#there are some sketchy meetup groups out there you guys!!!

[wickedhawtwexler]

i’m so annoyed because my local queer meetup group was co-opted by someone who’s mostly just using it to advertise this “meet enlightened ppl and have deep conversations” group that i’m very confident is some mlm or other scam-adjacent group

[c3zh]

Our final full day in Utah was spent on the ski/snowboard slopes at Snowbird. Yes, it was June 10. Let me say that again. June 10. And we were at the slopes. Can you feel hear my heart beating faster? Oh the joy of that day!

Happy men on the slopes at Snowbird in Utah.

Father and son getting ready to hit the slopes.

Lauren and Chrissie ready to hit the festival.

Lauren, CJ and Chris

Men on the gondola heading up.

CJ waiting for his dad to get ready

Snowboarding in June? Does life *get* any better?

A great day on the slopes. Love those smiles!

CJ and Lauren head home.

  The altitude got to Chris a bit (on his fourth run of the day), and he was pretty wiped out after a mogul run 🙂

  Lauren and I enjoyed the festival below as the guys boarded and skied.

    We wrapped up a perfect day by heading back home and having a lovely dinner out. On the way home we saw a mini-cyclone. Since it didn’t seem to hurt anyone, we thought it was pretty cool. Later that evening we were treated to a view of the strawberry moon rising. So beautiful!

Mini twister behind us

Dinner out together

Strawberry moon rising

A beautiful moon for our last night in Utah

  Sunday morning was sad. Don’t be fooled by those smiles in the pics. It was super hard saying goodbye to this incredible couple. We miss them so much already. That entire visit was a gift beyond words.

One last cup of coffee together. Then time to hit the road.

  In Sunday, as we drove, I was forced to admit that if I ever do this trip again, I won’t even attempt to work in the car in Wyoming or Nebraska. The Internet was super sketchy–even with Cricket and Verizon hotspots. Thank goodness for good hotel wi-fi’s and a job with flexible work hours!

Sunday night was spent at a hotel in Nebraska at a hotel that I will be fine never visiting again. Good news though. If you ever forget your key there, you can get into your room in less than half a second with a credit card 🙂

Monday found us spinning the tires towards friends/co-workers in Missouri. While the day started out nice and sunny, it changed. We didn’t experience any of the tornadoes that were appearing around the country that day (for which we were thankful), but driving was a bit tricky at times, and the hail was pretty loud.

  In the evening we made it to the home of the Jason and Kristen Snow. They are my co-workers, so many of you might have already met them if you have an upgrade and have used the WordPress live chat options. They also have a fabulous blog. They are nomads so we were lucky to catch them home. In fact, they left shortly after we did for their next Grand Adventure. How we love these two and their three dogs!

I’ve been told by many people in my life that they have never seen people like us. We work super hard then we stop on a dime and play hard. It’s all about balance. My co-workers seem to live by this standard as well.

We relaxed for an evening, slept, then all hit our work super hard for a full day. Barely a sound was heard as Chris did his art, I worked on mobile support for WordPress apps, and Jason and Kristen had meetings and worked on live chat and email support. One of their dogs cuddled close to give me moral support, and I loved it.

The company we work for is distributed, so the hundreds of workers at Automattic work all around the world, anywhere there is Internet. That is how I can literally work on the road as Chris drives. As long as I have Internet connection.

We get together with co-workers a few times a year (hence the Lisbon meetup I still haven’t written about, but I will. At least you know I was in Lisbon for that reason by this point if you follow the blog). But it’s a real treat to work alongside co-workers live in a small-group situation. Many peoples’ norm. Our anomaly. And we learn so much from each other. Very fun day.

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Chris making a mini sculpture

Chrissie working mobile support with some (non) help.

Kristen and Jason working live chat.

Once the work time was over, we took the dogs for a walk to a family/dog-friendly brewery in the area. Talk about delightful! It was hard picking the perfect brew so we all got different flavors and shared sips.

Mother’s Tasting Room – Local Brewery

Family friendly and dog friendly

  I think my favorite story about this place is that they really celebrate mother’s and have a special day for moms every year. But they have that special day after Mother’s Day so there is no conflict with family celebrations. Love that!

One of the Snow’s dogs was interested in watching children play, another was resting, and the third spent its time eeking up on the bench and as close to Jason as possible. This cracked me up so I made an animation (staying away from the word gif on purpose to avoid controversy). Is this the sweetest thing or what?

  Seriously. Just look at the love. Heart melt!

    We spent the evening at a burger joint that still has me salivating. But I forgot to take images. On the walk back home, we humored Chris by going on Rte 66. As the song says:

Well if you ever plan to motor west Just take my way it’s the highway that’s the best Get your kicks on Route 66…

Chris and Chrissie

Getting our kicks on Route 66

  The next morning we rose relatively early and went to a fantastic coffee shop before leaving. This place has bands and church services at times, I hear, and it also has the best muffins I have ever eaten. Can’t believe I didn’t take a pic. I’m seriously slacking on my job.

Here is a nice pic of some of the most awesome people you will ever meet. I tactfully put an advertisement for the place in the image because (shh, don’t tell — there was a woman on the phone in the background, and it wasn’t a most optimal image of her…and…) the place deserves advertisement because it’s fantastic.

Our plan was to drive to Columbus and spend the night. We drove through some hairy weather again, saw a massive fire (I’m guessing from some of the super-scary lighting we saw) but pushed on through to get to Houghton because our car was making some interesting noises.

  Remember how we were worried about its making it through the trip? Yeah. We remembered that, too. We churned into Houghton at 3am ET after 16 hrs of driving (Chris totally rocks. I was working about 9 hrs of it. He did all the driving.) After sleeping a few hrs, we crept off to our home in northern NY. And made it!!!!

    Back to Mom, my lack-of-beach, and local rainbows.

Now we are closing the chapter on the out-west trip for the year, and starting to plan our next life adventures. Starting with a new-to-us car hunt. Anyone have a Honda Fit and/or Chrysler Town and Country you are trying to get rid of? You know how to reach me…. 😉

From Snow to the Snows — in June Our final full day in Utah was spent on the ski/snowboard slopes at Snowbird. Yes, it was June 10.