MY FIRST TIME ON A PLANE DESTINATION, UTAH

On October 22, 2020 I got myself on a plane for the very first time. Whenever it came to traveling my family and I would always stick to doing road trips so I was never given the chance. My whole life I was limited to my hometown; doing familiar activities and having familiar surroundings - you guessed it, The Comfort Zone. I've always yearned to travel to see and experience new things but I didn't know where to start let alone how.

This trip to Utah was extremely unexpected. I was unemployed for a little over 6 months due to the pandemic with barely any money to spend. But when an opportunity presented itself I knew I had to take it. Still to date this trip is was one of the best experiences of my life.

How it Happened:

One of my friends at the time had just recently moved to Utah with her family. Before she left our group of friend's and I had told her that one day we would come up there and visit. It also just so happened that my birthday was around the corner and I wanted to do something epic. Being a fall baby with a summer spirit, this Florida girl has never experienced a real fall before. It has always been a dream of mine to see all the different colored trees, play in a big pile of leaves and take in the crisp cool air. At the time, plane ticket prices were pretty low so we ended up finding some that were less than $200 for a round trip. Motivated by this and our adventurous yearn we booked flights and off we went.

The Day we Landed:

Pulled off the side of the road to take this in.

Drove to the tippy top of a high mountain to see all of Salt Lake City. It was 20° up there.

Official Day 1:

Stopping at every corner to take pictures I was in awe of nature's fall beauty! I experienced a lot of "firsts" with Mother Nature. This was my first time hiking, being in high elevation, seeing mountains, seeing my first water fall and I had a ton of fun seeing all the bright beautiful colors of the leaves and trees with my naked eye! I truly lived out my FALL DREAM. Everything was so gorgeous. Photos couldn't even do it justice.

After our hike we went home to rest and freshen up then headed out to Antelope Island. We enjoyed the beauty of golden hour and watched the sunset from the empty streets. I saw wild buffalo for the first time and was blown away by the purple mountains!

Day 2:

We definitely got the most out of our day on this day! Before setting out for our second hike, we stopped by downtown Salt Lake City to explore, grab lunch and stop around. I was really impressed by how clean it was and all of the really cool buildings.

This hike was insane! Going at a straight incline most of the way through, us Floridians were really in for it. To nearly passing out 3 times, to getting lost, running out of snacks and being low on water we all made it through. This hike was only supposed to take us 3 hours to do. However we lost day light and everyone was nearly exhausted so we ended up hiking for 6.

It was a crazy journey but on the way up I enjoyed more breathtaking views, saw humongous rocks, very steep trails, saw holly berries and even encountered a wild moose! By the time we made it to our rewarding view it was already pitch black out. I was super proud of myself getting to the top and I felt such a great sense of accomplishment.

Day 3:

Our last day was my birthday. I felt so lucky because I welcomed the day with snowfall. I've only seen snow once before when I was a kid but I've never seen it fall from the sky which was pretty cool. We took a 2 hour road trip to visit the Salt Flats! This place was such a beauty. I found it so peaceful. The winds were extremely harsh and it was ice cold out. But the content we got out of it was so worth it. One of my best birthday's yet. My first time spending it away from home. I loved every second and I will keep this memory with me forever ♥