Road Trippin

After having the opportunity to take a few trips over the last two weeks, I am finally able to update you on them.  Vegas ended up being a fabulous time!  Among my favorite highlights was our day trip to Boulder City, the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam.  We rented a Jeep Wrangler, which should of cost us over $500 (apparently you are not supposed to drive over 200 miles OR go off road...both of which would've been nice to know before I booked the vehicle), but ended up being about $245 (thanks to Lee).  We were also able to see many of the hotels, a few shows and spend almost three hours at the $20 Bellagio lunch buffet.  I believe I set the record for weight gain in a four day period.  The weather got up to 111 degrees, so I have also never been so thankful for air conditioning.  Justin, Gina and I had a great time together, and definitely made some memories that will last a lifetime.

At small group last Thursday night, two of my friends and I decided to take a very last minute random road trip to Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard.  We took the one hour train ride from Grand Central to South Norwalk, CT where my car is parked (thanks to Gina and Adele). From there, it was only three and half hours to Hyannis, Mass where we stayed in Americas Best Inn (really not to shabby).  The next morning, we caught the 8:15 ferry to MV and spent five hours biking, shopping and eating.  It ended up being a twelve mile bike ride round trip from Oak Bluff to Edgartown, all along the coast.  The scenery was breathtaking, and the homes looked like dollhouses.  On the way back, we stopped at a lemonade stand and I feel like I also had ice cream at some point.  Lunch was at a seafood restaurant on the water, where we ate crab cakes and fish and chips (AMAZING).  The ferry departed for Nantucket around 2:15.  Once we arrived there, we headed straight for the beach, then to shop and to eat again.  I loved both places for very different reasons, and DEFINITELY recommend both islands to anyone who wants to get away for a week.  Surprisingly there were a lot of young people living and working there (I assume just for the summer months), and everything about it is family friendly.  I give two thumbs up!

Over the next few weeks I will have quite a few visitors, which I am so excited about.  It will be nice to stay in the city and explore things here with the people I love.  For anyone who is considering a trip here in the next few years, may I recommend coming in either May or June.  I have officially lived here for every season, and can tell you that you want to avoid every other month if weather and the elements are important to you.  

Not sure what the rest of the summer holds as far as trips go, but I have found some great friends to travel with and am excited about having those experiences with others as well.  Just last night at an advisory board meeting for a non profit I am involved with, I met a girl from North Carolina.  She is 30, has lived in the city for seven years and works in sales.  She said she knew I was good people when the first words out of my mouth were "Have ya'll eaten yet?  I'm starvin."  We are actually planning to go to the beach together this Saturday, so I continue to be very grateful for new friends.  Especially single ladies, who are my age, in my industry, from the south.  What more could a girl ask for!