Category: vacation

Westward, ho!

Posted on by Grayson
This morning we started a fun trip – driving from Wisconsin to California!
T, ever the joker, put ‘wagon caulk’ on the list of things to bring as well as clothes fit to ford a river. My Oregon trail past will never disappear.
Via Playbuzz
I’m really excited because we get to spend time with my sister and her cuties, Sammy and Missa Mae. It’s amazing how much they’ve grown since September and I’m anxious to see them.
JUST LOOK AT HOW BIG THEY ARE NOW Y’ALL
One of the awesome things we didn’t realize when we picked this weekend is that the Milwaukee Brewers are playing the San Francisco Giants – AKA we’re totally going to the game! The best part about that is honestly how excited Missa is to go to the game – and getting to watch T explain some baseball to her maybe.
Be still my auntie heart.
Anyhow, I will be much less responsive in the next week because I will be overwhelmed by driving, baseball, and soaking up cuddles from my niblings… and then resting after we’re back.

 

Oh vacation, I miss you!

Posted on by Grayson

We got home Sunday night from our vacation a little before 7 pm. And we managed to get everything unpacked in record time! It is really nice to be home, but I have to say that I miss being on vacation already. Monday was kind of a lazy day. We hit up the zoo and saw their new tapir and the baby harbor seal! It’s kind of my favorite place. But I had to go back to work today, boooo. And between tomorrow and Friday night, I get to work 30 hours! But it’s okay because I asked for the extra hours. That way, I only use about a week’s worth of paid time off.

Oh my gosh though, so much to tell about my vacation!

So we headed out of Wisconsin Friday morning the 15th and made it all the way to Hudson Ohio. It was a long drive, but that was our plan and we had a hot tub in our room because I thought I might need it. I didn’t need it as bad as I thought I might but it was comfy anyhow 🙂

Saturday the 16th, we met one of my awesome friends Heather and her hubby for coffee/breakfast. We spent like 2 hours talking and I feel like we could have talked the whole day away. It was awesome. But alas! We had Gettysburg to get to! We stopped at Montezuma’s for dinner and by the way, if you are ever in the Gettysburg area you have to go there. It’s like a requirement that I am making for you right now. Why? Because they had amazing food! No alcohol, but that’s okay. They legitimately had the best enchiladas verdes I have ever had – and I know my delicious Mexican food. I have so many craving for it now 🙁

We pretty much spent the next two days climbing around the Gettysburg battlefield. It was amazing to see how much of it has remained the same, thanks to being a park. Seeing where so many, including brothers from the boyfriend’s family, fought and died (including one of those brothers) was really solemn and yet super cool. Sunday night we went on a ghost tour and I got some good pictures of orbs. The boyfriend keeps picking on me about them though 😉

Monday night we ended up in part of West Virginia after leaving Gettysburg. I also hit up my Enbrel that night, which was good because I was worried my gigantic lunchbox cooler wasn’t keeping it cold enough. The next day? I had no side effects. It was awesome. Tuesday, we hit both Antietam and Harpers Ferry. Antietam gave me some creepy vibes to be honest, but what can you expect from the nation’s bloodiest day in history right? We didn’t stay long at Harpers Ferry, but that had a lot to do with the fact that it was about 90 with crazy high humidity. We headed back to the hotel, definitely showered, and called it an early night.

Wednesday, we did something super awesome (yeah I know the whole vacation is super awesome – sssh 😉 ) – we drove through the Shenandoah Valley. There were kind of a lot of bugs so being outside and still wasn’t a fun option, but driving with the windows down up and down the mountains was so cool. We ended up in Charleston, WV, that night where I was supposed to meet up with a friend but I got hit by the fatigue bug and lazed around most of the night.

Thursday we went to The Wilds, an amazing safari park in Ohio. They had rhino babies! They are the only place in the world with fourth generation rhinos. They are working on great conservation efforts, including introducing species into the wild after they have disappeared. Our guide was pretty cool and I got some awesome pictures. We drove a little more and spent the night in Columbus.

Friday, we headed on up to Dayton where we hit up the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Yours truly got to hang out on Kennedy’s Air Force One… well, and Eisenhower’s and FDR’s and Truman’s! And we got to see a bunch of experimental aircraft in addition to a B2 bomber and space things! Then we drove off to Cincinnati, where we stayed in a fancy hotel and caught a Reds/Twins game… well, most of it. We left early and then by the time we got back to the hotel I had swollen fingers that I could barely bend 🙁

And that’s after showering and getting them a little less swollen. Wah, wah.

Since we were right across the river, we drove into Kentucky just to say we did Saturday. We hit up a great deli with gluten-free bread and an awesome gluten-free bakery. Then we made a lot of headway on driving, making it all the way to Springfield, Illinois! And then I got a fever and rash all over! Hooray!

My armpit is actually tan because I suck at putting sunscreen on my armpits apparently.

Sunday morning, we visited the only home Lincoln ever owned and the Capital building where he worked – and where his body was displayed on its way to Oak Ridge Cemetery where his tomb is located… and where we stopped next. And then we made it home, to sweet sweet Madison.
It’s nice to be back and to sleep in my bed with more clothing options and a fridge for my Enbrel. But I love going and doing cool things and I miss that sense of just do whatever we feel like. At least now with my schedule change at work, I will be home more in the evenings and the boyfriend and I can do more together like make dinner. Mmm dinner.
So that was my vacation! It was awesome and I was silly to be so apprehensive about it as I was before we left. I can’t wait until our next super awesome adventure!

My Dream Day

Posted on by Grayson

Gosh, that’s a tough one. What would a dream day be like?

Right after I graduated college in 2010 – like literally, the next day – the boyfriend and I went for a magical vacation to Oregon, where I grew up. We spend a week in Eugene with family (including my adorable 5 little cousins who I just love the snot out of) before another week galavanting around the state. We spent the bulk of that time on the coast, which is just beautiful.

I think my favorite day during the whole vacation was one of those coast days. We went to the beach I grew up going to, Devil’s Elbow State Park and Heceta Head Lighthouse. I hadn’t been there in more years than I could count. I was so excited to see it again, and see how things had changed.

We hiked up to the lighthouse and got to wander around. Sometime during our travels, we did tour a lighthouse and I think it was this one, but I can’t remember for sure. The caretakers home also operates as a bed and breakfast, and it was really cool to explore that area as well. Coming down from the lighthouse, we wandered off the main path to another one. We found ourselves hiking and climbing down from the lighthouse along the rocky cliffs of the coast. I didn’t think that in a million years it would be something I was able to do. But I did it – barefoot I might add – and we reached the shore.

I should have been in so much pain. I should have been exhausted and unable to move. But I wasn’t. In fact, the only painful things about that were that being barefoot on rocky cliffs is kind of scratchy on the feet and there was a cave we had to cross before reaching the beach, where the tide came in and came in high. Ocean water is pretty cold.

I think that for me, going through a day like that again would be amazing. It really was a perfect day

EDIT: Ohhh! I found a picture from after our journey down the rocks!

 

Chicago (again!)

Posted on by Grayson

Wow. I am exhausted…ish. I should be WAY more exhausted than I am though I think. So this Humira stuff must be working 🙂

I did not get called back for The Voice. I hit a flat note in my song and my eyes met with the judge in a horrifying moment and we both knew I wouldn’t be anyway. I say, oh well! I tried out and it was fun (aside from being a mere FIVE hours of basically standing the whole damn time). It doesn’t make sense for me to go be on the show right now anyway. I’m finally really happy with most everything going on and don’t want it to change.

But the boyfriend’s birthday in Chicago was pretty fun. We went down Friday and enjoyed the Brookfield Zoo. I was super proud of us that we remembered to bring the sunscreen 🙂  Then we had some delicious Connie’s Pizza before getting up early Saturday for me to stand in long lines and him to wander around Navy Pier. It was a tense, and yet relaxing, few days off.

I’m doing my Humira shot tonight and, hopefully, miss some of the fun injection effects while I sleep.

Tomorrow I have a fun list of things to get done before work. I’m hoping that I can get it done quickly and be kind of lazy… although I kind of really like playing housewife. And lately I’ve been dressing the part, in my cute retro outfits.

One of my friends got a tattoo today and I kind of really want one now! I’m looking at getting Arabic writing, but am unsure what to get. But all the words I have written down are awesome, like “strength” “fighter” “perseverance” and “determination” which Angelina Jolie actually has on her arm. Cool.

Also! Please check out my latest post over at Achieve Clinical filled with summertime tips for us spoonies 🙂