Utah Part One: 9th - 12th October 2024

Tuesday 8th October I'm currently on my way to Heathrow on the coach, super rainy and typical British weather leaving Bristol. Listening to Jimmy Eat World & excited to eat the sausage rolls in my bag when I check into the hotel in a few hours 🤣

My flight isn't until 11am tomorrow (Weds 9th Oct) but for ease I just wanted to stay here, also means I check out at 8 and I'm literally a 2 minute walk from departures, easy! Just popped out for a little wander around the airport (this hotel is a few steps from arrivals).

There's a Cafe Nero which I may grab my morning coffee from, and I just had a little craving for some fruit & fizz...fizz as in soda not Prosecco.

I'm watching Netflix and chilling all eve now. Super excited to see Dustin & Kendra tomorrow!!! Becky joins us on Sunday too, it's going to be such an epic trip! Wednesday 9th Oct

I checked out of the hotel just before 8, it's just a few mins walk to check in & I was through security all within 10 mins, absolute bliss! I didn't have much of an appetite so I had an açai bowl in Wagamama's...strong choice having sorbet for breakfast but it was super tasty! The departure gate was announced so I made my way to gate 22.

There were cowboys in the seating area waiting to board the plane too, so naturally I sat near them - they looked awesome.

I’ve never flown with Delta before but they’re so nice and added bonus is that it wasn't a full flight, so the seat next to me is empty. I woke up early in the hope I’d be able to get some sleep on the plane, I tried for a longgg time, maybe I managed 10 mins but now I feel worse 🤣. Made the most of the free seat and spread myself across the two seats but almost fell off, I'm going to power through the day with excitement anyway!

I watched I Saw the Tv Glow whilst eating gnocchi for lunch, the film wasn't that great but it filled a gap...I attempted to sleep, gave up, ate some hula hoops then watched Bad Boys Ride or Die (really funny and I loved it, just forgetting the Will Smith drama…"get my wife's name out of your....") Now watching Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, 2hr 22 left on the flight wooooo can’t wait to squish the guys!! 

24 min to go!! Before landing we were given a snack, and it was a super yummy pizza. The view from the window is crazy!!! We’re landing about 40 mins early I think, it always blows my mind that can even happen in the air, especially as we left a few mins late…

My bag took a while to come out, but customs only took a few minutes, then there they were…two of my favourite humans - Kendra & Dustyyyy!!!

We had a little friend help collect me from the airport too….

We walked around Salt Lake City & grabbed a coffee at their fave spot - Alpha Coffee, incredible place!

After a little wander around and catching up a bit we headed back to their home which is beautiful, I just love everything about it & I feel so at home here - fall is in full swing at the Hirschi household, whilst being 29 degrees outside…

We swung by a liquor store, I still get excited that the booze is put into brown bags like in the movies haha. We went for tacos which sadly after one bite my body was like 'WHAT are you doing' because in theory it was 1am back home. #jetlag

I met Dustin’s bro Art who came by to stay, we had a chat and I powered through until 10pm to try and adapt to the time zone. 

Thursday 10th

I woke up a few times and then finally got up about 6am and blogged a little before joining them in the kitchen for coffee, yummmm I went for pumpkin spice, tis the season after all.

Me and Kendra went to drop Art off so he could move his truck to a truck stop for a few nights before dropping him off to a car rental, then we made our way to Target where I got a little excited...but not as excited as I was when I discovered that they have DRIVE-THRU ATMs haha. After I got carried away and spent too much time in Target we went to grab Chick-fill-A for lunch - my first time having it, and I loved it! After our lunch we headed back out to grab some groceries from Costco and Walmart...I did get excited in Walmart and maybe bought a few things haha. LOOK AT THE VIEWS FROM WALMART...

We went out for a curry at Kesari Indian Kitchen, super tasty and they were so friendly! Dusty and Kendra are regulars, so much so that the staff already knew their order, legends. After dinner we headed back home & Dustin whipped up some Cranstonian's, Bryan Cranston would have been proud. It was YUMMY. We sipped on them and enjoyed a late night chat, I love them so much! Do you know when people just feel like family, or just that you've known them forever? That's Dustin and Kendra, they're just beautiful inside and out. After meeting them last year in Bali, I just knew they were my kind of people.

Friday 11th 

We had brekkie and discussed options for the day, we settled on going for on a hike to a waterfall whilst Dusty got some work done. It was soooo beautiful! The best part of the hike were the conversations with Kendra, the bonus part were the views. Such an epic human! This walk is also so near to their home, so lush!

We sat down for a short while, ate some snacks whilst soaking up the views then made our way back down. For lunch I finally managed to eat my tacos from the other night & a little bit of left over curry. The tacos were so yummy, glad I was able to get over the jet lag and my appetite resume normality pretty fast. We made our way through the mountains and drove to Huntsville, everything is like a film set out here and I love it! We grabbed some cold brews, went for a little wonder & popped into the oldest bar in Utah.

Then we drove to Witch Fest! America just do the Spooky Season so well, I've always wanted to visit the states this time of the year and it is even better than I expected it to be! I'll have to get some photos of how they go all out in their front yards, because the scale of decorations are next level. I tried my first candy apple & then we watched brooms being made. We had actual food after trying the candied apple, I went for a yummy broccoli & cheddar soup served in a 'cauldron' yummmmm!

After exploring witch fest for a few hours we then made our way back home and discussed our plans for the next day. We're going to go to the gym in the morning, followed by lunch & a distillery tour at High West Distillery.

Sat 12th

I woke up about 6am, stared blogging & then we made our way to the gym around 7am. It was really nice that I could go with them as I started missing the gym back home, I was pretty unwell before this trip and so had no energy to leave the house, let alone exercise, but boom! Back into it!

It's a pretty active holiday anyway, but any excuse to see an American gym (or just see anything and everything here to be honest, I love it all) it's so big it had a BASKETBALL COURT haha.

For breakfast we had a pumpkin baked oatmeal which they had made, it's sooo tasty that I've had it twice now. After breakfast we got ready to leave for the High West Distillery! We had a reservation for lunch in their restaurant at 1130, then our tour was at 1pm. I had steak frites & washed it down with a cocktail called 'Quick Escape' - High West Double Rye, Rum, Pineapple, Coconut, Cherry Cacao, Lemon, Lagavulin Foam.

Kendra isn't a whiskey fan, but luckily for me and Dusty that meant I had a little drinking buddy and we had a designated driver. This distillery have recently started a gin, and it was really tasty too! We shared two flights between me and Dusty...I think I was pretty drunk a few sips in haha. So much fun, luckily me and Dusty have different tastes that we prefer. I prefer the bourbon and less peaty ones, meaning he could have those and I could have the ones he favoured less, team work! The tour around the distillery was really fun, I'd recommend it, even if you don't like whiskey it's a really fun thing to do. However if you love whiskey, I suggest you do it and never leave...the views around were incredible too.

haha...by this point I'm not sure if I'm falling in the photo or posing, so much fun! We took the little shuttle back down to the carpark and enjoyed the buzz of the whiskey whilst screaming in the car to songs whilst Kendra drove us to Alpha Coffee.

After sipping on our coffees and enjoying the view we made our way back home, grabbing some groceries on the way. Me and Dustin were like children giggling and getting excited to drink a cocktail back at theirs lol. I've always wanted to try Sloppy Joe's since seeing it growing up on TV so much, so they made me some! Sloppy Joe's for dinner & a Mezcal Mule (with no onions 😆) We watched the movie Hush, sipped on our drinks and made our way to bed. Dusty fell asleep on the sofa after the first film, we decided to start another but I don't think we realised how tired we all were so we'll come back to that another time. Today is the day that Becky arrives! We'll be picking her up in around 6 hrs, catch you guys in a few days!