Laura's Big Adventures: This Past Year of Travel

Hanging at the Library

Last February, I blogged about the trips I had taken using some credits United gave me. This year, I don't have any free tickets, but I did take some trips, so I'm going to do a recap post again this year!

In early June, Paul and Sarah went to a wedding in Minnesota. Mom and Dad and I flew to Vermont to babysit! It sounds kind of crazy, but just think of it as a visit to my nephew where I didn't have spend much time with my brother. Oh snap!

"Fishing" with Orion

We spent a lot of time at the North Branch Nature Center, which is practically next door to Paul & Sarah's house. Orion had fun in the preschool area there, and the community garden, and climbing on the rocks. We also went to the farmer's market, the library, and spent time at Mom and Dad's airbnb, playing with the baby chicks and the cat.

We had a nice, relaxing visit with Orion.

Frankie and Orion at the zoo

In July, Paul and Orion came out for family camp at La Foret!We had some time before going down to La Foret to hang out with the Westlunds, play in my pool, and take a walk on the canal. We also went to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo with Ben and Rhi Westlund and their kiddos, Frankie and Liam, and Brian even came down that day, too!

Family camp was great fun. I took my tent down and slept out behind the cabin. Orion and Paul had a room in the cabin, and Mom and Dad had another room. Orion and I had several early-morning adventures before breakfast. I always enjoy those times with him. He also did crafts with the kids, sports, swimming, and generally charming the pants off everyone at camp. He also made really good friends with Chloe and Jake Westlund.

My birthday is in August, and I like to go out and visit Orion at that time, since his birthday is just two days after mine. But since we had already hung out in Colorado at the end of July, I decided to take a road trip out to Utah to visit my friend Ben instead. I drove out to Provo and had a super fun weekend with Ben! He gave me several birthday surprises! He lives in a big rambling house with several roommates, and there was plenty of room for me to stay. His landlady also owns a neat cabin in the mountains that she and her husband built. Ben and I went up there and hung out with his friend, Eric. Ben also took me on a bit of a campus tour of BYU, where he works. We went to Salt Lake City and did some sightseeing, and met up with friends of his for dinner. Then we went to see Cinderella (the play)!!

Labor Day weekend, I flew with Phoebe out to North Carolina to help my cousin Chris pack up and move to D.C. Phoebe and I checked out the botanic gardens in Aberdeen while Chris supposedly packed. Then we drove up to D.C., did some sightseeing, and got him moved in. My favorite was the National Postal Museum. It's a hidden gem!! Sounds boring, then wows you! Phoebe and I also went to Mt. Vernon one day while Chris was at work.

Outside the Supreme Court!

My niece Aurora Waring Eley was born October 16th! We didn't go out to see her, but we'll meet her further down this post...

Welcome to the world, little Aurora!

Desert walk near Nogales, Arizona

Immigration and immigrants rights is a pretty important issue to me, and in late October, I took a trip to Tucson with the Immigration Task Force from my church. We went to an organization called Border Links and spent several days with them learning about issues along the border. It was very interesting. We did a desert walk, went into Nogales, Mexico and had dinner with a family, did a simulation on legal immigration, learned about private prisons, and went to the federal courthouse to sit in on mass sentencing of apprehended border crossers. Our group learned a lot and brought back lots of ideas to share with folks from our church.

Finally! Thanksgiving! Sarah, Paul, Orion, and Aurora all came out for the week and stayed at Mom and Dad's house. I got lots of baby time and toddler time. Orion and I played a lot of playdoh, and Aurora and I played a lot of being carried around while sleeping. We did some fun things like going to Camp Christmas at the Stanley Marketplace, and spent a day at the Museum of Nature and Science.

Auntie Laura meets Aurora!

So much construction Playdoh!

We had some downtime to watch videos- Brian, Mom holding Aurora, Orion, and me

Sarah, Orion, Aurora, and me

And here we are again, my favorite time of year to travel- President's Day Weekend I went to Tucson again! My parents were on a road trip and they planned their time in Phoenix/Tucson to coincide with my long weekend. We had a lovely time, visiting my dad's cousin Audrey in Phoenix, and sightseeing in Tucson. We had a really cute airbnb, and we went to the Desert Museum, the Museum of Miniatures, took a walk at Sweetwater Wetlands, and had my friend Dianna over dinner. I flew back to Denver and they continued on the road trip...until the car broke down in Deming, NM. Mom and Dad flew home from El Paso...ask them about that part of the story next time you see them!