Sedona, Sante Fe, Colorado & Chicago

December 1 (Sedona) - When we got up and looked out our window, we realized how insanely beautiful Sedona is. It is filled with huge red rock formations everywhere that are indescribable. Since we could still barely walk, we toured for a bit (mainly from afar which consisted of little walking and no hills) then headed to Sante Fe.

December 2 (Sante Fe) - We toured Sante Fe for the morning then began our long drive to Denver, Colorado for days of amazing snowboarding. YAY!

December 3 - 9 (Colorado) We spent the first few days that we were in Colorado in Denver at my dad's friend Lucila's place. She has the cutest little dog and I have officially fallen in love with Chiwawas! Her name is also Maggie so Eric and her became instant best friends. Our first day of snowboarding took us to Loveland. It was a great hill... or so we thought until we went to Keystone & Vail! Lucilia has a friend with a condo up in the mountains so she got us the key and we spent 3 nights there! It was amazing. It was about a 5 minute drive to Keystone and 30 minues to Vail. So as I have already given away, the two other mountains we boarded were Keystone & Vail which were just breathtaking! We were blessed with perfectly sunny days and it was about 1-4 degrees every day we went. The day before our last day of boarding, they got 14 inches of snow so the conditions were just amazing!! Any boarder/Skiier NEEDS to go there if they get the chance. Unreal! When the 9th rolled around it was sadly time to leave Colorado :( We headed on the road and made it to Omaha where we slept at a sketchy Econolodge... well it wasn't that sketchy but Eric and I have been watching so much CSI cuz its the only DVDs we brought so I have crazy thought in my head which led me to watching the window from 3-6 am cuz I was convinced someone was breakign in. haha. Oh CSI... never again!!

December 10 (Chicago) - We continued our long drive to Chicago and checked into the Double Tree downtown (gorgeous hotel!) The concierge gave us 20% off at this bar called Timothy O'tooles so we headed over there for dinner and to watch a bit of sports (yup, Eric is turning me!)

December 11 (Chicago) - After waking up at our beautiful hotel we walked around downtown and checked out the sites. We then headed over to Ed's house (my dad's friends house where we would be spending the next few days). Eric of course couldn't miss the "BIG" UFC fight so we went to a near by bar to watch it -Buffalo Wild Wings. To anyone who lives near one - this place has the most AMAZING wings everrrr! We sat for a while as the place got pretty packed. 2 guys were walking past us looking for a place to sit but all the tables were full. We had 2 extra chairs so we offered them up. Well to make a long story short, we had a great night with them and they INSISTED on paying our $100.00 bill!! They would not let us pay it! WOO HOO! Great night!!! Note to all: if you see straglers looking for a place to sit. LET THEM SIT WITH YOU!

December 12 (Chicago) - We went to a pancake house for a delicious breakfast before heading to the outlet malls for a long day of Christmas/Chanukka shopping. It is insane how fast all food comes in America. All food is seriously fast food... no matter where you are. We have not waited more than 10 minutes (and that is considered waiting a while) for any food! I don't know if it's just the restaurants we chose but literally as soon as we take a sip of water, our food is infront of us. I have to wonder, how on earth do they cook it that fast?! Probably one of those questions better left unanswered.

December 13 (Chicago) - We went to downtown Chicago in the -15 craziness for a little tour of the city. We went up to the John Hancock observatory to check out the great views from the 96th floor. Obviously, we used our sneaky-ness and avoided paying. It was $18.00 to go to the observatory but free to go to the restaurant/bar if you got something. So we went to the restaurant "checked out the menu" ... "went to the bathroom" aka took lots of pics and left. We then went to the AMAZINGGGGG cheesecake factory for lunch and I brought Eric onto my obsession of that restaurant. We went back to Ed's place, he took us out for an amazing sushi dinner then we went to bed.

December 14 (Chicago --> Washington) - We started our LONG (16 hours to be exact) drive to Washington. Eric and I were playing a word game with two teams (team a = us... team b = us as well... yes we were competing against each ourselves haha...) but we were very heated in our competition that we didn't think to look at the gas tank. Next thing we knew the light was on and the next gas station was 27 miles away. We were happy to learn (yet again) how trusty the reserve tank is... we made it :)

San Diego, Las Vegas & Grand Canyon

November 22 (San Diego) - When we woke up we decided that we just had to start our San Diego adventure at the world famous zoo! The zoo was so much fun. They have this gondolla called the skyfari that takes you to the top of the zoo - super exciting... and not just because it has the coolest name ever. After the zoo we went to TGIF (for my first time!) for some happy hour appetizers - they LOVE their happy hour in America... they have it EVERYWHERE! We ended our night by seeing the movie Due Date - wouldnt really recomend it. We then hit the hay for a busy day to come.

November 23 (San Diego) - We went out to see the military ships on the pier. San Diego has the largest amount of military ships on the Western coast. We decided it would be a good idea to try to enter the military base... boy were we wrong. The movie Due Date taught us nothing - there was a really funny scene where they accidentally crossed the Mexican boarder - I wont give it away but essentially, we felt like we were there. We tried to get in to see the boats and were questioned as if we were terrorists pretty much. They said they would have to call boarder control if we tried to get in. He said he would, "give us a break" and let us turn around. AH. So we quickly headed out and checked out the 1 military boat that is for tourists to check out. After that we drove through old town which is the original part of San Diego. It's a really cute area that I would recommend going on the weekend. Unfortunately we were there during the week so there wasn't too much going on. We ended our day by heading over to La Jolla (where we were staying - a stunning wealthy beach town) and walked around town. It is absolutely gorgeous out there!

November 24 (Las Vegas) - We woke up giddy with excitement because today we were heading to VEGAS BABY! WOO HOO! We got onto the strip and checked into our hotel - Planet Hollywood. We went to Margaritaville for dinner and got the most massive nachos I have EVER seen. Could literally feed a family of 10... and they would STILL probably have leftovers! We then saw the unbelievable Cirque Du Soleil (Mystere). It is insane to see the strength these people have. They do these tricks as if its nothing. I want to try to explain it to you but words just wont do it justice - pretty much you ALL need to go see it! We then headed over to a bar called Kahunaville (inside the Treasure Island). It is an oxygen bar. I have heard of these but hadent actually been to one until here. Its a really funny experience. They put a tube in your nose and hook you up to flavoured oxygen for 20 minutes. You control the dials to select the flavor you want. It feels so funny but REALLY wakes you up! We all had so much energy that night and I am officially an oxygen addict! We hung out at the bar for a while and met some people then decided to wander the strip and see what else it had to offer. We saw a bar called Rockbar that was selling 80 ounce guitars filled with your drink of choice. Done and done. we were walking around town with pina colota filled guitars around our neck. Too funny! After ending the night with Eric playing his " air guitar" for quite a while infront of the hotel, we went to bed.

November 25 (Las Vegas) - The 25th is a blur and between 3 people, we can't remember for the life of us what we did that day haha. But at night, we went to a peep show with Holly Maddison (High Hefner's ex fiance) which was sooo funny and very entertaining. We decided the night before was unbeatable so we grabbed our guitars, refilled them and hit up Rockbar again. We ended the night at the casino, and the rest is history.

November 26 (Las Vegas) - Today was black friday so of course we thought - Shopping!! Jenna and I walked around the mall for a while but we slept through all the good sales so we didn't buy too much. After our little shopping adventure, sadly, Jenna left :(. Eric and I decided to hit up the casino and this is when I learned that I should be a professional roulette player. I told Eric before we went that it was going to land on 10 so I put $2 on 10 and VOI LA - 10!! I won 70 bucks! I decided to cash out and try again later. Eric and I went to the conceirge to discuss our plans for that night. We found out our concierge was the best connected man EVER so he got us on guest list at Pure in Caesars Palace with no cover and no line (which is HUGE for Vegas). It was a lot of fun but we didn't stay for too long because we felt like we were in a pinball machine. There were people EVERYWHERE. We literally didn't have to even hold ourselves up. We could just lean back and the huge crowd kept us standing. So we went to the casino to test out my roulette talent. I predicted 8 and ... 8!!! I won another 70 bucks off of 2 bucks!!

November 27 (Las Vegas) - We relaxed during the day, went to the casino for a bit where I won another 70 bucks (ooo yeee) while Eric watched the Leafs game at the bar. We went to trusty Toby (concierge our hotel) to discuss our plans for the night. He got us on guestlist at all the clubs at the Palms again with no cover or line. We went to the Playboy club and the Moon which were both a lot of fun... and free :D

November 28 (Last Vegas --> The Grand Canyon) - We sadly checked out of our hotel that morning and I had to accept the fact that being a roulette player was not going to be the way I make a living for the rest of my life. How sad. But I did go to the casino one last time (i swear i'm not addicted) and won 35 bucks... but then ended up only winning 20 in the end cuz I got greedy... It was definitely time to head out. When we got close to the Grand Canyon, it started to SNOW! OY! -6 and snowing... what??! It was hilarious to see people trying to drive through the snow. They were literally going 5 miles. I'm sure it was the first time many of them have seen snow. We thought the hike would only be about 5 hours in total... turns out its 4-6 hours down the canyon and 6-10 up the canyon... and we had no accommodation at the bottom because they sell out 1 year in advance! ... what to do. They said if we go at 7 am the morning of, they might have a cancellation that we could get to stay in a dorm at the ranch at the bottom of the canyon.

November 29 (The Grand Canyon) - We got up and waited to find out about accommodation. YAY! People must have seen the snow and freaked out and cancelled. WOO HOO! We got 2 dorm beds! Yay for snow! It was a really good thing we got accommodation cuz our backup plan was to do the whole hike in 1 day but we then saw signs everywhere about how many people have had to be rescued trying to do it all in 1 day. There is even a book called, "Death in the Grand Canyon." We started hiking at about 9:30 and after about 30 minutes, there was no more snow, the sun came out and it was actually really beautiful out. The Grand Canyon is indescribable! My standards of beauty have been raised WAY too much after seeing it. Words seriously can't describe it. 4 hours and 300 pictures later, we got to the bottom. There is a huge mule pen at the bottom where the mules sleep for people who take a mule ride up and down. We went to play with the mules and were petting them but apparently we started some fights. They were so territorial. As soon as we would pet one, another one would start to bite it and one actually got on its 2 front legs and rammed its but into the others face to knock it. We decided we didn't want to be the cause of a mule death, so we left. We went to our dorms and my dorm came with a little friend. There was a little mouse running through the dorm. Ah.

November 30 (The Grand Canyon) - We woke up and could barly walk. My calves were in SOO much pain... oh perfect. I can barely walk and I have to hike up the canyon 6-10 hours. Well, as beautiful as the canyon is, we decided we couldn't stay forever so we powered through and headed up. After 6 hours and every muscle in our bodies burning, we made it up! YAY! We headed to Sedona which is where we are now... bed bound... because we literally cannot move. I am scared for us to wake up tomorrow because I fear how immobile we will be... wish us luck :)
P.S. Both Eric and I wanted to wish his Grandma a BIG happy birthday! xox