Category Archives: Travel

Helping You Helped Me

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A friend is going to New Zealand! How cool is that? In the wake of the earthquake I see her volunteering more than sightseeing, but that will still be a rewarding trip.

I got to reread all those blog posts – and I can’t believe it’s been 5 years since that incredible trip. It was really fun to sit, reread, and remember.

So, thanks, friend. I wrote all that so I would remember, but what makes you have the time to sit around reading about yourself? I’m glad I did and was able to enjoy my trip all over again. Although seeing the cathedral that I saw in Christchurch ruined from the quake was so sad, most of the memories are crazy happy ones. Made my day.

:)

To The Masses

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Sitting around here is a bunch of my thoughts and life stories I’d chosen to share with my family and friends. If you google “pumpkin” you might find my Halloween post and glance at it, but I never worried whether or not you’d come back.

This new ‘job’ of mine will only be a success if you find me and are struck by my wit and banter so much so that you come back over and over, increasing the traffic to the site. At least, that’s how I’d measure my success. Not sure if the metrics over there will even tell them it’s my hard work increasing site traffic. I have a few skit and post ideas I’m really excited about executing over the winter, and hope humor and my concept of ‘skiing for the average masses’ connects with readers and helps promote skiing in Utah.

I’m supposed to start with an about me, where I plan to stress that this skiing thing seemed totally inaccessible to me not all that long ago, and then BAM!, here I am now, writing to others to tell them how to break the wall of ‘brosef’ and let skiing come to them in a whole new way.

What I’m wondering is if I’ll see just how effective a blog can be to media and marketing. Why would anyone go to that site? Well, the weather reporting is the bomb. To me, if you live here or have internet access while you’re here skiing, the site tells you where you should be that morning. And that’s valuable. I hope to produce content that makes you just want to hear from me, I think that’s all I can do. Any one else think there’s more to it? Let me know…

Amazing

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There’s no way for any picture to do the Grand Canyon justice. We took 1000 anyway. I’m so happy my parents invited us to AZ and we made the drive out. Getting to see it with my own eyes and experience it with them yesterday was remarkable. The white line you see at the top rim is 800 feet wide, 12 miles away from us.

Traveling

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What is your number one most favorite thing on earth? Ice cream? Deal or No Deal?

Broke or homeless, sick or healthy, no matter what we face in life, the one thing that really drew MK and I together was our love of travel and adventure. My grandma had me hooked at a very young age, coming home with pictures of places I wanted to see. Not the travel where you still eat at Chili’s (although when we got sick in New Zealand McDonald’s was all our sad little bodies could take) but the travel where you are forced out of your element and see new things with your own two eyes.

I foolishly always think everyone is like me but have gotten more perspective in my old age and realize it’s not for everyone, which makes me even happier I met MK. I spent my high school graduation money on a trip to France with my aunt (dunno if the relatives knew that’s what I did with that moolah) and had to take out student loans to finish school. No regrets. I learned more that month than a year in college, even though at the time Texas was a foreign land too. MK and I traveled a bunch together right when we started dating. I’ve traveled with roommates, family, and friends. I’ve loved having company travel to me, when we moved to Seattle, San Diego, and Park City. We’ve lived in some amazing places!

MK and I discuss what would happen if we couldn’t even afford to travel, although our amazing friends have made it so easy, especially in Park City and San Diego when we were running around in between. We reminisce about our New Zealand trip, our trip to St. Lucia. We crave more experiences like that, in even more foreign places. Fact of the matter is (sorry Momm and Dadd) we have toyed a bunch with the idea of going somewhere crazy for a couple of years. Even if we were working at a Coffee Shack, the idea of BVI sounds fun. You never know. I don’t ever want to be limited to a place when there is so much amazing world to see.

Where are the places you’d like to travel to most? I’m dying to see Hawaii, Greece, and China.

Buy Me A Bed And Breakfast

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Last winter I got good (I think) at being a hostess. In fact, since we moved out of Austin, we’ve had over 50 visitors come and stay with us in various places at various times, I’ve lost count. And I really grew to love it. A full house is a happy house. Especially in Park City, in the winter, during the holidays.

Which is why I think I should buy you should buy me a bed and breakfast.

And it just so happens there is one for sale. On Main Street. I bet it’s easier to take care of strangers, I can accidentally become lazy around friends. And they can keep coming, at a reduced rate ;)

Here it is.

As you can see, it’s missing some things. Like walls. So long story short I need about 4 million dollars.

I could be good at this. Lots of fresh-baked muffins for breakfast to make the place smell yummy. After you hang some walls, I can remodel, paint, and decorate myself. Auction furniture to make each of the 10 rooms unique. MK can guide you around if you want a ski guide at any of the ski resorts. Dinner menus from all the great places on Main (of course I’d ask for specials). Want a night without the kids? Go to dinner and I’ll watch them for two hours and make them some pizza.

I can handle cleaning sheets. Make sure you’re cozy. Sell you stuff you may have forgotten (there is no drug store on Main, I could totally find a way to incorporate one for all the tourists…). Get you up for first chair. Host a happy hour after you’re home and showered. Have nice TVs and a decent DVD collection/Netflix hookup.

Convinced? I’ll let you know where to send the check.

Winter Wins

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Dude, winter rules. I left San Diego during one of those sunny and 75 degree days I told you were going to stick around. That’s why people love San Diego. I get it.

Then I fly back to Park City (if you’re counting this is the third trip). And it’s SNOWING. On September 30th.

Tell me what you’re thinking. “That sucks”? “Lame”? “Brr”? I’m thinking: “Awesome”. It was crazy. I wanted to stay! TB drove me to the airport and announced that she really loved winter. And I had to agree.

Dooce twittered that her daughter said something like “think of all the hot cocoa we get to drink”! I’m right there with her. Yay winter, snow, hot cocoa, skiing, and yes, even shoveling.

Don’t get me wrong, the beach is great. But if I have to pick what gets me more excited, I think I’m going for the cold weather. Besides, the beach is easier to visit. All you need is a bikini.

Going Back to Cali, Cali, Cali

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It wasn’t easy to get in the car and go. We had to wait for the property manager and say tear filled goodbyes. We finally got on the road at about 6pm. Utah was mad at us for leaving, so it rained most of the way through the state. You can only go about 55-60mph with a giant U-Haul trailer behind you, so it was slow going. MK drove the first three hours, then slept while I took over, back and forth until he woke me up and the sun was shining over Pacific Beach at around 9am.

There aren’t any exciting road trip pictures, we’ve made that drive so much it felt like a commute. The traffic at 2am on Friday in Vegas was crazy, but I survived it. Other than that and a little wind, it was an easy drive. We had breakfast and got our keys.

Immediately walking in the front door of our complex, you need a key to a gate. Then you need a fob to the elevator. Then another key. And there are stairs, so we couldn’t go in and out the front to unload our things. So we had to park the U-Haul out front, unpack the car in the garage, then bring those things up the elevator to the condo. Then you go take the car out and reload it. It was a rather inefficient system, since someone had to guard the U-Haul. We finished at around 2. We ran some errands and took a nap, since neither of us really slept that much on the drive.

I got to go see KE – which was awesome Number One because she’s doing well and Number Two, seriously our house is close enough to Garnet (where the bars are) that once I get my bike we won’t have to drive! Or we can take a cheap cab. Score.

I’m not taking pictures of the condo, it’s not that exciting. It’s a 2BR/2BA with a huge kitchen and dining room so it doesn’t feel as small as I was afraid it would. Plenty of room for company!

Sunday morning we went to the La Jolla Farmer’s Market. That might be my favorite thing on the planet – this time we even got a ton of fruit and veggies:

Delicious!

Delicious!

After the obligatory stocking up trip to Costco, we met some friends for drinks at San Diego’s first bar, The Waterfront – which is not on the water front. We watched the the Sea World fireworks from our pool last night. We got a great night’s rest and MK got his computers up and running in time for work. He’s unpacking his things now, I’m already done. I win.

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Delicious Humble Pie

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I keep thinking that I’m running a great website. That I spend time on it, and create content that keeps you coming back for more. Yesterday, computer running all fast and new, I reread my entire blog back to front.

I’m sorry.

If you’ve been here since then, my bad. I got a little too worried about finding you pictures. I should write you stories. It’s nice to know exactly where I hit my stride -about 20 pages ago. Too bad there are 150 pages. I’m a slow learner. There’s a little bit of funny mixed up in there, but there’s a lot of trial and error internet junk. I’m going to work on that.

I am so glad I do have this space to log our journeys and adventures – rereading all about my New Zealand trip brought back a ton of great memories. I tend to forget all the little things very easily these days, which has me all the more determined to do a better job of storytelling here.  I also get a little sick and tired of packing and moving, but was reminded yesterday that there is no reason I shouldn’t feel like the luckiest chick in the world to have such a fun if at times tumultuous life.

I’m pretty excited about the new header RD made just for me- surely you’ve noticed it by now. I’m going to think of robot fighting chickens every time I write, and that should spice this place up a little bit.

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;)

Vacation, Continued

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As I mentioned Monday, MK called me up and asked if he could drive to San Diego, and change my flight to meet him there. I had an awesome lazy Sunday shopping with SB, enjoying the sun at Cedar Door with SB KD and JC, and saying goodbye to JC KD and LC over some drinks. I slept in Monday and caught an afternoon flight.

MK decided he wanted to move back to San Diego (I’m not even making a formal announcement this time, what’s the point). You can click here and see all of our moves, and reminisce over where we’ve been. I’m sure there are other places we could try – remember that I asked you here to give us some suggestions.

MK really loved the water and the vibe of San Diego, it’s everything we love about Austin without allergies and heatstroke. We’ve secured a place, that’s why we went – on the bay (Mission Bay, Sail Bay to be specific.)

There are a ton of reasons I’m happy about this. One, our friends threw us a come back soon party to remind us that we met some great people when we lived there, that actually want us to come back. Two, I’m gonna get a beach cruiser. I get in good shape, and get tan. There were friends that didn’t get to visit that I hope will this time around. I might some day have family there…

We stayed with friends and had a great time. We drove back and were planning on hitting a bunch of National Parks and the Grand Canyon, but the thing isn’t even open yet. So we settled for Zion National Park and headed home – on word a huge spring storm was going to give us a little more time to ski.

I want this one

I want this one

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