The Things I Did While Traveling to and from Arizona

As I promised earlier today yesterday, here is a view of what I did while taking a vacation to and from Arizona with pictures:

I drove 17 hours my first day to spend the night in Deming, NM. I got stopped by Border Patrol once in New Mexico (read about it here). Before that, I almost got a CD permanently stuck in my mom's CD player.

After the first day, I got hit by a snowstorm that almost scared the pee outta me when I spun across the interstate into the median. Later, I made a pit stop in Tombstone, AZ, where I ate a late lunch at Big Nose Kate's Saloon, visited the Birdcage Theatre, O.K. Corrall, and Boothill Cemetery:

behind the bar at Big Nose Kate's

Birdcage Theatre

A sample of  a headstone at Boothill

Once I began the rest of my trip to Phoenix, I got to enjoy some beautiful scenery, which inspired the header and a button for my blog:

I got to visit Erika's office and take a couple pictures of Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks:

I celebrated New Year's Eve by going bowling in the afternoon to meet new friends, then later that night celebrated the holiday with my best friend and new friends:

me, best friend, new friend :)

On New Year's Day, I went to a nice brunch with best friend and parents, where a really cool replica of Willy Wonka's Chocolate factory was on display. It was made of candy and chocolate. I had my first ever (and second!) IN-N-OUT Burger experience before and after the Fiesta Bowl! (AMAZING) Then I got to cheer my Sooners to a BCS bowl victory, and take my FIRST EVER! picture with OU President David Boren. I also got to see some sorority sisters that I missed!

Chelsea, Erika, Nicole, me, Aubrey

D.Bo! 

OU = Fiesta Bowl Champs!

Throughout the entire week, Erika came home for lunch, I played Lego HP, read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and relaxed and slept. On Wednesday of that week, we went to the Phoenix Suns/L.A. Lakers game for free!

just before tip-off!

Erika also introduced me to Baja Fresh. delish.

Saturday, Erika woke up with a migraine and I ended up having to drive her to her first urgent care visit since she's been in PHX. Then later that night, she stayed at home :( while I went out to Old Town Scottsdale with a bunch of her coworkers (I didn't want to document this night for good reasons)

Sunday I got to stay in PHX for one last night because of snow all over the Southwest!

Monday I got to start heading back home, and got to enjoy MORE beautiful scenery almost the entire drive!:

I spent the evening in Tucumcari, NM, watching the National Championship game in my hotel room with pizza and beer (love that dinner combo!)

Then on my way back on Tuesday, I got pulled over by Texas Highway Patrol for going 72 in a 70 (you can read my rant about that here). I then made it safely home to my good ol' smalltown, OK, USA around 7:00 p.m. to multiple family members that missed me and The Killers waiting to be watched with an aunt and uncle.

Pretty successful trip I think :)

Hope you enjoy the pictures!

p.s. It's also Fab Friends Friday on FTLOB. Check out their site to find great new blogs, including a majority of the ones I follow! http://forblogs.blogspot.com

ahh to New Beginnings . . .

How do I even begin to update everyone on the amazing things that have been going on in my life?!

On Thursday, I got up to complete the second part of my trip to Phoenix for the Fiesta Bowl. I didn't have much of a drive left, and my friend that I was staying with wasn't arriving in Phoenix until almost 9 p.m. I decided to make a pit stop in Tombstone, AZ. If you know nothing about Tombstone, you should look it up and watch the movie "Tombstone." It's a really neat little town that is a lot of fun! Unfortunately, I got there just after they started their last carriage tour, so I didn't get to do that. I basically just walked around for a couple hours after I ate lunch at Big Nose Kate's Saloon. I then went and visited Boothill Cemetery. It's famous for burying a lot of outlaws from Tombstone in it. Again, a really neat little thing.

However, on  my way to Tombstone, I hit a little bout of bad weather. I am completely safe, but at the time it was so freaking scary. I was going about 30 mph under the speed limit because the snow was falling pretty heavily, so naturally I was in the right lane. An 18-wheeler sped past me going probably the speed limit and shot a whole bunch of snow onto my windshield. Because my vision was blocked so badly, I hit a slick spot and started to slide all over the interstate. I ended up doing a couple circles over the left lane and onto the median. Naturally, I was completely freaked out and crying, but I am safe, the car is safe, and I am alive :)

With that aside, once I started making my way to Phoenix from Tombstone again, it was all sunshine the whole way in. I typed Erika's address into my GPS, and it took me to an apartment complex that definitely was not her apartment. SO WEIRD. But once I finally found my way to the correct apartment, I got to hang out with one of Erika's friends because her flight was delayed about an hour. This friend graduated from The University of Connecticut, and we watched the end of the UConn/Stanford game. Needless to say, she wasn't happy about the end of that game. Congrats to the Huskies for having such a great run though. Phenomenal.

I can't even begin to describe the epic-ness of New Year's Eve. I spent the entire evening with my big and best friend. We drank, we danced, we rang in the new year, we lost each other, we had a DAMN good time.  I wish I could tell you EVERYTHING, but some things are better left as a memory :) I will let you know that while we were dancing, a beautiful man kissed me. But it was only a kiss, gotta keep it classy!

Then last night, I got to cheer on my Sooners for their first BCS Bowl victory to snap a 5 bowl losing streak. I had probably some of THE MOST amazing seats you could imagine. I sat in the Connecticut end zone ON THE THIRD ROW. I had SO MUCH FUN. I can't even begin to describe how amazing the game was! I also realized today that every Sooner game I went to for the 2010 season was a Sooner victory. So thank you to my Sooners, and a shout-out to Demarco Murray for winning the Fiesta Bowl like he told me he would :D

I just love new beginnings, and what better way to start 2011 off than with old/best (Erika) and new friends AND a Sooner victory? Sounds like 2011 is going to be even more epic than 2010 was, and I thought 2010 was pretty intense!