Wow, we are planning to spend some time in South America this winter. Our friends in San Diego have invited us to Cabo and our very best friends in Yakima have invited us to Playa Del Rey and I’m poking around online to find resources for affordable travel and I couldn’t believe these Costa Rica Homes for Rent. I mean, who knew it could be so inexpensive to take a vacation to a foreign country, right? And these homes look absolutely beautiful, too. I’m not sure really how long it would take to get there, but I think I might LOVE to spend a season exploring. I hear they have excellent hiking trails in Costa Rica and that’s all I really look for in a town anyway. I mean, here we are in Sunny Malibu and I’d rather climb the hills nd munch on native plants than explore the fancy restaurants and sunbathe. Not that I haven’t gotten quite a nice tan since we’ve been here. It feels so good to lay in the sunshine, too. I’d do that in Costa Rica, too. But the hiking trails are a HUGE bonus. Oh well, I guess everyone travels for different reasons, but it looks like Costa Rica has a lot to offer. I can’t wait ’til it’s time for us to explore south America. I better work on getting my passport, huh 
South of the Borders
Yipppppeeeeee
I found the most awesome website for online appointments scheduling. If you want to schedule your appointments through your website, then you should definitely check this out. I have been looking for a way that I can continue consulting with businesses for their social media campaigns but avoid having to manage everything over the phone. This way, i can simply plug in the information and clients can schedule at MY convenience. isn’t that perfect! And as long as no one has scheduled, I can just change my mind whenever I want. So often I’m not sure if someone is serious or not, o directing them to the scheduling site makes it so much easier to avoid wasting my time with people who won’t schedule. Also, it clears up any confusion about the nature of our visit. Sometimes because of my casual nature maybe I will THINK it’s a business meeting when they just think we’re having lunch. Which works out just fine and all, eventually. I’m just not savvy enough with negotiations that’s all. But THIS makes it so much easier, right? I wonder if they have an app. I will have to check them out a little more thoroughly and see if they allow me to indicate which city I’ll be in on which day or not. It would be so cool if they had an app that went with it, so I could be notified of my appointments a day and an hour ahead of time and also so I can check the schedule… oh shoot, if they mesh with google calendar then I’d be in HEAVENNNN. I can’t wait to find out
NYC, I see…
I’m more than positive that there’s no place to park an RV in New York City, right? I mean, its not a stretch to assume that it would be impossible to park it there. We have friends in New Jersey, their house isn’t far from the subway station, so we were thinking of parking there but we have this “two day rule” that we try to stick to, so we don’t wear out our welcome anywhere. Anyway, so I was checking into Times Square hotels and I found the beautiful InterContinental in New York. Oh my goodness, this place is so beautiful. If we could get rooms there, it would be a dream come true. We plan to visit in a couple months, after he’s done filming the 3D movie. I know my kids like that InterContinental because they have a Glee package, isn’t that cool? We definitely want to see a Broadway show (not sure which one, we can’t agree yet) and this hotel is convenient to public transportation, so we’d still be able to get everywhere easily. Well, it looks easy from here anyhow. I don’t know why I bother making plans, I just think it’s fun to research, I guess. I know I should have gotten my “travel research” fill while was writing travel articles, but the truth is, I think I will never grow tired of learning about new places. One day I will plan and execute a trip ALONE so I don’t have to worry about having anyone change them.
Hey, Mickey
Oh my goodness, well you will never guess what I’ve just done the past hour researching. I’ll just tell you, I was lookign up hotels in Orlando, Florida. It’s not like we’re going there any time soon, it was really just for an article I was writing, but I did find a great site for booking Orlando Hotels Near DisneyWorld. It’s really awesome if you’re planning Orlando Vacations any time soon. We’re thinking we’ll be in New Orleans this time next month for a film my husband will be shooting. It would be so awesome to be able to shoot over to Orlando for a few days and check out all the whole Disney awesomeness in Orlando. I haven’t been there for over ten years and I know they’re always adding new things. Epcot was my favorite. I just loved the idea of strolling from one country to another and sampling all the food and drinks they had to offer. My oldest two kids have been there before, but it was when they were too small to remember. Well, my oldest was only 5 at that time, so she does remember a little bit of it but I just know she’d have so much more fun if we went now, right? And I’d love to be able to take my 10 yr old and my 8 yr old, they’re at the perfect age, in my opinion. So what’s your favorite-aged-kid to take to Disney?
Denver… we WILL be back
Our stay in Denver was a quick overnighter. Brandon got word that he’s needed on location shortly and he has to get to LA for a few production meetings. He’s a cinematographer (which is a fancy way of saying that he’s the one who decides how the movie will look, choosing camera angles, lenses, filters, camera movement and designing the layout of the lights) Its all terribly glamorous, trust me 
Some of my girls posing silly with a bear statue in Denver
Here is a link to our Denver Slideshow (or watch it below in most browsers)
The kids enjoyed the stroll through downtown, posing with every statue we came across (of course). I just love public art and it’s always been something that bothered me about Yakima, that we don’t have a lot of public art. It’s improved a lot since we’ve moved here, but they still have a long way to go. I got annoyed with myself for not climbing on the back of the Pegasus. I kinda just forgot that I wanted to.
On our walk, we stopped into this place called the Lucid Gallery. “Where Art and Music Collide” and discovered the absolute coolest art show. A guy named Tim from PancakesAndBooze.com travels around (Can you tell I’m hooked? I love traveling entrepreneurs- the freedom, the possibilities…) and he connects with local artists in every city and brings them together to display their work in one cool awesome show. Here are a few pictures of what we saw (When we were there, they were just setting up. Artists were carrying their work inside and setting up their displays. He gave us a little sneak preview). Check out the slideshow below and definitely check to see if they’re showing near you. If you’re an Artist, you might want to see about displaying your work. You don’t need several pieces, many of the artists just submitted one or two.
And that was it, actually, we missed so much. We definitely plant to return to the area; leaving hurt. Physically. We hadn’t even gotten started yet. I had lists of places I wanted to go and things I wanted to see. I could have spent WEEKS visiting the area. I had friends I wanted to get together with and I didn’t even get to visit one. So Shannon, Bridget, Sara, Sarah, Sarah, Amy, Lisa, Phil, Heather, Tiffany, Brad & Lucretia and Ingrid and everyone else in Denver, Boulder, Longmont and Colorado Springs (and nearby) … I will see you next time
Glenwood Springs, CO
After Denver, we headed East on interstate 70 and found ourselves in Glenwood Springs. Here’s a small slideshow from our visit (we were only there a few hours but we managed to take a crazy-long-and-hot hike up the side of a hill to an old cemetery where Doc Holliday and Kid Curry are buried)
Step Back in Time
I absolutely love the idea of traveling to visit archaeological sites. In fact, we plan to visit the Hopi reserve and I’d love to see the Anasazi. There’s something magical about the cliff-dwellers, something very special. But in Central America, the Machu Pichu area has some amazing amazing sights to see. The Inca trail is supposed to be one of the most beautiful places on earth. I want to take Inca Trail tours and Machu Picchu tours, so I’m looking at Peru vacations. Have you ever been to Peru? Remember Paddington Bear was from Darkest Peru, wasn’t he? Or did he just have an uncle in Darkest Peru? Oh well, I just like the idea of visiting ancient sites and helping to dig for things. Not like I’d know what I was digging for or even recognize anything cool if I found it. There’s a company that does working vacations and they have one where you can go up to the Anasazi ruins and you have to backpack hike into the canyon for two or three days and then when you get there you’re put to work digging and they have spaces for photographers, too. That’s what I wanted to do, but this was years before I ever even got my camera. I guess I could do it now, so I should check into it again.
Jaco
Have you checked into Jaco beach vacation rentals, lately? If you’re not familiar with Jaco, it’s on the Central Pacific Coast in Costa Rica, in fact it’s the most popular and biggest beach town in Costa Rica, so you’re more likely to find the amenities and activities and attractions that you’re looking for in Jaco than elsewhere. If you want to take a zipline adventure or a kayak tour or anything else in Costa Rica, then the Jaco area is the best place to find a guide. Jaco Costa Rica vacations are an awesome getaway and Jaco Condo rentals are one of the best ways to stay. Condo rentals are sometimes just as cheap as a hotel, except you have full kitchen and sometimes even laundry facilities. As a person who travels a lot now, I can only say that laundry service is invaluable. Priceless, actually. When you have the ability to launder your own clothes, you don’t have to worry about running out, you can pack less and then you’re hauling less stuff around. Also, then, you can relax knowing that if you spill a margarita or a popsicle or even a plate of pasta on your clothes it’s all going to be OK because you can always just wash it.
Mystic Hot Springs in Monroe, Utah
When the light from the first few rays of sun began to glow on the horizon, I could tell there was magic in the air. I wasn’t sure if it was delirium or real magic, but it was something noticeable and profound at that moment and I later decided that it was magic, without a doubt.
Betty the Beaver had been climbing uphill for hours, the San Raphael Swell on Interstate 70 is brutal. She was getting hot and Brandon pulled over to let her cool down a bit. She’s old, though, and some of her (brand new) spark plug wires actually melted while we sat. We had replacements but no flashlight, so we slept roadside for a couple hours until the sun came up.
Utah sunrise begins
We had no idea what the terrain would look like. In the night, whenever another vehicle would pass, I could see the twinkling eyes of a thousand hungry creatures reflecting from under the nearby bushes. I didn’t know if they were mountain lions, coyotes or rabbits, but I was sure that they were watching us.
As the sun began to rise, though, it wasn’t the ravenous beasts that caught my eye, it was the landscape. At first, of course, everything was black and then, slowly, the skyline was silhouetted and the shapes of the rocks were revealed at first, in shades of good-morning-grey that slowly transformed into the most colorful thing I’ve ever seen. The colors were straight out of woody woodpecker. The rocks were terra cotta red, bright white and deep saffron-yellow, in perfect stripes, columns and bubbly boulder shapes. Steep canyons were carved by ancient glaciers and gnarled juniper trees housed rattlesnakes and their prey.
A little bit brighter now
I read that this land was desolate, treacherous and unfit for inhabitation. But here we were, housed safely in the Beaver, brewing coffee at sunrise. While Brandon took advantage of the morning light to fix the wiring situation, I took my coffee outside for a stroll, braving the hungry beasts (because they’re nocturnal, right?) in order to see if there was, indeed, a downhill slope around the next bend (there wasn’t).
When I returned from my walk, Brandon was able to get the motorhome started again and we were on our way.
Again- maybe it was the delirium, but this place was so beautiful that it made me cry. Every time the road delivered us to a new view, the shapes and colors made me gasp, jump up & down with excitement and cry tears of joy. The song “America the Beautiful” was playing in my head as we rounded corners to find deep canyons, surprise spring-fed streams, Martian-like landscapes with the reddest soil you’ve ever seen. I took photos, I took videos and at every moment, I took complete gratitude for that breakdown. We would have driven straight through the area in darkness and never seen any of this, if Betty hadn’t demanded a break when she did.
Utah Sunrise was AMAZING
Utah Drive Slide Show
Once we descended the mountains We arrived in Richfield and I googled RV parks. The first place I called didn’t answer their phone so we went to the second place. Only it wasn’t simply an RV park; Mystic Hot Springs was a Gypsy’s paradise. First of all, Mike (also called Mystic Mike) was a sweetie on the phone, I felt welcome before we even arrived.
We chose a shady spot near the grass and we left Brandon alone to get a nap while we explored. I’ve never seen real hot springs before and this place was the most magical place in the world. The warm welcome made it feel like home, I’d been there 5 minutes and already knew I wanted to stay the night. I had never seen real hot springs before and was anxious to check them out. WOW. If hot springs aren’t on your bucket list, please go add them right now.
We parked near a grassy area and when we stepped out of the RV we saw a real Gypsy Wagon, a homemade coach that was just as adorable inside as it was outside. On the grass outside were people sitting in a circle, drumming around a bonfire and singing a song (I couldn’t make out the words).
Only here’s where I failed as a traveler. I made a mental note to stop and talk to the guy later. Except, he wasn’t there later, so these were the only pictures I got. I hope our paths cross again Lesson learned: don’t hesitate, tomorrow the opportunity may be gone.
We hiked up the hill to see the steaming ponds where the water bubbled up. That water was too hot to touch, but as it flowed down the hills and into the soaking tubs, it cooled down to a little over 100 degrees, leaving beautiful mineral deposits in a rich shade of orange-yellow. I hope the pictures are as intense as the reality was. I thought it would smell like sulfur, but it never ever did.
Mystic has two stages for live music and music just about every weekend. When we arrived, they were setting up the sound equipment for a show at the upper stage; Delta Nove was playing that evening. Because Mystic is halfway between Denver and Las Vegas, they can bring in bands who are traveling between the two destinations. I read an interview from one of the bands and they said that the environment at Mystic was so beautiful and friendly and magical that he thought it was their best performance ever. I believe it, some places just bring out the magic in you and this is certainly one of them.
Down the hill, where the hot springs flow into warm ponds there’s a grassy area with another stage. I was so excited to find hula hoops on the grass by the stage. The kids fed bread crumbs to the tropical fish in the pond while I rocked out to someone’s music and these borrowed hula hoops.
It was there that we met our tourguide.
Soleil climbed up and down the hills like a spider. She says she’s lived at Mystic for ten years or so. She showed us a hidden cave, gave us a list of rules for keeping safe in the rugged hills and showed us where the best flowers grew. We heard the legend of the dog who got caught and boiled in the hot springs, then was covered in mineral deposits before anyone knew. It was a cautionary tale and we all promised not to fall into the boiling water at the source. It was difficult to keep up with her, but her knowledge of the terrain, the plants and animals in the area was impressive. She’s 5 years old.
The kids played while I tended to housekeeping in the RV. I had a little laundry to wash, dishes to do and after a relatively sleepless night on the side of the road, I needed a nap.
When I woke from my siesta, the heat of the day was wearing off and other campers began to come out of the woodwork. The band has a trailer with 20 or 30 drums mounted to it and I walked up the hill looking for my kids and listening to the drumming. A guy on a bicycle slowed down and said “Wow, is that the band?” and I looked over and answered him slowly “I think that’s my kids.” Sure enough, the kids (mine and other visitors) were banging away on the drums, cymbals and tambourines. Each was playing their own rhythm but it sounded like music. The band members were smiling as they unloaded their gear and didn’t seem to be offended by the cacophony, even talking to eachother almost as if there wasn’t a thunderous riot occuring between them. The smiles on the kids’ faces were so pure and sweet. Every now and then an adult would walk past and stop working for a minute to join in. I didn’t join in, I just watched in awe as the music in their hearts filled the air.
As the evening wore on, live music from the festival below was drifting up the hills. Today was Monroe’s annual summer celebration. I’m not sure what the name of the event was at the bottom of the hill, but there were vendor booths and several stages and artisans and craftsmen and families walking around with snow cones and cotton candy. I found a Youtube video of the day’s parade and apparently the event commemorates the Mormon’s settlement in the area. We intended to walk down the hill to the festival, but couldn’t bear to walk away from Mystic once we arrived. The draw was very “Hotel California,” I didn’t mind missing the festival for a minute, Mystic was home for the moment and I don’t think we missed much.
The closer it got to sunset, the more awesome it got. I looked up at one point and the sky was filled with hang gliders. Someone said there were 60 of them in the air that night, I kept losing count. If you’ve never stood under 60 hang gliders and heard their howls of delight as they skim over treetops and, incidentally, hot springs… then you’re missing out. It was amazing.
The entire valley was celebrating and fireworks were everywhere. As the band played, the sun set, the hang gliders came in for their landing and the hot springs bubbles and steamed around us, I was grateful once again for that breakdown. We would have driven right past all of this magic. I could have gone my whole life and not realized that heaven is in Utah.
The party went on until the wee hours of the morning. There was no bar, there was no cover charge, just good people, good music and beautiful Utah.
Walking down past the drum-trailer, jumping over streams and pausing to watch fireworks periodically, I was reminded of those Southern California rave parties I used to go to with my girlfriends in the summer of 1992. The changing lights and night shadows make everything look different, but here I was, tromping through the juniper in my flip-flops, just like I was 18 again. Only this time, I was sober and a mother of six and headed back to the shelter of Betty the Beaver.
Thank you, Utah. And thank you, Mystic Mike <3