A Midwestern Life

I had Groupon/Living Social in Spain, but I never used it. It always seemed to be for laser hair removal or 500 condoms. Every week. So imagine my delight when I moved back to the Midwest and almost immediately found a Living Social deal I could get on board with. It was a wine tasting for two at Chateau St. Croix, a French-inspired chateau near St. Croix, Wisconsin. The Groupon included a tasting for two (five wines), cheese and chocolate, two complimentary wine glasses, and a cutting board, all for just $20.

It was a beautiful fall day, and the 45-minute drive was scenic as the leaves were just beginning to change. When the boyfriend and I pulled up to the winery, we were surprised that the chateau did, in fact, resemble a French winery. The inside was decorated with mounted deer heads, which reminded me of some of the chateaux we saw on our tour of the Loire Valley.

We tried seven different wines. There were two wines that stood out to me. The first was the Thoroughbred Red, a hearty red which had hints vanilla and berry. The second, a bit more whimsical, was the Cheesehead White, complete with a mini cheesehead. It was sweet, light, and refreshing. The staff were polite and provided thorough explanations of every wine we tasted.

After the wine tasting, we headed out to explore the grounds, which included the vineyards, horse pastures, and several walking paths.

At the end of our visit, we tried a pizza from A Wandering Fire, a traveling wood-fired pizza oven. We tried the Sand Creek, which may have been the most delicious pizza I have ever eaten in my life. It was comprised of, “garlic infused olive oil, maple roasted sweet potato, pancetta, bleu and asiago cheeses with a maple syrup drizzle”.

Living Social definitely got this one right.

2012 was a big year, the kind of year that’s going to be really, really hard to top. I visited places I’ve always wanted to see (London hey-oh!) and places that I never knew existed (Sarande, Albania). It was also a very educational year, so I have decided to share with you the things I have learned.

If you get seasick, sea kayaking is probably not for you.

When we were traveling in Croatia last summer, I got the idea in my head that we needed to do something adventurous. I did some research, and signed us up for a half-day sea kayaking excursion. I was pretty proud of myself until I talked to my sister the night before. “Don’t you think you’re going to get seasick?” she asked. As someone who gets queasy on a swing set, for some reason, the thought hadn’t even crossed my mind. Sure enough, 30 minutes into the trip and I’m puking over the side of my kayak. Fail.

“Think there’s any way we can get out of this?”

Just because a place is labeled as a tourist attraction doesn’t mean it’s not worth going to.

I’ve noticed that lots of well-seasoned travelers (and bloggers) get a little high-and-mighty about the places they’ve traveled. There seems to be an unwritten rule that the more remote the place, the higher your travel cred it. I wouldn’t trade my experiences at the Eiffel Tower, Coliseum, or London Bridge for anything, and while I have been to some unknown places, I wasn’t the first, and it certainly doesn’t make me any better than anyone else.

“Big Ben? Sooooo touristy. Ugh.”

A celebrity tweeting at you (even if that celebrity is from the Real Housewives of Vancouver) is exhilarating.

2012 was the year I was tweeted at by a celebrity. Mary Zilba from the Real Housewives of Vancouver, to be exact. Now if I could only get Ed Sheeran to notice me…

Just because you’re stationary doesn’t mean you have to stop traveling.

Yes, I work a 9-5 job. Yes, I have a lot more responsibilities and bills than I did a year ago. However, I realized that I can take that excitement I had about traveling Europe and apply it to my own country. This year will hopefully have me exploring North Carolina, Oregon, and Massachusetts. I may not be in Europe anymore, but I’m going to keep traveling.

Be who you are.

Life is about figuring out who you are, and it’s possible I came a little closer to that this year. Specifically, I figured out what I am not. A hiker. For some reason, I thought I enjoyed hiking and mountain climbing, yet put it off all year. My last week in Bilbao, I accepted an invitation to climb Pagasarri, a mountain overlooking Bilbao. I hated it. Yes, the view was amazing, but I would have much rather driven up. Once and for all, I realized I am not so much an outdoors girl.

Not as happy as I appear to be

Going to bed early makes you better rested in the morning.

This is such a duh, but I actually did learn that this year. In Spain, I would stay up until midnight or later, and wonder why I felt like I was going to die having to get up at 7:15 for class. Now, I go to bed a little earlier (ok, a lot earlier) and feel great in the morning. Who knew?

Friends don’t have to live in the same time zone. Or continent.

If you want to stay in touch with someone, you will. With Facebook, Skype, and Whatsapp, hardly a day goes by that I don’t talk to one of the people I became friends with in the last two years. Technology is pretty great.

2012 was an amazing, but challenging year. I had to make some difficult decisions, some of which included deciding to leave Europe for good and ending a long-term relationship. However, these decisions have proved to be good ones so far, and hopefully 2013 will be even better. 

Sunday morning, I woke up to this:

Phone pic, but gets the point across I think

Winter Storm Caesar, they called it (I didn’t know they named snowstorms now). Everything was totally covered. Forget going Christmas shopping at the mall, I was snowed in. It has been three years since I’ve seen this much snow. Even when I was home for Christmas last year, I saw nothing more than a light dusting. My boyfriend, who recently moved here from North Carolina, was given a crash course in Minnesota winter, including shoveling and the agony of trying to drive your car up a slippery slope. Some areas of the metro reported up to 16 inches of snow, and it didn’t stop until early Monday morning.

I have a love/hate relationship with snow and winter in general. Continue reading →