*WARNING* This post has many, many pictures. Hope you enjoy.
So about a week ago we got home from our vacation, which was wonderful. We left on June 26th and got home July 6th. We started out by going to Las Vegas for a few days. Here's my lovely brother and I on the way to Vegas.
To be honest, I basically hated Las Vegas. It suffices me to say this: Sin City is the perfect name for it, I saw a real pole dancer for the first time, there is porn literally covering the sidewalks, and I don't exactly call it a "vacation" when you go somewhere that's just as hot as the valley. Not to mention we stayed in a hotel called Circus Circus which featured many, many terrifying clowns that looked like they were capable of turning into real murderers at night. I hate clowns.
Anyways. This next picture features a very, very, very tall building called the Stratosphere. And by very, very, very tall, I mean 1,149 feet or 101 stories high. And Travis and I DANGLED OVER THE EDGE!!!!
There were three rides at the top. They were all actually pretty lame but the anticipation was a killer (as is demonstrated by myself in the next picture...Travis, however, was excited). One of the rides was just a short straight track about 30 feet long or so. You'd sit in the roller coaster and the track would slowly lower over the edge of the building. Then all of a sudden you'd shoot down (straight for the ground!!) and stop right as the coaster reached the end of the track. Another ride was like a giant swing that spun you in circles over the edge of the Stratosphere. That ride actually would have been awesome if it hadn't made me nauseous.
And here is my lovely family atop the Stratosphere.
We also saw a couple of awesome water shows outside the Bellagio. The Bellagio is the building in the background...giant hotel/casino. My dad called it The Great and Spacious Building. Accurate. It looked even Greater and Spaciouser when it was all lit up.
I found Batman and the Joker after the water show was over. (For some reason the Joker doesn't creep me out...just normal clowns.)
Inside the Bellagio, the ceiling of the entranceway was covered with giant blown-glass flowers...it was so pretty! Each flower was probably about the size of an umbrella.
Peace among the chaos and terribleness. The Las Vegas temple.
Here's a picture from the temple grounds.
And a cute pic of my awesome family on the grounds! :]
FINALLY we left Vegas. We headed over to Bear Lake, California. Let me tell you, the weather was absolutely perfect. I think this was probably my favorite part of the vacation. It was such a quaint little town. I think the population is only around 5,000. They had the cutest little shops and it was just such a great place. Our hotel was amazing too. Not to mention it had a heated pool and a lovely jacuzzi. On top of that, the few days we were there, there were hardly any other guests so we often had the pool to ourselves. Here are Travis and I in front of Bear Lake.
Our family went paddle boating/canoeing on the lake but no pictures from that. They're on my mom's camera. This next picture is in the little shopping center called "The Village." My brother is being mature and poking the bear's bum.
(Okay I'll admit it....I told him to pose like this.)
Another great part of Bear Lake was their alpine slide! This thing was so awesome. For any of you who don't know what it is, it's kind of like a louge but on cement. It was SO fun!!! I made a movie going down it...I believe I posted it (along with other movies from the vacation) on Facebook.
The only bummer: Mom went way too fast around a corner, flipped, and got quite a nice flesh wound! Please notice she is laughing hysterically. To this day, it still has not healed completely. Poor Mom.
Mom, Dad and I went to the lake one night to watch the sunset. Here are a couple of pictures from that. The picture that's the background on my blog right now is from this night too.
:]
After Bear Lake, we went to Costa Mesa. I think. Or Newport....I believe we stayed in Costa Mesa but we went to Newport Beach. From what I gather, Costa Mesa and Newport are the kind of like Mesa and Gilbert...no distinction. Anyways. Here's my family in a cool elevator at the mall.
One of the days we were here, Travis and I went to Knott's Berry Farm. My favorite thing about Knott's is all of the berry bushes that grow throughout the park. You can go along and just pick the most delicious berries off the bushes and eat them. There are also several little make-it-yourself milkshake and smoothie stands where you can use the berries you pick. (Joke. This is what I told Travis Birch and he believed me. No berry bushes or milkshake/smoothie stands unfortunately.)
I got this AWESOME lion coin pouch at Knott's!! Travis (my brother) and I were trying to name him but couldn't think of anything. So we decided to call him T until we decided on a better name...but T has stuck.
And here we are at the beach. Trav dug a giant hole. He was trying to make an underground tunnel, but about halfway through he decided it would be a better idea to have Dad and I bury him in it.
Brother and I. Travis is buried in his hole in this picture too. This is after I got my terrible burn which many of you saw the effects of...you can't tell that I'm fried in this picture though. (FYI my skin is STILL peeling. It's almost done though. And I have a nice tan now.)
Here is the Los Angeles temple.
And the Newport Beach temple. Actually I don't know if it's called that or just Newport temple. Anyways.
And here are some neat pictures I took at the Newport temple. I like this next picture because it just says "GROWTH!" to me. Look what you can aspire to be! :]
And I love love love this next picture. So awesome.
This was our last day in California I think. We went to the beach to watch the sunset.
Love this picture of my brother. I kept taking random pictures of him while he was talking to me and this is one of them. You can kind of see his racoon eyes from his sunglasses.
Here is his model pose.
And here we are.
And here is the sunset in all of its glory.
I put this next picture up because out of all the pictures I took, it most clearly shows my sunburn despite the blurriness. Let me tell you, it KILLED!!! I got blisteres all over my chest, arms, back, and knee pits (though some of them didn't surface til we went home). Every single time I would move at all while I was asleep, I would wake up because it hurt so bad. For 3 nights I believe. There was one point where I couldn't even take my shirt off because it hurt too bad to bend my arms in that manner. So I wore the same shirt for 2 1/2 days. Gross, I know. Said shirt is featured in this picture. My brother also got burned pretty badly, and due to these burns, we did nothing to celebrate the 4th of July :[ I was bummed.
I'm sure you'd all like to know that I also didn't wear a bra for two or three days. Hence the jacket. Haha.
Here's my brother and I just being goofy. In Bear Lake there was this little shop where everything was $3. That's where I got this hat (and another one in a different color...plus one for Travis Birch and one for Lacey). Don't ask me when I'll ever wear it....since winters are so cold and snowy in the valley...
Overall, it was a very awesome trip and it was a great chance to make new memories with my family and grow closer to them. It was so fun! But it was certainly good to come home....despite the 115 degree weather that greeted us. Ugh.
