Leah Came to Visit!

Simba :)

After 2 months of anticipation, one of my best friends from home finally made her visit come true!  Leah flew in to Sky Harbor Airport around 2 o'clock on Thursday April 21, and our 5 day extravaganza began! First stop, Phoenix Wildlife Park.  All my colleagues at work told Hayley and me the wildlife park was far more interesting than the Phoenix Zoo, however, they must have really like birds, because that's all that was there.  Okay, not really, but there were birds all over the place.  I was soo upset I couldn't see the lions and tigers up close.  We did get to see a cute baby cub though! Also, there were also baby leopards and war hogs :)  Connected to the Wildlife Park was an aquarium, which of course had tons of fish.  My favorite part, however, was the penguins!

All the girls

As we left and headed back to the apartment, Dee said she couldn't remember if she had frozen the meat we were going to cook out that night. Once we got home, it was confirmed, meat was FROZEN!  So, Dee took my car, headed to Fry's and got us some backup hamburger meat.  Everyone got to the apartment, and we headed to the pool area to cook-out.  Bridget (one of our co-workers) had a weber grill, so we didn't have to worry about charcoal.  I seasoned my meat patties, and loaded them up on the grill!  Everyone told me I did a great job, and I must say the hamburgers were pretty delicious!  So now I can add "master griller" to my list of talents, along with author and artist, jk :)

Leaving Chick-Fil-A en route to Las Vegas

Friday, April 22, 2011

Hayley had to work Friday night, so while she slept, Leah and I went to an Urgent Care Center :(  Poor Leah had gotten a sinus infection somewhere between Arizona and Birmingham, and felt terrible. So after a steroid shot, and her Z-pack, she felt a little better, enough to go lounge by the pool at least!!  That night Leah and I took Hayley and Dee to work and came back home to cook spaghetti and have our long lost 90210 night :)  We later took dinner to H and D and came back to pack for VEGAS!!!!!

Saturday, April 23, 2011 "Viva Las Vegas!!!!!!!!!"

Hoover Dam

We started our journey at the best breakfast place, Chick-Fil-A :)  Then we were off on our adventure to Vegas. Along the way we stopped on the side of the road so Leah could get some pictures of cacti and mountains.  She also took about 300 pictures of the mountains we drove through, being a true tourist (okay not really that many, but a lot!). Our first stop on this adventure was the Hoover Dam http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoover_Dam.  It was HUGE!!!!  We didn't have time to go on a tour, which would have been cool, but we walked across it, and it is definitely and architectural masterpiece.  Next stop, New York New York Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas http://www.newyorknewyork.com/.  We were only  30 miles away, so of course we starting to get antsy.  None of us had ever been to Vegas, and we were so excited to be experiencing it together!

Watching the Fountain Show



Leah and Liz on the strip



Once we arrived at the hotel (after I almost had an anxiety attack while driving in that traffic trying to park), we took our stuff from the car and went to check in.  First stop was the bar to have, of course, a Vegas Bomb.  Had to start the trip off right!  Next Hayley and I went to check us in while Leah and Dee roamed around the Casino.  Some how Hayley and I sweet talked our way into a bigger room (Vegas virgins as the desk clerk called us). After we put our stuff in the room (3021 way up!!) we headed out to the strip!  There is just something about Vegas, that for a few days, all your worries go away :)  We headed to the Bellagio for the fountain show.  Along the way we stopped in gift shops to look around. Also, I think at every corner there were people (male and female) handing out call girl cards.  Such a waste of paper in my opinion.  There were also human statues, people dressed up like Michael Jackson, etc.  Once we made it to the Bellagio http://www.bellagio.com/ we waited for the fountain show to begin!  It was very impressive!  Then we headed back to the hotel to change clothes and head out for the night!  We stopped and got a New York hotdog!  It was actually pretty good!  Next we headed to the ROK nightclub (Leah and Dee got us in for free!)  We had lots of fun there!  Next we were off to Coyote Ugly (like the movie).  Luckily we didn't have to leave the hotel to have all this fun!  Dee and Hayley played a few slot machines while Leah and I watched and chatted at the bar.  That was a night never to be forgotten (at least by Dee and Hayley, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas").

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Waiting for the show to start

pictures before dinner

First of all, we slept in real late.  Once we woke up, we went across the street and ate at a food court, then just walked around the strip.  Later, Leah and I roamed around the hotel a little bit more, while Dee and Hayley played more slots (and watched other people play). That night we decided we wanted to go to a buffet before our Cirque du Soleil show.  We got dressed up real pretty and headed off to dinner around 7. We walked across to the MGM hotel and casino because we had been told it was a very good buffet.  It was $40, so it had better have been good, and it was!  We ate our weight in crab legs, shrimp, steak, sushi, fruit and dessert!  YUM!!! Then we headed down the strip to Treasure Island for our Mystere Cirque du Soleil show!  This was one of the most amazing shows I have EVER seen!  The athletic ability of these people is incredible!  I can't wait to go to another one! The treck back to our hotel was the longest walk of our lives!  Leah and I wore wedge heels (because we wanted to look cute) and our feet were killing us (Leah's a little bit more than mine).  On our way home we walked through The Venetian.  I swear we were walking through the streets of Italy,at least I wish we were!  Anyway, once we finally made it home, Leah went straight to bed, while Hayley, Dee and I headed to the slot machines again!  I stayed for about 3 hours and played a goldfish slot game with Hayley (we played on $14 for that long)!  It was really fun, but after those 3 hours I was pooped and headed to bed!  Hayley and Dee decided to go get steak at 4 am.  They said it was really good though!  I think they finally made it back to the room around 6?

Monday, April 25, 2011 "Adios Las Vegas"

Time to say bye bye to Las Vegas, and head back to Goodyear :( We had soo much fun, and I can't wait to go back again one day!  The drive home was really long!  We were all tired, and they all slept most of the way, so it was a pretty quiet drive (making it worse for me since I was driving).  At least I got to listen to whatever I wanted :)  Once Leah finally woke up, we put it Celine Dion and belted it out (making that part of the trip fun)!  Poor Dee had to work that night, so she took a nap as soon as we got home.  Hayley, Leah, and I went to find Leah some AZ souveniers for her grandparents, Joey, and Curly Bec (friends from home).  Then we ate at Claim Jumper and I had the best bbq chicken salad ever and they had some yummy rotisserie chicken. Then we had to go home and get Leah packed to leave me the next day :(

Apache Trail

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Canyon Lake 

Leah and I went to Black Bear Diner for breakfast!  This place has the biggest buttermilk biscuits, and the were largely delicious! After breakfast I took her to the Apache Trail, so she could have one last look at the beautiful Arizona desert/mountain scenery before she left me :(  We took several pictures of huge cacti, as well as a beautiful mountain lake named Canyon Lake.  We left the trail, and headed to the airport so Leah could catch her flight!  It was sad for her to go!  We (Hayley and I) had an amazing time with Leah!  It was great to have someone from home come visit!  This was by far the most fun and memorable weekend getaway we've been on so far, and there are many more to come!!

Until next time,

~Hayley and Elizabeth~