OH Mother Nature..

Alright so we became slackers and haven't been keeping everyone updated... now I have a lot to cover. Since Vegas we've been to San Diego, Los Angeles, Big Sur, Fresno, and Death Valley National Park (all located in California).

San Diego: in San Diego we had the pleasure of staying with some amazing family friends of mine. Only having met them once before Charlie and Lynda were so welcoming. They made us steaks the first night we were there, made us feel right at home, and feed us some much needed home cookin. While we were there we got to visit the San Diego Zoo and one of the local beaches on the coast. The San Diego Zoo was awesome! It is huge and had animals I've never even heard of; one of them being a combination of a zebra and a horse. Our favorite was definitely the polar bear exhibit. There were three of them and two of which were natural entertainers. Playing with their toys and one another the crowd was impressed and the bears seemed to be enjoying themselves. After the zoo we went out in search for a beach. After a lot of driving around we found a spot to sit and take in out first view of the Pacific. I took a short nap... and Nadeen... well she sat there and stared at the waves :) That night Charlie cooked us his famous fried chicken (knowing that Nadeen lives fried chicken and is going through Bojangles withdrawals). The rest of their family came over and once again we felt right at home and enjoyed a nice home cooked meal.

Los Angeles: Our original intent on going to L.A was to see a taping of the Ellen show. Well we didn't get tickets in advance because they never called us back but we were still hoping to get the day of tickets... well that didn't happen. Apparently it is very hard to get in touch with Ellen or anyone that works with the show. So we ended up just winging it. We went to Hollywood and got a picture with the sign and we took another opportunity and went to the beach. Unfortunately it was extremely windy and Nadeen wasn't feeling well so we went back to the hotel and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Big Sur: Big Sur was the place I was most excited about on the west coast. Its listed in the book of 100 places to see in America and I was excited to see the sea life and the coast in a not so commercialized area. It was BEAUTIFUL! On the way to Big Sur we got to stop and see a bunch of elephant seals that were relaxing on the coast. This was super cool. They were very vocal and seemed undisturbed by all the people peeking in on them. We continued on and enjoyed two nights at the Big Sur State Park campground. The first night we tried to make it to the sunset but couldn't make it to the beach area in time. The trail a ranger had told us to take would have required us to walk across a river that was realllly cold (I know because I started walking across, thinking Nadeen would come behind me like she had said, but really she just got a picture and I was left cold and wet). We got some pictures from the side of the road and made it for a sunset the next night instead (at a different beach area we had spent most of the day at).

The morning of leaving Big Sur was Nadeen's Birthday!!! We had planned to get up early and go take a tour of Pointe Sur Lighthouse. The tour was about 2.5 hours long and after that we were headed to Fresno to continue the celebration of Nadeen's 24th. The lighthouse tour was cool. We saw dolphins and seals on our way up to the top.

Fresno: Getting to Fresno was exciting for the both of us. I was excited to take a shower after not having access to one in Big Sur.. and Nadeen was excited that it was HER BIRTHDAY!! haha We checked into the hotel, cleaned up, did some research on places to eat and movies to see, and then headed out. Nadeen chose to eat at the Cheesecake Factory. Dinner got off to a rocky start with Nadeen sitting outside while I searched all over the mall parking lot for a parking spot. Nadeen sat at the table for a good 12 minutes ( 3 of which I was present for) waiting for someone to greet her... never happened. So we went back inside and asked for a new table that we then had to wait even longer for. Luckily I think it was worth the wait. We ended up with an awesome server. Nadeen enjoyed a few drinks and a lot of food and of course some cheesecake. We walked out with two bags of food to eat the next day. I love it when I get two meals out of one!! The food was great and Nadeen left feeling great :) Following dinner we went to see a movie. We ended up having to wait for an hour in the car until the movie started but I would rather kill time that way than settle for seeing "How to Train Your Dragon" (which was apparently number 1 at the box office this weekend), instead we saw "Backup Plan" which was pretty cute.

We have spent a lot of time in Fresno so far and we aren't done yet. On Sunday we were supposed to go to Kings Canyon/Sequoia National Park but after some research we found out that a lot of the roads were closed up that way due to snow so we voted against that for the time being and we went to the Fresno Mall instead. We decided to get a little shopping out of our system (one reason we're going to run out of money early). I got a pair of new shoes, Nadeen got TWO new pairs of shoes (there's something wrong with this), new jeans for me, and a new dress and jewelry for Nadeen. Overall Sunday was another GREAT day! And we ended it by eating at my favorite burger places ever... IN-N-OUT.

Death Valley: Next stop... Death Valley National Park! I can describe Death Valley in 2 words: FREAKING HOT! We hit 101 degree weather and Nadeen was about to die. Neither of us slept that night.. tent camping when it's that hot is not recommended by either of us. The day we arrived we went out to the lowest point in the US which is 282 ft below sea level... still hot there! We walked through a field of salt, went on a scenic drive, watched the sunset over the mountains, grilled some chicken fingers, played cards, and attempted to go to sleep. This is how most nights go. After a restless night in the heat we decided to make a trip to the sand dunes and head back toward Fresno and closer to the destination for tomorrow... Yosemite National Park. Tonight we went out to play some a couple rounds of mini golf and Nadeen hit the batting cages. Nadeen opened the first round with a Hole In One (after saying she was no good) but we both won a round and Nadeen hit about 8 out of 20 medium speed pitches. Props to her because I was too scared to even try.

Well I think I covered it all. Tomorrow is still up in the air for us. Its supposed to be snowing at Yosemite for the next couple days and raining in the rest of California. The only definite it that we will again be staying in Fresno for the next 4 nights... AND my mom is coming in town on Friday!! YAY :)

I'm super excited to see her and make it possible for her to see a part of the US she has always wanted to visit.

Until next time...

Amanda

What happens in Vegas...

Hola folks! All I can say about Vegas is I LOVED IT!!! Amanda and I had so much fun. We got there the first day and took in the Hoover Dam and Red Rock Canyon before checking into the Cortez in historic Vegas. Then we walked down Fremont Street (which is again part of Historic Vegas) and were just taking it all in. That night was when it all started :) We went onto the Strip and just walked up and down. We saw the Treasure Island show, which is what Amanda kept talking about, it's the one thing she can vaguely remember last time she was here. However, since Amanda and I were exhausted from the drive and neither one of us has really slept in a while we headed back in for the night around 11:30pm. I know who does that?! But the next day was so much better.

We got up and had lunch and then went straight to the strip. We were going down the part we didn't get to the night before and decided to check prices to see Cirque de Soleil the Beatles show at the Mirage. Holy crap they were expensive for not so great seats so unfortunately we didn't get to do that. We decided to gamble our sorrows away at the Bellagio haha. Neither one of us being gamblers, we just stuck to the penny slots. At one point we were up to $30 :) but then lost half of it. We stopped playing at $15 so we made $10 since we started with 5. I'll take it, it bought half our dinner haha. I was deteremined to see a show so we checked prices for the Blue Man show in the Venetian. As we were getting the tickets (which I was stoked about) haha guess who walks up?! Daniel and Janet Perry (the owners of Daniel's if you didn't know). At this point I am slightly buzzed because you drink for free while gambling and this guy on the strip gave up free beer pong and shots earlier (all before 4pm). So the guy behind the desk is irritated with me because I'm not focusing on purchasing the tickets but who cares, I wanted to talk to Daniel and Janet. Well after that we just went to dinner and back to the strip for the show. They were so funny and then we got pictures with them afterwards. It was pretty sweet, though they are slightly creepy.

Well after all our adventures in Vegas we had to pack it up and go. Until later...bye guys!

Nadeen

8 miles in one day!

Hello once again! Catch everyone up, we were in Utah at Capitol Reef National Park. From there we headed up to a quick trip to Great Basin in Nevada. However, everything was closed but the caves so we did that (it took about a hour) and headed back in Utah to finish the last two national parks there, Zion and Bryce Canyon. Zion was amazing. Our first day, we decided to do short trails and overlooks and the next day the longer trails. The reason behind that was because we had to wait at the campsite from 8am-12pm for an auto glass repairman to come to us. A rock had hit Amanda's windshield, almost killing me :/, and put a nice little knick in her glass. Well they finally came out at 12:30 so we only had half a day really. Regardless, we filled up our days. The second day was the most exciting. We hiked up to this area called Angel's Landing (I called the path Demon's walk because it was a little hard haha). It was 5.4 miles round trip and the last .5 mile was basically traversing a mountain and they have chain links to help you not fall. It was amazing and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Amanda and I killed these two guys who started it at the same time as us. We were fairly proud of ourselves because they looked like they were gonna just run up. We got to the top and the views were breath-taking. Trying to come down was the hard part. The rock was slick so we were afraid of falling, Amanda crab walked most of the first .5 mile (the part with chains) which was a good idea.

The rest of the day consisted of shorted hikes and seeing the rest of the park (our legs hurt pretty bad haha). The main trail we wanted to do was the Narrows. You are wading through the Virgin river through the canyon however far you want. But because of the snow melting they closed it due to flash floods. Oh well maybe next time.

The next morning was Bryce Canyon. We got up early, Amanda a little perturbed because there were no showers and headed out. We got there and realized that we would finish this park in a few hours and there was snow all over the campgrounds. I'm not that rugged that I am willing to sleep on snow. So we did the park which was mostly overlooks and then headed towards the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Goodbye Utah! Tonight we got to swim in a heated pool and hot tub and do laundry, it was a good night haha. Tomorrow we spend the day in the Grand Canyon and then we are off to Vegas for the weekend :) Until then, keep a look out for pictures on facebook and an update in Vegas this weekend! Bye guys.

Nadeen

PS

I GOT A NEW CAMERA WOOO!

Beginner's Hike

So we got some unexpected Wifi time at McDonalds because of some weather on the way to Great Basin National Park and some changes we need to make to plans.

Yesterday we went to Capital Reef National Park, again in Utah, and it was pretty sweet. Lets just say we got our hike on! We took a scenic drive which was about 20 miles round trip. We stopped at the end of the road and took a "short" hike of 2 miles to see "The Tanks." We got to one spot on the hike where we had no idea where to go next and had to wait for the old people behind us to catch up and lead us in the right direction. After that we went to what we thought was the end of the trail which was pretty depressing. I have a problem with not knowing where I'm going or what I'm going to see when I get there.. so after asking Nadeen about 100 times on the way what we were going to see.. this what not the outcome I expected. Come to find out we had actually passed the tanks and ended up coming across them on the way back by accident.. it was part of my short cut. Still not impressed with them it was a better than what we thought was the end the first time around.

After that hike we stopped at another one off the scenic drive. This one sounded more exciting, we were going to hike to the arch that Butch Cassidy apparently used as a hideout. Butch Cassidy was an outlaw back in the 1800's. We set out on this hike which was extremely challenging for us at first but got better and was a very cool ending. I would love for that to be my hideout... assuming I'm ever an outlaw or something. On the way back out we took a pit stop to see a couple closed off mines that were used back in the 1880's. The toxic fumes in the mines forced them to be closed and it is just a home for bats. Still pretty cool though.

Lastly we did a hike to a natural bridge. Titled an easy hike it ended up being hard for us.. call us beginners but this was not easy! I took one more shortcut and actually got Nadeen to run the last .25 miles with me... she beat me. I was impressed at how fast she went without falling.. while I struggled not to face plant like usual. The Bridge was really an arch and was also very cool.. but I'm thinking I should tell them that they need to rename the trail and reconsider the rating difficulty level of the hike.

To end the day I made dinner while Nadeen was off goofing around in the orchards and petting horses.

I didn't get to shower yet today... which makes me sad. And I found a nasty farmers tan from my shoes. UGH life is hard. So that being said I think we are ready to get less hike on and more tanning going on.. but first we finish out Utah, Vegas, and The Grand Canyon, then THE BEACH!!

Stolen Credit Card Numbers!

Hello! Amanda couldn't finish up to catch everyone up so I will. We left Arizona and started driving towards Monument Valley (where all the Marlboro man and his commercials were shot) but then decided it was too out of the way so we went to Four Corners monument instead. I was super excited because who doesn't want to be in four places at once. But alas, because I was so excited, the Navajo Reservation decided to close the Monument down for construction. Funny thing is... NO ONE WAS WORKING! Anyways, we moved on and went straight to Canyonlands National Park in Utah.

After driving almost the entire day, we got there to find out the campground was completely full (as well as Arches National Park which was only 30 min away). Amanda went back in to use the phone to call the KOA because we had no service to be later accosted by the rude old angry woman who apparently needed the phone badly. No one told her that there were pay phones outside because she would have gladly used them. Amanda was on the phone in the middle of the reservation and wasn't gonna hang up. It didn't help that Dwayne from the KOA was new and taking 2 hours to get her name and number. Finally, her credit card was declined! Later we found out it was because Bank of America put a permanent hold on the card because we used it somewhere that credit cards numbers have been stolen before. Great so I'm thinking we have only my money and we will be coming home early (because they won't take the hold off in case they did get her number and they have to send her a new card). Well everything worked out and we got a campsite and we got money out of her account until her mom comes later with her card.

We still decided to look around Canyonlands since we were there and it was nice. Just not impressive. We left after about a hour and went up to Moad, UT to stay. The next day was spent at Arches which was actually pretty amazing in my opinion. We hiked a lot that day and I practiced my rock climbing. I did however break my camera because it fell out of my pocket as I was climbing down a rock and fell into the sand. So once again, on a longer trip, I broke my camera and probably have to get a new one. It's a good thing Amanda is way more responsible with her camera.

We got back ate dinner and then I had the brilliant plan to go back to Arches to see the stars because in all the pictures the sky at night looks crazy cool. We drove out there got to the area to hike and I turned off the head lights and decided there is no way I am hiking in pitch black with only a little flashlight. Plus the stars weren't that amazing, nothing we couldn't have seen back at the camp site. So we drove back as soon as we got there :) Now we are leaving and heading to Capitol Reef National Park in Utah and then Great Basin National Park in Nevada. We will update probably again in Vegas which is in about a week. Bye guys!

Nadeen

Nadeen, Myself, and a Raft..

Ok so we left off saying how excited we were to go to Telluride, CO, well we ended up bypassing it altogether and headed straight for Durango. We had hoped to go snow tubing at some point in Colorado but as we researched it further we couldn't find much useful information about when and where we could do so. When we got to Durango we headed to their ski resort to find out some information in person, not realizing that the actual ski resort is just as confusing as their website. In short we didn't end up snow tubing at all but we did buy our own pool raft and set out to find our own mountain to go down. IT WAS A BLAST! The pool raft worked great and I'll definitely be using that idea in the future.

Other than sledding we just did some minor car maintenance stuff, went to the pool, hung out around the downtown area, and the hotel.

On the day we were leaving Durango we got up early and took a half day train ride through the San Juan Mountains. This was fun... and long. We did get to add prairie dogs and big horn sheep to th list of wildlife that we've see so far... although we didn't get pictures of either.

After Durango we set out for Petrified Forest in AZ. Not realizing there was going to be another time change due to Arizona not participating in daylight savings (Nadeen was very upset about this) we had a longer drive than expected and got into the campground fairly late. The next day we went and explored Petrified Forest National Park and Sedona, Arizona. Petrified Forest was cool... but there is only so much wood you can look at before it all looks the same. We spent a few hours there and then moved on.

Nadeen ended up loving Sedona. I had been there before so I knew what to expect but it's definitely somewhere I didn't mind going again. We got ice cream, saw a mountain that looks like snoopy, and a super cool church that's built in a mountain.

Snowmen, elk and blizzards everywhere we go

Hello! Cheyenne was so much fun. Araina's parents are so cute and so hospitable. The next morning when we woke up and had breakfast, Amanda and I went to get new tires on the Jeep for the Rocky Mountains. On the way back it started hailing!!! We got back to the house and checked the weather where it said Cheyenne was just going to be rain and fog!? It snowed all day and about 5 inches. Clearly there was some miscommunication between Cheyenne and Atlanta (where the weather channel is based out of). Regardless, we went outside and I built my first snowman ever! He was pretty sweet haha.

After a lot of snow and a lot of wonderful food (Araina's mom is a kick ass cook), we left to go to Rocky Mountain National Park. Apparently Cheyenne was the only town to get snow because the rest of the roads were dry. Dry up until we got to the top of Rocky Mountain National Park and the trails that we were walking, it ended up snowing again. Walking in snow... almost as hard as walking in sand. Especially in fuggs haha because there are no traction and I was sliding the entire way down the mountain. We hiked up to a waterfall that was a frozen water slide. I thought it was cool but Amanda was slightly dissappointed. I was so happy to be back in the car to warm up after our hikes, though I did enjoy the views.

We got to the hotel, and usually I wouldn't talk about the hotel, but this was incredibly funny. We get there at 8:45pm. The indoor pool, which I was stoked about, closed at 10. I mentioned that we were going in and the guy at the desk was like no it's closing, but I guess I will keep it open for you (in an Indian accent). Excuse me?? I only need like 45 minutes thank you. Next we slug all our stuff upstairs and open the door to the room and walk in... umm there was luggage, box wine, and dog toys and treats all over the room. Clearly someone else's room, but I should have grabbed the wine first haha. I had to go downstairs to get a new room etc etc. The guy at the front was very confused on why I needed a new room but gave me one anyways. A situation that should have only taken 2 min ended up being 15 min.

Today, we drove to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park about 5 hours from Denver. It's a really small park and unfortunately due to snow, everything was closed but 2 overlooks. Amanda and I being rebels, we went under the chain of a closed area (to Gunnison Point overlook) to get a better look. It was pretty slippery due to ice but we made it :) An alarm went off while we were down and we thought it was because they caught us down there. But we think it was someone trying to break into the visitor center that was closed, but we aren't sure. Now we are just hanging out in Montrose, Colorado until we leave for Telluride tomorrow to go SNOW TUBING!!! I will talk to you all again soon! Bye guys!

Nadeen