Category: Travel

Stories about Snorkeling

I originally thought about calling this blog Snorkel Sunday, but I decided that wouldn’t really make sense because I snorkeled on a Thursday, so that’s that. On to the actual blog now!

My aunt and uncle found a place on Oahu that rents out snorkel equipment and a great tour place that offers snorkel tours. The place we got our gear from was called Snorkel Bob’s and they were great at making sure our fins, goggles, and actual snorkel were of good quality and that we felt comfortable. I highly recommend them if you’re ever wanting to snorkel and don’t have your own stuff. You can rent stuff from them for a day and I believe up to a week. The company that we got our dolphin snorkel tour through was Eō Wai’anae Tours and they had a little shuttle that took us to and from the place we snorkeled, which was on the west side of the island. Once we got with our group and on our boat, our guides handed us our life jackets which looked more like large floating bananas and then drove the boat out quite a way and located a dolphin pod. They told us to get all of our gear on, put anti-fog in our goggles, and basically threw us into the ocean. Just kidding, we all lined up and jumped off the boat in groups of two. When I first hit the water, I thought I was drowning. I seriously thought it was the end of the road for me. I was maybe a foot below the surface and then I did surface, my breathing slowed and I was ok for the rest of the trip. Two of our guides were out with us in the water and if they ever saw something in the water, they told us and we all did our best to swim that way and see. While we were in the water, one of the guides told us that the dolphin pod was moving around and I put my face down in the water. Maybe three feet from me, there was a dolphin! It was so cute! He was a little far from the rest of his buddies but he stared at me, clicked, and then swam off. It was the cutest thing to see. The rest of his pod was swimming below and I remember watching one of the dolphins twirling and just having a good time. That was a very special encounter. After spending some time around the dolphins, we swam back to the boat and were off to our next location. In the next spot, we saw some turtles and other pretty little fish. It was cool to watch the turtles surface for air and then swim back down and live their lives. One of our guides was a marine biologist from Australia and she had such a cool accent! While we were in the water here, she handed me some food and let me feed the fish! It was a really weird feeling to be surrounded by fish like that but it was another fun experience. After several more minutes out with the turtles and other fish, our snorkeling time was done and it was back to the boat for lunch and time at this beautiful bay, our last stop. Once we arrived, we were treated to a burgers and chip lunch and orange guava juice. The guides also put out a paddleboard, kayak, and let people jump off the top of the boat too! I definitely did not jump off the top of the boat, but my uncle and I tried our hands at kayaking which turned out to be a lot more tiring than I thought it would be. It was still very fun though. Snorkeling is another activity I would love to do again. I loved the feeling of the waves while I swam against them and I felt so happy watching all the fish and dolphins and turtles live their lives. The ocean floor was about 30-40 ft. below us and that was also pretty cool to think about too. The ocean is truly amazing.

In general I really enjoyed my snorkelling adventure even though I was genuinely concerned for my life at the beginning. Once I got used to how to breathe and swim around in my flippers, snorkelling was easy peasy. Something I really appreciated about the company that we went through was that they didn’t attempt to lure in the dolphins or turtles or truly any of the creatures. Our guides encouraged us to give the sea creatures their space unless they approached us. I felt like our guides truly knew what they were doing too which made me more confident and safe the entire trip.

Shortly after our snorkeling extravaganza, we headed back to Waikiki Beach for a submarine trip with Atlantis Submarines. For the submarine trip, we were on the larger of the company’s two submarines which can seat over 60 people. Everyone got their own seat and window on the submarine which adds to the experience. Being on a submarine was completely different from what I thought it was going to be. I thought I would feel the pressure and feel claustrophobic but I really didn’t feel either. I was thinking there would be more color than there was but once you get far down enough, everything is blue. Most of the fish and other sea creatures we saw appeared blue or silvery and if they were fish with another color, those colors appeared very dull or dark. While under the sea, we also saw another dolphin and turtle. Oh what a day! The farthest down we got was 112 ft. I honestly don’t know how many people can say they’ve done that! Atlantis Submarines built several different artificial reefs with a small plane, ship, and other materials to attract fish and other ocean creatures. It was very cool to see the different fish interact and do their own things. Overall, the submarine trip was fun, but I would not do it again or necessarily recommend it to you all. Seeing life under the sea was cool but it was hard to listen to our guide or truly enjoy what was going on because there were so many obnoxious children screaming and hollering about the fish and the toys they wanted. Ugh. I would’ve definitely enjoyed the submarine more if it weren’t for those kids and for everyone out that with kids under like 6 or 7, I beg of you to save yourself and NOT take your children on a submarine like this. People will thank you for that.

Our day playing with water ended with a delicious and unforgettable dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse. Oh my goodness, I’ve never had a better steak or mashed potatoes. Ruth’s Chris is more on the pricey side but oh boy is it worth it. They also had an amazing bread pudding that’s more like a muffin or cake than an actual bread pudding. So good! I really enjoyed spending time with my aunt and uncle that day, and eating at a restaurant like Ruth’s Chris was the perfect ending to a perfect day.

Wowza that was a long post. I hope you’re all still awake or reading at this point. Next week will sadly be my last post on my Hawaii trip. 🙁 It’ll be ending on a good note though! I’m talking about Pearl Harbor about some really good pancakes next Sunday. I hope you all have a wonderful and safe 4th of July. Have a good one! 🙂

July 1, 2018
Curling Into Coconuts at Kualoa Ranch

Coconut day! I mean ziplining day! There’s this really cool ranch that’s more on the north shore of Oahu called Kualoa Ranch. At Kualoa Ranch there have been a multitude of great movies and TV shows filmed which is super cool. I even got to see sets for the new Jurassic World movie! In addition to that, they’ve got ziplining, horseback riding, ATV tours, and so many other fun activities to do. Kualoa Ranch is definitely a fun and beautiful place to visit if you’re ever on Oahu.

I think we arrived at least 30-45 minutes before our scheduled ziplining tour just to get settled in before our bus took us up to zipline base camp. While we waited we played with the horses, watched a little documentary on Kualoa Ranch, enjoyed seeing the chickens everywhere (ok, maybe that was just me) and relaxed. Funny story now. There was this newly-wed Korean couple that came over to the horses while I was with them and the husband really wanted a picture of his wife near the horses. She got fairly close but you could tell she was afraid of the horse and then the horse made a little noise and she jumped and screamed. I felt kind of bad for her but it was still really funny because here I was, almost face to face with this one horse. After filling out some waivers and other forms, it was finally go time! We hopped on this little bus that had no windows and made our way up to base camp. At base camp, we were given a safety briefing and fitted into our harnesses and helmets. We had three wonderful guides who were extremely experienced and educated on ziplining. The girls we had made our trip very fun and I felt very safe the entire time. Finally it was zipline time! In the valley where we ziplined, there were 14 lines, I believe, and two suspension bridges. There were also a couple of short hikes in between lines but it wasn’t anything impossible to do. My aunt, uncle, and I were with a group of six others which was nice because it kept things close and a lot less overwhelming. Remember that Korean couple from earlier? Yes! They were in our group too! We were first introduced to ziplining on a 100 ft. line and then as we went, the lines got longer and faster and more fun. Each line was named after a native plant that was being grown in the area or just had a certain meaning that was special to our surroundings. I feel like that made me much more aware of just how beautiful the land around me was. At some of the lines, there were photo opportunities and it was pretty fun to strike a pose and be silly while practically flying through the jungle. There were even a few games we got to do as we ziplined. At one of the stations, we made bets for who would make it to the other end first and at another, we tried to throw kuikui nuts into a bucket below the lines which was super difficult, might I add. When we got to the longest line, in order to make it all the way, our guides told us to curl into coconuts (display title and roll credits, haha). This way we would make it all the way and hopefully not have to be rescued on the line. I almost made it the entire way. I got stuck just before the rope our guides were using to pull us in to the platform. Yay for me. When we walked across the suspension bridges, we were hooked to a wire above us and we were allowed to rock, bounce, and sway around as much as we wanted. That made walking across a lot harder but it was SO MUCH FUN! It was honestly sad when our trip came to an end. The thrill of spinning around in the air and just flying over the gorgeous landscape was a blast. I didn’t have to worry about braking or getting myself attached to the line and the ladies that guided my group did an amazing job with us. I could definitely see myself ziplining again and I hope if I get the chance to do it again, it’s at Kualoa Ranch. Once our time at the ranch was done, it was around lunch time and we were STARVING. We headed back to Waikiki and had a big lunch to fill our very empty tanks. Ziplining: another great way to make memories, try something new, and have a blast. I loved it so much! We then spent a good amount of time on the beach relaxing, swimming, and also trying out an aquabike! I think we rented one for 30 minutes and then just biked out to sea. There were these two guys that insisted on racing my aunt and I and they got their butts whooped. End of story. 🙂 It was honestly a lot of work to move those pedals around when we were going against the waves. It was a fun little activity though just as something chill and relaxing to do on the beach.

I hope you all are keeping cool. Ugh, here in Colorado it’s so dry and hot and I’m really not into that type of weather so it’s going great from here, haha. See ya next Sunday for a post about my snorkeling adventure. Have a great week everyone! 🙂

June 24, 2018
Memorial Day in Hawaii and Iolani Palace

Just a quick note before I get started here. I decided to combine Memorial Day and the day after into this blog post because they go very well together. So bring out that cup of coffee and kick your feet back, because this is gonna be a long one!

So on Memorial Day, we were supposed to go see Iolani Palace, keyword here “supposed”. 15 minutes before our tour, we arrived and the place was empty. My aunt, uncle, and I found out that they were closed for the day in honor of Memorial Day so that scheduled tour we planned probably wasn’t going to happen. Oh well! That gave us an even better idea and so we spent our Memorial Day at Waimea Falls. Before we left though, we got some pictures of the palace and the statue of Kamehameha the Great which was across the street. Waimea Falls is a small waterfall that has a beautiful and easy hike up to it. Along the way, we saw some beautiful flowers and lush green vegetation. There were trees whose arms intertwined with one another and reached out as if they had all the room in the world. The views were breathtaking and all of the plants and trees were just amazing. When we made it to the actual falls we took some pictures (of course, haha) and sat and watched the running water as well as all the people swimming around below the falls. If you ever decide to go up to Waimea Falls, bring your swimsuit! You can swim in the falls, but before you do that, you have to check in with the lifeguard and get a life jacket, regardless of how good a swimmer you are. I would suggest going in the mid-morning, so that the crowd will hopefully be smaller and it won’t be as hot. We ran into a little bit of rain while we were up there but it wasn’t anything we couldn’t handle. It actually felt very nice. The rain in Hawaii is more of a mist and it’s very gentle even when it rains more. We spent quite a bit of time hiking around and being at Waimea Falls so if you plan to go there, be prepared for a longer stay. 🙂

The next day, we were fortunate enough to get our tour for Iolani Palace rescheduled and we got in! What a stunning building the palace is and inside is even more beautiful. Iolani Palace is the only official royal building in the United States, fun fact. It was built by King Kalakaua during his reign from 1874 to 1891. From what I remember, he was the last king of Hawaii. His sister, Liliuokalani would be the last ruler of Hawaii before the monarchy was overthrown and Hawaii annexed. They make you wear covers over your shoes to protect and preserve the floor which is kinda fun. Wow I’m a dork, haha. At Iolani Palace we learned more about the Hawaiian royal line and specifically Hawaii’s last rulers. The story of the monarchy’s overthrow was quite sad honestly, but it was very interesting to learn more about. The palace was GIANT and it was cool to learn how innovative and tech-savvy, for lack of better words, King Kalakaua was. He had electricity and running water in Iolani Palace before most buildings on the US mainland! The music room, which is on the second floor of the palace was my favorite room. It contained King Kalakaua’s music box and the room itself was just beautifully decorated. I also really enjoyed the Blue Room, simply because the furniture’s cushioning was all a deep, royal blue that was just stunning. And the throne room. Oh. My. Goodness. It was gorgeous! The red throughout the room was stunning and the thrones themselves were stunning. I can only imagine what Iolani Palace would’ve been like at the time of King Kalakaua. The throne room was really cool to in that there were recreations of several of Queen Liliokalani’s gowns. She had one with ostrich feathers in there and one embellished with peacock feathers. They were beautiful. I highly recommend visiting Iolani Palace. We had a wonderful tour guide who told us so much about the royal family and the palace itself. Feeling like royalty for a few hours was pretty cool. 🙂 And just when you thought this day couldn’t get more exciting, we had parasailing shortly after! Woohoo! My aunt and uncle used this company, Hawaiian Parasail. They have a very good record and are well-known for their safety, which I’d say is pretty important if you’re going to be 1000 feet in the air! While my stomach did not appreciate the choppy waves and how they rocked our small boat around, it did just great as my uncle and I soared above Oahu. I hope I never forget the feeling of parasailing. You can hear the wind rushing and it moves you around a little and the view is just something else. I could almost describe parasailing as being on a swing in the sky but I still feel like that doesn’t quite describe it. It was so fun though! I wanna say that my uncle and I were in the air for about 7 minutes and then on the way back to the boat, the guys dunked us in the ocean. Yay saltwater! I’m sooooo glad I wore my swimsuit for that. And after parasailing, it was time for our luau. We went to Paradise Cove which is on the west side of the island. I’ve never been to a luau, so I didn’t really know what to expect, but let me just say I was not let down. We were greeted with orchid and kuikui nut leis and then ushered in to our tables. There were several activities before the actual show began which including watching coconuts be husked, cooking the pig, watching people climb palm trees, and a shower of plumeria flowers. Finally it was time to eat and we were treated to a three course meal. There was a delicious salad plate followed by the main meal which had several different types of meat and then finally dessert! Dessert was a delicious chocolate and pineapple cake with coconut icing. There was also this interesting gelatiny dessert that tasted like coconut. When the main dish came around was when the show started. And oh what a show it was! The singers were extremely talented and so were the dancers. The girls were all beautiful and the guys were all pretty good-looking too. Especially the fire dancer, oh my goodness his eyes were pretty! Anyway, the show was wonderful and I absolutely love the sound of the music there. It’s totally unique and different from anything I’ve ever heard and I love it! Paradise Cove was a great luau with great service and an even greater view. The sunset that night was gorgeous to and it was a great way to end that day. I think that my aunt and uncle ordered one of the more expensive packages and that’s what allowed us to have the lei greeting and stageside seats. As mentioned it’s more expensive, but I’d say it’s worth it. What a fun couple of days that was.

Next week I’m talking about my ziplining experience so I hope you’ll be around to hear about that. Have a good week everyone! 🙂

June 17, 2018
History Day in Oahu

Day three of my Hawaiian trip turned out to be one of the most helpful, interesting, and insightful days of my trip to Oahu. On Sunday’s agenda, we had Bishop Museum, Queen Emma’s, and also Pali Point. Here’s how my history-filled May 27th in Hawaii was!

We were up bright and early to be the first people at Bishop Museum. We just wanted to avoid a crowd, plus with so many more things to do during the day, we wanted to ensure we had plenty of time to do everything! At Bishop Museum, we learned about the first Hawaiians, their royal family and Hawaiian culture. I loved reading more about the royal family and all of their crazy connections and contributions to the islands. One of the more interesting things they had on display were these giant hair necklaces. Members of the royal family typically possessed these thick necklaces of finely braided hair that belonged to their ancestors. Honestly, kind of gross but still very interesting! Bishop Museum was pretty cool, but honestly it’s not a place I would recommend. I just found myself bored there pretty quick. Not to say that I didn’t enjoy it, it just wasn’t my favorite. There was a lot of stuff to read and I’m more of an interactive person so that’s something to keep in mind if you’re looking into museums on Oahu. Bishop Museum did help make being at Queen Emma’s much easier though, because I knew the backstory of Queen Emma and her husband, King Kamehameha IV and just a little bit more about Hawaiian history. In Honolulu, Queen Emma had a small summer home, and we had the chance to tour it. Queen Emma was raised by a doctor and his wife and grew up wanting to take care of people. She eventually married her husband, making her the queen of Hawaii. They had a son together, Prince Albert, and he unfortunately died when he was about four years old. 🙁 During her reign, Queen Emma and her husband created the Queen’s Hospital, which I believe offered free healthcare to native Hawaiians and made good connections with Queen Victoria back in England. Queen Emma was an extremely talented, inspiring, hard-working, and genuine soul and I’m so glad that I had the opportunity to learn more about her life story. And to wrap up our day of history, we visited Pali Point. Pali Point is this point on of the mountains on Oahu where the first king of Hawaii, King Kamehameha the Great and his troops forced opposing forces to either jump off or be forced off. At the time of his rule, King Kamehameha was working to unite the eight islands of Hawaii and this was the final push for that. He was successful and there is a beautiful statue of him across the street from Iolani Palace if you want to go check it out! After a rainy and windy visit up to Pali’s Point it was time for lunch so we headed back to the hotel and grabbed some food. One thing I’m finally starting to pick up on is how many ABC Stores there are here! Holy cow! ABC Stores are basically like 7/11’s and other little convenience stores and they’re actually on every block. ABC Stores are extremely convenient though, as they have just about anything a tourist could need ranging from food to beach towels and even coffee mugs.

It’s really weird still writing about Hawaii even though I’ve been back for a week now. Wow do I miss island life! I hope you all are enjoying the summer heat! Have a beautiful week you beautiful people and stay tuned for next week’s post about Memorial Day!

June 10, 2018
A Diamond Head Kind of Day

You’ve all waited a week for this and here’s day two of my Hawaiian adventure! We started Saturday morning off bright and early, since we were still on our clocks back home to hike Diamond Head. For those of you who don’t know, Diamond Head is the crater of a former volcano. The hike was kind of challenging, but nothing we couldn’t handle. Except for the stairs. Oof, there’s one way you can hike which consists mostly of stairs, and that just seemed awful, so I recommend taking the other path if you ever decide to visit Oahu. The view from the top and also on the way up was stunning and quite peaceful, considering the masses of people that had also joined us to hike that morning. Next on our agenda was Hanama Bay and the blowhole. We drove up to a scenic stop to see Hanama Bay from above and I’ve never seen bluer water in all my life. Wow was it beautiful. If you’re looking for a good, safe place to snorkel, I heard that Hanama Bay is the place to be. The Halona Blowhole, which isn’t too far down from Hanama Bay, is a spot where water sprays from this hole in the rocks and the views there are stunning as well. Watching the waves crash on the rocks and just looking out at the gorgeous, blue water made me so happy. Traveling out to these spots is definitely a longer drive from Honolulu so if you plan to visit, be prepared for a long car trip. To add on to this already amazing day, we saw even more beautiful sights at the Byodo-In Temple. This place was my favorite by far. The Byodo-In Temple is a replica of a temple built in Japan and the atmosphere and beauty of this place was just surreal. The overall vibe there was peaceful and serene and it was so wonderful. We had a chance to walk around the gardens and ponds there and also head into the temple. There we lit some incense and viewed the massive Buddha statue. Being in the temple was so calming and it’s a feeling I never want to forget. Unfortunately, we had to leave the Byodo-In Temple at some point, and we did. Now it was time for some Dole Whip. Yay! There was another somewhat long drive ahead of us and then we arrived at Dole Plantation. We were on a mission and our mission was accomplished when we sat down at our table and snacked on Dole Whip. There really is no way to describe how delicious or refreshing Dole Whip is. If you haven’t ever had it, please do at some point. I had an idea of what it would taste like, since I had some at Disneyland when I was there two years ago, but Hawaii didn’t fail to disappoint. There were little chunks of pineapple in the Dole Whip which made it even better. I also got to see how pineapples grow, which is not at all what I expected. They grow from the ground and when farmers want to plant pineapple, they cut it in half horizontally and stick one of the halves back in the ground and voila, more pineapple! Dole Plantation offers tours of the fields and has a train ride around the whole place, which we didn’t do, but if you’ve got kids and are looking for something fun to do, this might just be it!

See you all next week where I talk about my history day in Hawaii. Have a beautiful week you beautiful people! 🙂 Aloha!

June 3, 2018
Aloha Oahu

As of today, I have been in Hawaii for three magical days and before I get going on what I’ve been up to, let me clarify a few things. No, I am not seeing lava anywhere, that’s on the Big Island. I am on Oahu. Also, continuing on the topic of the volcano, the entire island of Hawaii is NOT covered in lava. It’s just a small portion of the Big Island that is directly affected by the lava. My prayers and thoughts go out to those affected by Kilauea’s eruption and the lava flow. Vog can be seen from Oahu and it’s somewhat hazy here, but other than that it’s perfectly fine here.

I left for the Hawaiian islands on May 25th, which was this past Friday. Before leaving for Hawaii we stayed in Arizona for the night. As far as I know there aren’t any direct flights from Denver to Honolulu so yeah… When we left on the 26th, we were welcomed to Honolulu with a traditional lei greeting and then left to get our rental car. Following that, we went to the Hilton Hawaiian Village, which is where we are staying for the next week in the Grand Waikikian and grabbed some lunch. Funny story with that actually. My aunt, uncle, and I ordered our meals and the waitress just kept coming back and saying, “Your meal will be out shortly. I promise.” Yeah, shortly, as in 40 minutes later. She felt really bad and we ended up eating for free there. I can’t remember the name of the restaurant, but they had really good chicken tacos which was great. After getting settled into our room, it was time to do some grocery shopping. This was where my aunt and uncle introduced me to my new addiction: Maui Sweet Onion chips. Oh, they’re so good! We bought some stuff for sandwiches and a wide variety of fruits and headed back to the hotel. By this time, it was around 6 o’clock Hawaiian time and we were all exhausted because that’s 10 o’clock MST.

We ate a quick dinner, took our first walk along Waikiki Beach and then waited for the firework show to begin. Every Friday night, Hilton does an AMAZING 4-minute firework show on the beach, which is pretty cool. We caught the firework show and once that was done, we crashed. Adjusting to the time difference has been one of the toughest things, but we’re all managing, and I seem to be adjusting quickly.

I’m currently three days into this trip and I know I’m gonna have A LOT to say about it, so I will be posting each day as a blog post, so if you’re all up for it, get ready for a bunch of travel blog posts. Good night from Honolulu!

May 27, 2018
A Little Adventure in Downtown Denver

It’s honestly been a while since I visited Denver and I live like 45 minutes from it. So this weekend, my family and I took a little day trip to Denver and caught up on our history at the Colorado History Museum, saw the work of Edgar Degas at the Denver Art Museum, and then wrapped up our day with burgers and shakes at BurgerFi.

I’ve never been to the Colorado History Museum, but I’ve walked past it a bunch. It was awesome to finally see the building from the inside, haha. The Colorado History Museum covers everything from Colorado before it was a state to Colorado in the Civil War to Colorado now in all of its glory. The museum was extremely interactive and a lot of fun to mess around in. Allyson and I played in this little barn and went down a couple of slides. (Yes, I’m actually five). We got to “drive” a Model T around which was really cool too and watched a short documentary about Colorado during the Dust Bowl. The special exhibit they had this time around was about baseball and its beginnings. They had Babe Ruth’s bat and some of his merchandise as well as Jackie Robinson’s bat and some of his stuff. It was pretty cool to see. This museum is very hands-on and so much fun so if you’re ever in Denver and wanna learn about Colorado’s history, please come visit!

Now it was time for the Denver Art Museum. Personally, this was my favorite part. Currently on display, they have the work of Edgar Degas, a French painter, sculptor, and just brilliant artist in general. We a lot of his pieces including “The Star”, “After the Bath”, “Dancer With Bouquets” and much more. In addition to Degas’s work, we saw a lot of abstract and weird art as well as some really pretty and just amazing work. That’s the fun thing about art museums, all types of art and every medium is covered. I really enjoy being around art because it’s very peaceful and calming. It makes you think about all types of things and you come out inspired.

After all of this, my dad took us to this AMAZING burger place that’s maybe five minutes from the Denver Art Museum called BurgerFi. Honestly, just sitting here and writing about it makes me hungry. BurgerFi is an all-natural, grass-fed beef burger and hot dog restaurant that I also think has the best fries ever. Their food is just so good I can’t really explain it. What’s cool too is that they “brand” their burgers with the BurgerFi logo. I also got an Oreo milkshake and that was very yummy as well. The service was great and the food was even better and this was a great way to end a very fun day.

April 15, 2018
Oh the Places I Want to Go…

While I’ve only traveled in the States, I’ve found that I love traveling. There are so many places I plan to visit and I also hope that I can study abroad in college. In my bullet journal, I’ve kept a list of places I’d like to travel to and here are some of them!

In the country I’d like to visit:
– Jackson Hole, WY: My dad used to teach a platform tennis clinic up there every year and I’ve heard it’s beautiful.
– Disney World and Universal Studios: Yeah, I have yet to go to Disney World. Disneyland was a blast and I can only imagine how much fun Disney World is. I also would love to visit Hogwarts and all the other wonders of Universal Studios.
– Oregon: I have some family in Oregon and I’ve heard it’s also just a beautiful state. The weather there sounds wonderful too.
– Alaska: Alaska would be fun to travel to because it’s so different from the rest of the states, at least from what I’ve heard. I’ve always wanted to see the Northern Lights too. I know that Alaska is also known as the land of the midnight sun and I think it’ll just be a cool experience.

Internationally I’d like to travel to:
– London: I really want to see Big Ben, the London Eye, Buckingham Palace, and drink tea. London also just has so much history and I want to see it all.
– France: Like London, France has so much history. I’d really love to visit the Louvre and see the Mona Lisa and other art.
– St. Petersburg and Moscow: My uncle and cousins live in Moscow and I have a bunch of cousins in St. Petersburg so it would be wonderful to see them in person. Russia also just has so much history and I know I’d enjoy seeing that country.
– Greece: One of my friends traveled to Greece for his senior trip and that instantly made me want to go. It looks gorgeous and the food sounds amazing. I’ve also always wanted to see what the ancient Greeks left behind and see all of the history there.
– Sydney, Australia: Australia just seems like a very fun place to visit. There are so many different animals and I’d like to go down under and see what it’s like.

Traveling is so much fun and there are so many opportunities to learn new things about the places you visit and the cultures that exist there. I hope you all have a chance to explore the world and have a wonderful week!

March 25, 2018
Not a Big Fan of New York, New York

I’ve been really lucky to do more travelling than usual this summer and this past Friday, I got home from New York after spending a week there, competing at a modeling and acting convention. I will definitely agree with most that New York is a really cool and different city, but I think I’d prefer my Rocky Mountains and 300 days of sunshine in Colorado.

The view from our hotel room

My mom and I arrived in New York on the 9th, early in the morning. Our trip began with a thirty-minute taxi ride from JFK to the Hilton Midtown in Midtown. Wow, was that an adventure. Taxi drivers in New York City are RUTHLESS. The man we had driving us was super sweet but once he got behind the wheel, he became an aggressive, hardcore racecar driver. It was kinda cool to see how he dodged cars and semis and sped down the highway. We got some pretty good air hitting a jump one time too. What a thrill ride!

Once we arrived at the hotel, the week was a whirlwind. There were a lot of outfit changes, late nights, hairspray and makeup, and quick runs to grab food. I wish that my schedule at the convention allowed for me to do a little more sightseeing and wandering around the Big Apple, but it is what it is. The convention itself, was fun, but not nearly what I expected it would be. I think that for some people, it opened doors, but for the most part, it seemed fake. There were a lot of promises made by agencies and the convention themselves that were not followed through on and that’s ok. I had a lot of fun and learned a lot from the experiences I had and I’ll never forget that adventure. Something I learned from my experience this past week and the whole experience I had with my former agency was that you have to be really careful in the modeling and acting industries because there are a lot of real, good people and there’s also a bunch of sneaky people who might seem like they are legit but actually aren’t. They could care less about who you are and are only concerned with how much you’re willing to pay to sign their “contract”. I respect who I’ve worked with in the past and I wish them all the best and I’d just like to say that it’s tough to discern who the real people are but after this interesting journey, my eyes are more open than ever, and I know what I have to do.

When I had time to be outside of the hotel, my mom and I had a lot of fun. We visited the Rockefeller Center and took a tour of the NBC Studios which included seeing the sets of the Tonight Show, SNL, and the Late Night Show with Seth Meyers. That was super cool. It was exciting to get to be in the same room and even step in the same places as some famous and talented people. My mom and I even got to make our own late night TV show at the end of our tour and we enjoyed that. That was probably the highlight of my NYC trip.

We also visited Central Park and Times Square while in the Big Apple and those were both cool places to visit. I honestly imagined Times Square, specifically where the ball is dropped on New Year’s’, much bigger and wider than it was. There were a lot of sketchy people and pushers making attempts to sell my mom and I stuff or get us to take pictures with them. That was definitely uncomfortable. Also, it was incredibly hot and humid while we visited Times Square and that made it a struggle to do a lot of walking. We spent about thirty minutes wandering Times Square and then frantically searched for the nearest Starbucks or air-conditioned place to cool off and head to Central Park. After a quick trip to get some iced tea, we walked to Central Park and I enjoyed seeing nature and trees and endless (not really) green. It was a nice escape from the dirty, crowded, and crazy place that New York City is. I enjoyed getting to see the many different people in Central Park and see a variety of plants and trees, because trust me, there were soooo many different types of trees. It was pretty cool.

At some point during our stay in NYC, we also managed to find a few good places to eat at, like Fresh & Co, an artisan bakery with really yummy sandwiches and coffee, and a great pizza place called PizzArte. Food, well actually everything, was EXTREMELY pricey in New York and it was crazy how much we spent on food. At PizzArte, one of the pizzas we got was $24!! Holy cow, was it expensive, but it was also probably one of the best pizzas I’ve ever had. We also found an ice cream truck chilling right by our hotel one day, and that half-and-half ice cream cone was one of the best ice cream cones I’ve ever had. I never wanted it to end.

I did enjoy my time in New York City, but I will honestly and confidently say that it’s not my favorite city. I wish I did a little more sightseeing, as mentioned earlier, and I hope to go back in the future and see more of the city. I could do without the gross smells and the unhappy people and the sketchy people and the trash constantly fluttering the streets and the awful traffic and sound of sirens every hour or so, but not every city is perfect. Actually no city is perfect! The time I had in New York was worth it and I’m ready to go back (whenever I do) and have another adventure.

I took this picture near Carnegie Hall on the way to Central Park. What’s with the giant pile of trash?!

July 16, 2017
New Adventures in Omaha, Nebraska

Now, now. Some of you might be thinking, why go to Nebraska? All that state has to offer is endless fields of corn and cows! You might be partially right, but for the part of Nebraska I was in, you’d be wrong. Last weekend, I visited Omaha, Nebraska with my mom to go see Creighton University and wander around as tourists. Here’s how our trip went.

My mom and I arrived on Sunday, July 2nd and arrived in Omaha around noon. We stayed at the Homewood Suites by Hilton in Downtown Omaha, and let me tell you, those were some sweet suites. Best hotel I’ve stayed at, by far. Anyway, we unpacked our things and then decided we were going to the zoo.

Omaha has an AWESOME zoo and the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium is one of the best zoos in the world, not only in my opinion but also according to TripAdvisor. It was raining when my mom and I got to the zoo, so the crowds weren’t too bad and we had a lot of fun. The animal exhibits were spacious and fun to look around and the animals themselves seemed to be quite happy and healthy. We spent several hours wandering around the massive zoo. My favorite part of the zoo was the desert dome. At Henry Doorly, the desert dome was home to all creatures and even plants living in a desert. When we walked into the desert dome, it was like we were in an actual desert and my mom and I really enjoyed ourselves in there. Right below the desert dome, the zoo had an exhibit called “Kingdoms of the Night” which was home to all of the nocturnal creatures housed at the Henry Doorly Zoo. There were naked mole rats and alligators and bats and so many more animals that called the nighttime their daytime. The zoo also had great people working there and great food. I definitely recommend the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium if you’re ever rolling through Omaha.

The same day we visited the zoo, while hunting for a Starbucks, we stumbled upon a cool little national park called Pioneer Courage. All throughout this park, there was a variety of pioneer statues which made great photo opportunities. The park showed a significant part of Nebraskan history and how the state came to be and that was really cool. We also got to see the building for the Omaha World Herald, which is the newspaper for Omaha.

On our second day in Nebraska, we toured Creighton University, which I loved and went and walked around Old Market afterward. Creighton University and a nice campus and I really enjoyed the feel of it. I’m still not sure if it’s where I’d like to go to college, but it seemed like a good fit for me and I liked Omaha, so we’ll see. As mentioned a little earlier, after our tour, we journeyed to Old Market, which is a historic and old neighborhood in Omaha that has been turned into an array of shops and restaurants. There, my mom and I had really good (but cheesy, like super cheesy) calzones at a great pizza place, bought some really good taffy and chocolate treats at an old candy shop, and just had a good time walking around. Old Market was cool because the streets were all cobblestone, which honestly made me feel like I was in a Disney movie. It was cool.

Omaha was fun to visit and I was honestly quite surprised with how green the city actually was. Nebraska in general was actually much more green than I thought it was going to be and that was a positive. On the 4th, my mom and I left to return to Colorado, and I think I can say that we both had a good time and plan on making trips back in the future. 🙂

July 9, 2017