The Land of Enchantment - New Mexico

In May of 2018, I had to take one more flight to keep my airline status.   I chose to keep it knowing that I wanted to travel a lot more in 2018.  I need a very specific number of miles, so I had to go out west.  I saw an interesting flight to Roswell, New Mexico.   I did not know Roswell had its own airport, much less that American flew to this airport.   We bought the tickets on a Tuesday to leave on a Friday.   We had a long layover in the DFW club that helped the long trip to Roswell.  It was late and dark by the time we arrived in Roswell but the airport was two small gates and had a walkup car rental place with just numbered parks.   We drove straight to our hotel.

We woke up early and with our awesome luck were beside the park that had its annual hot air balloon festival.  For over an hour I watched beautiful hot air balloons launch and float around town.  After this and breakfast, we went on a wild road trip.

We drove to see the Lincoln State Monument where Billy the Kid had his last big stand / shoot-out and other wild west legends stayed.   The buildings were essentially the same and you could walk the entire town.    From here, we drove to the Smokey the Bear Historical Park.   Jordan really loved the baby Smokey the Bear pictures and the story.    We ended the road trip at Fort Stanton.  This Fort functioned before Civil War and was open until after WWII.    This was one of the main forts for American soldiers for skirmishes out west.    This Fort paved the way for many WWII generals including Eisenhower, as it provided fighting and not a base.

We drove back to Roswell to explore the town.  We saw the coolest McDonald’s, ate at Farley’s which is the weird American bar chain in New Mexico and laughed at the alien streetlights. 

 I got to go through the International Alien Museum and decided I am still undecided.   As our flight left at night, we were able to also go to the local winery.  Who knew the desert could produce a decent wine?

From Roswell we took a late night flight to Phoenix and stayed in an airport hotel.   We ate great food delivery and remarked how could a 48-hour trip be one of our favorites!   Here's to Arizona and New Mexico which always deliver...

Disney World x2

With two different conferences in ten months in Florida for work, we were able to go to Disney World twice.  The first conference was a surprise in March 2018 and the second was well planned for D's fifth birthday celebration in January 2019.

2018:

The first conference was in Orlando, so we went to Disney World first for three days.  We stayed at Pop Disney Resort.  We went to Animal Kingdom for early hour, as we are up, and went to Dino Land.  As any kid loves dinosaurs, animals and rides it was a big hit until nap time.   During this he rode his first "Dumbo" ride, his first simulator and his first roller coaster.      After nap, we went to Disney Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM).   We watched Disney Junior and Frozen shows and had to buy a lightsaber.  The next day we went as hard as we could at Magic Kingdom.  We loved the test track, teacups and silly character rides.     We ended up at a non-Disney family hotel.  He had with his own room and the hotel had multiple pools with splash-pads and pirates.   While I was at my conference he had more fun at the hotel than Disney.  We got to eat at TRex and enjoy Disney Springs as well this trip for the first time.

2019:

By January, we were back in Florida for another conference.  We started for a few days in Tampa.   We got to explore the nice downtown area.  We all went to the aquarium and walked around.  While I was at the conference, they enjoyed the kids museum, trolley and pool.   We took an Uber to Orlando.   This time, as it was a very special occasion, we stayed at the Port Orleans Riverside hotel.   We stayed in a birthday princess room.   The first night we rode the riverboat to eat treats and dinner at Disney Springs.   The next day we finally got to Epcot at 8am and rode all of the future area rides.  By the second country, our son was too tired to go on.   As this is my favorite park, I have vowed to come back and visit all of the countries.   But hey, we made it to Italy with our son, so it counts.    We then did Magic Kingdom for a day and really got to ride most of the rides!  We ended at Animal Kingdom, a nap and some time at Disney Hollywood Studios.  We were excited to visit the newly opened Toy Store Land and ride Slinky Dog.    This was a magical trip for a wonderful kid.   This trip was much better than any birthday party!

 

Disney, I am sure we will be back soon.    Whether it be Orlando, Anaheim or a cruise....

1st Family Trip: To the desert

 Life is funny.  At 12, I went to Arizona with my father and brother.  I loved Sedona!  Ten years ago, in my first job as an auditor, work unexpectedly took me to Arizona for a few weeks.  One weekend in February of 2008,  Jordan flew out to join me for a weekend of exploring before we got married and we visited Sedona.  Ten years later I had both Jordan and our amazing son to take with me on this trip!   

This was D’s first flight!  We flew straight from Charlotte to Phoenix. As parents, we provided an entire backpack of treats, electronics not normally provided to him and other fun things for the six hour flight.  He was spoiled with his first row window seat and snacks for the entire flight

We were able to rent a car to go to Scottsdale and we would need the car for our adventures later.  We stayed in a family resort, rather than the four star adult hotel the work conference was at during the week.  We loaded up at the local pancake place that made me believe in diners again to then explore downtown Scottsdale and Taliesin West.  There was a parade in downtown Scottsdale, so it was busy.  I had to then attend my investment conference that included the likes of Ben Bernanke while the boys lived it up at the pool and around town with fun kid activities.    As a side note, outside of Italy a gluten-free girl has NEVER eaten so well!

As the conference finished up on Tuesday, we took a road trip where the temperature ranged from 85 to 25 degrees in one day.   We drove around the Mogollon Rim all the way to the very small town of Holbrook on Route 66.  We really enjoyed the old, abandoned Route 66 sites.  

 

We went all the way to the town of Holbrook to visited the most amazing National Park of Petrified Forest which encompassed the term the painted desert it was created from, Agate Bridge and Rainbow Forest.  This one of most amazing places we have ever visited and to see such diversity in nature over less than 100 square miles is beyond comprehension, much less the idea of natives living here for thousands of years.  I may have bought three different souvenirs of petrified rock this day.

After this national park visit where D was sworn in as a Junior Park Ranger (!), we visited the Meteor (Sunset) Crater and drove past the San Francisco Mountain & Flagstaff.   We also stopped in Winslow, Arizona and ate lunch at a diner.   Winslow is famous for being in an Eagles song, but it is also famous for housing many great song writers for a short time in the 1970s.

We drove the long way back to civilization to Sedona.   To be back a third time in this place seemed like divinity.   As a family, we enjoyed the next 48 hours relaxing in one of the best places on Earth.   We visited the Chapel of Holy Cross where I prayed for my Grandmother who had just passed, as well as visiting Buddhist Stuppa where I also asked for her soul to be in peace.   I felt her presence in these places.     We ate again at the Sedona Airport refinished fancy restaurant where we laughed together ten years ago about getting married.   To look over and see our son was quite something.   We explored downtown and relaxed in the beauty of those magical red rocks every hour of those few days.

As we left the Sedona area, we visited the haunted old mining town of Jerome up on the top of those mountains.  This is a seriously haunting place even in the sunshine.    The town had a hay day during the mining boom and then went bust.  We explored the mining places and house. 

On Friday, after a long week,  we returned to Phoenix for the night and had to show D our tradition of eating at Hard Rock after being gone from home for awhile.   As we flew home, we knew we were raising a strong boy who would be brave and have many adventures of his own.    Here's to many more adventures as a family!  And Sedona, I will see you at 42 to keep the tradition alive!