February From Sea to Shining Sea

February was the beginning of an extraordinary year of travel for me.  Within 3 days of the first week of February I had truly been from sea to shining sea.  It began with an awesome one day trip to Disneyland with a group of 13 adults!  Though I do only a small amount of part time work for my good friend Syd, she chose to include me in her company trip to Disneyland.  We flew from SLC to Long Beach on a 6 a.m. flight, rented a car, checked in our hotel, and were at the Disneyland gate when it opened.  We played and played until midnight then headed back to the hotel for a few short hours of sleep before we grabbed an 8 am flight back home to eat lunch with our families.  It was an awesome way to visit the "happiest place on earth."

I spent a brief 24 hours at home before packing my bags again and getting on a plane to New York City, on the other shining sea.  This time I was part of the Wilde Women take New York tour.  My sisters-in-law and I had the fun and privilege of escorting my mother-in-law on her first ever visit to the Big Apple.  It was terribly cold, but cold New York is cheaper than warm New York so we had chosen that time to go.  We had a great time!  I'm pretty sure we couldn't have crammed one more thing into those few days.  My dear friend who lives near the city drove in and showed us an amazing night for our first night there.  We had a limo trip, an incredible meal, and chocolate covered strawberries!  The next few days we also got to spend some time with my nephew Christopher who helped play tour guide.  We did Broadway to see "Mary Poppins" and "Wicked."  We even acted like tourists and did a bus tour, rode in lots of taxis, and took the subway (not without causing a little anxiety for Mom and Susan).  And for the most fun, we took a walking food tour in Greenwich Village.  Super fun and super yummy!

I learned a number of things on those two trips.  1.  Even Tower of Terror can be fun if you're with a big group of people who make you laugh.  2.  It's amazing what you can squeeze into a day when you put your mind to it.  3.  Flavored olive oil (for example, basil, lemon, etc) is an acceptable and even delightful way to enjoy olives.  4.  A great way to ease tension when traveling with family is to assign one person per day to take responsibility for any and all things that go wrong.  It makes you laugh, it lightens the stress, and it makes for great stories later.  5. Playing Where's Waldo in the Marriott Marquis at 2 am is completely immature, but worth a lot of laughs.  6.  If you get stuck in traffic (just for example) and miss a flight, don't bother with the desk agents who want to charge you a ton, just go straight to the phones on the wall 'cause those ladies are much nicer.  7.  The Days Inn in Jamaica, Queens, NY is not that bad - just in case you're looking for a nice hotel near the airport!

While I was off tripping, Daniel was busy finding a way to protect a raw egg from breaking when it got dropped.  His solution was a homemade ballistic gel just like they use on Mythbusters (his dream job).  It worked beautifully, and the egg was unscathed.  Another thing learned in February.



And, finally, the winter month would not have been complete without a ski trip with sisters and friends.  I'm so glad I finally have something to look forward to in the winter!  If we ever get snow this year, I'll meet you ladies on the slopes again!