I remember Summer Vacation - real summer vacation. You know the one, 3 glorious months off. 91.3105 days IN A ROW. Remember that old line about how "school is preparing you for the real world?" It was a lie from day one! My entire K-12 career and even my short lived college experience all included multiple months, back to back, with no classes. Late nights doing whatever I wanted until as late as I wanted and then sleeping until noon! Spending the day meandering with friends or simply killing time. No need to set the alarm, no rush to iron the freaking laundry. Training for the "real world" you say? Funny, you know what you don't get in the real world? You don't get 3 months off anymore! You really go back to the same bed times and expected regimens you had as a freaking 8 year old - only now you have to impose them all on yourself!
I swear if I were ever crazy enough to run for President, adult summer vacation would be my entire platform. I probably wouldn't get too far, but I digress. As an adult living in that infamous "real world" the closest thing we have to ~*~*Summer~*~* is PTO / Vacation Time per our contracts and so on and so fourth. It would appear that one thing did stick though, most of us tend to use our adult-real-world-earned-time-off during the summer. Maybe it's because you have kids, maybe it's because that's the slow season at work. Whatever the reason, just being able to say "Summer Vacation" feels good, doesn't it? Dylan and I managed to make July a legitimate summer vacation.
It began at the front of July when we went to Jerome, AZ. Since us worker bees are often graced with a 3 day weekend for Independence Day, we took full advantage and headed out of town with some friends of ours. What mini-vacation is complete without a traveling mini bar?
And of course the obligatory luggage photo ... or am I the only weirdo who does this?
That adorable little item that looks like a speaker is the traveling bar when it's all closed up and ready to go. We got that thing at a thrift store years ago, I don't think we paid more than $10 for it.
Our journey began on Friday and right when we got to Jerome - with it's very many traffic circles we're not all to sure why even exist ... do they get that much volume? Anywho, we rolled right into a massive thunderstorm! It was pretty exciting and a little bit scary, but we made it safe to our lovely Bed & Breakfast.
 |
| A view from our balcony once the storm ended |
All 4 of us had reservations with the Ghost City Inn and from the moment we arrived, everything was just fantastic. The Inn has been meticulously renovated! You feel like you're in a luxury atmosphere, and yet they managed to maintain the historical charm - I can't sing their praises enough. I'd recommend this place to anyone!
Dylan & I were in the Cleopatra Hill Room (that we later learned is apparently the most haunted room in the entire Inn ....) Manda & Brett had the Miner's Suite. It was serendipity that we shared the same balcony, Manda and I had a girl-squee-jumpy moment when we realized it had happened.
 |
| Our Balcony! |
I took so many photos of our room it's really hard to try and condense it now!
The shower! It's beautiful - and tiny - but all the more impressive. These are the amazing renovations I was telling you about. Come! See the rest!
I love gray towels. LOVE.
Hi Dylan!
Having the mini bar in the closet actually worked out perfectly.
Now, I'm not going to sugar coat, the room really was itty bitty - but it didn't matter. It was so nice! We felt very comfortable
A lovely stained glass window, and Direct TV. We watched Jimmy Fallon that night.
I know it's blurry, but I like this pic of Bart outside the Inn so you have to look at it too.
It's my blog, what are you going to do? Stop reading?! ... crap wait ... don't stop reading!
We spent that evening settling in and relaxing on our lovely shared balcony, and I took some fun photos ... because why not?
The next day, we hit the town. Jerome is an adorable, artsy small town. It's inviting and eclectic. We had a blast.
Oh yeah, did I tell you that no matter where you are in Jerome you have a stunning view?
Our host at the Ghost City Inn cooked us breakfast each day of our stay
Adorable and so delicious. It was a cornbread souffle thing, nomtastic. Amazing.
Saturday was the 4th and the city of Jerome had a parade! We loved it!!
After that, we just kept seeing the sites and exploring the town
We made friends with a giant dog
And then the local sheriff let us take pictures in the classic cop car
We wandered down to the jail cell that had slid down in a giant mud slide and was made into a historical monument - Jerome has a colorful and fun history.
We all particularly enjoyed the Depeche Mode graffiti
We stumbled across this lovely hood ornament
Scooter Trash was a fun place
Then it was time for more food!
The food in Jermone was just stellar, everywhere we went.
We indulged with a couple of 'Murica cocktails
Then we made friends with another animal, a kitty this time. He lives with his mommy in an awesome thrift shop
That's where Manda and I found the red boots, and all we could say was:
Pulling. Them. Off.
Bonus points for you if you recognize the reference!
Back to town-gazing!
(Made the last picture large because that's one of Dylan's favorite shots ^_^)
Jerome has a famous resident, Maynard from Tool (and various other musical projects.) He lives in Jerome, opened up a winery, and has a few shops. Nearby one is this neat kaleidoscope shop (I'm not kidding) and out on the back patio of the kaleidoscope shop is a bunch of metal artwork, including this awesome pterodactyl that I took crappy, crappy pictures of. (My bad, sorry guys)
Jerome is an artist's town, so there's art everywhere just waiting to be appreciated
Of course, it must be easy to be inspired in Jerome what with all of the STUNNING VIEWS
Are you kidding me?
That night we headed to the Haunted Hamburger for dinner, it was wonderful. On every level, the theme, the HALLOWEEN, the cute names of the dishes and then how scrumptious the food was!
(I didn't bring the real camera, I only had my phone, a Moto G which I purchased for it's low cost and lots of memory - not it's camera . . . you can see why.)
The next morning we enjoyed another delicious breakfast cooked up by our hosts at the Inn
I snagged some more fun shots of Bart outside the Inn and found a cute old Corvair that was a Jerome local.
We checked out of our rooms, and then hit the town for more sight seeing before we said our goodbyes.
It was a neat photo op. ... yes it was!
We found the local olive oil joint and stocked up for the year. (It's a tradition Dylan and I have, every trip we take, we find their fancy olive oil shop and get at least one bottle)
We stopped for a beverage at this adorable deli
Then made our way up to experience the Jerome Grand Hotel.
There was a lot to see on the way up though
Like more amazing views
Then, up on the top of the hill, we saw it
It's already spooky, right?!
They still use keys and keychains, and the old creepy phone system too. Because, you know, hearing that it's haunted isn't enough, they need to keep those hairs on end when you check in.
This is the outdoor seating of the Asylum, the restaurant attached to the Jerome Grand. That wheelchair is an actual antique from when the building was a creepy old timey hospital.
Oh, they know how to work the creepy.
For lunch that day:
Best. Decor. Ever.
The trip home was another adventure, seeing as everyone had the same brilliant idea we did and went up to northern parts of Arizona for the 3 day weekend, and then all of us met on the 2 lane freeway trying to get back to Southern Arizona on Sunday. Haha, but we made it, and it was a fantastic trip.
Getting home was bittersweet, because shortly after that was when we had to say goodybe to our little Fifi. It was heartbreaking, it still is heartbreaking. And we were worried about our other 2 dogs, but we have a great sitter who knows them well - and reservations were already set for our 2nd trip in July. One week in California!
I'd love to carry on and start to talk about Cali in this post, but I'm actually running out of time. It's been way too long since my last post too, so - just like our previous vacation posts - Summer Vacation will have a Part II. Stay tuned!
