MOAB 2015 - BABY'S FIRST TRIP

Moab was the perfect getaway for Kate's first vacation. We had an "incident" on the way down that involved us walking into a gas station bathroom with serious stank and walking out with a baby dressed only in a diaper. (Our apologies to the folks at Papa Joe's Stop and Go. You're going to want to empty that trash, stat.) Oh, and we couldn't get in to the condo we rented the first night, so we had to camp at the Quality Inn, which was lovely, by the way. Wish we could have stayed there the entire time. Outside of those two small glitches, we had a great mini-trip. Kate was a champ in the car and the hiking backpack. Summer and Parx had fun too, and we did a great hike to Morning Glory Arch and visited Canyonlands. It made me want to go back sans-baby and do some more serious adventuring. We'll see what the summer holds!

SWITZERLAND PART II - BERN

Bern was one my favorite places in Switzerland. I'd recommend following Rick Steve's walking tour of the city - without it, you could wander right through the historic old town area without realizing what you're seeing. The walk starts near the train station and ends near the famous bear pit. You'll pass one of Einstein's apartments and the Zytglogge clock tower, which has stood at the edge of the city in one form or another since the 1200's. It's one of the best-preserved medieval towns in the world and is even a UNESCO Heritage Site, which is cool if you're a history nerd like me.

SWITZERLAND PART 1 - INTERLAKEN AND THUN

We were lucky enough to spend some time in Switzerland this summer for Matt's work. Even though we were entertaining clients, we still had a great time and managed to make an awesome babymoon out of it. This was actually the second time I've visited Interlaken. The first was exactly 10 years earlier (wow that makes me feel old), when I traveled there after studying abroad in France. Unfortunately, it rained almost the entire time. We spent most of our days there wandering around under umbrellas, and eventually got so bored that we convinced my brother to get his ear pierced. That was a real hit with the parents when we can home. This time, I was excited to go back and really do it right.

Interlaken is a pretty little tourist town and makes a good home base for exploring the nearby alpine valleys and glaciers. We took the train up to the Harder Klum overlook, explored local restaurants and did a little shopping, but saved most of our time and money for the big attractions that lie just outside of the city.

We stayed at the historic Victoria Jungfrau hotel, which was amazing, especially considering the fact that the last time I was in Interlaken I shared a hostel room with my brother, my best friend and a bunch of complete strangers (and that was one of the nicer hostels we visited!) Our room was gorgeous, so clean and roomy, with a marble bathroom and fresh chocolates delivered every night. Basically pregnant lady heaven. 

This is the view from Harder Klum. Matt loved this so much that we almost did it twice. You can hike up to it if you're feeling ambitious. We were not.

Another view of our gorgeous hotel.

A pretty little church in the middle of town.

The neighboring town of Thun is definitely worth a visit. It's only a 15-minute train ride and it's a great place to explore and grab dinner. I found it a little more charming than Interlaken, and the restaurants along the river have great views.

A LITTLE MORE MOAB

Moab, take me back. I miss you already.

MOAB

With two new jobs and a big project underway, we've been short on time in the Lenio household. Here's a little sneak peek of our most recent adventure: Matt's dirty 30 birthday trip to Moab.

THROWBACK THURSDAY - COACHELLA

Since Coachella is this weekend, I wanted to take a little trip down memory lane. We went to Coachella right before the festival got super popular. Matt and I flew in to Long Beach and stopped for the night about halfway to Indigo, at the Five Star Inn. The motel actually looked really nice from the outside, but inside, it was basically a crime scene waiting to happen. Stains on the sheets, duct tape covering holes in the curtains - just awful. Needless to say, we left without even trying to get our money back.

Looks pretty nice, right?

Not so nice.

Once we finally made it to Coachella, we had a blast. Great bands, even better people watching.

In an effort to save a little money, I booked our tickets back out of Long Beach for 8 a.m. the following morning so that we could just drive back after the concert rather than paying for another hotel. It was a terrible idea, and I don't think I've ever been so tired in my life. Oh to be young and poor again.  

LONDON PART 1 - GETTING ACCQUAINTED

London was our first stop in Europe. Besides being a gorgeous city, it's also easy to navigate and generally cheaper to fly into than other European cities.

We stayed in Shoreditch at the Crowne Plaza. The rooms were small but clean and we got to check in early. We arrived at our hotel around 10 a.m. after a sleepless night on the plane and we were told we could check in at noon, rather than the usual 3 p.m. time. What did we do with the next two hours?

Beans, bacon, sausage, and toast, with a side of heart disease   

We ate breakfast in true Brit style. To say that this place was quaint would be an understatement. The entire "restaurant" was about 15' by 15', with one cook/waitress/cashier behind the counter and a few mismatched chairs and picnic tables instead of regular seating. The food was amazing, though, and the woman behind the counter was sooo nice. Our credit card didn't work (England uses a machine where you insert your card, rather than slide it...it was weird), and we hadn't exchanged enough money to pay in cash. We offered to run to an ATM, but she told us just to leave what we had and pay the rest later. We did, and then we ate breakfast there every day and made sure to tip her nicely.

The rest of our first day in London was spent getting a feel for the city; the Tower of London, visiting the day Tate Modern (one of London's many amazing free museums), and strolling along the Thames, before we finally collapsed in exhaustion back at our hotel.

Tower of London

View of St. Pauls from the Thames

Tate Modern

EUROPE

We went to Europe last winter and had the best time, but I wasn't blogging then. Sadly, all those memories have gone undocumented and all of our pictures are just sitting in iPhoto. I thought it might be fun to finally recap where we went and what we did. Stay tuned for lots of photos and travel tips.

We started our journey in London and then met up with our friends Dana and Ben in Spain. The weather was surprisingly perfect. I was terrified that it was going to rain the entire time, but except for one afternoon, we had nothing but crisp, sunny days. Whew!

This was also Matt's first time going to Europe, so I tried to make the trip as fun as possible for him. This meant lots of time spent at soccer stadiums, watching games, and going on tours. Ladies, I highly recommend this approach if you're traveling with your husband. He'll have so much fun doing what he loves that he won't even think of complaining when you drag him to a million art museums or make him wait outside of every Zara, Mango, and TopShop you pass.

Photo: The gardens of the Alhambra, Granada, Spain.

VEGAS BABY

My husband loves Vegas. Like, really really loves Vegas. Which is strange, because he's not a big gambler and I don't think I could drag him into a club, but he just can't get enough Sin City. He loves the fact that you can shop, eat at amazing restaurants, lay out at the pool and see a show, all without leaving the strip.

We usually head down for our anniversary because it's just a 30 minute flight from Salt Lake City - and it's a great way to unwind after a long, cold winter. Matt did all of our planning for this trip. I went to the gym one night, and by the time I got home, he'd found cheap flights, reserved an awesome hotel room at 60 percent off the regular rate (thank you Hotwire), got tickets to "O", and booked our anniversary dinner at a sushi restaurant. The man knows how to get stuff done!

Even though the trip is still a few weeks away, I'll be writing about some of our favorite things to do and see in Las Vegas. Check back Wednesday for the five things you should pack for a Vegas vacation.

Photo taken from our room at the Hard Rock Hotel in May 2012. Can you believe this craziness? Needless to say, we didn't join in the fun and spent our time with the rest of the married couples on the quiet side of the pool.

THE BACHELOR SEAN AND ASHLEE'S AMAZING DATE REVEALED

I'm back! My trusty dinosaur of a computer is limping along, sans several dozen TV shoes and video clips that I moved to an external hard drive. But, let's focus on what's really important. Have you been watching the Bachelor? I probably shouldn't admit this, but we never miss an episode - and it's Matt who got me hooked. The combination of dating drama and beautiful locations is just too good to resist.

Anyway, last week, Sean and AshLee went on the most amazing date (right before she got the ax). The show's in Thailand right now, and they took a boat to a tiny island and swam through a cave, which led to a gorgeous beach surrounded on all sides by rock.

I was curious to find out what this place was called, and it turns out that what they referred to as "Emerald Cave" is actually called Morakot Cave. It's located near the island Koh Muk, and if you're interested in going there, you can hire a longtail boat or take a group tour.

This had definitely been added to my bucket list! I read that it can get pretty crowded and crazy (as someone who is really claustrophobic, going into a cave like this looks like my own personal hell). If anyone has been and knows the secret to avoiding the rush, let us know.



Top three photos are screenshots from The Bachelor, last photo from here.

ROMANTIC TRAVEL DESTINATIONS

Photo taken in Almalfi, Italy

What's the most romantic place you've ever been to? Mine is Italy's Amalfi Coast. Beautiful seaside villages, dining al fresco, and ancient cobblestone courtyards - la dolce vita at its finest. I visited with a friend a few years ago (and we had a blast) but I definitely want to bring my husband back there someday.

You can check out some of the world's most romantic destinations here and here. (I was excited to see that Kauai, our honeymoon destination,  made one of the lists.) It might be too late for Valentine's Day, but there's always 2014, right?

HEADS IN BEDS

I've been hearing about "Heads in Beds" everywhere. Apparently it's a sneak peek at what really goes on inside hotel rooms - how often those duvets are actually cleaned, how to get free snacks and movies, and what happens when you don't leave the valet parking attendant a tip. I've just downloaded it on my phone, and I'm excited to give it a full review.


I'm certainly no hotel insider, but I did have an interesting conversation a few months ago with someone who works at the St. Regis in Park City. Apparently, celebrities sometimes do check into that hotel under a code name. Some even demand that the staff call them by their fake name during their entire stay, which seems a little ridiculous. Also, (if you're enough of a high-roller) the St. Regis makes a point of knowing everything from your name to your ski boot size, as in "Welcome to the St. Regis, Ms. X. Your size 8's have been warmed and are ready for you as soon as you want to hit the slopes."

This, my friends, is how the other half lives. I'll keep that in mind the next time I'm waiting in a 30-minute check-in line at the Holiday Inn!

OAHU - DOLPHIN EXCURSION

Our big activity of the trip was the Dolphin Excursions tour. This website promised that we'd get to swim with wild dolphins and see a bunch of other marine life. I was worried that it sounded too good to be true, and was a little nervous about paying in advance. Oh, and our trusty guidebook was kind of "meh" about it, which also made me wonder if we were getting scammed. Luckily, it was more amazing than we could have hoped! The chance to swim with wild dolphins was one of  THE COOLEST experiences of my life. I've swam with dolphins at a marine park in Mexico, but they seemed bored to death and were only interested in the fish the trainer was bribing them with.

These wild dolphins actually seemed to like hanging out with us. We weren't feeding them, but they kept circling back for another look. Maybe they liked the company, or maybe they were just curious about a bunch of clumsy, two-legged mammals swimming in the middle of the ocean. Once we were back in the boat, we headed to a different spot and got to see a humpback whale surface for a split-second. We got back in the water two more times to snorkel with sea turtles and fish. Needless to say, by the time the boat headed back to shore, we were exhausted from all that swimming and definitely felt like we'd got our money's worth.

I I can't say enough good things about these guys. Everyone on the boat was incredibly nice and knowledgeable about the animals. All of the pics in this post were taken by the boat's photographer. He takes photos during the trip, and then you have the option of buying the CD for $50 afterward. It's money well spent, especially considering that our GoPro videos and photos turned out awful.

If you're headed to Oahu and want to give Dolphin Excursions a try, you may want to read my tips here. Matt and I highly recommend it and definitely think it was the best day of our vacation!

OAHU - THE NORTH SHORE

The North Shore is my favorite part of Oahu. I'll take a cheap taco stand and miles of empty beaches over high-end shopping any day. We spent our time on the North Shore paddle boarding, eating shave ice, taking pictures of sea turtles and soaking up the sun. Unfortunately the waves were too big to snorkel, but that just gives us a reason to come back again someday!

OAHU - BILLABONG PIPE MASTERS

We left our hotel at 6 a.m. to see the best surfers in the world compete in the Billabong Pipe Masters at the Banzai Pipeline. Getting up so early paid off because we got front row seats to the action. We even got to see surf superstar Kelly Slater!

Apparently, one of the things that makes these waves so big is that the surf breaks in a really shallow spot. We saw one guy walk out of the water with his board broken into two pieces. I was amazed by the photographers that are out in the water, trying to get the perfect shot without getting hit by a surfboard or demolished by the waves.

Even if you don't know much about surfing, this is a cool way to spend a day. Just make sure to arrive early (we got there at 7:15 and the competition didn't start until 11), and bring all the food, water, and sunscreen you'll need. Once you stake out your territory, you won't be able to leave!