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!