22.6.11

The Suite Life of Steph and Trent: Tulsa and Nauvoo!

The Lucky Crickets on the Main Nauvoo stage after our show. We sat here and pose with our adoring fan!

Greetings from Tulsa OK! After Trent and I got back from Europe we had only a few days until our next adventure. On Sunday, we drove to Tulsa (18 hours in a car= no mi gusta). Now, we live in the Staybridge Extended Stay Hotel on 71st street (a very popular street with all the best restaurants including Cheesecake Factory). Apparently we hit the jackpot; we not only get new sheets and cleaning daily, but also free breakfast and sometimes dinner. Feels more like a senior center than a hotel they're taking such good care of us...

our room

stay bridge suites

free breakfast

Our life is a hybrid of the Suite Life of Zach and Cody and Parks and Recreation. Trent's started work with a bunch of Ron Swanson look a-likes and I work with a guy names Jerry who everyone blames everything on. Oklahoma also has a Pawnee county. Altogether, Trent and I couldn't be happier with this temporary lifestyle.

No sooner did I arrive in Tulsa that I had to leave for a Trip to Nauvoo and surrounding areas with my band, The Lucky Crickets. We toured with the Spring Performing Arts Company of BYU by playing backup for them and also playing a few of our own music. Nauvoo was an incredible experience for me and I wish I had written a day-to-day journal entry of it as well. But after Europe I was a little fried...and after eating multiple bugs on stage while singing in 100 percent humidity day and night, the two bar slow interned was not worth the head ache of my blog-readers (sorry ya'll).

So without further adieu, here are my favorite memories from my trip.


the Historic Nauvoo Temple

sundae Sunday at the Mission President's house...with raptor Alex

Saving a lost turtle on the road by helping him cross the street. He was so adorable (I named him Donatello for Lauren Wilkes)


The whole dancer and musician gang in Montrose


building a cheez-it fort with my favorite friends from the trip (Cheez-its are courtesy of Darren and Connie Riggs)

pretending to hitch hike then actually having to after the vans forgot me in Historic Nauvoo

the crazyawesomeamazingtalentedpatience director, Delynne, and her bossing me around.

missing Trent was inevitable so of course I kissed inanimate objects to try to cure my craving for him.

eating at Annie's frozen custard and putting a napkin under her plastic table cloth to signify our love
and permanently keep our memory at the darling joint. I gave a shout-out to her at one of the performances
and she gave free frozen custard to everyone after the show!

learning about agricultural things: did you know the cows develop hairballs that build up in their stomaches?
They're really shiny and lightweight. Most people wouldn't touch them...

and, of course, the bugs. I thought Darwin, AU was the worst for bugs on light but I stand corrected. This picture looks like snow right? But it's hundreds of thousands of bugs waiting to enter our mouths.

Of course there were other favorite moments including the handcart trek, Sunday sociable where I sang Emma's Lullaby, Carthage Jail, the performance in Fairfield with the incredible sound engineer, dance party with DJ BRiggs, and the calling I now feel to pursue my dream and actually become a performer and entertainer to children!

Goodbye for now! I'll update with any new info in the next month or so :) Maybe you'll even see a new COOKING blog!!?!?!?!

21.6.11

Day 28 and Review of the trip!


OK I've been so bad at updating. Let me fill you in with the rest of the trip:

We woke up at like 5 for three trains to Zurich. We accidentally went into 1st class and the Swiss workers went anal. We got to the airport and just barely made our flight to JFK airport.

When we arrived in the JFK, we thought we lost our baggage again. Trent and I were FREAKING OUT. But then we found it (cool story Hansel).

Then we had to wait in like for like forty minutes in a line of two people to take us on a bus from New York to Newark so we could make our flight to SLC. The airport workers in NYC were RIDICULOUS. We finally got on the bus just in time and my mom calls. "Don't go to Newark! Your flight is cancelled." Needless to say, this was not news we wanted to hear after a sleepless night/day on a airplane.

Apparently, the Dallas airport (which we were laying over at) cancelled all of their arrivals due to a hail storm. So we waited in a 500 person line for American Airlines' customer service. Ugh... trains, airplanes, buses, lines. What could be worse?

the two people helping

line of 500 people

Well after staying awake for over 24 hours, the fantastic AA helper got us new tickets on JetBlue straight to SLC. We were thrilled! And it only delayed us 1 hour!!!



Looking back on the trip:

Trent's favorite city- Taormina, Sicily
Steph's favorite city- Barcelona, Spain
Trent's favorite sleeping night- Hostel Poblenou in Barcelona
Steph's favorite sleeping night- Jean Pierre and Catherine in Paris
Trent's favorite new food- pantucaca
Steph's favorite new food- seriously? Leige waffles.
Trent's most exciting memory-SCUBA in Sicily with 2 suits on.
Steph's most exciting memory-All nighter in Nice sleeping in an unfamiliar apartment lobby to avoid the dangerous gypsies in the train station.
Trent's favorite picture-

Trent's favorite picture of Stephanie-
Steph's favorite picture-
Steph's favorite picture of Trent-

Altogether, our trip was perfect. Looking back almost 4 weeks later, it feels most like a REM dream rather than a memory. It all happened so fast! Here are some tips for the backpacking college student:
  • night trains are not worth it unless you fork over the bucks for a bunker. too smelly
  • don't over stress about money. you're on a trip. but make sure you make a list of all purchase before, during, and after to balance out and plan for your next one!
  • always prepare for the worst. if you don't carry your backpack on the airplane, make sure you have an extra pair of clothes in case your's gets stolen.
  • we were so glad we planned everything out. my favorite tool was places on google
  • expect the unexpected and just be happy; otherwise it'll just have too much anxiety.
  • couchsurfing is the bomb! we absolutely loved being meeting people. it was perfect for us to do it often and not always. it saved us money! and it was soooo much fun!

After being home fore a couple days, Trent and I brought our closest friends to Park City and gave them birthday presents :) We made a delicious meal consisting of spaetzle, bratwurst, and liege waffles. SO DANG TASTY :)





Bye bye for now! I'll make another update on the past three weeks shortly!