Phoenix

My friend Heather and her cute family live in Phoenix and I have been wanting to visit her for over a year now and finally made it happen this January. And you know, the people you travel with can break or make the experience and even before arriving I knew it was a no brainer this visit was going to be great and I was not disappointed.

The visit was filled with girl talk (so much of it but yet, not enough), dance parties, cell phones falling into toilets (ok, ONE cell phone fell into a toilet), story time and reading books, walks and bike rides, watching YouTube clips (Jimmy Fallon, Pannelapee from SNL, Comedians, etc), prepping for singing time for primary, watching adorable and easily distracted 4-year-olds in their dance class, played an intense game of Ticket to Ride, made perfect scones, and laughed lots and lots.

When Heath first picked me up from the airport and on the way to her house I said hi to oldest, who at the time was 3 1/2 - year-old, and tried to say a few things to her but then just started gabbing away with Heather. Eventually she, who is super shy, decided to chime in and said, "Mom, Amy is nice!" Haha, Heather had been prepping her to have a guest in the house and not to be afraid of me. After she said that we pounded our fists together and she said, "Mom, Amy gave me bones!" No worries, by the end of the trip she spoke to me directly and we had a blast.

We made cookies. This is a BIG deal because we tease her husband, Chris, for being a sugar Nazi. He really isn't that bad but is very conscience of healthy eating and will tease you about eating things like cookies before breakfast so we tease him back. One time when I visited Heath and we made chocolate chip cookies and the next day before we had breakfast I said, "I'm going to eat a cookie, don't tell Chris." And sure enough a voice from upstairs yells down to us, "I heard that!" Heather said she was using my visit as an excuse to make the world's best cookies... red velvet cookie sandwiches with cream cheese filling.

For dinner our first night we went to Food Truck Friday West; it's held at a parking lot of the Peoria Sports Complex (P83). There were SO many trucks it was killing us how good everything smelled and and how many great choices there were. We started out by getting a cup of fries, cheese curd, and gravy to share. Then for dinner I got a hamburger with a fried egg, avocado, tomatoes, grilled onions and cheese on it. Deeeelish! The place was super crowded and there wasn't a place to sit... so we laid down the seats in the van and had a picnic in the mini-van.

Saturday morning we went for a hike and it was great. It was so warm, we were in just T-shirts and shorts. It was dry as can be and you could see the whole trail the entire way up the "mountain" but again I loved it.

Back at the Lowe's we had wraps for lunch. Heath and Chris do a great job to eat healthy but I love it because what they eat is so delicious and every time I visit them I get another delicious new idea for eating healthy. This trip I'm took the "wraps" idea home with me. Tortilla, cheese, cucumbers, red peppers, avocado, tomatoes, lettuce and sandwich meat. Yum!

Like I said up above, we had a dance party. Seriously, I love Heath's family. At one point her oldest was jumping on the couch and she went to jump on some cushions but over-jumped and, it was like a panic slow motion moment, we all watched her do a crazy front flip and almost go flying off the couch but she caught herself and instead we all cheered.

My last day there went too fast. We ate breakfast, read books, went to church and then Chris took me to the airport because Heather had to stay and do singing time for primary. When I walked inside the terminal I couldn't help but laugh at the "Phoenix Airport Museum" display. It was a perfect picture to send in my final thank you text to Heath.

Capitol Reef National Park

A little hidden gem of Utah, I think, is Capitol Reef National Park but I also believe it's popularity is growing. I went there twice in 2015 and loved the scenic drives just as much as the great hikes. The first trip was helping take a LDS Young Women's group through some canyons and then later in the year I went with some friends on a leisure trip. I was lucky to go, both times, with a group of people who are familiar with the area and go canyoneering quite often throughout Southern Utah. It's a great place for a weekend trip or longer.

National Park Website
Utah State Website

Casidy Arch - Hike and Canyoneering

If you look close, the red spot under the tree is the person setting up the first rappel down under the arch.

Looking up at the arch.

Wife Three - Canyoneering

"Utah! Bringing people together. UTAH! What a GREAT PLACE TO LIVE!"

Looking up at the first rappel - 200 feet.

I had to climb down this gap in the rocks by just wedging my body in between the two rocks on each side.

The two times I went down there we stayed at the Wonderland RV Park and they even have little basic cabins to rent as well. That's what I did. Showers and bathrooms are just a 30 second walk away from the cabins. There are also hotels nearby and more camp grounds.

Waco, TX

"Why Waco, Texas" you may ask. This was also asked of me when people asked what my next trip was. Well I'm going to ask, "Why not?" Isn't that the great thing of travel? Going to a new place and finding it's charms.

Waco
My older sister loves to remodel her home and do it herself. She has taken on many projects and taught herself along the way. With this hobby, she loves to watch the TV Show Fixer Upper and get inspired. Well, Chip and Joanna, from Fixer Upper were opening a bigger store, Magnolia Market, and having a big grand opening and celebration the end of October. Megan called me in September and asked if I would go with her on this whim, to visit Waco and be there for the grand opening. I'm not going to lie, I hesitated at first but then thought, "Hey, this would be a trip with my sister... I'm in!" Sister time!

One of my most favorite things while visiting Waco and Texas were the people. Oh my goodness, SO FRIENDLY! I felt like Waco was my hometown the way everyone treated us and those around us. It was so refreshing.

The Silos

The Stores
As said, above the purpose of the trip was to go to the Magnolia Market grand opening but we also visited the Harp Design Co store as well. The owner of Harp Designs is the carpenter Joanna goes to in Fixer Upper to build things like tables and doors

Magnolia Market was filled with so much character and a family feel but still professional. All of the workers were ready to help with any questions and quick to get something you were looking for.

Harp Design Co was filled with so much warmth and kindness. I loved the things in the store and the fun highlight for us was Clint Harper was there in the store and he TALKED TO US! Such a good and down to earth person. It was so cute, after we left the store my sister admitted to not knowing what we even talked about with Clint because she was so star-strucked. I filled her in.

Castle Heights
Castle Heights is one of the subdivisions in Waco and also an area where some of the homes from Fixer Upper have been remodeled. We drove around the neighborhood ooing and awing at all of the adorable friendly homes and squealed when we found one of the homes from the show. There were two homes for sale in the neighborhood and I had to remind myself several times I live in Utah, not Texas, and so I could not just buy the adorable home.

If you ever find yourself in Waco, this would actually be a really nice Sunday afternoon or " we have an extra hour before we need to leave for the airport" time activity.

Food
Two of of the places on Joanna's Favorites list were places we decided to try for our meals; the Cheddar Box and Schmaltz's. Both worth it and unbelievably delicious. I am STILL craving my grilled cheese from the Cheddar Box Food Truck. Just typing this my mouth is starting to water.

Dr. Pepper Museum

We quickly stopped by the Dr. Pepper Museum, only a block away from Magnolia Market, but did not pay to go through it. There is a fun old fashion style Soda Shop in the gift shop area and a fun place to stop for a sweet treat. We'll have to go through the museum the next time.

Let's do this every year!
What a random but fun trip. I loved being with my sister. I loved being in a new place. I loved the kind and warm people. I loved the randomness of the adventure. We want to do a random trip like this every year; go somewhere we wouldn't have ever thought of going or go somewhere we've always thought would be fun but not really something you would really just do. Stayed tuned for next year. We've already flirted with the following ideas so stay tuned for next year: Michigan, Kentucky Derby, Big Sur, or Carmel/ Montery.

Side Bar: Getting Around
We decided to name the voice on Google maps Winnie for this trip. Well, Winnie didn't seem to be very updated on Dallas and Waco. The first moment was when she told us to get off the freeway and then get back on, but when she told us to get back on she said, "Turn left." Megan and I both looked left and there was a bulldozed on-ramp. Umm, sorry Winnie, we're not going to go that way.

Every State Has Their Own Thing
While driving back to Dallas to catch our flight home it was rainy and extremely windy. The overpass signs even said, "Possible flooding. Turn Around. Don't Drown." Never seen that before.

Spotlight: Outdoor Adventures

While on a Riviera Cruise in 2012, one of my friends and I went on a zip line excursion and we had a blast. I really liked the company because they were extremely safe about the experience but they made sure everyone was having fun. Not only did this adventure include several zip lines, but it also included a donkey ride to the top of the mountain, two rappels (one of which was down a waterfall) and sliding across a few rope bridges.

If you ever find yourself in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, I would highly recommend you check out Vallarta Outdoor Adventures. If I ever end up there again I wouldn't hesitate a second to sign up for this adventure again. It was worth every penny.

Singapore Airport

On my way to and from Thailand, I had a 12 hour layover in Singapore each way. I didn't think much of it and didn't even consider ahead of time going out to explore during the long layovers (I know?! What is wrong with me?!) but the volunteer I was traveling with suggested we go out and explore while we were there.

If you look closely you can see the two levels of windows. That's right, my plane was a double decker!

To our surprise the Singapore airport was an event in itself! The airport is one of the top largest in the world and doesn't disappoint. The airport has everything and anything; Coi Ponds, Free Movie Theater, Free Foot Massaging Machines, Glamorous Stores, Restaurants, Butterfly Garden, Free Pool, Free Gym, Showers, Kids Corner, Meditation Lounges, on and on and on, and lastly a Free Tour of the City. Well, we did as much as we could while we were in the airport and signed up to go on the city tour of Singapore.

Never before have I had so much fun in an airport. You really could vacation IN the Singapore airport if you wanted to.

The City Tour

Thailand Bonus: "The South"

A few of the volunteers and I took a weekend vacation down to the southern islands near Krabi, Thailand. Imagine yourself in a place similar to Pirates of the Caribbean mixed with Peter Pan's Neverland and you will be in the south of Thailand.

So getting to our hotel was hilarious. First we took a bus to a harbor and then we took basically a fishing boat to the island and then when we got off the boat they told us to just walk through the island to the beach on the other side and then walk on the beach for 30 minutes. Umm. Ok. So we walked on the beach, with our bags, for about 10 minutes and then it just ended because we came to a big shipwreck rock. Turns out the beach our hotel was on was on the other side of the rock and only accessible during low tide (7pm). So... we climbed the rock. I am so glad my bag was a backpacking backpack because there were a few parts where we were basically rock climbing. When in Thailand.

Random art drawn on random cement walls near our hotel. Kind of cool.

7 Island Tour
We signed up for a boat tour, just at a little shop on Railey beach, for one of our afternoon's. We snorkeled, played on the beach, one of the girls cliff jumped because she was strong enough to climb the rope to the cliff, had a cooked bbq on the beach, were stung by mini jelly fish, some of the girls swam with plankton (I was a woose and too cold), acted like pirates, etc.

Chicken Island... Can you see it?

Monkeys!
Walking through the jungle one day we passed all of these monkeys at the check-in stand at this tiny run down hotel. We were so excited to see monkeys but also a little timid they may attack us.

The Beach
While we were down in the south the only channel in our bungalow in English was the British Discovery channel and they were showing Shark Week. We would plan our evenings around getting back in time to watch Shark Week. Well, having so many sharks on the mind made for some uneasy moments in the ocean but really we were safe and having a blast. One of the days I spent the entire day in the water, except for lunch, just riding the waves. One of the girls even said, "These waves are like the Thai people... gentle." We also had some laughs about all the honeymooners on the beach taking model pose pictures of each other and at one point we were surrounded by so many couples in the water one of the girls said, "Ooooohkay, let's get our of lover's lane." I loved the ocean and the beach in the south.

I was standing on the beach talking to the girls when a butterfly kept flying around me and landing on me.

If you look closely, you can see it on my hand in this picture.

Pictures from around the Island

Thailand: Help International

Thailand: Sightseeing