Move-It Mondays: Vacation Workouts

I have returned from Salt Lake City and can hardly believe that the vacation ended a week ago. Back to the real world is so difficult! But I was very proud at my weigh-in last Wednesday at EnergizeZone, I didn't gain anything. I didn't lose either, but after letting myself eat just about whatever I wanted, I know that all the walking we did (and the treadmill/elliptical jaunt) made me maintain. See....vacations can have fitness built in without realizing it! BONUS!!!

Antelope Island - Too beautiful

Here is the breakdown of activity:

We arrived on Thursday night in Salt Lake City and rented a car to help us be touristy in the city, but our vacation was full of walking for the rest of the days. We did swim a bit in the hotel pool, but it was small so laps weren't exactly possible.

Being touristy at Snowbird

First up on Friday morning was our trip to Snowbird Peak. We drove up and up and up into the mountains and when we arrived at the resort, the lots were pretty full. We just decided to park in any spot we could find and walk to the resort. I bet that equated to a few blocks each way on an incline.

Snowbird Resort and the amazing peak behind it

The resort was too beautiful not to walk through and I had to take a few shots.

Heading up the tram (11,000 feet up!)

When the tram dropped us off on top of the peak, we definitely burned some calories walking in the snow around the top. Although it wasn't that big of an area, I bet I walked a mile total with all the back and forth I did on the top to capture every angle of the gorgeous mountain-tops.

Panorama of Snowbird Peak

At least I had on good shoes, but boots or skis would have worked better at the top!

Tram taking us down

After Snowbird, we drove to Park City and walked the length of the main drag. The street is on a pretty steep angle and we walked down it first, walking through a few shops. Then we had to walk back up to our car; a great incline workout :)

Park City - built right into the terrain

Extremely steep walk up to some apartments

On Saturday, after the Build Your Blog Conference, I decided to check out the fitness room at the hotel. I had walked by a few times and saw a few treadmills, free weights and an elliptical, but no one was ever in there.

The equipment had TVs  to keep me occupied. Unfortunately, my lungs weren't having the (I assume) slightly thinner air and I was having a really hard time keeping up with what I felt was my pace running on the treadmill. After 1.5 miles, I switched to the elliptical and finished strong with 1.6 miles and less winded-ness.

Sunday we walked around the Mormon Tabernacle, City Creek Mall (although closed) and then Antelope Island.

Tabernacle Square

City Creek closed but we still walked around

The Island was also tricky with all the snow covered parts, but definitely worth every second of the serene beauty. NOTE: This is an awesome island to bike around or camp on; it's on my list for a summer trip!

My friends on Antelope Island (note the inappropriate shoe choice!)

Jumped into the snow to get a picture on the Island

The Island did hold up to its name and we did get to see a bit of the wildlife.

Monday was the Aquarium and then booking it through the airport to catch our connection. Denver's airport is ridiculously large, but can easily be navigated.

So besides the treadmill/elliptical workout, the rest of my adventures were inadvertently fitness related too. I'm glad that I love to walk because I would have missed out on so many awesome parts of this trip if I wasn't willing to hoof it a bit :)

I hope to get a Salt Lake City "Food I Ate" recap this week - found some great new places and loved everything I ate!

Build Your Blog Conference

I'm really excited to be traveling for my first blogging convention. Salt Lake City - here I come for the Build Your Blog Conference on February. 16

I have never been to Salt Lake City and a friend of mine, Tiffany, wanted to travel more this year, so we decided to make a long weekend out of it and head out for Thursday - Monday.

I'm nervous and anxious but most of all excited to attend this event and really figure out things on my blog.

The schedule was just released for the event recently and I couldn't be more excited for the topics. But unfortunately some of them are at the same time and going solo means I have some tough decisions to make in the next two weeks before it starts.

The breakout seminars are all sooooooo good, with great bloggers running the sessions. I hope to be able to partner with someone or a few someones to be able to cover as much ground as possible. But if I go it alone, I know that I will leave the conference with so much more information to boost my blog, that I will have zero complaints.

The biggest thing I hope to accomplish out of this conference is a complete media kit on my blog. I hope to make my blog more appealing to the local community and increase my readership in the local area. 

Tiffany and I will have half a day Thursday, most of Friday, Saturday evening and all day Sunday to enjoy some fun things in the Salt Lake City/Sandy area. I bought a Groupon for a sushi place in Salt Lake City and am so excited to use it. (Yep I signed up for Groupon & Living Social alerts for SLC so that I can see if any other awesome deals come across during the time we are there.)

If anyone has traveled to SLC or heard of great things to check out while we are there, please share. I'm sure eating at some great places will be a part of it, but doing something outdoorsy will be great too - maybe a hiking area or a good walking tour of a city.