Author Archives: sweetnattydee

Denver

August 10, 2018

Jay and I arrived in Denver to celebrate our last hours as dual travelers.  We went to DOMO for dinner and it was amazing. Everything from the decor to the service to the food was on point!

After dinner, we took it easy and waited for Sarah to arrive. Jay was nice enough to wait up for her while her flight got delayed, and delayed, and delayed.  As the hours went on, I got more and more sad. Tyler arrived around midnight but I slept and slept until Sarah finally arrived around 5 AM. It was frustrating because I only had about 48 hours with my bestest friend to start!! But it was reduced to a measly 24 hours. 😿😿😿

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Moab

August 8, 2018

Moab, UT has been on my bucket list since my best friend drove 9 hours to me straight through Utah to Denver.  But first, a note on travel and self care.

No matter how much I adore my travel companions or how well we get along, by day 7, I will most definitely grump out on them (sorry!!) and need alone time. I bet you’ve felt the same before! I know this and try to recognize the symptoms before taking it out on them. When traveling with people, know your limits and know when you need your down time and save yourself the headache. You do not need to be and probably should not be with people 24/7 when traveling! It’s fun to be alone sometimes 🙂

Now for the road trip from Arizona to Utah.

Jay and I arrived in Utah in the dark after a long, cranky drive. More snacks would have probably helped my mood. Kinda weird but the Airbnb was much too big for two people. It could easily fit a family and a half! Space is nice but then the Wi-Fi was terrible so we lounged around on the big leather furniture before heading to bed.

Have you seen those baby goat videos trending on Facebook lately? Welp I never would have guessed that I was going to wake up with goats in my backyard! They were so cute and friendly! Piccolo was very confused and wanted to play with them. I hope to own a goat of my own someday.

The WiFi was so bad, I couldn’t get any work done so I went down to CrossFit Moab to get a quick workout in. Everybody was so friendly, I hope to visit them again someday!

Weightlifting notes:

Everything felt really good and my coach programmed heavy deadlifts which are my favorite!

After the workout, we planned to grab some sandwiches and head into the park. For some reason, it took the sandwich dudes like 30 minutes to make to sandwiches. We just couldn’t understand. But hey maybe Jay and I were just tired from being on the road for so long our stomachs skewed our view of time, idk.

The Arches were EPIC. I don’t think anything could have prepared me for the size and beauty of these rocks.

I got to climb on HELLA rocks.

I got to rest on some smooth af rocks.

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I was slightly disappointed by this small arch.

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As we were leaving the park, we decided to make one more detour and it was the best decision ever! There was a double arch and, well, I climbed on it, rested on it and was not in the slightest bit disappointed by this arch. High five for arches!

Have you ever planned a picture and it doesn’t go the way you think it would?

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On that note, if you don’t know me personally, I’m going to tell you that I’m extremely graceful and never, ever fall down.

Moral of the story, this was absolutely my favorite part of my road trip.

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Grand Canyon

August 6, 2018

In case you didn’t know, since I work from home, I did have to get some work done every morning UGH. I also had to train for AO2!!  While in Arizona, I had the pleasure of working out at Crossfit Can-Do. Everything in the gym looked brand new and the owner, Brandon, was very responsive and accommodating to my needs. If you’re in the area, check it out!

Weightlifting notes:

One good 35 snatch complex, one bad 35 complex. Saw that I was catching forward to cause the drops. Pulls felt great! Dropping at the top is nice and makes me reset before each pull. Squats were easy. Noticing huge difference when I lift with my butt vs quads.

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Lake Havasu and Sedona

August 4, 2018

Neither Jay nor I had ever been to Lake Havasu and we figured that since it was on the way, we should stop by. I always pictured it being this crazy place where college kids went to party on boats, lol. But it was a lot more than we had bargained for. Although Lake Havasu was absolutely beautiful, the detour added a couple hours to our drive and it was 120 degrees out so Piccolo was absolutely miserable.

All in all, Lake Havasu was beautiful and I will try to go again when I don’t have a puppy dog in tow.

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After Lake Havasu, we drove through Jerome, AZ and it was mesmerizing. It felt like a quaint European town tucked into the side of the mountain.

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Our Airbnb in Cottonwood, AZ was soooo adorable. The host was so sweet and full of hugs and love. Imagine that one lady that lives by you that you always smile at, that’s her. You could tell she put a lot of attention to detail in decorating the house too! So cute. Her neighbors event had chickens with fresh eggs for the mornings, yummm.

Since it was Saturday night, Jay wanted to go out on the town but I’m not really a night person so I stayed in with Piccolo and went to bed early. Lame I know but hey, I like my down time! 🙂

August 5, 2018

3:30 AM I woke up to text messages from a lost Jay trying to find his way home. SMH! But I got up and went on a quest to find him. Super Natty to the rescue! He insisted he would be able to wake up in the morning to spend our Sunday in the Grand Canyon.

Spoiler Alert: he didn’t.

Jay finally got up around noon and we decided to go to Sedona instead of the Grand Canypn. It was a fantastic decision. We went to the State Rock Slides but there wasn’t any parking so we ended up walking a half mile down the side of the highway then cutting through the forest. The last time I climbed off of a freeway was on The Road to Hana in Maui and both experiences have yielded great results. You can find these yoga photos on my Insta @sweetnattydee. If you don’t already follow me, do it. You’re missing out 😛

After swimming in the ice cold water, we were hungry and grabbed sandwiches and ice cream back in town then off to see the Vortexes.

Many believe that Sedona spiritual vortexes are powerful and transformational energy centers because they are located are the intersections of natural electromagnetic earth energy, also known as key lines. There is even a church located at one of the vortexes! I was hoping to tour the church at Chapel Vortex but it was already closed- one more reason go back!

I’m not sure if I believe that these vortexes will change by life but I did feel a gravitational and energetic pull at the Shnebly Hill Vortex and I am drawn to Sedona and the desert as a whole so maybe there is something there for me.

Joshua Tree

 

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Hello everyone! This is Jay: ginger superhero, bike enthusiast, outdoors man, slack line extraordinaire, hipster and all around good guy. We’ve known each other about half our lives, lived together for about a year and our adventures include Coachella, Yosemite and climbing Half Dome, a cruise to Mexico and now, a road trip through the desert. Jay joyfully drove me to Pasadena then to Yucca Valley, to and from the gym and to Joshua Tree. What a trooper right?! His creative direction during photo shoots made the heat more bearable and he even cooked me breakfast most mornings! 10/10 would road trip again.

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Hanoi

 

Welcome to the final installment of my adventures in Vietnam. For those of you catching up, Rachel and I left Stephen in Ha Long Bay to work while we tried to find a bus to Hanoi to party.

July 21, 2018

We found that two of the tourists from the Ha Long Bay boat were on our bus so we shared a taxi with them to the hostel area of Hanoi. If Ho Chi Minh City was the busiest place I had ever seen in my life and Ha Long Bay was the sleepiest, Hanoi was just right.

We checked into the hostel and went to meet Rachel’s high school buddy who took us to the Walking Street. There we found a street lined restaurants with cheap drinks and bars with loud music and people pouring from the doors. The first bar had too much pop and Britney Spears so we made our way to a club bumping EDM.

I made the mistake of putting my foot on a tiny plastic stool (BIG mistake) and a local quickly swatted my shoulder at my faux pas. Later, in the club, I was pushed as I was walking past a dancing circle. Apparently, people were not digging my vibes which is crazy to me because for anyone that knows me well, I’ve got the best dance moves. 🙂

We left around 2 AM to find pho and spring rolls down the street then home to bed.

 

 

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Saigon

Please allow me to introduce this segment with a huge shoutout to Rachel and Steven for letting me tagalong their #VietnamVentures. Chill and experienced travelers, they patiently waited for me to take 1,786 selfies and obliged my candids and plan-dids. I learned so much about unlocked phones, best packing and travel practices and how to haggle with vendors. Thanks again for a remarkably drama-free week!

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