Hi friends, Sarah here. Finally I’m done with finals, therefore it’s SPRANG BREAK! Until Saturday, when my official Spring Break starts in sunny Florida, I have a few days to catch up with Outlander, work a few extra hours at the pool, work out extra hard in preparation for that bikini bod, and of course start to actually write some posts for this beauteous blog! 🙂
This post is taking you back to the summer of 2013, the summer after my sophomore year of college. A lot of exciting stuff was happening in my life at that time. I had just found out in June that I would be going abroad to London that next January. It was a fabulous and carefree summer with great friends in Chicago and love was in the air!
As I mentioned in my very first post, my mother is my favorite travel companion. My sister, at the time, lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and my cousin lived in Tucson, Arizona. My mom and her sister planned a trip for the three of us to fly to Phoenix and site see everything we could as we road tripped to visit my sister in New Mexico.
Unfortunately, my aunt couldn’t make the trip, but my mother and I kept to our plans and flew out of Chicago towards the end of July 2013. When we got to Tuscon we drove to my cousin Steve’s home where he lived with his wife and 3 children. There house was ballin’ – they had a pool and the Arizonan landscaping is so beautiful. Mom and I only stayed there for the one night, but we had fun eating, playing games, and me being made to swim with the youngins.
We weren’t with Steve for long, but he and his family were living there because he was in the Air Force. He let me try on his whole uniform and sit in the cockpit of his plane – a A-10 Warthog. (!!!) I’ve always had this dream of joining the Air Force, but it’s some scary stuff!!! It was awesome though, and obviously beautiful, uniformed men present.
The next day we were off! Our trip was only for 12 days. The rental car we got for the trip was white Chrysler 300 – it looked totally ghetto, and we loved feeling bad ass. Honestly, we felt like Texans. We’re both blonde! I don’t remember the exact timeline of our trip, but I believe our next stop was the Grand Canyon, where we stayed 3 nights and it poured pools of water for the majority of it.
The Grand Canyon is a magnificent but very “not-real” experience in the sense that it’s very hard to comprehend what you’re looking at. We took the luxury of first staying in Williams, Arizona where then we took a train to the Grand Canyon. They didn’t have much in the town, and they had an old gate way that was over the road when you entered the town, so it seemed very Western. It was fun because we had an all-you-can-eat buffet. We planned on swimming, but didn’t. Unfortunately I was only 19, so I couldn’t really drink, and my mother did. But it was a really pretty town and the place we stayed was beautiful and fun.
The train ride was awesome. We got food and the people were very nice and fun. There were various bands that came and played for us. At some point there was a fake train robbing. The Grand Canyon itself, like I said, was amazing. When we got there it was sunny and we started off right away to plan our few days there. We scheduled a donkey ride from the stables to the edge of the Canyon (There was no way I was riding a donkey to the bottom of the Canyon.) There was a lot of historical stuff at the Grand Canyon about the canyon, people discovering it, people living near it, and the start of all of the touristy stuff that was there. The first day we were there it rained so much that the streets were flowing with water. They have buses that go around the whole resort or premises, not sure the term. We went to every restaurant there, even the El Tovar, the super pricey restaurant where my mother insisted we got a choco taco for desert. Also, in the hotel where the El Tovar is, there is a piano that Paul McCartney played. Apparently a lady complained about someone playing the piano and was obviously surprised to find out it was Paul! (Yes I sat there, Yes I got a selfie.)
My mother’s favorite story to tell about our mini trip to the Grand Canyon happened the night we went to El Tovar. We were returning home to our hotel and we were waiting for the bus. The bus was taking so long, that we decided to walk. We were not drunk, maybe my mom was, but I definitely wasn’t allowed to drink. Anywho, we were walking and trying to figure out our way back when we notice the bus headlights behind us!! We were so embarrassed and didn’t want to be seen walking, so we went off to the side of the road and there was a ramp that we decided to walk up. So there’s mom and I clutching each other in the dark walking up this ramp that thank God we turned around once the bus passed, because the next day we realized that it led to an overlook of the Canyon and it was not fenced off!!! My mother swears we almost died… and that is why it’s her favorite story?
Not too much more exciting stuff happened that I can remember of the Grand Canyon. I might mention also that near Williams is Flagstaff, Arizona. And here is a meteor crater known as the Barringer Crater. (This past quarter I took a course in Astronomy and our teacher told us about the crater in Flagstaff and I was like “I’ve been there! I think!” and then proceeded to text my mom to make sure.) And yes in fact we did go there and it it’s about a mile across – which is crazy. Also on our drive we went through the Petrified Forest – where there is a lot of different places to stop and see beautiful landscape and petrified wood.
At the end of the Arizona leg of our trip, we stayed on an Indian Reservation at the Thunderbird Resort in Canyon Du Chelly. We had to have an Indian guide to take us through the canyon, otherwise you’re not allowed to go. (This was a filming location for the Johnny Depp movie “The Lone Ranger”.) We drove in a Jeep and basically went mudding. This part of the trip was so fabulous, I loved every minute of it. I was talking to my mom briefly to make sure I didn’t leave anything out, and she asked “are you going to write about our fight?” I’ll just say that we are women and yes we fought, but it was a stupid fight that we got over quickly. (It was an Indian Reservation and a weekend – there wasn’t much open. I insisted we get Burger King for Dinner and my mom was set on dinner at the Holiday Inn (?). Needless to say we both got we want and later that night after we both apologized I ate her extra sopapillas from the Holdaze Inn.) Fighting makes you closer… 🙂
I already feel like I’m leaving so much out of this trip, but we drove for all of it and listened to Great Expectations on audiobook. Also, sometimes I would read to my mom because I’m a nerd and like to do that. Sometimes we’d listen to Kenny Chesney because he’s our love … and then my mom would also force me to listen to her Japanese music – because it’s soothing (this happens on every road trip with her where sleep is involved *sigh*).
Our next stop was Albuquerque, NM. My sister lived in Santa Fe at the time but she traveled every few weeks to Albuquerque for work and she actually worked in Los Alamos where she moved to shortly after our trip. She stayed in a hotel very close to the airport, and it was a suite style so it was pretty big. We got there and she let us in… we were catching up and mom and I laughing and telling her about our funny stories and fights…. ALL OF A SUDDEN my sister gets on the bed on her knees and squeels: “I’m pregnant!” I can hear it in my head now the exact way she said it. We then all were laying down on the bed and were like what!!!!!! Her boyfriend at the time was waiting in the lobby for us to go to dinner (we didn’t know he was coming). And about 9 months later the little (BIG) blessing that is Maximillian came into our lives.
That night the 4 (5) of us ate at the Elephant Room and then my mom and I moved on to Santa Fe where we got a cute hotel room near the plaza. I’ve been to Santa Fe many times because my sister, Stephanie, lives there. It is one of my favorite places. It’s beautiful, unique, and artsy in a not-all-up-in-your-face/hoity toity way. While here this time, we discovered a cute French restaurant called Clafouti’s, which I’ve returned to at least 5 more times. They have macaroons, which I love! We also went around the Plaza and I discovered a new favorite store called “The Good Stuff” where they really do sell the good stuff: sunglasses, books, records, and coffee <3.
Anyways, Santa Fe was a relaxing time for us. We found out my sister was pregnant! We explored the city, drank wine (bought sparkling juice for Steph, that she probably didn’t touch). Mom and I both celebrated our birthdays there (She’s August 1st and I’m the 4th.) It was a really amazing trip. It brings back a lot of happy memories and a very good time for our family and everyone in it. It was adventurous and I would kill to do it all over again.
Thanks for reading! Please comment with Recommendations, Dem and I have both been to quite a few places in the US and Europe… also some in Canada and Mexico for me. Also, if you have any critiques about what you found interesting, boring, or just general comments on the writing, PLEASE let us know.
Much Love x,
Sarah
Runaway Blond 