Chicago...Vegas

The travels continue. Thanks to Jet Blue I visited my friends Tonya and Jared and Chelsea and Jeff this past week. They were both quick trips, but there was a little time to sqeeze in some fun. Tonya and I went downtown for some shopping and good food. We also had time for a quick run on the beach before I had to leave.

Tonya and her baby Sam

In Vegas we took Karlee to the strip for the first time. She loved the water. She was so excited to see the water inside the Bellagio.

it was beastly hot, but we still had fun

Outdoor Girl #2

I know it's hard to believe, but I went camping 2 weeks in a row. This time a group of friends headed up to Jackson Hole for a quick river rafting trip. I missed the trip last year when i was in the hospital so I was determined to make the trip this year. I have always been scared of the river due to the many horror stories I have heard. i knew the trip would be a good time even if i didn't go down the river. I skipped the morning run to get in a quick run up the canyon. We almost got rained out in the afternoon, but the weather got better so we hit the river. It was actually a lot of fun and not nearly as scary as I imagined. It was so much fun to spend the weekend with old friends.

Courtney and I drove up to Jackson Hole. We had fun catching up. We talked and laughed the whole way there.

For $20 we get 2 runs down the river, camp sites, and all our meals. It is quite the setup.

sitting around the campfire

I Love NYC

Thanks to the Jet Blue all you can jet pass, we took a quick weekend trip to New York City. We got hooked up with a great deal on our hotel. Even though we were only there for a couple of days, we packed it full of fun.

we walked across the brooklyn bridge from brooklyn to manhattan

theme of the day-CLOSED
we saw In the Heights and Mary Poppins


Matt Damon's movie trailer was right by our hotel. We saw him 2 days in a row.
we love NYC
our appetizer at the family style restuarant
The trip was quick but totally worth it. We also met up with a friend to have dinner at the Burger Joint. We shopped for purses, hit H&M, walked around, ran to make it to the subway to transfer to the train to get home and had a lot of fun.

Seattle

I saw an email for a conference in Seattle. I like Seattle and wanted to go back. I talked to Anne. She wanted to go too. We had a great time on our trip. Here's our top 10 list for a successful trip to Seattle...

10. have picture taken by drunk couple in botanical gardens

9. search for Bill Gates' house. we're not really sure if we actually found it.

8. search for subaru driving, dog loving, chaco wearing recyclers but instead we found this

7. see salmon spawn and die (yep that's a dead fish in the water)
6. see gum wall (that really is a wall full of chewed gum) and take picture with pig

5. get restuarant suggestions from beer loving, fudge selling boy at the space needle

4. eat dinner in the dark under a giant umbrella on bainbridge island

3. starbucks. they are everywhere-10 in a 1 mile radius. we discovered the pumpkin steamer and the apple cider drinks. so yummy.

2. successfully drive around seattle with maps, lots of maps

1. tasting tour of Pike's Place market with a local

I loved Seattle. It was so much fun. We had great weather the whole time which made me like it even more.

Ballard Locks

Have you ever heard of the Ballard Locks in Seattle? Ya, me neither until I went to them this weekend. It is a definite must see on a trip to Seattle. Fresh water meets salt water at very different levels. They raise and lower the water level and boats to allow passage through the locks. Salmon also happen to pass through the locks on their return to where they were born. According to one tour guide the salmon "freak out" when they enter the fresh water again and jump like crazy. This doesn't seem like the type of thing that would normally interest me, but I was completely fascinated.

Outdoor Girl #1

Outdoor Girl is back...at least for a couple weeks. Patty, Anna, Carrie, and I headed up to Bear Lake for a quick overnighter. We left a little later than planned and arrived a little later than planned, but it was sure a fun trip. It was so pretty being up there. Anna and I went for a nice long bike ride in the morning. We hoped to go to the lake, but it was pretty overcast. We ended up relaxing in the tent for a while before heading back. It was a fun little outdoorsy get away.


Carrie and Patty in the tent

before my longest bike ride of the season. i want to bike all the way around next year.

gas station stop on way out of town. we also stopped for shakes on the way out and pizza in Logan.
Stay tuned for Outdoor Girl #2...