Bloomington, Indiana + Cappadocia, Turkey
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Alison is obsessed with matcha green tea lattes with almond milk from Starbucks. Three days in a row-obsessed. She started getting them after she ran out of her Aila Matcha Packets (p.s. use code 10K20 for a discount on Aila products!) Lulu is obsessed with her Hypervolt massage gun, and now that Alison has one too, this is a joint obsession.
Lulu is desperately wanting The Bartesian, a mixologist-replacing machine that gives you a cocktail with the touch of a button. You stock the system with base spirits (Vodka, Tequila, Whisky, Gin/Rum) as well as water. You insert a cocktail capsule of which they have 30+ varieties into the machine - much like a Keurig Coffee Maker - and The Bartesian identifies the cocktail, asks you to select a strength in the range of “mocktail to strong”, then you tap “mix” on the touchscreen and voila! Cheers!
Alison was won over by a recent Facebook Ad…and is now wishing for the Emarth Snuffle Mat for Dogs, a slow-feeding, treat-training, foraging skills-encouraging present for your pup!
This is our first visit to a Graduate Hotel, a hotel group with locations in university towns whose M.O. lends a curated "wink" at collegiate nostalgia. This week Lulu heads to its Bloomington outpost, where she booked the King Terrace Suite, a space for entertaining and being entertained! The separate living room has a card table and a wet bar, and the expansive private outdoor terrace boasts a sitting area, sun loungers, an 8-seat dining table, and a ping pong table! The sofa in the living room pulls out to a queen, and the master bedroom has a king size bed, so there is plenty of space! The hotel is pet-friendly, offers complimentary bike rentals, and loans out pairs of LSTN headphones to those who left theirs at home! Oh, and if you're feeling fun and young, or have your brood with you - we recommend renting the Big Five Family Suite which has a bedroom with two twin race car beds!
Lulu is packing a lot of Bloomington favorite spots into her day, starting with the cozy all-day cafe Runcible Spoon Restaurant, where she enjoys a #Team10K staple, eggs benedict!
Lulu has a bucket of fries at Nick’s English Hut, where the “Sink the Biz” drinking game (challenge?) originated. It is so popular and widespread that BoardGameGeek.com has an article that explains the game and analyzes potential strategies! A bucket of beer, a floating juice glass, alternating turns pouring beer into floating glass, the one who sinks it drinks it…until it’s all gone. Maybe later in her day?
Lulu’s next stop is Farm Bloomington is an all-day farm-to-table cafe, with "the ultimate vintage entertainment cave in the Midwest" in the cellar below, which she does not visit this go-round. But their Bison burger named “best burger in Indiana by food network” is a hit for mid-day noshing!
Being that she is in a college town, it should be no surprise that her day consists of primarily eating and drinking. After lunch she heads for drinks at Kilroy’s, home of 20-ish flavors of Long Island Iced Tea. They’re all $5, and they come in a huge pitcher. This is college drinking at its finest, because there is no way they are using any kind of quality ingredients if a pitcher is only $5. They encourage you to continue your bar crawl along Kirkwood Avenue, but Lulu decides to throw a party at her place. Remember that spacious terrace space off of her suite? Yep, this quarantine life has made Lulu want to imagine partying with a bunch of college-aged strangers. Relief from isolation is a many-splendored thing.
This party is going to have a LOT going on. First, a photo booth. To create a memorable backdrop, she implores any of the art majors among the group to use their skills on these gallery wrapped canvases with these watercolor kits. Ever the cautious and polite guest, Lulu isn’t risking the terrace floor so she bought some Ram Board temporary flooring to put down in case of paint spills.
Seeing as how college towns always have the best Chinese delivery food, she is dropping over $4,000 on takeout from Longfei Chinese Restaurant, ordering some from the American Chinese menu and some from the Chinese menu. That should keep her and her guests going for the rest of what’s sure to be a great night!
It’s time for a fancy version of the “Sink the Biz”! Instead of beer, Lulu is wanting to do the challenge with a classy cocktail. When trying to think of the best drink to do this with, she recalled that Christina Bianco made a delicious cocktail for us when we recorded her guest episode.
To add a bit of luxury to this college rooftop party, in addition to "Sink the Biz" kits Lulu buys a Champagne cart that holds 18-42 champagne flutes. She prefers her champagne/prosecco/sparkling wine in coupe glasses, so a few sets of these gold rimmed bubble glass coupe glasses will do nicely as well. For our ingredients we have JCB Gin, Giffard Wild Elderflower liqueur, limes, fresh mint, this Mixology Bartender kit (so she has the tools to muddle the mint, of course), and 9 bottles of Veuve Cliquet Brut Rosé. Imagine that this drinking game involves a raised pinky when you have to take the shot.
Now, for the designated drivers at the party, she’s created some DD swag bags, filled with gift certificates to Spaah Day Spa, the perfectly slogan-ed Kill Cliff clean energy drinks (“For those who can’t stop having a good time”), car detailing from TKS, and Uber gift certificates. Wait, couldn’t everyone just take an Uber home and then no one would have to be a designated driver? Isn’t this why we all gave a sigh of relief when Uber was invented? Very possible that people would volunteer to be the DD in order to get all this SWAG!
Alison is heading to Cappadocia (pronunciation here) a region of Central Turkey known as the “Land of Beautiful Horses”. Alison is excited by this, as she loves a good equine-centric 10K day, like her “visit” to Almaty, Kazakhstan. Located in Göreme, the Local Cave House Hotel is a unique stay with traditionally decorated rooms carved out from the rocks - literally, you're sleeping in a cave! Surrounded by seven "fairy chimneys" and a stunning pool, this spot is oh-so-Instagram worthy!
To take in the stunning terrain, Alison starts off her day with a hot air balloon ride! “Discover the magical beauties of Cappadocia from the air” with this early morning tour, catching the sunrise from crazy heights. Your trip includes a cup of coffee and snacks before the ride (to give you a bit of energy) and upon return landing you get a glass of champagne (for celebrating or calming your nerves). After her early morning, she heads to the most beautiful breakfast spot ever, Görkündere Cafe Breakfast for a traditional Turkish breakfast.
Alison is excited for some horseback riding, and books a tour at Moonlight Horse Ranch. On her multi-hour sunset tour, she rides past Göreme town towards Sword Valley. Then on to see the pink volcanic formations of Rose Valley, before taking a break in Cavusin village, an old Greek village, with an ancient cave castle and ruins. After exploring the town the tour goes on to Love Valley, which gets its name from the phallic-shaped rock formations that are everywhere.
This area of Turkey has many underground and cave churches, of particular interest is one called The Dark Church, or Karanlik Kilise. Part of the Göreme Open Air Museum, the Dark Church and it’s ornate Byzantine frescoes are arguably the best-preserved in the area and it’s because of its use as a pigeon house for a very long time. The pigeon droppings served as a preserving agent, and took fourteen years to clear away, but what was revealed is breathtaking!
A traditional lunch is up next, and requires a five hour heads up. Dibek is one of many restaurants that serves testi kebabi, or pottery kebab. The clay pot meal consists of a ceramic pot filled with meat, vegetables and spices that is sealed and baked for 4-5 hours. Once ready, the waiter brings out the clay pot out and cracks it with a hammer in front of you before serving the meal. You can even buy your own pottery to recreate the dish when you get home!
Now, Alison still has a long way to go to spend her $10,000, so what do you think she did to make up the difference?…
She bought a horse.
Literally, she bought a pure breed Arabian horse named Blanco in Mersin, Turkey for $8,000. A “great choice for a tenacious teen or smaller adult who needs a competitive and lovable horse on a budget”, was the selling point. Plus he had kind eyes. Heading out for a picturesque evening, Alison bought a picnic wine and cheese backpack which she loads up with takeout from Sofra Restaurant, some traditional baklava, and some apples and bananas for the horse. Then they are going to ride off into the sunset.
The “they” being Alison and the horse.
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