Category: Travel

A Weekend in Colorado Springs

So remember that Colorado Springs trip I said was coming up? I’m just wrapping it up right now! The Springs is such a fun town in my opinion and if you’re ever looking for a true Colorado gem, please visit!!

My sister, dad, and I drove down on Friday morning, meeting my aunt and uncle for lunch at The Golden Bee. The Golden Bee is probably one of my favorite restaurants of all time. It’s a gastropub restaurant located near the Broadmoor (which is one of my favorite areas in Colorado Springs) and it has a bee theme to it, in a way. We usually sit inside on the first floor but this time around, I got to sit up top outside. It was incredibly pleasant up there and it rained (we were under a nice large cover though, so we were all good there) which I enjoyed. This time around, I ordered their shepherd’s pie which is gluten-free, by the way, and just asked that no cheese be put on it. It was very tasty. 😊 Good service, good food, and good company!

We then had planned to do Seven Falls because we haven’t done it yet but the weather wasn’t all that good so that didn’t happen. Instead, we checked in at our hotel, visited the National ProRodeo Museum/Hall of Fame, grabbed dinner, and then visited Helen Hunt Falls at North Cheyenne Cañon Park. The ProRodeo Museum was a cool little spot and it was interesting to learn a bit about a world I know very little about. Helen Hunt Falls was a lovely little spot in a pretty area of the mountains. The falls were small and there wasn’t a lot of water, but it was good to be outside and get a little hike in.

Saturday was Cheyenne Mountain Zoo day. I looooove the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. There’s a lot of walking at the zoo and it can be a pretty long day, but it’s so fun. We got there right at opening (9 am) were there til about 1 pm. I highly highly recommend ordering your tickets in advance because I actually think that’s the only way you can get into the zoo there now. So to save yourself any trouble, just get online and get those tickets. At the zoo, some of my favorites were the giraffes (DUH), elephants, mountain lions, and the wallabies. If you’re looking for some animal interaction, you can feed the giraffes ($3 for one thing of lettuce, and $5 for two things of lettuce), and I know that the zoo does a bunch of other different animal encounter things! The giraffes are my favorite though. They’re such interesting, cute animals!! We also rode the carousel and did the Sky Train (I think that’s what it’s called), which is basically just a ski lift up and around and then back down. You get a pretty good view of the zoo and Colorado Springs while you’re up there!

After the zoo, we visited the Will Rogers’ Shrine to the Sun which you can only get access to by having Cheyenne Mountain Zoo tickets. Again, there were some pretty great views from up there! The shrine itself was a beautiful building too. If you’re planning to see the shrine, make sure you check out Cheyenne Mountain Zoo first, and then also know that the last cars can go up at 3 pm MST. You can stay up there as long as you’d like, but they just don’t send cars up after 3.

So after our zoo and shrine adventures, we visited Panino’s for lunch where I got a delicious chicken and pesto panino and an Arnold Palmer. There are gluten and dairy-free options here and the food was good again! Our service was really good here too, so I highly recommend this spot in the Springs as well. 😊 Later that evening, we stopped at a fun, different spot for ice cream called Frozen Gold and I really enjoyed it!! They have a couple of really good looking non-dairy options, and I really enjoyed their Nutty Redhead coconut milk ice cream!

And today, we spent a wonderful half-day exploring Pikes Peak! We took a cog train up and down Pikes Peak and spent some time up top. More great views here for sure! And if you’re looking to see Pikes Peak’s summit, there’s also some great high altitude donuts at the visitor center. While I didn’t try them, my sister and dad thought the cinnamon sugar donuts were excellent, so I’ll take their word for it! A tip with the donuts- if you’re visiting the visitor center when coming off the cog train, don’t hop in line for donuts right away. The line will be pretty long and you don’t want to spend all your time in line! So take some time to look around, see the sights, and then when you have about ten minutes left of your forty minutes at the top of Pikes Peak, go get some donuts! My sister found that there was no line when we did it that way.

Our Pikes Peak trip was followed by a late lunch at Black Bear Diner. There are two locations in Colorado Springs, that I’m aware of at least, and from what I’ve seen, both have pretty decent reviews! We visited the location closer to Garden of the Gods. The food here was pretty good. I ordered orange juice (which they hand-squeeze and make!) and their Shasta veggie scramble. I just wish that our service was a bit better and that my request for no cheese was actually honored. It’s not that hard to scrap off melted shredded cheese though so that’s not too big of a deal. Overall though, I would recommend a visit to Black Bear Diner. They have great orange juice and the atmosphere of the place is so cute!

The rest of our day yesterday was pretty low-key. We did visit the World War II Aviation Museum which was fun to see though. While I know absolutely nothing about planes, let alone aircrafts from WWII, this was a very educational museum. It was really cool to see the restoration processes with each of the airplanes too. Most, if not all, of the planes were recovered and put into working and flying condition! After our trip to the museum, we had dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings and stopped for ice cream at Baskin Robbins. Baskin Robins has a really tasty non-dairy mint chocolate chip ice cream, by the way, if non-dairy ice cream is something you’re looking for.

And that has been the trip! Sometimes I think it’s pretty fun to be a tourist in your own state. I love Colorado and it’s little trips like this that make me even more grateful to call this wonderful state my home. Colorado Springs is a lot of fun and I think that it’s a great spot to visit if you’re looking to come to Colorado.

Unfortunately, I’m still having issues posting pictures to my posts, but if you wanna check out a couple of pictures from this weekend, feel free to check out my Instagram anahorvathh. Hopefully I can get the picture issue fixed soon… I miss sharing photos here!! Well, I hope you have a wonderful week and I’ll see you all next weekend! ❤️

Update as of 8/14/22: Pictures are now posted! The issue with me posting them has been resolved. 😊

July 24, 2022
About My Time at Epcot

Hello, hello! I hope you are all doing well! Thanks for coming back. 😉 Let’s talk about Epcot, one of the four parks at Disney World! While I was in Orlando, we spent two days at Epcot, May 19th and 20th! We picked the perfect time to be in Epcot too! The Flower and Garden Festival was going on, and it was still the low season for the park (at least that’s what I saw and then also what we experienced!)

Our first day of Epcot was spent in Mexico, Norway, China, Japan, Morocco, Germany, Italy, and also France. We arrived at Epcot just before the park opened and were able to rush in just as the rope dropped. Immediately, we were off to the rides in World Showcase, starting with the Gran Fiesta starring the Three Caballeros. I’ve always really loved Donald Duck and so it was fun to see him there. Following that, we enjoyed the Frozen ride in Norway and then after that we rushed over to France to check out Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure is relatively new to Epcot so we were worried the line was going to be super long, but when I checked the Disney World app, the wait was about 30 minutes! We booked it. By the time we arrived at the line, however, the wait had gone up to an hour, but I think we only ended up waiting about 40 minutes in the end. This ride would definitely have to be one of my favorites. We sat in the cutest little rat cars and it was as if we were the rats ourselves, sneaking around a restaurant in France. So so so much fun. There was one point on the ride where Disney even managed to make it smell like food was cooking. It was incredible!! After our ride with Remy, we stayed in France to get a small bite to eat. We had a reservation at a restaurant in Italy later that day so we didn’t want to eat lunch, but we did want something to hold us over for a bit. So, we stopped at the wonderful little French bakery, Les Halles Boulangerie Patisserie. While I wasn’t able to stick to my gluten-free diet there, the quiche and strawberry tart that I split with my sister were wonderful.

We walked around World Showcase, sticking close to Italy, until around 3:15 pm and then we went into Tutto Italia Ristorante, the place we had our reservation at. The restaurant was very nice, there was good service, and the food was very tasty too! I had the steak with rosemary fingerling potatoes and green beans. While I enjoyed my entire meal, I would have to say the green beans were my favorite part. The food was pricey, but we were expecting that and purposefully booked a reservation there for a nice meal. We were too full for dessert otherwise I would let you know how their dessert menu was. In another time, in another time! The most special part of our first day at Epcot came after our meal. We were just walking around and my sister pointed out Stitch, and Chip, and Dale, and Meeko, and DONALD DUCK. So of course, I got a picture with him. It was pretty great. And that was a perfect ending to a perfect first day at Epcot!

Day 2 at Epcot started with a very relaxing boat ride on Living With the Land. Following that, we did the Finding Nemo ride and had a chance to see the wonderful aquarium that Epcot has! There were dolphins and manatees and so many colorful fish and other creatures. All the animals looked and seemed pretty happy too so that made me happy. Our next ride was Figment’s Journey Through Imagination (or something like that). I didn’t know who Figment was prior to this ride, but I came to love that cute, mischievous, purple dragon. After hanging out with Figment, we headed back to World Showcase and visited the countries we had missed the day before. We visited Canada and the United Kingdom! And with that, we had pretty much finished everything we wanted to get through at Epcot. On our way out, my aunt and uncle stopped for one more Dole whip and my sister and I tried out a wonderful desert violet lemonade that is exclusive to Disney World’s 50th anniversary. I highly recommend it if you’re going to be at Epcot any time soon!!

Dinner that night was near our resort at Ford’s Garage. The food was pretty tasty and they’ve got a lot of good looking burgers on their menu. If you’re big on cars too, this is the spot for you!

The next day, we sent my sister home and then the following day, my aunt, uncle, and I headed home. If either my aunt or uncle is reading this, thank you so so much for such a wonderful and special trip. We truly had a blast and I just can’t thank you enough. ❤️

Epcot was so much fun and Disney World, in general, was just so great. There are things I’d love to go back and do again and I look forward to my next trip to Florida, whenever that may be. I hope you all have a great week and I’ll see you next weekend!

May 29, 2022
I Went to DISNEY WORLD!

Happy Sunday! I hope you are all doing well and that summer is off to a good start for everyone! So, I spent the last week in and around Orlando, Florida! The biggest part of my trip was a wonderful four days at Disney World (yay)!! Beside Disney World, we also visited Cape Canaveral to see the Kennedy Space Center as well as Cocoa Beach. So fun! And I apologize ahead of time, but for some reason, I haven’t been able to post pictures to my most recent blog posts, so there will be no pictures. 🙁 I’ll maybe come back in and add some pictures once I get that figured out, but in the mean time, feel free to head over to my Instagram (username: anahorvathh) to see some of the fun I had!

My aunt, uncle, sister, and I arrived in Orlando last Saturday. After doing some grocery shopping and settling in, we walked around the property of the resort we stayed at, Hilton Grand Vacations Tuscany Village in Orlando. While there wasn’t much on Saturday, Sunday provided plenty of excitement at Kennedy Space Center.

Kennedy Space Center was an hour drive from Orlando. Not too bad in my opinion! We arrived just before Kennedy Space Center opened, and we spent almost an entire day there. I didn’t expect that, but it was a lot of fun so it was totally worth it. There was a very cool rocket garden that displayed many different rocket types. I just can’t understand how they’re so big. Just can’t. My absolute favorite part of Kennedy Space Center had to be our tour of the Apollo Center. There, we got to see one of the Apollo rockets and THAT WAS A ROCKET, WOW. You have to see it for yourself to truly appreciate just how large it is. When I was little, there was a brief period where I wanted to go to space. I wanted to be an astronaut. That part of me was awakened again that day (not that I want to be an astronaut anymore, but I totally enjoyed my time at Kennedy Space Center). Space is so cool! I think my favorite attractions/buildings/whatever we want to call them from Kennedy Space Center would be the Apollo Center and the Atlantis building. The actual Atlantis space shuttle is permanently housed there too! There was true American pride at Kennedy Space Center and it was something I really appreciated. The food at Kennedy Space Center wasn’t too bad either!

After our time at Kennedy Space Center we drove a bit farther to check out Cocoa Beach. We got to see the Atlantic Ocean, almost get run over by a guy that was land windsurfing, and check out I Dream of Genie Lane! Sunday was a great day.

Monday was our first day at a Disney park in Florida. It all began with Animal Kingdom. We got there right when the park opened, and I’m so happy we did. The crowds were not bad at all in the morning and they continued to be pretty low the rest of the day! We started our day off on the Dinosaur ride. It was much more rough than I honestly thought it was going to be. Fun ride though!! Next ride on our list was Expedition Everest. I think this was a one-and-done for me. My sister and I sat in the very front row on this one. The first half of the ride was so much fun. And then we got to the top of Everest. We looked out over Animal Kingdom. AND THEN THE RIDE STARTED GOING BACKWARD. AND SO. SO. SO. FAST. No joke, I think I actually passed out at some point on this ride. I asked my sister if I screamed after we got off the ride and she said it was the most high-pitched screaming she had ever heard. 😅 Sorry Allyson! Following that traumatizing ride, we took some time to cool down (literally). Kali River Rapids definitely cooled us down, and also soaked us. It felt really nice to get splashed so much though! I would highly recommend wearing sweat-wicking/resistant clothing to Animal Kingdom, in all honesty, because you’ll probably ride Kali River Rapids and you’ll get SOAKED. Our time at Animal Kingdom also included: a wonderful Lion King show that lasted about 20 minutes, Dole whip, lots and lots of animals, a great safari, and finally Navi River Journey.

Boy, do I have a story regarding Navi River Journey. I loved Pandora, but we spent a good chunk of time waiting in line for this ride. We did also eat in Pandora for lunch (we ate at Satu’li Canteen!) but we spent about an hour and fifteen minutes in line for Navi River Journey. We were inching closer and closer to the front of the line and then we were told the ride broke down. It was pretty sad. In response to the sad news, we kept our eyes on the Disney World app the rest of the day but we did go do other stuff. Eventually, we saw that the ride had opened back up and we spent about another hour in line to finally ride it. Worth the wait in my opinion!!

Our day at Animal Kingdom finished after Navi River Journey and with that, we left our first Disney World park! We finished our day up with dinner at Shake Shack which I really enjoyed and then that was about it!

Tuesday- another day, another Disney World park! Tuesday was our day at Magic Kingdom! If I’m being honest, Magic Kingdom was actually my least favorite park. It was just really hot that day and there were much more people. I still enjoyed my time though, don’t get me wrong. Our day started at Splash Mountain which was my favorite ride at Disneyland. It was so fun!!! I was surprised to see that it was longer than Splash Mountain at Disneyland also. My sister and I didn’t wait too long in line either which was just perfect (we maybe waited 30 minutes). If you’re wanting to ride Splash Mountain at Magic Kingdom at Disney World, maybe put it at the beginning of your day like we did! Some other rides we made sure to get on were Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean. We also rode the carousel and then saw Mickey’s Philharmagic Show and the Hall of Presidents. We enjoyed lunch in the area over by the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and managed to get some more pretty good Dole whip that day too! I got the Simba Sunrise (I think that’s what it was called), which was exclusive to the 50th anniversary celebration at Disney World. Pretty yummy!!

Our day at Magic Kingdom ended with a trip to Main Street Bakery (Starbucks, of course!!). With a pink drink in hand, I finished my day at Magic Kingdom, and we headed back to our resort. Looking back on the day at Magic Kingdom, I would really say to make sure you’re packing lots of water and sunscreen and maybe also a fan or something to help keep you cool. If you’re there in May like I was, it gets hot! And humid! So, make sure to take care of yourself.

This post is getting to be pretty long, so I’ll continue my next post with all I have to say about Epcot!! I hope you all have a wonderful week. See you back here next Sunday! ❤️

May 22, 2022
Colorado Springs Trip!

We had family in town this past week and for one last little getaway, we decided to spend a couple of days in Colorado Springs. I can’t recall ever truly vacationing in my home state, but from this experience, I found that it is so much fun. And more importantly, I got to spend time with family that I haven’t seen in over a year which was so special.

We met for dinner in Colorado Springs on Monday night. The entire trip was a celebration of my aunt and dad’s birthday. No, they are not twins, but they do have the same birthday, just three years apart. So on Monday night, we celebrated my dad’s birthday with a barbecue dinner since he couldn’t be with us on his actual birthday. A bunch of meetings and conference calls were on his birthday agenda. We also went swimming that night which was a lot of fun. I haven’t been swimming in the longest time and it was really fun to goof off for a few hours.

Tuesday, the 10th, we drove up to the Cave of the Winds. I had never been in a cave prior to this experience so I was a bit nervous about feeling claustrophobic or trapped but those feelings never came to me which was great. While I have heard that this cave system is nothing compared to the Carlsbad Caverns, I feel like it was a great introduction to what our world looks like underground and it’s pretty cool! Some of my favorite formations that we got to see were this one called E.T. and another referred to as Romeo and Juliet. I also learned that you can better remember the difference between stalactite and stalagmite by knowing that stalactites hang on TIGHT to the ceiling and you better watch your feet otherwise you stalagMIGHT stub your toe. 🙂

After Cave of the Winds, we went to the Broadmoor to walk around and eat at one of my favorite restaurants in the area, The Golden Bee. It has this really cute English pub vibe to it and the entire restaurant is bee-themed. Like even the wallpaper in the bathroom has little bees on it. My favorite part though, is getting a little bee sticker thrown at you when you first sit down at your table. This was my aunt’s choice for her birthday meal and it was so special to get to share that with her at such a fun restaurant. I had a very yummy pulled pork sandwich for lunch that day. 10/10 recommend!!

To round out August 10th, we then went to the Olympic and Paralympic Museum which I believe opened fairly recently. While the museum was incredibly cool and inspiring, it is much more interactive than I would have liked. There were a lot of kids everywhere and it was just a bit busy for my liking. I really did enjoy getting to see the Olympic torches and medals though. Very cool.

On August 11th, the next day, my dad was able to join us again and we spent the morning at Garden of the Gods. Boo, my dog, got to be there as well, and we all had a lot of fun. I think Garden of the Gods is such a breathtaking and incredible feat of nature. Also, the last time my family and I visited Garden of the Gods, I was in a cast, so this time DEFINITELY beats the last time we were there.

After our time at the Garden, we drove to Old Colorado City, which is a cute, older, little touristy town that is technically considered a part of Colorado Springs but it used to be its own town that served as a supply stop for miners headed to find gold. Around lunch time, we stopped at the Colorado Mountain Brewery where I had the most colorful and yummy salad I’ve had in a while! The service was great in addition to the food too, so if you’re looking for good food in that area, check it out.

Fully energized, we then visited the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo which is AN AMAZING ZOO OH MY GOODNESS. Right off the bat, you come to find that the animals are so so so close to you and that there’s a lot you can do to interact with them. You can feed the giraffes lettuce (which I totally paid $3 for!!), you can feed the elephants apples and celery (I think?), and much more. To be able to interact with animals like that is so special and I feel like it increases awareness about caring for our planet so we can keep amazing animals like those around for a long, long time. While feeding the giraffes was probably my favorite thing that we did, I also really enjoyed getting to see the zoo’s baby hippo. What. A. Cutie!

The next day, we brought my aunt and uncle back to my hometown and we spent that day driving for the most part but then just relaxing once we got home. Boo and Bobo were sure glad to have us back.

Friday, we visited the Denver Botanic Gardens. I have been in the past, and while I did enjoy it then, this time was even better because things were actually blooming and very much so alive. It was great to get to walk around and see all the pretty flowers and plants. My sister and I also managed to find this bamboo forest area we hadn’t seen before so that was fun to find! To end a pretty good day out, we grabbed Crumbl Cookies and celebrated my aunt and dad together. Family is so important to me and to be able to share moments like those that we did mean the world to me.

We said goodbye to my aunt and uncle yesterday morning and since then, life has been pretty quiet and chill again. It was so good to spend so much good time with my aunt and uncle again and I look forward to our next get-together. There will be lots of game nights and dance offs and stories and giggles, just like always. 🙂 Colorado Springs, thanks for a good time! Have a good week everyone!

August 15, 2021
South Dakota, You’re So Sweet!
So I just got back from South Dakota for a family friend’s wedding, and let me tell you, South Dakota is so much fun! I really enjoyed getting to travel and more specifically, I enjoyed being able to go on a road trip again and get to spend time with so many wonderful people in such a fun part of the country for the past three days. Like it says on the South Dakota license plate: Great faces, great places!

We left on Friday for Spearfish, South Dakota which is a little over six hours of driving from Denver. We made that drive much longer however, which was totally fine, because we had plans to visit Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse on our way into town. Crazy Horse was impressive, but it was somewhat disappointing to see that only the head of Crazy Horse is really complete. The land is privately owned and so the only funding that the massive project receives is by donation. No wonder there has been so little progress. I really enjoyed getting to visit Crazy Horse though and I hope that some very generous people out there are able to contribute in the near future and push for the incredible vision of Crazy Horse to be completed.

Next stop: Mount Rushmore. It was nice that Crazy Horse and Mount Rushmore were only about 30 minutes apart. It made our travels a bit easier especially with us trying to get into Spearfish eventually. I think Mount Rushmore was my favorite part of the trip. It was MAGNIFICENT. Yes, it was definitely smaller than I thought it was going to be, but oh my goodness was it incredible. As you walk in, the flags of all 50 states hang along the path and then you look up to see the faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. My dad, sister, and I spent a good amount of time taking pictures around Mount Rushmore. On our way out, I ran into the gift shop and grabbed a South Dakota keychain (I collect state keychains for those of you who don’t know!!), we went in and got some ice cream (which was also SO good and SO much ice cream by the way), and then we were on our way out of there.

On the drive into Spearfish, we drove through a fun town called Deadwood which we would later come to spend a bit more time in. Definitely a tourist trap, but it was still fun to see! And then we arrived in Spearfish! I think it was a little past dinner time when we arrived. While we could have stayed in a hotel, Boo, my sweet little dog, came along with us on this trip which made things interesting, but all in a good way! It was important to us that he had a comfortable place to stay as well where we didn’t disrupt too many people around us if he was to bark and howl a bunch, but thank God that wasn’t too much of an issue. We stayed in an AirBnB for the first time and it was honestly so comfortable and so much fun. We had an entire house to ourselves, which was pet-friendly of course, and it was wonderful to be able to control everything in our own space and eat from the kitchen we had at the house. The house we stayed at was in a pretty isolated spot too which was really nice and peaceful. Loved it.

Saturday was wedding day! The wedding wasn’t until 1:30 in the afternoon, so we had the morning to ourselves. We decided to trek back to Deadwood to experience the fun little tourist town for ourselves and I will tell you, it is such a fun little town. We didn’t do any of the bus tours or super touristy things that the town has to offer, but we did really enjoy walking around and seeing everything. Boo came with us too and he really enjoyed getting to experience so many new things and smell all the new smells. He actually came with us for a lot of our little South Dakota excursions not including Mount Rushmore. He had to stay in the car for that one but thank goodness for sheltered parking so that the car could stay cooler for him! After our little walk around Deadwood, we stopped back at the house for lunch, got ready for the wedding, and then we were off to the chapel in Sturgis. Sturgis is another interesting town in South Dakota and it’s famous for hosting a huge motorcycle rally every year. And when I say huge, I mean that they’re expecting over A MILLION bikes for this upcoming rally. WOW.

Anyway, back to the wedding. The ceremony was absolutely beautiful and I feel so honored to have been able to share that special day with my friend and her family. For those of you who don’t know me personally, I’ll just let you know that I am a pretty emotional person. Like I might hear a song a certain way and that will make me cry. So you can probably imagine how I was with the wedding. Before my friend had even started walking down the aisle, I was crying. Weddings are just such a blessed and happy time. 🙂 After the ceremony was over, we had about an hour before the reception which was back in Spearfish so we went back to the house to check on Boo and make sure he was doing ok. When it was time for the reception, we headed back out and to the beautiful barn the reception was held at. While we didn’t stay too too long at the reception, it was great to celebrate my friend and her family and spend time with some of the other people that we knew there. The food was great and the venue was incredible. I just wish all the best to the bride and groom now. 🙂 They deserve all the best! <3

And now here we are with today. Today has been quite the day, let me tell you. We hit the road about eight this morning but we left Spearfish, we had to stop at this one restaurant we all had our eyes on the entire trip, Red Water Kitchen. It had always been busy as we drove past it, but this morning, we got there right when it opened so there were no problems getting in. The food was incredible. I had what I think was the best quiche I’ve ever had in my entire life and I know for a fact that the rest of my family also really enjoyed their food. If you’re looking for great food and even better people, please visit Red Water Kitchen in Spearfish, South Dakota when you visit!! With full bellies, we were on the road. The trip was pretty uneventful until we decided to stop at Devil’s Tower in Wyoming.
Area 18. If you aren’t familiar with the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Devil’s Tower is featured in the movie in a scene where the alien mothership descends upon the massive monument. Devil’s Tower is also considered the first national monument in the United States, so it’s a pretty cool spot. To me, it kind of looked like a giant tree trunk with all of the vertical cracks in the formation. We hiked around Devil’s Tower a bit, stopped at the gift shop (always a must for me haha) and then we were on the road again.

And this was when things became exciting, but I mean that in a not-so-good way. We were about three hours away from home when the air conditioning in my mom’s car cut out. And get this, it was between 92-96 degrees the entire rest of our drive. It. Was. HOT. We just drove the rest of the way home with the windows down for as long as we could handle and then stopped for food, ice cream, and a break in a nice, air-conditioned restaurant when we were about an hour out. And then we pushed to get home as fast as possible. Getting home has never felt SO GOOD. As much fun as we had on our trip, it felt really nice to be in a familiar, comfortable, and AIR-CONDITIONED house in the end.

Reflecting on South Dakota, I would definitely go back. In the future, I would love to visit Rapid City and the Badlands. I had a lot of fun and I think that South Dakota is a really special state that has a lot of good things going for it. Until next time, South Dakota!
July 25, 2021
Heya, Houston!

Hi everyone and Happy Fourth of July! This past week, my mom, sister, and I made a quick trip to Houston happen so that my mom could visit the Consulate General of Russia for a couple of things. While that was the main thing to be done on the trip, we had some time to experience a teeny bit of Houston.

We flew out of Denver early on Tuesday and it was definitely exciting and eye-opening to be back at the airport. We were required to wear masks the entire time we were in the airport as well as the entire time we flew. On both flights, I really appreciated the cleanliness of the airplanes and the concern for cleanliness and safety. Really really appreciated!! We landed in Houston around lunch time and then it was a 30 minute drive to our hotel in the area around The Galleria. We stayed at the Royal Sonesta Houston, which might I add was a very nice hotel! It was within walking distance of The Galleria (10ish minutes) and they also had a shuttle service.

After we settled into our room, we went to check out The Galleria. It was about a 10 minute walk and we were instantly welcomed to the area by the extreme humidity and a nice, light rain. While it was nice to get out and stretch our legs, I was not a fan of the environment we were in. Yes, I was with family, but I did not feel safe walking as we did. Not only were there people along our walk that said things that made me uncomfortable, but there were some very interesting and particularly shady groups of people within the mall, once we arrived. We were safe the entire time, but I was quite put off by how a mall with such high-end stores could be a place that attracts such a strange crowd.

While in the mall, we grabbed Chick-Fil-A for lunch which is definitely a favorite between my mom, sister, and I. We then walked around for about three hours and that was a good amount of time considering how absolutely MASSIVE the mall was. While we didn’t go into any of the super high-end, luxury stores, it was a lot of fun to walk around and see some of that stuff. There was a Balenciaga, Louis Vuitton, Christian Louboutin, Tiffany & Co., Tesla (unfortunately no cars were in the store though), and Burberry to name a few stores. We stopped by the LUSH and Lululemon in addition the Free People stores, which are some of my personal favorite shops as of right now and we ended up getting some stuff from LUSH. My mom likes to joke that we flew to Houston just to go to the LUSH store, and honestly, she isn’t wrong! That was probably the most exciting part of the trip!

After our trip to The Galleria, we bunkered down in our hotel for the rest of the night, taking the advice of our hotel staff and taxi driver to not go out at night. We ordered food from the hotel’s restaurant and watched HGTV the rest of the night.

The following day, I had a fantastic omelet from the hotel’s restaurant for breakfast and then we were off the the Consulate General. After my mom finished everything that she needed there, we were off to the airport and that’s about it! While I would say that my small amount of time in Houston involved sketchy people in parking garages and strange people at a mall, there was still much more positive and fun time to focus on with my mom and sister. It was a short but sweet little trip and I hope I have a chance to visit a different part of Houston and the state of Texas again sometime soon!

And before I wrap this post up, I just wanted to say that I hope my fellow Americans out there enjoy a good and safe Fourth of July today! Today I am reminded of how grateful I am to live in the country that I do. Living in Colorado, I feel so lucky, especially, to be able to experience my country’s beauty on a daily basis. The Rocky Mountains are something special! 🙂 I am so thankful to all of the amazing men and women that have served our country to protect our freedoms. Freedom is not free and we are not the land of the free without the sacrifices of the brave. Have a wonderful day and an even better week. See you next Sunday!!

July 4, 2021
Fall Colors in Nederland

It’s October, everyone! Life is weird but the sun still comes up every morning and fall is in full swing. Speaking of fall, my family and I made a quick little trip up to Nederland last weekend to take in the beautiful fall colors of Colorado!

We didn’t see as much color as I had hoped, but things were definitely changing especially with the aspen trees. Regardless, it was really nice to be OUTSIDE and enjoy some fresh air with my family. We even brought our dog, Boo, with us and he really seemed to enjoy the new scents and the lake. We didn’t let him go in or really even let him get near the mud, but he was veryyy interested in the water. It was really cute actually. 🙂

There’s this lake not too far into Nederland that we stopped at and walked around for some time and it was really nice. There were other families out and we all just really seemed to be happy to be doing something other than sitting or staring at a computer screen. I’m not all sure what Nederland itself has to offer, but I personally felt that going to the lake and walking around was a good enough trip.

On our way up, traffic was disastrous through Boulder and then up into the mountains. If you’re planning a trip to see the fall colors, plan on at least being in the car for an hour heading up and then an hour coming back. Obviously, things will depend on where you’re coming from, but if you’re coming from the Denver Metro area like I was, it may take you awhile. Totally worth it though!

I feel like this weekend would have also been a great weekend to go. Fall is always so pretty. I’m especially a fan of the trees with the leaves that turn red on top and then a more orangey-yellow on bottom. So pretty!! I hope you have a chance to get out this weekend, wherever you are and enjoy the pretty fall colors too. Have a good week!

October 4, 2020
I Go to Argo and We Spend Time in the Mountains

This past week, my aunt and uncle visited from New Mexico and it was wonderful to see and spend time with someone other than my dad, mom, and sister for a change. While they were here, we spent some time in Idaho Springs and Georgetown and also at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal. I go, you go, we all go to Argo! Let me share. 🙂

My aunt and uncle drove in Monday afternoon and that evening was a pretty chill one. We hung around the house and caught up with one another. After all, the last time we saw each other was around Thanksgiving! We usually see each other over Christmas break and sometimes spring break, but things were different this past year, and so those visits didn’t happen. Fortunately, we were able to make this work, with all of the craziness in the world, especially with this virus.

Tuesday morning, we drove up to the small town of Georgetown to catch the Georgetown Railroad Loop train ride. We were required to wear masks at the park, which was an experience in itself, but it felt wonderful to be with family and to be outside! We were the first on the train and it was fun to pick where we sat before anyone else got that chance. We chose to sit in an open top car, which was ultimately a great choice because we got to experience a little bit of a breeze and the sun which was nice. I didn’t realize how much I missed the beauty of the mountains until this train ride. Colorado is a beautiful state and I feel so lucky to call such a gorgeous state my home. Following the train ride, which was about an hour and fifteen minutes long, we stopped for lunch near a lake where some fishermen were hard at work. It was a pretty spot and the chicken croissant sandwiches were a perfect lunch that day. Side-note: If you’re ever looking for something yummy to try, I HIGHLY recommend the chicken salad and croissants from Costco. That’s a pretty good meal if you ask me.

Following lunch, we drove about twenty minutes back to Idaho Springs for a tour at the Argo Mill and Tunnel. This was a place that reallllly taught me not to judge a book by its cover. Driving in, I’m not going to lie, I thought the tour was going to be horribly boring and lame. It was actually quite the opposite. The Argo Mill was the only mill in the United States around the time of the gold rush to pump out any gold products with 95% efficiency, which is a REALLY high number, especially for its time. The Argo Mill was able to produce so much gold because they used a combination of mercury and cyanide to pump out A LOT of gold. The mill’s interior was built from the wood of EIGHT redwood trees and still stands today. Most if not all of the mill is maintained to this day and it was incredible to see how permanent, strong, and truly powerful the mill was. I can only imagine what it looked like in its glory days. While there, we had a wonderful tour guide, named Brooks, so if you ever get a chance to check out the Argo Mill and Tunnel, I recommend it and if you can get Brooks, he’s a super knowledgeable guy, both on mining and on the Argo itself!

There were two stories I really enjoyed from our time at the Argo. The first was about a teacher. At a time when the mill worked consistently, women were not allowed to work there let alone travel in the mine. There was a young woman who could not get to teach at her school without traveling through the Argo Tunnel, so she took a mine cart to then get to a platform that would take her to her classes. There was one day where her skirt got caught on a part of the wooden platform as she was headed up from the tunnel and to escape doom, she twirled out of her skirt, exposing the wire hoop under. Luckily, someone was able to lend her another dress and she got to class. Now, THAT was dedication. The second story was about a water burst at the mill. There are a series of pockets or wells near or under or around the Argo Tunnel and while working in the tunnel, it was assumed that there was twenty feet of dirt and rock between the tunnel and wells, when it was actually only ten. There was a bunch of water in the wells and the pressure was so great that it burst through the layer of rock at an insane velocity. Four men working in that area were killed. Three miles down the tunnel, near the entrance, another man was working and heard the sound of the water coming. Fortunately, this man made it out, but the water had caught up to him by the time he made it to the mouth of the tunnel. I’m horrible, haha, I don’t remember any names! The water shot out of the tunnel at such a velocity that it crossed the valley and sprayed across the valley at the same velocity and with the same insane amount of force for six days. It was apparently, A LOT OF WATER. A really, really, really, strong and supported concrete wall now holds back all of that water.

Stories like these and more are some of the things you will hear about and learn about if you take a trip up to the Argo Mill and Tunnel. While the mill may really not be the most exciting thing in the world, it was certainly interesting and a good change of pace from what I usually like to learn more about.

The next day of my aunt and uncle’s visit we went up to Rocky Mountain Arsenal and walked around Lake Mary and Lake Ladora. It was pretty, but very dry. It was also hot because we made the foolish mistake of heading out around 10 am, when the sun was already really starting to beat down. Thank goodness for water bottles though, am I right? While the views were great, and the company was even better, let’s just say that I was really happy to get out of the heat. When we got home and when my mom got home from work, we had a really good dinner and then played Just Dance together on our Nintendo Switch. It was a lot of fun.

My aunt and uncle had to head out on Thursday morning which was sad, but it had still been great that they got to come. And if you guys are reading this, we look forward to having you again and I’m so glad we got to spend a couple of days with you!!

If you get a chance to and you’re in Colorado, check out the Georgetown Loop Railroad, Argo Mill and Tunnel, or Rocky Mountain Arsenal. Or all three! Do what you please. 🙂 Have a good week and I’ll see you next Sunday!

June 28, 2020
Guayaquil: The Final Installment of the Ecuador Posts

By now, some of you might be like, “Thank God this is the last Ecuador post.” If that’s you, I’m sorry. I promise this is the last one! Hopefully you’ve enjoyed these travel posts. I always find travel blog posts to be really fun to write and also look back on. 🙂 The final destination of my Ecuador study abroad was the hustling, bustling city of Guayaquil and boy was it different from anything I had experienced so far.

On our way out of Cuenca and into Guayaquil, we stopped at Homero Ortega Panama hats, a place that makes (here’s a shocker) Panama hats. There were a lot of really pretty and well made hats and I’m a little bummed that I didn’t get one, but that’s ok. Now I know where to get a really nice, high quality hat if I’m looking for one! It was really interesting to see the process of making the hats. They’re woven into a pretty generic pattern and then pressed into this machine that forms the actual shape of the hats and then any additional accessories or designs are added after. Pretty cool if you ask me.

After our hat shopping excursion, we stopped about halfway between Cuenca and Guayaquil at this place called Dos Chorreras for lunch and a tour of the little abandoned mountain town up the road. The tour was cool and the city was absolutely tiny! There was a small mine, saloon, church, and maybe like two or three tiny, tiny houses from what I can remember. And each building wasn’t very big either. Imagine a typical college dorm room and maybe cut a fourth of that off. That was the amount of space on the inside of the church. It was really cold when we did the tour so it felt reaaaally nice to go inside the hotel/restaurant and sit somewhere warm. For lunch, we had a choice of trout (as the place had a trout farm) or steak and I went with steak. The dish it was served on was in the shape of a cow too so that was fun! Prior to the meal, there was a really yummy soup served too and of course my meal wouldn’t be complete without blackberry juice. I ate way too well in Ecuador. Way too well.

After lunch, it was another hour and a half (I think?) to Guayaquil and we arrived at our hotel, Hotel Palace, just before dinner. We had time to unwind and relax and then we got dinner on our own. A couple of the other students and I went and got empanadas at a place not too far from our hotel and boy was I glad that I went with other people. There were so many beggars and someone cat-called me along the way too.

While waiting for my empanadas, this homeless woman stood right at my side pleading that I give her money and on my other side, this nine-year old boy was doing the same. I wanted to help, but I just felt so uncomfortable. My empanadas were ok, but I feel like the experience of the city itself, made them less enjoyable.

There was also this man walking around the empanada stand who had blood GUSHING down his left arm (and when I say gushing, like it was really running down his arm) and it was dripping all over the streets and sidewalks. I’m not sure where he had been or what had happened, but after seeing all of that, I was ready to go hide in my hotel room. I guess that was how Guayaquil welcomed us?

After a unique dinner experience, we went and got ice cream and I got a blackberry milkshake at an ice cream shop across the street from the empanada stand. It was pretty yummy. 🙂 Our night wrapped up with a trip to an iguana park. Somewhere in the center of Guayaquil, there’s this park that is literally just home to a BUNCH of iguanas. Like so many iguanas. They were all sleeping by the time we got there but it was cute to see so many cute creatures. Well, maybe they weren’t all cute. Some of them were though! After some time chilling with the iguanas, we all went back to the hotel and hit the hay for the night.

The next day, we had a wonderful breakfast at our hotel and were all ready for our big business visits to Guangala Chocolate and Tulicorp, another chocolate company. Guayaquil = warm temperatures = optimal chocolate making and eating conditions. At Guangala, we got to tour the patio and learn about the chocolate making process and more specifically, the process of extracting cacao from cocoa beans and preparations for turning the cacao into chocolate. It was hot and WOW was the sun beating down on us and I was so thankful to have a water bottle with me that day. It was nice to have my hat too. At Guangala, I realized just how small the world is too. The wonderful woman that gave us a tour played tennis at CSU and her and I had a chance to talk a little about tennis so that was fun. 🙂

Following our roast on the patios of Guangala, we had lunch at this really cute place that had seafood and really good hot sauce. After lunch, it was time for our tour of Tulicorp, the other chocolate factory. At Tulicorp, we learned about how the cocoa beans are actually made into chocolate and had an opportunity to try a variety of chocolates. Let’s just say that I was pretty chocolate-ed out after this day. There was so much chocolate.

Now full of chocolate, we headed back to our hotel, had some time to relax and shower and then, again it was dinner time. One of the supervisors wanted to find this placed called Arthur’s Cafe that was about a 30-minute walk away from our hotel and so a group of students and I joined her in finding it. Sadly, that cafe was closed permanently and we didn’t know that until we were standing at the vacated doors of what was once Arthur’s Cafe. We were all pretty hungry at this point so we found some other place nearby that was alright. The service was HORRIBLE and the food was so-so, but at least I got some more blackberry juice out of the deal! After our meh dinner, we made the 30-minute trek back to our hotel and I passed out.

And just like that, it was January 15th. Our last day in Ecuador. We had breakfast at the hotel and then drove for about two hours to get to Salinas Beach, where we would spend a good chunk of the day. I spent some time swimming, working on a tan (which tends to be VERY hard for me), and doing one other thing that has me permanently traumatized… A banana boat. So some of you might be asking, what’s so scary about a banana boat? To those of you that have been on one and enjoyed yourselves, you’re not human. To those of you that have been on one and hated every second of it, I feel ya. To those of you that are like banana boat????? I’ll explain.

So a banana boat is a giant inflatable banana with straps attached to the top, which is where you sit. One end of the devilish banana is attached to a boat and as you ride along on this banana, the boat driver makes a sharp turn and you fall off unless you hold on for dear life. It’s supposed to be “fun”. Tell me WHERE the fun is, because I don’t see it.

See the thing is, I didn’t know that you were going to be flung off the banana as the boat driver guided us around. I thought we would just hop on the banana, and then get to bounce around and ride the waves. If that’s what the banana boat had actually been, I would’ve loved it. But NOOOOO. I legitimately get chills writing about it. Upon our first turn, we were WHIPPED off that stupid banana and a bunch of the people I was on the banana boat with all crashed into each other. One of my friends got smacked really hard in the head and someone or something smacked my ankle reaaaal hard. We had life vests on, so we weren’t going to drown but the feeling of being flung from a banana and then tossed around in the water and banged up by a bunch of other people was so so so NOT fun. We did this unfortunate banana flipping thing two more times and then it was all over. Thank. God. 10/10 would not ever recommend a banana boat to ANYONE. As I write this, my ankle still feels a bit tender because of the damage that was done on that gosh darn banana boat. Not good. Not good at all.

After that traumatizing experience, I remained on land for the rest of our time at the beach. Some ice cream helped lighten my mood, but wowza was I ready to go home at that point. After our time at the beach, we stopped at a local spot for lunch that had some of the best fettuccine with shrimp I’ve ever had. They also served my meal with a mountain of rice and avocado which was much appreciated.

We arrived at the hotel back in Guayaquil about two hours after leaving our lunch spot and by then, we had to finish up our packing and shower. At this moment, I realized just how sunburnt I had gotten. Yes, I had applied sunscreen, but being at the equator is just so different than being under the sun in Colorado. I was RED. I barely peeled later though, so that’s good!

Image by Creative Fabrica

Now all ready to go to the airport, we had our farewell dinner at this gorgeous place that had some of the best service we had the entire trip. The food was phenomenal too. If I could remember the name of the place, I would definitely share and recommend that if you’re ever in Guayaquil. It was incredible. I definitely felt under-dressed though, in my leggings and hoodie. It was definitely a more formal eating spot.

And now the fun had ended and it was time to soak in the long lines of customs and airport security. Yippeeeeee. Getting through customs and security took a while, but it was fine. The miserable part came with the six-hour flight to Dallas. My sinuses wanted to kill me and it felt like my head was going to explode the entire flight to Dallas. And to add to that, it was also past midnight and I was trying to sleep. No bueno. When we got close to Dallas, our pilot announced that a storm was over Dallas that prevented us from landing so we had to detour to Austin, sit there on the plane for 30 minutes and then made it to Dallas.

And that was the cherry on top. Our little detour resulted in us missing our connecting flight to Denver, and the people with American Airlines were everything BUT helpful about our situation. No one was helping us get on another flight and I was just feeling miserable and exhausted and just wanted to be home already. Customs in Dallas really sucked too.

Finally, a wonderful woman came to our rescue and helped us all get on a flight back to Denver (even if it was going to put me home two hours later than planned) so we were going to be home. I fueled up with some Starbucks and before we knew it, we were on our flight back to Denver.

I got home around noon and I don’t think I’ve ever been happier to be home. I really missed my country, of course, but I really missed my family. To give up two weeks of my winter break for a study abroad was totally worth it, but that time I missed with family is also important to me and I was a little bummed that I only have a couple of days with them before I had to leave for spring semester to start. Regardless, it felt good to be home and enjoy the time I could with my family.

Ecuador, you were an incredible, hospitable country, even if I got sick while visiting. Thank you for being the first country, beside the United States for me to visit and explore. I’ll be back and I’m looking at you, Galapagos Islands! 🙂 If you’re a student in college or even high school that is considering studying abroad, I highly recommend looking into some sort of program, even if it is a short two-week thing, because it really gives you a chance to explore a new culture, have some fun, and get college credit while doing it.

I hope you all have enjoyed the Ecuador posts and on that note, I’ll see you all next Sunday. 🙂

March 8, 2020
Alausí, Ingapirca, and Cuenca, Oh My!

I’m just going to go ahead and kill three birds with one stone in this post. I’m still writing about my time in Ecuador and this week, I’m talking about three of the short stops we made toward the end of my study abroad- Alausí, Ingapirca, and Cuenca.

Alausí was a small town and our main reason for being there was for the Devil’s Nose train ride. We had the chance to wander the tiny town until 11, which was when we then hopped on the train and rode up to this small mountain community which was a hardcore tourist attraction. Before that though, I had a chance to buy some empanadas and they were so good and fresh. 🙂 Good empanadas are another thing I really miss from my time in Ecuador. There were dancers and a lot of bright colors and good smelling food. Toward the end of our time in the community, I even got to dance with one of the dancers when they all started picking people to dance with from the crowd. It was pretty fun.

Fun fact for this Sunday (or maybe it’s not so fun, haha), the reason they call it Devil’s Nose is because 4000 works were killed in a dynamited explosion on the mountain you’re looking at and from what I remember, no one recalls detonating the TNT so they’re not sure what set it off.

Also, in my opinion, if you look toward the top of the mountain in the center of this photo, it looks like a face is coming out of the mountain and that’s also why I think they call it Devil’s Nose.

We left the community at 1 and were back in Alausí for lunch pretty quick. For lunch, we stopped at a cafeteria and I had a massive plate of really good local food and a huge glass of blackberry juice, all for only $4! Our time in Alausí was short but sweet. We then had a lovely three hour bus ride to our next stop, Ingapirca. See ya later Alausí!

We arrived at our hotel, La Posada Ingapirca (I’m pretty sure that was the name), and then had dinner at the hotel around 7. I was feeling kind of yucky when we got to this hotel but I was extremely relieved to find a comfy bed and very cozy room waiting for me. I remember sleeping very hard that night. And if I can recall this right, I’m pretty sure the sleep I got that night was the best it had been in a few.

The next morning, we had breakfast at the hotel and then were off to the Ingapirca Ruins, which are a mixture of Cañari and Incan Ruins. I’ve always wanted to see some form of ancient ruins and it was cool to see what we did. If you’re ever in Ingapirca, Ecuador for some reason, go check these out! They’re no Machu Picchu, but they’re still very cool. After seeing this ruins, I’m even more intrigued to actually go to Machu Picchu and see the Mayan and Aztec Ruins in Latin America. Maybe some day!

Our time in Ingapirca concluded after our tour of the Ingapirca Ruins and we were then off to Cuenca. We arrived before lunch time, checked into our hotel (which was gorgeous by the way! If you’re looking for a good hotel in Cuenca, San Juan Hotel is the way to go!), and then were off to lunch at a really cute place called Simón. I had a buffalo-chicken sandwich with fries and strawberry juice and that was a very good meal, despite my upset stomach. I still wasn’t feeling 100% and it was honestly so frustrating to have such good food in front of me and worry about not being able to keep it down.

Following lunch we had a tour of Cuenca and it was a gorgeous little city. We were there on a Sunday and Cuenca is a very religious town so a lot was closed, but I still really enjoyed taking in the views of such a pretty town. After our tour, we had some time to relax at the hotel and then went out to dinner at this place near the Catedral de Cuenca. I had some really good avocado, cheese, and potato soup that night. 🙂 To work off our dinner, we then walked to the river and then back to the hotel and hit the hay for the night.

I wish we could’ve stayed in Cuenca longer, but sadly, the next morning was our last day (not even a full one) there. We had breakfast at the hotel, visited the Catedral de Cuenca, which was absolutely STUNNING by the way, and then left for our final destination, Guayaquil. One quick thing about the Catedral de Cuenca. They built it to emulate Notre Dame in France, but something went wrong with the calculations for the towers and so if they had added the full-on towers to truly look like Notre Dame, the whole building would have collapsed so they didn’t do that. Being inside the cathedral was such a powerful moment and I’m sad that I wasn’t able to take any pictures in there though. I can understand why, but I just wish I had some pictures of it to remember how beautiful it was. If you ever find yourself in Cuenca, please visit the cathedral. It’s hard to miss.

I’ve really enjoyed sharing my experiences in Ecuador and I hope that you all have enjoyed reading about them! Visiting a new country is such a fun experience, even if you get sick along the way. Our short time in Alausí, Ingapirca, and Cuenca was fun and I hope that you all have a chance to explore another culture or country some time, or have done so already. I’ll see you all next Sunday for the final Ecuador blog. Have a good week! 🙂

If you haven’t checked out my other Ecuador blogs, here’s easy access to each of those!
If you haven’t checked out my other Ecuador blogs, here’s easy access to each of those!

Quito
Otavalo
Baños
Riobamba

March 1, 2020