I Turned 27, so I Jumped Out of a Plane.
So I turned 27 and thought it wouldn't feel any different than any other day or any other weekend. Until I made the decision to travel to one of my bucket list places, Arizona. Boy was it worth it! My favorite booking site is expedia.com , at this point i've spent more on my travels than i have on food this year. Tickets were $282 round trip which helped me tremendously in the budget department. Overall the 3 day trip cost me about $900 not including food. We flew into Phoenix, Arizona and decided to road trip to the many destinations by renting a 2018 Infinity QX30 for $108 total through Hertz.com. Our lodging was made through booking.com and airbnb.com . Alright! now that all of that is out of the way, let's get into the good stuff!
DAY 1 | Phoenix, AZ
So we've arrived and have no idea what to do first. For this trip, I decided to bring my Canon 5D Mark II with my CANON EF 24-105 lens. #WORTHIT !! My life seems like a movie sometimes so it's not shocking that i choose to document it as such at every chance. Instead of falling victim to jet lag of 3 hours we jumped in the car and let the wind take us where it wanted. We ended up at some random place that reenacts the wild west with horses! I had been telling my friend I wished we could go horseback riding or something, but Groupon wasn't helping us out. She is definitely more daring than I but i'm not exactly the type to get out dared LOL.
The tightly fitted jeans with the oversized belt buckle was the first thing I saw. His legs were propped up on an old wooden desk that looked like it hadn't been cleaned ever. My friend asks "Do you mind if we take a few pictures with your horses?" he excitedly replies " Well you can do whatever you want young lady!" . I'm thinking creepy thoughts as usual but she's seemingly trusting of this random man so i feel the need to serve as the backup plan. I scan around the place as she woos him with her charm into letting us mosey around the place #SUCCESS.
After playing with three horses and staring into the eyes of a wild coyote (they treat them like stray cats) we decided to go up the mountain to watch the sunset. If i didn't do anything else in Arizona, I was going to watch the sun set atop a mountain dammit! We took a ton of photos and videos and dodged the honking cars as we picked out best angles lol. Enjoy the experience in the video above.
DAY 2 | Eloy, AZ & Page, AZ
Today is the day we jump out of a plane and i just might piss myself! I have a pretty finny pissy story to share when i was in Naples, Italy but we'll save that for another time. I'd say this is pretty cut and dry. I got strapped to the front of a 6'4 man like an adult toddler and the rest is history. I did seem to resemble Sandy from #Spongebob but there's literally no way to look cute while falling 13k miles above the ground. Watch the video above to see how that went.
After falling, we made our way to #HorseshoeBend and #GlenCanyonDam to watch the sunset for day 2. WOW WOW WOW!! There are places on this round Earth that shock the hell out of me with their beauty. I wonder sometimes if a man will look at me the way I gazed at Earth that day, it's got to be impossible!! There was no cost to see the landscapes which is a plus considering these days people will charge you to gaze at a hole in the ground created thousands of years ago. But that's neither here nor there. We dance to my favorite song #DontTouchMyHair by #Solange as a tribute to letting loose and climbed to dangerous heights for some dope photos and videos. Watch the video above for both places!
Later that night we enjoyed some great drinks off the patio of our hotel lobby. I can't rave on this place enough, it had the best views, amazing service, and was VERY clean. We used Booking.com for the Hyatt Place Page Lake Powell .
DAY 3 | Page, AZ & Sedona, AZ
#AntelopeCanyon was breathtaking! The mile-ish long cavern was smooth to the touch and eroded by wind, air, and water. The sand beneath our feet was soft to the touch and reminded me of the sand bottles I used to make as a child in the 90's. See video above for visuals.
Last stop : Sedona. We had heard that it was a must see so of course we made our way back to Phoenix but stopped in this museum of red mountains and green trees first. I also decided to reflect on the things that made me happiest these last 27 years. I've learned so much from the moments like this weekend and feel that they are worth sharing. It's ok to not have it all together, not be married with kids, and have a million dollars in your savings. It's NOT ok to live your life according to the rules set by the entities of this physical world.
I hope you enjoy the videos and hopefully they capture the essence of this trip!
PEACE & LOVE
Kenya Leigh
