I am so excited, because for the first time ever, I have a guest blogger! Go me and my tiny little blog! Whoo-hoo!! I met Sophia through our mutual networking site, 20 Something Bloggers and we did a blog swap. Sophia does a lot of traveling and since that's something you won't be seeing anytime soon here at The Nutshell (unless you want to hear about Jason's bargains in the desert market places), I thought a travel post would be a welcome distraction from my usual rounds of DIY.
I had the chance to throw some very random questions her way (who likes only typical interview questions?) and I was loving that she happily played along with my inane line of reasoning.
What made you start blogging?
I've always written in some way or another. I have about 30 hand written journals and diaries from age 8 to present! So blogging just came naturally. I started in 2001 on livejournal and haven't stopped since!
What did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be an alligator, but since that dream was crushed in 1st grade (darn you, Mrs. Mitchell), I decided I wanted to be a veterinarian. Oh how things have changed! I'm currently studying to be a nurse.
What's one thing you wish people did better?
I wish people would clean/pick up behind themselves. I am constantly disgusted with the way people treat the environment. I hate seeing someone throw a wrapper out of their car on a highway or dump trash at the end of a street.
If you could gorge yourself at any restaurant or on any food, where/what would it be?
Huey's Cheese Fries! Huey's is a chain in Memphis, TN with the best burgers and amaaazing cheese fries topped with bacon bits, chives, and a side of sour cream. So bad for you, but delicious.
What's something people would be surprised to know about you?
People may be surprised to know that I was a model from age 16 to a couple of years ago. Nothing professional (I wasn't in vogue or anything :P), but I've been in tons of runway shows, commercial modeling for brochures, promotional events, photo shoots and I've even had a photo spread in a national magazine (Boycrazy! some teen magazine about hot boys. My pic was attached to an article about staying friends with your ex).
So, without further ado, please welcome Sophia from PinkieLarue!
You are probably expecting a post from the lovely Amber, but you get me. Sophia, also known as Pinkie Larue. It's a nickname turned internet alias that I use all over the place. I'm a geeky, 27 year old and after living all over the place (The Netherlands, Texas, Tennessee, and a teeny stint in Jersey) I am now in West Virginia with my boyfriend who I met in World of Warcraft (told you I was geeky!). I start nursing school full time in the fall, play roller derby, and I'm a mac. You can find me over at my blog, PinkieLarue where I blog about geeky things and whatever's going on in my life. Now that you sort of know me, on with the post! It's about a recent road trip with my boyfriend. The plan was to visit Toronto,Canada, but we made pit stops in Niagara Falls, Buffalo, New York, and Lake Eerie...what?! I wanted to see a lighthouse! Here's what went down:
Day 1-our town, West Virginia to Buffalo, New York This part of the trip was only supposed to take 4 and a half hours, BUT in Pennsylvania I saw a sign pointing to the direction of Lake Eerie and lighthouses. As I had never seen a lighthouse and it was still pretty early in the day and not out of the way, we stopped at a beach/park on Lake Eerie. :D We spent an hour walking and driving around the area. I got to see my lighthouse! And a couple of other beautiful sites. Random pit stops are the best!
After the pit stop we drove the last hour and a half to Buffalo. We arrived and had buffalo wings for dinner. When in Rome! We went to the Anchor Bar which is the home of the original buffalo wing. The place they were invented. They were yummy, but I've had better. I got extra hot and the bf got BBQ. He's a baby when it comes to hot stuff where as, I am an West African girl who was raised eating the spiciest foods! It was nothing for me. *brushes shoulder off*
After dinner we rested for a bit before driving 30 minutes to Niagara Falls to see the falls at night. We got there and I could barely see anything because of all the mist and hellooo?! It was dark. I was kind of disappointed and after walking around for 15 minutes I said "SCREW IT! Let's go back to the car". We were walking back when *click*, someone turned on the lights! All of a sudden the falls were lit up with green lights in honor of St. Patrick's Day. It was beautiful. I turned my grumpy frown upside down and enjoyed the lovely view! Wouldn't it have been a pity if I had missed out on that? Day 2- Niagara Falls to Toronto, Canada! The next day we woke up and had a big breakfast before heading out to see Niagara Falls during the day. The plan was to see it from the American side, the Canadian side, and then on to Toronto! The view of the falls from America's side were kind of crappy (comparatively). Due to ice, there were lots of barricades and because you're next to the falls, as opposed to across from them like you are on the Canadian side, the view is kind of obstructed.
The Canadian view was amazing. You could get a lot closer to the falls, so we spent quite awhile sitting there enjoying it. The sound of the water falling was so loud, but soothing. I joked to the boyfriend that I should record it to fall asleep to. (I sometimes fall asleep to recorded nature sounds)
After a few hours at the falls it was on to Toronto! Unfortunately, we had a little setback at the border patrol. We were one of the lucky cars that got picked to get searched. Yay! :/ They searched the car COMPLETELY! I mean, the door panels, everywhere in the trunk, under the seats-it was very thorough! They especially got curious over the baked goods we had in our car. Jennifer, whom we stayed with in Buffalo, gave us homemade cookies and brownies for the trip. The patrol guy actually opened and sniffed every Ziploc and questioned us if the brownie marked "w" was for weed.
We assured him it was for walnuts as he sniffed it! Haha, after the search we got our stamps and continued to Toronto!
Days 3, 4, 5-Toronto, Canada! Toronto is SUCH an artsy/hip city. Also very international and diverse. Foreign people make up 50% of the city. And you could definitely tell since there were "ethnic" neighborhoods called like Little Italy, Corso Italia, Greektown, Portugal Village, Koreatown, Little India, Little Jamaica, and my favorite Chinatown. I love shopping/eating in Chinatown's. Up until Toronto, NYC's Chinatown was my favorite. But not anymore! Toronto's Chinatown is HUGE! It's the second largest in North America. It spans for streets and streets and has tons of shops/bubble tea places and even malls! We spent an entire afternoon there-exploring, having lunch, and shopping.
Most of our time in Toronto was spent walking around exploring and eating yummy food! But we also did some touristy stuff. We took a walking tour and went to the CN Tower-the second tallest in the world. (It's one of the seven modern wonders of the world, which means I got to see 2 wonders on this trip!) We took the all inclusive tour, which was expensive, but definitely worth it. The tour takes you up the tower, in a glass elevator. I'm not usually afraid of heights, but I was definitely a little uneasy in this swaying, glass elevator, going 1500ft above Toronto! Once we stopped on the first level (1200ft) I was ok. The view from up there was amazing! On this floor there is a glass floor. Yup. A glass floor 1200ft above the ground! Of course I was scared, but I walked on it and to avoid ridicule by me for the rest of our lives, the boyfriend did it too. It was such a crazy feeling looking down. The people and cars looked like ants!
After hanging around on that floor for awhile, we took the elevator up to the highest point, 1500ft above Toronto.
The rest of the weekend was spent exploring the city and then celebrating my birthday with a cupcake, a nice dinner, and some beers! All in all a great little vacation and birthday.
I enjoyed sharing my trip with you and I hope you enjoyed reading. Thanks for having me, Amber!
I hope you stop by Sophia's blog and say hey! I loved having her here and reading about her trip. Sometimes living vicariously through someone is the perfect little "getaway" you need from your own life! ;)
I had the chance to throw some very random questions her way (who likes only typical interview questions?) and I was loving that she happily played along with my inane line of reasoning.
What made you start blogging?
I've always written in some way or another. I have about 30 hand written journals and diaries from age 8 to present! So blogging just came naturally. I started in 2001 on livejournal and haven't stopped since!
What did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be an alligator, but since that dream was crushed in 1st grade (darn you, Mrs. Mitchell), I decided I wanted to be a veterinarian. Oh how things have changed! I'm currently studying to be a nurse.
What's one thing you wish people did better?
I wish people would clean/pick up behind themselves. I am constantly disgusted with the way people treat the environment. I hate seeing someone throw a wrapper out of their car on a highway or dump trash at the end of a street.
If you could gorge yourself at any restaurant or on any food, where/what would it be?
Huey's Cheese Fries! Huey's is a chain in Memphis, TN with the best burgers and amaaazing cheese fries topped with bacon bits, chives, and a side of sour cream. So bad for you, but delicious.
What's something people would be surprised to know about you?
People may be surprised to know that I was a model from age 16 to a couple of years ago. Nothing professional (I wasn't in vogue or anything :P), but I've been in tons of runway shows, commercial modeling for brochures, promotional events, photo shoots and I've even had a photo spread in a national magazine (Boycrazy! some teen magazine about hot boys. My pic was attached to an article about staying friends with your ex).
So, without further ado, please welcome Sophia from PinkieLarue!
You are probably expecting a post from the lovely Amber, but you get me. Sophia, also known as Pinkie Larue. It's a nickname turned internet alias that I use all over the place. I'm a geeky, 27 year old and after living all over the place (The Netherlands, Texas, Tennessee, and a teeny stint in Jersey) I am now in West Virginia with my boyfriend who I met in World of Warcraft (told you I was geeky!). I start nursing school full time in the fall, play roller derby, and I'm a mac. You can find me over at my blog, PinkieLarue where I blog about geeky things and whatever's going on in my life. Now that you sort of know me, on with the post! It's about a recent road trip with my boyfriend. The plan was to visit Toronto,Canada, but we made pit stops in Niagara Falls, Buffalo, New York, and Lake Eerie...what?! I wanted to see a lighthouse! Here's what went down:
Day 1-our town, West Virginia to Buffalo, New York This part of the trip was only supposed to take 4 and a half hours, BUT in Pennsylvania I saw a sign pointing to the direction of Lake Eerie and lighthouses. As I had never seen a lighthouse and it was still pretty early in the day and not out of the way, we stopped at a beach/park on Lake Eerie. :D We spent an hour walking and driving around the area. I got to see my lighthouse! And a couple of other beautiful sites. Random pit stops are the best!
After the pit stop we drove the last hour and a half to Buffalo. We arrived and had buffalo wings for dinner. When in Rome! We went to the Anchor Bar which is the home of the original buffalo wing. The place they were invented. They were yummy, but I've had better. I got extra hot and the bf got BBQ. He's a baby when it comes to hot stuff where as, I am an West African girl who was raised eating the spiciest foods! It was nothing for me. *brushes shoulder off*
After dinner we rested for a bit before driving 30 minutes to Niagara Falls to see the falls at night. We got there and I could barely see anything because of all the mist and hellooo?! It was dark. I was kind of disappointed and after walking around for 15 minutes I said "SCREW IT! Let's go back to the car". We were walking back when *click*, someone turned on the lights! All of a sudden the falls were lit up with green lights in honor of St. Patrick's Day. It was beautiful. I turned my grumpy frown upside down and enjoyed the lovely view! Wouldn't it have been a pity if I had missed out on that? Day 2- Niagara Falls to Toronto, Canada! The next day we woke up and had a big breakfast before heading out to see Niagara Falls during the day. The plan was to see it from the American side, the Canadian side, and then on to Toronto! The view of the falls from America's side were kind of crappy (comparatively). Due to ice, there were lots of barricades and because you're next to the falls, as opposed to across from them like you are on the Canadian side, the view is kind of obstructed.
The Canadian view was amazing. You could get a lot closer to the falls, so we spent quite awhile sitting there enjoying it. The sound of the water falling was so loud, but soothing. I joked to the boyfriend that I should record it to fall asleep to. (I sometimes fall asleep to recorded nature sounds)
After a few hours at the falls it was on to Toronto! Unfortunately, we had a little setback at the border patrol. We were one of the lucky cars that got picked to get searched. Yay! :/ They searched the car COMPLETELY! I mean, the door panels, everywhere in the trunk, under the seats-it was very thorough! They especially got curious over the baked goods we had in our car. Jennifer, whom we stayed with in Buffalo, gave us homemade cookies and brownies for the trip. The patrol guy actually opened and sniffed every Ziploc and questioned us if the brownie marked "w" was for weed.
We assured him it was for walnuts as he sniffed it! Haha, after the search we got our stamps and continued to Toronto!
Days 3, 4, 5-Toronto, Canada! Toronto is SUCH an artsy/hip city. Also very international and diverse. Foreign people make up 50% of the city. And you could definitely tell since there were "ethnic" neighborhoods called like Little Italy, Corso Italia, Greektown, Portugal Village, Koreatown, Little India, Little Jamaica, and my favorite Chinatown. I love shopping/eating in Chinatown's. Up until Toronto, NYC's Chinatown was my favorite. But not anymore! Toronto's Chinatown is HUGE! It's the second largest in North America. It spans for streets and streets and has tons of shops/bubble tea places and even malls! We spent an entire afternoon there-exploring, having lunch, and shopping.
Most of our time in Toronto was spent walking around exploring and eating yummy food! But we also did some touristy stuff. We took a walking tour and went to the CN Tower-the second tallest in the world. (It's one of the seven modern wonders of the world, which means I got to see 2 wonders on this trip!) We took the all inclusive tour, which was expensive, but definitely worth it. The tour takes you up the tower, in a glass elevator. I'm not usually afraid of heights, but I was definitely a little uneasy in this swaying, glass elevator, going 1500ft above Toronto! Once we stopped on the first level (1200ft) I was ok. The view from up there was amazing! On this floor there is a glass floor. Yup. A glass floor 1200ft above the ground! Of course I was scared, but I walked on it and to avoid ridicule by me for the rest of our lives, the boyfriend did it too. It was such a crazy feeling looking down. The people and cars looked like ants!
After hanging around on that floor for awhile, we took the elevator up to the highest point, 1500ft above Toronto.
The rest of the weekend was spent exploring the city and then celebrating my birthday with a cupcake, a nice dinner, and some beers! All in all a great little vacation and birthday.
I enjoyed sharing my trip with you and I hope you enjoyed reading. Thanks for having me, Amber!
I hope you stop by Sophia's blog and say hey! I loved having her here and reading about her trip. Sometimes living vicariously through someone is the perfect little "getaway" you need from your own life! ;)
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