Author Archives: Dayna B.

Colorado, Destinations

Colorado Day 2 – Rocky Mt. National Park

We woke up on Friday morning and had a delicious breakfast with John and Leslie.  After breakfast, I was ready to put some miles on our rental car and start exploring Colorado, but Rob was anxious to try out a CrossFit workout with his cousin Becky.  Did I mention that Becky is a bad-ass Level 2 CrossFit instructor?  Probably not…but she is.  So, while Rob was getting his butt smoked by Becky, I enjoyed a relaxing morning with John and Leslie.

Rob returned from his workout looking pretty exhausted (butt officially smoked!) and wanting to rest.  But there was no time for that because I had a different agenda.  The plan was to head north to Rocky Mountain National Park (about 2 hrs. away), check things out there and then head back to Denver to meet an old army buddy for dinner.  We were getting a late start to the day, so we needed to get on the road pronto.  Somehow Rob mustered up the energy to get showered and we hit the road.

About 2 hrs. later we got to Estes Park, which is a beautiful town right outside Rocky Mountain National Park.  We stopped at a scenic overlook and we became so preoccupied with the wildlife there that we didn’t get a picture of the Rocky Mountains in the background! (That last part isn’t exactly true.  The real reason we didn’t get a photo of the mountains is because of some other tourists that wouldn’t get out of our shot and I got tired of waiting for them to leave.)  The first thing we saw as soon as we pulled into the overlook was this beautiful woodpecker.

There were actually quite a few of these guys flying around and I don’t think I had ever actually seen a woodpecker before.  I had only ever heard them in the distance.  Now that I think about it, I am not even positive that this is a woodpecker, but I am just going to go with it and continue to assume that it is.

The next thing that we noticed were these cute little chipmunks that were everywhere!!  Clearly they were used to being fed by humans because they had no fear of getting up close and personal.

There were also several wild turkeys there as well.

Satisfied with our wildlife pictures, we left the scenic overlook (myself slightly annoyed for not getting the mountains overlook photo) and headed into Estes Park.  We stopped at the Visitors’ Center and a very helpful woman suggested the best route for a Rocky Mountain National Park visit based on our time constraints.  In order to drive through the entire park, you would need to have 5-6 hours.  Since we got a late start, we clearly didn’t have that much time to work with (and Rob wasn’t really interested in doing that much driving to begin with).  The woman assured us that we would still be quite pleased with our visit of the park even though we didn’t have time to see it all.  She highlighted all of the must-see overlook spots on our route and then we were on our way.  Estes Park was such a beautiful little town and I really wish that we would have had more time to stroll around, but we needed to get straight into the park if we were going to make it back to Denver in time for dinner.

We entered the park through the south entrance and paid the $20 fee (worth it).  Rob didn’t get to enjoy the scenery quite as much as I did since he had to concentrate on the driving.  The roads are extremely windy and you can’t exactly stop in the middle of the road to take in the view.  But we definitely made use of all the available overlook areas so that we could park and both enjoy the view.  Our first stop was called Many Parks Curve at 9,640 feet.  Of course Rob had to do a bit of climbing of his own, so I guess his elevation was slightly higher than that!

Our next stop was called Rainbow Curve at 10,829 feet.  There were lots of chipmunks at this stop as well, but we had already gotten our fill of chipmunk photos.

The next stop was Forest Canyon Overlook, where we saw some elk off in the distance!

Next we stopped on Trail Ridge Road, just over 12,000 feet.  This overlook spot was supposed to be the best view of the Continental Divide.  We attempted to do some hiking at this stop, but we got caught in the rain.

Our last stop was Gore Range Overlook and then it was time to turn around and head back.

We chatted with some other tourists that saw several bighorn sheep along the way.  I was disappointed that we somehow missed that, but I was still happy we got to see so many elk along the way.  If you ever plan to visit, you could easily spend an entire day in Rocky Mountain National Park.  I wouldn’t mind exploring the whole park, but I feel that we got a good taste of it during our express excursion.  Rob safely navigated us out of the park and then we were headed into Denver.

We met my old army buddy, Derek, at a microbrewery in Denver.  Derek and I were both MP’s stationed at Ft. Lewis, Washington and it had been about 11 years since I had seen him.  Derek met Rob for the first time that night and Rob and I got to meet Derek’s daughter, Bailee, for the first time as well.  It was really nice to catch up with him and Rob was pleasantly surprised at how well I hit it off with Derek’s daughter (seeing as I generally don’t care for the little ones).  Aside from this one night out to dinner in Denver, Rob and I really didn’t make it back into the city to check things out.  I am sure there are plenty of things to do there, but we just didn’t have enough time to check them out.

After dinner we headed back to John and Leslie’s house and had to call it an early night because we planned to get up at an obscene hour the following morning (actually, still night time if you ask me!).

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Colorado, Destinations

Colorado Day 1 – Meeting the Relatives

Rob and I recently traveled to Colorado to visit some distant relatives of his that I had never met before.  I was excited to meet his family and I was also excited to explore Colorado since I had never been there before.  We stayed with John and his wife, Leslie, who they live just south of Denver.  John is 2nd cousins with Rob’s mother, Nena, so I believe that makes John, Rob’s second cousin once-removed?  The terminology for distant relatives can be a bit confusing to me, but I think I finally got it down.  Regardless, they are family.

We arrived at John and Leslie’s house at about 5:00 and we were just in time for a great BBQ and birthday celebration.  John and Leslie’s two daughters, Carrie & Becky (Rob’s 3rd cousins?) and the accompanying four grandchildren, as well as close family friends, Dan & Peggy, all came out to meet us, as well as celebrate Carrie’s birthday.  They are an incredible family…the kind of people that make you feel warm and welcome as soon as you meet them.  After only being there for an hour, I felt like I had known them for years.  The weather was fabulous, so we enjoyed ourselves outside on the back patio with lively conversation and delicious food.  We stayed out there for hours eating, drinking, and chatting and it was a great way to relax and get settled in after our flight.  Due to the time change, Rob and I were ready to go to bed pretty early, so we called it a night so that we could energize ourselves to start exploring Colorado the next morning.  All in all, it was a fabulous welcome reception with family in a new place.

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General

First-Time Southwest Flyer

My first experience flying with Southwest was a good one, mainly because our flights from BWI to Denver were FREE! A while back, I started becoming proactive in the travel rewards programs arena to make all of my travel dreams come true. One of the things I did was apply for a Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Card which scored me 50,000 points (enough for more than 2 roundtrip flights). Note: This credit card is currently only offering a 25,000 point sign-up bonus, so it might be best to wait for the bonus point offer to go up again. In addition to receiving the bonus points, I also received several Southwest vouchers for free alcoholic beverages on future Southwest flights. Score!

Since Southwest doesn’t reserve seat assignments, I checked us in online 24 hours prior to our flight. The day of our flight, we were running a bit behind schedule, which of course, gave me anxiety about our luggage not making it onto the plane in time and then not arriving at our destination. (I was meeting several members of Rob’s family for the very first time and it would have been hard to make a good impression without clean clothes!) To ease my anxiety, Rob dropped me and our luggage off at the terminal so that I could get our bags checked while he parked the car in the long-term parking lot. On any other airline, I would have had to pay to check a bag on a domestic flight. But Southwest gives travelers the option to check TWO bags for FREE, which meant I was able to check my luggage and Rob’s luggage without incurring any additional costs while he was parking the car. Thank you Southwest.

The flight itself was also good. The fact that I had two FREE Bloody Mary’s during the flight, made it even better! Not only were they free, but they were also really good. In addition to the free booze, Southwest also provided more snacks than any other airline would have done for such a short flight. I will definitely fly Southwest again and luckily for us, Southwest is adding a DCA to Denver route starting at the end of this month!

We had a great time in Colorado and I hope to have the details of our trip posted over the weekend. I still haven’t downloaded the pictures from my camera, but I am hoping that we got some good ones. Stay tuned…

P.S. If you are interested in maximizing points in travel rewards programs, check out The Points Guy.

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Sweet Deals

Nepal Trekking & Yoga Adventure

Nepal wasn’t exactly on my radar of places to go until I saw this travel package. This trip sounds amazing!! It is a 10 day trip filled with adventure. Unfortunately, the dates don’t really work for me. But it is something I will definitely keep my eye on in the future.

Nepal Adventure Package

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Random

Plan B (ok maybe Plan C)

After having to cancel my trip to Cozumel, I went back to the drawing board to find a replacement destination. I found a fabulous cruise to Bermuda that sounded perfect for me, but the dates didn’t work for Heather. Rob was interested in taking another trip with me this summer, so he looked into the possibility of getting leave approved. But, as it turns out, he also had a schedule conflict with the dates of this cruise.

Rob has family in Colorado and they have extended the invite on numerous occasions for us to head west to visit. I have never been to Colorado before, but I have always heard such amazing stories about how beautiful it is, so it seemed like this might be a good time to check it out. Rob’s family graciously accepted to host us and I was able to book our plane tickets for FREE (thank you Southwest reward points!).

I am not sure exactly what we will do/see while we are there, but hopefully we can come up with a good plan in the next couple of weeks. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to share them.

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Confucius Say…

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Best fortune cookie ever!

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Random

Floating above Woodstock

For Valentine’s Day in 2011, Rob bought me a gift certificate for a hot air balloon ride which was something neither of us had ever done before.  We scheduled the flight for late last summer, maybe early fall, I can’t quite remember.  We were scheduled for a sunrise flight, which meant we had to meet the pilot at 5:40 a.m. in Woodstock, Va, which is very far from home.  To make things easier, we spent the night before at Tom’s house in Front Royal to shorten the morning commute.  The next morning, we met the pilot and then headed to a recreational park to get things set up.  It was really foggy that morning, but our pilot was hopeful that the fog would clear up in time for our flight.

Rob helped get the balloon ready for flight.

About 20 minutes later we were ready to go up.  It was just 3 of us in the basket; me, Rob and our pilot, Don.

We got up above the tree line and that is when Don realized that the fog was not going anywhere and we were going to have to ground the balloon.  We were only up in the air for about 2 minutes and we obviously didn’t get to see much due to all of the fog.  We were going to have to reschedule the flight and try another time.

Fast forward about a year and we were ready to try this again.  We were scheduled for another sunrise flight which meant another very early morning.  Once again, Tom was kind enough to host us at his house.  Still, we had to wake up before the crack of dawn, 4:30 to be exact.  We then headed to meet our pilot (still Don), once again at 5:40.  We went to the same recreational park to begin the setup.  It was a bit foggy, but nowhere near as bad as the first go-around. (Notice the difference between the picture below and the same shot from last year.)

There were probably cows there last year too, but we definitely couldn’t see them!

We went through the same process for setting up the balloon.  Rob was a good trooper and helped out with the setup again.  I would have loved to help but, somebody had to be the photographer!

Once the balloon was set up, it was time to try this again. Rob and I joined Don in the basket and away we went.

We got up above the tree line and once again we were surrounded by fog!

Don quickly told us that we might not be able to fly due to the fog. Rob and I looked at each other thinking, “you have got to be kidding me!”  Don assured us that this almost never happens.  He told us that it has been about a year since the last time he has had to ground because of fog. Rob chuckled and reminded Don that we had been in this same exact position about a year ago and we were grounded due to fog. That seemed to refresh Don’s memory and he said he remembered us and thought that we might have been the patrons that were the last to get grounded!  We couldn’t believe our luck. What are the chances?  The thought of waking up that early and driving all this way for a third time sounded awful to me. I think I might have been ready to scrap the whole idea and hope for a refund. But before we knew it, the fog was starting to clear on one side giving Don a safe path to travel.

There were two other balloons going up that morning, but we were the first to get up in the air.  So we got to watch them from above.

Even though it was a bit foggy, we still really enjoyed the view.  We had the Massanutten & Blue Ridge Mountains on one side and then the Allegheny Mountains on the other side.

The highest we flew was about 1,000 feet and the fastest we went was about 10 mph.  I didn’t think that animals below would really pay much notice to us floating above them, but dogs ran around their yards and barked at us and several herds of cattle ran for cover!  We flew over some people that were relaxing on their deck and we waved back and forth.  Our flight lasted about 45 minutes and then we found a safe place to land, which just so happened to be someone’s front yard.  As soon as we landed, we swapped out of the basket with another couple that were scheduled to fly after us.

After watching them lift off, we got in the chase vehicle and basically followed the balloon on the ground.  The partner in the chase vehicle needs to be there to assist when the balloon lands.  She also sent off several test balloons to let Don know which way the winds were moving so that he could find a safe place to land.

We just happened to be standing by the location that one of the other two balloons was about to land, so Rob went over to assist them with their landing.

Meanwhile, Don missed his initial landing zone.  He was hoping to land on the other side of those trees, but he overshot it, so the crew had to rush to the other side to assist him with the land.

It was a precarious situation and required Don to throw a tow rope down so that people could help guide the balloon in the right direction so that he wouldn’t crash into this person’s house!  I am so glad this is not how our landing went!

Thankfully, it all worked out and they landed safely.  Nobody was injured and nothing was damaged.  I don’t believe anyone was home, but there was one very pissed off Chihuahua that clearly did not approve of this landing location.  They guided the balloon further away from the house and then it was time to pack everything up.

All in all, it was a very cool experience!

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Screw You American Airlines!

This past February, Heather and I went on a relaxing beach vacation to the Riviera Maya in Mexico.  We got a great deal on a really nice all-inclusive resort and it was pure heaven.  We decided that we should definitely make this an annual thing and travel somewhere every February.  February just happens to be a good time for us to take vacation at work and it is definitely a great time to get out of the cold weather and head to a tropical beach!

A few months after we got back from Mexico we decided that we couldn’t wait a full year to do this again.  Our birthdays are in September (22nd if you want to send me a gift!) and we figured that was a good enough reason to take a vacation.  We found a great deal on an all-inclusive resort in Cozumel and we booked it months in advance.

We have steadily been getting more and more excited for our upcoming trip and then out of nowhere I get notified that American Airlines is reducing their flights to Cozumel and our flights were among the ones that got cancelled.  Ain’t that some bull$*#@!

Our options were: 1. Change our travel dates to correspond with the new (limited) dates that American Airlines has service to/from Cozumel.  2. Change our travel location and book a trip elsewhere, keeping the same travel dates.  3. Get a full refund.

Option# 1 wasn’t possible for us because our vacation dates are not flexible.  Option# 2 would have cost us several hundred dollars more because now that it is fairly close to our travel date, the prices have gone way up (so much for us planning so far in advance!).  So, we settled on Option# 3.  My vacation leave is still on the books, so I am hoping that I might be able to find some kind of alternative.  If not, I think I might go to WalMart and buy one of those plastic kiddie pools and then pay someone to serve me cocktails (with little umbrellas in them) in my backyard.

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Hot Air Balloon Ride

Yesterday Rob and I did a hot air balloon ride in Woodstock, VA. Stay tuned for pictures!

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Sweet Deals

Amazing Deal Alert

This is an amazing deal for a trip to Costa Rica! This package includes airfare, 6 nights hotel accommodations, car rental, daily breakfast, and several tours for only $599. Rob and I went to Costa Rica for our honeymoon and I would highly recommend this destination. This vacation is a steal!

Costa Rica Deal

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