Viva Las Vegas

December 18-21

GRI-LAS

My friend from college, Lauren moved to Las Vegas to go to grad school. Before she moved, I told her that I would come visit, but when it was cold here. I thought I had a foolproof plan. Turns out the temperature dropped ten degrees during my stay and hiked the day the left. Boo. No matter the temperature, a post finals trip to see Lauren (and Spencer, her husband) was still great!

 This is my type of Christmas.. with palm trees in the background! 

Left:
SLC
Setebello
Pizza

Right:
Vegas
Setebello
Pizza

both with Lauren!

Lake Mead

On our way to the Hoover Dam, we accidentally went to Arizona for a few minutes.

Lauren said she did that on purpose so I could get a picture of the sign. Bless her heart. 

 Looking down from the bridge in the previous pictures

Ready for a night on "The Strip"

 

 Which one is from Paris, France and Paris, Las Vegas? 

Two thumbs up for this restaurant that I don't know anything about, but I bet it's good! 

The gang in the Christmas Wonderland at the Bellagio

#treeselfie

Winner, winner!
Chicken dinner!

The Fremont Street Experience

Heaven in Las Vegas

Chicago memorabilia on the wall. My heaven. =]

Spencer appreciating doughnut production at Krispy Kreme.. 

Like a kid in a candy (doughnut?) store.

West Coast specialty: In-N-Out Burger

Back to GRI. If you look closely there is farm equipment near the runway. 

Props to LAS airport. It took me ten minutes to get through security and to my gate. So nice. 

Also, how much does it cost to power the lights of Las Vegas? 

My stats as of December 2014: 

• 4% of the world visited
• Estimated mileage: 85,480
• been to:
• 5 continents
• 12 countries
• 16 states (NE, SD, CO, IA, KS, MO, WV, WY, UT, NM, IL, AL, TN, WI, ND, NV)

Oh, Canada!

October 2014

On our way back from Tennessee, Jo and I had discussed how we enjoyed traveling together and cooked up a plan to visit Canada. Why Canada? Because it is the closest country to us and we had not been there yet. Jo's friend Molly (from college) joined our adventure. 

We decided to visit Winnipeg, Manitoba because it was a straight shot north on the interstate. That was the only thing aside from lodging that we had planned. The lady at Customs did not appreciate our spontaneous adventure. "What are you doing in Canada? Why Winnipeg? Do you know anyone here?" "Just visiting. Straight north from us. No." Bottom line: have some sort of plan when crossing the border. Anything. 

This was the closest thing we got to a sign.

We think our statue game is pretty strong.

Overlooking downtown Winnipeg

Crazy Canadian wildlife

Night on the town!

Driving to Lake Winnipeg

Explorin'

Picnic at the lake

How Canadian

Manitoba Legislative Building 

I left Winnipeg with some Jets gear. Thanks Glen! 

Before we left Canada, we visited the University of Winnipeg. Molly did extensive research on the class schedule and we had picked out a class to sit in on. We found our class and were getting ready to walk in when we saw the professor go by with a stack of papers. The stack of papers turned out to be tests, as we were there during midterms. We ended up not going in the classroom.

Our last picture before leaving Canada

On the highway in Minnesota and it suddenly turned into a dirt road. 

Joey in Fargo, North Dakota

FYI: If you are ever in Fargo, do yourself a favor and stop at the Pita Pit for some food. We stopped on the way there and back because it is so delicious. Or find a location near you! 

My stats as of October 2014:

• 4% of the world visited
• Estimated mileage:  83,510
• been to:

• 5 continents
• 12 countries
• 15 states