Utah (Antelope Island State Park): Not as many antelopes as there are real, live bison

What did one daddy buffalo say to his son buffalo before he left on a trip? Bye, son. (Bison)

Northwest of Salt Lake City, Utah there is a crazy secret place called Antelope Island State Park. 

I went there twice: the first time with a friend L and the second time with Regan for a birthday trip!

Fun fact: when Regan and I went, I had just found out that I was preggernut with baby K.

The entrance fee is $10 per vehicle unless you want to do wildish things like bike in, or RV, or are an annual pass-holder!

There is at least one road that goes along the coastline and at least one road that goes up over the middle of the "island" (peninsula, as you can see from the map). 

This place was a little other-worldly with the super soft, muted colors of browns and greens and yellows. 

I absolutely love even driving around and taking pictures of this place. I can't describe why exactly, but I wasn't 100% sure before this trip if bison were a thing of the past, like extinct, but I can assure you that the ones on this island are alive and well! They even cross the roads, sometimes. 

Dogs are allowed! I think most state parks allow leashed animals.

There are a few beaches that you can get out of your car and enjoy but I never saw anyone in an actual bathing suit or swimming. So, maybe don't do that if you go. 

There are walking trails that sometimes take you up a little hill or something to get an even more beautiful view of the plants and shrubbery. 

  
It really is a place that produces some neat pictures but is such a relaxing place to drive around. You can drive pretty fast on the roads and when Regan and I went it was absolutely perfect summer weather with a breeze.  

To drive around the whole island, it took probably 45 minutes. We stayed for about 2 hours and soaked up the sunshine enough that we felt like it was time well-spent. Like a low-key animal safari from your own car. 

The Dominican Republic: Mucho Gusto

We have one blessed picture from our entire honeymoon and we lost it. 

It was a polaroid picture of us getting into the shuttle van to head back to the airport, taken at the request of a hotel concierge worker. We look tan and happy and the tiny polaroid picture could fit in the palm of my hand. 

However, we have lots of information in our head that we can share with you about our honeymoon destination. The rest is top-secret, goodness stop begging for details...

Once upon a time the freshly-betrothed Campbell couple were gifted a honeymoon trip, an all-inclusive resort experience in the Dominican Republic. 

On the flight from Washington, D.C. to the Dominican Republic Punta Cana airport, Regan and I discovered a Spanish-learning app on the seatback screens at our seats. Naturally, we dabbled. Armed with "el pollo" and "muchas gracias" we disembarked the plane. We hailed a shuttle van from the humid, tropical airport and said "hola" to our van driver, Freddy. 

Freddy was the nicest, smiliest driver I've ever had. He was a native Dominican and spoke no English. This did not phase us in the slightest because of the afore-mentioned airplane lesson. Besides, Regan understands Italian and I am fluent in French, so our Spanish comprehension wasn't terrible. 

Now the problem: we confused the phrase "muy bien" with "mucho gusto". Anyone who speaks Spanish knows that this is an unfortunate mistake. 

Everything was "mucho gusto" for these two newly-weds. 

We asked him about his kids. He told us he had two kids. "Mucho gusto!", we exclaimed. We asked him how he liked growing up in the Dominican Republic and he said he loved it, everything was beautiful. "Mucho gusto!", we smiled and nodded our heads. The shuttle ride was 30 minutes and Freddy couldn't stop smiling and his responses had a slight giggle to them. 

We shook hands at the end, big smiles all around, and didn't realize our mistake until we got to a computer and double-checked the translation. Whoops. 
The End

The resort, despite our Spanish, was "muy bien". We had the luxury of staying in the Dreams Punta Cana Resort which was particularly lovely for two prominent reasons: free food & free food. Also, the windy pool was fun. Regan impressed this new bride by doing pull-ups on a bridge that crossed over a part of the pool. 

The resort has several yummy dining options. We paid $0 for food that whole week, it was all included (including free room service)! They had an Asian, French, and Italian restaurant. $0. They had a poolside grill, a cafe, an international buffet, and a seafood specialty restaurant. $0. After all of that wedding craziness and impending poverty as a student couple, we put some food storage on our thighs. #noregrets #reganwantstogainweight

We did treat ourselves (using our own cash dollars) to a "couple's spa" which was so scrumptiously relaxing for me and "meh" for Regan. I felt like I absolutely drooled everywhere, I was so relaxed. Everything smelt like lavender and paradise and we got access to hot tubs and things afterwards. 

We had private, resort beach access and could go swimming any time of day. Sometimes, we hung out in the shallows and just talked. At night, they had tiki torches lit up along the beach and lounger couches all over the beach. One day, Regan was oddly and hilariously chased around the shallows by a baby crab swimming on the ocean's surface. 

We took a tour van to a nearby market, to explore the area and looking to buy a piece of local art. We found one that we loved, after our excursion, in the resort's gift shop for $15. (Very surprising, considering that a mere bottle of aloe vera was like $18.) It's bright and colorful and truly represents our honeymoon experience in the Dominican Republic.