Travel Dreaming: Africa

My goal in life is to just continually travel the globe, so if anyone has any amazing ideas on how to make that a possibility, let me know.

Until then, I'll just keep compiling "dream lists" so that I know where to go when a ton of money falls into my lap.

I've been obsessed with Egypt since I was a small child. I would pour over my mom's old National Geographic magazines and look for anything Egypt related. It's also a dream of mine to come face to face with a lion in the wild. And since it's a dream, the lion would curl up at my feet and pur while I pet its mane.

Look at his face. He wouldn't hurt anyone.

Without further ado, here are the places that I would most like to visit in Africa:

The Pyramids at Giza

Tombs, tunnels, ancient everything. Sign me up.

Victoria Falls

Gorgeous, right? However, I will neverevereverever swim in the pool area on top of the falls. Who was the first person that was like, "hey, let's see if there's a spot on top of this gigantic waterfall where we don't plunge to our death?" How much trouble shooting went into that? "Well, that obviously wasn't the spot..."

Mount Kilimanjaro

Stunning. And how awesome would it be at a mountain that has giraffes around it?

Morocco

The colors. The markets. The architecture.

I just want to spend a month there and soak in everything.

Cape Town

I'd be lying if I said that one of the main reasons I want to visit this city is so that I can go on a Great White shark tour.

Oh, and it's gorgeous.

I'm sure there are countless places in Africa that are incredible and breathtaking, so that is why you should tell me what places I need to add to my list. Have any of you visited Africa?

Travel Dreaming: USA

Usually around this time of year I start compiling all of the places that I'll visit during the upcoming summer months. Since the farthest place I'll probably travel this summer is Stillwater, OK, I figured I'd compile my dream vacation list.

In no particular order:

Savannah, GA

I mean. How could you not want to go there? The South. History. Food. Spanish moss. I dream of leisurely walking along Oak-lined streets and sipping sweet tea on a rickety front porch.

The Grand Canyon

Some of you may ask why someone who is deathly afraid of heights would want to visit the grand canyon. To them I would say, I'll look from a safe distance.

Seattle, WA

A super chill city where everyone is addicted to coffee? Yeah, I'll visit that place. I'd also like to thank "Sleepless in Seattle" for making me want to visit this city long before I truly understood why I wanted to visit this city.

Denali National Park - Alaska

I want to see all of Alaska. All of it. But since that is probably not going to be an option any time soon (or ever) I will settle for Denali National Park. Mountains, lakes, and hopefully grizzly bears. You heard me.

New Orleans, LA

This is the only location on this list that I have previously visited. I want to eat more beignets while overlooking the Mississippi. Next time I go, I will be taking a swamp tour on one of those crazy boats. I can only hope that my tour guide's name will be Jimmy Bob and that he will only have two teeth.

Yellowstone National Park

I can only hope that I would see a grizzly bear attack something

(hopefully not me or another human (unless they were a bad guy))

San Francisco, CA

Duh. I mean, duh.

I've been to San Diego and L.A., but never San Fran, and that needs to be remedied. And, yes. I will sing the Full House theme song while driving over the Golden Gate bridge.

Las Vegas, NV

Cliche? Probably. Trashy? Most definitely. Necessary? I think so.

Bryce Canyon National Park

So gorgeous. Rumor has it that there are horseback rides you can take through the park. Ummm. Yep. Going to do that.

Everglades National Park

Any place that has a road called Alligator Alley is definitely on my "to visit" list.

There you have it. My current dream US destinations. Have you all been to any of these places? Where should I go next? Who's going with me?!

Time Travel Tuesday - We're So Stilly: Clemily Edition.

These are the Clem sisters.

From left to right, they are Jenny, Sally, and Julie.

They are some of the most wonderful people ever.

(Back story - this picture is kind of my favorite for a couple of reasons. 1) It's hilarious. I mean, duh. 2) Jenny didn't know that Sally and Julie were behind her, and Sally didn't know that Julie was behind her. Surprise! Pretend stabbing everyone!)

We've all spent a great deal of time with each other over the past 9 years, but obviously, some hang-out-sessions have become etched in "Clemily History," and they are referenced often.

One such instance was a Friday evening a few years ago that took place after a long week of school and work for all of us. Somehow the stars aligned, and everything about that evening was perfection.

The month was *September. The year was *2007.

One Friday at 5:00, Sally picked me up.

We drove to Stillwater.

We arrived at Jenny and Julie's house.

We took multiple pictures of us recreating famous monuments (obviously).

Yellow chicken curry was made.

We laughed.

We pretended to be pioneers.

Crème brûlée was made.

Jenny and I army crawled through the living room.

We laughed more.

We went to Third Place (!) and got delicious coffee beverages.

And then we played Skip-Bo.

And I'm pretty sure Julie was confused as to why Jenny and I were insane the entire night.

We also went to pick out a movie, but I don't remember what movie we picked out.

I'm sure it was stupid.

Stupidly awesome, that is.

Now comes the part where you get to enjoy some pictures from that evening.

(One day I will be better at photo collages, but today is not that day)

*Dates may or may not be accurate. As unforgettable as that night was, let's face it - my memory is the worst. All I know is that it took place in Stillwater on a Friday night when we were all still in college, and it was the best.

Time Travel Tuesday - Let's JO Back In Time! (See what I did there?)

This is the first in what I hope to be a weekly segment on this blog.

As you can see by the title, Tuesdays will be dedicated to traveling in time. Maybe we will discuss the past. Or maybe we will contemplate what the future holds. Or maybe it will just be a bunch of random memories bunched together.

To kick off Time Travel Tuesdays, I'd like to introduce you to my bestest friend foreverest, Joanna, aka: DJ Jazzy Jo.

Jo is fun. Can you tell? (pictured with our friend Matt. In a bathtub. Fully clothed. For a house warming party)

And now for the time travel!

Jo and I met at church when we were 12, started going to the same high school when we were 15, and somewhere around age 17 we became bff's.

Obviously, we bonded over really important things like the awesomeness that is 80's pop music, the incredible legacy of The X-Files, the deliciousness of Amigo's, and our love of never making normal faces, as displayed below.

Jo and I have done many things over the last decade. We've been to two U2 concerts (2!). We've hosted multiple X-Files marathons (X-Mas Files! ThanX-Files! SeXual Tension Files!) We've gone through dozens of bags of Peanut Butter M&M's. We've been known to dance to TLC in the kitchen. Don't worry, we've also done really serious things, like watch The Real World, Wife Swap, and Being Bobby Brown (too soon?).

One time in high school, Jo dressed up as Michael Jackson. She also named her first car Jackson (RIP, Jackson. You were the coolest 1994 Ford Escort that I've ever had the privilege of riding in).

Jo lives in Lincoln, and I live all the way in Oklahoma City, so unfortunately our coolness is separated by a very un-cool state (sorry, Kansas) and 7 very long driving hours.

One time I told her that she should marry her boyfriend, because he bought her season 1 of Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman on DVD. (Side note: They did get married. They probably got married because he is awesome, and together they are the coolest couple in the world, but I like to think that Dr. Quinn and I played a role in their union).

I hope you've had as much fun during this brief re-cap of our friendship as I have. If you live in Lincoln, or even if you don't, you should be friends with Jo. She's always up for a party!

PS - you should listen to Jo discuss Russian literature and her possible Native American heritage here.

PPS - I realize that this post only focuses on the ridiculous things that Jo and I have done/love. That is mainly because this is a quick blog post and not a long chat. We aren't really this shallow. I don't think, anyhow.

PPPS - This picture: