Last weekend Ryan and I explored Chicago's sky-high towers and fall-colored parks. We both love Chicago. He'd been there for a week-long conference, and I was happy to join him (although I noticed flying cross country is not so glamorous being seven months pregnant!) This was our last "hurrah" trip before baby Beck comes - it's still crazy to think that our next adventure will include a stroller!
Ryan and his graduate school buddy let me act the part of tour guide to my favorite spots from my college intern days five years ago. It's funny how a place can embed itself in your memory - from the smell of bustling Michigan Ave. to hook-ups for free Ghirardelli chocolate samples, I felt as though I'd been there only a month before. Visit highlights included the architecture boat tour and seeing our warped reflections in "The Bean" of (my fav!) Millennial Park. Best of all, we met for brunch with my former internship supervisor and longtime mentor.
No matter where we go, we've found this to be true: Connecting with people is the best part of traveling.
We rented a rad apartment in the heart of the city, two blocks from the famous Hancock building and a 15-minute stroll to Navy Pier in the other. (Interested in scoring a great place for your next adventure? I share in this post how to stay like a local, while spending less than a hotel.) With it getting dark so early, we'd eat dinner and return for one of our traveling traditions: watching movies made in the place we saw that day. In Chicago, we watched the classic "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and mind-blowing "Source Code."
View from the base of the Hancock building - two blocks from where we stayed.
Trump Tower and Wrigley building - the juxtaposition of two very different architecture styles.
Pretty fall colors outside the Chicago Tribune tower.
Yeah! The Bean!
Almost like a scene out of "Source Code"
This art museum houses the often-mimicked "American Gothic"
The backside of the museum had this amazing array of vines - fall delights!
Cityscape sunset and winterized Buckingham Fountain
Pretty cool to find a piece of the building where we were married on the Chicago Tribune tower.
We saw the REAL St. Peter's Cathedral earlier this year - had to take a picture of this piece.
Working the airline industry for nearly four years taught me a lot. From knowing how to calm frantic travelers during turbulence to serving the likes of Robert Redford in First Class, I came away with lots of stories.
And you know what else? I have loads of insider traveler knowledge. Lucky you: I'm feeling like sharing. Let me unveil two travel site gems with you, from a former-flight-attendant-turned-marketer:
Need a place to stay on your trip? Check out airbnb.com.
Hotels are overrated! Why get just a hotel room when you can have your own place?
We've used this site this year to rent private flats in Paris, Venice, and tonight I booked our own private apartment for an upcoming visit to Chicago. Why? It's cheaper than a hotel, more spacious, and gives more of a "local" experience. For example, in Paris, we were only three Metro stops from the Eiffel Tower. In the City of Bridges, we felt like locals staying in this lovely Venetian getaway, going to the market each day to buy fresh food. Not to mention, we were serenaded by gondoliers outside our window (see Ryan below.) I honestly don't want to travel any other way to a foreign land!
Find yourself something to bow wow about at this deal-finding site. I know there are tons of them out there (Priceline, Travelocity, Kayak, etc.), but I find the simplicity of the site and low overhead costs (they don't worry about being too fancy) yield better airfare results. I have the Salt Lake City Flight Deals emailed to me once a week, often with round-trip deals at $98. Granted, if you live away from an airport hub, it's more difficult to round up deals, but if anyone can sniff it out, Airfare Watchdog can!
I'm really not kidding. Here's a snapshot of a recent Airfare Watchdog email:
Any travel sites you can't live without? Do share.
Tomorrow marks the official start of fall. Bring on Utah's mosaic of autumn leaves!
Looking back, this has been the best summer of our Beck treks so far. I'd plotted out 13 staycations for this summer, but our time together turned out better than I could have hoped. Rather than write an individual post about each event, I'm rounding them up list-style to remember good times with people we love. We're so blessed to have wonderful health to enjoy these adventures:
My favorite passenger and me!
Crystalee's final flight with wings
Memorial Day weekend was my final time in the jump seat. The rest of this summer couldn't have been so wonderful without the decision to turn in my wings. I'd gotten to a sticky point where I had two full-time jobs (they took away the part-time flying option) AND grad school. Talk about overloaded! It was 100% the best choice for us at this time. Ry had encouraged me for a long time to let it go, and I've honestly never looked back since. I love finally getting to enjoy weekends! Little did I know, I was already a few weeks pregnant in this picture...
June New position at work
Within three weeks of leaving the airline, I was promoted to Social Community Manager at MarketStar. Amazing how, like Helen Keller said, "When one door closes, another opens." It's challenging and also a lot of fun. I love my job!
Millie's Princess Run
My favorite fun run of the year is in honor of a little lady named Millie Flamm. I wrote about this year's race here. Hope you can join me next year!
July Sarah Jane + Gil = ❤
On a beautiful summer day, Ryan's cousin Sarah Jane became Mrs. Marchant. He was able to attend the festivities the whole day, and I joined the reception that night. They're a really fun, happy pair.
Primary party at the park
Ry and I hosted a party at a nearby park for our five- and six-year old Primary class. We played kickball, hide and seek, blew up balloons (of course, making funny noises with them), and played "monster" on the playground. Ryan's such a big kid himself. Now we have different church callings, but we loved our two years with these little monkeys!
Snowbird weekend for Ryan's birthday
Ryan turned 29 and we celebrated with a quick getaway at Snowbird. Wrote about it here.
Sandlot Bees game
Remember Squints? Ham? Yeah Yeah? We saw their adult counterparts at the Salt Lake Bees game for the 20th Anniversary since the classic movie "The Sandlot" was filmed in Utah. ALSO: This was the day (July 19) we found out we're expecting our first baby! We'd soon find out we were already at 11 weeks at this point - I've been so fortunate to feel well.
Ryan's Spudman Triathlon
Ryan had been training for months for the Spudman, which is held each summer in Burley, Idaho. His sister, brother-in-law, and brother Randy competed too - yeah team! While they were pushing it, I was filming for a class assignment:
August Riley Returns! Ryan's brother Riley returned from his LDS mission in Mexico City the first week of August. He did such a great job serving the people there and speaks Spanish so well. We were all so excited to see him. While we had the whole group together for a picture shot, we announced our baby news...and that night, Rob and Jen shared their Kensi will be a big sister! What a happy day for the Beck bunch! Lava Hot Springs
A few days later, the Beck Bunch made the yearly trek to Idaho to the beloved tradition of Lava. Ryan did his annual backflips off the ultra-high dive (which always makes my heart stop), and we enjoyed being with family. Ryan and company went the next day to Jackson Hole where they river rafted.
Keala and Mike's wedding A few days after our three-year wedding anniversary, my beautiful cousin Keala married her man Mike in the Salt Lake temple. It was one of the happiest days I've had in a long time. We got to "relive" the memories of our own wedding day and see my cousin so radiantly happy. I've written before about my auntie Melanie who passed away, and Keala is her first daughter. It was such a special experience to feel her mama's spirit throughout the day - Melanie was watching from heaven and we could feel her love.
I'd waited to tell my mom and sisters our good news until I saw them at this wedding - it was wonderful to share there will be TWO new grandbabies in 2014! (My sister is also expecting and had already announced.)
Mama, Erika (who's expecting too), me, and Emily just after we shared the news.
I loved that they included Melanie's cookies at the reception. She was there in spirit!
Color Run
On August 24, we did the Salt Lake City Color Run with way fun Tami and Mavin. LOVED IT. I ran the entire 5K in about 30 minutes - not too shabby for a pregnant lady!
September Backpacking trip
Ryan's been wanting to take me camping since got married. We figured we'd better get out there before my baby belly grows too big and it gets cold. Over Labor Day, we had my very first "practice" backpacking trip in the Uintas. Being 17 weeks pregnant, we only hiked about 40 minutes (and I was proud of myself to carry my own pack!) We camped for two nights, and explored little lily-padded lakes and I felt our little baby's butterfly-wing kicks for the first time.
Arizona visit
We spent a weekend with the Webb/Marson family in Arizona. Dad and Sue were kind to take us out on Lake Pleasant. Ryan and Emily's boyfriend showed off their wakeboarding prowess, and my dad even gave it a go. Ryan displayed mad skills hanging on to the tube - I've never seen anyone whipped so fast across the water. Sue was so sweet to take Erika and me maternity clothes shopping, and we celebrated Crysti's birthday together at dinner.
Ryan, realizing he survived the wicked ride, gives a victory grin.
Emily's boyfriend Quincy teaching dad how to wakeboard. Love it.
Cute couple!
My sisters.
While all of this has been wonderful, the BEST part of this summer has definitely been BABY BECK. We're finding out the gender next week. We're excited that next summer we'll have a little one with us! If you haven't seen it already, here's my favorite project from the past few months:
This past three days, when it rained for me in the publishing world, it poured!
Ever since writing as a student reporter at BYU five years ago, I haven't been able to shake a strong desire to write feature stories. While I do some feature-type writing in my full-time job, I had a hankering to share stories on a broader scale. It took an encouraging writer friend and many months of building up guts until I submitted ideas to the Deseret News. After four weeks of (sometimes not so) patiently waiting, the big payoff came when four of them were recently published!
Thank you for your kind support. Many of you sent nice emails and helped spread the word about babies and battery buttons - it's a hidden danger we all need to know about. Thank you Karla Rauch for sharing Emmett's story with me, and letting me help spread awareness.
From now on, I'll periodically post my published articles and put them in the fancy new tab (did you notice it?) called "WRITER GIRL."
Getting ready for Spring Break? Taking the kids on a flight? Launched in 2011, Nanny in the Clouds seeks to "change the way young families fly by connecting them with nannies already on their flight."
As a flight attendant, I’ve had my share of celebrity passengers. To drop a few names, I’ve made small talk with legendary Robert Redford, served beverages to actors Scott Wolf, Wilford Brimley, passed by snoozing musician Peter Cetera, and loaned comedian Louie Anderson a pen to write up a comic piece. And basketball Hall-of-Famer Jimmer Fredette definitely gave me a fist bump on a flight too!
Mind you, I’m not “famous people worshipper.” Meeting these folks only solidified my belief that people are just people – no matter how recognizable their name or face may be. It is interesting, though, to see what characters are like in real life.
In honor of Groundhog Day today, let me tell you how actress Andie MacDowell surprised me!
She walked on the plane, the image of beauty with the Los Angeles sun highlighting her dark bouncy curls. I was stunned. She is a striking woman, just as beautiful as her on-screen role in classic namesake film “Groundhog Day” with Bill Murray. If you haven't seen it (repent today!), she plays a sweet and gentle news producer, the girl who Bill Murray can't help but fall for despite his pretentious, pompous beginnings.
The Andie MacDowell on my plane had some Southern belle sass. She has a slight drawl, and knows how to command attention. She made friends with other First Class passengers, and when the captain announced we'd be about 15 minutes late, she rallied them up in protest! She had a tight connection and told me she was desperate to get on her next flight to go see her college-age son.
At one point, she asked for decaf coffee. I put it on brew in the galley, and went back to check on the main cabin. When I returned a couple minutes later, imagine my surprise to find Andie in the galley, pouring herself decaf coffee into a cup she'd found - quite the fiery, forward gal! We had our own little chat about the films she's been in, and couldn't help but like her spunk.
When we landed, she raced off to her next flight, snatching her black carry-on bag. A few minutes later, another passenger approached me and said his bag was missing. Andie's bag and his were almost identical. Since I knew she had such a tight connection and he wanted his bag back too, I decided to go the literal extra mile and sprinted with his bag to make the exchange. Heart pounding as a raced through the airport, I barely made it to her next plane. Bag switch fixed!
Have you met any well-known folks at the airport or on a plane? Tell, tell.
This post has been a quarter century in the making. As an adventure-seeking teenager, when my grandparents declared they'd seen all 50 states, I decided I'd see "50 by 50." I figured it was a good round number, shooting to lasso the U.S.A. by my half-century mark. I never would have guessed I'd cut that time frame in half, making it to 50 states at 25!
Two weekends ago I boarded a plane from Salt Lake City to Boston, just a quick bus/train ride to Rhode Island, my last state to see. My Ryan, bogged down with homework (drat that semester-end crunch!), wasn't able to join me, but lucky me he's so supportive of my big dreams.
A sampling of my USA postcard collectionAll Rights Reserved Crystalee Beck
On this quick weekend tour, I enjoyed the company of two brainy academics. Flying to Boston, I made acquaintance with a remarkable M.I.T. double-doctorate and we chatted the entire 33,000 feet journey, topics ranging from mountaineering, the value of simplicity, economics, and the changing social media scene. A true professor, he challenged my geography knowledge with a kicker trivia question, which took me a laughable USA sketch, one"poll a passenger," and 45 minutes to figure out:
Which states start with the same letter as their capital city?
(Can you guess them? Hint: 4 states fit this category - try not to cheat with a map! )
When I arrived in Boston, I hunted for the Amtrak train. I love the interwoven nature of the East Coast, easy-to-reach nearby states by public transportation. On a spontaneous whim, I bypassed the train, instead boarding a bus marked for "Providence," where I met my next new friend. The French physicist who sat by me was visiting the states for his bi-annual research meetings with his colleague at Brown University, in Providence, R.I. He was kind to tell me about the city and point out some of the main downtown buildings. Although a foreigner, he related to my states quest, as he'd once been an 18-year-old hitchhiker across the country.
Learned in my 50 states journey:
People, more than places, are true treasures. Everyone has a a unique, interesting story.
Our country boasts an incredible spread of cityscapes, landscapes, flora and fauna. This is one gorgeous nation.
There's always more to see, and although I can claim time in each state, it would take more than a lifetime to really know each state.
Having an overall plan, but going with the flow, makes trips (and life) more sweet
What now? I'm planning to write up vignettes of my 50 states journeys, and hopefully get an editorial article published. We'll see how that goes....
Trump Tower and Wrigley building - the juxtaposition of two very different architecture styles.
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