Naked Magic Show, Hope Run, Second Chance Prom, Gordon's Going Away Party, etc. - AZ & Vegas 5/12/16 - 5/18/16

The day after getting home from our Yellowstone trip, it was time to leave again for another Phoenix trip! Whew..

Day 1 - 5/12/16 (Naked Magic Show):

We got to our first Phoenix-area event just in time, a little before 8pm. The event: the Naked Magic Show at Symphony Hall in Phoenix. It was a comedy magic show with some adult content performed by two Australian guys who started fully clothed and ended up naked by the end. They didn't spend a lot of time naked and covered their penises with magicians hats so we never saw more than buttcheeks. They were also a little hard to understand because, despite being plenty loud enough, their accents made them hard to understand and they spoke a little fast. A lot of their props were kind of small too so it was sometimes hard to see everything. Still, it was fun and we had a good time!

After the show, we drove down to the Wild Horse Pass hotel and casino to meet up with my cousin Serena who was coincidentally in town for work at the time! She was staying at Wild Horse Pass for the night and had a spare bed so she invited us over to hang out and spend the night! Even though she needed to be up early in the morning, we ended up chatting with her for HOURS about everything from running to shopping to traveling to family and beyond! We felt bad for keeping her up so late but we all had a great time catching up.

Day 2 - 5/13/16:

Serena was busy with work all day and friends in the evening so we got ready and headed out in the morning.

We had a Tropical Smoothie Groupon deal we'd bought awhile back so we drove to Tropical Smoothie next and got fat with a smoothie and a wrap each!

Then we drove to Riverview Park for the second time ever and jogged (~1.18 miles for me) around the lake there a bit. It was pretty hot at the time so we didn't stay too long but it was nice just to enjoy some scenery while giving our legs a little stretch.

We worked our legs even more at our next stop, actually. We drove to Main Event nearby (in Tempe) and played about 1.5 hours of PIU.

Having scheduled a race for the weekend, it was time to go to packet pickup then. Fortunately for us, we were only 6 or so minutes from packet pickup at a place called Sole Sports. We went in, got our packets, looked around at all the cool running gear, and picked up a bunch of race and fitness center flyers and cards left by various companies. Serena had registered to run the race with us as well so we ran into her at packet pickup just before leaving!

A few more minutes from there was a Play It Again used sports equipment store location. We stopped in but didn't find anything worth buying for us.

We were hungry after all that so we went to Genghis Grill to use a birthday coupon I had. Yum!

I really wanted to do a little shopping at the Goodwill Clearance Store in the area so Sean drove me there after Genghis. Google had said they closed at 8pm but they actually closed at 7pm so they were just closing when we pulled up. :(

We made the most of driving so far out of the way by getting a free drink refill at Pilot, filling the gas tank up with some super cheap gas we spotted, and going for a dip in the outdoor pool and hot tub of a nearby hotel we saw. We were obviously supposed to be guests there to use the pool but we got away with it!

Finally, we drove to the closest QuikTrip to the race location, Kiwanis Park, to sleep. We got very broken, terrible sleep in a very hot car in the very noisy parking lot where people kept coming and going.

Day 3 - 5/14/16 (Hope Run & Second Chance Prom):

In the morning, it was really hard to get up. We reluctantly got ready though and made our way over to Kiwanis Park for our race, the Hope Run. Sean and Serena were running the 10k there. I was just running the 5k. It was already hot when we arrived and only got hotter. We met up with Serena and warmed up a bit. Then I watched the start of the 10k race just before starting my race. I'd forgotten to charge my bluetooth headphones though and they died just before I started. Noooo!! I ended up having to run without music. I hate that but I managed. The route was a little hilly and with that, the lack of music, soaring temperatures, poor sleep, a leg muscle I ripped in high school that has been very rarely bothering me since but was acting up due to our recent road tripping, and not having run as much as I would've liked during the week prior, I struggled a bit. I did alright though. I finished in 24 mins 37 seconds. I placed 16th of 206 overall, 4th female of 128, and 1st of 26 in my age group and got a 1st place age group medal in the awards ceremony that followed. Serena got back awhile after I did, finishing her 10k in just 1 hour 1 minute 47.9 seconds, but I'd expected to see Sean much sooner and was worried. We were looking and asking all around to find him when finally an ambulance brought him back over to the race location. He'd apparently been in 2nd place overall in the 10k, had been right near the finish line, and had been misdirected to start a 3rd lap. (10k runners were only supposed to do 2 laps.) He ended up running much further than he was supposed to, getting heat stroke, and finally falling over and resorting to cooling himself in the nearby canal. Tons of people had run by him without stopping but finally a few ladies had stopped to assist him and get help. The medic had taken the ambulance to rescue him and bring him back. When Serena and I spotted him, he was shirtless and shoeless, putting ice packs under his armpits and looking pretty shaken up. I was so freaked out yet relieved that he was at least alive and conscious! Wow.. I haven't worried that much many times in my life! Anyway, the medic took really good care of Sean and a race organizer, I believe she was, came to check on him and bring him much deserved finishers and 2nd place medals. He may not have crossed the physical finish line but he'd sure as hell earned those medals and I was really grateful they'd acknowledged that! Once Sean was feeling a little better, we thanked the medic and left the ambulance, headed back to the race festival area for a few of the fruits and muffins they still had out as well as to buy some quite appropriate slushies to cool us all down a bit. Then Sean, Serena, and I chatted for a good while longer before heading out.

Sean and I had to hurry home then. We'd bought tickets to a Vegas event called Second Chance Prom through Groupon and we needed to hurry back so we could get ready for it! It was a long drive and we were tired when we got home but we mustered up the energy to dress all fancy and drive to the Orleans Arena for the prom! It didn't end up being what we'd expected at all. We'd known that the music would be a bit before our time but we didn't know what the atmosphere, decor, theme, etc might be or whether there would be any beverages, snacks, photographers, etc available. It ended up being fairly concert-like with people sitting in the stadium seating around the arena, people gathered on the floor in front of the stage (where we were), a stand selling beers and such, no real theme or decor for the event, some people dressed in formal prom wear from various eras but more people dressed in casual clothes, nothing specifically romantic about the event. Sean and I made it romantic for ourselves though and had some help from the artists occasionally playing slow jams. Most importantly, we had lots of fun! Sean had never been to a prom, as that's not so much a thing in the UK, and I'd only been to proms at my own school when I was in high school (and those were from a very different decade than the artists at this event). I'd never had artists perform live at our proms. It was always DJs. We'd always had food or hor d'oeuvres and non-alcoholic beverages (since we were minors) too and there'd always been a photographer to take and sell us our pictures. I wasn't disappointed though. The main things I'd wanted I'd gotten ie: getting Sean to dress up with me and have the prom date experience, boutonniere and corsage and all! I'd actually asked HIM to this prom and had made the corsage and boutonniere myself! Not exactly typical but so what? :D Now that we were old enough to drink, we got a bit of booze in us before the show too. Then we enjoyed a good few hours of Tiffany, En Vogue, Exposé, Taylor Dayne, and others live! I'm pretty sure it was our first time seeing any of them in person before. We only knew a few songs and didn't know how to dance to any of it but it was fun trying and singing along as well! Oh and best of all, they played the NKOTB song I'll Be Loving You (Forever) during intermission!!!!!! Aahhhhh!!!! <3

After the prom, I did what any awesome prom date would do. I took Sean back home with me so we could eat, cuddle, and sex all before cuddling up and spending the night together! Grown up proms are awesome!

Back in Vegas:

The next day, we cleaned house for several hours. Danny brought home pizza for us to munch and bought a bunch of waters and a few other bits for our evening event: Gordon's going away party at our house! Our friend and dance game teammate Gordon had recently informed us he'd be moving to Iowa so we'd decided to host a going away party for him two days before his departure. Initially, I'd scheduled the event for 4pm but Gordon couldn't make it til 8pm so I had to change the time. Julie Murphy, the owner of Gemini Arcade Palace when it was open, hadn't seen that we'd changed the time though so she arrived early. She couldn't stay long but she came with beers for the party, an amazing DDR arrow necklace as a belated birthday gift for me, and a going away gift for Gordon which I gave him later. I'll never get used to her generosity and thoughtfulness!! Obviously, I'll have to find a way to thank her now!! (My necklace is REALLY awesome. :D) Anyway, after catching up for a short while, Julie headed out and it was a couple of hours before anyone else arrived. We got a decent showing when people started coming though! A good number of people such as Remy, Reggie, Bobby, Afro, and others brought snacks and beers and stuff to help with the party too. We have some damn good friends! Thanks you guys!!!! <3 We spent the rest of the night goofing off, sipping drinks, trying to play dance games despite all being rusty as hell, playing darts and silly games like Beanboozled (the jelly bean game with gross flavors). Pretty sure I'd only played one song on ITG this year til this party. I didn't even play much at this party but I got in a good few songs including Dreamer (15)! When it got late, Bobby even showed us the ReRave program he uses to make charts for Kyle (well, for the game)! Too cool. :D By then, it was just Afro, Bobby, Reggie, Sean, and me left and we were hungry!! We all decided to hop in Bobby's car and he took us to Pepe's Tacos (24 hour taco shop/restaurant) on Boulder Highway to be fatties! Then he dropped us back home and they all headed out so we could all sleep off our food bellies. Lol

The next night, Sean and I went to Mandalay Bay to use a Groupon voucher we had for a place called Minus 5 Ice Bar. We'd never been and didn't quite know what to expect. It was incredible though! The whole place - bar and seats and glasses as well as an assortment of ice sculptures - was made of ice! Unfortunately, they would let us bring our phones inside let alone take any pictures whatsoever so I guess we'll just have to try harder to remember it. It was REALLY neat though. We each got a pricey, unique drink at the bar there and sipped away as we admired the sculptures and the room itself. We were the only customers there at the time and it was pretty great having it all to ourselves but we'll definitely have to take my sister Liz and maybe some cool friends to check it out sometime.

A day or two later, Sean and I used another Groupon voucher we had to visit a place on the strip, just a bit south of Circus Circus, called Luna Hookah Lounge. We'd tried to go there with my sister, Kyle (her husband/fiancé at the time), and Kyle's friend Jacob a couple of months back but had arrived to late. This time, it was just before 7pm when we got there and was fairly quiet. It was a really nice place though, as far as hookah lounges go, with better atmosphere than others we'd recently visited. We didn't realize it was included til they served it to us but they brought us a pot of delicious tea and bread with hummus along with our hookah. We hadn't even paid that much for the Groupon either! I think we might have to go back there with Liz and/or friends sometime too!

My 28th Birthday (Mother's Day!) - Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana Trip 5/6/16 - 5/10/16

Fantasy Run 5k, Hot Springs State Park, Yellowstone, Family, etc

Sean and I decided to take a trip north for my birthday to do a cute race we found in Utah and visit Yellowstone for the first time!

We left Vegas the day before the race to make it to packet pickup. The location:

Gardner Village
1100 W. 7800 South
West Jordan, Utah

From packet pickup, we went to Scheels (sporting goods store) for a look around and to confirm that they'd removed the DDR machine we'd played on there a few years back. (A friend had told us it'd been taken out. It had. :/ )

For dinner then, we cashed in some birthday food coupons I'd received for free and cheap food.

Then we went to a Walmart for bread, bananas, and to park and sleep.

Day 2 - 5/7/16 (Fantasy Run 5k):

In the morning, we drove back to Gardner Village for the race. It was the Fantasy Run 5k. There was also a 1/2 marathon and a 10k but we'd opted for the 5k this time. They were supposed to have trophies for top 3 overall in each distance but ended up doing plaques and medals instead. Still cool! They had medals for age group winners too. Sean ended up getting 1st place overall. I got 1st place female and 2nd overall (after Sean). We each got our 1st place plaque and a medal but the best part was actually the fairy wings (for ladies) and bug antennas (for guys) they gave us to run with! Oh, and the ice cream sandwiches they had at the snack table after the race!

Post race, we refueled ourselves at Starbucks using a Groupon deal we had and even got free refills with our recently acquired gold card membership (complicated to explain but also thanks to Groupon usage). We got some work done using WiFi there while sipping drinks.

Then we used more Groupon deals to get a bunch of tasty sushi from a nearby place called Simply Sushi!

While getting sushi, it started hailing and then just raining.

Unsure of what to do next, we decided to drive up to Yellowstone for the first time ever now to celebrate my birthday in the wilderness! Unfortunately, the GPS took us WAY the wrong way, leading us down random country roads instead of a main freeway. It not only added 2 or more hours onto the drive but it took us to the south entrance, which was to be closed for the season for another FIVE DAYS, rather than the West entrance, which was not only open but was at least two hours closer.

On the way down this very wrong road, a deer sprinted out in front of the car. It dashed one way but when Sean tried to avoid it it turned the other way. Luckily, we weren't going super fast and Sean handled it really well and managed to keep it from doing any serious damage but we still hit it hard, sending us scraping into a nearby barrier. Both side of the car got dented up, a headlight got broken, and the passengers side got pretty scratched up but all things considered we got off pretty lightly. The deer somehow crapped on the side of out car during that split second and it lost a little fur and a tiny bit of meat but it went galloping away into the hills and trees and such nearby.

We started seeing shit tons of bison, I guess they were, and deer or elk or something shortly after that. There were lots of big herds of them right next to the road and crossing the road. There was even a herd of bison that decided to cross and stand in the road right after we got to them, humping and playing and just standing there in the middle of the street causing a traffic jam.

Beyond that point, we didn't see almost any more cars at all! We wondered why. It was not only a little eerie but also worrying. We didn't get an explanation til we arrived at the south entrance to Yellowstone though. We drove ALL THE WAY THERE, ALL DAY, EIGHT HOURS FROM WHERE WE'D STARTED, and were faced with a closed entrance and no alternative but to turn right back around. I was NOT going all that way for nothing though. I couldn't help backtracking a fair amount but I was going to salvage as much as I could to at least get something for our efforts..

I decided we'd head further east through Wyoming to a place called Thermopolis 3.5 hours away to visit Hot Springs State Park. Well, it actually took WAY longer because roads were wet, it rained a bit during the drive, there was a lot of melted snow on the road (and still plenty of snow just off the road!), we were driving thru clouds in some sections, and we were still spotting big animals just off the road here and there.

There was an adorable little town (population 971) on the way called Dubois. Nothing open at the time but could be cool in the day!

On a sad note, there were 0 ddrfreak listed machines locations in Wyoming! Maybe they'd all been removed long ago. Maybe there were a few machines but just not listed because no one uses that site anymore. It was sad seeing a state with the number "0" next to it on there though!

1 hour from our destination, we finally stopped for the night at a rest area. There were TONS of bunnies running around there. So cute! It was officially my birthday then so we finished the night by watching the first Ninja Turtles movie with spam sandwiches and wine we'd brought! Then we got a few hours of sleep.

Day 3 - 5/8/16 (My 28th Birthday / Mother's Day!):

We were up again at 8am, on our way soon thereafter.

At Hot Springs State Park in Thermopolis, WY, we looked around at the somewhat stinky (from the sulfur) park, caught (and eventually let go again) an adorable baby snake and an equally adorable baby bird, and paid $12.50 each for admission to the Star Plunge hot mineral pools (the only hot-spring-related activity there seemed to be to do there) where we enjoyed warm pools, a waterslide, a diving board (no actual diving allowed-jumping only), hot tubs, and a vapor cave!! The vapor cave was  my favorite. Really made us sweat! One of the pools and one slide were closed but we had plenty of fun with everything else and at the end of it all they had showers that we used for a much needed wash!

Back at the car, it was time for me to open some birthday gifts! I opened one from Sean first. He'd gotten me a portable solar charger to use with my phone or whatever else!! We'd be able to do some longer trails without having too worry much about keeping a charge now! The gifts his mom had sent me were next. I opened a card she'd sent first. It was so funny and SO very me! Then I opened the package she'd sent me and found the most delicious UK snacks and various other perfect gifts including red and black bluetooth headphones I'd be able to use for running. She and Sean really know me SO well. I can't believe how they spoil me and how good they are at getting me the most perfect gifts despite me constantly telling them I don't want anything! God, they're really too sweet!!

After gift time, I decided it was time to start making our way back to an entrance to Yellowstone that'd actually be open. We headed towards the east entrance, passing a couple of small towns and munching UK snacks from Sean's mom on the way!

The biggest of the small towns we passed was called Cody. There were a good amount of chain stores and restaurants there and it was a kind of interesting little town but nothing in particular stood out to make us stop til we spotted a sign that said "Arcade" on the way out of town here:

Millstone Pizza Co. & Brewery
1057 Sheridan Ave
Cody, WY

Convinced that there was no way we'd find a dance game there, we passed by, not planning on stopping. A minute later though, we had a change of heart and decided we might as well be sure. We u-turned, I had Sean run in, and amazingly he found a DDR Extreme there! I parked and we went in to play a game together in their downstairs arcade! The pads were a 2/10 at best (we BARELY made it through 2.5 songs) and they didn't have any other music games there but it was only $0.50 for 3 songs and honestly we were just amazed and stoked that we'd managed to find a machine there and get Wyoming technically back on the map on ddrfreak.

Down the road a bit, we saw the Cody Stampede Park (where they host rodeos), the Shoshone River, Buffalo Bill Dam, and tons of other great views. It was incredible! We also saw tons of dead deer on the side of the road and live deer and other animals next to and crossing the road. We eventually passed a bison walking on the side of the road followed by a group of goats (or maybe baby bighorn sheep or something). Weird but awesome! A little later, we found a lone bighorn sheep munching grass on the side of and right next to the road!

Then we got to Yellowstone FINALLY! We got inside and were soon greeted by tons of intermittent snow, small waterfalls, frozen lakes (small ones and the big, breathtaking Yellowstone Lake), steam from geothermal features in the ground, tons of dead trees/forests.. We couldn't believe it! We even saw the mud volcano area, though it was too dark to get much by way of pictures and videos by then. Not wanting to miss the sites of the park, we called it a night when we got to the Canyon Village area. We turned off to Artist Point to park for the night. There was only one other car there then and it was practically pitch black outside. We enjoyed the impressive view of the stars and then sipped some wine and rum while watching more Ninja Turtles. Then sleep. :)

Day 4 - 5/9/16 (Yellowstone):

I was awake again at 7:20am. Once we were both awake enough and ready, we hopped on a nearby trail called South Rim trail and did some mini walk-jogging to some Lower Falls waterfall lookout points. Starting then, it hailed a lot off and on through the day.

Back at the car, we carried on driving through Yellowstone, mixing it up by stopping at the cool, car-accessinle sights and doing some shorter paths and trails to the pedestrian-accessible-only spots as well. We visited Norris Geyser Basin where we saw crazy, incredible sights like none we'd ever seen before. The most noteworthy of this was the Steamboat Geyser - the world's tallest active geyser. We stopped and saw the Fountain Paint Pots and other things.. We visited Midway Geyser Basin, which I think was the coolest looking spot we found in the park, and saw Grand Prismatic Spring - Yellowstone's Largest Hot Spring - and other things. We found more buffalo or bison or whatever they were lying around in Biscuit Basin. We saw TONS of geysers and other geothermal pools and features throughout the day but our grand finale was, appropriately, Old Faithful. Around it was the busiest, fanciest part of the park we'd seen with the largest lodge and gift shop and visitor we'd passed in the park. We stopped in the gift store first which, unfortunately, caused us to miss Old Faithful's eruption. After leaving the gift shop and walking over to Old Faithful, we were stuck waiting and watching in the cold for over 1.5 hours before it erupted again. Oh well. Worth it to say we'd seen it! Towards the end of the eruption, we got to see an even bigger (at least seemingly so) geyser erupt just to the left of Olf Faithful (viewing from the visitor's center side), also in Upper Geyser Basin with Old Faithful.

We headed out of the park via the West Entrance then, cutting through the corner of Montana (our first time there!) before heading down into Idaho and later Utah on the way back towards home.

Just outside the park, there was a little town. We stopped at a gas station there for drinks and wound up getting cheap alcohol on clearance, a hot tea for Sean, snacks, and water to make coffee & brush teeth.

Driving on, we made a couple more essential stops for drinks, gas, munchies.

We stopped at Fort Hall Casino when we reached and got some free drinks there for the second or third time ever.

At a McDonald's on the way, we stopped to use their WiFi for work and took advantage of a deal that had going for $1 frappuccinos and smoothies! Yum!

Then we drove to another Flying J to park, watch the second Ninja Turtles movie, and sleep.

Day 5 - 5/10/16 (Family):

We woke at 8:30am and spent the next several hours catching up on work, birthday messages, and more using the WiFi inside Flying J. Got a free drink refill (probably the 3rd this trip) too! (You get 5 free refills when you join their loyalty club.)

Then we continued south for more things on the way home, the first of which was:

Game Grid Arcade @ Valley Fair Mall
3601 Constitution Blvd c128
West Valley City, UT 84119

It was our first time visiting Game Grid. I think we'd found it through Groupon and may have heard of it through a friend as well. Awesome little mall arcade with old games, some somewhat newer but still likely second hand games, and even DDR Extreme (with a Max2 marquee) and ReRave Plus! DDR was out of order (disc had died) but they wanted help fixing it and we took contact info so maybe we could help them later! There was a credit in ReRave at the time so we shared that and then I watched Sean play some other random games.

We only had one more important stop to make before heading home then: visiting family in Sandy, UT. Aside from my cousin Serena who was originally from the area but currently living in Flagstaff, AZ, Sean had never met any of my family there. I hadn't seen any of them in years, aside from my aunt Julia who I'd visited once a few years back. Time to change that! I'd coordinated with my aunt to stop by her and my uncle Frank's house (same house they've lived in for about 40 years now!) so that we could catch up and they could meet Sean. When we arrived, the house was looking just as clean and pretty as ever. I couldn't believe it! My cousin Crystal was there with my aunt and uncle (her parents) waiting to greet us when we got there. They now had a little dog there to greet us too. :) My aunt was making DELICIOUS homemade pizza, she'd baked an absolutely incredible chocolate cake, we'd brought a couple of little snacks and festive beverages to share, my uncle provided additional festive and local beverages for us to try (actually courtesy of my cousin Lisa who's working at a brewery and brings the drinks home to them), and they stuffed us up with snacks and goodies all afternoon and evening! My cousin Melanie and her sons came by for a bit and my cousin Sonya stopped in briefly so we had a fairly full house there for awhile! We spent some good quality time catching up and bonding and had an awesome time doing it too. I got to show Sean a handful of old family photos hanging on the walls there and he and I both got to learn more about my family history. We had way too much fun getting better acquainted with my cousins as well. Biggest highlights, however, were definitely my aunt's cooking and having a couple beers with my uncle! Such a great time! They're so sweet and welcoming and accommodating. Hope we get to return the favor one of these days!

Anyway, after we left their place, we got gas and started straight back to Vegas. We only stopped a couple times for food, to switch drivers, for restroom breaks, and to get more gas but otherwise got back to Vegas as quickly as possible to catch up on things again so we could get back out on our next adventure!