© 2014 sarahfortune.

HELLO
Mom to Iris. Wife to Todd. Our little family lives at the foothills of the Ozark Mountains in Fayetteville, Arkansas. We love it here and I love sharing little bits of our life.

© 2014 sarahfortune.
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Category : Travel

Travel

TRAVEL LOVE: Houston, TX

In planning our recent Carnival cruise (that post will be next!), we also added on a little bonus vacation to Houston. We have good friends that moved down to Texas a while back, so it was the perfect opportunity to visit with them before we jumped on the ship in Galveston.

Initially we were going to make it a road-trip adventure, however as the trip got closer, the thought of driving over eight hours and then being on a boat for days sounded less appealing. Finding some good prices on flights, we booked our trip to arrive in Houston a couple days ahead of our cruise.

Iris was super excited to fly on an airplane, so for us that’s when our vacation actual began. I flew with her a couple times as a baby, but she was too young to remember it. I thought she would gaze out of the window in amazement the entire way, but instead all she cared about was watching The Sound of Music on my iPad. Oh, kids these days…

But after an easy flight, we arrived in Houston just in time to watch the very first Razorback game with our old pals. Once the Hogs barely squeaked out a win (phew!), we checked into our hotel. The kind folks at Visit Houston set us up with a room at The Whitehall. Situated right downtown, it was a great location to pop over to various points in the city and explore.


The next morning we woke up pretty early and got the show on the road. After breakfast at our hotel, we hopped over to Discovery Green where we met back up with our friends. Less than 10 minutes from our hotel, there was a huge splash pad, a water area with little sailboats, restaurants, playground, etc. – all surrounded by the high-rises of Houston. Iris was in heaven romping around with Remy, cooling off in the water.


After we dried off the girls, we made our way to eat Mexican for lunch before using a coupon out of the City Passes that Visit Houston kindly gifted us. With that, we got admission to quite a few Houston attractions, but with our limited time we had to narrow it down to just a couple options.

After hearing great things about the Houston Museum of Natural Science, we decided to make our way there. From a beautiful butterfly center, to a fascinating dinosaur exhibit, this place was pretty cool – and there was a LOT more that we didn’t even get to see. I actually spent my first hour there freaking out because I couldn’t find my wallet. After calling the restaurant where we ate lunch, the bank, and searching the car twice, Todd finally found it UNDER our car. I’m so thankful we discovered it was missing before we drove away, as that would have been the worst way to start a vacation.

After a few hours at the museum, it was most definitely happy hour time. Per usual, we always like to visit at least one local brewery in all the cities we explore. Houston was no different, so we checked out Karbach Brewing Co. With a huge outdoor “play” area, the kids had fun while we tried out the beer and food.

Full and happy from our day, we said goodbye to our friends and headed back to the hotel. The next morning, we pulled out our City Passes and decided to explore the Downtown Aquarium with the time we had left in Houston. Our cruise didn’t depart until late Monday afternoon out of Galveston, which is only about an hour away, so we took our time visiting the the fish, sea creatures, and white tiger. Yes… a white tiger at an aquarium. I don’t know, but I’m not complaining.

Another cool thing about the aquarium was the outdoor carnival area with rides, games, and fair-style food. So the very last thing we did in Houston before our trip came to an end was take a ride on the ferris wheel, which reached almost as high as the skyscrapers it sat next to. Pretty cool way to wave goodbye to the city.

Thanks for having us, Houston! We hope to come back soon.

Life, Travel

End of the Summer

Once again, summer is almost done. Being from the south you would think I hate our hot, humid summers, but it’s always been my favorite season. Sure, fall is lovely with the crisp air and turning leaves… Nothing quite like it, actually. But I think one of the reasons it’s so lovely is that it’s so temporary. You know it won’t last. Summer, on the other hand, seems to last forever. I love the long days, the day drinks to keep cool, the pools to keep even cooler, the road trips, and the summer dresses. I love it all and this summer has been no exception.

We have one more big family trip before we completely bid farewell to Summer 2016. We’re spending a few days in Houston and then taking our first ever cruise to Mexico (so hurricanes, let’s chill out for a minute, k?). This is fresh off the heels of a work trip to Salt Lake City, and then another trip to Kansas City and the wineries of Hermann, Missouri.

My trip to Hermann, though a whirlwind, was well worth the time it took to get there. I had just flown in from Salt Lake on Tuesday night, worked Wednesday and Thursday, then drove the 3.5 hours to Kansas City on Thursday evening. Bright and early the next morning, I took a four hour train ride to the tiny and very old town of Hermann to explore the wineries there. I went with six other ladies in celebration of my friend Bev’s 40th birthday. My only regret is that I would have taken more pictures because the town was so lovely and full of charm, right down to the trolley that took us everywhere we needed to go. After a night at a grape-themed bed & breakfast, we took the train back to Kansas City to hang with a few more friends.

Below are just a few photos of our trip by Laura Hobbs. As mentioned, I should have taken more photos, but hers are so much better than what mine would have been anyway!


by Laura Hobbs


by Laura Hobbs


by Laura Hobbs


by Laura Hobbs

Life, Travel

TRAVEL LOVE: Cabo San Lucas

After what seemed like YEARS of planning, our 2016 Girls Trip has come and gone. I went with six of my best girl friends to Cabo for four nights… FOUR NIGHTS! I thought that would be too long, but I’m pretty sure that is the magic number for a girls getaway. Any longer and I would have missed my family too much, but any shorter and I don’t think I would have fully relaxed.

We came from all over – Boulder, Kansas City, Houston, and of course, Arkansas. Somehow all of our flights were magically on schedule and we all arrived at the airport in Mexico around the same time. We hopped in our van that was waiting on us and hit the road to our beach house. You know it’s going to be a good trip when you get in the airport shuttle and they ask you what you want to drink, and they only have beer. So Pacifico in hand, we took the 45 minute ride to our ahhhhmaaaazzzing house. We stayed in the gated community of Pedregal, which Google tells me is the “Beverley Hills of Cabo.” We all Real World-ed it and ran around claiming our bedrooms (our pal Lacy took charge and planned every detail of the trip, so she fully deserved the master).

One of the best things that we decided to do for this trip was splurge and have lunch ready for us when we got there. We walked into our house and there was already a team of people making us fresh tacos and mixing margaritas. We also had the house stocked with groceries and drinks before our arrival, so there was no shuffling off to find a grocery store or a bottle of wine. GENIUS.

That first afternoon and evening we stayed put, hung by the pool, caught up, and drank lots of wine.

The second day we ventured to town and did a little shopping (more like haggling), stopped by Cabo Wabo for a drink, had more drinks by the marina, and then experienced dinner at The Office where I got to live out a life-long dream and drink a pina colada out of a pineapple, so my night was made.

The next day, Bev and I had our own little excursion to the Pueblo Bonito Pacifica Golf & Spa Resort. We got the grand tour of the property, which is all-inclusive and adults only. Greeted with a mojito before we even hit the hotel lobby doors, this place was heavenly. The first thing we noticed was how lovely the entire place smelled. Even though the resort is rather large, they only have around 150 sleeping rooms, so it never gets crowded. That’s some good planning right there.

After walking around by the beach daybeds, scoping out the restaurants, and seeing the rooms, Bev and I were treated to the best spa experience of my life. I opted for a hot stone massage and it was 80 minutes of bliss. We had extra time to lounge in the spa with cucumbers on our eyes, drink fruit infused water, and eat chocolate too, so the overall experience was perfection.

After an afternoon at the resort, we made our way back to our humble abode and where all the ladies got dressed up for dinner at Toro (I think everyone in our group is in agreement that this was by far the best meal of our trip).

Each night we all went to bed pretty early and each morning we all got up around the late hour of 7 am. On our final day, we were all well rested and were up for the adventurous walk to the beach. The waves were insane. Gorgeous, but terrifying. The pictures don’t even do it justice. So after a hot hour in sand, we were done “roughing it” and wandered back up to our very safe pool to cool off.

For our final night, we had private chefs come in and whip up our last meal. Complete with margaritas and churros, it was the perfect grand finale.

All in all, this was such an amazing trip with some amazing girls. In fact, we’re already planning where we’ll go next year, so stay tuned. And check out Bev and Laura’s recap posts on our the trip while you’re at it!

Life, Travel

Home Sweet Home


photo by Laura Hobbs

After five days away in Mexico, I’m back HOME with my little family! I stayed in the loveliest vacation home overlooking the ocean in Cabo San Lucas, eating, drinking, swimming, talking, and watching the entire season of Stranger Things. There were seven of us girls, all old friends from Arkansas, with many of us now living in other states. I am so happy to be home, but I am so grateful for such a wonderful trip with such wonderful friends. After I catch up on my rest I will go through all of my millions of photos and do a little recap post. Till then, I’m off to snuggle with Iris to make up for lost time.

Sponsored, Travel

Summer Getaway at The Chase Park Plaza

Earlier this year Todd and I talked about how there are so many places we want to go and how easy it has become to take Iris with us on our adventures. We decided that there were no more excuses and that we would travel to places on our list whenever we could. This past weekend we stayed true to that promise and took off on a St. Louis family vacation.

We were excited to stay at one of the most renowned properties in the area, The Chase Park Plaza. While we got out and explored St. Louis quite a bit, some of our best experiences were right there in the hotel. From the dining, to the historic movie theater, to our hotel room, to the Mediterranean-style pool, we fell in love instantly. In fact, as soon as we arrived, Iris took one look around the lobby and said, “I wish this was our home.” Me too, Iris. Me too. And when it was time to pack up and leave on Sunday, Iris kept saying she didn’t want to go. No one did.

We hit the road towards St. Louis bright and early on Friday morning so that we could get the most out of our stay. When we rolled into town, it wasn’t quite check-in time yet, so we stopped by one of St. Louis’ most famous breweries, Schlafly, and took a look (okay, and maybe a sip) around.

And finally, it was check-in time! If you know me, I love anything with vintage charm, but of course I love anything luxurious too – and The Chase Park Plaza was the best blend of both.

We made ourselves at home in our suite, which was the perfect set-up for traveling with kid. At night we could shut the door and Iris had her own space (and more importantly, we had ours). This helped it truly feel like vacation. We were also greeted by an enormous gift basket full of goodies from the hotel and other local companies. Soft Surroundings gifted me several things that Iris immediately tried to swipe (the La Chanson Ea de Parfum and the Pink Holiday Luxury Cream Lipstick were our faves). We also got a HUGE suitcase-shaped box of locally made potato chips from The Billy Goat Chip Company, a St. Louis t-shirt from STyLe, and movie tickets for the Chase Park Plaza Theater. Hashtag, spoiled.

Situated in the Central West End neighborhood and just across the street from Forest Park, the hotel’s location was supurb. There are restaurants and shops all right there within walking distance. So once we were settled, we decided to head to the St. Louis Zoo, which is just five minutes away from the hotel. Not only is the zoo completely free, but they serve alcohol (insert the sound of singing angels). Walking around looking at elephants and penguins while drinking a margarita? Sign me up!

Once we got back to the hotel, we cooled off with a special delivery of champagne and got ready for our first night’s dinner at The Chase Club, which overlooks the hotel pool. The atmosphere was relaxed, and the food was top notch.

After dinner (and dessert, duh) we took a stroll around the quaint neighborhood just as it started to get dark. There was live music at a sidewalk cafe, cute little shops, and a fountain that was near impossible to drag Iris away from.

The next morning we slept in as much as we could (8:30 a.m. is pretty late to us these days) and then ordered room service for a treat of breakfast in bed. Talk about the perfect start to the day.

One of our absolute favorite things to do in St. Louis is visit the City Museum. Pictures don’t do this place justice, but once you go – you just get it. I swear you could spend days exploring the little nooks and crannies of this place and still not discover everything. And the best part is that it’s just as much fun for adults as it is for kids – maybe more.

After a sweaty afternoon at the City Museum, we ventured over to another St. Louis brewery that Todd had been wanting to visit. Perennial Artisan Ales was a nice and cool spot to play a couple rounds of Candy Land with Iris while we tried a couple specialty beers (yes, this brewery had Candy Land – genius!).

After our long day, it was such a good feeling to come back “home” to The Chase Park Plaza. We sneaked in a short nap, then had a lovely finale dinner at The Preston. The food and cocktails were spectacular. They encourage you to share your plates, so that’s just what we did. Everything was delicious and unique, but they also had a great kids menu for those kiddos that aren’t quite as adventurous. Surprisingly though, Iris even ate some octopus! We started with a bread board, which included pretzel croissants and then the pastry chef came over to our table to make sure we were going to order dessert. Going all out, we ordered a couple options, including my fave: hot chocolate-chip cookies on a warm marble slab, with a sweet milk sauce to pour on top. I want to go back, like right now, just for those.

Even though we finished our dinner (and all of our desserts) after Iris’ bedtime, we broke all the rules and had a family movie night right there in our hotel. Iris thought it would be pretty cool that we could take an elevator ride straight down from our hotel room to the movie theater. We saw a late showing of The Secret Life of Animals before we hit the hay.

The next morning, before we said goodbye to our hotel room, we had breakfast in the Chase Club Lounge. Then, it was off to the pool! I had been eyeing this pool on their website long before we arrived, so it was a great final retreat before being in the car for five hours.

As we made the drive back home, I looked back through all the photos from over our getaway. So many new memories were made and I can’t wait to come back for more one day.

A very special ‘thank you’ to The Chase Park Plaza for hosting our stay. While this trip was sponsored, all opinions are my own.