Trip Planner: Kauai
By: Smith Schwartz |
Recently, we found out some good friends of ours are headed to Kauai for their honeymoon. We put together this list of resources and thought it might be a fun thing to share them here. Enjoy! Before you go * Guidebook/app: Kauai Revealed. We had both the book and the app- highly recommend. Found some great hidden beaches and trails because...
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Wiki Wiki to Wisconsin
By: Smith Schwartz |
Seriously with that guy? Amazing. So, we are back in the good ol’ Midwest for a short stint. We came back to Chicago about 2 weeks ago, but have really spent most of our time here in Wisconsin. Since we’re not quite ready to admit we’ve actually left Hawaii, it’s been nice to get out of the city a bit....
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How to Choose the Best Hotel, Schwartzography Style
By: Smith Schwartz |
For as much as we’re on the road, we really don’t stay in hotels all too often. We usually try to make our trip as much like ‘home’ as we possibly can. But since we took a little time off while we were in Hawaii, we did a few shorter stints at hotels around the islands. Hotels aren’t always worth...
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Remembering the U.S.S. Arizona at Pearl Harbor
By: Smith Schwartz |
It was a cloudy, rainy day when we headed out to the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial. Despite the typically sunny Hawaiian climate, this day’s weather seemed to lend itself to the somber nature of this visit. The memorial is beautifully and respectfully designed above the wreckage of the ship by Honolulu resident and architect Alfred Preis. Previous to designing the structure,...
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Honolulu: A Very Brady Brutalism
By: Smith Schwartz |
Honolulu is a crazy city on a tiny island with that same weird pluralist feeling that many port cities have. It’s a little bit Marseilles, a little bit Tokyo and a little bit LA. It’s big, bustling but not quite settled into a singular identity. The one thing that is repetitious about this town are the crayon-colored “Corbusiers” all over...
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On the Edge of the Kalalau Trail
By: Smith Schwartz |
OMG- we can’t stop hiking! I have to say, this is a pretty fantastic addition to our travel repitoire. We’ve never really done lots of hiking before, mostly because I refused to buy the proper footwear. This time, we made sure to stock up on ultra-dorky hiking sandals before heading out to Hawaii. And seriously, it was the best decision....
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Hangin' Loose in Hanalei Bay
By: Smith Schwartz |
After spending some time on the south and west sides of Kauai, we headed up north to Hanalei Bay. This is an idyllic setting, a peaceful beachfront surrounded by lush flora and cliffs and shorelines for days. It’s a quaint little town that’s only somewhat overrun by tourists and only accessible by a one-lane bridge. Even though the main business...
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Hiking the Waimea Canyon
By: Smith Schwartz |
Seriously, it is incredibly unfair how beautiful Kauai is. Hawaii’s oldest island is a treasure trove of discoveries. It’s really hard to illustrate the scale of how vast this canyon is by photos alone. You really have to go. My fear of heights was put to new tests as theses “trails” just kind of rolled off the side of the...
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Video: Well-Designed Travel at Ignite Chicago
By: Smith Schwartz |
Listen up! I’m talking about stuff that’s really important! (jk/jk/lol) A few months back I did a (only slightly embarrassing) talk at Ignite Chicago. I spoke about our lives and how we live the way we live. Ignite is a fast-paced 15 seconds-per-slide kind of talk, so I may have come close to breaking JFK’s world record trying to fit...
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Waimea: The Texas of Kauai
By: Smith Schwartz |
After a few soggy days on Kauai, we were desperately seeking sunshine. We had moved on from the industrial seaside town of Lihue to the lush, fertile hillsides of Lawai Valley. It’s a strikingly beautiful area, but since it is ‘wintertime’ on the island, it rains almost all the time. Our gracious host, Traci at the Strawberry Guava Bed and...
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From Red Mud to Roosters: Touchdown in Kauai
By: Smith Schwartz |
Aloha from Hawaii! We just finished up two weeks of honest-to-goodness vacation. It felt good to take a “screen break” and not look at things like laptops and phones and email (too much). This is the first time we’ve taken a serious chunk of time to relax since planning for and embarking on this nomadic journey. Not that anyone should...
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On Work and Travel
By: Smith Schwartz |
A few weeks back, I had an email exchange with a friend-of-a-friend who’s considering taking a break from the daily grind and moving to Ecuador for a short period of time. We’ve been having a nice back and forth about work, travel and logistics and I realize that even though we’ve been working and traveling for over a year, I...
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Ignite Chicago: Well-Designed Travel
By: Smith Schwartz |
Tonight, I’m so excited to be presenting at Ignite Chicago. I’m basically going to be speaking about how we’ve been doing what we’ve been doing for the past year. It’s gonna be a good time. If you’re free tonight and want to come out, there are still a few tickets left. If not, here’s a transcript. You’ll just have imagine...
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The International Festival in Lafayette
By: Smith Schwartz |
We rolled up to Aaaah T’Frere’s in Lafayette, Louisiana just on the heels of Twilight Time. Just as soon as our hosts could say bienvenue and offer us a crab crustard, they asked, ”y’all here for the festival?” Well, I suppose we are now! We were just looking for a fun place to stop for the evening on our drive...
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Laura: A Creole Plantation
By: Smith Schwartz |
About halfway between Lafayette and New Orleans alongside the Mississippi River lie a row of plantation homes. All of theses homes are no longer functioning as operation plantations, but they are now open as historical museums. Laura Plantation is the most modest of the homes, as it was run by a Creole family. In Creole tradition, they used the home...
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A Culinary Tour of Houston
By: Smith Schwartz |
Just imagine Erik’s eyes are open… We met lots of fun folks at SXSW, but only one invited us to spend the weekend at his house. Not only did Aziz, Sania and their littles have us down to Houston for the weekend, they really went out of their way to show us around town. We were there a mere 29...
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Deep in the Heart of Texas: Crawfish Boil
By: Smith Schwartz |
These crawfish were alive and crawling, no doubt about it. We’ve really had such a great time down in Austin so far. Lucky for us, we met some great Austinites down in Buenos Aires when we showed up to an underground dinner. They’ve become great friends, and have really been rolling out the red carpet here for us lately. We...
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We Like the Internet 4/13
By: Smith Schwartz |
Happy Friday the 13th! Here’s to hoping you’ll stay away from cats and rickety ladders today. We read some fun stuff on the internet this week: I’m not sure what I like more, watching Mad Men, or reading Tom and Lorenzo’s Mad Style, their take on Janie Bryant’s amazing costuming work on the show. TLo (as their fans call them),...
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An Extreme Weekend at Barton Creek Greenbelt
By: Smith Schwartz |
You guys, went rock climbing this weekend! Psych, we went on a hike at the Barton Creek Greenbelt and took photos of some dude we don’t know! We watched him try to flip up and over, but that huge cactus had other ideas. It’s pretty amazing that this place is just a few minutes drive from downtown Austin. Secret swimming...
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Take Manhattan, Just Give Me the Countryside
By: Smith Schwartz |
You guys, we spent last week on a real, live farm about 30 miles outside of Austin. We quickly got used to early nights and early mornings, chickens, guineas and sweet puppies coming to visit us in our little cabin. Luckily for us, we got to reap the benefits of country living without performing any actual chores on the farm....
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Re-Entry at SXSW
By: Smith Schwartz |
Cheers to the USA! It’s been a really incredible three months abroad, but we’re finally back and looking forward to a fun summer at home. We touched down for a few days in Austin, TX for SXSW. South by Southwest is a conference of insane tech, film and music industry types who take over this laid-back city in droves. It...
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Well Designed Travel: Apartment Therapy
By: Smith Schwartz |
So you guys, my column debuted today over on Apartment Therapy! I’m so excited to finally get started and I’m overwhelmed by the positive responses. Please head over to AT and check out the full story HERE.
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Gigi's Cabaret
By: Smith Schwartz |
We were slightly concerned. During our last weekend in Michigan, we decided to take a little trip with Jess and John and our friends Holly and Dave to Gigi’s Cabaret in Detroit. When we pulled up to the parking lot, I have to admit I was a bit confused by the less than fabulous exterior. It looked more 8 Mile...
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Stout Beer, Old Pickles and Good Times
By: Smith Schwartz |
We got out and about quite a bit this weekend. Friday night, we headed to Sidetrack in downtown Ypsilanti. I love coming to Sidetrack around Christmastime, as it’s one of the most cozy places in town. Strong, stout beer served up with a side of traditional bar fare makes it fun for the whole fam. And of course, no trip...
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Cabin Fever
By: Smith Schwartz |
So we’ve been in Michigan for about a week now, and things are getting serious. Seriously cold, that is. I guess this whole adventure wouldn’t be complete without a tiny dose of winter. We can take our lumps… we’ve got warm weather in store sooner than is fair. We’ve mostly stayed home with the family; Erik’s sister Jessica, her husband...
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Woodford Reserve Distillery
By: Smith Schwartz |
After we took the official tour of Four Roses Distillery, we took our Bourbon Trail passports and headed down the Bluegrass Parkway to Woodford Reserve Distillery in Woodford County. A much more beautiful campus than Four Roses, you can immediately see why Woodford is the bourbon used in the $1000 mint julep at the Kentucky Derby. Woodford Reserve sits on...
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I Sold A Painting!?
By: Smith Schwartz |
So, I haven’t even thought about making let alone selling a painting in over 5 years, but it’s amazing what you have time for when you’re unemployed! My sister-in-law mentioned an art auction fundraiser for a local non-profit so I thought, hey, why not? It was all for a good cause, and it’s always nice to add a little cash...
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Four Roses Distillery
By: Smith Schwartz |
Last weekend, feeling adventurous, we decided to bravely trek the Bourbon Trail. We began our journey at Four Roses Distellery about 45 minutes from Lexington, near the banks of The Salt River. The legend of Four Roses as told by our tour guide, is one of true love. The founder of the distillery fell in head over heels in love...
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Our New Roommate, Roscoe
By: Smith Schwartz |
One of the fun parts of staying with Bobby and Rachel for the past few weeks is spending some quality time with our four-legged nephew, Roscoe. Roscoe is a chocolate lab with a powerful wag and some of the most amazing drool you’ve ever seen. Regardless, we love him and it’s been really fun having our little buddy around these...
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Life Lessons and Car Ownership
By: Smith Schwartz |
You guys– we bought a car! There’s nothing like plopping down a huge chunk of cash to make you feel like an adult. After living car-free for several years in Chicago, we knew we’d have to bite the bullet and buy a car for the domestic legs of our travels. One of our best buddies has driven a Toyota Matrix...
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Raven Run
By: Smith Schwartz |
Fall in the South is such a relief to the past 10 autumns we spent in Chicago. With temperatures reaching into the 70’s most days, we’ve been taking advantage with lots of outdoor activities. On our first free Sunday here, we hiked at Raven Run, a nature sanctuary just inside the city limits. I came here quite a bit in...
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Lover's Leap Winery
By: Smith Schwartz |
We begin our journey in my hometown of Lexington, Kentucky. Here in the Heart of the Bluegrass, many old tobacco farms have had difficulty making ends meet (Sad.) because Americans are smoking less. (Yay!) But what to do with all of these tobacco farms? Many of these farms have found new lives as wineries. Kentucky’s fertile soil and temperate climate...
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