Vegas or Bust!

Well it turned out to be a bust for me.......I was a big fat loser. But we had a blast. Las Vegas is only about 6 hours from here. And we got to stay for free at the Bellagio (Lindsey's friends from back home hooked us up!), what more could you ask for. The Bellagio is a hell of a lot nicer than where I stayed the last time I went. Anyway, I lost money, who doesn't. But I'm not a big gambler so trust me it wasn't much. We walked around mostly and checked out all the casinos. Lindsey friends again had the hook up so we got to go in this awesome club on the 64th floor at Mandolay Bay called Mix. They had a bottle limit to get in, which means you had to buy a bottle of alcohol to get a table. It was pretty awesome. Anyway, that's basically sums up our trip.....short and SWEET!

Too bad we're not actually in Paris!




Group pic at dinner in Caesars Palace


The Bellagio


The Fountains at Bellagio....we didn't have the best view


Me and Lindsey


Lindsey, Me, and Megan (Lindsey's friend from Tulsa)


View from Club Mix in Mandolay Bay


So our bottle was grey goose, this was at our table....talk about VIP!


Me at the Gardens in the Bellagio

Camping in Moab UT.......amazing!

Ok so I know it's been a while since I've wrote, but I've been running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. And yes some of that does include my clinical, it's not all play. Anyway, last weekend was Lindsey's birthday and she had the itch to go camping. So that's what we decided to do. We were able to get off work on Friday and head down to Moab, UT which is in the southeastern part of the state. A couple of the students that work at my clinic also joined us. It was nice to have some company other than Lindsey.....don't worry we both feel this way. So we camped under the beautiful stars all weekend! Saturday we went to Arches National Park and hiked all day long. It was absolutely beautiful there. Sunday we went to Goblin Valley and ran around there for a few hours before heading home. Pretty sure we hiked a good 10 miles at least last weekend. When we got back to SLC, we were absolutely exhausted. But we had an awesome time. Check out the pics. Oh, and just to make you guys jealous.......we're heading to Vegas this weekend! Can't wait!


We're goobers!


Petroglyphs on one of the rocks.....Lindsey wanted me to translate for her, but little did she know that those were from the wrong tribe....Geez!


We were working hard to hold that rock up! Whew!


Nice view


Me in front of the Delicate Arch!


Me and Lindsey


Look closely and you can see us out there


Lindsey, Me, Chris, and Matt under this crazy tree


We were ecstatic to be there....can ya tell!


Be very very careful!


Under Sand Dune Arch



Landscape Arch




Entering Goblin Valley.......Aaagh!


Look at all those Goblins!


Too bad we're not in a band, cuz this should be an album cover!


Me and a Goblin


Yes I climbed up there all by my very self!


This place is amazing!



I'll add more pics later, we took tons! But I gotta get ready for work now!

Snow!

So I wasn't kidding about the weather around here being unpredictable just like in TX. Last week we had some rather nice days reaching well into the 60's. Well, those of you who know me know that I like to watch the weather and keep up with the changes (I come by it honest, my dad is addicted to the weather channel!).......anyway, I haven't been able to keep up since I've been in SLC due to the TV situation as mentioned before. Soooo, this morning I awoke to none other than an unexpected at least 4 inches of snow on the ground. However, I did not make this discovery until I was about 5 minutes from leaving for work. Again, as most of you know I'm always pushing it to be on time. So I go out to my car, which is completely covered in snow, and mind you I am wearing slacks and dress shoes.....in 4 inches of snow. I also had no gloves on. Boy was i prepared! So now I have to stand outside, no gloves and feet covered in snow to try and uncover the mound of snow on my car and scrape my windows. At this point I knew I was gonna be late and was almost contemplating going back inside to change into dry pants and shoes. But, I didn't want to be too late so I sucked it up, hopped in the car and set the defrost to hit my feet and turned it on high! Needless to say I made it to work in one piece and only 10 minutes late!

Life without TV........

Well I survived another week of clinicals. Which is good, but also sad because now I am down to only 6 weeks left here in the mountains. I have really enjoyed living in a place where there is actually scenery when you're driving down the road. I went running at a park last week and thought to myself how nice it was to be able to see mountains in the distance. Amazing! The weather here has been off and on......hmmmm kinda like TX. The beginning of last week was beautiful, it was in the 60s during the day and of course much cooler at night. But then Thursday morning I woke up to a couple of inches of snow on the ground. I don't mind the snow, but the "locals" are ready for the sun to come out and stay out. The skiing is still good, we went yesterday afternoon. It was a beautiful sunny day, so the trails were starting to get a little packed and icy but still not too bad. But about this TV thing, so there is a TV where we are staying but not one that we have constant access to if you will. It's in the living room down stairs, so we don't like to take it up if the people we are staying with are here. So, needless to say I am missing American Idol and sadly the NCAA tournament. That's actually why I'm on the computer right now, because TX is playing Memphis and I can't watch the TV here. Kinda sucks. But not having TV is not as bad as I thought, except for days like this when it is yucky outside and all you want to do is lay on the couch and watch TV. I'm definitely missing that!

Livin for the weekend!

Well.......I made it through the first week of clinicals. All went well, I really enjoy the people who I work with, which makes being in a new place easier. I will say that when Friday rolled around, I was ready for a break. So, that night we decided to check out the night life in downtown SLC. We went to this place called "The Tavernacle".........and yes it is TAVERNacle and not TABERnacle. It was definitely a cool place, it was a dueling piano bar. Pretty awesome, definitely not something Amarillo offers. A couple of the other students I work with met up with us. It was nice to get out and about and check things out. So while we are there, we know that the place doesn't close until 2am. Well, about 12:45am they yell out last call. We were a little confused about the situation. Because in TX when a bar closes at 2am, last call is not until 1:45am. Well we later found out that in Utah they can not sell liquor past 1am, even though they don't close until 2am. Weird I tell ya. Anyway, Saturday made for an absolutely beautiful day of skiing. The snow is still really good up here, pretty sure we'll be skiing every weekend for a while! Saturday night we went up to Park City to meet up with one of my old college roommates who was in town for Spring Break. Definitely had to check out the night life there too. Park City is just an awesome little town in general, I'm pretty sure I need to go spend some time there toolin around and checkin things out. So all in all, a great weekend.............but absolutely not long enough!


View from the top of Snake Creek Lift at Brighton......Breathtaking!

Lindsey and Me

This poor guy broke his collar bone while snowboarding (another good reason to stay away from snowboarding). He was passing out at the bar and his friends wanted us to take a pic with him, but he woke up when the camera flashed! Poor thing!

Lindsey, Me, and Mandy hangin out in Park City

Lindsey can't take a normal picture!

Me and Mandy.....Old San Marcos roomies!

I Survived!

Well......today was the second day of my clinical. Amazingly I have come out with few bumps and bruises. No, I'm just teasing, it went rather smoothly actually. Although sunday night I was crazy nervous and got very little sleep (as you could probably tell from my previous entry!). Anyway, yesterday was good. I enjoyed the people at the clinic very much, they were all quite friendly and very laid back, which for a student is very conducive to learning. There is also a couple of other students working there as well, it's always nice to see if your learning the same things as people from other schools. Really you just want to make sure that you're being taught legitimate stuff! Also, at that particular clinic, it is connected to a Gold's Gym which provides for some entertainment when watching people workout!! It can be quite amusing. Ok back on topic, that clinic has a variety of physical therapists including a headache specialist, a hand therapist, as well as your typical general physical therapist. So for a student that is awesome, I am pumped to get to see all that stuff (I probably sound like a nerd right now). But today I spent the latter half at another one of their clinics, which is also very different from the first one. It is a one therapist clinic which is also pretty cool. I think I will be splitting my time amongst the two amounting to a very busy 8 weeks. So all in all, I hope I can keep up. Wait.........I really mean I hope I still have time to go skiing and check out the rest of the sites!! I'll try to get some more pics up soon!

Butterflies.....Aagh!

So yesterday was quite a relaxing day. We totally went up to the mountain for a day of skiing. It was absolutely beautiful. It snowed the entire day and was really cold. But the fresh powder made for some awesome skiing. We skied our little hearts out, needless to say we were absolutely worn out when we got home. Today, seeing as I am getting an extreme case of butterflies because I start my clinical tomorrow, I opted not to return to the mountain for another day of skiing. Instead Lindsey and I decided that a little studying might be in order to ease the anxiousness. We found a Barnes & Noble, which I must say was quite busy since not alot of places are open on Sunday here. While we were studying and minding our own business, a girl came and sat at the table next us. She happened to notice our books full of physical therapy stuff and what do ya know, she's a physical therapy student too. She was from Nebraska and happened to be here for a clinical too, except she gets to live in Park City in an amazing house. What the crap? We got jipped..........don't get me wrong the house we are staying in is awesome, but Park City.......come on! Anyway, it was kinda cool how you randomly meet people and have something in common with them. Peace for now.