Colorado Cool

Every June, my company's trade association has its management conference in an out of state locale equipped with room enough to host our group, typically cooler weather, golf courses nearby, shopping for the ladies & activities for the whole family. This year, the choice was The Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, Colorado. If you haven't been to this massive resort, it is well worth the trip...even if it's just for a quick look around as you're passing through the area. The one thing I was looking forward to during this trip was a break from the hot Texas weather and Colorado didn't disappoint!

Getting to the resort is fairly easy with several options on your arrival...airport in Colorado Springs, 1.5 hour drive from the Denver airport or 16 hour road trip from Austin. I chose to take the direct (but VERY early) flight from Austin to Denver and rent a car for the drive to Colorado Springs. Also included in this adventure, is B, who works in an industry related business. It was super fun to have one of the bitches on the trip!

With a 6 am departure and a 7 am arrival in Denver, we had plenty of time to see a few things in Denver before heading to CS. Our first stop was breakfast at The Delectable Egg in downtown Denver. I thought it would be super fun to have a Denver Omelette in Denver and kinda mad at myself for not thinking of it the last time I was in Denver. (Last fall, a group of us went to Denver to celebrate my birthday and go to a Broncos game.) B and I split the omelette because we had grander plans for a late lunch. The breakfast was tasty and if you're in Denver, the Delectable Egg is a great place for breakfast. For those of you familiar with Kerby Lane, it had a similar feel and menu.

After a nice breakfast and short stroll around downtown, B and I headed to the Denver Zoo to check out the animals. The zoo opened in 1896 with the rescue of an orphaned bear and sits in Denver's City Park. While the zoo is somewhat dated in appearance, many of the areas have been recently updated and they are currently building a new 11 acre addition, The Asian Tropics. The plans for the new space look amazing and will add an updated look to the zoo. It was busier than we anticipated but overall, we still had a good time. It's definitely worth checking out if you're in the area, like animals or have kiddos that do.

All the walking around the zoo made us hungry, which led us to our next stop...The Buckhorn Exchange, Denver's oldest restaurant, which opened for business in 1893 and holds Liquor License #1 in the state of Colorado. Thanks to Man vs. Food on the Travel Channel, we enjoyed a tasty lunch at one of the most unique restaurants I've ever experienced. It offers a wide selection of wild game and the food was amazing. B had the Elk medallions and I had the Buffalo patty melt. OMG! They were both delicious!!! The food and the atmosphere made for a great experience. If you've seen pictures of this place, it is exactly as it seems. I loved the dark wood, the checkered tablecloths and the great service. Not to mention the mass amounts of taxidermy on the walls. If you can stuff it, it's likely on the walls here...elk, moose, rabbit, deer, coyote, mountain lion, beaver, assorted fish, buffalo and my favorite, jackalope. Now you might not find this interesting, but as an avid hunter and fisher, I found it quite amazing to see all the species. Now where did all of it come from you ask? All of the pieces were taken from the family that owns the place, not at some garage sale. This is just a snippet of the history of the Buckhorn, so if you're interested in learning more check out the History section on their website. It's worth the read, especially for any history buffs.

With the tour of Denver complete, we headed on to Colorado Springs and the Broadmoor Hotel. Now if you want to know why the "a" is little in the hotel name, you'll have to do a little research or ask me. It's one of many great stories about Spencer Penrose, (nicknamed "Spec") the hotel's founder. Apparently, he was quite the character and definitely one of a kind. While the hotel is sprawling with rooms scattered all over the property, I never felt like a number and the hotel never felt too crowded. The hotel staff from the front desk to the bar staff to the cleaning folks were very friendly and accommodating. The staff each had stories and tidbits about the hotel and Spec. One things I look for in a hotel stay is the friendliness of the staff and the Broadmoor delivered.

After our meetings on one day, B & I joined Bear, my 7 year old second cousin, and his mom, MB (Momma Bear) in their trip to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, which sits on the side of the mountain and a quick shuttle ride from the hotel. It's the only zoo built in the side of a mountain and showcases a variety of animals. However, being built on the side of a hill means that the entire thing is up/down hill. So wear your good shoes and don't carry too much as traversing the zoo can be quite a workout. My favorite part of the zoo was feeding the giraffes lettuce. For a couple bucks, you can buy a bunch of lettuce to feed to the friendly giraffes. It's a great photo opp and I really enjoyed feeding them. They have SUPER long tongues and an endless pit for a stomach. Just beware that those tongues are slimy and tear up your pieces of lettuce to make the experience last longer. Be sure to give yourself several hours to make the whole park and don't miss the big Moose and the mountain lions (3:15 pm feeding was awesome!).

The hotel offers many different activities from golf to tennis to spa treatments to hiking. B and I wanted to try out fly fishing while we were in Colorado. Several of my friends, A, C, J1 & J2, love to fly fish and we really wanted to try it out. On our free day, B & I booked a half day fly fishing trip with Colorado Fishing Adventures, which has an office in the hotel complex. Bright and early we met our guide, Ben, and headed to 11 mile Canyon on the South Platte River. It took about an hour to get to our destination but it was worth the drive. What a beautiful location! As the van rolled to a stop, we hopped out, put on our waders (what an attractive piece of gear!) and headed into the river. It was a bit of a weird feeling being in the water, but not getting wet. Ben deftly showed us how to cast, the do's and don'ts, and how to land the fish. He was a patient teacher and before we knew it, we were spaced out in the river fishing! Now let me say that while Ben easily trotted through the river, I took my time and delicately walked. All I could think of was stepping into a hole, being chest deep in the water with my waders filling up! Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! That thought never came to fruition, but it loomed in the back of my head the entire time. During my four hour fishing adventure, I managed to land 3 rainbow trout, 1 brown trout and 2 "sucker" fish (a.k.a. crap fish), as well as thoroughly enjoy the cool morning, the sound of the water running over the rocks and the peacefulness that comes with being in nature.

After a fun day of fishing, I headed to the Spa at the hotel for a massage. Now let me tell you, I LOVE me some spa time. If there's a spa at a hotel, I'm there. (Some are better than others and I have my favorites...which could be a blog entry in itself.) This spa was AWESOME. As I checked in, I was given a warm robe. Now I've gotten warm robes at spas before because they just came out of the dryer, but here they do it on purpose. It's the first time I've had a spa do that. As you can tell, I was very impressed. The changing and shower area is nice and spacious and the toilets are quite interesting. (Let's just say it cleans and dries.) The relaxation rooms offer a fire place in one and a beautiful view of the mountains in the other. Fair warning for anyone who might be a bit modest, the relaxation rooms are coed, so don't say I didn't warn you. My massage was lovely and I enjoyed the steam room after my treatment.

Our final meeting day gave us the afternoon off, so a big group of us took the Cog Train to the top of Pike's Peak. I've never been to the top of Pike's Peak so I was excited to see the view and see if the altitude would affect me. The train ride takes a little over an hour and if you don't have an annoying tour guide, I'm sure the tour part is lovely. However, we had a most annoying tour guide and half way through, I put in my head phones and listened to some tunes. Once we made it above tree line, the view was amazing. On a clear day, you can see 5 states from the peak and when we reached the top it was 38 degrees. If you do make this trip, check the weather at the top and take the proper clothing. The girls in shorty shorts sure looked cold at the summit! Within a few minutes of arriving at the summit, the altitude hit me and made me feel really loopy. If you've never felt the affects of 14,110 feet, let me tell ya, it was intense. The train stop lasts 30-40 minutes before heading back down the mountain and we were lucky to leave when we did because as the train descended the snow/sleet started. It's not every day you see snow in June!

After a great time in Colorado with family and friends, it was time to head back to Austin, Texas. Back to the heat. Back to the daily grind. Back to planning my next adventure.

Until then...happy travels and many laughs!

2 for 1 Vacation: Florida Keys & Dry Tortugas (Part 2)

Last month, A turned the big 3-0! (Or XXX as we call it after A's more than proper Aunt innocently sent her a birthday card with XXX on the front of it.) Now while some of you won't get that, we loved the triple X connotation and while there were some adult only moments on the trip, those aren't meant for this blog. :)

The trip is two fold: Part 1 consisted of A, B and me heading to the Dry Tortugas for some serious deep sea fishing. Part 2 consisted of C joining us for a weekend of fun in the sun and some good times in Key West.

And now for Part 2...

We took the scenic route to the Key West airport passing by several places of interest that we would visit during our trip (Hemingway's House, Southernmost Point). As we rounded the island by the beach we saw a Italian Ice Cart. While it's just a fancy (and not to mention expensive) snow cone, it was a SUPER tasty treat after our days at sea. Plus it killed a little time before picking up C from the airport. The Key West airport as you can imagine is small, but it's really charming. We parked and the three of us all but skipped to the airport terminal to meet C. One of us likened it to picking up Grandma or a favorite relative from the airport...SO giddy to have all the Bitches together! Once we entered the terminal, guess what we saw??? A BAR!!! In order to kick off the weekend right, we each grabbed a beer and one for C too and waited. The people one by one strolled off the airplane and we looked and looked for C. Where is she? How far back on the plane did she have to sit? Come on!!! Hurry up!!! Get off the plane!!!! FINALLY, C hits the tarmac (not literally) and strolls into the terminal to be greeted by her three besties! Now I'm sure we didn't smell great, we did just get off the boat, but we didn't care, we hugged her anyway! We toasted to the fun weekend and headed off to the hotel to check in, clean up and start the weekend festivities.

Bags loaded and fishing stories rolling, we headed to Sunset Key Guest Cottages to check out our weekend digs. Sunset Key is a little island located a short ferry ride away from Key West and offers a wonderful experience in the island guest cottages. If you're interested in real estate, the island also offers residences for sale. I absolutely love Sunset Key and have been fortunate to stay here twice now. It's definitely on the pricey side, but it's worth every penny. After checking out the pool, beach and our cottage, we got prettified and headed back to Key West for dinner at Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville. Yes, I realize this is a chain restaurant, but we were in paradise and definitely in need of a cheeseburger!!! A few drinks and a tasty dinner later, we strolled down Duval checking out bars for the next night's adventure. Our final stop for the night was at the Key Lime Pie Factory for the purchase of frozen chocolate dipped Key Lime pie slice for A's birthday. A & B love them some Key Lime pie and after this tasty treat, they were as happy as can be!

Saturday morning, we were up relatively early (in vacation terms that is) and decided to make this day our sightseeing & shopping day in Key West. After our quick breakfast of muffins and fruit (delivered to our cottage each morning), we headed back across to Key West and grabbed a cab to Hemingway's House. Now, admittedly, none of us really know a whole lot about Hemingway and hadn't read any of his works, but we felt this would be a nice cultural experience. It's a beautiful house, but it was HOT and humid as we walked through the house looking at Hemingway's stuff. We saw an original Guy
Harvey painting, lots of 6 toed Cats, and really enjoyed looking through the old place. While I think it's kind of odd to walk through famous people's houses, it is still interesting to see old stuff. Yes, I said it...old stuff. That's what it is. So after a lovely self guided tour, a couple pictures, and a look in the gift shop, we headed over to the Six Toed Cat Cafe for a lovely lunch. I highly recommend the Lobster BLT and the Fried Shrimp Sandwich. Both are delicious but pretty big, so if you're not SUPER hungry, I'd suggest splitting the sandwiches.

After our cultural stop, we headed to Duval Street for some shopping and occasional bar investigation. Duval Street is the most famous street in Key West and runs North and South from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean. It is home to many famous restaurants and bars and is named for William Pope Duval, the first territorial governor of Florida. I liken it to a mix of Bourbon Street in New Orleans and 6th Street in Austin...little shopping, lots of eats and plenty of drinks. We hit up Key West Aloe for some body lotion and shower gel. They have delicious smells like Coconut, Lemon Eucalyptus, and Mango. We also stopped in Cocktails which had some seriously fun stuff, including the towel picture I've included. The towel pretty much sums up the attitude in Key West. This serious shopping called for a break, so we stopped in at Willie T's for a refreshing vodka soda and listened to some random dude play great hits from the 80's on his guitar. It's a great outdoor restaurant and bar, but I cannot attest to the food as we only had drinks. With a little more shopping, a stop in the Wyland Gallery to check out the art work, and a quick snack, we headed back to the hotel for a little break and get ready to celebrate A's Dirty Thirty on Duval.

Saturday night did not disappoint for A's birthday celebration! We started out later than we typically go out these days with us hitting Duval Street a little after 10 pm. Duval was buzzing with restaurant patrons and bar goers. We started out with a drink at Captain Tony's Saloon, the oldest bar in Key West. The bar is all that you'd want in a bar, dark, well used, smells like cigarettes and booze and a fun way to start off the night. After a drink there, we headed to The Bull Bar for some live music and a drink before heading upstairs to The Whistle Bar. This bar has a great balcony for people watching and we enjoyed a couple drinks watching the people pass. While waiting for B & C to use the Ladies room, A & I chatted with a few guys from a bachelor party and a few of them had just been upstairs to The Garden of Eden, a clothing optional bar on the top floor. A friend of mine told me about the bar a few years ago, and while we laughed about going upstairs earlier in the night, we decided it wasn't on the list of bars for the night. Until...the guys told us to just go, that it wasn't a big deal, so we went. (How easily we are persuaded!) Well, we were disappointed or not really. There were a bunch of clothed people doing what we were doing...checking it out. There was one very uncomfortable looking naked dude in the corner sitting on a chair and then in the far corner it looked like 2 people without tops on, but that was it. Oh well. We headed back downstairs and checked that one off the list. Next up was Angelina's Pizzeria for some sustenance. The pizza was good for 11:30 pm on Saturday night and the courtyard where we sat to eat had some amazing people watching. Our last spot for the evening was Sloppy Joe's Bar. The bar is one of the oldest in Key West and offers a fun atmosphere for all ages (well above the drinking age). We had a great time chatting with some nice Southern fellas, dancing (just don't stand on the chairs), and trying out the adult beverages. In case you didn't know, the bars in Key West stay open until 4 am...which I usually don't see unless I'm getting up at that hour...but that night, we closed down the bar.

Sunday proved to be much more low key and relaxing. We enjoyed Sunset Keys lovely beach for the afternoon. Now for those of you who haven't been to the Keys, let me tell you a little about the beaches. While the views are amazing, the water clear, the beaches are not sandy. They are made of coral and tend to be rocky. If you want to go in the water, you'll need really tough feet or a pair of water shoes. Sunset Key's beach is made of sand brought in from the Bahamas and makes for an enjoyable experience. Should you find yourself at Sunset Key beach, head to the far right large palapa structure for a semi-private, very quiet, relaxing spot. After several hours on the beach, we headed to the pool for a little swimming. The salt water lagoon style pool is perfect and large enough to share with other people.

Sunday evening, we walked over to Latitudes, Sunset Key's restaurant, for our final dinner and an amazing sunset viewing. (Mallory Square is also a great option to view the amazing Key West sunsets.) The restaurant is accessible to the non-cottage guests and reservations are needed to take the ferry to Sunset Key. While the menu is great and offers a variety, we took our Mahi (Friday's catch) with us to take advantage of the restaurant's Cook Your Catch option. The chef prepared our fish 3 ways: grilled, fried and blackened and served it with mashed potatoes and asparagus. It was AMAZING! I'm pretty sure the awesomeness of the meal had to do a little with where we were eating it and that we had caught it, but it was truly a delicious meal. During our dining experience, the sun slowly set. Now I've seen more than my fair share of sunsets, but the sunsets in Key West are breathtaking. It was amazing how the light changed, the clouds moved and my mind raced trying to remember it all. Our dinner was the perfect wrap up of a wonderful trip. The next day we would head back home, back to reality, back to our jobs, back to our regular routine, but for tonight, we watched the sun set, enjoyed our friendship and started dreaming of our next adventure.

Until then...Happy travels and many laughs!

2 for 1 Vacation: Florida Keys & Dry Tortugas (Part 1)

Last month, A turned the big 3-0! (Or XXX as we call it after A's more than proper Aunt innocently sent her a birthday card with XXX on the front of it.) Now while some of you won't get that, we loved the triple X connotation and while there were some adult only moments on the trip, those aren't meant for this blog. :)

The trip is two fold: Part 1 consisted of A, B and me heading to the Dry Tortugas for some serious deep sea fishing. Part 2 consisted of C joining us for a weekend of fun in the sun and some good times in Key West.

And now for Part 1...

A, B & I headed out early in the morning for our flight to Ft. Lauderdale. From there we grabbed the rental car and trekked to the Keys. I choose to fly Southwest anytime possible and flying into Ft. Lauderdale has been easy in my experience. The airport is simple and getting the rental car is a breeze. So after a mild detour, thanks to my taking the "Express Lane" (towards Miami) when I should have gone the other way (around Miami), we headed down Highway 1.

On B's recommendation, our first stop on our road trip was
Robbie's of Islamorada to feed the tarpon. The marina offers a host of activities, gift shopping, and a restaurant but the big draw is the Tarpon Feeding! For $1, you can enter the dock and see ALL of the tarpon swimming around and for $3 you can buy a bucket of bait fish. That $3 bucket was TOO much fun. One of the employees showed us how to feed the fish...lay on the farthest dock, stretch out your arm as far as possible down towards the water, and wait for the fish to jump up. It's kinda scary but tarpon are like big minnows and have no teeth. After the first one, I was hooked! It's a kick to see those big things jump up and take the fish from you.

Here are a couple of tips for a great experience:
-Robbie's can get busy, but our 5 pm arrival was perfect. There were a couple other people but we had the run of the dock. No waiting, fighting the crowds and the fish were hungry!
-Be careful where you lay on the dock to avoid pelican/sea gull poop. (First hand experience on this one!)
-Don't let the pelicans intimidate you and DO NOT feed them! Just shooo them away by running after them a little. They will bite...fair warning!
-Take off your sunglasses, empty your top pockets, put you camera wrist strap around your wrist, and secure anything loose. You don't want to lose it in the water!

After feeding the tarpon, it was time to feed ourselves! We jumped back in the Ford Edge and headed to The Island Fish Company Tiki Bar and Restaurant in Marathon. It has tasty food, great drinks and a beautiful view. Be sure to check out the conch fritters, Key West Pink shrimp, and various baked oysters and don't forget to tell Slash the Iguana hello.



With happy bellies and a setting sun, we continued our cruise to Key West. Excited about our upcoming 2 day deep sea fishing trip we made our way to our last stop, the Lethal Weapon, a 45 foot sport fisher docked in the Westin Marina. With our bags and selves loaded onto the boat, we put on our jammies and headed to bed. Captain Teddy Baier and First Mate Andrew would arrive at 1:30 am to start the 70 mile trek to the Dry Tortugas National Park. Fishing in the park is limited to a handful of permits and Captain Teddy owns permit #1. He's the man for Tortugas and any other deep sea fishing!

Our smooth ride to the Tortugas made for a wonderful sleep! The West current sped up our trip which had us fishing before 8 am. Captain Teddy is an amazing fisherman, but the water that day wasn't cooperating with his plan. It's funny to imagine, but the water was TOO clear for the drift fishing he wanted us to do that day. Why is that a problem? If the water is too clear, the fish can see the line and are much less likely to take the bait. We did catch a few fish including a whopper A caught. That strawberry grouper was the cutest thing I've ever seen!

Captain Teddy moved on to Plan B to try for a little more success in our fishing day. We started trolling the waters in the park and hooked on to quite a few huge barracuda (great bait for our upcoming night fishing), a couple mackrel and several red grouper (our dinner). Once we caught our fill of both bait and dinner, we headed to Ft. Jefferson to walk around the historic site. The 19th century fort was never finished or fully armed and later served as a coaling station for warships. It's an amazing structure that can only be accessed by boat or plane.

After our tour of the Fort, we headed back to the boat for a delicious dinner prepared by our amazing captain. As he cooked dinner, Andrew prepared the lines for our fishing expedition in the anchorage. The anchorage outside the Fort is a popular spot for sailboats and other vessels and provides for amazing night fishing...and night fishing we did!!! Just as I fixed my plate, the first line started screaming. I dropped my plate on the table and grabbed the specially made fishing pole. The 3 poles Captain Teddy has for this type of fishing are specially made just for him and just for this type of fishing. Why is that needed? Well, in the anchorage, you're just that...anchored...and when you hook on to a big fish you cannot use the boat for assistance. It's just you and the pole. Stand up fishing. Talk about a workout! The only saving grace is the belt that the pole fits in around your waist. First up, we each caught nurse sharks, which put up a good fight and definitely prepared us for the fight we were about to encounter!

Up next...Tarpon and Goliath grouper!!!!!! First of all, let me explain about catching these fish. You cannot actually catch either fish, as in bring them in the boat and take them home, but you can "catch" them by getting the leader through the first eye of the pole. If you've never been deep sea fishing, let me explain a little about fish fighting. Dorado, Baracuda, Mackrel all put up great fights but nothing like the Tarpon or Goliath Grouper!! The Tarpon can breathe in and out of water which makes them extremely hard to catch, especially on stand up tackle. They do not like being caught and oh momma, do they fight! A hooked and caught a smaller tarpon while I fought (unsuccessfully) a Goliath Grouper and then the real catch began!!!! We hooked onto a HUMONGOUS 7 foot Tarpon and it gave us an amazing fight. For over an hour, A, B, Captain Teddy and I fought the Tarpon. It was exhilarating, tiring, amazing, awesome, and one of the most wonderful times of my life. We saw the fish jump and roll and I'm pretty sure at some point shoot us the fin. :) After our Tarpon adventure we hooked on to a 500 lb Goliath Grouper and man, it was all we could do to fight that fish. That night wore us out but overall we fought the fish and WON! (Not to mention we had no problem falling asleep that night...)

A's 30th birthday wish was to wake up in the Tortugas and she got her wish. Captain Teddy cooked up a killer breakfast before heading out for our day of trolling for Dolphin Fish (Mahi Mahi/Dorado), Bonito, Barracuda, Mackerel, and whatever else wanted to hook up on our lines. During our boat ride to the fishing area, we got to see pods of dolphins, Loggerhead and Green turtles (mating at that), and even saw a pair of Blue Marlin swimming past the current line. It was a great start to a wonderful day. While we didn't catch a ton of fish on our second day, we did catch some big 'uns! A & B hooked on to a Bull and Cow Dolphin at the same time. The fish jumped, fought and put on a good show. The water was quite a bit rougher which made for wobbly legs but great fishing.

As we wrapped up our final day of fishing, we chatted with Captain Teddy on the bridge and watched as Key West grew closer and closer. Team Texas Tarpon, as Captain Teddy named us, had an amazing 2 day fishing trip, caught some amazing fish and made even better memories. Then A made the best statement of all "Girls, this has been so much fun and it's just getting started!"

With that, we docked the boat, bid farewell to Captain Teddy and Awesome Andrew, and headed to the airport to pick up C. And with that, Part 2 begins in the next post.

Until then...happy travels and many laughs.

Key Players Introduced

Now before I can start telling stories, I'll introduce the key players in the stories and my life. This first round will include the closest of these folks and over time I'll introduce other characters (and some truly are that) into the stories. These people mean the world to me and I'm truly blessed to have these folks in my life.

Mom & Dad: Married for over 40 years, love each other despite their own quirks, generous hearts, a love for travel, and raised an amazing daughter. (Hey, it's my blog after all!)

Grannie: Spunky even at 93, my last remaining grandparent, thinks I can do no wrong (true!), plays a mean round of cards, bunco or dominoes, and lives life without a filter.

My Bitches: Now some of you may be offended by my use of the word bitch and that's ok. However, this term is one that we use in a lovingly, caring way and none of us are offended by its use. It actually reminds me of a quote I once read "When you call us bitches, we just laugh and shake our heads because we knew that WAY before you did!" There are 4 of us in total and ironically works out to be Bitch A, B, C & E.

A: The Counselor, the nanny, the loud mouth, the West Texan, the workaholic, the tell it like it is, the youngest one, the camo blonde, the fly fisher, the best hair and make up, the shopper, the tender soul, the do what it takes for family/friends

B: The Artist, the creator, the caretaker, the dog lover, the funny one, the golfer, the never hunter before but learned as an adult, the "fine girl," the Panhandler, the kid whisperer, the good cooker, the do anything for family/friends

C: The Fighter, the inspiration, the RGValley girl, the Spanish pronunciation police, the nickname queen, the hiker, the reader, the cutest hat collection owner, the dry comedian, the awesome blogger, the salt lover, the do anything for family/friends

The Twins: (a.k.a. The Boys) These guys are awesome. J1 is married to C and J2 is married to (soon to be) The Lawyer. We do lots of things together and the boys provide both comedic relief and some mean meats on the grill. I love their passion for football, hunting, and fishing.

The Lawyer: J2's wife and recent law school graduate. She's been gone for the most of the past 3 years, but now she's back in town ready to put that knowledge to work.

There's a quick introduction to a few of the characters in my life. Now we can get to the stories! First up, my May trip to the Dry Tortugas and Florida Keys.

Until then...happy travels and many laughs!

A little background...

So, where to start?

First of all, let me say that all the stories you'll read in this blog are true. I will post pics of locations and other random things, but rarely will I post pics of me, my friends or family. As for the name I use, EA, is my lazy version I use instead of my full name, Elizabeth. I'm not a fan of nicknames but have shortened it in recent years. Now if you want to call me anything other than Elizabeth, I'm probably not going to respond. ;) As for the other folks mentioned in my blog, I will just use first initials or other nicknames just for ease of writing. Now those of you who know me (and my family & friends) in real life will know who's who and that's great...but overall, this is about cataloging the travels, laughs & adventures!

As for my deets, I'm in my early 30's...almost mid...but I'm still early for now! I'm an only child, who bears the good and bad of not having any siblings, and work for our family business. While I'm still on a search for Mr. Right, I'm thoroughly enjoying my single life and the many adventures it brings. Some have said "I'm living the life" but I'm just living my life. It comes with its ups and downs, but I'm extremely blessed with what life has brought me.

Now why would I call my blog "Travels, Laughs & Other Adventures"?

Travel: I LOVE to travel. Travel can be a 3 hour road trip, flying to another state or heading overseas for some international adventures. Many of my entries will be about the places I've been including my recommendations for things to do, places to see, and some of the best things to eat!

Laughs: Now you probably can't tell it yet, but I'm pretty dang funny. My humor tends to be dry and I love to zing/burn people when I get a chance. Now I'm not out to hurt anyone's feeling, but light hearted jabbing is always fun!

Other Adventures: A few years ago, I worked for an amazing woman who always had the best stories of things she'd done in life. I distinctly remember thinking "Man, I hope I have stories like hers when I'm older!" As time passes, I realize I do have great stories of random adventures and this is a great way to catalog those!

So there you go. That's the first entry. In the coming days/weeks, I'll bring you up to speed on the important folks in my life, including my family, my "bitches" (a term used every so lovingly), and other great people. I'll also catch you up on a great trip I just took to the Florida Keys!

Until then...happy travels and many laughs.