Roadtrip!!!!!

There has been absolutely no wedding planning going on the past couple weeks.  I can't even lie about it.

Literally the middle of nowhere. So hot!

There has been; however, an awesome road trip. We drove from Washington to Las Vegas.  On our way there, we drove down through Idaho, out into the middle of nowhere eastern Nevada.  Just open desert and highway.  It was a sight I've never seen before, and to be honest, one that I really don't need to see again.

Left: View from our sweet suite. Right: View while
laying poolside

Vegas was amazing.  I had never been there before, and it was crazy! Upon check in at The Paris, the nice lady helping us asked if we wanted to upgrade to a suite for a nominal price. Of course we said yes. I had never laid in a more comfortable bed in my life. This suite was literally as
large as our small house, complete with a jacuzzi tub, walk in closet, and bidet. How to actually use the thing, I don't know and wasn't adventurous enough to try. I thoroughly enjoyed walking around and people watching all the while drinking my yard of margarita. Our time in Vegas was short (only 2 nights) but it is definitely somewhere I have to go again just to see more sights and take in a show or two.

The Village in Mammoth

Our return trip home was a bit different. On our way out of Vegas, we stopped at the In-N-Out Burger. Never having been down in California (save for a trip to Disneyland when I was 4), we HAD to stop and eat there. Everything I've ever heard about the place was true. Cheap and delicious. We made it to Mammoth Lakes, Ca for our overnight stop. It's definitely somewhere we want to go back. We ate at a local restaurant called Base Camp Cafe. Yum Yum! I highly recommend if you're in the area. We mosied around The Village before heading back to the hotel for the night.

Chris' idea for the next day was to drive through Yosemite.  At first I was reluctant because it was going to add a couple extra hours to the day of driving, but am I glad that we did! The park was absolutely gorgeous! We stopped along the highway that goes through the park for some photos, and continued on our way.  We eventually met up with good old I-5, stopping for dinner in Medford, Oregon. It took us a little while to find somewhere to eat, but we settled on Kaleidoscope Pizzeria and Pub. On our adventures we try to support local businesses when possible, and so far we haven't been disappointed. Kaleidoscope has a wine list with about 100+ wines, and somewhere around 12-15 microbrews on tap. Needless to say, Chris was a happy camper. Not only was the food fairly priced, but the barbecue chicken pizza we got was mouthwatering. When dinner was finished, we continued our last leg of the trip for the night. We pulled into Hood River, Oregon at about 2:30am, waking my good friend up to let us in her house.

I love Hood River. It's a small, tourist town, but the atmosphere is definitely chill. We stopped for lunch at the 6th Street Bistro and Loft which is known for its organic, local menu and beer selection. Since Chris had never been there, I gave him the abbreviated tour passing by the expensive gift shops, all-natural eateries, and yuppie sports shops.  We did stop at Dog River Coffee Co. because it's my favorite. The atmosphere is hip and modern mixed with retro details like the old coffee and hot chocolate push-button machine. The walls have pieces by local artists for sale along with a guitar hanging next to a sign that reads "Play Me." I admit I was sad to leave Hood River, but knowing we were only three hours from home was good motivation to get back on the road.

We left Hood River so late that we decided to stop in Yakima for dinner before we made it the rest of the way home. If you don't want to go to a typical chain restaurant in Yakima, head to Miner's Burgers in Union Gap. It is the quintessential burger joint. The Big Miner is quite literally as big as my face! They put a whole tomato on each burger, and the fry sauce is killer. As our last "vacation dinner" it did not let us down.

Home again, and back to work, but this was a great trip that we will forever talk about. "Hey, remember that first big road trip we went on? How much fun was that?!"

PS: my camera is super special and won't load onto my computer. So all I have are pictures I took on my phone. Never fear though, I documented everything!