2017 was a busy year for me. I got in 4 trips, 175 blog posts, and lots and lots of Netflix. Here are my highlights for the year:

Travel

All my trips this year were really last minute (at least to me) trips. I booked my Costa Rica/Panama trip about 2 months in advance, my LA/Anaheim/Irvine trip was very quick, same with Charlotte, and Santa Fe, NM I only planned one activity. So it was a weird non-planned year for travel.

I’d never thought I’d…

Travel to 3 different places, on different trips, in one month. In December I had a business trip to Irvine, CA. Of course I went a few days early and went to Universal Hollywood and Disneyland! Then a few weeks later I went to Charlotte, NC for work. And then for Christmas went to Santa Fe, NM.

Best Unexpected Pleasure…

I got to visit Blizzard’s HQ! As a geek it was great to be shown around the campus and take photos of their amazing statues. The campus is locked down, so the public cannot visit, so it wasn’t ever something realistic on my bucket list.

I pushed myself to…

I got very sick in Panama. Burst both eardrums when they filled with water. Got a major cold. And then I had an allergic reaction/pink eye experience when both my eyes swelled shut. All at the same time. There was a moment I thought I was going to need to use my emergency travel insurance to end the trip a week early. Thankfully, with the help of my guide I pushed myself to continue on and after 4 days was better. But, my thoughts on Panama are intertwined with this bad experience, so I’ll need to go back one day to get the real experience next time.

Favorite Museum Experience…

I got to visit Meow Wolf, House of Eternal Return, in Santa Fe. This is an immersive and interactive art collective, where every room is something different. You start off in a house, and you try to uncover the mystery of what happened there, while exploring portals into other realms. I’m going to have to go back, because after a few hours I simply had to leave because it was overstimulating and I needed time to just think about everything I saw. Photos and descriptions don’t do it justice, you’ll just have to visit it yourself! I’m going to try to go back in 2018, plus Meow Wolf has announced that they will build two new experiences in Denver (2020) and Las Vegas (2019), so I see a low of Meow Wolf in my future.

Favorite Food Experience…

Never having been to a Tiki Bar, Disney’s magical Trader Sam’s was so much fun! I had a delicious slow-roasted Kālua-style pork sandwich and a festive holiday drink!

Other Milestones/Highlights

This year I started using Plated to learn how to cook. While I sometimes still give myself food poisoning, I do feel like I’m getting better!

I also started listening to audiobooks this year and have fallen in love with that platform. It’s nice to take a long relaxing bath while listening to a book on tape.

Blogging

I published 175 posts in 2017. That is almost one post every other day. That is a lot and the most I’ve done in a single year. It was a really hard schedule to keep up with.

Favorite Photo Friday post…

Maui Gold is one of my favorite travel photos. I lucked out with a beautiful sunset as people performed a ceremony before jumping into the water.

Favorite to write post…

I had three very helpful posts I wrote this year that took a lot of research:

The Halloween post was by far the most fun to research!

Favorite Mistake of the year…

This is so hard, as this year I shared some of my best and favorite mistakes I’ve ever had happen like:

But probably my favorite all time story I shared this year was when I witnessed a thief get caught, and then escaped, and escaped again in Scotland.

Favorite Museum post…

I got to see Star Wars the Power of Costume at the Denver Art Museum in late 2016. It was a great exhibit highlighting the amazing details that make up those characters. My favorite posts I wrote in 2017 on the exhibit were:

Favorite Souvenir post…

I loved sharing a series of posts about my favorite Wizarding World of Harry Potter Candy:

2018 Plans…

In 2018 I’m working on a health plan. I’m conservatively planning on losing 52 pounds (1 pound a week) but my end goal is actually to lose 110 pounds. It will be hard work, but I’m ready to do this!

Also in 2018 I’m going to be focused on more arts and culture here in Denver. I’m going to go to comedy shows (Lewis Black, Steve Martin, Martin Short), plays (Aladdin, maybe Hamilton), and museum exhibits (Degas, Dead Sea Scrolls).

Where I’d Love To Go…

I don’t think I’ll have the funds to do any international travel this year, but I’m hoping I can go to Los Angeles for a King Tut exhibit and make my way to New York City. I’m hoping in 2019 I can then go back to Egypt and then go to Jordan.

Resolutions…

Stop buying random crap
Loose 52 pounds this year
Limit drinking to at most 2 drinks per outing
Stop drinking soda
Keep house cleaner
Redo the design of this blog

Blog on Hiatus…

Lastly, in 2018 I will be posting less. Usually, the summer/fall of the year before I write the majority of the next year’s posts. But in 2016 I didn’t, so that made posting 4+ days a week in 2017 really hard, and I struggled to keep up. So this year I won’t be doing my normal weekly series. Instead, I’ll do more timely updates on what travel I’m doing right now, work on finishing the Egypt Travelogue while also working on the 2019 posts.