Fort Worth Stock Yards

The day after Shea and Andy’s Ft. Worth wedding, we decided to do some exploring around the area since we had never really visited Ft. Worth. I mentioned in my last post that my experiences with Texas have always been around new buildings and nice shops so seeing this type of cowboy Texas was totally new to me. I figured I should explore that because it’s something I wouldn’t normally plan a trip for.

We went to the Stock Yards with Jonathan and Ben. They, along with Sara, were catching the train home at 5pm so they had some time to kill before we all needed to head home. Though, Sara stayed at the hotel to study because this is finals week – her last finals week!

I am definitely a city girl, so I had to read up on the history of this area to really understand what it’s about. Basically the area was established in the late 1800s/early 1900s and was a major livestock market. It’s now an entertainment area full of shops and restaurants all keeping with the “Cowtown” theme.

Stock Yards Visitor Center

I liked this symmetrical entrance. The Coliseum is the building on the right – it was built in 1907 and is home of the first rodeo.

You can pay this man to sit on this bull. I felt so sorry for the bull. I swear he was looking at us with “save me!” eyes. (Coliseum is in the background)

One of the many tacky shops…I just don’t understand places like this.

Testing our longhorn reach.

A maze – as seen on the Amazing Race 5, apparently!

From the scenic overlook we watched a kid get lost :)

One more “we were here” photo op.

And, that concludes our Fort Worth Stock Yards experience! I didn’t take a photo of it, but we also watched a handful of people ride a mechanical bull. Didn’t get to see anyone fall off, though, so that was no fun!! :)

See More Texas Adventures:

Shandy Wedding & Downtown Ft. Worth

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Shandy Wedding & Downtown Ft. Worth, TX!

Trae and I spent this past weekend in Ft. Worth, TX for the wedding of our good friends, Shea & Andy (Shandy)! We were both partially working and attending: I was shooting the wedding (check back here or here for a preview soon) and Trae was setting up the beer Shandy had brewed with him and Jonathan specifically for their wedding (that was a terrible sentence, but I’m leaving it or I will never get this post published!).

Thanks to Ben for the picture of me workin’!

We arrived on Friday for the rehearsal (I also forgot to mention that Trae was an usher in the wedding) where, as a photographer, it was fun for me to see the venue before shooting in it. Most of the time I never see a venue beforehand! I also took this opportunity to wear a dress and wedges because I knew I would be looking like a hot mess at the wedding haha!

rehearsin’ it up at Artspace 111

Being photobombed by best man, Geoff

Awwwwww

For the rehearsal dinner we dined at the Los Vaqueros Stockyards location. This might sound ridiculous to some, but this was the first time I had seen Texas like… Texas. In reality TV shows if someone has to go to Texas they take them to these super western looking areas and, to me, that’s never been my view of Texas. I think of new, clean highways, new suburbs, fancy shopping malls, and ladies who lunch. Apparently there is still part of Texas that is very country! ;)

Dinner was yummy and I got to meet lots of Shandy’s friends who don’t live near us. I had one particularly fun conversation with, Megan, a wife of one of the groomsmen, who lives in Chicago and loves ballet! We talked about “Dance Moms” and dancing as an adult. I told her about my YouTube channel, which was exciting because I never really have anyone to talk to about that!

Post-dinner a group of us walked to The Brass Tap from the hotel. I must say, downtown Ft. Worth is one cool place to walk around! It is so lively! I really liked that every block had something going on and people around – not huge crowds, but enough that it felt like a happenin’ place. At the bar I had the Uinta Hop Nosh IPA <- this is a great light & summery IPA!

Andy sees me!

Oh! Now they’re starting to catch on!

Aaand the group pic! Major props to our waitress for standing on a bar stool to take this :)

The next morning we fueled up with a big breakfast at the hotel. We were staying at the Embassy Suites Downtown, by the way. Jonathan found a little patio by the dining area so we sat there and enjoyed the city views.

Later we walked a block over for lunch at The Flying Saucer. There is this cool glass covering over the patio area which keeps the area feeling open. Jonathan made an observation that you could probably sit outside even if it’s raining because it’s coverage range is so big!

We then walked through Sundance Square on the way back to the hotel. It’s very pretty!

Of course, all of my photos from the wedding are going through the editing process so I don’t have any to share at this exact moment, but you can browse instagram & twitter under #shandycrush to see photos from the guests! It was a beautiful, fun, and laid back wedding!

My feet were absolutely killing me after the wedding, but somehow I rallied and went back out to The Flying Saucer with Lauren, Caroline, Diane, Jonathan, Trae, and Shea’s parents. It seemed like everyone else at the bar had also just left a wedding or a dance because everyone was dressed up!

On Sunday Trae and I visited the Ft. Worth Stockyards with Jonathan and Ben for the full country tourist experience. I will make a separate post about that, so follow us on bloglovin’ to be notified when it’s up!

Congratulations to our newlywed friends!!! Love you guys!

Hiking Wheeler Peak in Taos

In October of 2012, we, along with some friends, spent a week in New Mexico before driving up to Denver for The Great American Beer Festival. On our second day in New Mexico we planned to hike Wheeler Peak in Taos. I was feeling really fit at the time so I figured the “easy hike” our Taos transplant friend, Elaine, suggested would be no big deal.

Oh no. This hike killed me. Killed me. I really had no idea what I had gotten myself into. I should have Googled “Wheeler Peak” before we went because it would have told me “Tallest mountain in New Mexico“… HELLO! I was having so much trouble breathing because of the elevation, making every step so miserable! BUT, the experience has made for some great stories and pretty pictures! Click the photos to see them enlarged.

A happy start. Our hiking group included Elaine, Trae, Jonathan, Shea, Andy, and me.

The start of the trail is pretty steep, but the trail itself is not difficult. Almost two miles in. Around the corner to the left is Williams Lake.

You can see at this point that I still had some enthusiasm, though I was a little uncertain I wanted to continue the hike.

We stopped for a lunch break before we went above the tree line. Trae practiced his modeling for the REI catalog.

It was after this point that my crying break downs began. We should have had a reality tv crew following us because I was bringing the drama! I had a total of three break downs before reaching the top. The majority of them were brought on by these damn piles of rocks that you had to climb over.

Here’s an example of the piles of rocks. This is so much more scary in person! (This photo was actually taken on the way down, when we could smile about the fact that we were done lol.)

Looking at the trail ahead of us.

More of the damn rocks! See what I mean?? This picture was also taken on the way down (see: smiling), but I believe I stopped for a photo here because this was the spot of my final meltdown. Memories!

So, in a total of five hours we reached the top!! Woo hoo, right?! Except that to reach that actual summit of 13,161 feet you had to climb a little further along a narrow trail. The amount of wind was unbelievable, but so were the views. Trae has a huge fear of heights so for the only time on this journey, I got to be his source of comfort and encouragement. We sat down on some rocks and I blocked the wind from him.

The summit is actually the other direction, so it’s not that trail you see in the background.

Looking south. Summit is to the right. You can see its shadow here.

The rest of our group went on to the summit. Jonathan was so nice to carry my DSLR in his backpack during the hike, but because he had gone ahead to the summit and Trae and I decided not to, I only had my iPhone to capture the views from the (almost) top. At least I had some kind of camera, and honestly, at the time I was so tired I really didn’t even appreciate the views.

Looking northeast

Looking west

Looking east toward Eagle Nest

This was our favorite view because we could see Baldy and Touch Me Not from a completely new perspective.

Obligatory selfie

Looking northwest

So, no, Trae and I didn’t make it to the very tip top. Are we ok with that? Yes. If you’re wondering what it looks like from the summit, here is an iPhone pano from Jonathan:

If you follow the trail that runs across the top, you can vaguely see the “spots” of Trae and me. (there is someone sitting close, but we are in the distance)

It took us two hours to hike back down, with Trae and I going first since we couldn’t communicate with the rest of the group at the summit about the sun quickly lowering. The sun did beat us to the bottom, but luckily Trae and I didn’t have too far to walk in the dark (still scary though). Our fancy iPhone flashlight apps were a life saver. Once we got to the car, we parked it at the hiking entrance to shine the headlights on the trail to help the rest of the group as much as we could. Everyone made it out alive. Exhausted, but alive.

So, that’s my non-hiker experience of hiking Wheeler Peak. If you’re a hiking novice like me, these tips below are for you! :)

Tips for hiking Wheeler Peak:

1. Spend a couple days or more getting your body acclimated to the elevation before hiking.

2. Start early in the morning! You do not want to be finding your way out of the mountain the dark. Bring a flashlight just in case.

3. Go with people who understand your limitations and will encourage you when you feel like giving up. I’m sure I was annoying as hell to be with on this hike, but everyone waited for me when I needed a break, and they kept my mind pre-occupied by playing music and keeping the conversation positive!

See some of our other New Mexico adventures:

Horseback Riding in Red River

Beer, Friends, & Family in Eagle Nest

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Snowy Weekend Recap

A couple Thursdays ago we had snow and sleet followed by more snow and sleet overnight with freezing temps. Ballet class was canceled so I settled for doing tendus by my Christmas tree in my fuzzy slippers and watching the lasted episode of Nashville on our DVR.

The BOK Center on Nashville!

I woke up Friday to a winter wonderland outside my house! First order of business when we get snow: photo shoots in the snow.

I photographed Steven & Lydia for their save the date cards and then my friend Caroline Rentzel and I took photos of each other in the snow! It was so much fun having my picture taken professionally because I’m always behind the camera!

Steven & Lydia!

Picking up Kathryn

Snowy home!

Best investment: Ugg Adirondack boots

ME! Captured by Caroline Rentzel :)

After a couple hours of taking photos in the snow I went to visit my wittle adorable “niece” Liv and bring some chili to mom and dad. Trae made a bunch of chili Thursday night, which we had a fun time making a video out of.

She’s SO cute!!!

Trae cooking chili Thursday night

Friday evening we attended the Smart’s tacky sweater Christmas party which I blogged about here! Saturday morning was OU/OSU Bedlam which we watched at Trae’s parents house over said chili. Blue was really getting into the game… :)

Blue. He has a good view of the birds from here.

After we won (SO AWESOMELY), we saw my step-mom, Valorie, on TV with the band and her camera. I pretty much spot her and dad on TV at every away game they attend. It’s neat every time!

Spotted: Valorie

When we were leaving I had Trae’s mom take a picture of Trae and me in the snow together because my selfie attempts just weren’t cutting it. I really love the one on the right!

Selfie attempt

Thanks, Juli!

And just when I thought we were done with snow pictures, my sister hadn’t had any taken yet so we went over to the tree lot in the mall parking lot (sounds glamorous, I know) because they had a super cute silver streamline RV as the office. It was pretty much begging to be photographed.

And I will end this post with a little holiday beauty talk. For the Smart’s party I painted my nails Essie’s Sand Tropez and then topped it with a gold OPI glitter polish that I was given in a mini set for Christmas from Lindsey a couple years ago (meaning, I don’t know the name!). I wasn’t sure about it the combo at first, but it’s really grown on me! And then I also wore a deep purple lip (Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick 663 Va Va Violet) Saturday night to sushi with friends for Andy’s birthday. I bought this lipstick for Halloween last year but if applied lightly, it doesn’t look gothic (but it definitely can if you want it to). Really looking forward to wearing it again!

Nude + Gold glitter nails

Deep purple lip

This post is a few weeks late but I still wanted to post it for at least my own memory’s sake. Happy belated snowy weekend!

Horseback Riding in Red River, NM

I know I live in Oklahoma where there are a lot of country folk, but I consider myself a city girl because I’ve never milked a cow, never lived in a secluded area, never had an actual need for cowboy boots, or, until this trip, never ridden on a horse. I don’t know that before this I had ever even see a horse up close! So when Marles, Morgan, and Emily said they wanted to go horseback riding one day of our trip to New Mexico, I decided I would be brave and try something new.

We went to the Red River Stables in Red River, NM. Red River is a ski town that very much caters to its winter & summer tourists. Marles picked to horseback Red River over Angelfire because the Red River route would take us up a mountain instead of across a prairie.  (click the images for bigger + better quality)

During this trip I was doing a Disposable Camera Challenge for my photography business. I used only a disposable camera to document the trip and you can see how it turned out on my photography blog! When it was time to assign everyone a horse, they first had a little kid demonstrate the proper way to sit and direct the horse. I was thinking “if this little kid can do this, so can I!” The instructor then asked if anyone had never ridden before and I shot my hand up and they quickly declared me the “city gal”.

The instructor told one of the employees “Let’s give her Peaches”. Peaches?! I was in love already! My horse’s name was Peaches :) The guy brought over a step stool to my cute white and gray horse and told me how to get up. I think I did it pretty smoothly for being so nervous!

We had a few mintues to wait while everyone was assigned a horse. I actually had to have my saddle readjusted because it wasn’t completed centered and it was making my back hurt. And then Emily’s horse took a giant piss and we all had a good laugh :)

And then before I had time to really think about what I had gotten myself into, we were off! Luckily Morgan was right behind me in line and I was 2nd in line behind the lead stables guy. We had to cross the highway and then down a neighborhood street to get to the entrance of the trail. The trail took us 400+ feet up a mountain. It was an easy trail but it took me awhile to get in the groove of riding. Peaches was also tired and hungry so she kept wanting to stop at every puddle of water or plant that looked remotely like food. I felt so bad for her! Morgan was good at helping me keep her on track and she did well except for the time she took me right into a pine tree branch. That hurt. And when she decided to gallop down a hill. That was scary. But she was still fun and I was talking to her the whole time about the views (there were a couple times we had an awesome view of the ski slopes!).

I didn’t bring anything with me while riding because I wasn’t sure what to expect and if I would be able to get a camera out. I probably could have taken a camera if I had had it on a strap, but I didn’t have a strap for any of my cameras during the trip. Usually this would bug the crap out of me, but sometimes it’s just better to leave the camera behind. Here’s to new experiences and doing things outside your comfort zone! Thanks to my sister for taking these photos.

If you love New Mexico or are thinking about visiting, check out our other New Mexico posts.

A craft beer tasting with friends & family in Eagle Nest, NM

Our trip to New Mexico two weeks ago happened to coincide with our good friends’ visit as well! One evening Trae invited everyone over to Eagle Nest for a beer tasting. He selected 11 craft beers to share amongst the group.

There was a nice rain when everyone arrived, so we left the screen door open to feel the cool breeze and take in that amazing New Mexico Rain smell :)

Trae and his mom put together some snacks for us – cheese & crackers, brats, and chicken tenders. Marles made brownies and later Trae and Kathryn made rice krispy treats! (pictures can be clicked on to view bigger)

All that drinking and eating had everyone in the mood for a walk! We wandered to downtown Eagle Nest. I love the views in Eagle Nest – on the one side you have mountains close up and the other side is the lake and valley where you can see all the way to the Angelfire ski slopes! So pretty!

I always love how this Motel sign is just lying on the ground but I’d never taken a picture of it until now. There was a Roasted Corn stand set up outside the old Country Kitchen building. Trae took the liberty to show us what a great Roasted Corn salesmen he would be :) The bottom two images: downtown Eagle Nest and sunset over the mountains.

Before our walk I wanted to get a group picture of everyone! I positioned us to have the mountain Touch Me Not in the background and then, as you can see, I was having some camera remote issues! I don’t know what is up with my remotes lately, but it’s very frustrating! I ended up just having to set the timer the old school way and run back to pose!

Here are the results:

“Normal Pose”“Do Something With A Beer Bottle Pose”“Ninja Pose”“Dancer Pose”

The next morning some of us girls went horseback riding (me for the first time in my life!) so that will be our next post. Stay tuned!

New Mexico in December – Days 3 & 4

Since day three of our trip was actually our last full day in New Mexico, I will clump the remainder of our quick visit in this post.

We had another leisurely morning and then drove into Taos for a beer at Taos Mesa Brewing. Taos Mesa just opened in June of ’12. It has a really cool modern building located just outside of town (El Prado, the be exact) giving you a wide perspective of the mountain range. It’s really nice in the summer time when you can sit outside and enjoy the view, although the view is definitely still visible from inside, thanks to the east side of the building consisting almost entirely of windows. On this particular visit I drank the Hopper IPA and was not impressed :( There was zero hop flavor…so I don’t know what was up with that.

For lunch we decided to eat at Orlando’s because we have heard very good things about it from locals and tourists. We actually don’t venture to Taos restaurants very often because we don’t usually like to drive back to Eagle Nest at night, so that limits our amount of time spent dining in town. Anyway, Orlando’s was really good. We got there at 2:30pm and noticed the sign that said they closed at 3pm and opened again at 5pm. We were worried they would not seat us so close to closing, but they happily took our name and let us wait. It was a short 5-7 minute wait, but a fire pit and a closed-in tent were set up outside to keep you warm. The building is very small, so there is no room to wait indoors. Our waiter was very good and the experience overall was very nice. We vlogged before and after we ate so make sure to check that out to see what it was like.

After our late lunch/early dinner at Orlando’s we stopped at Smith’s grocery store to pick up some items and get gas before heading back through the canyon to Eagle Nest.

That evening we played a round of Beer Smarts. It’s a trivia game with four different categories of beer related questions and you have to get three correct answers in each category to win. Trae and Jonathan played on their own teams and then John and Juli teamed up together. I read the questions. Want to guess who won? No, not the brewers. John and Juli! It was pretty funny. I think we also stayed up to watch a movie but I am blanking right now as to whether that’s right or not. But I am remembering now that Trae and his dad enjoyed a cigar together and we took a few photos outdoors as the sun was setting and the temps were dropping (I believe it was 1 degree F). We also cracked open a bottle of Ivan.

So that pretty much sums up our quick weekend trip to The Enchanted Circle. It never gets old visiting here and I’m so thankful that we get to go fairly often. If you want to see more from our trip, visit our YouTube channel to watch our vlogs! It’s a new thing we’re trying out while traveling, so let us know if you like it and we’ll continue to share them! Day 3 vlog is here and Day 4 vlog is here.

New Mexico in December – Day 2

We had a slow start Friday morning: sleeping in, casually eating breakfast, working on the chili pepper puzzle. The sun was out and reflecting off the crazy amount of snow so much that it was impossible to look out the windows without shading our eyes.

We eventually got ourselves dressed and headed over to Angelfire to get some groceries at Lowe’s Market and take a peek at the slopes. Despite spending a good portion of vacations in New Mexico while growing up, I’ve never been skiing (Trae has been a couple times though). I actually had never even been to New Mexico in the winter until 2009, and by then I was dealing with a knee problem so I was not exactly up to giving skiing or snowboarding a try. So I was interested to see what skiing looks like in person, as silly as that sounds.

On our way out of Angelfire we noticed a new pub and took note to check in on that for tomorrow. Trae, Jonathan, and I went to Eagle Nest’s own Comanche Creek Brewery in the afternoon for a few beers and to visit with the owner, Kody. Comanche Creek is a micro brewery nestled in the Sangre de Cristo mountains. Trae and Jonathan have enjoyed talking brewing with Kody over the past couple of years, especially since they are in the process of opening their brewery.

Trae made us all a nice dinner of chicken tacos with our grocery purchases and we spent the evening lounging around. We also watched the movie Gattaca, which is one of Jonathan’s favorites that neither Trae nor I had seen. Love me some Jude Law.

Check out our vlog from Day 2 here!

New Mexico in December – Day 1

Not too many exciting photos to share from our first day in New Mexico last week. We got on the road about 4:30am and drove straight to the Santa Fe area for a stop at our favorite liquor store, Kokoman’s. The store owner was holding a couple cases of Big Sky Brewing‘s Ivan the Terrible for Juli so we picked those up along with some other craft beers to try. Since we like to try beers that we can’t get in Oklahoma, when you find something you really like, it’s nice to have a store that will hold stuff for you. We’re thinking about doing a “haul” video this weekend to share what we picked up and tell you what we liked and didn’t like. This will mostly be a Trae video since craft beer is his passion!

Before heading back east to Eagle Nest, we stopped for lunch at another Santa Fe favorite, the Tune Up Cafe. I had the Banana Wrapped Leaf Tamales with chicken, which was actually a nice light portion for lunch. The side of cabbage was surprisingly spicy! Had quite the kick. Trae had a special that was recommended by an employee and, of course, now we can’t remember what it was called, but it was a much bigger portion than my tamales, very delicious, and he was able to take half of it home to eat later.

That’s about all the eventfulness that went on, photo-wise. I kind of slacked on my photography on this trip. I think it was because this was our first time vlogging, so a lot of my mind was focused on that, AND I was not acclimated to cold weather yet so I was being a pansy about getting out in the snow to take photos. Lame. I know! So make sure you check out our vlogs from the trip on our YouTube channel. Day 1 is posted here (pardon my no make up and glasses look!), so take a look if you haven’t already!