Salt Lake City 2021

After a positive COVID-19 test canceled our plans to meet in Savannah, Julie, Sarah and I quick pivoted and booked flights to Salt Lake City. We have a running list of cities that we would someday like to visit, and while Salt Lake City was nowhere near the top of that list, it shot to the top when we had to quickly change our plans. 

This city overdelivered! It is beautiful and unique, we were able to hike and explore and see a totally different area of the country. Just by happenstance, we were there for the height of the fall color season!

After parking at a closed nail salon, crossing our fingers that we wouldn't be towed, we checked in to our possibly-haunted AirBnB. Everything creaked, everywhere was dark, and there was a perfectly round pencil-width hole in the kitchen floor that looked into the story below. We covered the hole. 

The weekend centered around catching up on each others' lives and reminiscing the same stories that best friends tell over and over again. This was the first in person telling since we all had reached the next birthday milestone - our 40s!!

Our creepy little house had some perks. It was quiet (when we weren't creaking across the floors) and comfortable. Our morning run took us by many of the historic buildings in downtown Salt Lake City including an impressive public library (SLC doesn't mess around with their libraries),  The Leonardo museum and approximately 400 different places to eat. 

Sarah thought well enough ahead to rent a great, albeit, gigantic truck and chauffeured us all weekend. We were able to visit Park City, which is known for its incredible skiing but also has one of the cutest pedestrian streets I've ever seen. We visited on a cloudy, drizzly day, but when we could see the fall color and enjoy the view of being surrounded by mountains, it was really lovely. 

We also took this day to explore the Homestead Crater, a natural hot spring about halfway between SLC and Park City in a town appropriately named Midway. The Homestead Crater is on one side of the Homestead Resort. The Resort has built a convenient pathway to the crater, which I prefer to traversing down the center as was done in the past. The water is always over 90 degrees and even on a cold, drizzly day a human icicle like me enjoyed floating in the hot spring. 

The only thing lacking was a respectable changing area. We made due, and continued on our day. 

Julie suggested that we try an escape room in Park City, but the reservations were 100% full. Back in SLC however, we were able to get the last reservation of the night to the most bizarre and broken escape room I've ever tried. The host was 45 minutes late starting our reservation. A key part of the room had been accidentally taken home by the previous group. It was a hysterical disaster. 

The walk to the escape room from parking had these super cool stairs! Rainbow swirls! These are the faces of my best friends when they are forced to stop and take a picture.

Obviously, we had to take a closer look at the Great Salt Lake, so we self-explored Antelope Island. There are no antelope. It is not even an island. But all these little black dots far off on the dry grassland are wild buffalo, which are very cool to see, but as there are warning signs every quarter mile or so, definitely do not attempt to feed or pet them.  

According to the public radio broadcast tour, there used to be antelope on the island, but they left. The island is a peninsula until the rain/snow melt season happens and the shallowest strip of land is flooded over. 

We were more impressed by the way the lake changed it's look depending on the light, angle and location we were at. This is us with the lake in the background. Can you see it? It's that thin little strip of light above the yellow grass and below the blue mountains. It looks like you could walk right over it. The salt plays tricks on your eyes. There are also very few living things in the lake, again, too much salt. There are brine shrimp, which attract the birds - and there were lots of birds. 

Before our flights on the last day, we walked all around the capitol building and it's grounds. 

We found a fun mildly challenging 1.5 hour hike up the Living Room Trail. Parking was easy and it felt good to walk around land that was not Texas-flat. The trails were pretty wide and well marked, and I am pretty sure we made it to the top where some rocks have fallen in the shape of chairs, so it appears as though there is a natural "living room" lookout point at the end. This is the only time during the trip that I really felt the elevation. Coming from my sea level city to the ~4,200 ft elevation of SLC was fine, until I wanted to hike. I was properly winded a few times on the trail, though just enough to make me notice.  

This was an incredible, adventurous trip for this trio. In truth, everywhere is fun when you're with good friends. 

I Need Some Flowers For My Hair

My mom and my sister-in-law have bonded over all kinds of mutual interests, ziplining, skin care, and being willing to travel for the ones they love being just a few examples. So after 5 harrowing years of battling aggressive lymphoma, my mom and I talked about taking a trip together (the last time of which had occurred in the early 1990s) and specifically, going to San Francisco (which she hadn't done since the 1970s), and with the added bonus of Kyra and Ted living there it only made sense! A trip was born! 

Since that plan was hatched, we endured a global pandemic like no generation has ever seen before. My fingers were constantly crossed, hoping that the clouds would part and we would be able to take this long-planned and well-deserved trip. While the pandemic rages on, we were somehow able to slip through a window of time where no one had doctors appointments or scans or a positive COVID test to stop us. In October, we flew across the country to enjoy a weekend of sightseeing and great company.  

Ted and Kyra live in a great part of downtown San Francisco. There is food, shopping and beautiful skyline to be had at almost every turn - often within walking distance. It's this kind of downtown experience that Jon and I miss about living in Buenos Aires. This incredible view is from my morning run (to be honest, more like a walk/jog, San Fran is full of steep hills that just do not exist where I live in Texas). 

Kyra is a 5-star hostess! She made arrangements for fantastic dinners and short term rental cars when they were needed, and she knows the city like the back of her hand. Day 1: Muir Woods. 

Muir Woods is an old-growth forest of redwood trees about 40 minutes north of the city. There are paved paths for easy hiking through unbelievably gigantic trees. This national park is like something from another time. The trees are impossibly tall, incredibly wide, some have grown on slopes that have lead to felling the trees so that the complex root structures that they have. If a tree falls in this forest, even if no one is around to hear it, it most definitely makes a sound. 

We purposefully planned our trip to Muir Woods on a weekday, where we were more likely to get a parking pass (don't forget to book ahead!) and we did not have to battle any kind of tourist crowd. 

Me and mom, connecting with nature!

After getting in touch with the active side of nature, it's time to relax. Day 2: Napa Valley. 

Kyra was a master planner for Napa, booking a COVID-safe driver to stick with us all day and setting up wine tastings for us at beautiful, tasty vineyards.

We had a lovely tasting and heavy snacks at Flowers Vineyards and Winery. The view was gorgeous and the gardens were filled with flowers and hummingbirds, my favorite! The wines were very good, and the picnic style lunch was colorful and fun and served in a reusable wine crate!

Then we enjoyed a tasting at the family favorite Williams Selyem winery. That Russian River Valley Pinot is nothing to sneeze at!

Day 3: Tour Downtown!

We got on Segways!! Possibly the most fun form of transportation in a touring sense, all three of us mastered the Segway, even with the extreme hills of downtown San Francisco. And the San Francisco Electric Tour Company is the MOST colorful, fun little alley possible. Between the rainbow umbrellas, the giant butterfly mural and the balloon ceiling, this place had photo-ops written all over it. For safety purposes, our guide did all of the photo taking while we were on wheels. We were good, but no one wants to accidentally Segway into the bay for a great pic. 

PROFESSIONALS!

We ate outstanding food, drank incredible wine, and experienced the caution of California in the middle of a global pandemic. Unlike Texas, there is no dining indoors without a vaccine card and proof of ID in this state. We took a thorough tour of the biggest Sephora I've ever seen and were guided by the MascaraJunkie herself! I can finally replace all that makeup I bought when I was working in DC... before we got married... 14 years ago...

We had a perfect trip. The best company and lots of memorable, laughable moments. I certainly met some gentle people there. 

Alex Turns 8!

This precious child has turned EIGHT years old!

His love of reptiles inspired a snake-themed birthday party. We hired My Reptile Guys and they were fantastic! These kids adored holding lizards, feeding turtles, petting snakes, the whole nine yards!

It was so much fun for Alex and his friends, and a perfect multi-aged party for siblings to enjoy too. 

Our snake-obsessed child was in heaven. He has really developed into a big kid over the last year. His chipped little baby front tooth (and its counterpart) had to be pulled back in December, but the big teeth are finally starting to grow in their place. He is a serious reader, often times reading words well before ever hearing them said out loud. The other day before bed he was reading a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles book and I asked him to read it aloud. "April sped away on her moped" Ah, that would be a mo-PED, I never realized that they are spelled the same!

He is curious, silly and takes his sweet time doing everything, but he's happy and fun and now he is EIGHT! Happy Birthday Big Guy!

 

Ranch Life: Bandera, TX and Overnight Camp

Gretchen has attended overnight camp for a few years now, skipping 2020 when camp was canceled due to a global pandemic, but this was the first time that she attended a brand NEW camp located over 4.5 hours away from home. She gladly took the charter bus on the way there, but come time for camp pickup, we wanted to go and get her in person. 

So we turned it into a Texas state adventure with our friends the Northcuts, and we got more than we expected out of a VRBO rental house. 

We stayed at the Uno Mas Ranch in Bandera, TX in a great cabin large enough for 9 people to stay comfortably. There was a pool table, an outdoor kitchen and a whole lot of taxidermy hanging on the walls (and standing on the furniture, and serving as decoration). There was also several varieties of big game animals on the property. That little detail was not included in the VRBO description. 

I assumed that the curly-horned deer-goats that we passed on our way in were just a bizarre breed from the part of Texas that I have never visited. It turned out that they were ibex, which are native to any continent that doesn't contain the word "America". 

Then there were these larger-than-normal deer that came to the watering hole in front of our cabin each night around dinnertime. We observed, watched their herd behavior, but didn't think a whole lot of them, except that they were fun to watch. 

And then we were visited by a herd of wildebeests. They are definitely not usually found in Texas. Now this stay had more of the feel of an African safari. We were brought back to Texas by this truly awesome longhorn. This fella was the alpha for sure. Nobody messes with the longhorn. Not the wildebeests, not the humans. This was the lesson in animal behavior that none of us expected.

Then came time to pickup our first born! Camp OTX was incredible! Brand new, clean and spacious bunks, water slides and archery and gymnastics and crafts! It was so great to see this long-legged beauty come sprinting toward us after a week away!

She had a blast. Gretchen made new friends, tried new activities and has already decided that she wants to return for a 2-week stay next summer. Now we get to enjoy another night of ranch life with our family and friends watching the animals and swimming in the largest pool in Bandera County. Daddy perfected the oven-made s'mores (due to a burn notice, we were not able to have an outdoor campfire) and we enjoyed a beautiful evening with our little stair-step kids surrounded by wild animal noises.

As it turns out, this is a very common type of ranch in Texas. They bring in wild game to tourists that want to hunt and during hunting season these cabins are used for resting between hunts. We did not know this going in, and were excited and surprised by the animals, however the idea of killing them for fun makes me sad.

The Year We Turned 40

We knew it had to happen, but somehow it felt just a bit too soon. We are still so young. However we have reached the point in life where we both remember when our parents had this birthday and they felt like actual real-time adults. So maybe that's us now too. We're real adults. We turned 40.

As a gentleman does, Jon went first. Jon birthday is in April, and we lucked out as his favorite baseball team was in town for a series very close to his actual birthdate. His family treated us to a night in downtown Houston, staying at a lovely hotel right near the ballpark. We had a delicious dinner on Saturday night at Guard and Grace and then rested up for an incredible experience at Minute Maid Stadium the next day. 

We started the day with breakfast in the hotel restaurant surrounded by Blue Jays players. As it turns out, they also stayed at this lovely hotel the night before. We rode the elevator with the starting catcher and Jon sat starstruck all through breakfast as he looked around the room and was able to identify almost everyone there. They all boarded the team bus with their gear and we followed closely behind to take full advantage of our Diamond Club tickets. 

These tickets were an unbelievable way to see a baseball game. We parked a few steps from the stadium, there was a series of underground tunnels that took us to the lounge, with every kind of freshly prepared food imaginable, where we could hang out for an hour before and at any point during the game. Nacho bar, ice cream sundae bar, french fry bar, actual drink bar, it was all there for the taking! When you are ready to watch baseball live, there is a hallway that takes you right to your seats, just behind the home plate wall - and if you forgot to grab cotton candy, popcorn or peanuts before you sat down, there are convenient stands along the way to your seats to grab and go. 

The seats were incredible. All of the extras aside, we were as close to the team as possible without actually being in the dugout. 

This is a very happy Jays fan.

As it turns out, the game we attended had a special "Stand Up to Cancer" program to increase cancer awareness during the 7th inning stretch. They handed out these cards with instructions on filling in who you stand up for. My sweet husband wrote this on his sign:

and attracted the eyes of Rowdy Tellez, who lost his own mother to breast cancer a few years ago. He called us to stay after the game, and handed me his signed cleats from that afternoon's game. It was touching and kind, a gesture that I will never forget. 

A few short weeks later it was my turn to arrive at middle age. 

We planned a party at one of our favorite restaurants in The Woodlands, Local Pour, and invited as many people as we could. 

Jon arranged for two surprise guests!!!

Perhaps Jon's best 40th birthday achievement, coaching the Blue Jays to season champions!

Time won't stop, and 40 is looking pretty good. Happy Birthdays!!!