HOME!

We'll we're home. After a relaxing couple days in Cheyenne with our extended family and a short but sweet visit to Chicago.. we actually made it home.
Chicago was a great city and maybe the perfect ending to our 2.5 months. My dad came down from Wisconsion and drove Nadeen and I into downtown while my car got its last oil change of the trip. We went to the main tourist spots like Sears (now Willis) Tower, Navy Pier, and Millenium Park. We also had the opportunity to go see Americans Pasttime (thanks to my dad). Chicago Cubs Vs. LA Dodgers in Wrigley Field was amazing!!! Nadeen's first Major League game and second baseball game in her life and she got to experience it at Wrigley.. how awesome is that? A coke, hot dog, and soft pretzel and we were set for the night, the only thing missing was a win for the cubs. Apparently they aren't the strongest baseball team in the league but they hung in there and had the fans clinging onto hope up until the bottom on the 9th.
In Chicago we stayed with Nadden's friend Rafi. He made us dinner AND dessert before the baseball and we truely appreciate him providing with a place to stay and food to eat.

Now all that was between us and home was a 14 hour drive with only 3.5 hours of sleep the night before. All Nadeen seemed to be thinking about were the people waiting for her at home and some Bojangles. And as for me, I was thinking about Bryson and Sydney and how I couldn't believe I had to work the next day. What was I thinking?? Haha

First things first we had to go see my new niece Sydney and the Big Boy Bryson before bedtime. It was great to hear Bryson calling for me and so eager to play, and Sydney was even more beautiful in person. As Nadeen sat there holding her while I got in a good amuont of time with Big Boy I'm sure she grew more and more anxious to get home and away from me :)

Next stop: Araina!! Well Daniel's to be exact. Araina was so happy to see Nadeen and I was sad to say goodbye. The trip was over? Where did the time go? Why exactly did we have to come home? There were a lot of emotions running through me at that point but we said goodbye and for the first time in 2.5 months (78 days) we were going our seperate ways. Nadeen was off to surprise her brother and mom and to see him puppies and I was headed in the opposite direction.

The trip for me was an awesome experience. I still don't feel like it was real. It's hard to describe but I have to look at pictures to remind myself that it actually happened and we actually visited all those Places. It's weird to think I won't be stopping at a gas station at least once a day anymore, there won't be anymore peanut butter and jelly or turkey sandwiches, I can do my laundry at home, sleep in my own bed, and won't be seeing Nadeen everyday. I learned a lot on this trip about our country, other people, and myself and I wouldn't trade the experience for anything in the world, nor would I change anything about it. Sure Nadeen and I had our bad days.. days where we barely talked at all but that just made the good days that much better and out friendship that much stronger. I can only hope that I can have a friend like that forever.

Thank you Nadeen for going on this journey with me, for putting up with my nonsense, for hiking in the desert to absoluntely nothing, for zip lining over waterfalls, for pulling my mom's four wheeler out of the sand dune, for giving me directions and making my lunches, but most of all thanks for a lifetime of memories and an awesome friendship!
I love you and I miss you already

Amanda

Back to "reality!"

Well folks, we unfortunately have to wrap up our time in Hawaii because like all great things it must come to an end. Our last full day in Hawaii was a pretty chill day. I got up super early (around 5:15am) to see the sunrise over the ocean by our hotel. Holy cow, it was unbelievable. Once the sun was up and shining I went back to the room to wake Amanda up and to get ready for the day. Now I was not so mean to just wake her up at 6am. Our lovely neighbor did that for me because he loves talking to his girlfriend in the bathroom that is right next to our room on speakphone. Needless to say, Amanda was already awake. We got ready and went to the Farmer's Market in hopes of getting this famed white pineapple that many people have talked about. Unfortunately for us, they didn't have any that day and we couldn't find them anywhere else. One of the guides at ziplining was the first to tell us about them and he did mention that if people did have them they rarely give them up. That may have been the case this time, I don't really know. Well anyways, after that we were so bummed we decided to release our frustrations by tanning :) We went to the beach (of lava) and layed out for literally only 30 minutes. I was already pretty sunburnt that I didn't want it to get worse. However, with the little time we spent there, we did lay out directly on the lava with all the little crabs next to us haha. Like I said, after about 30 minutes we called it quits and got ready for everything else.

Since we got to the zoo with only 15 minutes before they closed we thought it best to go back and experience the free zoo and gardens! For being free, it was actually a pretty remarkable zoo. It didn't have the typical elephants, giraffes, rhinos, etc. However, it did have a white Bengal tiger, lots of monkeys and birds indigenous to tropical areas like Hawaii. It was actually quite beautiful and I made a friend, Zoey. Zoey is a blue parrot who was trying to eat my frappe and was just a more social and active bird. The zoo took us about an hour and then we decided to go to the Mauna Loa Macademia Nut Factory. Again another free attraction (though there isn't much to it either), we walked the windows of the factory that looked like it was under renovations and pretty much just hung out in the gift shop trying to decide if I wanted to buy tons of macademia nuts because I love them. I didn't buy any because I really just wanted to walk through the nut trees and pick up fresh ones to crack myself. That didn't happen either though because Amanda was driving and wouldn't stop the car haha. I guess it will have to wait until my next trip to Hawaii. After that, our day and energy was pretty much spent. We had dinner and we packed up all of our stuff to get ready for the long flight home.

Once back on the mainland I started thinking about everything we did and saw in Hawaii. It seriously is like a whole other country (though I know its not, just in case you thought I didn't haha). It was beautiful and there are so much more things I would love to do that will have to wait. That's the main point of my title, since Hawaii was so different, the climate so perfect, it was hard to think about being anywhere else. But we got off the plane, back into the traditionally cold and rainy Seattle, to the snow storms that are bound to happen and to the unpredictability of our trip, that is our reality. But I can guarantee you one thing...I will be making my way back to Hawaii and hopefully traveling to the other islands as well to get the real grasp of that state!

We get back so late that we go straight to the hotel and go to bed, or at least attempt to. The next morning was meant to for Yellowstone but after realizing the drive was going to 10 hours or more we decided to make a pit stop half way. Moscow (pronounced Moscoe not Moscow like the city in Russia), ID!! Vickie (a friend of ours that used to work with us) lives there now with her sister and why not go visit her. But before arriving there I just want to point out that Idaho and eastern Washington are not known for its potatoes because I was actually kind of excited to see potato farms. There are known for wheat! Miles and miles and miles of wheat, that to me, looked like grass. At some points it was pretty, but after a while it gets redundant haha. Clearly I'm not a farming type girl so this type of setting is not my most favorable. Anyways, we arrived in Moscow, ID and walked around the town (which took about 10 minutes, it's really small but quaint). We ate dinner at this Chinese restaurant that Vickie says is amazing and then just watched a movie back at her place. It was a relaxing afternoon which was perfect because Amanda and I were still very much dealing with jetlag.

The next morning was really hard to wake up early, but we had to in order to get to Yellowstone early enough. Vickie, being amazing, made us breakfast...gigantic chocolate chip pancake and eggs! It was fantastic, 10 times better than when I tried making pancakes, just ask Amanda! While Amanda was getting ready I checked the weather of Yellowstone. Mother Nature struck again! Yellowstone had started getting snow that previous night and was continuing to get snow that day, about 4-6 inches of snow. Roads had already started closing and they say be prepared with chains and 4 wheel drive cars. Well we didn't have either of those, so unfortunately, Yellowstone National Park and the Great Tetons will have to wait for another visit because there was no way I wanted to be driving into the snow storm. We had to think of an alternate plan. Finally, we decided to go back towards Cheyenne, WY (where Araina's parents live) and just stop somewhere to sleep and finish the rest of the trip the next morning. Well, after driving through snow storms in Montana and rain in Wyoming and being in the car for about 12 hours we thought why not go straight there, what's another 4 or 5 hours :( So we did it, we drove (and it really was both of us, I drove about 6 or 7 hours of the trip which is phenomenal for me) the entire way to Cheyenne getting in at around 1am.

Well that's where we stand now. A couple days in perfect serenity in Cheyenne, getting over jet lag and getting our lives re-organized from Hawaii because we haven't had time since we got back. The trip is quickly coming to an end and I think about it and I wonder where did 2 and a half months go??? We have a few more places still, but it's crazy to think that we actually did it. Sometimes I wonder if it's all a dream, did it really happen? Then I look back at our pictures and know that this was definitely not a dream, but possibly the most outrageous and memorable thing of my young adult life :) You will hear from us soon, but until then bye guys!

Nadeen

OH the places we've been...

Redwood National/State Parks, CA: Redwood was another park that was confusing and a little disappointing. While there were a few spots with awesome views of the coastline we couldn’t get access to a lit of the park without a special pass of hiking really long trails. We did get to see the big tree and drive the car through another redwood that’s been carved out just to show how big they really are. The plan was to camp at Redwoods but after seeing how little the park had for us to do we did what we could and headed into Oregon to stay the night and get closer to tomorrow’s destination… Newport!

Oregon/Newport: Oregon was AMAZING! I loved it! On the way to the campground we made several stops that were on the way. We toured two lighthouses one of which is the oldest lighthouse on the Oregon coastline and another just north of there. We also got to rent ATVs and go out on the sand dunes. Sand dunes cover a large amount of the Oregon coast and taking an ATV seemed like a much better idea than hiking them like Nadeen and I have done many other times. After we paid they had us watch a safety video warning us of the dangers of being out on the sand dunes and basically telling us about all the fees if we were to get stuck or damage the bike. After convincing my mom not to back out we hit the dunes and had an awesome time. Only two of us got stuck (I wont mention names) but Nadeen used her muscles and pulled it out both times. No fines and back safely… a successful dune ride! We got to the KOA that night and decided what better place to get seafood than the coast. After asking the front desk about suggestions (she couldn’t really give us any names which was a bad sign) we just heading into town to look for ourselves. We drove on the bay and found one place that had no fish (which is what I really wanted) and a lot of fried seafood. After a long search we found Georgie’s! It was fantastic. The next day we woke up and spent the day driving the coast and into Oregon wine country. We drove to a couple more lighthouses, where at one we ended up seeing a lot of seals basking in the sun. There was one that was so fat haha that the only way he could get off the rock was for a wave to come up and crash into him and knock him over. Another seal was probably 20-25 ft from us. He was just sleeping until Amanda started clapping and then he would look up at us and had a perfect picture opportunity. Overall, the seals were so mesmerizing that we ended up staying there for probably an hour just watching them. After lighthouses and seals was wine country. We decided not to go in California because everyone goes in California, we figured why not go to Oregon where it’s not so well known. We drove about 45 minutes and found wine country. Wine country with no grapes haha. The main purpose was to walk through the vineyards (I fell in love with vineyards when I went in Vienna a couple years ago). We drove up and all that was there were sticks! Nothing had started growing or blooming yet, not like in California where we passed fields and fields of grapes. Since Oregon wine country was a bust we had to think of something else to do in the meantime. Our ingenious idea was horseback riding on the beach! We got there and ended up waiting almost 45 min, which wasn’t cool to get onto the horses. Finally, I got Mocha, Amanda got Pee Wee and Amanda’s mom got Bailey. It was incredible. We walked up sand dunes and then onto the beach where we were allowed to trot if we wanted. Holy cow, after a few minutes of trotting I was in pain haha. It was slightly painful but totally worth it. The views and the experience were amazing. Newport and Oregon so far are just beautiful and amazing and we leave the next morning to see more of Oregon!

Portland, Oregon: We drove into Portland but went straight to the Multnomah Falls near the border of Washington and Oregon. The falls were crazy. It was definitely a huge tourist attraction and difficult to get any pictures without a random person in it as well. Oh well, it just wasn’t meant to be. We went to a few other waterfalls near there and headed out towards downtown Portland. On the way we stopped at this building that had so many people. We learned that it was a Vista House, a place for weary travelers. From the top of it you get this amazing panoramic view of the Columbia River and Washington right across from it. Well once in the city none of us really knew what to expect or do in Portland so we just drove into downtown. First we went to see the nationally famous rose gardens. Yet again, Oregon weather has ruined things for us because only live 5 roses were in bloom. Mother Nature was trying so hard to ruin our time but she failed J. We tried to go to the Japanese gardens but the tickets were like $15 per person to see flowers?! Yea no! Later we went to see another Chinatown. I am just unimpressed by the Chinatowns I’ve seen. Oh well, I guess I will never visit China. Again, the gardens in Chinatown cost some ridiculous amount to see some flowers so we decided against it. Since it was Mother’s Day we thought it appropriate to take Amanda’s mom out to dinner so we went to Red Robin, which was yummy. But since Amanda and I both serve, we are fairly critical and service on our trip has been below adequate most times. I guess it just comes with being an amazing server and knowing what to look for haha. Well Amanda’s mom flew out that night and Amanda was bummed about it. But what helped was the fact that we would be in Washington the next day, including a day trip to British Columbia.

Olympic National Park/Port Angeles/Victoria, British Columbia, Canada: Wooo we made it to another corner of the continental US. The drive to Port Angeles was actually very pretty. I didn’t realize it until we pulled into the KOA, but Port Angeles was the town that was one setting in the Twilight series. About an hour and a half from us is Forks and La Push (also two more settings in Twilight). The town has definitely used that in their favor and used it to pull in some tourists. They have it advertised everywhere. Well since we only one half day to see the park, Forks and La Push were too far for us to go but we did go to a mini rainforest and waterfall (Sol Duc Falls). The rainforest was amazing!!! I loved it so much. Afterwards, we headed to the top and saw Mount Olympus and the Olympic Mountain range. It had recently snowed there and the snow was about 8 feet tall. The snow plows were on the side of the road were ridiculous and the tires had some hard core chains wrapped around them. Amanda and I thought they were so cool, that we had to stop and take some pictures of it (check them out on facebook).

The next day was focused on Canada. The ferry left at around 8:30am and we got back around 5pm. Going through customs, Amanda realized that the Canadians apparently didn’t care if you bring in weapons because they don’t ask you or check you whatsoever. On the ferry, we were talking about what we were gonna do when I realized that we had no camera to document this trip! Ugh we were going to have to go old school and use a disposable. Also, on the ferry, we were sitting with two older women who were so nice, Judy and Jonnie. Jonnie (who was older) was telling us all about her life and how she ended up in northern Washington. She was extremely funny. They were going to have tea at the Empress hotel, fancy stuff! Well we got into Victoria and started walking. We walked about 8 blocks to a castle, which looked much larger in pictures than it did in person. Slightly disappointed we walked back into town looking for lunch. We decided on McDonalds because it was safe and cheap. Ha Canadian dollar not the same as a US dollar and the menu was completely different. They had Rolo McFlurries!!! If you don’t know what a Rolo is go to the store and buy some because they are amazing. Well after figuring out what to get and how to pay we continued on walking around Victoria. We ended up seeing Parliament, Fisherman’s Wharf and Antique Row. Around 2 or 3 we were ready to go but obviously couldn’t unless we wanted to swim. We ended up just sitting by the water, people watching until 4 and headed back to Port Angeles for the night before going to Seattle!

Seattle: Oh Seattle, the city that I learned about from Real World way back when haha. Pike’s Place and the Space Needle were the only two things I really knew about Seattle and the only two places I really wanted to go. We went to the piers and just walked up and down before heading towards Pike’s Market. It was nuts, an experience everyone should do and embrace! They had so much stuff and so many people. We did get to the part where they were throwing fish and I really wanted to get behind the counter to catch on but I was too chicken to ask. I regret not asking now, but that means I will have to go back just to catch one. We were just walking through the city when I realized that I really like Seattle. I don’t know what it is, but the atmosphere is just different from other big cities. In the market, Amanda found this stand selling dried apple chips and later I saw a gourmet popcorn store. Of course it was after we were back in the car that we decided that we wanted it so I had to run around Seattle backtracking and getting those treats for us, but totally worth it. We headed to the Space Needle and I was stoked. Amanda thought it was crazy that I was so excited about this place but I don’t know I just was. We got there and went up to the top and the view was UNBELIEVABLE!! Though the price per ticket was kind of nuts, I would pay it again to see that view but next time I would do it at night. After a long day of driving and walking we called it a night because the next morning was going to be an early one because we were on our way to HAWAII!

Hawaii!!!

The flight was long and uncomfortable and they fed us some burrito that may have been beef no one really knows, but I’d do it again because after two months we were in the western most state of the US…Hawaii! We got into Hilo at around 3pm and got our cute little Nissan Versa rental car and went to the hotel. The hotel is in the works (under renovations) so it was okay, not the best. But for what we paid I’ll take it. The next morning we got up and drove to Hawi to go zip lining. The drive is about 2 hours from Hilo and we got there and realized we couldn’t do same day reservations L We had to come back the next day. Well instead, we drove to a rocky beach and to a historic statue instead. The first day was full of driving but the sites were so beautiful it didn’t matter. On the drive back we stopped at some waterfalls (Rainbow and Akaka Falls) and did some hiking. Akaka falls had a woman selling artwork done by her husband and was telling us how the falls were named after her family. She was just funny and interesting. The next day was the exact same routine as the first day and driving to Hawi for zip lining, except this time we knew we were going to go. Zip lining was so much fun. Our two guides were Slingshot and Big Monkey, typical Hawaiian guys that were so much fun and absolutely hilarious. We went on 8 different zips most going over the canopy of the rain forest, saw a few waterfalls, and crossed over a suspension bridge. It was a great time and took about 4 hours. Slingshot was picking up random berries and fruits and giving them to us. It’s good to know if I were to get lost in the rainforest I wouldn’t starve haha. Who would have thought that zip lining was so exhausting but I was tired by the time we got back to the hotel. On Sunday we drove out to Volcanoes National Park and ventured out around the lava. It was amazing to see the steam that was flowing out of the crater and knowing that there was a volcano boiling just feet below. We were able to walk through a lava tube, which is basically like walking through a cave. This is where lava used to flow underground and eventually resurface and flow into the ocean. The hardened lava was marked in different parts of the park as to how long it had been there. We drove out to a point where lava had completely covered the road making this the new stopping point. If you wanted to go any further in that direction you had to get out of your car and hike over the lava. There was even an arch in the side of the coastline made of lava rock. It was awesome! That night we went back to the lava viewing so we could see the red glow from the flow. They had the road blocked off about half a mile from the actual flow due to the lava rock that had covered the road just 11 days before. If we were to cross this line we could only make it about 10 minutes before out shoes were melted through.. that is if the lava didn’t give way before that. There was a security guard there full of helpful information and he was telling one couple that in 2006 they didn’t regulate where visitors could go and in that one year 17 people went missing (died) and about 430 were injured (lost a limb). This was shocking to me and made me thankful that he was there to tell me that it was too dangerous to go any further. Monday we went to the other side of the island. This area is where a lot of the tourist go and is know for good snorkeling and beaches. We went to the beach in hopes to get a tan but instead we laid out under the clouds and watched people at they snorkeled on the reef, got yelled at by the lifeguards, and got too close to the sea turtles. That night we had reservations to go to a Luau. This was a cool experience. We had awesome food, unlimited drinks, saw a beautiful sunset, and met some very nice people. The performers did a great job at giving us an idea of the traditional dances and Hawaiian culture. After a great day and a long drive home we crashed back at the hotel. Today we took it slow, tanning on the beach (becoming lobsters), went to the zoo (15 minutes before closing), and spent some time in a few local shops looking for gifts and souvenirs.

OK now everyone is caught up! We’ll try not to let so much time go by before another update. :)

Amanda/Nadeen

I know we're slackers..

OK so I left off at whether of not we would make it to Yosemite National Park the next day… AND we did!

Yosemite National Park:

Yosemite was interesting… We got there early afternoon and the weather was great the whole drive up but that didn’t last long. We headed down to the valley where most of the trails and waterfalls are and as we drove down the mountain it started to rain. Not too bad right? Who can’t handle a little rain? Well still with a positive attitude we made lunch in the car and headed up a trail to Bridal Veil Falls. As we got closer to the top it started to pour and at the top we couldn’t take any pictures because the rain plus the mist from the falls were so strong. That being said we ran back to the car and continued the drive down. As we kept going we passed a horrible accident where a car had flipped in the middle of the road blocking one lane of traffic and a poor bus was stuck waiting for people to get there and move the car because there wasn’t enough room for them to go around. We finally got to the bottom, it still raining, we got out of the car and walked up to the visitor’s center. There we decided to watch a free video on the park knowing that we weren’t going to be able to see as much as we had hoped. The video was cool and definitely made me want to go back and visit the park in the future… when the weather is good. We did one last hike to the lower falls and got on the bus to head back to the car. As we headed out the weather got worse. Rain turned to hail, which soon turned to an ice/snow mix. Getting stuck in traffic because a bus was sliding off the road and blocked two lanes of traffic we sat and waited for crews to get the bus on the side… and the roads continued to get worse. Once traffic got moving the road were pretty bad and we started to slide on the rod a good bit. Nadeen in the passenger seat was freaking out as I was driving trying to keep my cool knowing that everything would be ok. At one point we were headed off the side of the mountain and at another point I was probably a foot and a half from sliding into another car that had parked on the side of the road. As I try to talk to the fellow driving the vehicle and ask him to pull forward giving me room to make sure I didn’t hit them…of course they didn’t speak English and said I could drive their car if I would like… NO THANKS! I had enough problems as it was. So Nadeen stood outside between my car and theirs just to make sure I was clear and then ran and jumped in the car so I didn’t have to stop and get stuck again. After making it pretty far with no more close calls we were stopped about 9 miles inside the park and told we couldn’t go any farther unless we had four wheel drive or tire chains.. we had neither. Forced to stay the night in Yosemite we got a spot at the hotel where we’d been stopped and paid $110 for a hotel room that was dorm style, meaning we had to share the bathroom with other people staying there, had no TV, and no Internet. In the morning we woke up ate our free breakfast and got outta there. On the bright side the snow was absolutely beautiful and the park was awesome despite all the trouble.

Fresno, CA:

After Yosemite we were Fresno bound for a few days. We had one day before my mom got to town so we took some time to get the little necessities done like an oil change, tire rotation, and of course some laundry. On Friday my mom flew in and I was extremely excited to see her. We were going to be staying with her friends Jodi and Paul that she hadn’t seen in about 30 years and that was exciting for her and for Nadeen and I. They, like all the other people we have stayed with, were awesome! Making us all feel right at home we had a relaxing couple of days before heading out for a busy week. Nadeen got a chance to go to her first baseball game ever thanks to Paul. Paul works for Fresno State University Athletics so we got to tag along with him, get the tour, free entrance to the game, and the details of a sale they were having the next morning with a ton of cheap Nike gear. Thanks again to them for a great visit and Paul I think Nadeen’s offer to be your assistant still stands…

Lake Tahoe, CA:

May 2^nd… My Birthday!! On Sunday morning we headed out to Lake Tahoe, one place my mom has always talked about wanting to go. On the way up we passed another waterfall called Bridal Veil Falls that we stopped to take pictures at and then continued up the mountains and into the snow. 1 work to describe Lake Tahoe: BLUE. The lake was gorgeous with the sun hitting it just right. We drove up to what was supposed to be the best viewpoint for pictures and then came back into town for dinner and some time in the casinos. After loosing all of our money and realizing I may have a gambling problem, we headed back to the hotel room for the night and got ready to head out for San Francisco in the morning.

San Francisco, CA:

When we got to San Francisco we went straight into the city. We had a lot on the to do list for the city so we figured we should go ahead and get some of them checked off and learn our way around a little bit. We drove around downtown, followed a cable car because we figured they knew where we wanted to go, ended up driving through Chinatown, and by Nadeen’s navigation made it to Pier 39. Here we walked around a little, did a little shopping/looking, and went to the Aquarium of the Bay (which is not highly recommended). The Aquarium was ok but we’ve definitely been to better ones. We left excited to come back tomorrow for the boat ride to the Golden Gate Bridge. That night we got to meet another relative of Nadeen’s and his family. Motaz and his family were awesome. They gave us everything we could ever need and more. He was too funny.... washing my windshield before we headed out the next day, packing our lunch, and having more food made for us than we could possibly eat. We definitely owe him big time! That next day we did the boat tour of the Bridge and Alcatraz (a prison that was used many years ago for criminals that escaped for the prisons on land or were considered seriously dangerous). We saw the sea lions that hang our at the piers, walked around Fisherman’s Warf, walked to crooked street, and spent some more time at the pier getting ice cream and other treats.

Lassen Volcanic National Park, CA:

Knowing that Lassen Volcanic National Park was mostly closed off due to snow we still had to head that way because we had a reservation that we had to honor. In no hurry to get there we took a detour at the shopping outlets and visited Burney State Park, which was recommended to us by someone that worked at the campground we would be staying at. Burney was like a mini Niagara Falls. After that we headed to the campground and stopped at Lassen on the way. Though most of it was closed off I figured we could stop and see what there was to see since we were passing right by and I’m glad we did! We got a few cool pictures at Reflection Lake and got a good look at the snow-covered mountains that were the reason for the park being closed.

Well I haven't completely caught yall up but its a good start. Until then..

Amanda

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!