Vacay 2012

Back in June Stephen and I ventured out west for a little bit of business and a little bit of pleasure.  Stephen had a convention for work in Denver, CO and ever since he found out about it he insisted that we tie our vacation in with it.  I'm not gonna lie: I wasn't thrilled with the idea.  You see, while I would LOVE to go out west and visit states I've never been to, I don't want that to interfere with a good trip to a tropical location (I do realize how snotty this sounds - judge away).  I'm one of those people (are there any others out there like me?) who would LOVE to live in dreamland where every year a trip is taken to a new location in this great nation of ours AND to an exotic location (I told you - snotty).  So, you can imagine how I felt when Stephen came home talking about this "great" idea how I wasn't initially on the band wagon.  Nonetheless the trip was booked and the time came to take it.  Needless to say, we had a fantastic time and I look forward to our next trip to visit uncharted states and see more of this beautiful country we call "home".  So, if you're interested, I'll share with you a little info/pics of our memorable trip and hope to not bore you :).

Itinerary: 

Saturday, June 9 leave for Denver, CO and enjoy a nice breakfast layover in Dallas, TX visiting our great friend, Jenn :)

June 9-12 Denver, CO

On Monday night Stephen and I had the privilege of meeting a dear friend from high school, Katie, and her husband, Josh for Ice Cream.  We enjoyed GREAT ice cream with GREAT company and an amazing view of downtown Denver!

Katie, being Katie.

The 4 of us

Tuesday, June 12 Conference is ova'!  Rent a car and drive an hour to Breckinridge, CO for the night

We ate dinner at this fun little restaurant in downtown Breckinridge called, "The Mother Loaded Tavern".  It was super yummy!

The view from our hotel room right before we left.  Seriously, Breckinridge was breathtaking.  I want to go back there SO badly!

Wednesday, June 13 hit the road, Jack! Off to Rapid City, SD!

On the way to Rapid City we drove on U.S. 71 and traveled through Ardmore, SD.  Turns out Ardmore is a ghost town...SO interesting!  Click here to read more about it!

We arrive and head straight to see Crazy Horse....Crazy Horse is seriously crazy!  They began carving Crazy Horse out of a mountain in the Black Hills in 1947 and they are no where near done with him!  

 A model of what Crazy Horse will look like when he's completed.  He'll be so large that the ENTIRE carving of Mt. Rushmore would be able to fit in his HEAD alone...NUTS!

 This is how far they are today.  You can see that his face has been carved, the area under his arm has been carved and they've marked the side of the mountain where his horse will be carved as well. 

I told Stephen to try and pick his nose....fail.

After many attempts we have a closer attempt at picking Crazy Horse's nose :)

This is a model carving of Crazy Horse.  The real Crazy Horse is 30x this size.  That's humongous!

Still Wednesday, June 13 off to Mount Rushmore!

 Mount Rushmore as we were walking in.  Quite possibly one of the most patriotic places in our country.

 Someone stopped us and told us how they wanted to carve our faces out of a mountain.  Yup.

So cool.

Thursday, June 14 Bear Country time!

Bear Country is a wildlife park that you drive through and you see the animals up close and personal.  The only thing standing between you and them is your car.  It was super cool!

Still Thursday, June 14 hop in the car and drive 2 hours to the Badlands National Park

On your way to the Badlands you drive in and out of the park.  Although this sign makes you think we just left, we actually hadn't gotten there yet.  Those tricksters!

 The Badlands are seriously bad and I mean that in a good way (ya dig?).  It was unreal to see how different this part of our country was.  God is definitely apparent in the Badlands.  Beauty is all around you!

Stephen and I were going to go on a hike and then I saw this sign.  As you may recall, this was only a few short weeks after I found a snake in my backyard.  I just couldn't do it.  So we improvised and climbed the structures instead.

I realize this is upside down.  But, when you get it developed, that doesn't matter and I was too lazy to rotate it :)

 Oh, Silly Stephen!

Me and Jason Aldean were tight that day! 

On Friday morning we woke up and drove back to Denver to catch a flight home.  We had a fantastic trip out west.  I so enjoyed driving through states I had never seen before and getting to spend some quality time with Stephen.  While do live together and we are married, we (unfortunately) don't get to spend a ton of quality, intentional time together.  This trip was fun because we got to experience beautiful sites together as well as invest in some good quality conversations.

I look forward to our next national trip.  I'm all for suggestions!  I would love to hear where your favorite place to visit in America is.  This will help spark ideas for our next trip!