Colorado road trip

This past week, I had the opportunity to drive to Boulder, Colorado with one of my best friends since 5^th grade, Jessie. As a lover of road trips, traveling and time with friends, what better way to spend the week before I start work?

Jessie and I took off Monday morning and had one of the most fun car rides I’ve been on in awhile. Every stop we made felt adventurous and exciting, and had nice bathrooms! The gas mileage in Jessie’s Subaru got us 365 miles to the tank, so we only needed to stop a few times on the 1,000 mile Chicago to Colorado trip.

Part of the journey was similar to my drive back from Kansas City to Chicago, so it was nice to be familiar with the drive. Our first stop was the World’s Largest Truck Stop in the middle of Iowa. Besides truck paraphernalia, this place was unique because there are signs all around it that describe the “world’s largest” of other things. For example, did you know the world’s largest lollipop weighed 4,016 pounds? I sure didn’t.

World's Largest Truck Stop on Highway 80 in Iowa

About 30 miles later, we ate lunch at University of Iowa in Iowa City. We tried to shoot for local places that spoke to the city we were in, and the sandwich restaurant resembled a lot of Boulder restaurants with organic, local vegetables. Driving through Iowa flew by since Jessie and I had a lot to catch up about, so sooner than we knew it we crossed into Nebraska and arrived in Omaha. Barely beating its post-work traffic, we got out and stopped for dinner in Lincoln and explored University of Nebraska’s campus.

On the patio at Bread and Cup in Lincoln, Nebraska

Its football field was HUGE and we even got inside to check out the athletes’ lounge and signage. As a campus, it looked rather industrial and even had class buildings under the stadium, so it was cool to see how another college does it. The downtown was definitely smaller, but had a ton of local restaurants, pubs and buildings so we tasted an awesome banana chocolate toffee pretzel ice cream at an ice cream shop called Ivanna Cone. Like true road trippers, we used the AAA travel book to find a hotel and stopping point for the night in Kearney, Nebraska—leaving us less than five hours away from Colorado to drive on Tuesday. We drove like it was our job on Monday and were in the car for nearly 10 hours, making only three stops.

Memorial Stadium at University of Nebraska

Tuesday morning moved pretty slowly after all of Monday’s progress, but our first stop was the last truck stop in Nebraska before the Nebraska-Colorado state line. The truck stop had showers for purchase, where truck drivers actually pull a number as if they are buying meat and hear an announcement that says, “Shower customer number 54, your shower is now ready. Please step up to shower 10.” Only in the Midwest, right?

Entering Colorado was an amazing feeling and suddenly made the drive a lot prettier, even before the sight of mountains. After Sonic’s happy hour, we arrived at Jessie’s apartment in Boulder and unpacked. Ending the night with margaritas on a rooftop at a nearby restaurant called Río Grande made it a perfect day. 

Jessie and I by the Colorful Colorado sign at the state line

Entering Boulder and looking at the Flat Irons

Margaritas at the Río!

Wednesday was tourist day and gave us time to meet Jessie’s friends. Since I already got a campus tour on my visit last winter, it was nice to enjoy the city rather than the university. After an amazing brunch at Snooze (with pancake flavors like Peanut Butter Cup, Strawberry White Chocolate and Pineapple Upside Down Cake), we drove to Morrison, CO to see the legendary Red Rocks Amphitheater and Park, which was gorgeous. After reminiscing to Jessie’s concerts there, checking out the museum briefly and loving the view, we went to Golden, CO for the Coors Brewery tour, which was ranked the No. 3 Brewery Tour according to Trip Advisor. Coors owns Blue Moon, so it was fun to taste Blue Moon, Batch 19 and other beers you don’t usually notice. We ended the day with delicious paella at an upscale restaurant called The Med. 

Snooze with Jessie's friends Marisa & Sophie

Red Rocks Amphitheater

The two of us with the beautiful view, you can even see the Denver skyline!

Coors Brewery in Golden, Colorado. The tour buses you over to the brewery and then gives a 30-minute, self-paced walking tour with an audio headset. 

Jessie and I tasting the different Coors beers, who owns Blue Moon, Coors Light, Keystone Light (ha), Batch 19, Colorado Native and more

Aaron, MacC, me and Jessie at The Med- and we're even being photobombed by some children

As if the past few days weren’t busy enough, we had to try one last Boulder staple before leaving: Tee & Cakes. The red velvet cake whoopies, macaroons and chocolate raspberry cupcakes tasted great and was some nice sugar before driving to Denver to fly back to Chicago. Whether it was chatting in the car, touring somewhere in Colorado or trying restaurants in random cities, the whole week was incredibly relaxing, stress-free and a great way to end the summer.

MacC, one of Jessie’s awesome friends who I met last time I visited, smiles at Tee & Cakes! 

A mother-daughter San Francisco vacation

After traveling to 14 states and three countries outside of the United States in the past six months, I logged into my American Airlines frequent flyer account to see if I was eligible for anything yet. I had spent way too much time on planes, on the same airline nonetheless, to not have any rewards. Plus, I wanted to book a trip to celebrate my grad school graduation and completion of my thesis, for motivation to finish it by the deadline.

Upon login, I was thankful and happy to see that I reached 25,000 miles and had enough points to redeem a free flight! I refused to use the free flight for a cheap, domestic flight to a city I had already been to. So after some research and years of curiosity, I decided I was going to go to San Francisco. For such a huge city with such presence in the United States, I wanted to check it out and see what the city had to offer.

But who was I going to travel with? Most of my friends were working daytime hours…and I was low on money. So I asked my mom! She had enough points too, so we did our research of what San Francisco tourists do and planned the trip together. 

Needless to say, we accomplished a lot in our 4-day trip. Check out the photos!

Heart statues at the four corners of Union Square 

San Francisco has a well-known Chinatown, that spans many streets, has sporadic parades and a ton of good, cheap shopping. 

At the recommendation of a friend, we checked out Coit Tower - a historic building in San Francisco that has a nice view of the city. It is roughly 22 stories high and I took a very tiny elevator up to see the view. 

The view from Coit Tower of the Golden Gate Bridge 

All of that was just the first day, and then Mom & I ended the evening at Pier 39, walking Fisherman's Wharf and checking out Ghiradelli Square!

We began our second morning with a hike through Muir Woods National Park and checking out the beautiful Redwood trees. 

Mom booked the Muir Woods excursion along with three winery tours through Sonoma and Napa Valley. Here we are at the second tasting!

Vineyards are EVERYWHERE and there are beautiful flowers all over Napa Valley. 

At the end of the excursion, the bus stops by the drop-off point near Golden Gate Bridge to check out the view and drive through Sausalito.

The next morning, Mom & I stopped by this beautiful Russian Orthodox Cathedral that she had been to on a Presvyteras retreat to see the relics of St. John Maksimovic and the gorgeous iconography.

Golden Gate Park was a must-see, definitely different than Central Park but we enjoyed the greenery. It was pretty difficult to figure out the pathways but fun to peruse!

The Union Square area of town has tons of stores around this plaza, so we spent our second to last night doing some shopping, having an elevated dinner and ending the evening with Schulzie's bread pudding in the more corporate area of town.

Lombard Street, the curviest street in the world. The flowers are gorgeous!

Although Mom was skeptical of doing Lombard Street, the views were beautiful and we were there on the perfect day. Along with this and an Italian lunch in the North Beach area, it was a great way to end the trip!

Because of a deal I acquired through Klout perks, I received a free pass to enter the American Airlines Admirals Lounge. What a great, targeted deal because with a delayed flight- there was nothing better than enjoying a few glasses of wine, fast internet and television and some free food in this lounge. If only I could become a member someday!

THREE THINGS I LEARNED TRAVELING WITH MY MOM

Sometimes, you impose more work on yourself than is actually necessary.

I have a habit of doing this with my friends, but you don’t realize how prevalent it is until you see someone else doing the same. My mom would go out of the way to pre-book a taxi to the airport (and other similar examples) or map out a route, and I realized that if we just looked up or hailed a taxi ourselves, it would save the argument and stress of the journey there. It's obviously good to plan, but not to over-think things too much. 

Silence is golden.

You don’t need to talk to have a good time. Let both parties take in everything they're seeing, comment when they want and enjoy the experience without forced conversation. 

You need to rest while you travel, too.

Although I love walking all day, your legs will hurt if you do too much. My mom & I took one afternoon and just lounged by the pool, and it was one of the greatest things ever - and a much needed time to reenergize. Taking this break during the day showed me that I should save similar time on future trips as to not get sick or exhausted at the end of every vacation.