from the Northwest to the Midwest

I'm all packed up and ready to go!
day 1 Portland > Boise

leaving Portland was hard, lots of tears on the way out of town. I'd been saying for a while that I wanted it to rain on my last day in Oregon... well, I got what I wanted. I didn’t expect it to follow me my entire trip though! I made my first stop in Baker City for dinner. Holy cow! Expensive gas! I wanted to stay, and part of me wishes I would have. But I’m glad I could at least stop there since it is where my life (especially my Oregon life) began.
Eventually made it to Boise after a ton of terrible weather. I made it about two hours later than I had wish I would have. My hotel bed was screaming my name.

I had really wanted to edit pictures since I had (and still have) a list of photos to get to people but only edited a few ring pictures for a friend of Anna's and went to bed.

Day 2, Boise > Leihi
7:45 am, my alarm goes off. I woke up really tired, wanting to stay in bed. Such a great bed. I made a yummy waffle and yoinked a poppy seed muffin, and a box of cereal. (doesn't my breakfast look yummy!? and you can see my car waiting to take me on my journey)




The drive from Boise to Leihi was relatively uneventful, I was really looking forward to getting to Utah to see Alisa. I had to stop on the side of the road to take some pictures though- the scenery was too beautiful to pass up. Nothing feels better to a photonerd than a roadside photo shoot! I felt bad putting Alisa on hold- but I’m so happy I stopped.


As I got closer, Alisa called to tell me there was a huge storm heading my way. High winds, huge hail, etc. I told her I was looking at the storm cloud up ahead. As soon as I got off the phone with her, the radio issued a storm warning saying hail up to 1/4 in and winds up to 60 MPH!
Welcome to Utah is right!


Seeing Alisa was great. It was fun seeing her house and the places she’s been talking about the last few months. I had a good time making fun of a neighboring town, “American Fork”. I mean really... who names a town American Fork!? That night we went to see the movie The Bounty Hunter. It was fun. Got home from the movie with enough time to skype with Joe and edit my first picture from SS.

I think only my true photonerds will appreciate this one ;)


Day 3, Leihi > Greeley
I woke up and enjoyed a bowl of captain crunch before hitting the road to head to Colorado. I couldn’t believe that it was snowing! I guess I should have expected that though. Driving through/near Park City was really fun. Driving through the snow reminded me of my days in Flagstaff. Really beautiful. I wish it wasn’t so cold so I could have gotten out and taken a few pictures. I suppose I still could have, but I wasn’t dressed appropriately. I stopped at a really cool rest stop because I needed to pee, but I wished that I wasn’t alone AND that it wasn’t as cold because they had a hiking trail that went up pretty high, and I can only imagine would have been a beautiful view to photograph.

I was hoping to make it to CO before 5 PM so that I could make it to a cheer clinic that Brodie was putting on. Unfortunately, I was feeling drowsy on the road which essentially caused me to pop open a rockstar which of course made me have to pee every 30 minutes. Which isn’t necessary a bad thing when feeling like I want to take a nap while driving.

One word to describe Wyoming: BORING! So much so, that I'm not even going to bore you with pictures! (besides, I only took one of the "Welcome to Wyoming" sign.)

Can anyone tell me where my Kiddo is?!?! I haven't seen him in a few years! Can you help me find him?

I pulled into Greeley a little later than I had hoped for, and missed the clinic. But at least I made it alive, and in once piece! We went back to his house so I could drop my stuff off and then headed out for dinner and margaritas. I honestly don’t think I’ve had mexican food that good in a long time.

There he is!!!!!
Me and my kiddo had a great time, and wrapped up the evening with some more drinks and Anchor Man.

Day 4, Greeley
I woke up with only a minor headache! Got ready for the day, and headed out in search for a B of A. Apparently Greeley only believes in ATMs. :/ Brodie took me to a really fun place for lunch called JB’s. It’s a place similar to Sonic, but they also have an indoor dining area. You seat yourself, and menu’s are already at the table. When you decide what you want, you pick up a red phone at your table and “call” the kitchen. They are apparently famous for their root beer and after ordering one, I can understand why. It was delish! We went to the mall in Fort Collin’s for a little shopping. I found two really cute pairs of shoes for summer, and had my eyebrows threaded for the first time!
I was really scared going into it, but couldn’t be happier with the results, and swear I may never go back to waxing.
After the mall we headed back to Greeley and decided we would stop at a physic that we had seen on the way to the mall. I’ve never done anything like this before, but have always wanted to try. I’m still not sure how much I believe any of it, but I’m really glad I did it. She read my palms and this is the general run down of what she told me: I'm going to die at 87; will get married only once; have three kids; happy future, lots of smiling/laughing; WILL leave for nyc; will meet someone in NE (or maybe she was talking about CO?)
Off to the bars we go! Where else have you ever heard of “all you can drink”!? Only in Greeley! Whiskey River

Day 5, Greeley
I had a blast at the Whiskey River drinking with Bonnie, Tammy, and of course, Brodie. We woke up and got ready the next morning, Brodie got the phone call saying that we can get in to get a ghost tour Stanly hotel.
It was fascinating. Unfortunately, we didn’t experience any ghosts first hand. Stephen King visited the hotel which inspired him to pump out The Shining only 7 days later. I have neither read the book or seen the movie, but they are apparently nothing alike, but there was a TV mini series that’s much closer to the book. The Shining was actually filmed at Timberline Lodge in Mt. Hood OR because the shots weren’t isolated enough at the actual hotel.

Had lunch at Chick-fil-a since we don’t have them in Oregon, OR Nebraska. It was so yummy. Anyone wanna tell me why they have HUGE pepper grinder at Chick-fil-a???

Brodie and I took the night off and played it pretty easy with some Cold Stone, Taco Bell, and Will & Grace. :)

Day 6, Greeley
waking up without a hangover? What’s that?
Brodie’s parents made us a delicious breakfast so that we’d be well fed for the Denver Mile High flee market. The flee market was quite an experience. I was sad I didn’t find anything, but we sure did get Brodie’s dad and Mick (Brodie’s dog) hooked up with some new Bronco’s gear! I was hoping to find a new vintage camera to add to my collection, but no luck. Brodie only found beer- so I guess we were both unsuccessful. (oh and an airbrush tattoo, see!)
After that we headed back to Greeley to meet up with Bonnie and her daughter Breanne. Back in 2004 when Brodie and I worked together for Cheer Ltd., we taught a camp at the school he was coaching and Breanne was one of the seniors on the team. It’s hard to believe that she’s now old enough to drink! Not that I minded... I had a great time with her.

Day 7, Greeley
I decided to stay in Greeley an extra day so I could help Brodie with a last minute practice. It was a slow day just relaxing and trying to take this alone time to catch up on my blog and finally edit a few more pictures from the Supershoots workshop!
I had a really fun practice with Brodie and his kiddo’s. I even stunted around a little! Ahhhhh, when will I ever learn not to toe!? We went back to Chick-fil-a for dinner (yes, again). Yum, yum, yum! We went back home bound and determined to find our old cheer DVDs so we could do the dances together, but no such luck. So we put on "Fired Up" instead and I edited more pictures.

Overall I had a great trip to Greeley. I had a great time everyday, and made a few new friends here too! Guess Brodie’s not the only one I’ll be back to visit next time!

Day 8, Greeley > Omaha
I woke up *sorta* early and got all my belongings packed up to finally head to Nebraska. Got in a quick breakfast with Mick and then hit the road. The trip from Greeley to Omaha was really uneventful.

Made it onto Polk just in time to see Brandon for a quick second before he headed to his new home to do a little unpacking himself.
After unloading my car, I realized that all of the boxes I had packed in the car, were the wrong ones. All of the stuff I had planned on taking to NE is still back in Portland and all the stuff I had planned on saving till I got to NY is here with me. Oh well.

In the end, I had a really wonderful trip. I’m really glad I took my time getting out here. That was one of the things I hated the most about my move from Arizona to Oregon. I got there in such a rush, I didn’t take my time and enjoy every minute of it.

Hopefully the next time I post, it will be about a baby!!! Meg is due any day now and is doing wonderful. I had a lot of fun going to her Doctor's appointment and her last birthing class with her. We're all excited for little Garbonza to get her, but are hoping she can hold out for May 20th! So please keep Meg and Garbonza in your thoughts and prayers.
Until next time...