2024: A Year in Review

Published on December 31, 2024December 31, 2024 by Cheryl LockLeave a comment

Happy New Year’s Eve, friends! With the near arrival of a new year comes my favorite part of keeping up with this blog: Reminiscing about our adventures from the previous year.

It was a good one, friends. A real good one. Here’s what we got up to 😉

January

I love this blurry photo of the five of us, chillin’ in a hot tub in Iceland the morning before flying back to the states. Rounding out our European holiday adventure (and here!) with a last day in Iceland on Jan. 1, 2024 was the perfect way to start the new year. The rest of January was spent heading to the mountains each Sunday for the girls’ ski lessons (we made an entire weekend out of it here and here!) and reliving my reporter days with a travel event in downtown Denver.

These girls ROCKED their ski lessons this year! Lotte was even riding lifts by herself by the end. (Insert Mom’s terrified face here!)

Drinking booze back at the lodge was a big hit for Mom & Dad during lessons 😉

I loved heading to the Convention Center in downtown Denver for the travel expo. It made me feel like I was young again, traipsing around NYC to report on events for my editors at various mags.

February

The absolute joy of a cousin’s get-together <3

In February I snuck away to New York with the two big girls for a surprise 5th birthday treat for my niece, Rosalie. We all had the best time. The girls got to run wild, stay up late and eat an insane amount of treats. I got to see my little baby twin niece and nephew who are growing up way too quickly, and my sister and I even snuck away one night for dinner/drinks on our own. Amazing.

Someone wasn’t very happy to be leaving …

March

March was a super fun month that included a Fort Collins staycation with one of our faves and … drum roll please … OUR NATIONAL PARKS DRIVE FROM ARVADA TO THE GRAND CANYON!

These girls are super lucky to have you in their lives <3

I blogged about our Grand Canyon road trip adventures from Arvada to Moab here, from Arches National Park to Monument Valley here, from Monument Valley to the Grand Canyon here & from the Grand Canyon to Bryce Canyon —and then on home! — right here.

Horseshoe Bend was a stunning, last-minute addition to the trip!

And Capitol Reef National Park, which turned out to also be such a fun surprise addition!

April

My birthday month arrived so quickly! We started the month off with a bang, heading to Steamboat Springs for a press trip that was truly a delight.

Lotte & Grace had the best time skiing the fun runs on the mountain! Emilia … not so much 😉 We have faith that she will get there!

At the end of April, Chris took Lotte and Grace on his first-ever solo trip with them! They headed back to New York to visit LEGOL AND! Too much fun was had by all.

I’ll never get over this amazing photo 😉

May

I was so lucky to snag the opportunity to grab a girlfriends’ getaway weekend in Breckenridge with some of my neighbors. These ladies are simply the best.

June

June was such a special month for us, as we headed Down Under for the entire month. We started out in Sydney, headed to Canberra, flew to Melbourne, checked out Airlie Beach and Hamilton Island, met friends in Brisbane and then were back in Sydney for a few days before heading home. We even had a couple hours layover in Vancouver on the way home.

What. an. epic. time.

The Vivid light show was on while we were there, and it was so beautiful!

The gang is all here for Auntie Kate’s wedding party <3

An initial Melbourne fam meet-up at Queen Victoria Market.

The Great Ocean Road was so wonderful. All the beaches were gorgeous, but the 12 Apostles were particularly delightful.

Dinner with my Melbourne family was such a highlight <3

We even checked out the fairy penguin parade on Phillip Island!

Beach Baby in the Whitsundays. No biggie 😉

Ready to snorkel in the Great Barrier Reef!

We even got to meet up with my bestie from 2nd grade — and her mom! — when we flew back to Sydney before heading home. So. Amazing!

July & August

We made the most of the rest of our summer after returning from Australia, that’s for sure 😉

We racked up the activities after getting back from Australia — concerts, camps, visitors and lots of swimming topped the list — and before we knew it, we had a 3rd & 1st grader, and little Emilia starting 1/2-day preschool!

The kids loaded up on fun camps, including this one at a horse farm where they got in lots of riding.

Some of our NYC friends came to visit for a week, too, and the kiddos went to Muddy Buddies camp together, which was adorable!

September

In September I took a trip back to New York to see Hamilton with my sister for her birthday, and we went to Mexico as a family on a press trip. It was one for the books.

Taking in the sights the first night I was there.

Spending time alone with my sister was definitely one of the best parts of the trip.

One of my many NYC happy places — Bryant Park.

In mid-September, we took a long-weekend trip to Punta De Mita in Mexico, and I was delightful!

October

We very much made the most of fall in Colorado this year. We went to the mountains a couple of weekends, visited Great Sand Dunes National Park and really just Halloween’d out. It was a delight.

Great Sand Dunes National Park was gorgeous.

November

In November we headed out on our last trip of the year — back to New York to spend Thanksgiving with our friends and family. We had so much fun! We spent time in the city (including seeing the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in person and checking out the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens Lightscape with friends), and upstate, with stops on the Polar Express (oh hey there, Santa!), seeing Wicked the movie and having a lovely holiday. We hope your holiday season was bright, as well!

Brooklyn Botanic Garden Lightscape with our crew.

And that’s a wrap on the year, friends! It was a jolly lovely one, filled with so much friends and family … and travel!

Until 2025 … BIS BALD!

Road Trip to the Grand Canyon Part 4: Grand Canyon to Bryce National Park … Then Home!

Published on March 25, 2024March 25, 2024 by Cheryl Lock1 Comment

Hey fam! Welcome to Day 4, and my final blog for this road trip adventure. (Arvada to Moab can be found here, Arches National Park to Monument Valley here & Monument Valley to the Grand Canyon right here.)

After our Grand Canyon adventures, we loaded up to head to another new National Park for our list: Bryce Canyon. Grandpa had been here before, but Chris and I hadn’t, so we were really excited to be hitting up this park on our ride back home. We were surprised how much snow was on the ground when we arrived, but luckily it was just enough to slightly cover the hoodoos (the amazing rock formations you’ll find in Bryce Canyon), but not to cover them completely.

Before we arrived in Bryce, though, we stopped off at Horseshoe Bend, which was only about two miles total to walk there and back, and was totally worth the stop.

Just the cutest little adventurers! Also, Chris found these shoes for Emilia in a secondhand store in Moab and, to be honest, they were one of many MVPs of the trip 😉

Horseshoe bend was about 2.5 hours from our hotel in Williams, Arizona, and we had another 2.5 hours to go before we arrived in Bryce. It had taken us longer to get out of the hotel that morning than we originally planned, and the stop took longer, too, so we decided to rearrange our planned hikes. This turned out to be necessary anyway when we arrived and saw how much snow was on the ground!

Wednesday

Where we stayed: The Best Western Plus Bryce Canyon Grand Hotel (not to be confused with the Best Western Plus Ruby’s Inn, which is right across the street is has way more things to do in the actual hotel!)
Where we ate: Ruby’s Inn Cowboy’s Buffet & Steak Room (this is right inside the Ruby’s Inn Best Western that was across the street from where we stayed)
Where we hiked: Sunset Point to Sunrise Point

Our original hike in Bryce — the Navajo Loop and Queen’s Garden — was going to take about 1.5 hours to complete, so we figured we would get to it the following morning. Of course, that was before we did the Sunset Point to Sunrise Point walk and came upon the (very muddy, very steep) entrance for the Navajo Loop. We quickly realized that wouldn’t be happening for us, particularly with the three littles and the muddy/icy conditions. What we ended up doing was great, but I do hope to get back to do the Navajo Loop at some point, since it seems beautiful.

For our tired, hungry group of travelers, though, the (mostly chill, not too steep, but yes still muddy) Sunset to Sunrise Point walk was just perfect.

The first time you see the hoodoos it takes your breath away.

Did I take 1,000 photos of them? You know I did.

After our walk, a check of the general store and dinner, we were about ready to crash. It was the perfect dip of our toes into this gorgeous National Park.

Thursday

Where we stayed: Home2Suites by Hilton Grand Junction Northwest
Where we ate: We ordered Mexican to our hotel in Grand Junction when we arrived 😉
Where we hiked: We drove the Southern Scenic Drive to the highest point in Bryce, and did part of the Hickman Bridge Trail in Capitol Reef National Park

When we realized the Navajo Loop wouldn’t work for us, we stopped into the visitor center Thursday and asked a ranger for a suggestion. Turns out, the Southern Scenic Drive was perfect. It would take us to Rainbow Point (the highest point in the park) and past the Natural Bridge.

Rainbow Point sits at 9,100 feet. So yes, it’s high … but not so high for these Colorado mountain lovers!

These signs cracked me up. As if I wasn’t anxious enough already, thank you very much!

And that drive took us through to the end of our Bryce Canyon adventure. We headed back to Grand Junction, Colorado that day, but not before stopping at our fourth (if you don’t count Monument Valley, which is technically a Navajo Tribal Park) and final National Park.

Considering that I had never heard of Capitol Reef, I wasn’t sure what to expect. But holy crap was this park gorgeous! It wasn’t small, either — it took us quite a while to drive from end to end. The hike we attempted — the Hickman Bridge Trail — would have been gorgeous had we finished it, I’m sure, but it was pretty steep and rocky, and a storm was setting in. Plus, we were just ding dang exhausted after nearly a full week of travel! Still, we were able to get out of the car and stretch our legs a bit, which was all we really needed.

And then, just like that … we were back in Colorado!

One brief stay in Grand Junction and lunch in Frisco later, and we were … home!

Phew! Thanks for coming along that journey. It was a great trip from start to finish, thanks largely to awesome planning (the writer takes a bow), amazing weather and the best company a gal could ask for.

Until next time … BIS BALD, FRIENDS! And happy spring!

Road Trip to the Grand Canyon Part 3: Monument Valley to the Grand Canyon

Published on March 24, 2024March 25, 2024 by Cheryl LockLeave a comment

The Grand Canyon is everything they say it is. Unbelievable.

Happy Monday, friends! Welcome back to my Grand Canyon road trip diary (Arvada to Moab is here and Arches and the first half of Monument Valley are here). On Sunday we woke up in Monument Valley to this view <3

Courtesy of our super cute cabin.

We spent the morning exploring the grounds a bit more, having breakfast back at the restaurant and, naturally, buying 10,000 gorgeous Navajo momentos.

Hope Gpa didn’t think this was a REAL vacation!

Afterwards we loaded our trusty Heidi the Highlander back up again and hit the road. This time we made sure to stop at the Arizona sign.

The ride from Monument Valley to our hotel near the Grand Canyon was a little over three hours, so we broke it up with two stops.

The Navajo National Monument was a short and beautiful walk to a beautiful, historical spot.

Not gonna lie, we were a bit skeptical of these dinosaur tracks at first, but everything we’ve read about them seems to be legit!

Besides being insanely cool, it gave the girls a chance to run around and get their wiggles out 😉

After a few hours and a few adventures, we finally made it to our hotel!

Here are some of the details of our stay.

Monday & Tuesday

Where we stayed: Grand Canyon Railway and Hotel
Where we ate: We opted for the buffet restaurant at the hotel for two dinners and two breakfasts while we were there. That, and the train ride from the hotel to the Grand Canyon, could all be purchased for a 10% discount if you bought them together with your rooms.
Where we hiked: The South Rim Trail

After resting up a bit on Monday night, we were ready to hit the train on Tuesday! The train ride includes a very cute “shoot-out showdown” before you board, and the ride itself is about 2.5 hours. There’s a cafe car and entertainers and tour guides onboard to answer all your questions. It was honestly the absolute best way to do the Canyon with three littles and for our first time. We barely had to figure anything out for ourselves (they even took care of our park entrance tickets!), and we got to relax and take in the scenery. If we ever make it back we’ll probably stay in the park, but for this adventure, this option was magic.

I’d like to take an additional second here to thank … THE WEATHER! We’ve gone places for our kids’ “spring break” before, and it’s been less-than-springlike. This time was so wonderful. Besides one random snow squall while we were driving, we had such delightful weather. Breezy and cool, with sun and … NO CROWDS. I don’t know how. I don’t know why. But the National Park Gods shined down on us this trip, and we were HERE FOR IT.

Emilia, you won’t remember this. But hopefully these photos will help <3

Having two nights in one spot was much-appreciated by this point in the trip, so we were all too happy to head back to the hotel after our train ride, straight back to the buffet, to the swimming pool for a bit and then to bed. The next day was on to Bryce Canyon. Until then … bis bald, friends!

Road Trip to the Grand Canyon Part 2: Arches National Park & Monument Valley

Published on March 22, 2024March 22, 2024 by Cheryl Lock2 Comments

Happy Friday, friends! Welcome back to the Grand Canyon Road Trip Heard Round the World, and our Day 2 Adventures. On Sunday we were already in Moab, so we hit up Arches National Park (National Park No. 1 of this trip!), then drove to Monument Valley, which is a Navajo National Park.

Along the way we also hit up the Mexican Hat and had some fun at Forrest Gump Point, the point in the movie where Forrest is running, running, running and then, suddenly, decides to stop.

Here we go!

Sunday

Where we stayed: A premium cabin at The View Hotel
Where we ate: The gorgeous (with mediocre food) restaurant at The View Hotel
Where we hiked: Arches! Plus we did the 17-mile Monument Valley Scenic Loop

Rock scrambles and terrifying cliff drops got nothing on these girls! (Despite Emilia’s face looking otherwise!)

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again … my girls continue to shock and aww me. The Delicate Arch trail in Arches National Park is a “moderate,” 3.2-mile out and back trail that covers scrambling rock and terrifying cliffs. When I say that these girls rocked it, I very and truly mean it. I remember my first time doing this hike, and how difficult it was for me to complete, and I’m just so impressed with the way these girls handled it like pros.

We *even* dragged out kids out even further on the hike, so that we could take this precarious photo under the arch. I told Chris later that I had visions of never seeing them again the whole time we walked over … but when in Rome????

So, so proud of these loves. (You too, Grandpa!)

After our hike it was back into the car and on over to Arizona (new state No. 2 for the girls!) and Monument Valley. On the way we saw a few other cool things.

The Forrest Gump Point! You just KNOW Chris had fun with this one 😉

Then it was on to Monument Valley. I’m not going to lie — I didn’t know quite what to expect here. But man oh man was I blown away. This is such an insanely gorgeous spot in the world, and staying in the cabins overlooking the monuments themselves was an amazing experience.

The 17-mile loop is driven, so that makes it easy to check out all the gorgeous spots. A lot of the reviews say it doesn’t matter what type of car you have, but I would beg to differ. An all-wheel drive that’s not directly on the ground is, I would say, optimal. She bumpy!

I would allow for about two hours to drive the loop, depending on how often you want to stop and get out.

This was the view from the porch on our cabin. Absolute perfection.

That was Sunday in a nutshell, fam! The night included an incredible sunset and star-gazing. More cabin pics to come in the next post. Until then … bis bald, friends!

The Year 2013: A Review

Published on December 31, 2013August 27, 2019 by Cheryl LockLeave a comment

Hi friends,

Well it’s that time of year again — the one where everyone takes a couple minutes to take stock of how the past 12 months have gone? This year has been a particularly important one for myself and Chris. It was our first year of married life. It was a year spent celebrating our marriage around the world with family and friends. It was a year that we made some pretty big decisions about our future (not yet shared here!), and one that had a lot of amazing traveling in it …

Continue reading “The Year 2013: A Review” →

Our Final Day in Arizona

Published on July 11, 2013July 11, 2013 by Cheryl Lock3 Comments

Hi Friends,

So back to our last day in Arizona, which was last Saturday. (We caught the red eye home. There’s a story about that, too!)

We woke up around 7:30 a.m. all prepared for a hike up the Cholla Trail on Camelback Mountain in Scottsdale. Mina, however, had come home from her early morning run with her running club and was a bit worried. Everyone was telling her she was crazy, she said, that it was way too hot to take us out for a hike on that mountain … that surely it wasn’t a good idea.

Looking back at this now, I think it’s funny that I didn’t pay attention to their warnings. I mean … I HATE hot weather! I’ve never pretended that I like it. I do nothing but complain about it. Not liking something and allowing that to stop you from doing something are two different things, though, and I scoffed with Chris and Mina at the thought. “We’ll be totally fine!” I laughed.

Boy was I wrong. But I’ll get to that.

Anyway, we stopped off at the Gilbert Farmer’s Market in the morning to grab breakfast before we headed out. This allowed me to take some photos of the cute downtown area, as well:

So that’s the downtown Gilbert area in a nutshell. I thought it was very cute, and all the people we met seemed to be super friendly. I give it an A+.

After our breakfast it was on to Scottsdale for this doomed-from-the-start hike. I think I need to not make a big deal out of what happened, because honestly it could have been a lot worse, and I think I caught it in just enough time before that happened. Essentially the hike is about 1.5 miles up and 1.5 miles back, so all in all, not too long of a hike. However, by the time we started at 10 in the morning, it was already 100 degrees outside.

Me no likey .. to say the least. The second we stepped out of the car I felt like I had been punched in the face by a heater. Dry heat, my you-know-what. It’s a myth, to me at least, that dry heat makes anything better.

But I digress. So as we started into this journey of ours, I was perfectly fine. I was taking it slow, stopping along the way to snap photos of our beautiful surroundings:

Then, suddenly, at about 15-20 minutes into our (strenuous, if you ask me!) hike, I started to feel it. To be honest, I can’t even really describe to you what it was, exactly. I felt like someone had hit the ‘off’ switch to my body, and I simply could not go any farther.

Now if you know me, friends, you’ll know that I don’t like to give up. I’m competitive and stubborn (annoyingly so, some times), and throwing in the towel less than halfway through this hike is pretty much the last thing I wanted to do.

Which is why I knew something was really wrong … because that’s exactly what I did. Realizing that we had quite a while to go still in this upwards climb, I knew that there was no way that even if I made it to the top (which to be honest was highly unlikely), there was no way in hell I’d be making it back down. My legs were shaking. I felt like I couldn’t even be bothered to talk I was so exhausted.

And so we turned back around. And just as quickly as we started our last hike in Arizona, I ended it. Chris, in all of his loving husbandness, offered to run (RUN! In 100+ weather! If that’s not love, I don’t know what is), back to the car, turn it on, blast the air and drive to pick us up. The next stop on our list for that day was Mina’s parents’ house for lunch, and I laid in the back seat of Mina’s car for the 20+ minute drive there, just doing everything I could to cool down.

By the time we arrived at her parents’ house, I was starting to feel a bit better, but I have to say that I think that’s really because I made us stop as soon as I started to feel evenly remotely off. I never felt nauseous, or got a headache, it was just that my body felt physically unable to move anymore.

I suppose it could have been much worse, right?

Besides that bit of scariness, we ended up having a lovely rest of the day. Mina’s parents are Persian, and they cooked us the most delicious lunch. Then we went back to Mina’s place and hung out in the pool a bit, before heading out to Nando’s Mexican Cafe to have the final couple margaritas of our trip. (Oh, and a tequila shot, of course!)

Spending only two full days in Arizona felt like a bit of a jip, to be honest, but at the same time we managed to cram quite a bit in. Mina and I would love to do a little elementary school reunion of sorts in Arizona next year with a couple other of our close friends. Maybe do the Grand Canyon, or Fossil Creek, which was closed while we were there this time because of fire hazards.

And that was it, my friends …. the end of our little getaway! It was short but sweet (except for the heat exhaustion thing!), and we’d love to make it back some time soon for more hiking adventures.

Oh and so about the flights. Randomly, and for reasons that were never explained to us, Chris and I were upgraded to first class on our red eye back! It was sort of a waste of first class seats, since we pretty much slept the entire time … but still, I’ll take it! I’ve never slept more comfortably on a flight in my life! Maybe, finger’s crossed, this will happen to us on our trip to Australia in September?

What? It could happen ….

July 4 2013: Charlotte, N.C. and Arizona

Published on July 10, 2013July 10, 2013 by Cheryl Lock4 Comments

Hi friends!

The few days since Chris and I got back from our trip have been a bit crazy, but I really wanted to take some time to post thoughts from our trip as soon as possible. So without further adieu, last Wednesday Chris and I were in a cab and off to La Guardia to catch our flight …

Continue reading “July 4 2013: Charlotte, N.C. and Arizona” →

Arizona In Instagram Pics

Published on July 7, 2013July 7, 2013 by Cheryl LockLeave a comment

Hi friends!

Hope everyone had a fabulous holiday weekend! For reasons that I will go into in more detail in my full trip post, I ended up taking the majority of my photos on this trip with my iPhone … which of course meant posting them directly to Instagram.

So I figured I’d just post a quick preview of things to come in my full-on post by uploading all of the Instagram pics here. But before I do that, just some highlights from our trip:

We spent 12 hours in Charlotte after missing our connecting flight to Phoenix because of rain delays, but that’s okay because we got to eat a wonderful brunch and check out the downtown area because of it.
We went on amazing hikes, ate delicious food and drank lots of tequila.
I experienced a slight case of heat exhaustion … not fun, my friends! And after all that research I did to avoid it!
We did lots of swimming in my friend’s pool.
We were randomly, and for reasons still unknown to us, upgraded to first class seats on our flight back from Phoenix. Not too shabby!

Here’s a taste of what’s to come …

^^Rain made things pretty, but is not optimal for flying.

^^Bloody Mary's in Charlotte on our pit stop to Phoenix. — ^^Bloody Mary’s in Charlotte on our pit stop to Phoenix.

^^Biscuits and grits. This is Charlotte.

^^Catching up with the person who is probably my oldest friend.

^^Porous shoes on a 7-mile hike = lots of stopping to empty them out.

^^Sedona hike--unbelievable. — ^^Sedona hike–unbelievable.

^^Spinach enchilada with a mango margarita.

^^Bye-bye Sedona. It's been real. — ^^Bye-bye Sedona. It’s been real.

^^Gilbert Farmer's Market. — ^^Gilbert Farmer’s Market.

^^Vegan quinoa breakfast bowl with strawberry scone and iced coffee.

^^99 degrees? Check. I will be hiking to the top of this mountain. Wish me luck. (Hint: this is where the heat exhaustion came into play... duh duh duhhhh!) — ^^99 degrees? Check. I will be hiking to the top of this mountain. Wish me luck. (Hint: this is where the heat exhaustion came into play… duh duh duhhhh!)

^^View from about 1/4 mile up Cholla Hike, Scottsdale.

^^Who got a free upgrade to first class on the way home? This guy! (And the gal he was with!)

So that’s it for now, my friends! I’ll be back soon with the full details of our (amazing and very hot!) trip.

Bis bald!

A Slight Change in Plans …

Published on July 2, 2013 by Cheryl Lock3 Comments

As Chris and I get ready to head to Arizona tomorrow, our travel plans are slightly dampened by the news that 19 firefighters died in Arizona on Sunday while fighting a fierce fire outside of Yarnell. As the NY Times reported, the loss of these heroic men was the greatest for firefighters in a single disaster since September 11.

It’s so sad.

Fire is a fact of life in dry, arid climates like Arizona, as Chris and I are coming to learn in the days leading up to our trip. If I wasn’t already slightly worried about the fact that we’re heading to Arizona in what may very well be one of the hottest weeks they’ve seen in a long time (yikes excessive heat warning and 100 degree + temps!!!), a text from my friend who we’ll be visiting put me ever-so-slightly-more on edge:

“They’ve closed fossil creek due to extreme fire hazards. It’s hot and hasn’t rained in a while. I’m going to look into a couple of other hiking areas in the Sedona area.”

She followed up quickly with a note that we’ll try heading to Oak Creek Canyon and Slide Rock, but I’m already on full alert. I’m still looking forward to the trip, don’t get me wrong, but I just thought it wise to perhaps do a bit of research ahead of time regarding staying hydrated and healthy while exercising (aka hiking) in 100 degree + heat. Here’s some of what I’ve found:

For starters, it’s important to know and be able to recognize signs of heat exhaustion, which include general fatigue, weakness, nausea, dizziness, muscle cramps and an increase in body temps. As WebMD reports, temps above 104, combined with an inability to sweat, acute respiratory distress and loss of consciousness can be signs of heat stroke, which is much more serious than heat exhaustion.
Experts suggest drinking 20 ounces of water two hours before exercising, at least 8 ounces of water shortly before going outside in the heat, and gulping water every 15 to 20 minutes during the exercise. You should also be sure to drink fluids throughout the day as a precaution.
Perhaps most importantly (and something I will continue to convey to Chris) is it’s important to be okay with being slower when temps get this high.
Wear lightweight fabrics that wick away sweat, and wear light colors that reflect the sun, not attract it. If you’ll be wearing a helmet (or in our case, a hat), remove it during times of rest to allow your head to breathe and cool off.

My friend’s already told us she’s taken care of the sunscreen and the bladders, and she’s a seasoned hiker in the Arizona heat who I trust to keep us safe while we’re en route.

But trust me, I’ll be on guard the whole time we’re at it … it only makes sense to be as smart as possible when it comes to heat and your health.

Okay friends–wish us luck! It’ll be an adventure (and quite interesting!) for sure! I’ll be back next week with what I’m sure will be amazing photos.

Bis bald!

Making the Most of Summer … Starting With a Trip to Arizona!

Published on June 25, 2013June 25, 2013 by Cheryl Lock1 Comment

Hello Fossil Creek Canyon! I think I will visit you, thank you very much ... — Hello Fossil Creek Canyon! I think I will visit you, thank you very much …

Hi friends!

Welcome officially to summer! I must admit something that I realize makes me relatively unpopular — I normally hate the summer. (My husband is either laughing or shaking his head right now. We have a running joke that he’s going to count the number of times I complain about summer this summer. If you’re reading this husband: This doesn’t count …)

I know, I know. Summer means visits to the beach and sleeping under the stars and spending hours outside in the sun. Problem is … when you live in New York City, it can be hard to fill your summer days with these activities, and if you instead end up spending most of those summer days within the confines of this concrete jungle (Jay-Z’s words, not mine), those days are actually nothing short of hot, sweaty and stinky.

I’m sorry, but it’s true. I have no illusions of what the city is like in the summer.

So my solution to my souring mood in the summer is to plan lots of exciting trips for this year. Next weekend my sister and I are heading to Bradley Beach while my sister-in-law (who’s visiting with her boyfriend from Australia … a wahoooo!!!) are in Boston, and then Chris and I fly out to Arizona to visit an old friend of mine for the long July 4th weekend.

In fact, said friend just sent me and Chris the itinerary for our trip. It includes a 4 a.m. wake-up call on July 4th so she and Chris can run this race, followed by a barbecue and swimming and lounging about with drinks in-hand. Then on Friday we’ll be heading to Strawberry, AZ, to hike Fossil Creek Canyon. I’m beyond excited for this outing … I just hope I can keep up with those two, who are, let’s say, slightly more in shape than I happen to be at the moment. Dinner Friday night will be in Old Town Scottsdale, which sounds lovely as well.

Needless to say, starting the summer out with some trips planned outside of the city makes me able to look forward to this season a bit more than I have in past years.

And speaking of trips … Chris and I have started working on what could potentially be some very exciting travel news in the upcoming months. I’m not going to share here just yet, since we’re only in the very beginning stages of planning, but let’s just say … I really, really hope we can make it all work! Promise to share more details as soon as we know more about what we’re actually doing.

Okay bis bald, friends! Hope you all have some amazingly fun plans for the summer, as well!

Photo courtesy of turnuptherad

P.S. Isn’t the tune for the Jersey Shore ads quite catchy? I kind of love it–go visit the Jersey Shore!

Arizona Here We Come! (In 27 Days ….)

Published on June 6, 2013June 6, 2013 by Cheryl LockLeave a comment

I received a text from my friend in Arizona who we’ll be visiting over July 4th weekend yesterday that said: “Starting to plan our trip now … can’t wait!”

I seriously cannot wait. I’ve heard so many great things about the area, and my friend really loves hiking and camping, so I’m sure she’ll take us to some pretty fun places. I mean look at this:

Can you even take it?

Do you guys have any fun plans for July 4th weekend? (Yes, I’m aware of the fact that it’s barely June 4th, but a gal can dream, can’t she?!)

Bis bald!

The Excitement of Upcoming Travel

Published on April 4, 2013April 4, 2013 by Cheryl LockLeave a comment

Hi friends!

Well we’re firmly into the second quarter of 2013 here, and it’s time for me to start getting excited about some of the trips we have planned for the rest of the year.

So let’s see. For starters, my in-laws will be making their way to the U.S. the week after next, and Chris and I will be heading to London with them to watch Chris run the London Marathon:

^^A little flashback to when Steph and I first visited London back in 2010

Then, Chris and I booked a trip out to Arizona to visit an old friend of mine for the weekend of July 4th. Neither one of us has been before, so we’re super excited. We’re going to go camping and hiking, and visit Lake Powell and Havasu Falls:

September will be a big month for us, too. We’ll be heading to Australia to celebrate our wedding with Chris’s side of the family, and then taking a couple-day honeymoon to The Great Barrier Reef:

^^A little memory from our last trip to Australia (written about here and here). That’s Shawn the Koala, the subject of my soon-to-written children’s book series. Seriously. It’s coming.

There will be another trip in September two weekends before Australia, but that’s super secret for now, as it’s a surprise trip in honor of Chris’s 30th birthday. Let’s just say—I’m super excited about it!

And that’s about it (for now)! Bis bald, friends! I’ll catch up with you again super soon …