Rainy Days With Amanda

 My 2026 year has started off with an unexpected side quest to the little town of Boulder City, Nevada. Seems a little random, right? Well, I work for a nonprofit that is celebrating 50 years this year and with it comes events happening from chapters all over North America to celebrate this milestone. The event I’m planning is in February, the second event. The first event was held in none other than Boulder City, Nevada. My boss asked me on Tuesday if I would be able to go instead of himself that Friday. At first, I felt that it was a little rude to ask a mom of a very child to get up and travel in such a short notice, but after talking through it with my husband, I decided to take the trip and it wasn’t that bad. Just a short 30 minute drive from the Harry Reid International Airport and about a 40 minute drive from Vegas, Boulder City is a little, yet mighty town filled with good food, good wine, and a variety of places to enjoy the outdoors. Where I Ate Your Mom’s Italian Kitche...

 Wow, it's been a minute since I did a rainy travel. I guess that is due to me having a child, but we've honestly been traveling, I just haven't documented it. We've done more road trips around our huge state of Texas and we did go on a little anniversary vacation to Vegas in May. But we've been to Vegas. I guess I could make a blog about that. Anyway, for the long labor day weekend, we decided to make our way over to the great state of Washington to getaway and enjoy better weather. Here's how our trip to Seattle went.   Where we stayed  We opted to stay at this  Airbnb near all the things you do as a first time body in the Emerald City. We were just a hop to the Space Needle, MoPop, and the Chihuly Gardens. All of which we saw, and definitely recommend for you to check out to (I'll talk more about our experiences in just a bit). It was more of a hop and a skip to Pikes Place, but we're talking like a 15 minute walk, which is nice when the weather is o...

 Hey Ya'll! My husband and I recently came back from a trip from the great northern land of Toronto Canada. I feel that Canada isn't really one of those places you would think of to travel to, especially for those of us living on the complete opposite parts of the states. We chose Canada because we were trying for a baby and when things weren't happening right away, I figured we could book a trip, but some place not too far. Then, Canada came to mind when I remembered that one of my husband's bucket list items was to experience Niagara Falls. I figured if I did become pregnant, it would be a place that where I could speak the same language to a doctor if something was wrong, I could drink the tap water, and I wouldn't have to be on a plane for super long or have jet lag. Fortunately, I did become pregnant and we were able to travel to Toronto Canada at my 14 week mark. Here's how it went!  The Stay People always tell me Airbnb's are just as much as hotels, b...

What comes to mind when you hear someone saying they're taking a trip to Arkansas? Probably not much at first, but let me tell you, Arkansas is heavily underrated and we all should take a couple days or more to enjoy everything Arkansas has to offer. My husband and I traveled to Hot Springs, Arkansas from December 27 - 30. We both are off during this time and wanted to take a little trip as a gift to each other. I really wanted to travel somewhere with a national park and he wanted to go somewhere that wasn't too long of a drive and didn't have to spend an arm and leg on travel. We ended up at Hot Springs and here's everything you need to know.  What We Did   While some might not think there is a lot to do in Arkansas, let alone Hot Springs, you are surely wrong. We found our days filled with fun and always doing one thing or another. Here are some of the things we did while at Hot Springs, Arkansas:   Hiked Around Hot Springs National Park :  Hot Springs National Pa...

Hey Everyone! If you followed me on   Facebook ,   Instagram   or even   Twitter , you may know that I recently went on a Tour of Italy trip with my husband for vacation. And we left the day before Italy basically shut down everything. But we made it out fine, we are fine, we did call UT Health Services and they said we are not experiencing any symptoms. And I am emphasizing that because there was a post about the coronavirus on Facebook and some people were commenting that everyone who   traveled   to countries who were infected should be "burned alive" or "killed off." I also want to emphasize that when we left for Italy, there were only like 2 cases in Italy, and those two cases were not even Italian citizens.  So there's that. ANYWAYS, happier thoughts. This was our first time going to Italy, it was also our first time going to a European country. If you're just joining me on my journey, the only other place we have   traveled   outs...