Vacation: NY and Boston

How excited was I when two good friends hired me for their weddings in NY!?  And how more perfect was it that their weddings fell on consecutive weekends!?  Not only did I get to photograph two insanely gorgeous weddings in the beautiful NY countryside, but I also got to take a vacation driving around the northeast the week in between!

The trip started with me driving solo up to NY wine country.  At first I grumbled grumbled about being in the car that long by myself (I hate driving) but the last third of the drive gave me vistas like this and I was a happy girl!

I had a complete blast reconnecting with an old bestie, Dana – pictured right – and her wonderful family.  Her sister, Jillian, married the best guy ever at the lovely Esperanza Mansion on Keuka Lake.  Fall was in gear, the leaves were vibrant, the smell of harvested grapes was in the air.  It was magical and perfect.

I spent the next day at the groom’s family lake house enjoying the incredible view, the sunshine, great food and company.  Then, I drove to Syracuse to pick up Martin, who had taken Amtrak up to meet me.  We had recently re-watched The Office, so he got a kick out of the Utica sign.  Thanks to Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, we found an amazing Hungarian restaurant in Syracuse and stuffed our bellies before returning to the lake.

Since we were relatively close and had never been, we did the tourist thing and drove to Niagra Falls.  Like everyone said, the Canada side is better.

After we got our fill of the falls and the crowd and the tacky gift shops, we hit the road for Boston.  My brother, Daniel, is attending Berklee there and I definitely wanted to spend most of the week visiting with him and his beautiful city.

An artist has set out pianos all over the cities that people can play.  I love interactive art like this.

A memorial for the bombing at the Boston Marathon.

That night we got to hang out with a girl whom I adore – Megan.  We taught together in Spain and quickly bonded over our love of Spanish food & wine and thrifting adventures.  This chica is hilarious and so so special, I miss her like crazy.

One day we took a little roadtrip to drive through New Hampshire and the White Mountains.  We stopped at this country store for the most amazing apple cider donuts. 

Driving through the White Mountain National Forest is divine.  I only wish we had more time to hike.  I definitely want to go back here for more exploring.

More lovely sights in Boston:

I just got a kick at being on the metro again – I miss that about Spain.

Another day we spent driving to Plymouth and around the Cape.

We took a short little walk on the beach and amazingly, all these sea lions were playing VERY near the shore – it was adorable!

We said goodbye to Boston and made our way to Washingtonville, NY – a quaint little town that houses a sweet little stone church – where our friends would tie the knot.

Instagram pics from the days leading up to Carisa and Shane’s wedding:  The amazing garden at the mansion they rented out for the wedding party & guests, ice cream makes Carisa a happy bride, NYC at night – bachelorette party!

One night, we all went out to NYC so Carisa and Shane could have their respective bachelor and bachelorette parties.  We danced our hearts out and it was super fun, but dang, NYC is expensive!!!!!

Carisa and Shane’s wedding was pretty epic – I feel this way mostly because it was like a mini reunion with many of our friends from Spain and this filled my heart to the absolute brim.  You will get to see way more images from both weddings, but these will have to do for now ;)

You may recognize Audrey, with whom I always play.  She flew up to do the decor!  And on the right is the most handsome and coolest boy I know.

Martin and I had such a wonderful trip.  It was perfect for so many reasons.  The change in scenery and being out in the country was healing and refreshing.  Plus we got to hang out with some of our favorite people and that is just always energizing!