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By kilax, February 16, 2015 9:40 am

Day 2, first things first, let’s get a run in!

Yay! First run in a foreign country, for both of us!

The person who rented our condo to us is a runner, so when Gina inquired about the condo and told him we are runners, he gave us some great recommendations for where to go! The first place we checked out was Playacar – a gated resort community that was just south of our condo, and easily accessible from the bike path that runs along 10th Avenue. The community was one big loop, and there and back was just about 5 miles (oops, should I be putting that in kilometers?! ha ha!).

We had plans for the day but weren’t in too much of a hurry when we got back from our run (ahhh, I love vacation pace). The night before, we decided to go to Cozumel. I had said “Let’s get Cozumel over with.” Ha ha. I felt obligated to go there. Not by anyone in our group, but by many people I told we were going to Playa del Carmen – “It’s so close to Cozumel! You have to go!” Okay, then!

The walk along 5th Avenue to the ferry included a lot of people calling out at us to buy things, Steven and Steve deciding to get hats at one of the shops (after some hardcore bargaining, ha ha),

And note, Luca’s new hat from Walmarto

me and Steve stopping to buy ferry tickets (they seemed to be leaving every hour, on the hour), Steven and Gina doing some Jeep rental bargaining, and a stop for lunch, then we made our way to the ferry.

Ahh, the ferry. El barco.

El barco del barfo.

The day we chose to take the ferry from Playa del Carmen to San Miguel de Cozumel was probably the windiest day we were in Mexico. Something about the wind shifting direction? The waves were a bit… intense.

As was the ride over.

Just watch the horizon line in that video – see how much it moved? The whole trip was like that. Did I mention we went right after lunch? Gah. Pair that with being a bit enclosed with not much air and a live band… wow. Most of my senses felt assaulted. That ride (about 40 minutes, eek!) could NOT get over fast enough.

Luckily, none of us left any lunch behind on the ride over… but I did feel a desperate need to get something like Gatorade to drink when I got off (it didn’t help I woke up with a bit of a headache that day!).

So yeah. The boat ride was rough.

We didn’t have plans on Cozumel. It’s known the for diving and snorkeling, and as a cruise stop, with a touristy shopping area. There are a ton of excursions you can do – ATVs, swimming with dolphins, and so on. But it was our first full day there. We didn’t really feel like that. We wanted to explore.

Steven and Gina had spoken with someone in Playa del Carmen who swore he’d get us the best price for a Jeep in Cozumel. Better than any price we could get on Cozumel. We suspected he might be full of it, so one of the first things we did when we got off the boat was talk to someone about renting a Jeep. Yep, as we suspected, the price was the same on Cozumel (and better after using the bargaining tactic of walking away). Ha ha.

But, no Jeep. We decided to just walk a bit, on foot. We visited a few shops, found a bakery,

It was Gina, Steve and Luca’s first time at a Mexican Bakery! I can’t believe we’ve never taken them to the one by our house! It’s so fun – you grab a tray, and some tongs, and load up your plate. Stuff never tastes like you think it will. As a general rule, things that look sweet, aren’t, and things that look bready, might be sweet. It’s so fun to try it all and see what turns out to be your favorite! This would not be our only bakery trip in Mexico!

and wandered to a few more shops. I think we were all a bit “this is it?!”

We probably should have done a bit more research before going. Oops, maybe I shouldn’t have been so eager to “get it over with.” But! Things started to look up!

The boys found a cigar shop to check out, and while we waited, we noticed we were right next to a bar/restaurant, so why not order some drinks?

We didn’t even look at the menu. Just asked for two piña coladas. Um. We were pleasantly shocked when they came out. Wow. And the price? I think less than $4 USD each!

Luca had a snack too (we helped).

Um. Oops. Maybe that wasn’t a good idea for the Barco del Barfo ride back…

Wait! One last pic to prove we were there!

I was feeling all optimistic about the boat ride back. We were in a lower part of the boat, and it was enclosed and air conditioned. “Hmm, maybe this will be better? Less waves since we’re not so high up? And not as stuffy! No band, either!”

Errr… um. Nope. Two in our group fell victim to the Barco del Barfo. Why’d we eat all those fries again?!

Ha ha. This post makes it seem like Cozumel, which Gina aptly renamed Cozuhel (jajajaja), was a bust. But it wasn’t! The boys got the cigars they wanted, and Gina and I found drinks the size of our heads. And, on the way back in Playa del Carmen, we noticed how beautiful the beach looked to the south of the pier, so we ventured to check it out.

Someone had told me that the beach there gets better as you go south of the main area (probably closer and closer to Playacar, and even in Playacar), and they were right!

We decided then to go back the next day and be beach bums!

There was a bit of goofing around on the way home.

Our friend from the day before! We decided to name “him” Pedro.

And I had to stop to get this!

Since we had Mexican food for lunch, we decided to get something different for dinner – pizza! Which we ate on the rooftop patio!

Apparently we missed all the excitement up there – after dinner, Steven and Steve went back up to smoke a cigar and a bachelor party was up there! Don’t worry, Gina and I were being equally as exciting – we were chatting and I was knitting. Ha ha.

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By kilax, February 14, 2015 6:16 pm

Consider yourself warned – these posts will be long and detailed because they’re my journal account of our trip and because I want to share some of the information we discovered there that other people browsing the internets may find helpful. 

When we were looking for plane tickets to Cancún in September, we were actually able to find one that had a layover in Dallas on the way there and on the way back. Awesome! This meant we could arrive and depart Mexico with Gina and family (as they live in Dallas)!

The only odd thing about the flight there, was that it left on a Wednesday night from Chicago, got to Dallas that evening, then left for Mexico Thursday morning. I had never experienced a layover split over a day like that before! But (despite a delay and getting in really late), I discovered I liked splitting the travel between two days like that – it felt like I was wasting less time traveling splitting over two days (rather than spending one day of travel like we did on the way back). And of course, it helped that Gina’s husband, Steve, picked us up at the airport and we got a few hours of sleep at their place before our Thursday am flight!

Luca and me on the shuttle to the airport!

When we booked our tickets, we chose the row behind Gina, Steve and Luca on the flight. Which meant there was a bit of this going on:

Hee hee!

Every person on the plane seemed in great spirits on the flight from Dallas to Cancún. Hmm… I wonder why?! Maybe something to do with the weather? It was actually pretty chilly in Dallas when we left, at 31°F! I made sure to check the weather back home too…

Nope. Nopenopenope. Adiós cold weather! This trip seriously could not have been at a better time of the year!

Hola, Cancún!

We arrived in Cancún in the late morning and took a previously reserved (thanks, Steve!) Super Shuttle the 35 miles to Playa del Carmen. Someone had warned me that the Cancún Airport is really confusing and that even if you have a reservation for a car or ride, tons of people will be giving you transportation offers and you won’t know where to go. Yes, people were there offering rides… but there was only one way out of the airport and it was super clear where to go for what you wanted. Ha ha, makes me wonder what the heck happened to that person that they gave me such a warning!

Waiting for Super Shuttle. This Christmas, there was a gift from my parents marked “for Kim and Gina” and it had two matching pink hats in it! Gina and I loved them! And so did Luca. Ha ha. We had to get him a hat the day we arrived. Steven and Steve bought their hats the next day…

As I mentioned, we rented from Airbnb. Originally, we were looking at resorts, but I was hoping the five of us could share a suite together, and that wasn’t very affordable at a resort! And while I love love love being around Luca, I didn’t want to be in a family friendly resort full of other people’s children. And… I didn’t want to feel “stuck” on a resort compound. So! Airbnb it was!

Our rental ended up being great! It had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room and kitchen, front desk security, a serene interior courtyard, and a roof top pool! (And super nice neighbors)

The only problemo? Location. And not location to the beach. It was at a great location for that – just four blocks from the beach and three blocks from 5th Avenue (the 30 street long pedestrian-only avenue FILLED with shops and restaurants). And I will mention, two blocks from the only vegan restaurant in Playa del Carmen – and that was all by chance!

Nah, the location problem was right next door – the ADO bus stop. It was on the opposite street to the living room/bedroom Gina and Steve took, and it was quite loud. Other than that, the place was great!

After unpacking a bit we ventured out for our first meal. We didn’t even make it two blocks before we settled on a Mexican (of course) restaurant! I ordered the first of many dishes of delicious fajitas I would have there.

During the meal, I realized I hadn’t looked at the exchange rate, at all, and didn’t want to use the data on my phone to look it up (we added international call minutes/a bit of data to our phone planes but I didn’t want to use it too much). So… we just went with whatever the restaurant charged us (the bill total was provided in pesos and US dollars).

Now, this took awhile for me to figure out. The whole money exchange thing. A few people told us that most places will take US dollars or pesos. So, before we left, I got out a few hundred dollars in US currency, and planned to just use that. Easy, right? What I did not know though, is that if you pay in US dollars, you are likely being charged the commercial exchange rate (which most places had set at 12 pesos to 1 dollar) rather than the exchange rate of the day (which was commonly 14.85 pesos to 1 dollar, while we were there). So while you can pay with US currency, you might be paying more than you would with pesos, based on the rate you exchanged US currency for pesos in, or the rate your bank charged you to withdraw pesos from an ATM (which we ended up doing at the end of the trip). Blah blah, money mumbo jumbo. Overall, I am sure we lost a few bucks here and there, and it doesn’t bug me, but if that sort of thing would bug you, it’s something to think about before you travel!

After lunch we had to walk to the beach, just to check it out!

Aww, yes! This is why we came! Warm sun, sand and water = instant happiness!

But… we didn’t stay long. Duty called, and we wanted to get a few things from, dun dun dun – Walmart! Our place was literally a block away! Super cheesy to be going to Walmart in Mexico, but also, super convenient.

We made sure to get the essentials:

Then it was back to the beach for realzies, swimsuits and everything!

It was later in the evening and the water was a bit cool (and oddly stinky – maybe to do with the tide?), so we mostly just lounged around.

This isn’t documented in a photo, but I am pretty sure we made Mexican food (beans, rice and guac) for dinner! And we had our first encounter with a new friend…

And, that was Day 1! Day 2 brings an exciting adventure to Cozumel on what we lovingly named the “Barco del Barfo”! Ha! Stay tuned!

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By kilax, February 12, 2015 9:46 pm

Gosh, I got so lost in this knitting project for my snister that I haven’t posted in over a week!

Ja ja ja, just kidding, I haven’t quite moved to that level of obsession yet.

I was actually taking a blog/social media/texting break while we were in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, with our otra familia, Gina, Steve, and Luca, for the past week!

In August last year we decided it would be fantastico if the five of us traveled to Mexico together. Gina and Steve had gotten great recommendations for Playa del Carmen from a family member, so we found an affordable airbnb rental, and booked tickets in September (which happened to be just the right time to buy a few summery things on clearance for the trip!).

Booking in September was far enough away that I sometimes forgot we were going at all! Then I would remember during the beginning of a long run and spend the rest of the run daydreaming about what it would be like to soak up the sun in February. Ahhh.

It. Was. Great. I’ve never traveled anywhere else with such fantastic weather – cool in the morning (great for running!) and at night (great for going out!) and nice and warm during the day (great for the beach!). I was astonished that so many shops didn’t even have doors on them – could the weather really be that nice somewhere, year-round? Ha ha.

I wasn’t very familiar with Playa del Carmen (or any town in Mexico really – the closest I’ve traveled to it outside of the states is Aruba) before going, and honestly didn’t do a lot of research before I went. I knew I wanted to be lazy and hang out at the beach (check), see some ruins (check), and snorkel (check).

More to come in future posts…

What’s cool though, is that if I mentioned I was going to Playa del Carmen to people who had already been there, they raved about it! And I can see why – it has something for everyone – beaches, excursions, cenotes, scuba/snorkel, bars/restaurants, shopping… and it’s safe to be in town and explore.

I’m so happy we chose to go there, and especially with Gina and fam! And can’t wait to write all about it… once I get some rest. It’s been a long day of traveling back home!

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By kilax, October 6, 2014 6:20 am

Gosh, for how close Milwaukee is to my home, I really haven’t explored it much. My experiences there are limited to the airport (LOVE using that airport), a Spartan race at Miller Park (but still haven’t seen the Brewers play there in person), lunch in the Third Ward, and various times running the South Shore Half (then eating at the Palomino Bar after). Oh… and driving through it. Yeah. 

So Steven and I decided to stay over in Milwaukee the night before the marathon, and do a teeny bit of exploring. The marathon expo was in the Third Ward, so we started there. 

/ HUGE TANGENT ALERT /

I do have to share something nutso that happened to me at the expo! I ran in to someone I know from my hometown in Iowa, that I haven’t seen since middle school! That’s about… sixteen years ago, folks! Due to the Facebook stalker side bar (you know, the mini feed in the desktop version), I had seen that this friend posted something about a run from Fleet Feet in Milwaukee earlier this week, but last I knew, she lived in Ohio. It turns out that she and her husband took over the Fleet Feet in Milwaukee and moved there four months ago! 

Even more odd, a couple of years ago, when I was doing Fake Meats orders, I noticed someone with this friend’s name ordered some items, so I contacted her to ask if it was her. It was! So when I said hi at the expo, her husband was like “Oh! The Fake Meats people!” Hee hee! We didn’t get too much of a chance to catch up (the Fleet Feet booth was hoppin’!), but I’d really like to go back to visit, because, spoiler-alert, we really enjoyed what little exploring we did in Milwaukee!

And since we are talking about the expo, I will mention that I bought this hoodie (and a few other things), which I plan to wear every work from home day this week. Ha ha. 

/ HUGE TANGET OVER /

We picked up a map of the Third Ward at the expo, and got a recommendation to check out the Milwaukee Public Market, which is an indoor food and gift market. 

It was hard to walk by so many yummy food vendors and NOT get a million things to try. Normally I would, but I knew I shouldn’t get too crazy the night before a marathon (you’ll question that when you see what I had for dinner). We settled on falafel, an amazing rice/lentil/noodle/onion dish (ALL THE CARBS!!!) and a somosa. I also picked up a few gifts. 

This WILL be recreated at home – all we need to do is add noodles to the lentils & rice dish Steven already makes

The market has seating around some of the vendors, and upstairs dining, too! It was neat to look out over the shops!

What is funny about this concept (dining above the shops) is that I had a project when I was in architectural school that was like this, and my professor told me “that would never work.” Ha ha. 

After leaving the market we walked around the Third Ward, and did some window shopping (a lot of the shops were already closed for the night). We also must have seen at least four wedding parties! The area has a lot of neat opportunities for photos, even on a dreary, windy day!

I chose what I thought looked like a fun place to try out for our hotel – Aloft in the downtown area. I was intrigued by how hip and modern it looked. Unfortunately, our stay was not so great. The room was fine, and comfortable. But we had lots of noise issues with surrounding guests. It felt just like being at home* – where we can’t sleep because our neighbors are so loud and disrespectful (and cheap construction). Sigh. 

The location ended up being just right, though**! Steven looked on HappyCow for restaurants with vegan options for dinner and found a ton of stuff. We decided to go to Ian’s pizza which was only two blocks from our hotel and had a ton of vegan pizza toppings!

You guys. I ordered the most ridic vegan pizza and it was DELICIOUS! Vegan cream sauce, vegan chicken, broccoli, TATER TOTS, and vegan ranch on top. D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S. We will be eating there again!

And that was the extent of Saturday’s exploration! We did as much as we could, while still trying to be responsible with the race the next day!

During Steven’s HappyCow research, he did find a vegan donut shop (Holey Moley Doughnuts) and made his way there while I was running (he planned to see me at mile 7.5 and 20, so he went between then). Steven loved their coffee and I REALLY loved having a vegan donut to eat with dinner last night! And probably dinner tonight too, ha ha. 

It was a mini stay and we didn’t have a TON of time, but we made the most of it and are both excited to go back soon!

*Steven actually did a sound-proofing project in our bedroom this summer to try to help with the noise levels. It’s pretty bad.
**And it was only four blocks from a hotel where I picked up a shuttle to race start! 

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By kilax, June 23, 2014 12:41 pm

Something I was selfishly excited about for Christina and Will’s wedding was that it was a chance for my family to meet Gina, Steve and Luca! I consider Gina and fam to be, well, family… so it was important to me for them to meet my blood family. Ha ha. Said so eloquently.

Who are your friends that you consider to be family, and want your kin to love as much as you do? 

Gina and fam had obviously met Christina and Will (since they were at the wedding to start with!), and had met my mom by chance in the Dallas airport, and Steven’s brother Andrew when we all came to NYC for a race… but that was it! I tried to do as many introductions as I could while wedding festivities were happening, and I did a decent job, but I know I failed at making a few connections. Luckily, there are talks of a Labor Day get-together with our families so maybe I can make up for it then!

And! Also luckily, quite a few of us stayed for a few days after the wedding, so it was a perfect chance to hang out together! My dad stayed until late Monday, my mom stayed until Friday, and the rest of us stayed until Wednesday (and Steven’s dad and brother stayed there forever since they live there, ha ha). 

I have to say… this is one of the best times I’ve ever had in Kansas City. Everyone got along so well, and we all had a blast together – whether we were playing tourist or chilling! It really made me feel good to see everyone having such a fun time, and excited for future get-togethers! 

And I do think it’s important to give an update on Luca’s best friend list:

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By kilax, July 1, 2013 6:11 am

What places did you visit as a child that you would love to visit again as an adult?

Hmm, probably… MOST of them?

But especially nature areas, like the Grand Canyon, which I am assuming this late 80s photo is from*:

I’m still sporting the same hairstyle!

It’s amazing how much your perception and experience of/at a space changes as, well, you gain more life experience. I remember feeling drawn to nature as a child, enjoying spending time outdoors, but I doubt I appreciated it the way I do now. Even within the past few years, that love for the great outdoors has dramatically increased. It’s dorky, but when people come to visit us, the things I find myself proudly pointing out to them are the forest preserves, trails, lakes and bogs (well, bog, singular). 

Anywho. With many of my friends taking road trips this summer, I’m thinking back to a few of the road trips my family took growing up, and hoping that Steven and I have a chance to take some trips like that of our own… even to see some of the same places… someday!

Question for you parents out there… when planning destination travel for you and your children, do you think about how much of the trip they’ll remember? I’ve always wondered about that, as I think a lot about the collection of memories and experience. For the most common example, would you rather take your children to Disney World when they are young, so they can enjoy the experience (and magic of being there as a quite young child) but might not remember it as much later? Or would you rather wait until they are older and might remember it more?

I’m really curious about that, because I know I saw a lot of neat places as a child, but don’t remember them the way I would if I went there now. So, like I said… it just fuels my desire to travel/explore and makes me want to go back!

*UPDATED: My dad thinks the pic is probably Bryce Canyon. I wasn’t sure! They took us to the Grand Canyon, too. 

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By kilax, April 29, 2013 8:34 am

I’ve mentioned that my snister, Christina, is crafty. So when I saw her post these pictures of artwork she made to Facebook, I had an idea…

All photos except the last one are from my sister.

Idea for what? Well… my NYC bestie, Gina, is now my Dallas* bestie! Exciting! Gina and her family moved to Dallas in March. I wanted to get them a housewarming gift that signified their love for New York and also included their new home, but didn’t have any ideas. Until…

Wait! “Christina, do you think you could make one of those state thready things for Gina and Steve like the one you posted on Facebook? Only with New York and Texas overlayed? And a heart over their new city and their old city?”

I am surprised Christina humored me. Hee hee. But she did.

We drafted out ideas, and got to work. And by “we,” I obviously mean her (and later on, her fiancé, Will). Christina and I corresponded mostly by text. She sent me pictures of ideas, and I told her what I thought. And asked if what I thought would look okay, ha ha.

We decided to keep the states to scale, and with the correct orientation (rather than focusing on having them twisted so the two cities overlayed where the heart is).

I asked for a small size – 12″x12,” not even thinking about how that meant Christina would have to work even harder with the threads being closer together. Oops.

Dexter helped out a bit. Mostly quality control.

Gina likes purple, and I liked the green and purple pop on a black background. Okay, okay, this color combo was also inspired by a pair of running shoes I have.

Paw of approval.

We decided to use white nails. Christina had to repaint the tops white after hammering them in!

Almost ready to start threading…

Purple’s done (it’s all one piece of string)!

Completed project! Overall, Christina said it took about 8 hours.

What a sweetie. Besides making all this, Christina wrapped it in some crazy bubble wrap and sent it to Dallas for me so it would be there this weekend when we visited!

I thought for sure that Gina would see my sister’s handwriting on the “Do not open until in the presence of Kim” note and figure out it was from my snister and guess what it was! But, she didn’t suspect a thing! Muah ha ha. Darn. I should have played it off like I made it. Nah. She never would have believed that!

Anyway, Gina and Steve really loved it and were impressed by Christina’s craftiness. I sure am! And I am impressed with her capability to put up with me and my crazy vision.

Thanks a million, snister! I think you should start making these for $$$, no?!

*Or as I have been calling it, Dally.

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By kilax, April 26, 2013 8:21 am

… and Nevada. Ha ha. 

After all my talk yesterday about what a great “sorta” planner I am, I have to admit that one of the coolest places my mom and I went to in Salt Lake City – the Bonneville Salt Flats – wasn’t even on my radar as a place to visit.  

click image to see larger

Of course, I knew what the Bonneville Salt Flats are, as I come from a family of men obsessed with cars… and married a man who is. Ha ha. Did you know what the Bonneville Salt Flats were before I started blah blahing about them this week?

Brief history lesson – there used to be a huge arse lake covering much of northwestern Utah, called Lake Bonneville (named after Benjamin Bonneville – a French-born officer in the US Army). Lake Bonneville was formed about 32,000 years ago, and “released” about 14,500 years ago, leaving Great Salt Lake and other surrounding lakes as remnants. 

This is as close as we got to Great Salt Lake on the drive to the Bonneville Salt Flats. We could sure smell it!

Back to our history lesson… the lake has actually dropped more since the “release” (aka a flood), and you can see different “shelves” on the mountains that represent past water height levels. Coolio!

But let’s get to the fun stuff. DRIVING FAST!

Ha ha. Including driving fast to get there! I was very pleased when I found out the speed limit on the highway was 75 mph. Woo hoo! Someone warned us that the drive out there was “really long and boring” but we couldn’t get over how beautiful it was. Maybe because we are from the flat lands? Do people ever get sick of the mountains?!

So what I know the Bonneville Salt Flats for is setting land speed records (unfortunately, not personally)! The Bonneville Speedway is set up on the western edge of the Bonneville Salt Flats a few times a year. Why the heck do people want to race on salt? And why was is there so much salt? Good questions. I don’t know the answers to either. Apparently, since it’s perfectly flat, and stable, it’s good for racing. And people have been setting records on it since the early 1900s. Like… freakin’ fast records. They race stuff powered by jet engines there, yo. Can you imagine driving something that goes over 600 mph?! What the heck. I didn’t feel comfortable driving the rental car 60 mph. Of course, it was a rickety piece of poo poo (but it got us there!). 

And that brings us back to our visit to the Bonneville Salt Flats. My mom brought up the potential of visiting there a week or so before the trip. I hadn’t even thought of it. But I had a rental car, so why not? I even tried to upgrade my rental car to a Camaro just for the drive… ha ha. It wasn’t worth the extra $120 a day. 

It rained the entire morning before we went to the Bonneville Salt Flats. I was worried we would get out there and it would be muddy, meaning we couldn’t drive on it and it would be gross looking. Nope, not at all. It was beautiful. We couldn’t get over how gorgeous it was. I am sure that is what everyone is thinking when they are out there for Speed Week. Ha ha. 

click image to see larger

click image to see larger

We first stopped at a rest stop at the southern edge of the Bonneville Salt Flats where there was some water. A bridge and groom were there taking their wedding photos. Can you imagine how pretty those would be? WHY DIDN’T STEVEN AND I THINK OF THAT?!?!?!!

Then we drove to the actual speedway. I made the mistake of telling my mom on the drive up about the risks associated with driving out there in bad conditions – water will eff up your car, you can get stuck in the mud, etc. So she was freaking out. Sigh. Lesson re-learned: do not give Mom too much information. 

She thought we shouldn’t drive on the flats. Oh hellz to the no. I didn’t drive 120 miles to get there for nothing. 

Ha ha. Like I said, I barely got up to 60 mph before I felt like I should slow it down (compared to going 80 mph on the highway to get there). Then after the drive my mom spent quite a bit of time worrying about the amount of salt on the car and “what would the car rental place think?!” Sigh. 

Before our drive on the flats we took a ton of goofy photos. The landscape was incredibly unique (to me). In some parts, it seemed like the ground just blended in to the sky. I can see why car manufacturers and models (and just regular people!) go out there for shots!

I couldn’t get over how beautiful and serene it was. We were both so happy we took the drive out there to see it! 

And since we were so close, we decided to drive to Nevada to go to the casinos.

Ha ha. Nah, my mom just used the bathroom at the casino, then we went back to Utah, ate at the Salt Flats Cafe and drove back to Salt Lake City. 

Have you visited the Bonneville Salt Flats?

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By kilax, April 25, 2013 6:37 am

Have you ever felt forced to take the lead on something you didn’t really want to? Or do you welcome any and all leadership opportunities?

In the past, I have been placed in charge of some things that I would have preferred not to been the leader on. This lack of feeling of ownership over the project, paired with my general disinterest, made me think I had no leadership qualities in me. That I was destined to be a follower (which I truthfully sometimes prefer).

But I think I was just in the wrong setting. With the wrong  “some things.” Because I thrive on being a leader in other instances. The most recent example, is my trip to Salt Lake City (SLC).

I am somewhat of a planner. I say somewhat, because with a lot of things, I am all “whatever happens, happens… meh.”

But before I visit a new city, or go to a city that I am not familiar with for the second or third or whatever visit, I tend to casually research it. I check out the city orientation/street setup, read up on the citiy’s history, maybe look in to some fun activities, see if there are any vegan restaurants. I figure out how to get around. I check the weather.

I figured most people do at least this.

I don’t think so.

I won’t name any names.

Ha.

So on my recent trip to SLC, I was reminded of the leader and follower role while in a unfamiliar city with other people you know. I definitely took the lead in getting us places, finding things to do, and so on. And I didn’t mind. I really enjoy that. I made an entire itinerary for my trip to NYC with Erin in March 2012 (complete with google docs and corresponding google map). I was in charge of schedule and getting around when Steven and his brother and I went to NYC in February 2013.

I really like it. I like being in charge. Ha.

But it blows my mind that people show up somewhere and have no idea what is going on, or what the city is about! Maybe they are relying on the people they are with? Or if you are traveling to visit someone, it would make sense to rely on that person.

So, what kind of traveler are you? Super meticulous planner? Casual planner like me? “I’ll figure it out when I am there” type? Or “where am I/who am I/what day is it” type? Ha ha ha.

You didn’t think I was going to write about SLC without some pictures, did you?

A portion of the trip was spend by myself, which is really refreshing. Don’t get me wrong, I am not anti-social*, and I did spend time with other people on this trip, but there is something to be said for getting to do whatever the heck you want to, and at your own pace! That included, for me:

Visiting the SLC Public Library:

view from on top of the library

the State Capitol (hey! any good tricks for remembering capitol vs capital?!):

Temple Square:

hiking Ensign Peak

click to see larger

click to see larger

And… I still have to tell you guys about the Salt Flats! In another post… these are just pictures from some of the things I did by myself!

*all the time

Comments (46)

By kilax, April 22, 2013 7:15 am

My trip to Salt Lake City (SLC) couldn’t have come at a better time. 

I needed an escape last week like never before.

I’ll be honest. My normal escape from life – Facebook and blogs – became completely sickening for me. I needed quiet, to reflect privately. I needed to talk one-on-one with my close friends instead of broadcasting my thoughts all over the internets. If anything, this has been a reminder that we all reflect and heal in different ways. 

Anyway. 

Peace and quiet I had. In SLC. 

And to make this post not completely a downer, I just want to share a funny tip – do not wear your race medal when taking pictures like this:

Because this could happen:

Ha ha ha! You’ve been warned!