The Weynand Blog

In August, we went took our annual beach trip to Port Aransas with Courtney’s sister’s family and Courtney’s mom, Patti. We stayed four nights. We spent the entire first day down at the beach. On the second day, we drove into Corpus Christi and went to the Texas State Aquarium. On the last day, we went down to the beach again.

In July of 2010 my mom, dad and I headed way down south to Uruguay to attend my brother’s wedding. Uruguay is in the southern part of South America, just south of Brazil. We traveled about 30 hours total to get there. When we arrived, it was the dead of winter. We experienced freezing rain and temperatures consistently in the 30′s. And to top that off, most of the buildings lacked central heat.

We got to do one thing on this trip that we don’t often get to do when traveling. We got to really experience the culture. Because we were helping Eric set up for his wedding, we got to participate in something uniquely Uruguayan. We also got to spend a lot of time with Noelia’s family and they taught us the true Uruguayan way.

Day 1: Arrival

We arrived in Montevideo, Uruguay a few hours after we had planned. Our plane got held up in the Santiago, Chile airport. When we got there, Eric and Noelia were waiting. Eric had rented a car and we squeezed in (it was small, as are most things outside the U.S.) and we drove to Eric and Noelia’s apartment (also small). There, we hung out and ate a black beans and rice dish¹ that Noelia made us. It was true Uruguayan cuisine and was delicious! After that, we took Noelia to the hospital to start her overnight shift and dropped Dad off at the Hotel Landcaster, where he and I were staying. Mom stayed back in Eric’s apartment. Eric and I went out for a few drinks before turning in.

Day 2: Montevideo sight seeing

We got up and ate breakfast at the Hotel Landcaster. Then we hooked up with Eric and Mom for some sightseeing. The first stop was the Fortaleza, located up on a hill in a Montevideo neighborhood. It mostly contained artifacts honoring General Artigas for his heroics at war. For lunch, we stopped at an indoor market and found a parrilla (pronounced “parisha”), which is a restaurant serving grilled meats. Grilled meats is a very Uruguayan cuisine and we ate steak and sweetbreads (calf thymus or pancreas).

After lunch, we walked around Montevideo until it got dark. We visited Plaza Independecia (Independence Plaza) and the Solis Theatre. After night fell, we went back to Eric’s apartment to help him and Noelia put together party favors for their wedding. We made giant foam ties and cowboy hats – a Uruguayan wedding tradition.

Day 3: The Estancia

Our first stop on day three was to pick up 120 chair covers that were to be used in the wedding. It was our job to haul them to the wedding hall. They barely fit in the car we rented, even after upgrading our car to make room for them.

After our chores were done, we headed northeast to Estancia Aguila Blanca (White Eagle Ranch). The route was long and the road was bumpy. We arrived near lunchtime and were greeted by our host, Jonathan. He served us vegetable soup and shepherd’s pie. These dishes weren’t very Uruguayan, but Jonathan’s mother was from the U.K. and she influenced his cooking. After dinner, we rode on the back of his truck while Jonathan and his ranch hand took us down to some waterfalls at the edge of his property. They were beautiful. After spending some time there, we headed back to the ranch house where we watched the sun set. Then we met Jonathan for a dinner of roasted chicken. After gorging ourselves, we hung out in the common area looking at pictures and playing cards until bedtime.

Day 4: Horseback riding then on to Melo

We woke up early and met Jonathan for a horseback riding trip. I hadn’t ridden a horse in about 15 years but it came back pretty quickly. We rode around his land and saw several capybaras, which are the largest rodent on earth. After about an hour it was time to head out toward Melo.

Melo is a smallish town (about 50,000 people) in northeast Uruguay, near the Brazilian border. Melo is Noelia’s home town so, naturally, the wedding was to be held there.We arrived around lunchtime and met Noelia’s family for the first time at a local restaurant. Only a few of them spoke English, and we didn’t speak very good Spanish, so communicating was a challenge. However, we all managed to form an instant friendship.

After lunch, we went and loaded up some chairs for the wedding and set them up at the wedding hall. Then, we finally got to put those chair covers to use as we put them on all 120 chairs. After we were done setting up for the wedding, we went to the caterers house then ran a couple more errands. That evening, we were invited over to the house of Noelia’s good family friend. Several of her family members showed up and we talked the night away telling stories about our native countries.

Day 5: Wedding bells

Day five was wedding day. We had slept the previous night in the Crown Hotel, the nicest hotel in Melo (that’s nice by Uruguayan standards). After eating a breakfast of empanadas, we met up with Eric and helped him with several chores needed for the wedding. After a much needed nap, we hung out in Eric’s hotel room until it was time to head to the wedding hall.

At the wedding hall, we greeted guests as we waited for the bride to arrive. Around 10:00pm, she finally did. The ceremony was short and to the point. There were a few words said by a local judge, some paperwork to be signed, then the party began. And a party it was. There was food, dancing, whiskey, more food, more dancing and more whiskey until the early morning hours. Around 3:00am, the foam party favors that we had made came out and the party got even wilder. It finally ended around 7:00 in the morning. Through all the festivities, it was great to see Eric and Noelia celebrating their love and take the next step in life together.

Day 6: Sleeping in

We slept in until 1:00 in the afternoon, then headed over to Noelia’s parents house for lunch. We finished off much of the leftover wedding food and exchanged gifts. At one point, a few of use went back to the wedding hall (still in pretty bad shape from the night before) to clean up some and get the chair covers. After some more time spent with Noelia’s family, we finally said our goodbyes and headed out. It was five hours to Montevideo. We made it seven by choosing our route poorly. We arrived back in Montevideo after midnight and checked into a hotel where we went promptly to sleep.

Day 7: Flight out

We spent the final day sightseeing around Montevideo. We ate lunch at a fancy restaurant and then headed to the airport. We said our goodbyes and then caught our plane to Buenos Aires, a stop along the way. Unfortunately, our plane was delayed leaving Montevideo and we missed our connecting flight in Buenos Aires. We were going to be delayed a full 24 hours! Luckily, we found a very comfortable bed and breakfast nearby and stayed there for the night.

Day 8: Home

We woke up on day eight and headed to the airport early. We weren’t going to miss our flight this time. We killed time in the airport until it was time to fly out. We arrived back in Austin late the next afternoon and our trip to Uruguay was officially over. It felt good to get back but we’ll definitely miss Uruguay, especially the people and the food. If we’re lucky, it won’t be our last trip there.

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¹ After I wrote this, Eric corrected me that the black bean dish is called Feijoada and is actually more Brazilian than Uruguayan.

For Courtney’s birthday this year, we made the spur of the moment decision to book a cabin in Fredericksburg. We got there Friday night (the 11th) and ate at a German restaurant called Der Lindenbaum. Eisley loved the schnitzel! On Saturday, we walked up and down main street, venturing into a few shops. On Sunday, we ate breakfast at a restaurant called Rathskeller and then spent a few hours at Pedernales Falls State Park on our way home.

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We stayed at the Key Lime Cottage about a mile from the beach

It was the start of a yearly tradition – a vacation with the Gath Family (Court’s sister Lindsay and Eisley’s cousins). We rented the “Key Lime Cottage” in Port Aransas, Texas for 4 days.

The trip started off with a 6 hour road trip, made extra long by 9 stops along the way. In addition to pausing for lunch, Finley (Eisley’s cousin) was in the middle of potty training and several bathroom stops were needed.

We arrived at the cottage around 4:00 and took a quick dip in the pool while Mike went to pick up the key. Then we loaded up and headed to the beach while the sun went down. The kids played in the sand and Eisley dipped her toes in the ocean for the first time.

We spent day 2 at the beach doing typical beach activities: playing in the waves, digging in the sand and building sand castles. After we grew tired of the sun and sand, Mike and I took Bryson to the bait shop to get some shrimp for fishing. Our plan was to take Bryson on his first fishing trip. With his Spiderman fishing pole in tow, Bryson helped us find a fishing spot on Mustang Island. We didn’t catch any fish — the sea turtles kept stealing our bait. At least they got fed well.

Day 3 was another trip to the beach for a repeat of day 2. This time we left a bit earlier because the plan was to eat dinner out. We chose a place called Fin’s, which turned out to be not so good. The seafood selection was limited and what we did choose was so overseasoned it was almost inedible.

On day 4 we packed up our stuff and left the beach. Lindsay and Mike headed back to Round Rock while Courtney, Patti and I made our way to Corpus Christi to the Texas State Aquarium. We spent a couple hours there then found a BBQ place for lunch. Then it was back to Austin and the end of our trip.

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I was invited to meet a client in Philadelphia for a conference. We decided that this would make a perfect spur-of-the-moment family vacation. We made the decision to go on Friday, July 10th and booked our flight to leave for Tuesday, July 14th. We stayed until Saturday, July 18th and had a wonderful time. We “pricelined” a hotel and were dealt the Marriott in Downtown Philly. It worked out great — we spent most of our days wandering around the “city center” area.

A sick baby Eisley made the trip a little more difficult but didn’t dampen our spirits. We ate delicious food, marveled at breathtaking architecture and got caught up in a little of America’s history. We saw enough to decide that Philadelphia is an amazing city: a huge art scene, a green state-of-mind and very friendly people. We’re glad we booked this last-minute trip and hope to return some day.

• Day 1, Tuesday July 14th: The Liberty Bell
• Day 2, Wednesday July 15th: Society Hill and Rittenhouse Square
• Day 3, Thursday July 16th: The Olde City
• Day 4, Friday July 17th: The Franklin Institute and the Italian Market
• Day 5: Saturday July 18th: Home
• Photos

Day 1, Tuesday July 14th: The Liberty Bell

We stopped by the Liberty Bell and witnessed some American history

We flew Southwest and our plane left at 7:10 a.m. After a layover in Chicago, we made it to Philly at about 1:00 or so. We took the train from the airport right to our hotel, the Marriott. After settling in, we went looking for food. Our hotel was right across from the famous Reading Terminal Market. This indoor “farmers market” is a hodgepodge of local vendors selling anything from food, to coffee to clothing. It is here that one can find anything they want and we found cheese and sausage at an Italian stand.

After snacking, we took a walk and found ourselves near the Liberty Bell. We spent some time gazing at the famous artifact then hung out in the lawn outside Independence Hall. It’s here that we met up with my mom, who was in town for the same conference. She had to go eat with some of her coworkers, so we hung out long enough for her to say hi and hold Eisley some.

Our stomachs were rumbling so we decided to walk over to Chinatown and see what we could find. Philly’s Chinatown is small and clean, unlike most big Chinatown areas that I’ve been to. We found a pretty standard Chinese food establishment and ate sweet-and-sour chicken and beef and broccoli.

After dinner we went back to the hotel. My talk at the conference we very early the next morning (6:45 a.m.) and we needed rest.

Day 2, Wednesday July 15th: Society Hill and Rittenhouse Square

Real Philly cheese steak

After my early presentation at the conference, we hung around the hotel catching up on sleep. Then we went on a mission for cheese steak. Every person we asked said one of three restaurants had the best in town: Pat’s, Geno’s or Jim’s. We opted for Jim’s and looked it up on Google Maps. We ended up going 20 blocks in the wrong direction (Google Maps fail) but eventually made it to our destination in a neighborhood called Society Hill. The cheese steaks were good: made with seasoned beef and cheese whiz.

After lunch we headed back to the hotel, tried to get Eisley to nap (to no avail) then decided to try the hotel swimming pool. By this point, Eisley was feeling a little under the weather and we thought the pool might clear her up. It did help some. After swimming, we got ready and then headed to the top rated Italian food restaurant in the city (according to Yelp). La Viola is located in Rittenhouse Square: an upscale neighborhood made up of tree-lined streets and uppity shops. Unbeknownst to us, the restaurant was cash-only and B.Y.O.B. We had the cash but needed the booze. After ordering appetizers, I headed to a place called Monk’s Beer Emporium across the street. I bought a bottle of Chimay that we enjoyed with spaghetti and lobster ravioli. The food was delicious: all homemade, prepared from scratch, and very authentic. Even the waiter had a heavy accent and was rude, just like in Italy.

It was past Eisley’s bedtime, so after dinner we went back to the hotel and tried our best to get her to sleep. We finally did around 10:30 (I know that sounds early but when you’re traveling with a sick kid, 10:30 is late).

Day 3, Thursday July 16th: The Olde City

Elferth's Alley is the oldest residential street in the country

On day 3 of our trip we ate breakfast at a place called Farmacia located in an area called the “Olde City“. Our plan for this day was to wander around this part of town, but our plans were quickly thwarted when we discovered that Eisley’s lovie (blanket) had gone missing. It must have fallen out of the stroller on our way to the restaurant. We retraced our steps only to find that the lovie must have been snagged by one of the city workers cleaning the street. It was nowhere to be found. In search of a replacement, we looked up childrens’ boutiques on my mobile phone and found a couple over in the Rittenhouse Square area. It was quite a trek over there, but the lovie is important. At one of the stores we managed to find a much inferior replacement (the original lovie was sewn by Granna, Courtney’s mom and Eisley grandmother).

With everything back to normal, we caught a subway back over to the Olde City where we strolled up and down Elfreth’s Alley, the oldest residential street in the country. It was here that we got a call from my mom (“Bella” to Eisley). She was still in town and offered to babysit that night so that Courtney and I could enjoy an adult dinner…alone. We accepted her offer and made our way back toward our hotel. On the way, we stopped at the Reading Terminal Market (again) to grab a light lunch. Back at the hotel we took a quick dip in the pool while we waited on Bella.

That night we decided to eat at a place in the Olde City called “Chloe”. It received 4 ½ stars and rave reviews on Yelp.com. This place lived up to the hype (although they also took only cash and it was B.Y.O.B.). We had oysters and salads for starters. I had a ribeye and Courtney had the halibut special for our main course. The dessert won us over though. We had banana bread pudding with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It was yummy.

After dinner we stopped by the hotel lobby for a quick drink before calling it a night. When we got back to the room, we learned that Bella had managed to put Eisley to sleep by 8:30 — a feat we had not been able to accomplish. Grandmas just have the magic touch.

Day 4, Friday July 17th: The Franklin Institute and the Italian Market

A moment at Love Park

Our breakfast place of choice was again located in the Reading Terminal Market across the street from our hotel. It was the Dutch Eating Place and they served up home cooking including gigantic pancakes, sausages and eggs. Courtney couldn’t finish all of her breakfast; she was feeling a bit under the weather. After eating, she went back to the hotel and I took Eisley walking.

We walked northwest along Benjamin Franklin Parkway, a huge avenue that cuts diagonal across Philadelphia’s grid of streets. We found ourselves hanging out in Logan Square by a huge fountain and eventually wandered over to the Franklin Institute. Founded by Benjamin Franklin, the Institute is a science museum. I like science (and Eisley was along for the ride) so we decided to venture in. The museum was a bit disappointing. It was totally set up for children older than Eisley. So there wasn’t much for me to look at and there wasn’t much for Eisley to do. We walked around for a while then decided to attend a show in the planetarium. It kept me entertained and Eisley asleep, so it did serve a purpose.

After emerging into the sunlight we called Courtney and made plans to meet in Love Park. We loitered there for a while then made our way south to the Italian Market. About 10 blocks lined with merchants along 9th street make up the Italian Market. We walked to the end and back, stopping to get a sausage hoagie, slices of pizza, and espresso. Wondering what to do with the rest of our time in Philly, we read up on a museum called Mütter Museum and decided to head that way. Unfortunately by the time we made it there, it was closed. We hung out in a little garden near the museum and got some great pictures. Then we walked over to Schuylkill Park (along the Schuylkill River) to kill some time. We watched dogs playing at the dog park and let Eisley crawl around in the grass.

We kept dinner simple that evening and just ate in our hotel before calling it a night.

Day 5: Saturday July 18th: Home

We made one more trip to the Reading Terminal Market and ate crêpes for breakfast. Then we caught the light rail to the airport, then a Southwest flight home to Austin. We will miss Philadelphia but it sure felt good to get home.

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