A Day in the Country

Last month I had the opportunity to hit the road with a coworker to do some work in southern Utah. In fact, we hit nine counties and drove 700 miles in two days!

My coworker grew up in rural Utah and sometimes busts my chops about my 'city girl ways'. He was bound and determined to show me a slice of country life. Here's what I saw.

Here is the demolition derby car that I may or may not drive in the Wayne County demolition derby later this summer.

I was the only one that thought it was strange to be driving around town with a loaded rifle in the front seat of your truck.

I also was the only who thought it was strange to shoot a gun out the kitchen window.

People drive around town in souped up golf carts (apparently they are called rhinos, who knew?)

Even recreational vehicles look different down here.

I learned a few things about interior design.

And fashion design too!

Both of those previous images were taken at a family restaurant. Good times!

All kidding aside, the scenery was spectacular.

Heaven on Earth

Also known as, Cancun, Mexico, was the destination last month. We stayed at the Me by Melia resort which has recently converted to an all-inclusive model. We'd been reading the reviews regularly prior to our trip and were a little bit nervous about some of the things being mentioned in the reviews. But, I am thrilled to report that our stay was fantastic! I cannot wait to go back there again. I'm pretty sure that I've found my happy place.

This was the scene that out my window as I drew back the curtain on the first morning.

Good morning to you too!

I have never seen water so incredibly blue before in my life!

I had ceviche for lunch or dinner every day while I was in Mexico and plan to perfect several versions of it this summer at home. Let me know if you'd like to be a recipe tester.

The uber chic Rose Bar where we enjoyed pre-dinner cocktails each evening (sorry the photo is a little crooked, I may have imbibed in said cocktails prior to taking the photo).

Cool breeze at the Rose Bar.

My Bali bed. I wish I had taken a picture of my friend Oliver. He was so sweet and he'd bring me cucumber cocktails and ceviche all day long.

Here was the view from my Bali bed. Yes, I am serious, I took this with my iPhone while laying in the Bali bed. It looks like a frickin' postcard!

In fact, I learned yesterday that Nelly's new music video was recorded at the resort and MY Bali bed is in the video. How awesome is that?
We only left the resort once. I mean, seriously, why would we leave the resort? It was incredible but the excursion to Isla Mujeres was pretty terrific too. We took a catamaran to Isla Mujeres to go snorkeling (amazing!), have lunch on the beach (scenic but the food was not so good), and cruise around the little town (quaint).

Needless to say, we had a wonderfully relaxing time and are looking forward to going back later this year or early next year.

Red Cliffs Lodge, Moab

My suitcase is unpacked and stowed on the shelves in the basement. I'm back from four work trips in five weeks. I'm not complaining, I've visited wonderful places, met terrific people, and learned a lot but it is nice to be home.

I just returned from a conference in Moab which was held at the Red Cliffs Lodge. What a stunning setting! Here are a few pictures from my room.





Not too shabby, right?

We also spent an afternoon in Arches National Park and hike to Delicate Arch. It's a about 1.5 miles to the arch with a steep-ish climb up slick rock at the end. Definitely worth the effort! If you've never done this hike but think the image is familiar take a look at the Utah license plate. Delicate Arch graces one of the designs.



This little darling belongs to one of my colleagues and she stole our hearts with her personality plus.

Travels

I've been to three cities in the last three weeks. All trips were work-related but held in fabulous locales. My previous post describes my trip to Tampa. The following week I went to Lake Tahoe which despite the cold, rainy weather is still a beautiful place to visit. Finally, last week I was at Duke University in Raleigh, North Carolina for the third and final Geographic Information Systems (GIS) training. I can make maps!

In the two days I was home last week between trips, Ryan and I rode up the canyon to walk around Silver Lake. Here are a few photos from our outing.

Rolling on the River

I'm an Aquarian, you know, the water-bearer, and as such, I adore the water. I love being in it, on it, or at the very least, near it. Oddly enough, I've never been river rafting. It isn't because I haven't had the opportunity though because I have. The fact of the matter is that I've been too afraid to give it a try.

When I first moved to Utah as a teen-ager we had neighbors, two Dads and their two children each, who went rafting in the spring in the creek not far from our house. I don't know exactly what went wrong that day but one Dad fell out of the raft, hit his head on a rock and went under. The other Dad managed to get the kids to edge of the creek safely but was unable to get himself out of the water. He drowned also. This left quite an impression on me.

So many of my friends grew up river rafting and tell me that they knew I would love it. This past weekend I had the opportunity to go on the spur of the moment and without much time to think about it I agreed to go. We met our friends in Vernal and floated nine miles down the Green River on Saturday. Floating the river was fantastic! The scenery was spectacular. We had a great time and after we got off the river we were treated to a dutch oven dinner. Yum! I hope we get invited again next June.

Father's Day Weekend

I traveled to Florida to spend Father's Day with my Dad. After all the turmoil with his health and impending divorce we decided that we needed a few days of fun. We spent five days at a resort listening to live music, golfing, swimming, and eating. I'm ready to relocate to Florida, it's like living in paradise!

Posing along the boardwalk heading over to the square to listen to live music.

Lunch at the country club before a round of golf. I didn't play I just drove the cart but this trip has me thinking that I ought to take up the sport. Have you seen the cute clothes? Plus, we hit some balls at the driving range and I didn't do half bad. If I start playing now I'll probably kick ass at golf by the time I retire. :)

My Dad with his sweet new ride. She's a sporty, two door Honda Accord.

48 Hours in Moab

Ban and I decided mid-week to make a quick trip to Moab. The weather man said to expect warm and sunny weather for the weekend. How could we resist a forecast like that given last week's snowy weather? Once we got to Moab on Friday, our first order of business was a quick hike to stretch our legs after the car ride from Salt Lake.

We took off for Corona Arch. About fifteen minutes into the hike we ran into our neighbors Susan and Michelle. Random! They recommended another hike, Portal Overlook. We decided to save that one for Sunday morning before we headed out of town. Corona Arch was gorgeous and a terrific hike. We only saw about a dozen people on the trail.

On Saturday, we rented a Harley and spent the day touring around Arches. The sun was shining and the temperature was perfect. I've never really been on a motorcycle before but I have to say, it is a wonderful way to see the park.

Later in the afternoon, we left Arches and headed up the road that runs along the river up toward Red Cliffs Lodge and Castle Creek winery. Don't panic, I'm the only one who tasted wine.

Sunday morning we got an early start with a quick breakfast and packed up the car. We made our way to the Portal Overlook trail head. The trail was steep but the views from the top were spectacular!

Traveling Cheap

I have family members who reside on each coast plus friends scattered across the country. I'm always on the hunt for travel bargains. This recent New York Times' article offered some interesting tips.

As an avid Twitter user, I especially liked the travel tips that can be found via my twitter account. I've already started following both the suggested entities. I'm hoping to score a good deal on airfare to New York and somewhere warm and beachy. Doesn't that sound heavenly? The winter doldrums have set in for me.

Sidewalk Bistro

One steamy night this past summer I had the most ridiculously wonderful dinner in New York City. As some of you know, my daughter moved to NYC in August to start graduate school. I traveled out there to make sure she got settled into her new apartment and provide some moral support. Actually, she didn't need the moral support, I did, but that's another story.

Ban made the trip east with me and since he'd never been to New York before I wanted to spend some time in the city, in addition to time on Long Island with family. We spent a glorious day walking, biking, and taking the subway all over Manhattan. I posted about our adventures here and here. But late that night, we ventured out on foot into the Hell's Kitchen area and walked around until we found somewhere that appealed. Being New York City, you can imagine how many delectable temptations faced us but one stuck out in particular.

It was a little French bistro with sidewalk seating. I can't remember the name. I even looked back through my credit card statements (Ban must have paid). But I do remember the steam coming up through the manhole cover, and the crisp, refreshing taste of the glass of champagne, and the creamy smooth texture of the mussels that we ate. I remember feeling simultaneously exhausted and exhilarated and promising one another that we'd be back for more explorations sooner rather than later.

Best of 2009 Challenge - Trip

Blogger and social media guru extraordinaire, Gwen Bell posed a challenge to bloggers yesterday on twitter. She outlined 31 days of blog topics which all involve some reflection upon the past year. I loved the idea and today is the first day of the challenge. So, here is a post about my best trip in 2009. This was tough because I took a few really fun trips but one stands out as a milestone in a year full of ups and downs.

The best trip of 2009 was my summer trip to Island Park with my son. One of my dearest friends owns a cabin up there and she and her daughter were planning to spend the week there at the end of July. We pretty much crashed their week by inviting ourselves up there on a whim. You can read about the trip here. However, there was more to the story that I wasn't able to write about at the time.

Earlier this year, Ryan experienced some serious health problems. It was the most terrifying experience of my life. I've never felt more helpless. We are very lucky that we have good health insurance and were able to get Ryan excellent medical care when he needed it. His path to recovery was steady but slow.

What made the trip to Island Park remarkable was how happy and healthy my son appeared that week. He seemed like his old self for the first time in over six months. I kept watching him and found myself moved to tears on several occasions. I've always believed that this cabin is a magical place but this trip made my heart believe that everything was going to be alright after all.

Nothing Like a Finger Wag to Make Your Point

This part of Delta's safety video cracks me up each time that I see it.

Tenement Museum in NYC

Next time you are in Manhattan's lower east side, be sure to plan enough time for a visit to the Tenement Museum. The museum has purchased an 1860s tenement building which had been condemned in the 1940s when the landlord decided to boot the residential tenants rather than make improvements to the building to meet new building codes.

The museum researched the building and through census records was able to identify over 7,000 people who'd lived in the building between 1860 and 1940. They were able to contact descendents of many of the tenants and piece together what the apartments looked like at various points in time.

My cousin and I toured two of the apartments last weekend. One had been re-created to look like it had when German-Jewish immigrant family moved in around 1870. At that time, the building would not have had electricity, running water, or indoor plumbing. Families would have provided their own coal burning stove. Ideally, they would have purchased it from the previous tenants. If not, they would have had to schlep it up to which ever of the five floors they lived on. They also would have needed to haul up the coal necessary for cooking and heating their space.

Four outhouses behind the building provided relief for the twenty families in the building, as well as, the patrons of the saloon and garment shop on the first floor.

The second apartment that we toured had been inhabited by Italian-Catholic immigrants in the 1930s. By this time the building had been upgraded with electricity and indoor plumbing had been introduced. Each floor had two toilets in the hallway. The museum was able to connect with a woman who'd lived in the tenement as a child. Audio recordings of her recollections add a intimate glimpse into the challenges of raising a family in 325 square feet of space.

The museum offers tours of other apartments and I hope to make it back there on a subsequent trip to New York. There is also a gift store which offered many interesting and unique gifts . You can visit the Tenement Museum's website here.

Random Adventures in Travel

The most random things always seem to happen when I travel. After eight days on the road, I eagerly made my way to the airport this afternoon. I arrived with plenty of time before my flight and leisurely wandered the Smithsonian Museum shop and a few other boutiques. I passed an attractively decorated wine bar that offered free wi-fi (why is it that I always find these when I'm not looking for either wine or free wi-fi and yet find them incredibly elusive when I am in need?!).

I made my way down to the gate and ran into my former boss. I haven't seen him in ages but had exchanged emails with his wife recently about getting together for dinner. It seemed pretty random to run in to him 2,000 miles from home!

As boarding time approached, the crush of humanity pressed in on the gate, as people eagerly awaited the agent to call their zone number. I'm not sure what these freaks think they are gaining by creating a dense, nearly impossible to navigate crowd for those who actually are in the zone being announced. But whatever, this happens every flight. I still don't understand it and likely never will. Traveling seems to bring out the douchebaggery in people.

But things took an interesting turn as we neared take off time. Joe Cool strolls back to the empty seat across the aisle from me on the third to LAST row of the plane with his carry on bag ten minutes before take off. Not too surprisingly, all the overhead bins are full, so Joe is bending over with his ass in my face trying to jam his carry-on bag under the seat in front of him. Seriously, I can't make this stuff up. But wait, it gets better.

The flight attendant comes up behind the guy to tell him that the bag will not fit under the seat and that he'll need to check it. The man snarls that he doesn't want the bag to be checked, the flight attendant replies that there isn't room for it and that if he'd like to carry it on he could book him on the next flight. The man scowls and says 'fine, book me on the next flight'. Now, I've been accused of cutting off my nose to spite my face many times in my life but this one may just take the cake.

Joe and the flight attendant head up the aisle to the front of the plane while those around me gaze in astonishment at one another. The story should have ended there but sadly the flight attendant found a spot for his bag near the front of the plane and the douche made his way back to his empty seat. Thank God for headphones and netbooks. In avoidance mode, I've produced a prolific amount of writing during this flight.

Did I mention that I think Jason Chaffetz is sitting in first class? Then again, I thought I saw Sean Means at the Oyster Bar last weekend so I might be full of BS. Oh, and that I could have a date with the flight attendant if I wanted. He knew my name, has already mentioned that I have a beautiful smile and that he doesn't bite, only nibbles. Random adventures in travel.

Continuing Adventures in Travel

While I love to travel, I also hate some parts of the process of getting there. I’ve written about it before. Making your way through airport security is consistently one of my least favorite parts of the trip. I’m only carrying-on a large handbag which contains a novel, my netbook, an empty water bottle, snacks, my iPod, and the other necessities that one typically carries in a purse. Again the bag is big but it's not outrageously large. It's the same size as the one that you see tons of women carrying around each day.

The line for security was exceptionally long but I had plenty of time until my flight so it wasn’t a big deal. Well, it wasn’t until an older woman got in line behind me. Each time the line moved a few feet forward, she would run into my bag. Each time. I don’t think she missed it ever once. Clearly personal space was an issue for this particular traveler. I know I could have turned around to glare at here or ask her to stop it but I actually turned it into a game. It seemed incredible that she could bump me each and every time. I was waiting with anticipation for the time when she miss one opportunity to make contact. She never did.

Additionally, although she was traveling alone, she would randomly ask questions to her fellow travelers standing near her. She asked several people, including me, why some people went on a different, and much shorter line. I explained that they traveled so much that they’d accumulated enough points to have special privileges while traveling. She didn’t think much of this. A few minutes later, she wanted to know if it would be a problem for her to carryon to small cans of pineapple juice. I told her that you weren’t allowed to carry on more than three ounces of liquid anything. She didn’t like my answer and hailed a passing TSA employee who told her the same thing that I had told her. She asked him what she was supposed to do with them and said told her, ‘to drink up’.

So, she stood in line behind me, bumping my bag each time we made forward progress, pounding her pineapple juice. Finally, we approached the scanning machines and I headed to one on the left and thankfully she headed to the right. Relieved, I made my way down to the gate and only waited moments until they started boarding. Given Delta’s random zone assignments which I can’t make heads or tails of, I quickly found myself in my aisle seat at the back of the plane. The window seat was empty so I didn’t want to make myself too comfortable knowing that someone would come shortly to fill that seat. Imagine my horror as I looked up and saw the security line lady heading my way. Noooo! Gratefully, she wasn’t right next to me but one row up in the aisle seat across from me. She’s there now drinking a can of pineapple juice that the flight attendant brought her.

More Random Pictures from New York

Lady Liberty, up close & personal from a boat

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Inside St. Patrick's Cathedral

Rockefeller Center

Times Square (social anxiety nightmare)

My favorite sign in Greenwich Village (wish they were all over the city)