I don't even know where to start.....

...i feel like i haven't stopped running full speed since a month ago.
i spent a weekend in california,
then two weeks in iowa,
then the next weekend back in california.
4 weekends in a row outta town.
17 out of the past 24 days either traveling or in another state. sheesh!

and to top it all off, i didn't unpack my suitcase the whole month. 

sure i did a few loads of laundry, 

but the clothes went from the suitcase to the washer back in the suitcase.

everything else stayed packed up.

i suppose it made traveling easier for the month, 

but living out of a suitcase for a month added a lil bit of stress. 

since i am still in the process of returning to a normal life (unpack, laundry, groceries, etc) 

i will leave you all with an insta-dump of my iowa adventures. 

iowa 

 mexican food at the airport before take off

 the barn "with character" at his parents farm

 view from the back porch at his brother's

my first time at the races - waiting for "the biggest fireworks display in the state" to begin

old courthouse and town square, complete with brick streets

getting malts at the pharmacy in the town square

the bridges of madison county

they may be weeds, but the thistle fields were so purty!

the swinging bridge (much scarier, and less sturdy than it looks)

i'll dump some santa monica on you tomorrow, 

then hopefully have some real stories to tell you. 

if i ever get caught up with my life. 

what have you all been up to??

Personalized Herbal Tea

Remember when I told you about my trip to the ChineseCultural Center to get a personalized herbal tea?  I keep forgetting to share how it all turned out.  

In order to make the tea you boil the bag in 4 cups of water, and then put the pot on simmer until all but one cup of liquid remains. Then you strain out the backyard herbs and “enjoy”.

 

Let's be honest here... it literally tasted like I boiled my backyard. Nice and sludgey. Mmmmm.

But this tea was not created to taste good. It was intended to "increase circulation and give me more energy." I really have no quantitative way of measuring that... but I think I felt more energetic... ?
Or maybe that was the exercise... I don't know really.

Would I purchase this tea again? Probably not. It was gross. 

But hey, it was an adventure, and I wouldn't change that. 

Cave Exploring

A few weekends ago we went camping in Flagstaff. 

B-E-A-uuuuuuutiful! 

Technically we camped in Sunset Crater, which is just north of Flagstaff, but Im sure you'll forgive my generalities :) 

We spent Saturday grillin and drinkin some beers.

Our campsite. 360 degrees of beauty.

The ground is black volcanic rock/ash. I love the contrast of colors.

 Then Sunday we woke up bright and early (when some rogue quad riders accidently "got lost" in our campsite), so we headed on over to the lava tubes to go cave exploring. 

Yes. 

Cave exploring. 

You see, I had asked around for suggestions of things to do in Flagstaff and Diana recommended a handful of lovely trails. After reading their descriptions, I started to give the boys a synopsis of each but as soon as they heard "this one goes into a cave" they tuned out. 

They were sold. It really was the only option for this weekend.

"Have gun will travel reads the card of a man...."

The entrance to the cave.

Yep, see him crawling into it?

Making the descent.

If you look closely, you can see the boys at the bottom.
Red sweatshirt and flashlight waaaaaay down there.

Last glimpse of sunlight.

Inside the cave - giving a geology lesson?

I don't have any more pictures from inside the cave, because, well, it was basically a dark tube of rock. Most of the pictures did not come out. It was definitely an experience when we shut off all the flashlights, and just stood there. In the dark. Complete dark. Let's just say I was glad I had three bodyguards there with me.

Such a great adventure and a fun start to that Sunday!

(Thanks again, Diana!)  

Solar Eclipse of the Heart

So by now, I'm sure you've seen every one's pictures of the solar eclipse that happened on Sunday. It was an awesome view from all over the Western United States.... but I'm just gonna brag for a minute and say that the views from Northern Arizona were the best. We had been camping up in Flagstaff area for the weekend, having fun cave adventuring and aboriginal ruin exploring (but more on those later), so we stuck around to view the eclipse from the Wupatki National Monument. 

My boyfriend is a bit of a space nerd, so he brought his telescope with a solar filter along. (I'm sure you heard a million times by now, you should not view an eclipse with the naked eye or through normal binoculars/telescopes. Safety first!). Several other people had the same idea of watching the eclipse from this spot so we made friends, shared solar viewers /glasses, and took lots of pictures. And yes, several people felt it necessary to sing "Total Eclipse of the Heart" very loudly for the whole 1-2 hours. (Can't really say I blame them).

All of the pictures below are from the boyfriends camera, the pictures of the sun were taking using a small digital camera pointed at the eye piece of the telescope.

gettin' ready

Shadows created by pinholes in a posterboard. They mimick the shape of the eclipse at that point in time. This was taken during the "ring of fire".

Sun is starting to set... see the outline of the trees in the bottom right?

My favorite picture, this photo was actually featured on Universe Today. 

 

I have many many more pictures from the weekend - but I am still playing catch up between work, fight club, and packing/planning my next adventure.They will be posted soon as soon as I can.

Did you see the eclipse?

You guys know Ashley... right? 

That's her face over there --->>

Well she is off having a gand ol' time in Maui right now, 

so I hopped on over to her blog to share about one of my favorite adventures. 

Head on over to her blog to check out my Epic Road Trip.

(some hiking included)

Or if you're coming here FROM her blog... introduce yourself! 

Then keep reading the next post below for an awesome link up with yet another lovely blogger 

Kristin @ Skinny Jeans & a Chai Latte.

So glad you stopped by :)

Chinese Cultural Center

Sunday we took a mini adventure down to the Chinese Cultural Center in Phoenix (as mentioned here). I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was hoping it was something like Chinatown in SF or LA. When we got there, it looked more like a strip mall filled with Chinese shops. Slight disappointment.

Our mission was to visit this tiny little herb shop called Healthy Chinese Herbs (any Arrested Development fans, you might understand why I kept saying "Ancient Chinese Secret!" all day).

Ancient Chinese Secret!

The shop was small and a whole wall was just FILLED with drawers containing different types of herbs, bark, roots, flowers, and other various items. Apparently you tell them a little bit about yourself, then they make a special blend specifically for whatever ailments/results you want.

We waited our turn and then went in to see the "doctor". He asked about any prescriptions we were on, felt our pulse, looked at our tongue and then suddenly knew what we needed. It was uncanny how much he deduced with only asking us a few questions. We were given our ... uh, recipes? prescriptions? pieces of papers with our names and a bunch of Chinese symbols on it? and we headed back to the front counter where they would bundle up our personalized teas. She said it would be a 15 minute wait so we decided to wander around.

That's when we found this lovely jewel of a garden. Just around the corner. Yay!

A little boy informed me that the bridge was zig-zag because they believed that evil could only move in straight lines. I have yet to research the truth behind this, but I felt it was an interesting "fact". 

We strolled around the garden, took some pics, and said "hi!" to the fishies and the tadpoles. This was what I was hoping for. Something pretty to look at.

After (slightly) more than 15 minutes, we wandered back inside to get our teas. Tell me how cool these look:

Mine - to help increase blood flow and give me more energy. 

Boyfriend's - to help with his cold and allergies. 

We got five packs each (one picture shows one pack), you boil the whole thing with water, then strain it and drink it. Not gonna lie... I'm terrified to try this. It looks more like it should be decorating my bathroom than going into my belly... but I promised I would at least try it.

What's life with out a little adventure, eh?