So I woke up on Monday in Chinle, Arizona and ended it in Denver, Colorado.

I had 8 hours to drive so I got breakfast at The Thunderbird Lodge cafeteria, which has been serving breakfast since 1902 at the trading post. The biscuits and sausage rivaled that of the Pancake house in Jonesborough TN.

At one point I stopped to let this little foal cross the road to get to her mama and the other loose horses. It made me smile.

I drove on from Arizona to Utah and tried to take in all the beauty around me. I could see mountains with snow on them. It was beautiful. I stopped in Moab to eat my gas station sandwich while walking around to stretch my legs at the trail head.

Then onto Colorado. Given that I woke up in AZ I was dressed for warm weather… not 37 degrees. But damn was it beautiful!! Crazy windy roads through the Rocky Mountains where I was in the clouds! Most of the elevation signs I saw for 6000 feet above sea level! I wish I had more photographs of the mountains but they were breathtaking. I drive along the Colorado River for a chunk of time, which seemed pretty brown to me but still impressive. This country continues to amaze me.

I made my way to a super cool hostel (Ember Hostel) in Denver, which was a more positive experience than the last one!

After 8 hours of driving I was treating myself to dinner. I found Lowdown Denver Brewery and kitchen. I had some great beers and stayed hydrated to counter act the elevation, which killed me. Being the chatty person I am, I talked to the bartender about places to check out and the laws/regulations around driving high/being pulled over etc.

Shout out to AJ, the bartender, who gave me a free mini growler on my way out the door and wished me safe travels!

xoxo Aimee

So on Easter I said goodbye to Nappy and Carla for hosting me and headed north.

So I stumbled upon this massive hole and it was absolutely amazing. I went to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Once again I blurted our Holy Fuck. But wow. It is breath taking and humbling and words and pictures do not do it justice.

I thought it might not be busy on Easter but I was wrong. Apparently the last 2 weeks in April are they’re busiest due to the weather. 65 degrees and sunny! It was perfect. Although I’m 99% sure I saw snow inside the rim.

But don’t make excuses people, go check it out, at least once. They’ve made it accessible for almost every ability. I only had a few hours but could have spent a few days.

When I pulled into the park I saw an elk, well I think it was an elk, eating grass behind the trees. The visitor center parking was insane! (Sorry Jon and Emily, I didn’t get you a ranger book from this one). So I gave up on parking there and took the Desert View drive and am so glad I did!!

I stopped at the GrandView scenic stop and got front row parking! I choose to hike down a bit, knowing that this is unlike any other hiking where you go down first and that I was at least 6000 feet above sea level.

I don’t know how to describe it other than humbling. It gave me a similar feeling when I sit and watch the ocean. Reminding me that there’s so much more out there. I hiked down a ways where there were only 4 or so other hikers and found a spot in the sun to relax and think.

I was awe struck and then when I tried to hike back up, I was humbled again. Wow is that hard. I’m quasi athletic and that had me sucking wind and breathing embarrassingly loud. So I took a break and enjoyed the view before heading back up.

And then I had to keep going but it was still another 30 plus minutes driving to get out of the park, which is amazing. I am so glad I went to the Grand Canyon.

I thought I picked a hotel near Monument Valley Navajo Tribal land… I did not. I had picked a hotel in Chinle, Arizona. 96 miles away… so I had to adjust my plans. And then I missed a turn and drove 22 miles in the wrong direction before I realized it so I had to adjust again…good thing I’m flexible!

That being said the view was gorgeous. And I saw this at a rest stop!

Let me tell you about time changes because they were making me batty. So Arizona is in the mountain time zone but does not acknowledge day light savings. However, Native American land/reservations DO observe day light savings. So my phone and car kept switching times and at first I thought I was losing it (and I still may be).

But I finally got to the Thunderbird Lodge at 9pm? 8pm? I was exhausted but it was a super cute little place.

Hope you all had a great Easter xoxo aim

Thursday night Napoleon and I caught up, shared stories, laughed and ate burgers. I tried In and Out burgers for the first time and it was quite yummy. Friday Nappy and his lovely mom went to work so I wandered around the neighborhood before it was a million degrees.

I was very grateful to have the chance to do laundry because it was definitely needed! I also planned more of my adventure.

Afterwards, we met up with our dear friend Lance and went to an amazing BBQ place called Bobby-Q in Phoenix! Amazing just amazing. The corn bread! Everything we had was delicious! And the company was even better. I had the privilege of living with these two great guys back in the day at 243 School St. Granted at the time I didn’t always see living with a bunch of guys as a privilege. So these are two of my “house sons” and I earned the name “house mom.”

It was great to catch up and chat, laugh and listen to music. And just like old times, I inevitably fell asleep on the couch while we were hanging out.

Sedona. So on Saturday, the three of us headed out to Sedona. Nappy drove so I had a chance to take in the gorgeous scenery on the ride there.

Unfortunately the child safety was on the windows but I still got some great pictures, except this one isn’t that great.

We wandered around and signed up for a sunset trolley tour, which we were all jazzed about. The woman who sold us the tickets was super enthusiastic. We saw some amazing jewelry and confirmed that I have expensive taste in jewelry. The Native American turquoise necklace I picked out to try on was $2000… and even with their 2/3rd discount that had to go back. However, after lots of hemming and hawing, I did purchase a beautiful turquoise pendant and a pair of turquoise earrings!!

We had an amazing lunch with a great view but later learned our trolley was broken and the tour had to be cancelled. So we decided we’d hit the winery and then head to the location where we could see the sunset.

Due to a bunch of silliness we may have missed the sunset but we got delicious wine and went to check out the spot.

I’m just in awe of how amazing these rock formations are. We had our own “tour” and lots of laughs. Plus there was an amazing full moon on the way home!

Sunday I’m back on the road. Happy Easter everyone. Xoxo aim

Over the years I’ve stayed at a bunch of hostels, some bad and some good. This mural is from the one I stayed at in Albuquerque. It was less than stellar but that had more to do with my bunk mates and lack of ear plugs…

Here’s what I texted my sister Thursday morning after waking up there.

“Omg the woman on the bunk below me makes the weirdest scariest noises. I thought she puked at one point but I think she was drinking out of a water bottle??? There’s a deaf woman in here too who makes a ton of noise but I get it she’s legally deaf.”

“And I’m on the top bunk which sucks… I would have taken another one but they don’t have ladders and I’m sure as shit not that athletic. I literally tried and was like, nope… have to be over here with the messy sloppy girl who has a bowl of food scraps here…”

“Well the deaf woman left after her alarm went off 5 times… the Australian woman is great and gave me the heads up about the bitch below me…”

I did realize I had all sorts of judgements and assumptions about the woman in the bunk below me and that I should check myself. That despite leaving grapefruit rinds in a bowl and using every single closet she could be a lovely individual. But that was before she came in late on the phone, not being courteous of anyone and making a bunch of noise. By morning I had no desire to talk to her so I scooted out for breakfast.

I had half a mind to stomp around my hostel room at 8 am while gathering my stuff but was raised better than that… so I just joked about it with Emily. I wanted to go explore Old Town before heading out to Arizona.

While walking around I saw two different people pick up trash at random to make their city cleaner, which made my heart full.

I came across the Holocaust and Intolerance Museum of New Mexico. It reminded me that some people still don’t believe atrocities like the Jewish or Armenian holocausts happened. They had a map about active hate groups in the USA and I’m not proud of New England here… I also don’t think they asked anyone in Alaska or Hawaii.

From there I walked a bit and found a shop that sold GORGEOUS Native American jewelry. But damn, I walked into the store and there were 3 people behind counters staring at me trying to talk to me. Ugh. But it’s jewelry so I dealt with it, until I saw the price tags. I realize to make a living wage as a jewelry artist is not easy and makes your products more expensive than the cheap stuff from China but I still couldn’t justify it.

I hit the road for my 6 1/2 hr drive to Sun City Arizona! Damn is our country beautiful.

I started another audio book, did a lot of dancing & singing in my car and called my folks. I also got a tumbleweed stuck to the front of my car, which just had me laughing hysterically.

I got all confused when I stopped to eat my lunch at the Arizona state line rest stop because the time changed again… because Arizona doesn’t do day light savings.

As I was driving on I-40 I saw a mountain range with snow on it and had no idea what mountain it was. I later learned that was Flagstaff AZ. I was driving through this crazy, windy landscape that reached a 6000 elevation at some points. It was gorgeous. Even the rest stop views are amazing.

Seeing cacti just made me laugh, they’re pretty funny looking. I made it through Phoenix to Sun City to my friend Napoleon’s house! Make time to catch up with friends. Xoxo

7 hours of driving is probably the most I’ve ever done in a day… and that was today.

So I left OKC early to get started, making sure to bring my 2 remaining cupcakes with me (I ate some of the peanut butter chocolate last night and the rest with breakfast).

I decided I’d power through and then stop for a nice lunch, but fail to include my bladder into the equation. But before I knew it I was in Texas! I still get super excited crossing state lines and laughing at the slogans!

I got off in McLean, Texas, population 3,104 or so the sign said. And damn was it a time warp. Now this is a part of the amazing old Route 66 back in the day but CLEARLY has been horribly neglected and effected by the highways. (Just like in Cars). I stopped at the restaurant because it was open and I had to pee again and hasn’t had lunch yet. Well there were 4 patrons there including me. All passer-bys I assumed. I got a delicious chicken fried steak with amazing gravy. Pretty sure that was my highlight today. And bonus: every meal comes with free cobbler!! So I had delicious peach cobbler.

This is the original Phillips Route 66 gas station, which is literally just a photo op now in McLean, that I saw on an app but happened to pick the right exit to see it.

It made me a little sad thinking about how those people must barely scrap by some times…

You may have seen the severe weather that was hitting the mid west… well the moment I crossed into New Mexico, I hit it, BIG TIME.

Now this only shows the clouds beforehand because I ended up driving through freakin hail. The ground was literally white and I was glad I’m from MA and can handle snow. It started out as rain, then a downpour, then a freakin deluge, where I couldn’t see a damn thing. I pulled over and stress ate half a delicious cupcake before it let up…. and then it started back and that’s when the hail came. I said some prayers and asked my Grampa Jerry to watch over me. He always told me to “drive safe” and would count the dents on my car, so I’ve always thought of him as watching over me when I drive. Eventually the rain slowed and stopped all together. I also finished my audiobook so that was good!

So I made it to my hostel in Albuquerque but didn’t explore much since it was raining here and it’s been a long day. I walked to get pizza for dinner and someone stopped me to say the loved my necklace! I’m hoping to wander around Old Town Albuquerque tomorrow and buy beautiful jewelry before heading to see friends in Arizona!!

Xoxo aim

So with my cupcakes in the front seat I left Hot Springs and headed out for Oklahoma City, OK. I was driving on some back roads and noticed a house that had about 15 or so toilets in their front yard…all painted different colors with flowers planted in them… I’ve seen this before with one toilet but not 15 haphazardly throughout the yard. Unfortunately I didn’t stop to take a photo.

But Arkansas doesn’t disappoint with the windy beautiful road of AK 7 and Nimrod Dam and Lake! I was on AK 7 for about 40 gorgeous miles without service and I was fine with that. A solo road trip has obviously meant a lot of time to myself and time to think, which isn’t bad, but it does get lonely. As I was telling some friends it is forcing me to sit with myself and not reach for the phone (or any other distraction). And I know people may find that hard to believe with the blog posts and pictures but think what you will.

So I waved goodbye to Arkansas and hello to Oklahoma when I hit the state line at Fort Smith. I knew absolutely nothing going there other than it was a park where I could eat my salad and cupcakes!

Since it was a long day of driving, I opted to walk around while eating my salad. I learned that not only was Fort Smith to keep an eye on Indian territory but they also had a gallows for hanging. And this bad ass woman next to the women’s room. Inside each stall was a bio about a different woman who played a part in the Fort Smith history.

So then I drove on to Oklahoma City. I didn’t really explore any of it but it was clean. I stayed in a super cute air bnb and walked to a restaurant called The Mule, that I read about in a guide book. Look at the bottom of the menu!

I also tried some good new beers in the process as well as having an amazing sandwich called “fancy pants,” because dammit, I’m fancy.

I headed back early and relaxed on this awesome patio. It looks like there’s a lot more to do in OK but my quiet, quick jaunt there was nice.

Xoxo Aimee

How does one follow up a relaxing day in thermal bath water? By drinking beer made of thermal mineral water!! Seems logical! There was a bath house named Superior Baths, probably to make up for the fact that it was the smallest bath house on the row, and recently it was turned into Superior Beer Brewing!

I got a beer during happy hour then a flight afterwards (and yes I took a picture of my delicious homemade hummus, deal with it). The beer was lovely and I grabbed a growler to bring back home to my cousin.

The side of the growler asks you to drink their thermal mineral water responsibly.

More importantly, I went and got dessert at Fat Bottom Girl’s cupcakes, which was featured on Cupcake Wars and Food Network!

And damn was it worth it. I was emotional and couldn’t make up my mind so I got 6!! And don’t regret it (three flavors left to try).

I got the lavender lemon and salted caramel that they made for cupcake wars, along with lemon vanilla, peanut butter chocolate, red velvet oreo, and chocolate turtle!!

From there I headed back to the hotel, which is also being occupied by an entertaining group of European senior citizens and called it an early night… so in summary, last night was actually quite mellow.

Xoxo aim

Arkansas you are far more beautiful than I realized!!

After some deep thoughts this morning and breakfast I headed to the country’s smallest national park, Hot Springs national Park, which I also believe is the oldest national Park, but don’t quote me on that! It’s freakin adorable and stuck right in the middle of the city! So it’s a thermal hot springs where the water is 143 degrees! This is the only hot springs for people to visit but you can’t go in.

So my shortened version of it: local Native American tribes found these hot springs and realized how healing they are for folks due to the minerals but then the white man kicked them out and took over, digging up pools, to soak in. They were segregated by sex and you could only use the springs in good weather. So then they built bath houses out of wood, which would rot out and then burned down. This happened several times, and left lots of people homeless by the time they stopped the blaze, then people smartened up and made them out of brick. Then they were segregated by race. Then many of them shut down, but two remain open! Here’s some actual history: https://www.nps.gov/hosp/learn/historyculture/index.htm

So I attacked this backwards because of where I parked but I went up the Hot Spring Mountain to the top and then went up the 216ft observation tower! Yes, it had an elevator. And wow!! The 360 degree observation tower was certainly worth the $8, in my opinion! I’m pretty sure I blurted out “holy shit.”

Just incredible! I’m sorry Arkansas when I said you were a weird state yesterday!! These pictures don’t do it justice.

Then I learned a bunch of history from the observation tower, about how the town was the Wild West back in the day, before it became a gangster town, while the bath houses became popular.

So then I checked out the visitor center, which is actually the old Fordyce Bath House and a museum and learned more about them!

The first is an old scene and what the attendant wore. So the second picture is a steam box where you sit inside and your head sticks out the top! They would also have massages, court yards and OT/athletic machines, which were all the rage in 1912. (So I read).

So I was set on trying out of one the operating bathhouses and I lucked out!! It was an amazing $40 spent! I got to sit in an old big bathtub with super hot mineral and then got a hot towel treatment, then sat in a Sitz bath (look it up – it’s literally just a small tub for your ass and low back!) and then I sat in the weird steam box! Damn did I sweat it out! It was incredible and relaxing!!

So as I left Nashville I stopped by the where the Grand Ole Opry is held (the Opry is the show, not the location). I was there before it opened but I already knew the tours were booked so I just wandered around.

Then I was off to Memphis and finished my audio book in the process. It was rainy and cold in Memphis and it was going to cost $42 to go to Graceland. Since I’m not a huge Elvis fan, I opted to just get lunch at the Rock n’ Roll cafe. MISTAKE! The service and food sucked in my opinion…but I was at the bar during the Masters to see Tiger Woods win it again!

Then off to Arkansas, which is never a place I wanted to go to, nor have I been opposed to it. I drove through a town called Texarkana, which made me giggle. My highlight this Sunday was probably my new audiobook, The Girl on the Train, which made my 5 hr drive go by fast quicker.

People have been asking if I’m in the Ozarks but not quite. Hot Springs is below/in the footholds of the Ozarks but technically in the Ouachita Mountains.

I was a little grouchy when I first got here. I decided to buy dinner at the grocery store to save money… and I attempted to buy wine… but it’s the Bible Belt and you can’t buy booze on Sunday. Hell, Massachusetts even changed that law!! So I was a little salty.

Luckily it was really warm here and I sat outside in the sun before going to bed early! Xoxo

So Saturday I went and had an amazing breakfast of blackberry stuffed French toast with mango whipped cream, eggs and bacon! I managed to walk smack into the middle of Nashville’s Cherry Blossom festival… which seemed to be more about cos play and anime… and somehow there was a religious protest too?

Then after the rain let up I went on a trolley hop on/hop off tour. We were surround my plenty of “woo” girls on bachelorette drunk mobiles

I stopped at the country music hall of fame. The first floor was free and had an exhibit and shop that still does the original letter press printing for concert flyers etc. by a company Hatch Show Print. the artist in me loved it!

This bottom one is by an artist who was an alumni of their shop, but I didn’t photograph his name and don’t remember. Then back on the trolley until I got off at Marathon Motor Company, which is an old car company that went bankrupt years ago and was made into a museum and shopping area. They still had tons of old car parts including some of the original sewing machines that did the car interiors.

They also happened to have a winery with $3 wine slushees! Win! There was also Tennessee Legend Distillery, which offered free tastings! And in retrospect, I should have bought the apple pie moonshine to take home.

It certainly is the Bible Belt down here. I was getting hungry by this point so I opted not to get off at the art museum and head back to my hostel.

I later went out to Acme Feed and Seed. The bar on the second floor had a horrible bar tender but the guys downstairs were good. Plus I got to watch the Nashville Enablers perform, not that I had heard of them before but they were a lot of fun.