hotels – thosecoolkims

Road Trippin’, Day 3 – San Francisco!

Thanks to Auntie Shannon, Ed + I got to spend some alone time in the city. We were thrilled to get back to San Francisco, and we were determined to fit as many of our favorite things here in less than 24 hours!

Here are the highlights:

#1: Garry Winogrand photography exhibit @SFMOMA
We love SFMOMA and we were just in time to catch this huge Garry Winogrand exhibit while we were here. He has been one of my favorite photographers ever, and if you’ve been to our home, you’ve definitely seen this print before. I’m so glad we had a chance to catch this show.

#2: A snack at the Ferry Building
We skipped lunch just so we could go to the Ferry Building and “sample” some of our favorites. We decided on splitting the salame sandwich at Boccalone and sharing a Gingerbread Cupcake from Miette.

#3: Drinks at The Tonga Room
The Tonga Room is the most magical Tiki Bar in the world. The drinks are stiff, the ambiance is amazing, and they actually make it rain inside. Seriously, it’s the best place ever. We sipped on a Mai Tai and a Pipeline and soaked in all the glorious kitchiness.

#4: Late dinner at B Star
Trying to commit to a restaurant for dinner in San Francisco with all of the options available is tougher than trying to figure out what to do on New Year’s Eve. We decided to stay true to our love of all things asian fusion, and try out B Star, which says to be a mix of Thai/Chinese/Burmese/Indian/Japanese with a California twist. Yeah, its a mouthful, but it delivered! The food was outstanding – so bold and flavorful and like nothing we’ve ever eaten before. It was the kind of experience we always love having in this city!

p.s. We got an awesome groupon and are staying at the Hotel Griffon. It rules! It’s right across the street from the Ferry Building (seriously, we can see it out the window) and we get free parking. Total score.

Birthday in Vegas!

For my birthday this year, we bucked our Palm Springs tradition and headed to Vegas. We found a groupon we just couldn’t refuse and decided to jump on it. We stayed downtown a few years ago, and loved the old-school vibe, so we were looking forward to going back. Admittedly, this post makes it sound like we did nothing but eat, but what can we say — there’s a lot happening with food in Vegas!

As we drove into town, we headed straight for eat., which is a new breakfast and lunch joint in downtown Las Vegas. It’s a low key place with a super cool vibe, and features fresh, seasonal comfort food. I had the most delicious asparagus + arugula salad, while Ed had an incredible shrimp and grits dish.

After lunch we got settled in to our room at the Golden Nugget, and cruised around Fremont Street awhile. Then we headed out towards The Strip to fulfill a longtime dream of mine: We saw an Elvis impersonator live in Las Vegas! We went to Trent Carlini’s “The King” at the Las Vegas Hotel. I wish I could say the show was better, but at least now I can say I’ve been. The King did oblige me with a pic after the show, but too bad we were in Vegas about a week too early – we could’ve seen CeeLo Green in Loberace, a Liberace tribute show. Dang!

After The King it was late night dinner time! We were headed to José Andrés’ place, China Poblano at The Cosmopolitan. WHOA. The Cosmopolitan is absolutely amazing. A super hip vibe, great design throughout and so much style in everything there! It feels young and expensive all at the same time. We were in awe. China Poblano was an amazing marriage of Mexican + Chinese food. At one point during the meal, I had a lobster taco and a steamed BBQ Pork bun on my plate at the same time. It was so good!

Also in the Cosmopolitan was an amazing Chandelier Bar (click this link for pics that do it much better justice than any of my dumb pics) and Holstein’s where the menu looked super fun — Korean BBQ Hot Dog and Boozy S’mores milkshake, anyone?

The next day, after enjoying a morning where we could actually sleep in, we decided to explore and find a few places in Vegas outside of the usual tourist stuff. We got a great recommendation for a good coffee shop downtown called The Beat Coffeehouse. The vibe is very Seattle – music, vinyl, strong coffee and low-brow art galleries. We dug it and enjoyed the coffee ’cause we’re not afraid to admit we’re too old for morning booze. We skipped the buffet to save room for lunch!

We played a few slots at The D’s “Vintage Vegas” slot room, where you can actually pull the lever on the slot machines and real money spits out (instead of vouchers)! After working up an appetite, we left Downtown and The Strip for Vegas’ Chinatown and enjoyed some super tasty ramen. They say there’s a ramen revolution happening in Vegas, and it’s legit! His + Hers ramen bowls at Monta Ramen:

Also on our food tour of Vegas, we had dinner at Gordon Ramsay’s BURGR on the Strip at Planet Hollywood. Gordon doesn’t mess around — Ed says his burger was one of the top 5 burgers he’s ever had. I can’t argue, mine was incredible as well. Bonus points for his ridiculous mug on the inside of each menu:

After being extremely full, we headed back to our downtown home base for some real fun. I never tire of all the old school glitz of the neon signage downtown. It’s gorgeous.

Things got epic when we spent some time late night at the El Cortez — seriously old school, somewhat seedy and SUPER cheap! Ed and I even played the Blackjack tables and won, thanks to a very friendly and patient Ukranian dealer named Elena and Ed’s former co-worker Jim, who happened to be in Vegas too and met up with us. We hung at the El Cortez until after 2am, and then ended up at The D for an AUTHENTIC American Coney, a real piece of Detroit in Las Vegas! (Don’t worry, we haven’t turned, we still love Lafayette more than American!)

Last stop before heading out was Beijing No. 9 – a stunningly beautiful noodle house in Caesar’s Palace. I’m a sucker for the white + red!

We had a great time, but we sure were ready to get home to our little Bean. It’s always fun to have time together, but we sure missed that little daughter of ours!

Shots around Detroit

Fun in the Fountains in front of the Ren Center
(p.s. Hey, that’s Canada on the other side!)

The Hotel Yorba is Real! (That White Stripes tribute in my black shirt/red pants is no accident)

A surprise to us, you CAN get good Mexican food in Michigan — you gotta go to Mexicantown. (Jack White’s old stomping grounds in Detroit)

Haunted by the decaying + abandoned Michigan Central Station. One of the saddest, most beautiful things we’ve ever seen. It’s so hard to capture via our pics …

At the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA)

Hangin’ inside McNamara terminal at DTW

Tennessee Super Kitschfest! Day 5, Epicness on the way to, and within, Memphis

Day 5 was surprisingly action-packed — it’s best just to count down the highlights!

#1 – Morning run at The Parthenon (Nashville)

So random that Nashville has a replica of the Greek Parthenon. Our hotel was so close (and we needed a run after the crazy awesome dinner we had the night before), so we put Ruby in the stroller and ran the loop around it to get some exercise and sightsee all the same time. How’s that for multitasking?

#2 – Loveless Cafe (Nashville)

A quintessential Southern Style Diner. Known for the Hashbrown Casserole and biscuits made from scratch. Delicious and retro – the perfect Ed + Carrie combination.

#3 – Loretta Lynn’s ranch (Hurricane Falls)

This was a crazy unexpected detour! We saw a billboard off the side of I-40 and knew we’d have to make a stop. It did not disappoint, plenty of Coal Miner’s daughter kitsch and actually, a pretty amazing place. We skipped the guided tours, but snapped plenty of pics on our own.

#4 – The Peabody Hotel (Memphis)
The Peabody is a very old place, and they are known for the ducks that live on the rooftop in the middle of this crazy city. Each day at 5pm, the ducks “walk” from the fountain in the lobby to elevator, and ride up to the rooftop of the hotel. It’s kind of a big deal. We were stoked that we could get a cocktail, while Ruby stayed entertained watching the ducks!

#5 – Unexpected Flaming Lips Concert on Beale Street! (Memphis)

We were walking down Beale Street and saw a big crowd, then all of the sudden I heard Wayne’s voice – it was a Flaming Lips show! They were trying to break Jay-Z’s world record of the most shows being played in 24 hours. It was crazy to be standing on the street and seeing the show! I was stoked they played oldie-but-goodie, “Vasoline” and my mom even caught one of the big balloons from the show – RAD!

#6 – Central BBQ (Memphis)
With so much BBQ in Memphis, there’s a lot options, and a lot of favorites. We went to Central on the recommendations of MANY and were not disappointed! This is not a tourist trap on Beale, and its nothing fancy – just delicious BBQ that had us savoring every bite. I got the brisket, Ed got the pork, and Ruby stuck to her vegetarian ways and kindly asked for hummus. She indulged once we got back to the hotel.

#7 – Date night in Memphis

Not gonna lie, it was uneventful. We were just too tired after a long day! We enjoyed another cocktail at The Peabody (after deciding Beale Street wasn’t our scene and being unsuccessful in finding Elvis impersonators!). It was a good drink, though!

Palm Springs, Day Two

Oh, yesterday was chock full of perfection! It couldn’t have been better, and we managed to fit in just about everything we love in Palm Springs.

First – it must be mentioned that we SLEPT IN.

Then, it was off to Charles Phoenix‘s retro slideshow: Pools, Patios and BBQs. We had been to his Holiday slideshow before, and it was so fun and super kitschy that we knew we would love the backyard one, too. Basically – he has found and collected the jackpot of kodak chodachrome slides from the ’50-’70s, and has compiled them all into one amazing and hilarious compilation. Here’s just one gem of an example from his slides from the show:

Probably even more of a surprise than his show, was the auditorium and grounds of the Palm Springs Art Museum where the show was held! Yes, we always swoon over the amazing mid-century modernness of Palm Springs, but the museum is super-70s, and we couldn’t have been more thrilled! All orange, very orange … we were dying over it, and took a few pics:

After the slideshow, we headed upstairs to catch the Backyard Oasis: The Swimming Pool in Southern California Photography, 1945-1982 exhibit, which is as amazing as it sounds, and the perfect thing to see while in Palm Springs!

After all the amazing architecture and art, we were starving – so it was time to hit up our favorite place to eat in Palm Springs – Norma’s, which is on the campus of the absolutely fabulous Parker Palm Springs Hotel. There’s not a trip in Palm Springs that has happened that we haven’t stopped at the Parker. We love it there and freak out over Jonathan Adler’s design no matter how many times we’ve seen it. Norma’s has the best brunch ever. I got my usual lobster + asparagus omelette and Ed got a take on eggs benedict with pancakes, canadian bacon + asparagus. Yummmmmmmmmmmm.

We’re always planning our next trip to Palm Springs, even before the current one is over, and I’d heard about a new hotel in town called the Saguaro. Basically, they took over the old Holiday Inn and swanktified it – and now, we are definitely going to stay there next time! It looks amazing with all the colors of the rainbow. We could not get enough of this place as we walked around …

After drooling over the grounds of the Saguaro, we took off to drive around the neighborhoods of Palm Springs to admire the gloriously restored and very well loved mid-century modern homes. We even made a stop by one of our old favorite, Richard Neutra’s Kaufmann House, and got a pic of it in my fancy 5-series that I’ve been testing all week!

It was an amazing day!