To say Alex has been my rock through all of the events in the past year would be a gross understatement. We were able to get out of dodge twice last year to explore this beautiful country. I can't think of a better way to heal the past than to take in new experiences. We took 2 week-long trips. One to the dirty south and one to the mountains out west.
In October, we traveled to New Orleans for a friend's wedding and made a vacation of it. Our Airbnb was insane - we had a whole mansion to ourselves.
We saw the
The Degas House, the French Quarter, and took a food tour around town. We ate many po' boys, gumbos, and even tried turtle soup and alligator. We hit up all the restaurant staples including
Antoines,
Cafe du Monde,
Commander's Palace,
Brennan's, and
Acme. The most romantic of our dinners was the tasting menu at
August. We saw jazz on Frenchman Street, spent a day at the
New Orleans Museum of Art (and took a walk through the gorgeous sculpture gardens). We saw the
World War II Museum, went to Bourbon Street and had frozen cocktails while walking around outside. All in all, we saw as much as one could possibly see during a week in New Orleans. Our weekend ended with our friends' beautiful wedding at a plantation complete with antique cars, white horses, and fireworks.
It was a great week in the Big Easy.
In December, we headed to Park City, Utah for a week of skiing. I was in ski school for most of the vacation and I became quite good! By the end of the week, I was conquering blue and double blue terrain. Alex even skied with me for part of the vacation.
On New Years Eve, we traveled to the heart of the National Forest for dinner in a log cabin by a wood burning fireplace. It was a relaxing and cozy way to ring in 2016.
Alex and I spent most of the week at the
Park City Resort (which was huge - we didn't even cover the entire resort in the week we were there). We also took a day trip to Sundance and spent some time exploring Salt Lake City.
A week in the mountains was invigorating. The perfect way to end a difficult year and start a new one with a clean slate.
Until recently, I'd been holed away mending my broken soul and having a tough time talking to people - especially those I wasn't seeing on the regular. Mainly because I felt they couldn't see my transformation from crumpled mess to somewhat put together human. Slowly but surely, I'm feeling more like me these days. When I think of my dad, I smile more times than I cry now. Life is a long and painful journey. But the journey is beautiful and along the way I hope to ski down many mountains and eat a lot of jambalaya.
