Howard the Travel Troll

This is Howard. Howard is a Travel Troll. You may not have heard of traveling trolls, but they exist! Howard is quite the little travel troll. He's been to Germany, Disneyland and everywhere in between. Howard usually resides here in Arizona with me but sometimes he likes to go on trips with other friends.

Howard is currently visiting Paris, France this week and will head to London in a couple days, quite the life he lives! Howard is on Instagram if you'd like to follow his adventures you can find him with the username: HowardsTravels to follow along with his trips! 

Do you have a travel troll at your house? Howard loves to hear about other traveling troll adventures, send your pictures and stories to him at howardstravels@gmail.com and maybe you'll be featured on his instagram! 

Dallas Trip

A couple weekends ago I flew off to Texas to visit my friend Pumpkin Runner! (I would have posted sooner but was having a terrible time uploading pictures) 

It was a beautiful evening to fly out of Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport... them views though! 

When I arrived I was greeted by PR's kitty Rukia, she just happens to be Oliver's half sister too! (She was from Oliver's mom's second litter of kittens) Isn't she cute!?

The Friday I was there it rained so we went shopping. Saturday was our big day! We headed to Grapevine to check out their downtown area. We spent a good amount of time mesmerized by the workers at the glass blowing studio. 

The Grapevine City building

Some wine tasting! There were lots of winery's around

A funny sign to one of them (not the one we went to)

The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza

This was my favorite part of the trip (other than seeing Pumpkin Runner of course!) I'm a sucker for history and have wanted to visit this museum for awhile. It did not disappoint! It was much smaller than I anticipated and we arrived about 45 minutes before closing (with about 200 other people) so the floor was crowded. It really is only the 6th floor of the whole building. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the museum. Admission included the audio tour which was very insightful! The museum is set up with timelines leading up to the assassination and the audio talks about the different pictures and artifacts you see. It would have been much more pleasant if there hadn't been so many people. I would recommend going during the day and earlier if you ever plan to visit. Their website offers a lot of great information and archives, so check it out! 

The grassy knoll

An X in the street marks the spot of the two shots

(Pictured is the location of the 2nd shot)

Of course there would be a conspiracy theorist set up with a science fair type board telling how the whole thing was a coverup.

The Book Depository

After our visit to Dealey Plaza, we headed off to go see 'The Age of Adaline' total chick flick, but I liked it.

It was a quick and short trip, we didn't even get a picture together in! :( 

I'm sure I will be back again to visit, and hopefully Pumpkin Runner can make it out to Arizona for a visit too! 

It was a pretty flight back to Arizona over a bed of clouds...

12 Whole Months in Arizona - March to August

It is honestly insane to think that I have officially been living in Arizona for a full year! I think I've done a great job exploring from the get-go and still have tons more to do! 

It was hard to leave such good friends behind.... I still talk to all of them, and I get to go see Pumpkin Runner at the end of April in Dallas and I can't wait to see her! 

Me & Pumpkin Runner

March: The drive & unpacking

April: Tortilla Flats, AZ Easy Rider Status

May: Audrey & the Symphony 

June: OL/PT, Jerome, Comicon & Sibling Visit - Grand Canyon Trip 1

July: Dust Storms & Lake Strolls

August: Casino & Wicked Weather

check back tomorrow for the next six months' adventures! 

Suns Game

Another first! A friend had an extra ticket to the game against the Golden State Warriors and asked me to join. The Suns ended up losing 98-80, but it was a fun game none the less!

Bob Knight and Tony La Russa were a few of the big names in attendance. I kinda thought the place would be bigger it seemed to me to be about the same size as the Assembly Hall State Farm Center in Champaign where the Fighting Illini play. 

Two Churches and a Western Fail

A wide gap between adventure exploring in AZ makes for some dull days, so Tulip and I decided to change that! We packed ourselves up and headed to Tucson! Tulip had read about some lovely churches in the area and we decided to check them out.

We had some different scenery as we drove south. We started to see green grass take the place of the desert landscape and some familiar looking trees. Made us think of back home a little bit! 

Picacho Peak State Park was another pretty sight.

Our first stop in Tucson was the Cathedral of Saint Augustine. There was a lot going on in town that day including the big gem show... or so all the signs said, and all the large groups of people were walking that way. 

I didn't think the outside much matched the inside of the church, but it was very big on the inside! 

Our next stop was San Xavier del Bac, a Spanish Catholic Mission church built between 1783-1797. Extensive renovations have restored this beautiful church to much of it's original beauty.

Holy water dispenser

As the clouds rolled in the day was still young, so we decide to make one more stop.... Tombstone! One of my favorite movies and a bucket list item since moving to Arizona. I had set my expectations too high, Tombstone was not what I had imagined.

City Hall

What I found when I arrived was a far departure from the picture I had in my head. I was hoping for a more historical destination, instead I was met with a giant tourist trap. (sad face)

I was at the least expecting the downtown 'historic' area to at least look like something out of a movie set. There were a lot of people walking around in historic attire (you could rent costumes to walk around for the day) and stagecoach wagons for tours of the town.

Sign at the OK Corral

You had to pay to enter any of the historical sites, which I understand to help maintain what exists, but I was a little bummed out that basically every historical place was made up into an amusement like attraction. Pay $10 to see the OK corral and watch a gunfight.. bah humbug! 

View looking down the street of the 'historic' district

The Tombstone courthouse was a nice piece of history to see with several nice displays inside. We went about an hour before closing so some of the upstairs exhibits had closed for the evening.

Our final stop on the way out of town was at the historic Boothill Graveyard, where some of the residents of Tombstone came after they died with their boots on. Residents of the cemetery include those who died in the famous shootout at the OK Corral.

As an Arizona resident I felt I had an obligation to visit Tombstone and I would go back with out of state visitors who wanted to see it for themselves, Tulip and I however recommend having another destination in mind and make it a two-for day. Afterall, I did get this cool Harley shirt at the Harley store in Tombstone.