Isabelle's "New" Travel Books

Yesterday our church, Saint Andrew, hosted a used book sale and it did not disappoint. We picked up some “new” books for Isabelle’s library and enjoyed the complimentary coffee and loads of treats. In our pile of books were two that focused on traveling and exploring the world.

Goofy Takes Off: An Adventure in Switzerland has Goofy skiing the Alps and while flipping through the Did You Know... section, I noticed a picture of Mickey Mouse's nephews, Morty and Ferdie (thanks Dad!), enjoying fondue. Right below that picture is one of Goofy indulging with Swiss chocolate. Those are definitely two of my favorite Swiss treats!

The Big World Book talks about how people live around the world and has an awesome pop-up at the end. However, considering Isabelle just tore apart another pop-up book, I think we’ll have to shelve this one for awhile.

 

Extra! Extra! Read All About It! Cave Paintings Are Coming!

Last night my husband emailed me an article that I just had to share. In March Chicago's Field Museum will bring replicas of the Lascaux cave paintings. They will even reproduce the cave! It will be just like going to the site in France.

Tom and I visited the Dorgonge region of southwestern France in 2009. We wanted to see the Paleolithic cave paintings, so we went to Lascaux II, which is a complete replica of the original Lascaux cave that was closed in 1963 to preserve the artwork. Lascaux II is situated very close to the original cave and I have to say, it was hard to remember I wasn’t in the real deal. Tom and I took the tour in French and even though I couldn’t understand a word, it was really fascinating to look at the paintings and imagine what life was like 20,000 years ago.

During that trip, we also went to Grottes de Cougnac. It is a huge cave with paintings from 14,000 to 25,000 years ago. The paintings are not as elaborate or as plentiful as Lascaux II, but they are the real thing. Pretty amazing!

Just below this scenic setting is the Cougnac Cave.
We were not allowed to take pictures of the cave paintings in Cougnac or Lascuax II.

Weekend Edition of Fresh Air

There’s nothing like time spent in the great outdoors, so last weekend we made the trek to Door County, Wisconsin. You may remember we went to Door County a year ago. (Details about that trip and traveling with a 2 ½-month-old are here.) Well, this time we went camping in Peninsula State Park. With a 14-month-old. Crazy? No, because Isabelle was a pro!

After driving, a brief picnic outside a quiet rural church, and more driving in a heavy storm, we arrived in Door County. Our first stop was Egg Harbor where we stocked up on Wisconsin beer and milk. Can you guess who drank what? We also popped into a few shops, explored a park and refueled at a local coffee shop.

After Egg Harbor we made our way to our beautiful, tree-filled camp site (#511) in Welcker's Point. You could see Green Bay through the trees and hear the waves lapping against the shore. The entire park is a quiet zone, so it was very peaceful.

Outside our new tent

We managed to get the tent set up while Isabelle yelled at us from her pack n’ play. That was wasn’t so peaceful and I'm sure we broke the quiet zone rule, but we got everything set up in under 20 minutes. Not bad! Of course, once the tent was set up Mother Nature decided to test it out. It started to pour and we took shelter in our nice, dry tent.

After the rain stopped we went out for dinner at Gibraltar Grill. Excellent food and this time we ate IN the restaurant. That’s right, we didn't have to get take-out this year, because Isabelle does pretty well in restaurants. Are you wondering why we didn't cook at the campsite? We decided that having a 14-month-old around a roaring campfire wasn’t a good idea. OK, we could have brought a camp stove, but to be honest, it was just easier to eat out at the mouth-watering restaurants in Door County.

After dinner it was bedtime for Isabelle. The nights were chilly, so she wore a onesie, fleece footie pajamas, and a fleece Halo Sleep Sack. Then, before we went to bed I covered her with a few blankets and put an old comforter over part of the pack n’ play. Don't worry! She was nice and toasty. The first night she was a little scared, so we snuggled in the tent for a bit so she could get used to the new environment.

After Isabelle went to bed, we sat around the campfire and relaxed under the stars. It was a beautiful night!

"Only YOU can prevent wildfires." An early morning before the sun rose.

So how did we spend the rest of the trip? Our days started at 6 AM and we didn’t want to rouse the rest of the campers, so…

• Went “roading” and found a farmers market where we bought pumpkins, coffee and cider donuts.
• Walked to Eagle Bluff Lighthouse. There was a nice trail from our campsite to the lighthouse.
• Picnicked at Nicolet Beach where Isabelle provoked seagulls ("duck!" to Isabelle) and the bees, but luckily she wasn’t stung this year.
• Isabelle attempted to nap, while Tom and I played scrabble.
• Climbed 75 feet of stairs to the top of Eagle Tower. Amazing views 225 feet above the water.
• Went hiking around Peninsula State Park.
• Attended a fish boil at White Gull Inn in Fish Creek. Definitely try this at least once!
• Checked out the cute shops in Fish Creek, including a kite store.
• Ate an early breakfast at Al Johnson’s Swedish Restaurant in Sister Bay. Sadly the goats were not on the roof that early, but the food was delicious!
• We went to a lot of parks and playgrounds.
• On our way home we bought a ½ bushel of apples and ate at the Rusty Tractor Cafe that advertised “Barn Good Food”. It was really good food and I love their slogan.

We will definitely go camping again and we can’t wait for our next trip to Door County in 2013. This is becoming a family tradition!

At the top of Eagle Tower

Hiking!

Playing at the beach.

Note: The title is a nod to one of my favorite NPR shows, Fresh Air. Check it out here.

Tents... Family-Sized

We’re prepping for our big Door County camping trip and we had to make a decision on which tent to use. My parents have a big 2-room tent called the Winnebago. I’m not joking around. That’s really the brand. I guess Winnebago made more than just RVs. Growing up, my parents would take us on these amazing road trips around the country. The Winnebago tent was always in the back of the minivan. It was used more to keep us on our best behavior, because my sisters and I did not want to sleep in a hot, buggy tent during the dead of summer. We wanted the thrill of sleeping in an air-conditioned hotel room that had mini shampoo, cable, a pool and an ice maker.

As I mentioned in a previous post, my old 3-person tent isn’t big enough for the Emmons family, so the other weekend we were at my parents’ house and we decided try to put up the old Winnebago.

Tom and the Winnebago.

Checking it out.

  

Isabelle was having fun!

As you can see, we did it. I even found a brochure for Myrtle Beach, South Carolina inside the tent bag. What you can’t see is it took at least five adults to get this massive tent up. Yes, the Winnebago has had a good life and saw a lot of the country, but it will not go back to Door County with us.

So, I bought a tent on Amazon. We got the Coleman Montana 8 Tent. As the name states, it sleeps eight people. We put it up over the weekend and the massive 16’ x 7’ tent took up most of our upper deck (not to be confused with upper decker). It was pretty easy and only required two adults. Plus, I think you could even set it up alone. It’s definitely for car camping and at $136.86, plus free shipping, we can’t complain if it doesn’t last forever.

Our new tent!

5 More Hours, Please

Jet lag. Those two little words can mean a tired tourist as you try to adjust to a new time zone. Tom and I have a few tips that seem to work when we fly to Europe.

1. Take an overnight flight.
2. Wear ear plugs and an eye mask.
3. Stay hydrated by drinking lots of water before, during and after the flight.
4. Try to go to sleep right after dinner. A glass of wine helps me.
5. Prior to landing, freshen up. Brush your teeth and wash your face.
6. Keep on moving! Tom and I will usually walk and walk and walk around until dinner time.
7. Drink coffee! It might not keep you awake, but it helps! One of my funniest travel memories was when Tom and I were in Seville, Spain and he fell asleep while holding his coffee. That was after a flight when even after taking Simply Sleep (over-the-counter that’s no longer sold) and wearing earplugs, we were kept awake by some Japanese businessmen chatting away... all… night… long.
8. Don’t nap! If you must, try to only sleep for 30 minutes or less.
9. Go to bed at a normal time.

Traveling with children shakes things up.  During our recent trip to Europe, our poor baby passed out at dinner the first night.  This was after napping a lot during the day. I took her back to our hotel room, but apparently Isabelle thought she was just napping again, because she was up at 11:00 pm and stayed up for a few hours. She was ready to play! We were not. Lucky for us, she did sleep in the next morning!

At dinner our first night in Switzerland.

Moments later with a very sleepy baby.

*This post was inspired by lack of sleep and brought to you by coffee.

Pesto Vernazza Style

During our trip to Italy in 2010, I had the most amazing pesto in Vernazza. The Cinque Terre region is the birthplace of pesto and they have perfected it! I had it for dinner both nights and the second night was even better than the first! While I can’t remember the restaurant names, I’ll never forget the locations. In the photo below, the restaurant we ate at the second night is located just above my head and to the right…did you get that? I know I have their business card somewhere, so I’ll have to look. I guess I gushed a bit, because the owner even offered to give me a cooking lesson. Unfortunatly we were leaving the next morning, so I couldn’t take him up on the offer.

So why was it so amazing? The fresh pesto was served over trofie, a pasta made from flour with a bit of potato. It was designed specifically for pesto and I can’t find it anywhere in the states. Tossed with the pasta were chopped green beans and chopped potatoes. It was simply delicious! I bought a jar of pesto to take home and didn’t even think that it would be considered a liquid. Sadly it was confiscated at security.

Close up of trofie pasta.

Since it was October, I had to wait until the following summer to plant basil and make my own pesto. Here is a link to a simple recipe: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/fresh_basil_pesto/. As I mentioned, I can’t find trofie pasta anywhere in the states, so we use small gnocci instead. I'll also substitute walnuts, because pine nuts are crazy expensive. I like to make large batches of pesto and freeze in ice cube trays. That way we can enjoy it long into winter. A quick meal is pulling out 4-5 cubes of pesto, cook the gnocchi and toss over pesto cubes. Then steam a few chopped green beans and microwave a few small red potatoes (chop after). Toss it all together and in less than 10 minutes you have a pesto Vernazza style. Yum!

Side Note: I have never tasted focaccia like the kind I had in Vernazza. It was simply amazing. I was addicted. Especially the version that had olives on it. I tried to recreate it at home, but it didn’t turn out the same. Guess we’ll just have to go back!