To be honest, February was a bit of a dud. We got Covid, and even though I’ve had it before, this was the most intense I’ve ever had it. I lost taste, I lost smell, I had a fever for days on end and just generally felt like crap for the middle of the month. Luckily, the last week of the month I started to feel like a human again!
Travel Planning This Month
I finished planning out some of my musts in West Texas. Hikes, Marfa musts and more. But I cannot wait to get to the desert. I feel it in my bones!
We filled in a couple more weekend camper adventures on our calendar for later in the year. I’m excited that we’re going to camp near Ha Ha Tonka this spring. It’s going to be so much fun! I think Stacey and her family may even meet up with us there! She and I also determined that our weekend trip is definitely going to be in Shawnee National Forest.
We also realized that we’re going to be in Wisconsin over the fall equinox, which is one of the best times to see the Northern Lights. Apparently, 2024 is going to be an incredible time to see them, so we’re looking at extending that stay so that we can have an even better chance of seeing them! My mom and I saw them from above on the plane en route to Iceland, but we didn’t get to see them from the ground. So, hopefully we’ll get to see them!
Travel In February
Alaina, the kids and I took a day trip down to Bentonville, Arkansas. I had heard about a coffeeshop that requires a hike or bike ride to get to a few months ago. Coffee and the outdoors are two of my very favorite things. So, you combine that with a few of my very favorite people and it’s the perfect day. Airship Coler made an amazing latte and I love their open air concept and zero wifi. It’s a perfect marriage of the two. After this, we went to a local bookstore called Two Friends Bookstore + Cafe. It’s a beautiful space in a really cool location.
I had another tattoo session down in Rogers. I was hoping this would be the last on my sleeve, but I will have to have one more, but I’ll be taking a bit of a break between sessions this time. I love my artist and will miss seeing her for those few months, but I just need a little break from the process and all that’s left is just detail work, so I want it to all be healed to see where we want to touch up. But I did get this super sick addition of Hawksbill Crag to it.
On leap day (which I love the concept of this extra day every four years) my friend, Allicyn, and I took a little girls day trip to Tulsa, Oklahoma. I bought Matt tickets to see Gregory Alan Isakov (my favorite musician ever) for Christmas not realizing that we’d be leaving bright and early for Big Bend the next day for a camping trip. So, we were just going to sell them or eat the cost of the tickets when I remembered that Allicyn likes GAI too! So, we made a day trip out of it! We went to a couple different breweries before the show. It was so much fun! This was my 5th time seeing Gregory Alan Isakov and I will always make the effort to go see him perform when he’s near us and it doesn’t conflict with plans.
Travel Laughs and Mishaps This Month
I guess my mishap was buying tickets for Matt to a concert that Matt couldn’t attend. But it worked out in the end. Me going did mean that I only got 4 hours of sleep between getting home at almost 2am and hitting the road at 6am the next morning. Poor planning, but you only live once.
Blog Posts From February
A Monthly Recap: January 2023: A recap from January that is setup much like this one! I do feel like I tweak them each month, though.
One Year As a Camper Family: This is a post I wrote on our 1 year anniversary of purchasing our camper. It’s a little recap of how we spent our first year camping with a 2-year-old and an infant! I can’t wait to write these each year about all the adventures we have.
Exploring Beavers Bend State Park for Our 15th Annual Father/Daughter Hiking Trip: I finally got around to blogging about my dad’s and my weekend trip to Beavers Bend State Park in Oklahoma. These trips are so special to me and I hope we continue them for many more years.
Ins and Outs of Travel and Beyond in 2024: I loved the Instagram trend of Ins and Outs, but true to my form, I love writing even more than posting on Instagram, so I wrote a whole post on my ins and outs of travel and other facets of my life this year.
Hiking the Taft Point Trail in Yosemite National Park, Yosemite: This is our trail guide to Taft Point in Yosemite. It’s one of my favorite trails we did last year and it’s short and sweet.
Most Popular Instagram Post and Reel from February
Best Thing I Ate in February
The best thing I ate in February I ate on the very last day. I had the best Cuban Sandwich of my life in Tulsa, Oklahoma at Cabin Boys Brewing Company. It had incredible pulled pork, bacon, whole seed mustard and pickles. It was so delicious.
Favorite Local Find
We tried to go to a Filipino restaurant near us, but we got their closing time wrong, so we didn’t get to go. This month, between Covid and just busyness, we didn’t take the time to eat anywhere new, really. We went for quick and comfortable when we ate out.
What I’m Reading
This is a new section to my monthly roundup, but as I’ve made reading a bigger priority in my life. I have been listening to a lot of audiobooks the last few years, but also trying to pick up and read physical copies of books as well.
I’ve been slowly working my way through the Throne of Glass Series by Sarah J. Maas, as is everyone else between the ages of 25 and 60 it seems. I love a good fantasy series and her books have definitely scratched that itch for me. I’m on the last of the series and I CANNOT WAIT to see how the series concludes.
I am also halfway Rooted: Life at the Crossroads of Science, Nature, and Spirit by Lyanda Lynn Haupt and I’m already so in love with it. She writes a lot about her personal experiences, religious practitioners and teachers from many different faiths and scientific research all culminating in what’s actually a shared experience of many who are connected with nature. I’m really enjoying it and can’t wait to finish it and really reflect on what I’m reading.
Life Updates in February
Charleigh turned 3 this month. It feels so crazy to me that we have a three-year-old! We celebrated her with a simple Bluey-themed birthday party surrounded by people who love her and are helping to shape her.
I did manage to get to Wonders of Wildlife with the kids. I took them all on my own, and it was a really nice badge of honor. I know a lot of mamas of 2+ kids are really good at getting their kids out on their own, but I have found it so hard. I don’t have a lot of confidence when doing it. But I took the kids to WOW and felt so empowered by doing it! It’s given me a confidence that we can do more long-term travel that Matt will be at work, but I can handle getting out with both of our babies!
We all got Covid mid-month, and that was just the pits. I hate missing work, I hate missing yoga classes and I obviously hate when my family and I feel like crap. It’s been a weird year full of illness, so I’m hoping that this is the last time we get sick sick for the year. We’ve got a lot of life to live this year.
What’s Coming in March
We leave on the first for our longest camping trip yet! We’re going to Big Bend National Park and I cannot wait to dig even deeper in this park! Also, we got the kids passports, so we plan to hop over to Mexico at some point and take them out of the country for the first time. I will also turn 34 on this trip – it’s wild to me that I will officially be in my mid-30s this year!
We found out that Charleigh got into the preschool we’ve been dying for her to get into. So she’ll be starting just after our trip and she’s just so excited!
Of course, once we start camping, that means the season is open! So, we’ll be spending a weekend around the Buffalo River in Arkansas and making at least one day trip in March with my brother and his family, but we’re still trying to figure that one out.
1 Comment
Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle
March 3, 2024 at 7:09 pmCheers to a better March!