a fall break to remember

i had the most lovely fall break with the most lovely girls in my life (minus two and plus jake)

we didn't have much time or money to head somewhere far away but we decided even just a weekend getaway to park city during the most beautiful time of the year in utah sounded great.

so we found ourselves a good deal (via groupon) for a suite in park city resort for the first two nights.

Celia "our mother" made some good breakfast

shopping! - we found some good deals at the park city outlets

fall colors photo-op

random statue we had fun with

afternoon nap by the fire

relaxing/chatting by our mountain view

carolyn came up to join us one night!

night out on main street

jake was a trooper for putting up with all us girls

coastin' on the alpine coaster

pretty sure we screamed & laughed the whole way down

we then headed up to the cabin (do you like how it's always referred to as "the cabin" haha) for the last night of our little getaway.

our cabin host was good to us as always

cookin' up some grub

love my leech

most of the crew eating din-din

i'm sure glad i brought up twister.... trev & i were the champions. nobody wanted to challenge us.

brother bear came up for the night too :)

we spent the afternoon before we left exploring our surroundings. it was so beautiful up there & i'm glad we got to really soak up some of the beauty of fall.

practicing my shooting skills

lucy always forever ahead of us

glad i could re-live this little trip, thanks blog!

{and one more special thank you to aunt colleen- your cabin always provides for the best memories}

dirt roads & pretty colors

it was one of those evenings where i needed time alone.

so i drove. and drove. until i found myself on a dirt road high above the noise & surrounded by nothing but peaceful silence. the sun was just gracing the earth with its last bit of rays and

made the fall colors seem even more enchanting.

the air felt cool & crisp and the earth felt raw beneath my feet.

i just wandered and sat. and stood and watched.

it was exactly what i needed.

{and i had no cell phone service... a little nerve-racking for this generation, but ultimately a refreshing feeling}

isn't fall just the best?

p.s. don't mind the awkward self-photos. that's what happens when you go on an adventure alone.

praha

PRAGUE, czech republic

sleeping in a park

1500 czech koruna ($75 usd)

"world famous astrological clock"

charles bridge

prague was a dreamland.

and i felt like i needed to pinch myself several times just to see if i would wake up.

the first morning in prague will never be forgotten.

we arrived by train at 4am. & we felt like we had stepped into another world.

the language was the most foreign we had heard yet and the money felt like monopoly money.

i took 600 czech korunas out of an atm and was a little freaked out about how much money i had actually taken out... turns out it was only about 24 euros (30 dollars).

but since we had arrived so early we had to find our hostel in the dark & once we arrived they told us we couldn't check in til the afternoon. whaaaat? where were we going to go so early in this strange, new city?

we went back to the subway station and settled in one of the hallways. we felt so dirty in there. and we were exhausted and wanted to sleep but there was no way we could get comfortable.

so then we went outside again & found the nearest park. we settled on the cold grass under a tree.

we layered on our warmest clothes, used our handy airplane blankets (thank you delta) and tried to snuggle up to get warm & hopefully catch a few zzzz's. only alicia actually slept though (that girl can sleep anywhere). savannah & i just laughed at how the people walking past the park on their way to work kept looking at us like the bums we were.

our first experience as hobos? check.

after that our experience of prague got much, much better.

the city was breath-taking. literally every nook & cranny was so pretty.

i wish our pictures actually captured the beauty of it.

we really didn't know much about prague but after having so many people tell us we had to stop there while backpacking europe; we took their word for it and this city stands out in my mind every time i look back on our adventures. i will definitely be going back there someday.