Three Decades Older but None the Wiser

Last week I turned 30. Yes folks, I admitted to turning 30. It wasn't quite as painful or tragic as I expected. On the actual day it sort of just came and went. Leading up to it though was quite an experience. Awhile ago I decided that I wanted to celebrate my "dirty 30" surrounded by my closest friends. Not a wild and crazy party, but just a get together somewhere fun, interesting, and relaxing. I wanted to rent a house with a swimming pool and hot tub in a warm climate. I also wanted somewhere that could accommodate a large group of people with an open kitchen for cooking and hanging out. Finding a house that met this description wasn't so difficult, it was the city that I struggled with. I started out looking for houses in the Hamptons but didn't have much luck finding decent houses under $10,000 for Labor Day Weekend. The Hamptons/New York City would also be challenging to travel to for just a long weekend. It would also likely mean that I would neither have the time nor the energy to see my friends and family in the San Francisco Bay Area afterwards. Then my thoughts drifted closer to London with the options of a house in Greece, Tuscany, or the South of France. Obviously all of these choices would be even more difficult for my friends in the San Francisco Bay Area to join me especially since a few had already visited me in January.

After some more thought and discussion, Sedona, AZ dawned on me. I'd always heard great things about this area with it's red rock landscape and tranquil relaxing setting. Between work stress, family woes, boyfriend/husband/lack-there-of struggles we all needed a place where we could relax, do nothing, and not feel guilty about it. Sedona provided the perfect setting to get away from everything and hide out for a few quiet days. It is only a two-hour drive from Phoenix airport and flying to Phoenix is relatively inexpensive from any destination in the US. At first people said I should go wherever I wanted to regardless of how hard it would be for others to come. But in the end I decided that I've traveled to so many places already, I really just wanted to be with my friends and my sister.

I got on the internet immediately to start scouting for houses and I found this reasonably priced gem on the west side of the city. It offered a huge pool, large hot tub, sleeping room for 12, jaccuzzi, 2.5 acres of land to make all the noise we wanted, but most importantly, this view:

From Sedona_30th_Bday_2008_Day1

After securing the house I looked up a few things to do in Sedona and two things came up consistently, the Pink Jeep Tour Company and spa treatments. So I booked us in for a wild ride on the Broken Arrow Trail followed by a relaxing afternoon of facials, massages, and pedicures the next day. After the rough and tumble bumpy ride with 50 degree decents, we needed the massages. I didn't want to have too many scheduled activities since this was meant to be entirely relaxation time so I left the rest of the time open. We ended up spending lots of time by the pool and in the hot tub (I have the tan lines to prove it). The first night we sat out in the hot tub after dinner and just looked at the stars. It was amazing to see the Milky Way and shooting stars all around us. Also, I quickly found out that when you're in a house with 9 girls/women (nearly all of whom can cook) you spend a lot of time eating. Some people were up at 5:30am making breakfast! My great friends Maggs and Bernice were also able to supply enough wine and spirits to make sure we were never thirsty either.

I really couldn't have asked for a better birthday celebration. I was surrounded by people I care about and who also care about me. We had tons of laughs and created cherished memories. Just for that, I'd turn 30 all over again.

I know there are a lot of pictures, but with at least 5 cameras snapping away at once, what else would you expect?

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Side note:

I created this blog to keep my family and friends up-to-date on my activities abroad and never expected anyone outside of my circle to be interested in it. I just recently found out though that Kathy of "Have Suitcase - Will Travel" recommended my blog during Blog Day 2008. That's really cool! Kathy is a transplant from England to California (my opposite twin) so check out her blog if you get a chance.