I’m back after a longer-than-expected hiatus from
blogging. Sorry about that! I was sure I’d get back into the swing of
things last week once we were home from vacation, but I was sidelined by a huge
pile of work that had built up while I was away. Plus, I came down with the mother of all
headaches. Or at least that’s what it
felt like to me. I’m pretty sure it was
the first migraine that I’ve ever had and it was miserable and it lasted for 2
whole days and I couldn’t sleep or sit up or focus my eyes on anything. Since we didn’t even get home from vacation
til Monday, that meant that my week was mostly shot. So here I am today, finally getting back into
the swing of things and feeling back to normal…unless you count my much larger-than-normal
belly and the fabulous baby kicks that I now feel on a regular basis!
Since I’ve mentioned our vacation a few times, I thought it
would be fun to recap it a bit for you all.
So here’s the scoop on our 2-in-1 vacation.
One of our very favorite places to go is Park City,
Utah. We love to ski, hike, snowshoe,
camp, and explore and this area is an excellent playground for all of those
things.
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| See? So much fun! |
So we knew we wanted to get back there one
last time before the baby is born. But
we’re kind of greedy when it comes to travel and we also knew that we wanted to
go somewhere new and different as a last little adventure while it’s still just
the two of us. But how were we going to
afford to do both?
It wasn’t looking good until we found a cheap flight to Utah...cheap
because it was 11 days long and included travel on weekdays rather than weekends. It was way longer than we were planning to be
gone, but the flight was also $300 cheaper PER PERSON than anything else we’d
found. So we decided to go for it. Like I said, we’re kind of greedy about
traveling and it’s what we prefer to spend our money on (as opposed to shopping
and eating out a lot), so it didn’t take too much to convince us to go for it. We were able to swing it because the majority
of the trip overlapped with Spring Break which is a really slow week for me,
work-wise, and Scott was able to work “from home” (aka Utah) for a few days in
order to save some of his PTO for when the baby arrives.
But going on such a long trip would pretty much rule out our
idea of taking a second trip to somewhere we’d never been before. And we
weren’t about to give up on that (again,
greedy about travel), so we came up with the perfect plan. We’d combine both ideas into one trip. We’d always wanted to go to southern Utah to
see some of the amazing scenery that’s down there – crazy rock formations like
hoodoos, slot canyons, red rocks, waterfalls – plus it would be a great way to
squeeze in some hiking since we won’t be getting to do that this summer because
of my August 6th due date.
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| Hiking is one of our favorite things to do together. These shots are from last summer and show how gorgeous the summers in Utah are! |
It’s
a straight shot, 5 hour drive due south to get to Zion National Park, so we
decided to slip away from Park City for a few days of adventure in a new place
that we’ve never been…aka Our BabyMoon!
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| Hiking in Zion on our Babymoon...more pics and stories to come! |
Our time in Park City was fabulous and relaxing. The weather was unseasonably warm there, and
also sunny and dry. So no new snow and
any snow that was already on the ground was quickly melting away. This did not mean good things for
skiing. Fine by me because I’m on a
year-long hiatus from skiing while I bake this bun. My hubby though was rather disappointed as he’s
a bit obsessed with skiing and quite good at it too. He did get to go twice, though, so don’t feel
too bad for him.
So with no snow to ski or snowshoe in, we had a lot of
downtime to just chill. I got a massage
(twice!), did a little maternity clothes shopping, went to yoga a few times, went
on a lot of walks, read the Hunger Games, and slept in. It’s such a gorgeous place, and I feel so at
home and at peace in the mountains, so it was just good for my soul to be
there.
Our babymoon was so fun and we took so many pictures that I think
it deserves a post all its own, so I’ll save that for my next post.
Instead I’ll end by sharing my experiences flying while
pregnant.
Observation #1: I
hate having to check my carry-on at the gate because the overhead space is
already too full. The stupid airlines
charge so damn much for checked baggage, so everyone tries to carry on as much
as possible – myself included. And for
some reason, we’re always in the
final boarding group for every flight that we take which means that the
overhead space is almost always full by then.
So nearly every time we fly, we have to gate-check our carry-ons. And I hate
having to wait for my bag on the jet bridge after a long flight, especially
because I’ve usually got to use the loo by this point. This is a first world problem, I know, but it’s
still a pet peeve.
But this time! I was
clever and found a way around the situation.
All you pregnant women out there take note on what I’m about to
share. When airlines begin boarding,
they always call for families traveling with small children and those who
require more time to board the plane to get in line first. And guess what?!? Pregnancy
counts as a reason to board early! So
we were literally the first people to
board our flight! Fabulous as far as I’m
concerned as it really did make the whole process easier and there was plenty of room for our bags overhead. And when our flight landed, I was able to
head straight up the jet bridge and directly into the bathroom. Much needed after a long flight at 5 months
pregnant.
Observation #2: At 5 months pregnant, it is nearly impossible
to access anything that you have stored under the seat in front of you. This may seem obvious to some of you, but it
honestly did not occur to me until I was seated on the plane and tried to bend
over to get my magazines out of my backpack. First off, the legroom and seat size is just abysmal, even
for me and I’m only 5’4”.
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| From a flight last year where we randomly got upgraded to first class. I can't even reach the seat in front of me! |
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| From last year's return flight home in coach. I can't even straighten my arms out here! |
Secondly, there’s just nowhere for your belly to go when you
try to bend forward in a small space, so it’s a good thing that I had an aisle
seat because I had to pull my bag out with my foot and then lean out into the aisle
in order to pick it up. If I’d been
sitting in the middle, I’d have been totally helpless.
Observation #3: When the flight attendants announce, as the plane is already pulling away from
the gate, that the toilets onboard the plane are broken and they won’t
flush, you’re in for a very long, uncomfortable flight. The flight from Salt Lake City to Chicago is
3.5 hours long and, at 5 months pregnant, I have to pee approximately every
30-60 minutes, so a long flight without functioning bathrooms and without any advance notice is truly
a form of torture. But I made it. And at least I didn’t have to wait for my
carry-on on the jet bridge at the end of the flight.
That’s all for today folks, but I’ll be back soon with Part
II of our vacation adventures. Have a
great day!
--Bridget
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