lifelong journey.

"the truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. for it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers..." -m. scott peck

this is what i am doing. the journey has only begun... and i'm not sure there is a final destination but i am ready to soak up everything i can along the way.

ten days.

of fun adventures with my some of my best girlfriends! 

First stop....

ZIONnationalpark:

we went to the lower & middle emerald pools and then to weeping rock. 
the scenery was amazing, of course. we loved it.

ST. GEORGE:

we had fun up on the dixie state rock & getting late night dessert at denny's. 

ohhh and spotting polygamists at walmart was quite the experience as well... there were so many! holly was a bit freaked out... she had never seen them before. haha

ARIZONA: 

we stopped at the hoover dam to show holly a little piece of the grand canyon.

i had never seen this side of it either and it was really cool. the turquoise water was so pretty against the red rock... made me miss lake powell!

VEGAS:

we scored an upgrade to a "state room" at the excalibur (only $45 a night right now) and layed at the pool in the HOT vegas heat. we then readied up for a big night out on the stip. we ate at hardrock cafe & showed holly all the sites (including the fountains at bellagio... my fav). our night didn't last as long as nights in vegas should. we were dead by the time it hit 1am realizing that it felt like 2am to us and seeing as we are too young to do anything in vegas anyway we headed back to our hotel by taxi... yes we took a taxi back down the stip. that is just about how tired we were.

L.A.:

our time in L.A. began when we pulled up to our "hotel" and I just bust up laughing. nothing was even really funny but just after staying at the excalibur in vegas and pulling up to what ended up being a hostel that didn't even compare just made me laugh. the complimentary breakfast was nice though. 

our first night we drove through bel air & beverly hills & then went to hollywood blvd. to see all the celebrity stars & shop. then we spent the rest of our time there on santa monica & venice beach.

santaCRUZ:
we loooved santa cruz. we only spent a few hours there on our way to san fran but it was such a fun beach town. we rode the sky lift at the amusement park along the boardwalk & spotted some seals swimming near the shore.

SAN FRANCISCO:

i don't think i can describe san fran in words... we all just agreed that there is this "feeling" there that is so different than other U.S. cities and it is just so unique. it is probably my favorite next to NYC now. we definitely got some good exercise going up and down the hills of the city. the golden gate bridge was so fun to see and the harbor area such as "fisherman's wharf" and "pier 39" were really cool. we also took a ferry across the bay to Tiburon and had lunch on a dock there. it was beautiful... i honestly want to retire there, haha. my brother tyler was actually on a trip in san fran at the same time with his girlfriend Jamie's family visiting her grandparents so i ran into them at pier 39... that was funny! we also found the house that they used for Full House (my all-time fav. show growing up) so that was exciting.... too bad uncle jesse & joey weren't really there :/ 

oh yeah, and after a horrific experience celia, alicia, and sav had at the hostel they were supposed to stay at, they ended up staying at Holly's family friend's with us but they were so welcoming and it was fun to get to know them. so overall, san fran was our favorite part of the trip!

good ol' UTAH: 

after our many fun adventures we eventually made it back to utah-- and luckily no semi-trucks ran into us this time. even though we stood on I-80 to get a cool sunset picture (we're crazy, i know ;) we also checked out the salt flats as well. and yes we did lick them and yes they do taste very salty. haha. so our west coast road trip 2010 came to an end with tons of fun memories. but i already can't wait for next year.... east coast road trip 2011?? you bet! 

utah adventures.

well holly has come & gone and we once again said "see you later"-- not goodbye. I had tons of fun showing her around some of the western states.

our utah adventures included:

tubing the provo river

hangin at the pool in the hot utah heat

boating & tubing at utah lake

shopping at the gateway

80's dancing at area 51

& going to warped tour (we met bryce from the rocket summer :)

*pictures from our ten day road trip adventure soon to come.... but for now I need to get some sleep, night!

i'm baaack.

ahhh i haven't blogged in what feels like forever...
so much to catch up on. so little time.
buuut i WILL catch up before school starts because then i reeeeally won't have time.
only four more days left of freedom.
i am starting to feel those kind of maybe a little tiny bit excited for school again feelings.... but i still have plenty of the dreading all the work that comes along with a "higher education" feelings as well.
i have had an uh-maz-ing summer though so i shouldn't be complaining.
but i will most definitely be enjoying these last few whatever-i-wanna-do days(:

xo
lulu

road tripping is going well. we're having lots of fun experiences. on our way to san francisco now. 4 days left. talk to you sooon.