Weekly Roundup: The Getaway

A weekly round up: eats, workouts, watches, and reads.  This week the boys were away and this girl got out to play.

The Getaway

This weekend was the first Boy Scout camp of the school year.  Normally the hubs and the boys go out into the woods on Friday night and come back on Sunday morning while stepdog and I revel in the single life at home.

But not this weekend!  As you may recall, the dilemma that I had this year is that all of hubs's PTO went to scouting activities.  That left me with the choice of either taking a vacation by myself or sucking it up and staying at home all year.  I didn't want to go somewhere by myself and miss out on family time and I didn't want to deal with the hassle of travel.  Another factor is that my work doesn't have "use it or lose it" vacation time, so I was attracted by the idea of stock piling vacation days (to use in the future or to cash out at some point).  But a girl can't spend all of her time at home, so I made a compromise and started taking weekend day trips during the summer.  I found that (1) these short breaks were very refreshing and (2) hello there's hella lotta stuff to do within a few hours of home that I had no clue about!  There was one area in particular that I kept coming back to and wanted to do a deep dive on.  With the rest of the family gone this weekend, it made sense to get gone myself. 

Over the course of the week I made a very long list of things that I wanted to do, and on Friday morning I packed my bags and left town.  A few hours later I checked in to a cute little Airbnb and went out on the town.  I spent the first day in museums and the rest of the time out in nature exploring and my mind was blown by both.  Each night I came back to my pad with a full camera roll and happy memories.  And then on Sunday afternoon I came home to my scouts and the dog to trade tales of epic adventures.

Eats

Normally I don't put much effort into food when I go on vacation by myself.  I'm there for the experience, and bringing my own food is better for the waistline and the wallet.  But this time I wanted to do something different so I took a hybrid food approach.  I brought breakfast (coffee, two frozen breakfast burritos, and fruit) as well as a handful of Clif bars for emergencies.  Since I wasn't traveling very far the burritos were still pretty much frozen when I arrived and got them into the frig.  Here's what went down for meals:

Friday lunch: my plans for epic culinary adventures got off to a mediocre start.  Subway was the best option.

Friday dinner: I was out on the road getting one last stop in when my belly told me it was dinner time.  I found a pizza joint with high ratings that was located between where I was and the airbnb.  I ordered a small pizza and a salad online and picked it up on my way back.  I was starving after a long day on my feet and I inhaled it.

Saturday breakfast: ack, I'm off my travel game.  Normally I bring my pour over filter for coffee just in case but this time I forgot.  The kitchen only had a Keurig and no pods.  No problem, I hit up the coffee shop down the street and and got an early morning scenic walk as a bonus.  I chowed down on my breakfast burrito from home and fruit and was out the door.

Saturday lunch: I was busy exploring and I didn't see any amazing food options and I didn't feel like stopping my adventures to find something.  I dipped into my stash of Clif bars.

Saturday dinner: I had my eye on the taco place across the street.  Here's the thing...I don't mind going on vacation by myself but IMO going out to eat by myself is overrated.  They didn't have online ordering and I didn't feel like calling them so I decided to just go with it and walked across the street.  I mean if it ended up being lame then it ended up being lame, I was just there for food.  It was pretty crowded but there was an open seat at the bar.  I got myself a jalapeno margarita and a sampling of tiny tacos - steak, ahi tuna, and shrimp.

Fun fact: both pictures are $15 worth of food, not including the margarita.  The tacos were much smaller IRL then they are in the picture.  And the meal wasn't lame at all since I struck up a conversation with the couple next to me and we traded travel notes.

Sunday breakfast: exact repeat of Saturday.

Sunday lunch: I ended up in the right place at the right time!  I happened across a German Biergarten and a scan of the menu showed currywurst. Huh I wondered what is currywurst besides something with a cool/frightening name?

Have no fear, it's just sausages with ketchup and curry powder.  A meal that's not for everyone but it was exactly what I wanted.  It would have been better with a beer, but it was a bit early in the day.

And then it was time to come home!  Mission accomplished of a fun break, no travel hassles, and no lost family time.

Next steps: spend this week daydreaming about my adventures and then start planning a trip for next month's camp out;-)  Sadly it's starting to get cold so October is probably my last chance to roam until spring.

Workouts

The new usual Caroline Girvan strength/treadmill incline walking combo during the week.  I reverted back to my standard vacation policy of working out as much or as little as I want.  I ended up (gasp) skipping the Sunday weight workout that by rights I should have done plus a ton of hiking so it's all good.

Watching and Reading

Nope!  I was busy during the week and didn't touch the TV or a book all weekend.

Your turn: ever been on a solo vacation?  Do tell!  How do you feel about eating at a restaurant by yourself?