South Dakota Road Trip

This past Friday Erika, Dave, and me left for South Dakota for the weekend. I finally got done babysitting at about 12:30 am and we left at 1:00 in the morning. We headed straight for Badlands National Park about a 7.5 hour drive from here. Dave drove first and when we were in Wyoming we hit some really intense fog. We were in the middle of nowhere so it was super dark and the fog was so thick you literally couldn't see 10 feet in front of the car. It was crazy. We finally got out of that and then I drove, then a couple hours later Erika took over and I passed out so hard and when I woke up we were entering the Badlands.

The first overlook we reached. It was a little chilly and cloudy but that did not last long

We stopped at the visitors center to change and freshen up and then went to hike up this mountain that gave an awesome view of the park.

us sittin on top of the mountain

the highest point in this pic below is where we are sitting in the above pic

Then we did a couple of other easy hikes that gave pretty but really different views from the first hike we did. It's like a mini Grand Canyon. And really dry. There was no water to be seen anywhere down in the canyons.

Erika and me chillin on the edge with Lil Leo and Lil Donnie. 

You can't really tell in the pic but there was a drop off where our feet were hanging down

Beware of rattlesnakes signs were everywhere but we never saw any (thankfully!)

After enjoying the views and taking lots of pics we decided to head out to Rapid City where we were going to stay in a hotel for the night.

Right after the park exit we started seeing billboards for Wall Drug. About ice cream and donuts and all this crazy stuff and Erika said when she was driving and Dave and me were sleeping there were a ton of signs about it so we decided we had to see what all the fuss was about.

So in the middle of this little old town where you feel like you've stepped back in time theres Wall Drug Drugstore. But not just a drugstore, an arcade, ice cream shop, donut shop, gift shop, with a cafe and everything. Oh, and can't forget the giant jackalope outside.

Erika sitting on it

They had both of our names! Spelled right and everything. That almost NEVER happens.

We still didn't buy them though :)

We also had homemade confetti cake ice cream and it was seriously the best ice cream ever. 

Then we headed about an hour away to Rapid City. We found our hotel and then went to eat at Fuddruckers which Dave was super excited about. They used to have one in Colorado close to us and it closed but he's told me how good it is so when we saw they had one we of course had to eat there. I am so glad we did it was sooo delicious.

A pic of my delicious meal. Those grilled onions on my burger were amazing. And they had hot nacho cheese sauce which was amazing on the fries. MMM. I want it again like right now.

After dinner(which we ate at like 4:30) we were sitting at the table talking about different license plates and then got on the subject of state capitols and started naming states and trying to remember the capitols for them. We were pretty horrible at it and we were delirious cuz we were so tired so we were laughing our faces off and of course Erika and me laughed so hard we started crying. It happens a lot :)  

We got back to the hotel and went to sleep at like 7 and it felt so good to sleep in a bed. Woke up before 6 Sunday morning and slowly got ready and headed to Mount Rushmore. We stopped by Hardee's for breakfast which is weird that in Colorado it's Carl's Jr. and in South Dakota it's Hardee's but whatever. They seriously have like the best fast food breakfast around. It was perfect.

We got to Mount Rushmore and the weather was perfect.

After walking around a bit there we left for another hour long drive to Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota to tour the cave. The drive there was so pretty through some back roads and also through a state park where we saw a huge buffalo just walking right along the road. We got to Wind Cave and took a tour. It was really cool cuz you got on this elevator that took you down into the earth and then they opened a door and there was this cave. The tour was pretty neat and some of the passageways were pretty narrow and low so you had to duck to walk through. If I go back I wanna do the 4 hour tour where you're actually crawling and stuff. I went caving like that with some friends in a random cave in Alabama and it was so much fun. What is crazy about this cave is how complicated it is. Passageways all over the place and it's the 6th longest cave in the world with around 140 miles of passages. BUT it's estimated that only 5% of the cave has actually been discovered and there's much more that hasn't been explored yet. Our tour guide said just 2 weeks earlier there was a new area discovered. It'll be interesting to see how much more has been added to the map if we go back there.

After the tour we loaded up and headed home. We stopped at a Target in Nebraska and they had ninja turtle phone cases so of course Erika and me HAD to get one :)

Then we hit Wyoming and Colorado and stopped for some Wendy's for dinner. Dave and me were curious about how much trouble our kitties got into over the weekend since we left them out. We kitty proofed and moved all the breakable frames and taped shut cabinets & drawers and basically child proofed cuz sometimes our kitties get into stuff and they are put in the bathroom at night and when we leave the house for this reason. Since we were only going to be gone for less than 2 full days we decided it wouldn't be worth the hassle of taking them to Dave's mom's house for her to watch. We got home and everything was still in place. We were so surprised and happy that they were such good kitties. I love traveling but I sure do miss them when I'm gone.

State count so far this summer
     1. Colorado
     2. Utah
     3. Arizona
     4. Nevada
     5. Wyoming
     6. South Dakota
     7. Nebraska
and still more to come :)

Lots of Free Food. Build A Bear. Slurpee!

Today is Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-Fil-A and if you are dressed like a cow then you can get a free meal. A whole meal! FOR FREE! So yea we had to get in on that action. Erika made costumes for her and the girls that she nannies for now and I made mine.

You like my sign? :) I came up with it all by myself

Erika picked me up at 9 and we went to the Chick-Fil-A by my house for breakfast. I think there was just one other family dressed up and then another came in later. But everyone thought we were so cute. 

Cuz we were!

After our free breakfast we headed to Flatirons Mall to go to Build A Bear because the Ninja Turtles came out today and you can build your own! The girls had never been to Build A Bear and they were so cute making their bears. There were a few people in front of us and all of them had a ninja turtle in their arms. Turtle Power! :)

Me and Lil Donnie

Erika and Lil Leo

It's funny that every kid we saw that was building a turtle also had on a ninja turtle shirt 

After we built our "bears" the girls played at the indoor play place at the mall for a while and then we headed to a different Chick-Fil-A for a free lunch.

There were way more people dressed up at this Chick-Fil-A and there was a real Chick-Fil-A cow there.

Then we got in the car and headed to 7-11 for free slurpee day!

Such a fun day :) I love acting like a kid 

Earlier this week Dave and me got to have dinner with the kids I used to nanny for in Alabama. They were heading out of Denver after being in Crested Butte for a wedding over the weekend. It is so crazy seeing how big they've gotten. When I was their nanny Nick had like no hair and was just a little baby and now he's almost 5 and has a head full of hair. 

On Sunday I watched Kash and Meadow who I nannied for when I first moved to Colorado. Kash just turned 5 and Meadow is almost 9. SO CRAZY! I can't believe I've lived in Colorado almost 4 years.

I just randomly decided to curl Meadow's hair and then when her mom got home she said the birthday party she was going to later that day was a Hollywood Glam theme so that worked out perfect. She looked so cute.

Tonight after I babysit Erika, Dave and me are driving to South Dakota for some adventuring this weekend. I'm excited :)

Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, Vegas, Zion Road Trip

So Dave and me decided to road trip to Vegas and make a couple of stops on the way there and back. Vegas is about a 12 hour drive from us if we were to go straight there.

We left Friday night around 8 pm and had decided we were just going to take turns driving and sleeping through the night and go straight to our first stop, The Grand Canyon!

Boy was that a fun drive...not. Once we got into Utah and began to head south there was like nothing for forever. We saw a lot of deer, mice, and a few jack rabbits... and I hit one. Sad day. We got to the Grand Canyon a little after 6 in the morning local time.

Its SO big. You hear people say pictures don't do it justice and man is that true. It's so deep and huge and just amazing. It was nice that we got there so early because we were able to enjoy many of the first few overlooks just us two. It was super windy and that made it kinda chilly but as the day went on it warmed up and was absolutely perfect. Blue sky and probably around 75. It was a little bit hazy because there was a fire but it wasn't too bad. Just made some of the pictures less pretty than they could've been.

We found the visitors center and hopped on a free shuttle bus that takes you further into the canyon to other overlooks that you can't just drive to on your own. We took a ton of pics and still couldn't believe how big it was. On the drive back to the visitors center Dave and me both fell asleep. People probably thought we were weird but they were probably people that didn't drive from Colorado the night before ;)

The pictures of the Grand Canyon we got in the early morning were the best

Later in the day at one of the shuttle stops

We left the Grand Canyon once we finally found a way out. Like seriously there was a sign that sent us in a circle and it was super annoying how hard it was to find our way out. But we finally did and headed to Kingman, Arizona about 3 hours away to stay in a hotel for the night. We checked in and then headed to the In N Out that was nearby. I had somehow forgotten how delicious it was. God it is SO freaking good. We went back to the hotel and got in bed by 8. It was amazing to sleep in a bed.

We woke up at 6am and Dave asked me what time it was and I told him 6 and he said "That's it?" and we both slept for about another hour. We got breakfast at our hotel and then headed to the Hoover Dam about 1 hour 20 minutes away.

We got to the Hoover Dam and I had no idea it was literally on the Nevada/Arizona border. We walked out on the bridge to look at the Dam and it was soooooo windy. But it was also really hot so I guess it was kinda nice that it was so windy. After the bridge we parked and then walked across the Dam.

This is the view of the Hoover Dam from standing on the bridge

This is the view of the bridge from standing on the Dam

After we finished there we headed to Vegas where we were staying at The Flamingo on the strip and staying for 3 nights. So much about our hotel was stupid and we will never be staying at The Flamingo again. Anyways, the first night we walked around the strip after resting in our room for a little while. That's one thing I love about Vegas is that you can wait until late to go out and not worry about missing anything and everything closing. The strip is so pretty with all the hotels and lights. So after we walked around a while we came back to our room and went to bed.

Next day we slept in then went to the pool, then rested and walked the strip some more. There was an awesome Michael Jackson street performer and he was friends with an Elvis impersonator. We watched them for a while and it was really entertaining especially after this drunk homeless man came up and started hovering around their money bucket. Michael Jackson was pissed! It was so funny.

You can tell Michael had enough. He's got his hands on his hips haha

Pretty much did the same thing the next day except we played some penny slots just to get drinks and that was fun to see inside some of the nicer hotels we hadn't been in yet.

Our last night in Vegas we went to In n Out for dinner again because WHY NOT?! It was even better than it was when we had it in Arizona. Plus its really cheap. Delicious and cheap what more could you want? We went to bed pretty early because we were waking up and leaving super early the next day.

Our In N Out mmmmm animal style everything for me :)

The next day after a hassle of a checkout we were on the road and headed toward Zion National Park in Utah which was about a 3 hour drive away. When we got there we hopped on the shuttle bus that was going to take us to the trail head of our hike, The Narrows. There were so many people hiking the trail. It's really only a trail for about the first half mile and then you literally are hiking in a river through the canyon. It was amazing! We could not have asked for a better day. Blue skies, perfect water temp and air temp. It was the coolest hike ever. So different from any hiking we'd done before. The trail is just an out and back trail so we knew we needed to turn around because we still had 10.5 hours left of driving before we got home that night and because The Flamingo prolonged our checkout process we really needed to get back on the road. But we just couldn't turn around. It was just so much fun hiking through the water and it was just the coolest hike ever. Finally we came to a fork in the river and decided we better turn around and head back to the bus. So sad. We just wanted to stay longer and do the whole thing. We will definitely be back though.

This picture I took from the bus. See what a gorgeous day it was!

Hiking The Narrows

This is probably my favorite picture from that day

Random stranger took this for us

Dave standing in one of the deeper parts of the hike

We got back to our car and headed home. With still more than 10 hours to go we were going to get home at 2:30 AM. Southern Utah is actually a really pretty drive. There's nothingness and then theres these canyons that just keep going and going and its just crazy.

This is Devil's Canyon overlook which was one of many overlooks off the highway

The one thing that made us want to go home was that we would get to see our kitties. Dave's mom was watching them at her house for us so we went at 2:30 to get them from her house. They were so happy to see us and definitely happy to be back home with us.

State count so far this summer
     1. Colorado
     2. Utah
     3. Arizona
     4. Nevada
many more to come...

Update

So it's June 2014. I am halfway done with nursing school which is awesome. The first 2 semesters went by SO fast so hopefully the next 2 do as well. My favorite clinicals so far were my pediatrics at Denver Health and my labor and delivery clinicals at North Suburban. My patients at Denver Health were all so cute and I just love working with kids. My instructor at North Suburban was awesome! The first birth I got to see was a c-section and I teared up when the doctor pulled the baby out. I ended up seeing 2 vaginal deliveries too. It is so cool to watch a baby be born. They're all so little and cute even the 10 lb-ers!

I don't think I could make it through nursing school without Kim. She's been by my side since 1st semester clinicals and makes dealing with all the stress of nursing school a lot easier.

Kim and I went for drinks after we took our last final of 2nd semester

Laura is another great nursing buddy.

This is us on one of our presentation days when we were forced to look presentable for class :)

And I definitely could not make it through nursing school without my love, Dave. I just can't even explain how amazing he is. I am so lucky to have him. He takes such good care of me.

Also adding sunshine to my days are our perfect kitties, Nugget and Bailey.

Nugget 

aka Nuggy, The Nuggs, Nuggliest Nuggs, Big Fat Nuggy

He is the sweetest kitty in the world. He is such a big kitty and he loves to cuddle. He is definitely a momma's boy and he loves to patty cake anything soft and especially my penguin pillow pet that he likes to take over when he's cuddling me to death. He is obsessed with hair ties and loves to play with them until they are soggy enough to eat (yea gross!) He loves rolling around on his back and showing off his big belly and he seriously just has the cutest sweetest face.

Bailey

aka Bairey, Bairey Bae, Bailey Girl

She is the cutest, prettiest little girl kitty. She is a trouble maker. Because she is so little and athletic it's easy for her to get up onto everything she's not supposed to. She's knocked over 4 plants and gets into drawers and cabinets and loves to steal by snowboarding socks out of the drawer in our bedroom. I have no idea why, but it's impossible not to love her cuz of her adorable little face. She loves to play fetch, yes fetch, with her toy mice and she makes the cutest little noises when she does.



First vacation of the summer is coming up soon. More on that later :)

Ke$ha Concert!!!

For Hope's birthday and also cuz I really really wanted to we went to see Ke$ha in concert! It was Ke$ha and Pitbull but we could care less about Pitbull. Ke$ha was awesome! We loaded up on glitter and dressed Ke$ha style. Hope met me and I drove us to pick up our friends Whitley and Lauren who we were going with. The concert was at Fiddlers Green Amphitheatre and it was so hot that day I was scared we were gonna be miserable but it was actually nice because we found a shady spot. Lauren and Whitley met up with other friends so it was just Hope and me singing and dancing to some Ke$ha. Unfortunately, she came out before Pitbull and it was still daylight out which made it hard to see and it didn't feel as concert-like since there were no cool lights and stuff. Still we sung and danced our a$$e$ off and had a great time.

Got that glitter on our eye$

I made my shirt with just some tape and gold glitter spray paint :)

ready to party

 We were excited if you can't tell ;)

 We had fun when Pitbull was on too but I felt like he was on longer than Ke$ha and its annoying because 95% of the songs he plays he's featured in and doesn't even play the whole song. It's dumb. Anyways still a good concert and I am definitely seeing Ke$ha whenever she comes back because I love her!

Warrior!

Having a great $ummer so far ;)