Since I’m couped up in bed with covid, I figure there’s no better time to try and catch up on my poor neglected blog a bit….for the millionth time. Seriously, mad props to people who can keep their blogs updated. It takes serious dedication!
A few weeks ago Nathan’s company transferred him from North Dakota to Midland, Texas. Considering the amazing weather in Texas and that it’s NOT North Dakota, the kids and I decided to take a mad fast road trip down.
We took off Wednesday right after school and made our way over to Cortez, CO, stopping at our favorite waterfall, of course!
We slept at a super swanky Wyndham property, it was clean, what more can you ask for? The next morning we drove out to Mesa Verde. I’ve been dreaming of visiting these ruins for as long as I can remember. They were incredible, but I will say that I don’t recommend visiting in the winter/covid season. So much was closed and we could only drive by most of the other sites. It was still a great experience, but we left wanting more and will definitely go back one day in the future. Finishing at Mesa Verde, we hopped in the car and started our drive to our next destination, White Sands National Park, New Mexico. We realized once we hit Albuquerque that there was no way we would make it all the way to White Sands, so opted to grab a hotel and continue our drive the next day. The next morning we left bright and early to drive to Alamogordo, NM. The drive through the desert was so unique. Between the crazy landscape full of dried lava flows, malpais, and signs warning of missile launches, this was definitely my favorite portion of the drive. We stayed one night in Alamogordo and the next morning drove straight over to White Sands.
I wasn’t totally sure what to expect, but I am so glad we went. We had so much fun. We bought a couple of sleds at the gift shop, which I don’t recommend – grab a few at Walmart in Alamogordo instead because they are $19.00 a pop at the gift shop – and spent hours sliding down the dunes. We left with sand in every single crack and crevice of our bodies. 100% worth it! After finishing up at White Sands, we made the drive out to Midland, TX. I was really surprised at the landscape following Alamogordo. We made it to Midland late that night, stayed one day and then made the longgggggg road trip back home. We split it up by staying one night in Santa Fe and then driving the rest of the way home.
It was a whirlwind of a road trip and I definitely don’t recommend packing in so much in so little time, but overall, I’m glad we went!
Roughly 800 years ago, or maybe it was just yesterday, crazy how time can feel so close yet so far, but actually 5 years ago, I flew to Peru and embarked on a soul changing journey full of hardships and eye opening experiences that would forever impact my life.
Just kidding! We flew business class and stayed in swanky hotels, slept in airport lounges and ate delicious food, all on points and miles, of course!
But looking back, I don’t think I’ve ever written in detail about our incredible journey to Peru, so here goes:
We, Melster and I, planned the trip well over a year in advance. I had wanted to see Machu Picchu, and hike the Inca Trail, for as long as I could remember. My husband hated hiking and had zero interest in this adventure. I presented the idea of going with a friend instead. He was down. I was down. Friend was down. And so the planning began! We decided on 10 days: 4-5 spent hiking the Inca Trail, a few for transitioning and finally a 3 day/night stay at a jungle lodge in the Amazon Rainforest.
Important note- at one point I joked with M about a dream I had of her getting pregnant and warned her that she should probably not do that because it would making hiking around Peru pretty hard. She assured me it wouldn’t be an issue and we laughed.
Side note and important information that will make this story significantly more dramatic- If you are unfamiliar with the Inca Trail is, it’s a 26 mile hike through the Andes mountains to get to Machu Picchu. You gain a crap ton of elevation and reach just under 14k feet at one point. You sleep in tents, pee in the woods, and continue walking rain or shine! Okay, no more notes…for now!
Fast forward a few moths after everything is booked and paid for and it happened. I was sitting in the parking lot of a Maverick gas station. I had borrowed their bathroom because I was too anxious to drive all the way home to find out my fate, but there it was. Just glaring back at me. The line. I threw the stick and yelled a lot of profanities. Then the tears came. I called my brother, crying hysterical. “Oh my gosh, did someone die?” He asked concerned? “No! It’s just terrible!” “You’re pregnant, aren’t you!” and being the supportive and empathetic person he is, he laughed and laughed while I yelled and cried.
So, now I’m pregnant and I’ve got this huge trip planned. I quickly do the math and realize I’ll be a whopping SEVEN months pregnant at the time of this trip. Crappppp!
After doing a ton of research on just about everything I could think of, I decided that it would be perfectly safe to embark on this journey. I found an incredible OB, quite the adventurer himself, who was totally down for me to take the trip.
The next seven months I worked my butt off, despite it growing bigger because I love to eat and even more so when I’m pregnant, getting into shape for this hike. I would go to the gym, some days in tears because I was so exhausted and sick and aching all over from carrying my 4th child. I would hop on that stair master for 2 plus hours almost every day.
The time finally came for use to head to Peru! I was 7 months to the day when we hopped on that airplane.
We arrived in Lima at a weird hour but headed straight to the airport hotel and caught some Zzz’s before our next flight over to Cusco. The flight was quick and the next thing we knew, we were checking into the incredible JW Marriott Cusco. We dropped our bags off, went out for some exploring, and ate a gigantic dinner, which we both soon regretted!
We had actually lost almost an entire day due to plane delays, so our already short time to acclimate in Cusco turned into roughly 8 hours! Before we knew it, it was early early and time to head to the bus stop to meet the team. I was already feeling incredibly nauseous at this time, but there was no turning back now.
Another note again- I need to add that I had also checked with our tour company to make sure they were okay with me doing this hike. They had asked for a letter from my doctor, which he gave, and everything was set. My guides knew I was pregnant, but the rest of the group had zero idea. I was wearing a big loose sweater when we all met, so it was impossible to tell just by looking.
We rode the bus for several hours and I remember just praying I wouldn’t puke everywhere and breathing into my sweater, because the bus was smelly! Somehow, I managed not to upchuck everywhere, but I ditched out on breakfast that morning, which was a terrible idea, because i was so sick.
Anywayyyy, we made it to the beginning of the trail and got hiking right away. I still felt so nauseous and now it was even worse since I had ditched breakfast. Somehow I continued on, though, and made it to our first stop. It was getting pretty hot at that point and so I decided to take off my sweater. I swear you could have heard a pin drop out there in the wilderness when everyone saw my “condition!” The awkward silence soon ended, followed by several questions and then it was business as usual. Also, eating lunch helped me big time and my nausea mostly subsided.
That night I went to bed super early. I did leave our tent at one point with the intention of smothering the people who wouldn’t stop talking in the middle of the night. I sat near their tent and glared for several minutes before I decided murder was maybe a little extreme. I headed back to the tent and instead went with a loud “SHUT UP!” Melly woke up and asked if I had just screamed. “I sure did!” Fortunately, they shut up and we slept like babies, newborn babies who wake up every hour, that is.
The rest of the journey was pretty run-of-the-mill normal. Melly and I somehow missed the memo that we needed to supply our own toilet paper. Let me tell you, you haven’t hit low until you are stealing extra napkins at dinner and resorting to begging your fellow trekkers for just one square! Also, new food and new bacteria can only mean one thing: Montezuma’s revenge, or whoever the king of Peru was, so not having tp was bad. Real bad.
We finallllly made it to the Inca gate bright and so dang early on the last morning! Our first views of Machu Picchu as the fog cleared were just breathtaking and all out humbling! We did it.
We finished the trek into the lost city and explored for several hours! Finally, we took the bus down to the little town of Aguas Calientes and then hopped the train back to Cusco.
We stayed one more night there and then hopped on a plane to head to our next destination: the Amazon!
To make this brief since this is already the longest post ever, the jungle was hot. Like 103 degrees and 6673638% humidity. I was miserable, and this was the point in my life that I developed a Coke Zero habit because when it’s the only cool thing you can get your super pregnant swollen hands on, you inevitably start worshipping it as savior and redeemer!
We went on a few excursions. I remember one where I just couldn’t deal with the heat anymore. I told the group to leave me to die, and they graciously agreed to. I laid down and waited several hours until they finally finished and came back around.
Before we knew it, our trip was over and it was time to make the journey home. The trip home was longggg, but we survived in our lie flat seats and swanky airport lounge access, but just barely!
And that’s it. My daughter was born a little of 2 months later, November 25, to be exact, and was a perfectly healthy newborn. She did have extra fingers, which she probably developed in the womb because I tried chewing on coca leaves during our trip. Spoiler alert, they taste bad and don’t help, but I guess extra fingers is a solid price to pay for the adventure I got to experience. Let me know if you have any questions!
Another spoiler alert: polydactyly is my family’s curse that has been passed down from generation to generation. The coca leaves had no impact on this.
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