Work Travels

Here's a summary of work travel that has happened in the last year that hasn't already been documented in individual posts. This compilation has been drafted for a LONG time and it's time to finalize it! I've slowly added to this as I've had more work travel. Some of these trips happened as far back as last summer. While I would not necessarily pick some of these locations to travel to by choice, I was glad to have the opportunity to see new places and visit a few states that I had not yet been to.

Fairfield, Iowa - August 2013

(new state visited!)

There really isn't much in Fairfield, but I do find the fields to be beautiful. I'm not trying to be funny, but over the course of being there a few days, I believe I ate in most restaurants in the town. This one scored major points for having gluten free carrot cake. Two thumbs up, Fairfield!

Isle of Palms, South Carolina - October 2013

Based on the fact that we probably would find a new destination in 2014 for the annual work meeting I plan in the spring, I got the opportunity to visit a few resorts in the hopes of finding a good replacement for the crowd favorite, Hammock Beach. The top candidate for our meeting was Wild Dunes on the Isle of Palms outside of Charleston in South Carolina. The resort was on the beach so it was already a Kim favorite (and it's obviously where we ended up).

This was the view from my room. The main hotel is slightly off of the beach but you can still catch a glimpse of the ocean if you look out past the houses.

Driving around the Wild Dunes property and golf courses and I spotted this! Maybe it wasn't the smartest thing to get out of the car to take a picture.

After the tour of Wild Dunes, I made a pit stop in Charleston to tour Charleston Place (for a potential meeting spot as well) and to eat lunch at Magnolias, of course. I couldn't pass up shrimp and grits in Charleston. Yum!

Greensboro, Georgia - November 2013

This trip has become an annual one that I truly look forward to each year. I plan a golf event for 16 guys, I make sure they get to the correct course and place for dinner each day, and spend the rest of the time on my own. I usually spend some time each day working, napping, walking around the property, enjoying lunch on the lake, sitting on the beach, etc. It is always a welcome break from the schedule that I normally keep and it's nice to have quiet, down time.

I'm not sure how it happened, but I ended up in one of the best rooms (I thought) at the hotel. One on the bottom level with a view of Lake Oconee. The next 2 pictures show the view from my back porch.

I think my room was the middle one on the bottom floor below...

Most years I spend a little time on the small resort beach but I'm often wearing a jacket and/or covered in towels. Even though it was November (and there was already risk of frost on the courses some mornings), the temps were perfect and I was able to enjoy the beach without having to bundle up. In fact, I remember wishing I was wearing a bathing suit!

As you may be able to tell, there weren't many people around the resort while I was there. I suppose this is a popular destination for work meetings or golf so not many folks are at the beach during the day. I was thankful for the peace and quiet and a perfect napping spot.

Gluten free pizza on the room service menu....such a treat!

Evidence that it really was fall...changing leaves

This property definitely has a lodge/cozy feel hence the fire pit down below as you look out of the main lobby of the hotel.

New Orleans, Louisiana - January 2014

(another new state for me)

Despite an impending snowstorm on the east coast and many cancelled flights, I managed to get out of Richmond just in the nick of time to get down to New Orleans. The work meeting was in late January and it is typically for less than 20 of my co-workers. 

The clouds were threatening but none of my travel was delayed.

Group dinner while in New Orleans

Given the time of year, we usually opt for a southern location where the temps are warmer. Our destination of choice this year was south but it did NOT prove to be warm. New Orleans barely gets close to or below freezing temps, but of course, we were there during the rare occurrence! We woke up one of the mornings to ice everywhere, school and bridge closures, and a city that was freaking out. So much for a warm(er) getaway!

Dinner at K-Paul's in New Orleans after the meeting was over

Tampa, Florida - March 2014
At this point in the year, Hammock Beach knew that our organization was not returning to their location for our 2014 meeting. As a way to lure back our business, I was invited for four days to check out one of their sister properties in Tampa called Innisbrook.

So nice to see spring and greenery

Man made beach at the resort pool. May not be a real beach, but it was still nice and did the trick (got rid of the winter blues).

The empty pool chairs reveal how early I headed to the pool. This was prime book reading time...especially when I was so focused on getting my book club books read on time. No more delinquent member status for me!

The draw to visit this particular long weekend was the Valspar Championship taking place there at the resort's Copperhead course. Meeting planners (like me) who were guests for the weekend were offered multiple complimentary rounds of golf and tickets each day to the tournament. Unfortunately, I do not play golf and couldn't take advantage of the offered tee times, but the pool was just as lovely and entertaining. I did, though, take advantage of the tournament tickets seeing as I had never been to a PGA tournament before. It was much more interesting than expected and very enjoyable watching the PGA players up close. Of course, it was a little disappointing to not be allowed to take any pics of the event.  

Another work trip croc spotting...

While I sometimes feel as if work is too stressful, I am still thankful for my job and the opportunity to travel. Even more, I am so thankful for trips that give me a taste of warm weather when it's cold at home. 

Chicago

As is no surprise, many of my work trips are part work and part vacation. I was fortunate to travel to Chicago in early August for a work conference and there were plenty of "vacation" aspects to this trip. I am most certainly not a city girl but I really love visiting Chi-town.

Because this was my 5th trip to Chicago, I have seen and done many of the city's highlights. There were only two things that I had hoped to experience this go round that I hadn't yet been able to do. The first was to take an architecture tour of the city by boat on the Chicago River. To maximize my time, this was the first thing that I planned and did when I arrived on the first day. Bonus - the company I went with included both a tour on the river AND on Lake Michigan. 

Trump is right on the river. I ate brunch here on my last visit to Chicago.

I have always been intrigued by this interesting shaped building. One of the craziest parts is imagining parking my car (on the lower 15 or so decks) and backing up to the edge right over the river. Yikes.

The hotel where I stayed and where my work conference was held is the last one below on the right. I did not mind the view of the river from the hotel at all. It was definitely an ideal place to be staying in the city for a few days.

View of Chicago as we were exiting the Chicago River

Going through the locks to enter Lake Michigan

The locks closing behind us as we entered the lake...

You leave the Chicago River and enter Lake Michigan right beside Navy Pier. The restaurant pictured below on the pier called Riva was where our group held a dinner one evening there for about 80 people. This was the only "planning" I was responsible for on this trip.

Looking at the end of Navy Pier from Lake Michigan

More of the city skyline

I love how the clouds were so low that they were covering some of the Hancock building (building with 2 towers on top barely peeking through the clouds). I can't imagine eating in The Signature Room on the 95th floor (where I've dined or had drinks a few times) and being among the clouds!

The beautiful weather yielded beautiful flowers that lined the streets. The city is so clean and nice to walk around. I especially enjoyed stopping now and again to take pictures of the landscaping.

My 2nd day in Chicago was mostly free until the first opening reception that night. I started out with a great brunch spot within walking distance from the hotel.

Then I took a long walk along the lake for a few hours, which was super close and convenient to the hotel.

Then I headed inland to see a few sights as I walked back towards the hotel...

Buckingham Fountain

Millennium Park

There's me on the right...

After a full day and half of meetings, I took a break one afternoon and walked along the Chicago River.

Then I found a small grassy area right beside the river where I relaxed and read for a bit. It felt so good to get some fresh air (and tackle my 650+ book club book)!

And then dinner (with a VIEW!) later that evening at Cite. It was quite the table to be able to enjoy the city from the 70th floor and see all the way up the coast.

A front row seat for the sunset

The conference wrapped up midday on Saturday but I did not attend any of the sessions this day. Instead, I planned to meet my cousin for brunch at Tweet. But first, I walked along the Magnificent Mile, which again like everything else, was super close to the hotel. After browsing a bit, I grabbed a taxi to head north to see my cousin.

The weather was perfect (warm!) and we snagged a great little table out front under an umbrella. We sat and chatted for hours and enjoyed a delicious brunch. They had an awesome gluten free menu that made me wish I could go back many times so that I could sample all of their yummy dishes.

The GF french toast was tempting but I opted for the quiche, salad, and fruit option.

Ashley is a cousin who is my age on my Dad's side (our Dad's are brothers). I really do not get to see her very frequently, maybe once a year, so it was great that it worked for both of us to catch up.

My 2nd goal on this trip was to go to a Cubs game, which is something that I have never done. After brunch, I made my way to Wrigley Field to enjoy an afternoon of baseball. The weather couldn't have been better. Locals were saying that the week I was there was seriously the best week of the year weather-wise. I suppose the work meeting couldn't have been planned any better then.

Moments/events like these are when I really appreciate my nicer camera and it seems worth it to lug it around with me everywhere. It didn't hurt to have pretty decent seats as well.

How cool to have stadium seating on buildings/homes right outside the park! At first glance, I thought those seats were part of the park. I heard people rent these locations out to groups for parties. 

An old fashioned scoreboard

It's not baseball without Take Me Out to the Ball Game

That night after the game was the last work event. These events are typically at neat venues where we have dinner and dancing. I always enjoy the great band but dancing doesn't seem appropriate in this type of environment. The event was held in the building on the end of Navy Pier. 

This is such a random picture but it's the only one I have from the evening. (I actually snagged it from the professional photographer who was hired.) This was a very small portion of some of our group.  

We capped off the night with fireworks right off of the pier. It was pretty awesome watching the fireworks with the city in the background.