1. Texas
At the end of August I went to see David, Julie and Bailey. The end of August is not the ideal time to visit Houston, aka. hot and humid, and it did not leave me disappointed. One morning Julie and I took a long, fast walk with Bailey. I don't know about Julie, but I was soaking wet afterward! Despite the hotness/humidness, it was a great trip (and honestly, it was kind of cloudy the first too days so not too hot or humid). We went to the zoo, a Rice volleyball game, shopped at Hobby Lobby, played games and ate plenty of Blue Bell ice cream.
At the zoo we saw long horn cattle (a must see in Texas in my opinion)
and Bailey rode the carousel. She was quite a pro at naming all of the animals.
2. Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
This trip was for work. A week long, all expenses paid trip to Florida...I'm not complaining. I went with 4 other people from my company for a training. The training was pretty good and boring at times, as all trainings are. It took up the large majority of our days, but we did manage to get to the beach on Friday before flying back home. There was a storm out over the ocean which us land-locked people thought looked awesome.
The most memorable part of the trip was probably the flight to Florida, which warranted a blog story, but there were lots of other great times and many laughs. One night we went to dinner in downtown Ft. Lauderdale. After dinner we decided to walk to the beach, which was, in our opinion, at this sky rise that we could see in the distance. Once we had walked about 1 mile we realized the the sky rise was actually just a turn in the road and not the beach. It was getting dark and everyone was tired of walking so we gave up on the beach and walked back to the cars. Turns out the beach was about 6 or so miles away...ha ha ha. We would have been walking most of the night to get there and back.
3. New York City
In the summer of 2009 one of the ladies that I worked with moved to Amsterdam. It was decided that we would take annual girls' trip starting in 2010 so we could keep in contact better (there were five girls in the mix).
As we moved closer to September, 2010 it looked like myself, Veronica and Joni (the one in Amsterdam) would be the only ones making the trip to New York City. In the end, one of Joni's friends also joined us for a long weekend in the big apple.
On the first day we walked, and walked and walked. We went past the Manhattan Temple, which was only about 10 blocks from our hotel, very beautiful. Then we walked up and down Park Avenue and checked out every store. OK, not every store, but a ton of stores. Needless to say, Veronica and I were not really too enthused about shopping so much. I enjoyed the walking and the people seeing though.
For the next few days Joni and her friend shopped -seriously that's all they did, I can hardly fathom it - while Veronica and I were tourists. We saw Battery Park, ground zero, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Grand Central Station, and Central Park among other things. After being to New York several times and taking in the sites, I am of the opinion that Ellis Island is one of the best kept secrets. It was so interesting to see, learn the history, and ready people's stories. I highly recommend it.
We did hook up with the other two for meals...we ate at some awesome restaurants. To walk across the Brooklyn Bridge; another really fun thing that is not too common. And to see In the Heights on Friday, I mean Saturday night. We had planned to see it Friday night, but as we were about to go in Veronica looked at her ticket and realized it was for Saturday night; she had bought the tickets for the wrong night, ha ha. Luckily we were still there Saturday night so no harm done. The musical was great (on Saturday) and Times Square was crowded (on both nights).
Through the walking, waiting for the subway, eating, talking, etc. we did manage to snap a few photos. However, somehow I didn't get any of Joni or her friend. Oh well, next trip I guess I'll have to do better. These are from the Brooklyn Bridge, Battery Park and the Statue of Liberty.
4. Phoenix, Arizona
This wasn't really a huge trip since I do go to the valley several times every year, but in October my mom and I went specifically for Time Out for Women. We attended our second annual TOFW and were not disappointed. The speakers and musical numbers were amazing. We left with our spirits lifted.
5. Southern California
In June my mom and I got great plane tickets to fly to Southern California in October to visit Katie and Ryan (this was my only trip that was planned so far in advance). We flew out for a long weekend and managed to fit in tons of fun. We went to Disneyland using our "give a day, get a day" free tickets. It was fun to see Disneyland decorated to the nines for fall and Halloween.
We also went to Joann's, Gap Outlet (always great deals to be found here), I made a skirt with the help of Katie's friend, had a Pampered Chef party, ate yummy food, played Lego Harry Potter (on the play station I think...I am not too good at it) and played games. It was also fun to see Katie and Ryan's new house.
6. Wyoming
In November I flew up to spend a long weekend with Beth, Chris, Caitlin and Ashlee. When Beth was driving to pick me up, Caitlin was tired of the drive and wanted my plane to drop me off in Coalville. I guess the pilot didn't get her memo so they still had to come all the way to Salt Lake.
It was cold while I was there, although not nearly as bad as last year, and not too snowy. Still, I no longer have my Wyoming skin so I was freezing. Luckily I can borrow Beth's coats, slippers, sweaters, shoes...it's quite easy to pack when you are going to visit your twin :)
We had a lot of fun while I was visiting. Zumba, swimming (in an awesome pool), swimming lessons, a tea party, princess Yahtzee and hop scotch, workbooks, playing house, watching Oklahoma, a Thai restaurant, shopping at the mall (yea for Vanity) and local stores, babysitting, cooking, waking up early and making a Christmas decoration filled up much of our time.
At the tea party Caitlin loved to pour water for everyone in their enough-for-one-small-swallow-sized cups. Ashlee thoroughly enjoyed using her "cut" (knife) at the tea party and at any meal for that matter. She is really grateful if a "cut" is part of her place setting at meal time.
It is always fun to play with Caitlin and Ashlee with their huge imaginations and to have them sometimes confuse me for their mom. It is also fun to spend time with Beth and Chris; luckily Chris doesn't confuse me for Beth :)
No more vacations this year, I am saving my remaining days for Christmas time. The 2010 travel log was sure good though. I'm excited to see what kind of travel 2011 will bring.
