#FBF Sedona: Take Two

Well hello there! Life has seemingly crept up on me this week and I just never could get hold of it. Last weekend we were fortunate enough to spend some time with our friends in Tucson as an extension to a work conference I attended. I hope to do a recap of that trip soon! Until then, I hope you all have a great weekend up ahead. I'm super excited over here as this weekend kicks off the start to the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta! Guess you know what I'll be doing this weekend :)

Without further ado, let's kick off #FBF!

As a side note; today's blog won't feature any pictures from the actual trip, simply because I didn't take any this trip, but do I have a story for you. Hang in there-it's a long one.

This story takes us back to one of the hubby's and my first trips together. If memory serves, we had only done one other trip by ourselves before to see my sister in-law in Las Cruces (pictured below). So this trip was kind of a big deal.


I'm pretty sure this was our first EVER picture taken together! Photo cred goes to my sister-in-law. Oh the memories :)

If you've been following along my journey, I've explained my appreciation for Sedona here before. I loved it so much, I knew immediately that one day I would make the drive back. While it took a little longer than expected, I finally made it about three years ago, this time with the hubby. Only at the time we were recently engaged.



We intended the trip to be a long day trip filled with a picnic lunch and a hike. Reminding you yet again that six-hour road trips are not outside my realm of possibilities!

Our trip started out normal. We made our way into Arizona, deciding to forego Flagstaff on the way out, and hit it on the way back home. We made it down the long winding mountain road that dumped us into Sedona. The views are amazing, the birds and wildlife are full of songs and life. It's like the perfect picture from a sappy movie, with the windows down, music up and enjoying the road ahead.



We made it into Sedona and found a trail we wanted to hike with the pups and spent about a couple of hours climbing up the rocks to the top where we were gifted with some amazing vast views of surrounding rock formations. We decided to take a bit of a break at the top to enjoy the views, have some lunch and let the pups rest up and enjoy some shade. After a while we decided to head back down and agreed we had seen what we wanted of Sedona and thought Flagstaff would be a great next stop.



As we packed up and headed out, we were faced with extremely long lines of traffic of tourists enjoying the scenes, and if I remember correctly, there was also some construction going on in town. Well, this is about when that sappy movie ended and all of our luck changed for the worse. My car decided to overheat and breakdown on us. Long story short, we were now stranded in Sedona for the night.

One string of bad luck led to another combined with a holiday festival weekend taking place in the town, until we found ourselves car camping outside of an auto-repair shop until morning when we were supposed to be getting help. The mechanic, thankfully came in on a Sunday morning when they're usually closed. Some strings were pulled. So I guess for as many bad things we had happen, we saw just as many blessings. The mechanic fixed the car for us, we thanked them profusely, headed out on our way again and decided, hey since we now have the whole day to get back home, let's finally go check out Flagstaff!

As we were exiting the highway to head into downtown Flagstaff, low and behold, the car proceeds to overheat again. Car. NOT. Fixed... Whomp Whomp! After much debate and problem solving we ended up having to rent a Uhaul and tow said car back home.

Not at all how I had hoped my return to Sedona would turn out, but memorable nonetheless. I can honestly say we both look back on that situation and smile. It certainly wasn't ideal, was extremely frustrating, but we also had one of the sweetest times and growing experiences and before all of the trouble, Sedona was still beautiful.

As another funny aside, the google map car must have happened to take a trip down our street that weekend when the Uhaul truck was outside the house. When you google our address, we have the lovely reminder of that trip on street view haha!



I can't say Sedona is currently top of my list anymore, mainly out of fear, but some day I'd love to take the hubby back where we can actually enjoy the full trip. Next time, we'll be bringing a different car.

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What is your craziest road trip story?

#FBF Three states in one day: My trip to Monument Valley

Hello, hello! We meet again for #FBF. I hope you all have had a great week and have a wonderful weekend planned ahead.

A few years ago I heard about this place in Utah called Monument Valley and knew immediately I needed to get myself there. However, I was short on funds at the time so decided this needed to happen in a day trip. Luckily my momma and one of my brothers were also up for the trip and drove the six hour one-way with me, passing through Arizona, Colorado and Utah to get there. I told you not to put it past me! All I have to say is, it was worth it.



The size of these rock formations is incredible. They are absolutely gigantic. Places like this always makes me stop and appreciate this beautiful world we live in. I guess this is also why I love getting out so much. There's so much to see!



Obviously we didn't have a ton of time to stop and explore the area. Lucky for us, Monument Valley is also pretty much in the middle of nowhere, so we drove the six hours out, toured the valley by car, stopping when we really liked a formation and headed back home. The drive out there also had some pretty cool formations as well this one:



I was pretty camera-happy on the this trip, but I'll only include a few pictures for your viewing. If you're ever looking for ideas for the next road-trip, put this one on the list!













See you next week, my friends.

White Sands National Monument at Sunset

And just like that it's the start to another new week. I hope your Monday was a good one, and nothing like a "Monday!" If I'm being honest I fought with Monday a little this morning. Sleep was calling my name and I found myself in struggle city trying to roll out of bed. All that to say, waking up tired Monday morning meant we had a pretty great weekend!

Our weekend started out Friday evening with breakfast for dinner with my in-laws. The hubby and I used to do breakfast for dinner quite a bit when we were dating, and somehow it got completely lost along the way. It was definitely a good throwback and dessert was spoon fulls of  peanut butter with chocolate chips, it definitely hit the spot. My love for peanut butter is a little ridiculous...however, I think I may have met my match! My father-in-law just might like it more than I do. For those who know me well, THAT is saying something!

Saturday we hit the road about 1 pm with a crew to head out to White Sands National Monument. I've been to White Sands a few times now, but had never been during sunset and had recently seen some amazing pictures of it and just had to put it on our list. We would've left earlier, but in an effort to allow as many people an opportunity to come as possible, we waited until later in the day. On the way out we stopped at Sparky's to get our green chile hamburger fix (so good!) and then continued on to White Sands.



We arrived at about 6:30 pm and the park closes at 8 pm. I wish we would have had more time in the park to play and hang out, but we made the most of our short time there and the sunset was quite beautiful. We were also treated to some pretty spectacular storm clouds off in the distance that displayed some great colors and lightening as well. I do think that White Sands at sunset is my favorite so far. We decided that camping was the next thing that needed to happen there. A full moon over the dunes I bet is gorgeous and the sunrise I'm sure is pretty stunning as well. As a side note, you'll notice a lot of vegetation in my pictures throughout this post. We didn't go very deep into the monument in an effort to take advantage of as much time in the dunes as possible. The further in you go, the more desolate it becomes and the views get more impressive.



In case you're curious, camping is allowed in the dunes. You have to backpack a mile in to the dunes before you can set up your campsite but it's allowed. There is obviously no water or facilities around so you'll want to be sure to plan accordingly. For those who haven't been to the monument, it gets really hot during the summer month's so you'll want to plan for that as well. There is no such thing as bringing too much water, and bringing a saucer to slide down the dunes is great entertainment and work far better in this type of sand than they did at the Great Sand Dunes. We were thinking spring and fall would be a great time to re-visit for a camping trip.



Because we left later in the day, we didn't get back until pretty early Sunday morning-hence why waking up this morning was a struggle. Sunday was spent relaxing and recouping from the trip with a late evening motorcycle ride with the hubs just before sunset. It was a gorgeous evening last night both in temperature and in beauty, which made for a pretty great ride. We don't seem to get out on the bike nearly enough these days, so it was a nice change. We came back to spend the evening with my seester with a side of much needed quality time. Though our lives are both pretty busy, I'm trying to cherish the time we have with her while she's staying with us.



That pretty much sums up our weekend! It flew by in a flash, but was certainly memorable.



Have a wonderful week friends!

#FBF Re-cap: The Grand Canyon & Sedona

Happy Friday friends! Hope everyone's week has been enjoyable and have a fun weekend up ahead. Can you believe we only have two weekends left in the month of September? Where did September go? As usual we'll be closing the month out with a bang. I am really starting to look forward to a less hectic October.

Before, I get too ahead of myself, let's jump into #FBF.

Today's #FBF post also happens to be the first flashback to somewhere in the United States! I thought I would shake things up a bit...but really it's because I've run out of previous trips outside of the States to share with you. So no begins the start of some of my other adventures taken over the years.

A random fact about me: I'm pretty much always down for a road trip, and day trips are taken pretty often. Admittedly, not nearly as much anymore, but we still squeeze them in as often as we can. A day trip for me is anywhere from 30 minutes away to up to probably four hours away. Once we start getting higher than that I start looking into the possibility of staying a night if the location has enough things to do. However, don't necessarily put it past me to squeeze six hours one-way into a day trip. I've done it before and it was well worth it! Many find that crazy, but it works for me and I love it.

A fun spur of the moment trip I took a few years ago with my mom and youngest brother was to the Grand Canyon and then a quick stint in Sedona. To clarify, this trip we did spend a night.

Full disclosure, while we had an absolute blast, I was a bit underwhelmed by the Grand Canyon. I know, I know-gasp! It's massive and quite beautiful, don't get me wrong. I guess I was expecting...just more. I had big expectations for this destination. More color, more nature, more to see? I'm not really sure, but after this trip I actually found Sedona's beauty to be more impressive to me than that of the Grand Canyon. Maybe it's also because so many people visit it that it lost its charm on me (if you hadn't picked it up by now, tourist heavy locations tend to leave me wanting more, so this could explain a lot of it). I still walked away with literally hundreds of pictures nonetheless. So that still has to say something about the place!

Highlights of this trip:

• Williams, AZ. It's basically a real-life Cars movie. This town is SO cute.

• Hiking the Grand Canyon. My poor mom. It was basically her first hike (certainly with me) I think, and reviews said the hike was pretty moderate. Definitely not the case! I would have rated it more moderate to difficult simply because of the elevation and drop/incline. She was not a happy camper, and would probably claim we almost killed her! But she was a trooper, and we have a great laugh about it now! Sorry mamacita.
• The views really are something everyone should see.

 

• Sedona, AZ. The red rock, the fewer tourists, the hiking and all of the sights and rock formations in this town below the mountain, completely took my breath away. I wish I frequented this city more than I have, but this trip definitely left me dreaming of more trips in the future.

Have a great weekend friends!
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Have you ever built up a destination in your head that lead to you ultimately being disappointed with it?

A Cultural Weekend with Flamenco + Tram rides

Happy Monday my friends! Welcome back to the work week. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and your football fantasy teams aren't too disappointing!

This weekend at our house was a much needed break, as I eluded to last week. We finally had a Saturday where we didn't have any plans, which was so, so nice.

We kicked off the weekend on Friday evening with my brother and sister-in-law at Hotel Albuquerque for some Flamenco! For those locals who don't know, the hotel has teamed up with The Institute of Flamenco offering the Tablao, Thursdays through Sundays, where Sunday shows are for all ages. They've done such a nice job with the space and you can enjoy a world-class performance with some delicious tapas and a wide selection of drinks. Unfortunately, they don't allow pictures of the performance itself, but friends, you'll definitely want to see it for yourself. The talent is undeniable, and this style of dance and music is absolutely beautiful. Have I mentioned how much I love the diversity you can find in Albuquerque? Well, that rings true for it's culture as well.



Saturday may have possibly been the first one all summer that I got to sleep in. And I was shocked when my body allowed me to sleep in until 9 am. Woo hoo! Apparently I needed the sleep!

After getting the house in order we decided to go to the volcanoes on the Westside for a mini 3 mile hike. The weather was perfect, definitely with a hint of fall in the air, which is exciting. On the hike we couldn't help but remark yet again, just how spoiled we are in Albuquerque. No matter where you are in the city, you have close access to tons of outdoor opportunities. Whether you talk about any of the open space areas and trails to the foothills or the Petroglyphs, this city is surrounded!





In the evening, we were relaxing when I remembered we still had some Tram tickets that needed to be used. If you recall, we've had to reschedule that date multiple times due to weather. With how beautiful it was earlier we figured it would be the perfect night to finally catch the sunset up at the top of the mountains. We were so right! I probably took about 20, if not more, pictures that evening so I'll let a few of the pictures speak for themselves.







We then wrapped up our weekend with kick-off Sunday to watch the Cowboys vs. Giants. We could only stay through the third quarter, which I'm glad as sadly, we lost. We've made improvements though, so hopefully this year will prove to be better than last! We capped off the evening with a fun game night with some dear friends of ours, and that pretty much sums up our weekend!



Have a fabulous week friends! We'll see you back here on Friday.

 

#FBF Re-cap: France & Germany Part III

Friday, we meet again. Hope you all are having a great day! This weekend I have been counting down to for weeks! Why you may ask? Because this Saturday we have absolutely no plans, and it feels wonderful! Don't get me wrong, I love exploring near and far, but it's also nice just to relax-something I struggle with. So, needless to say I'm kind of jumping for joy over here that I get to sleep in and do whatever my little heart desires this Saturday. I hope you all are able to make some time for yourselves this weekend as well!

Before I get too ahead of myself, let's not forget about #FBF. Today is my last post of our France and Germany trip. If you missed the others, you can find those here and here.

As I mentioned previously, we spent a couple of days in France, then hopped on a train over to Germany and ended our trip with more exploring, amazing food (I'm sensing a trend) and great company back in France.



We found our last days to be some of the best with escargot (pictured above)- maybe it was the sauce, but we actually really liked it! We also enjoyed amazing views of the Eiffel Tower and Paris city from the rooftop of a mall. As a side note, the French are huge into their shopping! I've never seen anything like it.









We ooh'd and awe'd at the spectacular view of the Eiffel Tower at night.


Sacre-Coeur



We also waited to see the Sacre Coeur light up at night, which was also beautiful.

We partook in some amazing pizza from a local pizza spot near our friends apartment in Bois Colombes (just outside of Paris), where the guy was kind enough to entertain us with his French rock skills. All of the other nights we had left in France my friend treated us to her fabulous home-cooked meals, and we taste-tested macaroons and stinky cheese. According to the French, the more mold a cheese has and the more it smells, the better it tastes! Bon appétit!

Lena and Alan- thank you so much! Again, for all of your hospitality. You were wonderful, are greatly missed and deeply adored!

Happy Friday, friends! I'll see you next week.

Camping + Sand dunes over the long weekend

Hey, hey! I hope everyone is enjoying the short week! The long weekend has me catching up a bit so today I'm getting around to sharing about our weekend.

For our Labor Day weekend we packed up our camping gear and headed out to Hopewell Lake Campground in northern New Mexico with some of our family. Our original plan was to camp in Colorado near the Great Sand Dunes, but I was a little late in reserving a spot. My dad had raved about his experience with the campground last year, and it happened to be only a couple of hours from the dunes so we jumped on the availability.



The campground is nestled in the mountains and pretty remote, making the drive up there quite beautiful. The lake itself is pretty small, but the area has some pretty impressive views, lots of hiking near by, amazing night skies and is one of the quietest campsites I think I've been to. The only bummer about the campground is that they don't sell firewood. I had done all of my research online and then booked our reservation, which all said that firewood could be purchased near the grounds so we elected not to bring any. So. Not. True. If you find yourself heading that way (which I would highly recommend) be sure to bring your own firewood! The nearest spot is about 30 miles away. There is plenty of firewood in the forest that you can use, however, it rained prior to us getting there and all of the wood was useless. Hubby gave it a good effort, but the first night we ended up going fire-less. Whomp whomp! A bit of a bummer, but we made the most of it.

The next morning we headed out to Colorado to visit Zapata Falls and then to the Great Sand Dunes. Both were amazing! It's a two hour drive from Hopewell, but a nice drive (bonus, we found some firewood at a gas station we stopped at). We went to Zapata Falls first. While smaller vehicles could probably make the drive-at least according to my sister in law, I would recommend a higher clearance vehicle if possible and 4WD. The road to the falls is pretty rough, but it's so worth it! Once there, you have a short walk to the falls area (about a half mile) and then you walk through the water to get to the falls. I'd recommend bringing a change of shoes. A pair you don't mind getting wet, and then some walking shoes. The water was FREEZING! When I first got in it was so cold it was making my legs ache, but after a while they numbed up and it was almost smooth sailing from there (with the exception of a couple spills on my part).



Another perk about the area is that dogs are allowed, which was super nice to have the pups ride along with us. I always hate leaving them behind on our excursions and they live for the outdoors. Only downside was they were in a mood this weekend and made things pretty challenging for us to be in public, which I think also caused stress on the group (I'm sorry family-and hubby- for all of the chaos! Thank you so much for being such troopers and putting up with it!). After the falls, next stop was the Great Sand Dunes.



Once we arrived, we first stopped for a picnic lunch, then we headed over to the dunes. The Great Sand Dunes remind me a little of White Sands for those locals who've been there. Though they are not nearly as vast as the White Sands are and they are much taller. You really feel like you are climbing and wandering in the remote deserts of the Sahara or something. It's a little challenging of a hike. You're at higher elevation and the hills are pretty steep, but the down part is so much fun! The other cool part about the dunes is that it is surrounded by mountains, so you get some pretty great views from every direction. We lucked out and didn't have much wind, but I've heard you want to bring clothes that will protect your skin just in case. I wish we had had time to catch the sunset as I've heard it's beautiful, but we were getting hungry and really wanted a fire for our second night so we had to get going before it got too dark.











On the drive back we were treated with a beautiful sunset and once back at the campsite we devoured dinner and finally had some S'mores-because necessary!

The next morning was our last day there so we took things pretty easy, went for a walk that morning with the pups and the hubby, packed up and went to check out Hopewell Lake. A storm was coming in so unfortunately we couldn't stay long, but it was fun while it lasted!



Overall-we had a wonderful weekend and were so glad to still have Monday to re-coup! I hope you all enjoyed your long weekend as well. I'll see you back here on Friday for the last installment of our time in France last year. Have a good day friends!