features a small Geology Museum, which we briefly stopped into. We were also surprised to see a number of people with their dogs at Yavapai. It made us wish The Bear could’ve been with us. He would’ve enjoyed the Canyon squirrel we saw below.

A long way down

Being careful not to fall over

I swear I didn’t photoshop myself into this. This photo is legit!

It looks like I’m waiting on a text message. Or something.

Mikey decides to go exploring. Not a smart idea.

As soon as I heard his shoe slip, I yelled at him to come back.

Canyon squirrel gets free admission to anywhere in the canyon. Lucky!

Canyon through the trees

Another lookout point showcased more of the canyon’s red rock.

Seeing things like this make you realize just how big the world is. A lot bigger than you and me!

Thanks for the memories, Grand Canyon. Its been real.

By the time we hit the road, we had only spent a couple hours at the Grand Canyon. I was beginning to feel like we hadn’t seen enough of it. Like I said before, there’s so much of it to see. We barely scratched the surface. But I realize that if you visit the Grand Canyon, you can experience it however you want. Some people are satisfied with seeing it from the Visitor’s Center and then heading home. Others want to hike it, climb it, conquer it. I guess no matter how you do it, you can always come back for more. It wouldn’t be hard to make every visit different from the last. That’s the beauty of the Grand Canyon. Over time, it changes. That’s what makes it so grand.

From Scottsdale to Sedona

Continuing our week-long visit to Arizona. Read the first write-up here.

After wrapping up our sunny Frank Lloyd Wright tour in North Scottsdale, we grabbed lunch and a couple beers at Four Peaks Brewery. We then spent the next couple hours prepping for the Phoenix Coyotes vs. Detroit Redwings hockey game we were attending that night. (And by prepping, I mean, repeatedly asking myself what one wears to a hockey game in the desert. Hot outside, cold inside. That’s a serious fashion predicament, my friends.)

Anyway, after picking up Kevin at work, we drove out to Glendale, where the Jobing.com arena is located. Aside from the massive Arizona Cardinals stadium and the Jobing.com arena, there really wasn’t much else out there. Just endless rows of parking spaces… until we stepped onto the arena grounds. Surrounding the entrance was an impressive sports entertainment complex. Kind of like an outdoor mall with big screens and bars and lots of foot traffic. It was a great pre-game destination — one that I hope St. Louis’ Ballpark Village can emulate.

A panoramic view outside of Jobing.com arena — and Mikey’s face.

At the entrance

Kevin, me and Mikey outside the arena

Although Mikey and I are die-hard St. Louis Blues fans, we rooted for the Coyotes (because we can’t stand the Redwings). Sadly, the Redwings came out on top that night, and there were surprisingly a ton of their fans there to celebrate the victory.

The next morning, we packed up our belongings and drove north to Red Rock Country aka Sedona. Located only a couple hours away from Scottsdale, the drive was easy as pie.

We checked into our room at the Amara Resort & Spa and headed straight to the pool to lounge around with prickly pear margaritas (for me) and Oak Creek beers (for him). The water was a bit on the chilly side, but the views were pretty great.

In addition to the pool and hot tub, the Amara had some other great perks like free valet, a free shuttle to anywhere within a mile of the resort and pitchers of fresh lemon water at every turn. Below the pool, there’s also a pathway along Oak Creek. It was a nice leisurely stroll. For any yogis out there, they also offer a free yoga class at 6am, but I’m the last person you’ll find up that early on vacation, so that was a perk I didn’t experience. The resort’s proximity to shops and restaurants couldn’t have been better either. Most of the places were completely walkable.

Strolling along Oak Creek

The area of the creek where the ducks like to hang

That evening, we dined at Che Ah Chi (the Apache name for Boynton Canyon) on the Enchantment Resort. I didn’t take any photos, but the view we had out the window of a full moon was spectacular. I had the Beef Short Ribs. He had the Wagyu Steak (an American take on Kobe beef that was simply phenomenal). And we left completely stuffed and enchanted, as I’m sure the resort would be happy to know.

The following day, we walked up the hill from the Amara to grab coffee and a light breakfast at the Pink Java Cafe, and by 11:00 it was time for massages at the Amara Spa. The way I see it, you can’t go to Sedona without getting a massage.

A couple hours later, it was time for our Pink Jeep tour through the Coconino National Forest, up 2,000 feet to the top of the Mogollon Rim. That was where I think we got to experience the real Sedona. We saw stunning red rock formations just as the sun was setting. Our tour guide, Ray-Ray (featured on the Travel Channel as one of Samantha Brown’s Pink Jeep tour guides) knew all the great photo locations and was nice enough to snap more than a few photos of the hubs and me.

By the time we returned to our hotel, we were ready for dinner. So we quickly set off for the Oak Creek Brewery. Unfortunately, the wait list was long. The service was terribly slow. And there were a lot of visibly frustrated customers that the wait staff and hostess table didn’t care to console. On a positive note, the beer was good! The Nut Brown Ale goes down as my favorite Arizona beer.

Our time in Sedona was quick, but I felt like two days and nights were enough to cover what we wanted to see and do — although I didn’t get a chance to find a vortex. At least that will give me an excuse to go back.

Next up, the Grand Canyon…

Great Scottsdale & Taliesin West

And just like that, us Rileys are back from the desert. We returned from our week-long Arizona vacation about a week ago, which means we’ve successfully made it through a full week of work. And to commemorate that major accomplishment, we were quick to reward ourselves with a full round of beers.

Although we’re no longer basking in the desert sun, we’re still basking in the thrill of all the amazing sights we saw. Of the trips we’ve taken together, this, by far, was the one that presented the most jaw-dropping photo opportunities. I racked up a good deal of poster-worthy images on my memory card, which I’m excited to share. But first — a few details about the start of our trip.

We flew from St. Louis to Phoenix on a Saturday and endured a multitude of delays, thanks to a massive storm that dumped a foot of snow on the St. Louis area. We were lucky enough to not see a glimpse of it. We were just delayed by it.

We eventually landed in Phoenix late on Saturday night, picked up our rental car and drove to neighboring Scottsdale to meet our friend, Kevin. He was nice enough to provide a roof over our heads for our Scottsdale stay, which our wallets were very thankful for.

Day 1 in Scottsdale was pretty low-key. We had lunch at Yard House before Mikey and Kevin ventured to the baseball stadium for Dodgers and A’s spring training, and I ventured to Fashion Square Mall for spring shopping. A win-win for everyone.

Day 2 in Scottsdale was a Monday. Kevin went to work, and Mikey and I drove to North Scottsdale to tour Taliesin West, a Frank Lloyd Wright home. I was surprised to learn that Wright had a home in Scottsdale, but when I did, Mikey and I jumped at the chance to see it. We were both equally impressed with the tour we took of Wright’s home and studio in Oak Brook, Illinois in 2011.

This tour was just as interesting. After suffering a bad bout of pneumonia one year, Wright’s doctor encouraged him to spend time in a warmer climate. So Wright chose Scottsdale. The home was built in Scottsdale in 1937 — much later in Wright’s career. His home in Oak Brook was built at the beginning of his career when he was still married to his first wife. Taliesin West was built as a winter home for he and his third wife to live.

What’s interesting about Taliesin West is that it was more than just a home. The grounds became an artist community of architects, writers, sculptors and more. Today, the grounds provide food, lodging and classrooms for aspiring architects enrolled in the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture. Beyond the buildings is an expanse of land intended for the students’ experimental use. In the spirit of learning through doing, they’re allocated $1,000 to build whatever it is they wish.

A garden of outdoor sculptures

The bell that signals “lunch is ready” for the students

In addition to the students, you’ll also see artists who have made Taliesin West their permanent home. On our tour, we encountered John Rattenbury, Frank Lloyd Wright’s protege, who resides at Taliesin West. I caught a photo of him in the shadows. No, that’s not creepy at all, is it?

It’s hard to break down everything we digested on the tour. So I’ll spew out a few interesting tidbits.

The buildings were primarily constructed by Wright’s student’s hands. A combination of desert rock and masonry, Wright stayed true to his style of designing structures that did not disrupt their surrounding environment. Taliesin West blends seamlessly into the landscape of sand and rock.

Speaking of blending seamlessly, a cactus was growing out of one of the building walls. A perfect example of the building embracing nature.

Petroglyphs on a rock

Wright had a flair for Asian art, which is why you’ll see bursts of Asian art pervading the grounds. One of the first pieces we saw is pictured below. It had arrived on a ship from China with its pieces dismantled. To Wright, it sounded like a perfect repair job for his students. This was as close to perfect as his students could get it.

To say that Wright was detail-oriented would be an understatement. If you hired him as your architect, he would have a say in everything down to the napkin rings on your dining room table. Despite the simplicity of everything we saw on the tour, there’s evidence of his detail-oriented nature at every turn.

Window panels angled to let more light in

In comparison to the home and studio tour in Oak Brook, the Taliesin West tour gave us much more insight into just how eccentric Wright was. Granted, it may have just been our tour guide who was so willing to give us the dirt. But we learned Wright was an excessive spender. He believed that his finances would just take care of themselves. Some also shame him for the lack of relationship he had with his children. He had a total of eight, many of which were born during his first marriage. He was married three times, and once he passed, was buried with his mistress. That is, until Olga, his third wife, decided to have his body exhumed, cremated and scattered somewhere on the Taliesin West grounds, where she lived full-time after Wright’s passing. Much of his scandal was written in a book, called Loving Frank, which I fully intend to read now that our tour guide has given a few hints as to what happens in the story. (And by the way, we didn’t get to see his ashes on the tour. They won’t disclose the location.)

It turned out to be another great Frank Lloyd Wright experience for us. If all that info wasn’t memorable enough, I’ll also remember how sunburnt I got on the tour. We ended up spending a good deal of time outdoors, and that harsh Arizona sun is a rude awakening. So know to slather on your sunscreen if you ever go.

Now it’s time to start thinking about the next Frank Lloyd Wright home we want to visit. Falling Water, perhaps?

Sunday at the Orchid Show

I don’t know about you, but this winter has done an impressive job of chaining me to my couch for weekends on end. I really have had zero motivation to get out of the house lately. I also apparently have had zero motivation to blog too, considering that my last post was almost a month ago.

Last weekend, however, was a different story. I wanted to get out of the house and do something. And although I nearly turned down the outing to stay home and do chores (lame), Mikey convinced me otherwise. I got dressed, grabbed my camera bag and headed down to the Missouri Botanical Garden for their annual Orchid Show.

I instantly felt better inside the showroom.

The Missouri Botanical Garden has conducted research in Madagascar for 25 years now. The showroom was a stunning display of orchids from the Madagascar region. It was a warm, tropical welcome to the snow-covered parking lot outside.

I’m no stranger to orchids. They grow wild back on Guam, where my family is originally from. So it’s pretty comical that Mikey and I paid $16 to see a 5,000 square foot display hall to get a glimpse of these beauties. We can and have seen them growing like it’s nobody’s business off the side of a coconut tree back home.

However, I can’t in any way, shape or form claim to be an orchid expert. Four years ago when we first moved into our house, my best friend gave me an orchid as a housewarming gift. It was a gorgeous white cymbidium orchid with flawless petals. Sadly, in the four years I’ve had it, I have not been able to get it to rebloom. Mikey likes to irritate me and tell me it’s dead (as any guy would), but the leaves are dark green and healthy. And in the past couple months, there has been some new growth. I’m determined to get the thing working again. Just need to find the time to figure out what’s wrong.

To round out our Sunday Fun Day, we left the garden and drove down the street to O’Connell’s Pub for Guinness and what could arguably be the best burgers in St. Louis. Because you know, nothing goes better with flowers than a good burger and a pint of Guinness.

O’Connell’s. Quite the change in scenery from the garden, but the food was delicious. So I’m not complaining.

A great day overall. Here’s to more Sundays spent off the couch and in the land of the living!

Homebrew No. 2

During the week we had off work between Christmas and New Year’s Day, Mikey did some man work in the kitchen. This kind of man work…

 

That would be Brew #2, a Smoked Wheat Beer, which we have named “Winter Fog”. It was brewed on a cold day in December, and the smokiness conjured up the image of fog. So after a few minutes of name-storming on the couch, “Winter Fog” it was.

The mix was brought to us by Brooklyn Beer Shop, and Mikey was the brewmaster who put it all together. I tried to play beer apprentice in the kitchen but got bored holding tubes and stuff, so I switched to playing photographer.

It was Mikey’s first time brewing with a Brooklyn Beer Shop mix. His first homebrew (which goes by the name “Greenhorn“) was a kit from Mr. Beer, and after he deemed that successful, he was ready to get a little more advanced.

I purchased a Brooklyn Beer Shop book for him last year, and in it are recipes that take you through the steps of mashing, sparging, boiling and fermenting. Those steps require specific supplies like an airlock, racking cane and soft tubing. So I seized the opportunity to buy additional supplies and a mix from Brooklyn Brew Shop’s online store for his birthday. Their selection of mixes changes seasonally, and they all seem pretty appealing. Some of the flavors from this season include a Chocolate Maple Porter, a Coffee and Donut Stout and a Grapefruit Honey Ale. Yes, yes and yes, please. To see all their varieties, click here.

Another reason why I like Brooklyn Brew Shop is because all of their recipes are based on one-gallon mixes. Smaller batches are more manageable in this tiny house of ours. Without much space to brew, except our shotgun-style kitchen, it’s a much more manageable way to make beer. Maybe we’ll upgrade some day when Mikey gets his man cave, but until then, these small scale recipes are a hit.

With a one-gallon batch of Smoked Wheat, we got about 10 bottles — only one of which I actually got to drink! Mikey decided to share the wealth with some of his coworkers, so it all went pretty quickly. Guess it’s time to make another batch.

First taste is a success.

Enjoying some Winter Fog in one of our customized beer glasses, a Christmas gift from my BFF, Lindsay. Sadly, The Bear waits in the wings.