Signing off....

I know this is a bit late (holidays...yeah know!), but wanted to thank everyone for checking in on me from time to time on my blog. I was gone for 4 months and there is no doubt that it was a life changing experience.

I went from Pennsylvania to Ohio to Indiana to Illinois to Wisconsin to Minnesota to South Dakota to Wyoming to Idaho to Oregon! Then it was from Oregon to California to Nevada to Arizona to Mexico to New Mexico to Texas to New Mexico to Colorado to Kansas to Missouri to Illinois to Indiana to Kentucky to West Virginia to Maryland to Pennsylania!

This photo is from one of my favorite spots on the trip, white sands. I feel that life is like climbing a mountain (or in this case a big sand dune), it's hard, and there's lots of bumps and things that slow you down, and sometimes you might have to crawl. However, if you don't persist and follow your heart, you'll never get to the top and achieve your greatest.

Almost home

Well, my last days consisted of travelling thru Denver, St. Louis, and Louisville (to name the highlights). My fav was St. Louis (missouri that is)...maybe it was because we got to visit the Budwesier brewery! Just kidding. It was a cool city with amazing buildings and a vibe kind of like an east coast city.

It was a 10 hour drive in the rain from Louisville but I got home just in time for Christmas eve and a nice holiday!

Taos Ski valley

Finally got to go skiing. The mountain was beautiful. There's not a ton to do compared to other ski resorts, but enough to occupy you. And the skiing was phenomenal! There was one incident where I "accidentally" went down a black diamond that was way too hard for me! I tried to ski to another slope but ended up in a glade run and couldn't get out. So, I ended up sliding down the hill to a point that was not as steep and I could get my skiis on. Fun times.....normally I wouldn't go on such hills, because I don't like to fall when I am skiing. But sliding down the hill on my butt was a blast!

Lucky for us, there just so happened to be a beer festival at the ski resort after skiing was closed. I have to say I have been to a few beer festivals in my day, but this one was great because it was mostly all colorado and new mexico breweries I never heard of. The best was marble brewery in albequerqe (spelling?). They age their special blend in old bourban barrels, so you got a coconuty flavor. It was so yummy, I had to keep going back for more.

Santa Fe

Santa Fe is a pretty city for sure. Had a great dinner at Pasquales. Best food and wine of the trip. Went to the Georgia O'Keefe museum and the Museum of Fine Arts. If you've never been, I suggest heading to Canyon Drive. There are more galleries in one area than I have ever seen. There weren't any other people in the galleries we went in, so it was a very special and personal experience.

UFOs.....

So, since I used to have a fascination with UFOs and aliens I of course had to make a stop in Roswell. Didn't see any aliens though :( However, did go to the UFO museum. I BELIEVE.....

White Sands

White Sands National Monument was awesome! The pictures don't do it justice. If you ever go, I definately recommend not purchasing saucers to slide down the dunes. It was way more fun just to jump or roll down!

Juarez is a no no

So, the big plan today was to go to Juarez, Mexico. Drove all the way to El Paso, TX to walk over the border. Needed an oil change, so stopped into Pepboys. The guy was asking us where we were heading and I mentioned Juarez. He is actually from there himself but now lives in Texas. He enlightened us on all the violence currently going on in Juarez relating to the warring mafia members. I was unaware of this but since the beginning of the year there has been hundreds of murders. Apparently not a good place to go and decided against it since I did not feel like being hit by a stray bullet or getting kidnapped and held for ransom. Since we had been looking for a place for an oil change for the last couple of days and suprisingly couldn't find a place to go, I felt for sure it was divine intervention that we ended up at this Pepboys and found out what had been going on there. So, I am safe and sound and now in Almagordo, NM. Heading to White Sands tommorrow.

Chirahachua and Coronado Natl forest

Decided to visit Chirahachua after Saguaro (btw i am in Arizona). Got there around sunset, so got a quick hike in and got to climb some rocks. Since we couldn't have campfires, we decided to find another camping location other than Chirahachua. Ended up in Coronado Nat'l forest. I've never seen as many stars in my life (it beat out Tahiti). When we woke up the photo pasted is what I was suprised to see. Both beautiful spots that are not well travelled by tourists. I highly recommend.

Saguaro National Park

Had a nice hike in Saguaro national park. A pretty mellow, relaxing hike, until I encountered a naked man running through the park. Sorry, ladies and gentleman, no photos.

puerto penasco

So upon leaving Vegas I decided I really wanted to go to the beach, so we took a slight detour and headed into Mexico to Puerto Penasco, a beach town on the Sea of Cortez. I have only been to Tijuana in Mexico so it was fun to have another Mexican adventure. We ended up staying in probably what is considered the red light district (it was cheap). Luckily all went well except for 1) the lipstick on my pillow (was this place frequented by prostitutes?) and 2) noisy people outside most of the night including a nice wake-up call from the man at the desk when he blasted mexican music louder than any music I've ever heard (even at a concert) from his truck outside. I didn't take any photos of from where we stayed, but here are some nice photos of the beach. A cool thing about the town was that it was all sand, even most of the roads. There was no distinction between the beach and the rest of the town. The tourist part of the town was fun to walk around and the beach of course was great! Sarah and Tommy look forward to an awesome x-mas/housing gift! And if you are ever there definately rent an ATV.
P.S. You now need a Passport to go back into the US from the mexico border

The Palms

So, last time I was in vegas it was for my Bachelorette party and I really wanted to go to the Palms to the Ghostbar. Cause it was so far off the strip and there were so many other fun spots to hang we never made it. So, this time I was determined to go! Before hitting up the Palms, we went to see Phantom of the Opera. I fully enjoyed it, except for the indian man sitting next to me who kept talking the whole time...but I still enjoyed the show. I think we were 6th row. So we had a great view! Earlier in the day we were trying to figure out a plan to get into the clubs at the palm for free and without a wait. Luckily I found an obscure link online that allowed me to sign up to be on the guest list. So, we got in free to the Playboy club and Moon (with a roofdeck overlooking the strip from the top floor). I opted against ghostbar since the two clubs we went to, are actually newer. We had lots of fun and danced all night!

Vegas baby!!!

Finally made it to Vegas. Was pretty exhausted from the last couple of nights so we decided to take it easy for our first night. We went down to fremont street since I've never been and saw the Fremont Street experience. Found a blow up crown bottle and ate a deep fried twinkie (boy did I have powdered sugar everywhere). Drove amelia around the strip a bit and checked out the adult stores and wedding chapels (checked out meaning drove by them...). Tried to buy something at a pawn shop but it was closed. How does a pawn shop in vegas close at 4:30pm? Now we are nice and rested for a fun night tonight at the Palms! Also, going to see Phantom of the Opera at Venetian. Yeah!

Finally in my favorite city

Made it to LA! Again, only have one day so had to make the most of it. Met up with a friend from high school and went for a fancy dinner at Koi. Another celebrity siting...David Spade with a bevy of beauties of course. The food was awesome. I highly recommend. After dinner we met up with my friend Charlie and he took us to a bunch of cool dive bars. Had to hit up El Pollo Loco for breakfast, then it was off to vegas! I didn't really take many photos in LA so the ones posted are on our trip to get breakfast in Charlie's van. Amelia got the back with the bean bag chair!

Malibu!

Malibu...another place I have never been. So nice. And had a Gary Busey siting.

Santa Barbara

The cool thing about my trip through Cali is that I am getting to go to a bunch of places I have never been, even though I've been to California 4 times I believe. So, our next stop was Santa Barbara. We only had a night so we had to make the most of it. We ended up finding a hostel (the Motel 6 was pricey here!) so we could spend our money on enjoying SB instead. Checked out the pier, had a great dinner then explored the bars of SB. Saw a reggae band, sang some karaokee, and end up at the shitty kitty club. Made a few friends along the way and had fun times. The Mexican prostitute who tried to pick up Amelia was not that fun, but I told him we were a couple, so he finally left us alone.