A forced birthday is needed sometimes!

About a week or two before my birthday, I was not looking forward to the day approaching. I did not want to celebrate it. I wanted to forget it even existed. This would be the very first time in my entire life that I didn't want to even think about it, yet celebrate it. I usually want, if not an entire month of festivities, at least a week for fun, treats and celebration. 

Not this year.  

Jamie kept asking me what I wanted to do or if I wanted anything. Nope. The only thing I actually wanted was to talk to my mom.

This year I was sad, I was depressed, I was in a funk.

When the day came I didn't want to do anything. I didn't even want to be reminded it was my birthday, I wanted to act like it was any other day...although I did want ice cream.

Thankfully I have an amazing hubby that won't take no for an answer. He told me he was taking me somewhere and I was gonna have fun dammit! Even though I threw a fit like a 4 year old, he made me get out of the van, get dressed with "the right shoes on" (hmph), he made me get on the bike, he made me go.

We stopped briefly at the general store to check some emails and facebook, which was nice seeing all of the love from my friends and family pouring in. (I think this was part of his plan all along!)
After getting out of my funk just a little tiny bit, we decided to go into the park and do a hike. At the entrance gate Jamie asked the ranger which hike would be a good hike with interesting views but was pretty short, he told us Queens Garden Trail would give us all those things...so away we went.

We made our hike our own by taking pictures and goofing around with one another, but definitely got some huffin' & puffin' in due to the steep angles of the trail...ain't no joke!

Queens Garden Trail was a great hike for us, we were able to walk alongside hoodoos and spires and could make the hike as long or as short as we wanted. There was a lot to look at on this trail...we didn't get much hiking in.

 I loved the trees on this trail. If they conquered the elements and everything that went with it to still be here chugging along...I could do it, too.

 By the time we spent about 30-45 minutes here, we decided that was enough...it was time for ice cream!!
We drove out of the park and down the street, it's literally 3.5 miles, to the rock shop where the ice cream parlor is. This place was hopping!! With how packed the line was, I kind of felt like I was in that Seinfeld episode of the soup nazi, (no soup for you haha) but I got my ice cream and my scooper wasn't messing around...one scoop of ice cream looked like 3, it was awesome!!

We were able to snag a seat outside, close enough to the stables to smell the horse poop...happy birthday! 

All in all I did have a great day. Thank you to my love who knows me well enough to make me get out and enjoy my special day. I also got to talk to my momma and even got a special note from my bestie, Aussie, that I don't get to talk to nearly enough. Thank you to all who wished me a great day and sent their love, the small things really added up for me today.
Oh and Jamie did get me a present...a new, bright headlamp!! 125 lumens people!!! Now I can walk the dogs in the dark and be able to see my surroundings...and those eyes shining back at me!! Yikes

Happy Birthday to me.
PEACE

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Hotel Hullabaloo

Wow, the days fly by, huh? Well, at least I'm happy with myself that I left a post about being away...I know you all have missed me haha. So let's go back shall we...the morning of the 11th I cooked my babaa' a birthday breakfast, not his favorite but it's all I could grab from the Wal-mart that was out of everything; pancakes (just add water) and syrup, cost me a whole $2.00. It was pretty good and it gave us 4 big pancakes a piece, not too shabby.

[caption id="attachment_806" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Yes, even the Bug got one[/caption]

We hung on the knoll that day and after talking for a while, we decided we would go down to Fresno and handle our business with the solar earlier than planned. Our birthday/anniversary celebration would be done earlier as well. We had planned on doing a hotel-dinner thing on the 17th, but since we had to go down for the solar, we switched it to earlier in the week. We might be celebrating but gas is gas and it ain't cheap these days. So for the rest of the day we lounged & lazied. The sunset was perfect that night, so beautiful. Happy Birthday Babaa'!!

The morning of the 12th we woke up as usual, duh haha I'm a terd. We figured a hotel wouldn't let us check-in until at least noon...we wake up around 8:30-9 a.m. We packed up good ole Joon Van, it took less time but still probably around an hour & a half or so (2 1/2 last time). We hid a bunch of stuff in the forest so we wouldn't have to bring it, and we still had a lot of stuff. We both just think that Joon is not a big boned girl so she can only hold so much, then she just starts looking sloppy! After our pack up, we headed down the mountain. This 'ride' we take to get on the main road is really something else. I took a video of it, but don't know when I'll be able to post it due to how much data it will use. If you've ever seen Ace Ventura, the Sha-ka-ka one, where he's driving and acting like he's getting bounced around and the other guy is just sitting there...it's like that, but it's really happening. Look it up if you don't know what I'm talking about...there's probably a much better way to explain it, but that's my way and I know you like it! ha

[caption id="attachment_810" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The easy part[/caption]

Anyway, it's like scaling a mountain in your van...I don't think I need to pay someone $60+ for an extreme adventure, I get one every time we go to town! I know I fear more for the van than ourselves, because J' really knows how to drive and he doesn't want anything to get hurt, including ourselves, anymore than I do...it's just the fear of knowing this is all you have. I think we finally made it down to Fresno around noon:30 or so.

[caption id="attachment_812" align="aligncenter" width="300"] To Fresno we go[/caption]

We had one errand to run before we did anything, we did that and we were off to the hotel that I looked at online and 'locked' in, La Quinta. We walked in and told her we wanted to book a room, she said none were ready just yet and started taking our information. The rate went from $105 online to $119+tax walking in the door, to $144 for a ground level!!! What? Then we told her we had a lil Nana Bug and she said, "Oh okay, but you can't leave her in the room when you're not in there, even if she's crated...?" What? And you call yourself a pet friendly hotel...needless to say, we left. We scoped out the hotels around the area, called for rates and they were in the $159-169...for Fresno. We called around to a couple more, after I got my computer out, and ended up going to one of them. This Comfort Suites was about 6 miles away from the business park we were just at with the other hotel, it was $ 126 a night, allowed pets, had a pool and breakfast in the a.m., that's why we went to go check it out. Turns out they are in more of, let's say, an industrial park. The back of the pool opened up to a scrap yard and was about the size of the van, no joke. By the looks of the outside, I didn't want to see the inside, eat the food or sleep on the bed...so we left and drove 6 miles back where we just came from. Before we drove to the Comfort Suites, we had stopped into an Extended Stay, we have stayed with them before and knew what we would be getting and they didn't have a pool, that's why we kept looking. Their rate was cheaper by almost triple what everyone else was charging so we headed back over to ESA to get our showers on. It was about 1:48 p.m. now and we wanted to just come in, relax, scrub our skin 'til it was raw....er, take a shower, and just relax before we went to go eat. The sweet girl at the desk tried to do everything she could to get us into a room before 3p.m. but it just was not working in our favor,(they are renovating the whole 3rd floor...no rooms up there) so J' caught up on some phone calls while I played my hidden object games in the parking lot for an hour and a half. Finally, 3:05p.m. had arrived and we were on our way to our "Honeymoon Suite", really it was just the 2nd floor but hey, let me have my day! We walked in to clean, air conditioning and running water...what more could a girl ask for!?

Extended Stay America has to be one of the best hotels I've ever stayed at, they have a full kitchen (minus an oven) but they do have a 2 burner stove top, full sized fridge, sink and they even provide pots, pans, dishes & silverware. The rooms are always so nice, I don't even have to worry about wearing my shoes around the room or in the shower! I know, right! I did however wash my shoes in the shower this time due to all the lovely dirt that accompanied me on them. I let J' shower first so I could start uploading my pictures to Shutterfly & Snapfish (an online picture storage I use...yep unlimited and free). I have to get my pics up in case something happens to my computer, my old computer crashed and I lost about 5-6,000 pictures, all of when J' and I first met, so never again will I allow that to happen). We also brought every single electronic device that uses a plug into the room so we could charge everything up...GoalZero batteries included. Don't judge...that's what we are paying for! Plus, with our solar in the middle of being sent, we don't have power up in the mountains right now...we gotta get what we can when we can. I took my shower, my glorious glorious shower. J' and I both agreed we don't think we've ever been this clean in our entire lives. I'm sure it just feels that way, but it's an amazing feeling! The little things, I tell ya. We went to Chili's for dinner...I know what you're thinking...High Rollers! We love Chili's. You get a ton of food for a pretty good price and even though I can eat with the big boys, I usually have left-overs so I even get a second meal out of it. We had chips & salsa, salads, ribs, steak, shrimp, some sides and a to-die-for-yummy dessert (that we took back to make later) and some O'douls... all under $80 with tip.

[caption id="attachment_817" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Yummy Leafy Greens[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_819" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Bug in a Rug[/caption]

I think that's a GANGA!! We got back to the hotel and Savannah was being a good girl, she wasn't barking...at least at that moment, and we were really quiet coming up the stairs too. I have to say that we had a pretty good dinner celebration tonight...

Oh but it's not over...we have some plans tomorrow that are bound to be full of entertainment, fun and me getting in trouble...yes it happens a lot!PEACE

Sending Dad down 4 Rivers for his Birthday!

Today we will be doing some fun things! haha Start off with a little DMV action so the 'Old Man' can get a new license. We got in & out in just about one hour and that was good since there were some shenanigans going on. I may have seen a drug deal right in front of me (maybe), women either disciplining their kids way too harsh or with a major lack of discipline and just plain ole dirtiness...ick! After the DMV we headed to 4 Rivers, a favorite BBQ joint around these parts. All three of us had never been, plus it was Dad's birthday so what better time to go than together.

[caption id="attachment_1732" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Happy Birthday Pop![/caption]

It was pretty good...not the best I've had, but pretty good. Within the restaurant there is a little nook called The Sweet Shop, O.M.G.! I wish I had space to have tried something or even gotten something to go just to try it. Their cupcakes were the size of a small animal & probably weighed a good pound or two ~ wow.

[caption id="attachment_1731" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Very creative...read names if you can[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1730" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Seriously. THESE are cupcakes! [/caption]

After lunch, I was dropped off @ my momma's. We just hung out & ran around town a bit. We had an early dinner @ Panera then did a little grocery shopping for the week. When we got home I was actually able to watch The Biggest Loser Finale LIVE! We're usually a day behind because we don't have cable (or even a TV for that matter, ha), so we stream our shows the day after from the computer, so being able to watch it Live was a big treat. I don't know what the week holds but whatever we do will be great!

PEACE