Road Trip

So, it's been weeks since I've been on the blog. I decided to come back and post right now so that it doesn't become never. Because, in reality, there are so many bits and pieces of this new beginning that I'd like to write down (least of which is Princeton itself--but that also has to be explored and digested by bits and pieces).

But before I forget/before it becomes too long, I want to put down some highlights from the road trip my mom and I took to get out here. I decided that I wanted to drive from Utah to New Jersey, and my mom was kind enough to come along. (She really is a saint.)

[Princeton, here we come.]

[I think this was Wyoming? But it could very well be eastern Colorado or Kansas, too.]

[Definitely Kansas]

[The Sunflower State]

[And here is the part where I bombard you with 10 million pictures of a beautiful sunflower field.]

[They are just so beautiful.]

[And it was just a beautiful summer evening.]

[My momma who is actually the best.]

[Hello there, bright one.]

[Oh haiiiiii]

[By the way, they are not facing the sun.]

[Sunrise in Indiana]

[10 points to Gryffindor if you can guess what this truck was transporting]

[If you guessed chickens, you would be right. Chickens. Chickens everywhere!]

[Heading to NJ!]

[We made it to Princeton!]

[2200 miles later.]

[Sam was a champ and came up from D.C. to help me move in, too.]

[Turns out there's a pelican sundial in Princeton, too.] 

2200 miles, 4 days, and a lot of 80s music, which any true road trip needs. (And lots and lots of sunflowers.) 

august rush

I forget sometimes how much I like this time of year. Warm days and cooler nights. Utah evenings in August are perfection. Night games on the street and in the yard. Fresh peaches. Vine-ripened tomatoes and corn on the cob. Hiking in the mountains and the sweet, fresh scent of pine and juniper in the mountains. Swimming with friends and family. Making peanut butter cookies and summer salads. Talking about everything under the sun--eclipses, protests, Sophie Scholl, books, history, and more.

August. Trying to get everything done that you meant to get done and wondering why you hadn't done it earlier. 

Current Mood

This song.



This song expresses what I'm feeling right now. It describes words and feelings of the heart I didn't even know I had.

Especially the part when the strings build to their crescendo . . . pure, agonizing beauty.

Squinting into the sun

I just think these pictures are funny: 

The sun was so bright and the struggle was oh, so real. 

I think the world is glorious

Sam was in town last weekend, and so the world, was indeed, glorious. (Cheesy, yes. But that's how I roll these days.)

[Awwwww]

Sam was in town for a friend's wedding, and it was just a nice weekend filled with friends, food, and flowers. (Also, ICYMI, the Provo City Center Temple is stunning, and the sealing rooms look like English chapels, which just made my heart very happy.)

[Also, the sun was reallllly bright. We are both struggling to look normal here.]

[The wedding reception. I loved the vibes there. Super chill and just really cool.]

[I realize this little girl looks like she's falling down. I promise I did not take a photo of a child in distress just for the photo's sake. She is rolling down the hill. Because she can. And I probably would have too, if I didn't care for propriety and decency, but there are things you can do when you're 6 when you can't do when you're 26. Sigh.]

[See? She's rolling down. No falling children here. Except maybe the boy is falling down? I'm failing here.]

Sam and I also went hiking in the Albion Basin and had a picnic. It was idyllic. And the wildflowers are in full bloom right now and stunning. 

[Isn't he cute? Yeah. He is.]

[Some Maria Von Trapp/Heidi vibes going on in this pictures. The hills are alive.]

[Better together.]

[Okay, those views, though. So, so pretty.]

[This, my friends, is Utah in the summer. Simply glorious.]

Exfoliation and Reflection

Our last day in the Holy Land was filled with visiting ancient ruins, remembering epic stories, floating in the Dead Sea, and wading in the Jordan River.

We started out our last day by going to Masada. Which was so cool. If you don't know the story of Masada (I only knew bits and pieces of it before we went there), basically it was an almost impregnable and entirely self-sustaining palace of the paranoid Herod the Great that was taken over by a group of Jewish rebels in 66 A.D. (when the Romans were destroying Jerusalem). The Romans lay siege to it (but it took an awfully long time to be able to break down the fortress walls since it's on a high mesa top), but before they could capture the rebels, the Jews at Masada committed mass suicide so they wouldn't be enslaved by the Romans. Anyway. It's a fascinating, tragic story and it's an incredible site to visit.

[Going up the mountain on the tram. There was no way we were hiking that in 100+ degree heat]

[That is a desert]

[You can still see the siege ramp the Romans built to get their battering ram up to the fortress gates]

After Masada, we went to the Dead Sea. Because when you get a chance to go to the lowest point in the world (and to float in it!), you definitely take that chance. 

[Floating in the Dead Sea!]

[You also cover yourself with mud.]

[So much exfoliation.]

We also went to the Jordan River, where Jesus was baptized (not at this exact particular spot, per se. But He was baptized in the Jordan River). 

[Jordan River. The barrier is the country of Jordan.]

Oh! Also, we went to Jericho. And drank its famous orange juice. And I rode a camel. 

It's honestly amazing how much we were able to do during the week we were in the Holy Land. I am grateful for the opportunity I had to go. Truly, gratitude is the first word that comes to mind when I think of this trip--grateful for the things I learned, the people I met, the places I saw, and the things I felt. And I hope I get a chance to pay it forward someday, and to strengthen, inspire, and lift others from the things I learned. 

As one of our travel companions said at the Garden of Gethsemane, "It just makes me want to be someone with all that has been given me." 

And it's true. The opportunities I've been give make me want to "be someone." Be someone better, kinder, and more loving. 

I guess that's what all travel should inspire you to do. 

But especially so when you get a chance to visit the Holy Land.