Friends

The last few weeks have been busy with visitors from home. April 27th my friends Kelley, Dallas, and Stephanie flew into town. They stayed through May 2. We had a lot of fun doing the touristy stuff. We went out to a couple clubs, enjoyed the sun, and walked the strip. My hotel room wasn't too big- but it worked!

A king bed- plus a roll away.. makes for a very BIG bed!!!



We went and walked through the Pawn Shop- the show that's on The History Channel- Pawn Stars. We didn't to see any of the cast but we did get kicked out because they were going to film. We tried to work our magic and stay in for the filming.. it didn't work. It was fun to walk through anyway though.





 We spent a couple days walking the strip- eating great food and enjoying some beverages. :-)



We went to a couple clubs two of the nights... We had fun. The pictures can explain themselves.





We had VIP cards which included free drinks until midnight this night.. dangerous- but oh so fun.





One of my favorite pictures of us- Dallas, Kelley, Jessica, and Stephanie 

We also headed to Fremont Street and did the zip line. Stephanie and I have both done the zip lines in Mexico and Costa Rica... high above the treetops, so this one wasn't really a big deal. Kelley and Dallas hadn't and this was a big step for both of them. I think Steph and I both enjoyed watching them...

Getting ready to put on the harness.



 



Jessica, Dallas, and Stephanie.

 We ate at the California Pizza Kitchen one afternoon- Great pizza!!



Jessica and Dallas



Stephanie and Kelley

 





Dallas, Jessica, Stephanie, Kelley



Sunday night we went to the Cirque Du Soleil show, Zumanity.

It was definitely an adult show but all of us enjoyed it. The talent was incredible and we laughed very hard at some different parts of the show.  I have noticed that a lot of shows here in Vegas use the audience a lot, and sometimes that makes the show. They did that during Zumanity and if you know what the show is about at all you can imagine it was pretty funny.

 I don't have that many pictures from when the girls were here because I didn't take too many- most of these pictures are complimentary of Dallas- Thank you Dallas :-)

Vegas is tiring- I understand ladies. :-)

I had a great time with them out here. It was sort of weird for me- just because I've been living in my own little world out here. That's the weird thing about traveling- you sort of have to start your life over every time you start a new assignment.  It's hard- but in some ways it has been good for me too. I'm blessed to have such a huge support system behind me- even when I'm not my same old self- because I have to start over. So- thank you ladies- for coming to see me- and sticking with me even as I change.. and grow. I appreciate you!!!!

Letting The Pictures Tell The Story

This last Saturday I went out with Ashleigh. We headed to the strip to meet up with my friend Katie and her boyfriend. Katie is a nurse I know from Des Moines who is also a traveler. She lives in San Diego right now and came to Vegas for the weekend. The following are some pictures Ashleigh and I took along the way.. Enjoy!

Getting Ready... It's a process!!!



Ashleigh and Jessica



Ashleigh, Katie, and Jessica



Friends.

No.. I did NOT drink out of it!

Catching up....





Having fun with the camera.

Heading home.



Pucker up phantom dude... :-)




This girl is an answer to my prayers...



"The Price of Beauty"
aka- high heels
The End.

Flying!!!

My new favorite hobby... flying!! Right.. like I can call it  a hobby- BUT- if I could, I would!!! I was blessed with the opportunity to actually fly with Aunt Martha and her friend Bob. He owns two different planes and said as long as we pay for the gas he would take us whenever we could go! The plane we took was a three seater (maybe four but he had a big tote sitting in the seat..,not sure if it's made for 3 or 4) that is used for longer distances.  The other plane he does acrobatics in- complete flips in the air.  It's a two seater and I plan to go up again sometime before I leave!! Here are some pictures- you have know that the pictures do NOT do any of the views any kind of justice.. I tried to get some good shots but you will all have to go up for yourself to really see the beauty!

Bob said he had to do a walk around and look at the plane.. so I said- "ok"... and watched him- and then he said, well come on!! You can't fly the plane if you don't know what the engine looks like! So... we walked all the way around and he showed me what to look for before take-off.  Don't ask me to repeat everything.. :-)

Every plane has a number. All of the planes in the United States start with the letter N.  This is how they keep track of what plane belongs where.

It looks like a toy in the this picture.

My seat. I could fly the plane from my seat and so could Bob.  We both had the handle and the pedals.  Most of the gauges were on his side, but we were sitting shoulder to shoulder so I learned a lot!



 We all wore the headsets to talk to each other. One of the most interesting things was to listen to the radio- and the communication between the towers and all of the planes.  We could hear the big jets bringing in tourists and I thought that was amazing. Bob said that is the hardest part of learning to fly, knowing when and how to communicate with the towers. Obviously its a huge job.. staying out of the way of a jet is a big deal that they don't take lightly, even for the "toy planes"! :-)  You don't realize how many planes are in the sky until you're up there flying with them. We flew out of the Las Vegas North airport and flew over the strip, which included the heavy traffic from McCarran.

The strip as we were just taking off gaining altitude.

The Stratosphere. It all looked so small from the air.

Just getting to Lake Mead. Gorgeous.

Not clear at all but it shows us coming up on the Hoover Dam.

Flying over the Hoover Dam.

I love this picture...

After flying over the Hoover Dam and a lot of Lake Mead we landed at The Temple Bar Airstrip. It's a very remote area. We called on the radio and asked for a shuttle service to have breakfast at the Temple Bar.

This is the shuttle they sent us. An old van.. I loved it. We tied up the plane and headed to the bar. The breakfast was great.

After breakfast at the airstrip with Lake Mead behind us.

There was a major difference in the color of the water from Lake Mead to the river. It turned from an aqua like blue to the mucky brownish color.




The edge of the Grand Canyon. They have a lot of flying restrictions when it comes to actually flying over the Canyon in a plane.  I guess it is different in a helicopter.


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OK... so I look like a dork in the picture- but it's because I was SO nervous. This is where I actually took over and "flew" the plane. I have no idea how Aunt Martha can look so relaxed!! Bob told me to put my feet on the pedals and grab onto the handles..so I did. He let go of his side and the plane started turning to the left.. apparently I was putting more weight on my left foot, which makes the plane turn. I evened it out and we were ok... He showed me what most of the gauges mean, where he wanted them, and I took it from there.  The handles turn left and right, push in, and pull out. When you push them in you drop in elevation and of course as you pull them out you gain elevation. Apparently I was nervous and pulling back on them more than I thought I was because at one point we looked and I had made us gain almost a thousand feet in elevation.  Bob said, no problem, I'll fix that and pushed them in and we dropped- fast!! It was a very fun experience!!

Me "controlling" the plane. See my white knuckles?

Bob taking a nap... :-)

The Las Vegas Speedway

The views of the valley with the snow capped mountains around it was breathtaking.

Aunt Martha is on the Air Search and Rescue team- so she is used to flying. She recorded a bunch of stats throughout our flight.. which I guess is what they do for every flight. She's pretty awesome like that!

Overall the flight was amazing. I am so thankful I had the opportunity to do this. The views were gorgeous, and the experience in itself was amazing!!