Proximity Travelling

This post could also be titled, If you give a mouse a cookie "If you give Andrea a plane ticket"...

I have a travel problem.  Or maybe a solution, depending on how you look at it.  Every time I go somewhere, I like to make as many stops as possible to take advantage of being in X location.  Ben calls this "up-spiraling."  I call it maximizing opportunities.

I first coined the term "proximity travelling" while I was studying abroad in London.  I realized that it was much cheaper and more efficient to see as many countries as possible while on the continent, rather than flying across the pond 20 times to pick off countries or experiences one by one over my lifetime.  As result, I concocted some elaborate zigzag travel plans for Christmas and Easter breaks, and fit in several quick weekend trips to closer countries.

So, you can imagine how quickly the wheels were turning in my head when my company invited me and Ben to a retreat.  Roughly 95% of my coworkers at the retreat flew into Colorado Springs, went directly to the resort, and flew out two days later.  Ben and I stretched the trip to seven days, and made what I like to call The Broadmoor sandwich. We stopped in Denver before the retreat and stopped in Provo/Orem after the retreat.

Highlights from the three stops (photos to follow in subsequent posts):

Denver - Spending quality time with the Denver Bjorkfam, hanging out with my nieces and nephew (guinea pigs, play dough, dog talk), riding the rides and enjoying the water park at Elitch Gardens; going on a date night to Bombay Clay Oven with Tom and Rachel; going to church and dropping off the girls in primary; eating killer tacos and chocolate chip cookies; watching the Olympics; seeing the sunflowers in bloom.

Colorado Springs - Stopping at Air Force Academy visitors center; *bumping into an old friend;  retreating at The Broadmoor (pool, white water rafting, fancy dinners, brunch, a few meetings); (Souvenir) shopping at the Olympic Training Facility.

Provo - Spending time with the Belgium Blaylocks and Ben's parents; visiting the dentist, dentist, dentist (three appointments, five hours, and one root canal treatment later, my mouth feels new again); sort of chewing food at the Blaylock family BBQ; seeing Prince Jeffrey; swimming at the pool; running with Sunny; visiting Grandma Blaylock; watching the Olympics; shopping with Seth and Sunny; flying into the Provo airport (it has one commercial flight, to/from Denver).

*I had the most improbable reunion with a friend from TASP (Kim) in Colorado Springs.  The day we drove down, Ben and I stopped for lunch based on a TripAdvisor review, and afterwards walked across the street to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.  The person greeted us at the counter, I was speechless for a moment, and then managed to blurt out "I know you!"  Turns out my friend (who I have not talked to in nine years since we parted ways at UMich in 2003) moved to CS for a job, and when fell through,  she stayed and took a job at the chocolate factory because she liked the area so much.  What are the odds that she works there, and that Ben and I go to that exact shop thousands of miles from our home on a whim when she was on shift?  Talk about a chance meeting.  To top it all off, she gave us a friends and family discount.