holidays

Winter Fun – Colorado Style

adventure of the week, colorado, Colorado Events, Environment, family, food, outdoors, Scotland, Travel

Colorado is shockingly mild in the winter months. Sure we have days or weeks of bitter cold or 6 feet of snow every year or two, but for the most of the winter, it’s not bad. This means that we get spoiled with having great days to play outside in the winter. While we can’t do all of the fun that summer usually brings, we have the option to play in the snow without being totally frozen. Of course, this can mean some innovation.

Between Dog Sledding and Ice Castles in late January we visited a family friend’s property. This Scottish-born gentleman has a nice spot of land outside of Breckenridge in a town that barely exists on the map (if a few houses along a dirt road count as a town…they do in Colorado anyway).

The landscape of the property hearkens to the dramatic hillscapes of Northern Scotland and while I talked with the owner and his lovely wife I learned that they chose the spot for that very reason. In fact, the snowy blanket that covered the hills was almost identical to that of what I saw in the area surrounding Glencoe four years ago.

Add to the landscape a homemade bar inside of a shed, as anyScottish transplant would have, and a fire pit, some beers, and a fewsnowmobiles and we had a winter party.

Only around 9,000 feet above sea level the weather was manageable, but chilly with a high humidity. Thus, a fire was built, via gasoline and broken pallets. We made beer slushies with the snow, and sippedcool ciders. The snowmobiles were taken into the hills and onto a small frozenlake, that perched delicately on the edge of the property. Avoiding unsettlingthe ice fishers we ran snowmobile circles on one part of the lake, draggingpeople behind on skis, snowboards, sleds, and a precarious pink flamingo tube meant for a more casual swimming pool life.

While the snowmobiling was fun, as any action sport is, thebest part was meeting new people and talking over a drink. It was great to talkwith friends new and old about their memories and new stories. My husband’sfamily is always full of laughter and love and a good tale or joke. While theydon’t always agree on politics and lifestyles, they always agree to love eachother and have a good time, which is something anyone can get behind.  

Sláinte!

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Ice Ice Baby – Dillon Ice Castle

adventure of the week, colorado, Colorado Events, History, outdoors, Photography, Travel

The city of Dillon, Colorado along with a handful of other cities around North America have welcomed the magic and whimsy of #IceCastles the last few years. The company creates elegant magic with their ice castles creating spires, spikes, fountains, slides, and other intriguing icy creations.

With our Dog Sledding trip in late January, it felt naturalto add on an adventure to an ice kingdom! We decided to visit the whimsy atnight where thousands of lights brighten the structure creating a surreallandscape.

1896 Leadville Ice Castle

The castle, much to my surprise, was less of a “brick andmortar” structure of castles in the past, such as the one that used to take up residence in 1896 in Leadville,Colorado.

Yet, through better methods, less work intensive, and moderntechnology the creators of Ice Castles has built a masterpiece of art that resemblesnature versus the palaces of old England. The Dillon castle is made of layersand layers of ice crystals that droop elegantly together to make a spindledfortress. Reminding the viewer of candle wax, the castle is almost haunting inits design, as if some fantasy’s Ice Queen had designed the elements.

Almost gothic, but celebrating natural artistry, the castlesoffer a glimpse into something otherworldly and full of inspiration. Elementsthroughout offer play in the form of slides and selfie spots.  While other details inspire wonder in roomswith fountains and thousands of icicles. Regardless of what you want from thetrip, bundle up, and enjoy yourself!

Wish Me Luck!

musings, Travel

Working in the travel industry I have access to a variety of travel education and travel opportunities that the general public doesn’t have. This means I can help others create a lasting and meaningful vacation by putting my knowledge to work.

Today I entered a short video on why I should go with the Australia Tourism Board’s to be the Australia Specialist Ambassador in March and show others the magic of Australia!

The idea is to show others that I can take everyone along to show them the magic of the largest continent. And that there is Nothing Like Australia!

Wish me luck!

365 NEW

musings, Travel

The new year is almost upon us, which is so hard to believe. 2018 has been a crazy year. One part too long and stressful and another part wizzing by in an instant.

2018 meant:

  • a promotion in my job.
  • A train journey in the United States. Increased blogging and hits.
  • My husband changing jobs.
  • Meeting financial goals.
  • Hiking more.
  • Staying at the stunning Brown Palace.
  • Planning trips for the next few years.
  • Learning new strengths…. and weaknesses
  • Meeting workout goals.
  • And countless other moments I can’t recall.

2019 goals are:

  • Continued workout success
  • More self care
  • Hip surgeries (I’ll explain in another post)
  • Hiking more
  • Saving more
  • Job promotions and raises
  • Job FAM trips
  • Better health

I know other things will come down the tracks, but I live to think of each new year as 365 new chances. 365 new opportunities for adventure, growth and joy. 365 NEW…. whatever you want.

So as we face the new year, what do you want to have done? What are your 365 NEW?

Happy Travels!

I’m Thankful, but not for Thanksgiving

History, musings, United States

I have mixed feelings around Thanksgiving. Those in Native American communities, justly, feel its a day of mourning over colonialism and genocide that followed earlier settlers in North, Central, and South America. I can’t deny their right to that, in fact I often think we need a day of mourning and honor to that time. Not just natives suffered from chronic colonial policies, but also those stolen from their lands in Africa, subjected to horrific treatment for centuries and even to this day.

I hate that we embrace Thanksgiving in a patriotic way without thorough discussion on the problems associated with romanticized notions around our colonial past. If you talk to many they know a romantic quip on the Mayflower, a largely 19th century fabrication that is about as historically accurate as Shrek. It leaves out vital context on the idiotic behaviors of early colonists. It leaves out the open gates that natives had forced open, establishing a trade that largely left people ripped from their lands, dying drone disease, and massacred at every turn.

In ways it feels as if we celebrated the election of Hitler but ignored everything he did after that. Or celebrated the ships that brought trade and the Bubonic plague to Europe, because trade, and ignored the deaths that followed. At the end of both scenarios, thousands to millions died, and the world was never the same afterwards. Even if we pretend that most colonists were innocently involved, it still doesn’t make the behavior right.

It’s comfortable for people to want a sweet and easy story to share with kids, to celebrate. We want to believe all of those in our past are goodly and had good meaning. Yet, to be honest as a society and people, we must face our mistakes and we must talk openly of what was wrong. This means acknowledging truth to share with our children and friends.

While I am very thankful for all that I have in this world. For my family, friends, education, community, cat, home, car, food, and so very much more, I know that it should be celebrated with more awareness. And this awareness means that we acknowledge our past sins and work to the future.

So maybe Thanksgiving should be celebrated without pilgrims and false narratives, and instead be a time to truly focus on all we have. A time to not try to find the best holidays shopping deals and a time to connect with family and friends. I am lucky that my little family has joined this trend, I hope to see more in the future.

A Few of my Favorite Things (USA Edition)

adventure of the week, musings, Travel, United States

No doubt, when out in the world, there are differences along the way. The most noticeable for me tend to be food. Yet, when you go out and explore enough you start to realize the nuances of the world are just different.

  • Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
  • Grocery Stores with EVERYTHING
  • Good, Cheap, Mexican
  • Decent Wi-Fi
  • Casual Outfits (I can wear pajamas to the grocer or coffee shop)
  • Hiking shoes as normal wear
  • A Website for Everything
  • Gym Clothes as errands clothes
  • Labels I can fully read (google translate helps with this) note: this is due to food allergies and specific needs I have for consuming things.
  • Halloween
  • Epic Wildlife

What are your favorites?

A Few of My Favorite Things (Colorado Edition)

colorado, Colorado Events, food, outdoors, Travel

Everyone has favorites from their hometown, home state, or neighborhood. Maybe it’s the pizza place you buy lunch at, or the bakery a few towns over. For me, as someone that hasn’t had a traditional upbringing, I am establishing my roots in a town for the first time as an adult.

Thus, I have a handful of varied things from 27 years on this planet that I crave when I am away, or that I suggest to others. Here is my short list.

  • Amazing Mexican Food
  • A REAL Margarita (Colorado version)
  • City O’City Pizza
  • Tea from Happy Lucky’s
  • The smell of aspens and pines
  • The smell of cold days and wood stoves
  • Aspens in Fall
  • Flowers in spring
  • Concerts at the Ogden Theater in Denver
  • Concerts at Red Rocks
  • Hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park
  • Halloween costumes made around coats
  • The sunrise and sunsets
  • Rainy days
  • Snow storms
  • Christmas lights on dark nights
  • Green Chile
  • Huevos Rancheros

What are your hometown favorites?

USA edition 🇺🇸

The World Isn’t Disney for Americans

adventure of the week, Caribbean, colorado, geek, musings, Travel

One of the biggest issues with myself, and with travel, is that so much of the exploration that is glamorized is done without really experiencing much.

With a world of Instagram and celebrity travel photos it’s hard to understand that the world is more than the elegance dripping from the web. This isn’t to say that everything is a lie and parts are ugly, but to say that the sanitized version we see is the air brushed version of a model.

So many Americans (and Europeans and Australians etc) flock to other parts of the world with one set of ideals of that place. In Africa it’s the Big 5. In China it’s the Pandas and Great Wall. In Mexico it’s cheap vacations and tequila. Yet while there is an immense amount of fun and cultural significance in all of these things, there is also a disconnect.

While thousands stumble off of cruise ships in Italy or Jamaica, how many people stop to talk to a local? How many have a beer from a little old lady’s restaurant or squid ink pasta? How many people take time to get lost and see something different? How many people care about the locals that live there.

What concerns me is not that people visit in droves, or that their focus is on a romantic ideal. For I have also been that person. No, the concern is the disconnect from the reality of a place. Like Disney World the grit of the world has been cleaned away in many places. Like a fairy godmother, tours select only the pristine and sanitized, something with fairy dust. It’s even more concerning when the most vulnerable populations are used as tourism props or ignored. This can be ignoring their humanity, their human rights, their rights to land and water and standards of living. For say, a new hotel, or a pool. For a new form of imperialism and colonialism to cheaply pad the pockets of the powerful.

This is not anything new. The spread of Colonialism is as old as civilization, with Greek, Roman, Germanic, and British Faces. Yet, we seem to fail at learning that these horrors are disgusting no matter there new mask. Indigenous people lose their homes for Olympics and World Cups. Communities collapse for resorts and waves of tourists. Yet, the real question is who makes it out on top? While “new jobs” help locals, do they really ever achieve a life they should? It’s hard to say yes when the heads of large companies live in gilded towers, while they barely can send their kids to school.

This is not to say “don’t travel, it’s corrupt” but rather to encourage an analysis of what one does when they explore. Do you stay at chain hotels helping the Hiltons and Marriotts of the world? Or do you seek out a locally owned gem with homemade food and warm smiles? Do you see end time with locals? Or do you shy away to American bars and hotel lobbies? Do you view locals as friends or possible enemies? And if you said yes to the last one, why?

Travel can be the life blood of a community, of a country, of a town. Yet, when we choose who and how we support that area, we need to better examine our priorities.

Happy Travels!

 

More Reading:

Must Love Mexico

Losing Bourdain

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Throw Back Thursday – Childhood Travel Lessons

colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, new mexico, outdoors, Throwback Thursday, Travel, United States, wyoming

Many people gain a love of travel as children. Sometimes they’re crammed into the beck of a family station wagon, or a small camper, traversing open highways to neighboring states and countries. Others fly away to an annual beach escape, all-inclusive, beach, and drinks.

My family did things differently. As a product of low-income we did things a little less luxuriously. We crammed into a Dodge Neon, five of us. We slept in rustic cabins on our ranch or in canvas tents at a re-enactment. On occasion a worse than Motel 6 room was in the cards. This meant a shower and how to cram three kids in a twin or double bed, absolutely luxury was a queen. We ate at cheap diners and cheese and crackers as we rolled along plains lands.

We went through Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, and South Dakota to icons like Devil’s Tower, Jewel Cave, Helena, and De Smet. We saw where Laura Ingalls Wilder lived and a Palace made of Corn. And we have many pictures at Mount Rushmore in different outfits, an awkward ages, with relatives that have passed or friends that have moved on.

Reenactment with my cousin Nathan, aunt Mary and baby sibling McClellan.

These journeys taught me how important a hot plate and hot water can be. That boiled eggs are always a good snack. That learning to read in the car without motion sickness is vital to surviving 1,000 miles with two younger sisters. That you can survive 30 playthroughs of the Lord of the Rings soundtrack. That dogs can wedge themselves anywhere if given enough time. And most importantly, short legs make for an easier car ride.

All in all these things taught me to be better at travel in the big wide world. Hot plates turned into hostel kitchens. Small cars meant I can live through a long plane ride. Crappy hotel means I can survive…. crappy hotels and most hostels. I know the importance of hitting grocery stores to cut food costs. I know that picking light makes everything easier. I know that audio and physical books are life savers for endless journeys that have no service, wi-if, or charger.

The frugality of my parents has meant I knew how to save and travel at 19, 22, 23, 24, 26, and 27. It means I know how to pinch pennies and look for deals, to read and study and to plan my journey, to know the importance of flexibility and patience.

My cousin Nathan and I at the family ranch in Wyoming.

While I didn’t see much of the world until an adult, I know these lessons will carry me well into my old age.

Happy Travels!

A Shoutout to “Moms”

family, musings

I imagine at least a few of you are “moms” that read this blog. By “moms” in parenthesis I mean several things. I mean those that have physically given birth, I mean those that raised or helped raise a child, I mean those that take in animals needing a home, I mean those that are role models and loving and supportive members of their community and the children that live there.

This extends to family friends that gave me guidance. This extends to aunts that shared presents and hugs. This extends to cousins that opened their homes and shared wisdom. Being a “mom” is much more than the equipment and the birthing. It is the love, compassion, patience, knowledge, and joy shared with children.

Of course I thank my own mother, but in the sense of “it takes a village” I feel I have many “moms”. I have my grandma that lived in my own house and taught me many great things. I have aunts, great, great-great, and beyond that shared more wisdom than I can ever describe. Then there are adopted grandmas and aunts and other people I have brought into my family that have been like mothers, even if they are just a good shoulder to cry on.

Being a “mom” at any capacity is not easy, but please know that it’s appreciated.

Our culture puts a lot of emphasis on these “DAY” holidays, but I know it can be a painful reminder to those women, and men, that have lost or have not been able to achieve certain cultural norms. Please know that your value is so much more than the norm, and your participation has been a world of difference to others.

Some of you are teachers, ones that inspired learning and growth (not just in the school sense).

Some of you are comedians that have brought much needed laughter to those in need.

Some of you are makers that brought gifts and food when it was desperately needed.

All of you were kind, and all of you were powerful, all of you are wonderful!

So “Happy Mother’s Day” however you want to take it, just know that this woman appreciates all of you.

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