Summer Adventures of the Orrick's Part 1

So I have been slightly dreading this post...as you can tell it has been over a month since my last entry. It is not that I don't enjoy blogging, but I think I have been putting it off because I knew that when I finally posted this blog that it meant that all the adventures and vacations I had been mentioning before in previous blogs were all over :-(
It's okay though, I mean that's life and all vacations come to an end at some point right? So the past month of May has been a whirlwind of fun and I have so many awesome memories!
So...I will recap the past month without dragging on too much I hope ;-) But I am more of a quanity, not quality person so skim if you'd like! Ha ha. More than likely I will divide this into multiple posts since there is soooo friggin much to cover! Thanks for reading....
The weekend of the 25th of April, Dustin and I took a trip out west to Las Vegas. However, instead of staying in Vegas we ventured out of town to Utah to explore Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon. I have been trying to save my vacation as much as possible and I guess by doing so it can sometimes=sleep deprivation. Dustin and I worked a full day on that Friday and caught our flight to Vegas at 8 ish...being that it is 2 hours earlier there we landed at around 9 something (really 11 PM Austin time). We got our rental car and grabbed a late dinner and set out for our quick 3 hour drive out to Springdale, Utah. The town basically at the entrance to the park. Well, things didn't exactly go as planned...we hopped on the highway in Vegas and didn't go but a few miles before we were at a complete stand still and we could see for miles and miles just red brake lights. Surely this could not be happening right? WRONG! I won't go into all the nitty gritty but we basically sat there for over an hour and a half. We were delirious and Dustin proceeded to update his twitter status over and over again with funny pics and comments about our situation. The best was that everyone finally just turned their cars off and the poor kid (probably a freshman in college) ahead of us was in a cab alone...with the meter running the entire time! We laughed and Dustin had the audacity to go up to the driver's window and ask to take a picture of the meter! It became quite sad when finally the kid got out of the taxi and started boohooing leaning against the car. Luckily...we noticed a few cars somehow exiting the highway through the cement blocks on the right side of the highway. The truck driver next to us told us to go for it and he let us squeeze by. At that point Dustin literally had to maneuver the car and basically put us head on to oncoming traffic (remember though they were all in park at this point in time). Our car fit just perfectly through the cement barriers and we made it to freedom!!! After a detour we got back to the highway (that was eerily empty) and finished the drive...being the amazing and supportive wife that I am I completely passed out from exhaustion a little ways down the road and poor Dustin ended up driving us all the way there, getting there at something crazy like 4 AM (Vegas time people!!!).

Crazy traffic leaving Las Vegas

SO that was a great way to start our weekend vacay...the next day we slept in a bit and then got out and saw as much as possible of Zion. We did some great hikes, but unfortunately one that we really wanted to do (the narrows) was closed due to water flooding it. That night we ate at a cute local place there and went to bed somewhat early. Sunday morning we left and headed further east to Bryce Canyon. It was really interesting because the temperature dropped so quickly as we were driving there that while we were looking out the window we noticed that the sprinklers on these big farm lands were actually shooting out water that immediately was turning to ice! Very cool looking.

Zion National Park

Breathtaking

Crazy view from Angel's Landing

The white around the sprinklers is actually ice

Best picture at Bryce!!!!

Standing Bow pose

Bryce Canyon vista view

For more pictures from the weekend click here

After exploring Bryce and doing a hike down into the canyon..we headed back to Las Vegas so I could catch my flight that night. Dustin stayed the week there for work and they hooked him up with a fancy suite at the new section of the Venetian, The Palazzo. I was super jealous that I did not get to stay there with him and enjoy the luxury. I headed back that evening and like I mentioned before was sleep deprived once again for the next day since my flight did not land until 1 AM Austin time...let's just say I really needed the coffee the next morning to make it through work. So my week didn't slow down there, on Tuesday night I headed to New Orleans for a work meeting and got to stay at the Harrah's Hotel & Casino. It was really fun and I got to know some really fun people from the New Orleans/Memphis districts. We did a little Bourbon street partying one night too! So...finally on Friday I headed back to Austin and so did Dustin. At this point we are both exhausted from everything we have had going for the past 7 days. At the time we were thinking how on earth are we going to have enough energy to head to Europe??? Funny how somehow we all manage to muster up the energy when it is vacation we are talking about! Anything else other than vacation requires serious thought and consideration. On Saturday we slept in and hung out with the pups. Our totally awesome friend Amy had been nice enough to house sit for us while we were gone for the week so that way the dogs could stay comfy in their own normal environment...since that would be changing for our trip to Europe. We took Chance to the kennel on Saturday morning :-( Sunday AM very early...like around 4 ish, Dustin and I loaded up the van and along with Vegas we headed to Houston. My in-laws had amazingly agreed to keep Vegas for us while we were gone...cuz to be honest Vegas does not do well at the kennel. While Chance could care less, Vegas gets all emotional and literally makes himself ill. He is our needy child! We went for a great breakfast Dustin's parents and then headed to the airport. Dustin had his backpack and I had mine....and that was it! That was when I asked Dustin, "Have I ever told you about the time I went backpacking through Western Europe?" Anyone? Anyone? Remember the "Friends" episode??? Anyway, the flight over went fine (they constantly feed you!!!). Luckily I got a good 4 hours or so of sleep, but poor Dustin...despite taking a sleeping pill or two and being exhausted from lack of sleep he literally only slept like 30 minutes the whole time! So we land in Paris and the true vacation begins!!! I cannot believe how long this post is already so I am going to take a break and continue the adventure blog later...stay tuned! Part 2 coming to a computer screen near you...

Houston Airport leaving for Paris!