Colorado

 As we were leaving Moab, UT we wanted to fill the car up with gas... Our GPS told us there was a place called, "Papa Joe's Gas & Go" so we figured we would swing by there to fill up and to get some snacks for the road... the best part is that it was converted years ago and this is what we saw: 

We still got (rather expensive) gas and took a look around in the store. SO not what we expected, but the store was kind of Jungle Jim's-ish. They had a lot of unique and quirky things.  We were unsure at first when we saw the new name, but we were glad we stopped! Yes, it might be overpriced, but the experience was worth it -unexpected and fun! 

NOW for Colorado.....

We drove to Glenwood Springs and it is a BEAUTIFUL town! 

Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park -America's only mountaintop theme park! To get there, you have to take a scenic gondola ride to the top of Iron Mountain.  They have a couple of roller coasters, a giant canyon swing, cave tours, laser tag, a drop tower, alpine coaster and more!  

I, of course, love any kind of thrill/adventure activity so this was right up my alley!  We did the Alpine coaster, giant canyon swing, crystal tower, defiance roller coaster, Glenwood canyon flyer, cliffhanger roller coaster, and mine wheel.  We did not get a chance to do either of the cave tours, but maybe on my next visit! 

I was pleasantly surprised that we didn't have to wait in any line except for the alpine coaster.  We must have went on the perfect day! It's a beautiful park and I enjoyed the views and uniqueness of this attraction! 

Next on the agenda was Iron Mountain Hot Springs.  Their website lists the following amenities: Geothermal pools, inspired pools, large mineral family pool, inspired jetted spa, bathhouse with luxury shower products, cafés and bars.

We stayed for a couple hours and tried out some different pools/spas. The nice thing about this was that it was very scenic and beautiful! 

There was a packaged deal we got in on which included both the adventure park and the hot springs. We were able to fit both in comfortably in one day. 

Sadly, our flight left from Denver the following day so we didn't get to do much else in Colorado. I really enjoyed Glenwood Springs and would like to go back to Colorado to see and do more things! It looks absolutely beautiful - just the drive to Denver!

Utah pt 2

 Day 4:  We started out the day at Canyonlands which is actually Utah’s biggest national park!

We stopped at Grand view point, Buck canyon overlook, Mesa arch, and Schafer view. Here are just a few pictures from our time in the park: 

We visited the park in the morning so as not to be out in the heat of the day. We made our way to Moab in the early afternoon and stopped at Moab Diner for lunch. The food was just okay, but the ice cream.... was AMAZING. OH MY GOODNESS.  Chocolate sundae with hot fudge, marshmallow fluff,  and brownie.... YUM YUM YUM YUM YUM. (Dessert highlight right here!)

We also walked around Moab and checked out a couple of shops. 

Our hotel (which we actually stayed in for 2 nights) was Aarchway Inn and it was definitely our favorite hotel! We each had our own queen bed which was super nice AND we had a game table in the middle of the room! It was also a 5 minute drive to Arches National Park which was our final national park in Utah! 

Day 5: Our 5th and final of the "mighty 5:" Arches! Arches National Park has over 2,000 natural sandstone arches which is the highest concentration in the world. This (along with the UTV tour) were probably my favorite things from the trip! 

Some of my favorite things that we saw:

Balanced rock 

Skyline arch trail and Sand dune arch trail 

Delicate arch viewpoint and Double arch trail*

**This was SO FUN for me because I climbed up to the top for some incredible views! 

We also stopped at Park Ave trail and as we were exiting the park we saw the 3 penguins:

Later that evening we went on a Highpoint Hummer tour through Moab’s iconic trail: Hell’s Revenge.  It was a sunset tour and I was hoping it would be a little more exciting than it was. 

Our driver was pretty talented though and did amazing feats with the hummer both uphill and downhill!

Final verdict: Arches is my favorite national park in Utah! I would like to go back with Mike sometime so we can climb rocks together! :)

Utah pt 1

STATE 40: UTAH!

I know I just took a trip a couple weeks ago, but it was time for another-  the 3 M's were at it again! (Michelle, Meghan, and Melissa)  We flew into Salt Lake City which was a little under 4 hours from Cincinnati. We immediately rented a car and drove to just outside of Zion. It was a long travel day, but that meant that the next day we could go straight to the park. 

We made it to our hotel around 10pm which was really midnight our time. 

Day 1  We started the day at Zion National Park (which is actually Utah's first national park!)

We visited: Kolob Canyon and Timber Creek Overlook Trail. Then, we took the Zion shuttle (after having to wait in line for it) to the furthest stop - the riverside walk. This was actually nice and shaded and really pretty: 

We grabbed lunch and then drove through the Zion Mt Carmel Tunnel:

Last stop was the Canyon overlook trail : 

We checked into our next Hotel which put us close to our excursion for the next day. 

Day 2 Upper & lower red cave Slot Canyon and Bryce 

One of the highlights of this trip was the UTV tour which was done through Roam east Zion. 

It was about a 2 hour tour and our guide, Anna, was so great!  It was a private tour and she drove us straight to the entrance of the two canyons! We walked around inside the canyons and took some fun pictures! The ride was bumpy, but it was so enjoyable! 

After our tour we grabbed lunch and headed to Bryce! Bryce Canyon National Park is known for its geological formations, “hoodoos” , which are tall thin spires of rock. 

We stopped at: 

Natural bridge 

Rainbow point, Black birch canyon, Bryce point:

Sunset point: 
(We even saw Thor's Hammer!)

While we were at Bryce there was a fire in Dixie National Forest, approximately 15 miles southwest of the park. We could see the smoke from Bryce so that was a little scary.

We checked into our Hotel after successfully visiting 2/5 national parks in Utah. 

Day 3:  

We woke up and could smell smoke in our room from the fire.  This was our view when we stepped outside: 

There was ash flying everywhere so we were grateful we were heading to a new park: Capitol Reef !

We saw Panorama point and Goosenecks point: 

We also stopped to view some Petroglyphs: (it took me a while to find them!)

Our Hotel for the night was its own adventure-  17 miles to the nearest anything...   We drove the nearest "town" and got some snacks for the night.  Probably wouldn't recommend staying there unless you have stuff (like dinner) packed in advanced. 

....TO BE CONTINUED... 

A couple days in NYC

 SINCE WE WERE ALREADY IN NEW JERSEY... I figured why not stop in my favorite city: NYC!

Mike had only been once when he was around 2 years old and didn't really remember it.  I wanted him to see why I love the city so much. (Plus he has always kind of been anti-city and I wanted to change his mind!)

My Background: My first visit to NYC took place in 2002 - after 9/11 I wanted to see the city firsthand and I fell in love right then and there. I LOVED the idea of a big city- the lights, the movement, the tall buildings... everything! 

The funny thing is, that as an adult, I HATE being around crowds. The idea of lots of people in one place ... no thanks! But somehow NYC is fine! 

I'm not going to go into a whole lot of detail about each place we visited since I was just there in late 2023 and covered them in previous blog posts beginning here. I will only be talking about the ones not previously covered:

Day 1: 
-Walked around Rockefeller Center/St Patrick's Cathedral/FAO Schwartz 
-One World Observatory - THIS WAS NEW FOR ME!  We really only went here because we were trying to kill time before our scheduled museum entry.  I honestly wasn't too impressed with the observatory and I think the Summit is way better!! 
-9/11 Memorial and Museum
-Statue of Liberty
-The Summit

Picture at the Summit

Day 2: 
 -Tavern on the Green (I ate here probably close to 20 years ago so don't remember much about it)... I think we both thought the restaurant was fine (we ate there for lunch), but nothing too spectacular.  Originally Tavern on the Green was built as a sheep fold in the 1880's to house the sheep that grazed in Central Park's Sheep Meadow. It was transformed into a restaurant in 1934!
-Squid Games - I actually got an ad for this while we were in New Jersey and it looked fun! We watched the Squid Games, but aren't huge fans... the games themselves looked fun and it was a unique experience! There were 5 different challenges we competed in and we had fun doing it! 

Posing before the games

-Highline
-Nina Conti show! This was fun - I follow her videos online. She's a comedian/human ventriloquist/improv extraordinaire! It was pretty enjoyable and we had a good time- the show was a little short though! 

Whose Face Is It Anyway show!

 
Another reason I LOVE New York City is there is SO much to do. You could literally find new places to eat, new things to see, new things to do EVERY SINGLE DAY of your life for 20 years.  

If you’ve never been to NYC I will always recommend 9/11 memorial and museum, Statue of Liberty, the Summit, Times Square, the Highline, and Central Park because they are just classic New York. 

I'll leave you with one of my favorite photos from this trip: 

 Next up: UTAH!

Six Flags, NJ

State number 39: NEW JERSEY! 

Mike and I have Kings Island season passes and we ended up getting the all park pass add on at the end of last year. This means we can go to Cedar Point and Six Flags with our passes! Since boardwalks and casinos didn't really interest me in Jersey, we decided to try out Six Flags instead! 

We arrived on Wednesday and made it into the park around 5:30.  When I originally planned this trip, I didn't realize they closed at 7pm during the week! Thankfully, it wasn't an issue anyway!

We started our adventure by riding Superman (front car!), El Toro, Medusa (front car) 2x, enchanted tea cups, and Houdini’s great escape. We pretty much had the park to ourselves since NJ schools were still in session and it was raining off and on.  We got in way more than we thought we would just being there an hour and a half! 

Afterwards, we went to La Piazza restaurant which was near our hotel and it was SO GOOD!! Our hotel was Hampton Inn and Suites in Robbinsville. I looked online at recent reviews and there was mention of bed bugs... We scanned our room up and down since almost a year ago we came down with scabies! Thankfully, no bed bugs to be found and we had a wonderful nights sleep. 

Next day (Thursday) we arrived at the park at 10:30 opening. Unfortunately, we got there at the same time as all the bus loads of kids! UGH!  We ran to the new ride called The Flash! Then rode Justice League, Batman, Dark Knight, Nitro, Jersey Devil, Skull Mountain, and ended with Joker. 

We left the park around 1:30 to eat lunch. (The lines inside the park were just too long for food) We decided not to go back after lunch and instead drove to Asbury Park. 

Here are my ride rankings for

Six flags (New Jersey):

5 star-

4 star- Medusa, El Toro, enchanted tea cups,  the flash, nitro, joker, 

3 star- Superman, jersey devil, skull mountain, Batman 

2 star- Houdini’s great escape, justice league, dark knight, 

1 star- 

I think we're pretty spoiled living in Ohio... Cedar Point and Kings Island have given us pretty high standards and ultimately we weren't too impressed with Six Flags.  They have a few unique rides like The Flash, Jersey Devil, and Joker. 

The Flash- a combination of Invertigo (Kings Island) and Top Thrill Dragster (Cedar Point). 
Jersey Devil - a single rail coaster.
The Joker - has cars that spin 365 degrees as it travels the track. 


ASBURY PARK: We decided to go to Silverball Retro Arcade and spend the afternoon there.  They had a whole bunch of pinball machines, skeeball, and old arcade games. My favorite was the Elton John pinball -you could even select different songs of his to play in the background! 

We also walked the boardwalk at Asbury Park, but it was pretty cloudy and the weather wasn't ideal. 

All in all, I'm glad we checked out Six Flags - it's not necessarily a place I would go back to, but we had the all park pass so it was worth it!

Next up: NEW YORK CITY 

Royal Caribbean Cruise to Grand Cayman and Jamaica

The past few months have been a little rough, exhausting, and a lot...  Back in November I saw a Black Friday deal for a Royal Caribbean  cruise and within minutes it was a done deal! 

Mike and I just got back from a few days in the Caribbean. 🔆

The CRUISE itself: 

I've been on a Celebrity Cruise, Viking Cruise, Norwegian Cruise and now Royal Caribbean. 
(I've also been on a Chinese river cruise and Icebreaker cruise to Antarctica, but I don't count either of those as "official.")  I think  Royal Caribbean has been my favorite of the cruises. 

I don't remember Celebrity well enough- I think I liked it, but that was 20 years ago so I'm not an expert on it by any means.  Viking was okay... again, geared towards older crowd 65+ which had its pros and cons. Norwegian was decent, but some of the shows were a little raunchy and I didn't care for that aspect of it. 

Independence of the seas is the ship from RC we just came off of and I enjoyed the amenities on board.  They had a flowrider which we didn't do, but we did do the water slide, rock climbing, shuffle board, putt putt, escape room, basketball, pools, and ice skating. 

About our destinations... 

Grand Cayman: 

We chose the excursion which included a visit to Stingray City.

Stingray City is a series of shallow sandbars found in Grand Cayman. It's a tourist attraction where you will see many stingrays and visitors can pet and interact with them. These stingrays are still in their natural habitat which is nice! The guides are very hands on and ensured both the humans and stingrays were comfortable during the encounter. 

Our next stop was Dolphin Discovery. I am always wary about place like this, but this place has claimed to have high standards for animal welfare and are internationally certified for their marine mammal care.  I did ask one of the staff members about the dolphins - if I understood correctly, it sounds like some of the dolphins were rescues while others at the facility were born there. 

Just so everyone knows- I HATE any form of mistreatment to any animal and only want the best for them... so the jury is still out on this excursion. I know people will debate back and forth about whether or not the dolphins are happy in captivity.  The dolphins are super sweet and smart.. and the dolphins that were rescued got used to humans and can't be released back in the wild. I can go back and forth all day on the subject so my only advice is do your research and ask questions before booking any kind of animal excursion. 

Jamaica:

Mike and I were in Jamaica a few years ago with the Viking cruise and had a horrible excursion. It was very upsetting- so much so that I didn't want to even claim Jamaica as a "been to"country... thankfully, we got a RE-DO and it was so much better this time around!!

Dunn's River Falls

"Dunn’s River Falls is an astounding flowing falls that extends across more than 183 metres or 960 feet and is one of the most well-loved travel destinations on the island and a ‘must-do’ bucket list item." Dunn's River is one of the few rivers that actually flows directly into the Caribbean Sea. The Falls is natural and every crevice and natural pool of water was created by the flow of the water's current. Climbing up the falls is a popular activity for locals and tourists. I might have slipped a couple times, but no worries! We made it!

Blue Hole is a series of natural pools made out of limestone. Travelers visit Blue Hole to swim in the pools, cliff dive, rope swing, and more. We did many jumps, tried out the rope swing, and had an enjoyable time. There were guides with us every step of the way ensuring our safety

All in all, it was a nice relaxing get away! Now I'm just waiting for my next 3 trips :)