DENVER + BOULDER + FORT COLLINS, COLORADO

I am a very lucky person. Why, you ask? Because two people I love very much married one another and moved to a place that I've never been but always wanted to visit. Sam and Tyler moved to Denver last May, and in January I figured they'd surely have explored enough to have a visitor. Sure enough, visiting them was an adventure full of city views I wasn't used to, mountains I could have never fathomed, and bucket list items. Also beer-tasting. And food halls. And a giant German Shepherd.

I flew to Colorado via Frontier Airlines, and with as many complaints as I saw online, I was impressed. Though, being used to Asian airlines, the lack of space wasn't annoying. I guess it just made it more natural to chat with my seat buddies, who ended up giving me a million recommendations and gushing about their recent vacation in Nashville.

When I arrived in Denver, Sam met me at the airport (surprised me at baggage claim, actually!) and took me to her and Tyler's charming townhouse in Aurora. I met Mosby (scroll down for more cute pictures of this creature), and after being lazy for maybe a little bit too long, we headed to Avanti F&B for some of the most delicious sushi and local beer I've ever tasted. Bamboo Sushi, you will see me again.

In the morning, Sam and I slept in before dragging ourselves up to go to Black Eye Coffee for brunch. The Cap Hill location absolutely screamed Gatsby, something modern and lovely in every corner. Sam ordered the breakfast sandwich and I tried shakshuka for the first time and fell deeply in love. Think breakfast chili meets baked eggs.

After we left with our bellies full, Sam and I headed to Union Station where we poked around for a bit to waste time until her meeting. While she met, I walked over to visit the Artifact Uprising offices. AU is a printing company I've used for several years now, producing some of the highest quality work I've ever seen. It was so fun to chat with them about the importance of the tangible and to see the sleek offices they call home.

I meandered around the area and found myself back at Union Station, where I met Sam before heading back to her house for a break. That night we went to Denver Central Market for dinner, selecting a super fancy pizza to chow down on. The team who made our pizza accidentally left the walnuts on it, but after realizing, offered to make us a new pizza and gave us a choice of a drink, too. Thanks for taking care of us, Vero. Also, the goat cheese, arugula and fig pizza was to die for.

After dinner we headed to another food hall called The Source, where we tried a sours bar called Crooked Stave. I've only recently become a fan of sours, and being able to try several at a time was a fun experience. They're not everyone's glass of beer, but the atmosphere of the place was industrial and open and a few of the options were less tart than your average sour. 

On the third day of my trip, Tyler had made it home from a trip to build fences out in rural Colorado, so we made a day of it and headed to Boulder. I'd been told by several to go check out the little town, and none of the views disappointed. This place is gorgeous. I met up with one of my favorite adventure and lifestyle bloggers, Erin, and we talked about everything from travel to doubt to faith to next steps.

Per Erin's recommendation, we headed to Avery Brewing to check out another brewery and grab some dinner. It seems to me (especially in Colorado) that breweries always have the best food and the vegetarian tacos I ordered didn't change that opinion.

The following day Tyler went to build another fence, so his sister–who lives in CO Springs, joined us for a trip to Fort Collins and Red Rocks Amphitheatre. I'd never really heard of Red Rocks until I began working at the Half and Half and began shipping and numbering prints with beautiful illustrations of the park. I swore one day I'd see it, for something musical or not. Seeing it just to see it only made me want to attend a show here that much more.

One of my favorite things from the entire trip was our visit to New Belgium Brewing in Fort Collins. It was jam packed, but we were able to try so many different brews, including one (1554 Black Lager) that I haven't seen outside Colorado, and unfortunately made it to my top list. There were about 35 dogs hanging out, and with food trucks and dollar tasters, it was hard to leave.

Someone once said that Main Street, U.S.A. in Disney World is loosely based off the main drag in Fort Collins. I didn't get many pictures of it, but it's cuteness overwhelmed me. Even more overwhelming, might be the Asia vibe I got from the Jessup Farm Artisan Village. Little eating-drinking-shopping villages pop up all over the place in Thailand especially, and there are even some in Nashville now. We dropped in on a few of the shops and had our final cap to the evening at the Farmhouse, where I tried a delicious chai mule and we celebrated Tasha's birthday with a fancy way-too-small dessert.

Well, Colorado. You're the farthest west I've ever been, and you're the most mountainy I've ever seen. There's a lot of you I didn't get to, but you've whetted my appetite for mountains in the middle of the country instead of the little buddies we call the Blue Ridges. Hopefully I'll see you again soon...

ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA

If you've known me for any length of time, you know that Asheville has been and always will be a place incredibly close to my heart. My first experience in this heaven of a city was a summer I spent living in Black Mountain, a small town outside greater Asheville, with FUGE, where my duties included documenting a bunch of middle and high schoolers' adventures in the mountains for three sunny and sweaty months.

I've spent loads of time in this area of the Blue Ridge Mountains exploring, backpacking, driving, eating, drinking, listening to music, dancing to music, looking for jobs, interviewing for jobs I never got, etc. It was only fitting that it was a stop early this winter, and it was only the BEST THING IN THE WORLD that two of my closest gal pals came with.

Sarah and Alex and I met in February 2014 at an international job fair, where we all proceeded to accept jobs that plucked us from our southern homes in the states and chucked us over to the other side of the world. Thankful beyond just about everything that I was able to see both of them over the following three-ish years, we had not all three been together since that job fair so long ago. When Alex, the last of us to return to the states, got back home, we planned a trip to celebrate all that God had done in our lives since our last meeting.

Kindred spirits like these two are INCREDIBLY hard to come by, and I say that because I know for a fact that God put sisters in three different families and we are them. We share so many interests, and one that I'm thankful for is a love for new, good and "twist-on-this" foods. Alex and Sarah will tell you that my list of researched and desirable Asheville restaurants would have lasted us for nigh a month, so we had to be picky.

Night one, we ate in Black Mountain at My Father's Pizza, a local favorite, casual and delicious. Afterwards, we headed to Jack of the Wood, a bar/music venue in downtown Asheville, where we listened to smooth tunes from Moonshine Rhythm Club, a group of talented guys from Music City.

Our first stop the next morning was Early Girl Eatery. We arrived at 9am, the perfect time to arrive, as the dining room filled up immediately after we were seated. Per usual for us, we ordered three delicious plates to pass to the left every ten-ish minutes. Best hash of my life. Best french toast of my life, best benedict of my life.

We continued spending the morning downtown, grabbing some fuel at Trade & Lore per the recommendation of a trusted coffee-loving friend. We wandered to several shops downtown that fed our love of Asian culture and quirky interior aesthetic. See Asheville Market Basket and LOFT.

We stumbled upon our favorite stop that afternoon, Horse + Hero. They offered an incredible selection of art prints and cards, and it was here we discovered our next days activity, The Big Crafty.

Before spending time exploring the River Arts District, we stopped for drinking chocolate and macarons (Let's be real. I stopped for these things.) at French Broad Chocolate Lounge, which had since my last visit expanded to a much more spacious and lovely location. We ordered and tried an incredibly intimidating drinking chocolate, something with rose and citrus in it, I'm sure.

While at the arts district, we chatted with a few of the artists, some creating while we were perusing. We took advantage of the outrageously colored brick walls and met the folks who run Sunnyside Trading Co., a bohemian furniture company who gets their textiles and fabrics from overseas: I recognized several Thai designs and some quilts I'd seen in the Chiang Mai markets.

Grabbing a cuppa at Pennycup nearby, we headed back to our cute Airbnb in Black Mountain to do a little wandering around and enjoy the blue-grey weather.

That night we had one of the most divine dining experiences ordering small plates at Rhubarb, a rustic and farm-to-table restaurant on the main drag in downtown. We ordered the preserved plate (the best thing I've ever eaten), Mongolian barbecued lamb ribs, and a couple other things that have since exited the constantly changing local menu. We finished up with some cakes at Old Europe, where we decided that it was much to cold to try to use the hot tub at our place, even with the spicy ginger ales we'd picked up to enjoy. Asheville had reminded us all too well how cold the NC mountains get in December.

We spent our last night watching The Secret Life of Walter Mitty since Sarah hadn't watched it (shocking, yes), and turned in rather early, since the next day was our departure and we still had lots we wanted to do. In the morning we ate at Biscuit Head, home of the gravy flight and the jam bar. The rain kept us from exploring quite as much as we had hoped, so after browsing the colorful and loud (and beautiful) craft fair, we spent our last hours at High Five Coffee reading (typical of each of us, actually) to waste the time before we dropped Sarah off at the Greyhound station.

Our weekend, though full, was relaxing and packed with some of the best conversation I'd had in months. If you've ever lived overseas, you know what it's like to connect with those who've had the same experience. There's something about those who have repatriated as well, no matter how long it took them, is taking them, or where they lived and loved before. I am forever grateful to Alex and Sarah for sharing their lives with me, and will think back on this trip with so much happiness. Honestly, it's only a matter of time before we just recreate it. We still have the other four fifths of the list of things to see, taste, do that I'd made before we even left.

LONDON, ENGLAND • PART 2

While I whiled away the days before coming back to the US, I spent some time with Alex and Megan in their quaint town in Reigate. I'm a city girl, and good friends that they are, they remembered and took me to London for a day, but I, crazy that I am, forgot to look at the photos until now.

We started out the grey, albeit lovely day walking to the train station, where we met Megan and continued on to Londontown. Reigate is beautiful, and after leaving the lush colors of Thailand, the floral brightness of the small town in a misty grey day was welcome and familiar.

I can't tell you anything about the route we took, since my tour guides got us to our destination without any snafus. All I know is how much I love public transportation (tubes, trains, etc.) and how badly I wish that Nashville had something along those lines. Not sure at which station we ended up disembarking, so if you know, tell me! I need to get these places down if I'm ever going to live in the UK...

Our first order of business was afternoon tea at The Orangery at Kensington Palace. We walked through the gardens and grounds passing the Albert Memorial, something else that reminded me of Thailand, oddly enough. The tea was amazing, and I'm eternally grateful to our wonderful server who explained (in great detail) the order of things, and every ingredient that was included in the little cakes and sandwiches. Just after this tea was when the "where on earth am I" moments began, what with struggling to use a chip card and feeling incredibly awkward when I realized that I was working in dollars instead of pounds. Little did I know this would definitely not be the worst of these feelings.

After tea we headed over to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, and yes, I was freaking out. A ton. We were able to watch from the floor a particularly whimsical production of A Midsummer Night's Dream for 5 measly pounds. Bucket list item #43, check. Afterwards we walked through Borough Market to grab some snacks and coffee.

One of my closest friends in Chiang Mai is a coffee connoisseur, so I picked him up a bag of beans from Monmouth Coffee Company, a famous shop in London. I got some for myself as well, loving the opportunity they give each customer to try each flavor, and the extensive notes they provide on each different roast and each different bean. Also, below, is Alex tying a piece of string to her finger because that's a thing. 

After scrambling around looking for Ben's Cookies on Dani's recommendation, Alex headed to a previous engagement and Megan and I wasted time in shops and walking around Richmond. We met up with Megan's Sam at a Young's pub where I tried Pimm's for the first time. It really was spectacular until I realized that Young's brews my favorite stout, and I was partially devastated that I hadn't made the connection in time.

We wrapped up the day meeting a couple of overseas friends for dinner at Nando's and walking around that led to some frozen yoghurt at the Farmery. All in all, a chill London day in more ways than one, always making me long for more time to spend.