Utah....you've gotten a bad rap

FYI: I'm too lazy to make these pictures smaller, so if you click on them, they are HUGE.

For all of you that told me Utah would be boring because they don't serve liquor, etc....boy were you wrong. Utah was a beautiful place...and yes, they do serve liquor...almost every where. We went to Miller Motorsports Park so J could do a motorcycle track day. It was a very low key weekend and half of it was spent on the road. We left Friday morning at 7:30am and after a stop at the track to drop off the trailer, we finally made it to the hotel at 9:15pm. It was a loooong day in the car, but the scenery was beautiful!


We spent all day Saturday and Sunday at the track, so there isn't much to tell. There was a poor guy on Saturday who crashed and broke one of his vertebrae and both his wrists, so the track was shut down for a bit while he was medivac'd out. We spoke to his friend later who said he was able to feel everything and would be ok in the long run which was a blessing. I always hate to see someone hurt out there because it reminds me that J could just as easily get hurt. I try to block that out though because riding is J's life and I will not be the one to tell him he can't do that for my own piece of mind.


Saturday night we went in to Salt Lake City for dinner at a place called Squatter's. I believe it was a brew pub of sorts. It was really nice inside and the food was delicious. J had been there once before and we had to go back so he could get Polygamy Porter (his fave beer). We went to this really cute outdoor mall and had dessert. Sunday we went to Perkins. Now, if you are from the Midwest, you know what Perkins is. We don't have those here in CA, so we had to go there for old time sake. It's just a little diner type place like Mimi's here in CA. Now, here is why I think Utah is misjudged....Perkins in MN doesn't serve liquor. Perkins in Utah serves....you guessed it...Polygamy Porter (Why have just one?). Here is proof:


Monday we left Utah for the long drive home. Once again, we saw the beautiful scenery. As we were driving, we both noticed the scenery looked a lot like what we would picture Arizona looking like. Not more than 5 minutes later did we pass the sign that said welcome to Arizona. Weird. We had no idea we passed through there.


Once through Arizona, we were in to Nevada and through Vegas. About 5 miles after we passed through Vegas, we hit the storm we saw off in the distance. It was super scary. It was raining so hard you couldn't see 10 feet in front of you. The wind was blowing our trailer all over so we had to pull over along with everyone else. As we were sitting there, a lightening bolt hit the field right next to us. It was so loud and blindingly blue. It scared the living you know what out of me. I thought we were in the desert people.


We then noticed that the freeway was starting to flood, and fast and it started hailing really bad, so we decided we were better off chancing it and getting out of the storm.


Luckily, within 15 slow, hair raising minutes, it stopped raining and things cleared up for the most part. In fact...they cleared up to 112 degrees! We finally got home Monday evening around 7ish, and after that drive, I was so relieved to be there. I'm still trying to catch up on my sleep....all that driving and sitting around outside is surprisingly tiring.

I hope everyone had a good weekend! :D

And the winner is...

The winner of the grocery contest got the amount almost to the exact dollar. In fact, they were .99 away. That winner would be Kim with a guess of $88.02!! :D The real price was $89.01. I will be mailing you the Starbucks gift certificate when I get back from Utah. I will email you for your address.

Ok, so this was just a fun contest so I could vent about how much groceries cost these days. We went for ONE meal. Just ONE...and got a few additional items, but no other meals. The groceries didn't even fill up 2 bags. How in the HELL was it almost $90.00 for 1 meal and some additional items. I almost had a heart attack when she told me the total. And that price was after our $15.50 in savings for using our club card. I was just in shock by that price, so that is why I did all of this. I thought it would be around $45.00, but to be double that? What the hell is happening right now? I'm so over all of this! My house is worthless and gas and groceries are sky high. Sheesh. I'm going to live in Ramen noodles from now on I think.

Operation Tokyo is a go!!!

So we decided for sure that we are going to Tokyo in April!! I am so freakin excited!! We couldn't be sure until we heard back from the military resort because they can book up, up to a year in advance. They sent us an email that the whole week we wanted, minus the first weekend we were going to be there was available. That works because the MotoGP race is in Motegi so we will book a hotel there for the first 2 nights that the military resort was full.

Phase 1 - Complete - Book military resort.

Now to Phase 2 - Book Motegi hotel.

I have never been out of the country, unless you count Mexico, but I don't. I have a ton to do for this trip. Get passports, book airfare, make arrangements for race, learn Japanese. Yeah...you heard me right. J and I are trying to learn Japanese. He has always wanted to learn it because he works for a Japanese company, so this is the perfect time. It definitely isn't easy, so I'll probably be able to say 10 whole words by April.

We have decided travel is definitely our #1 priority (should our finances decide to cooperate) so we are hitting Utah very shortly. We are also planning on a cruise maybe later this year. We also would like to get up to Canada possibly, but that will not be until next year because we refuse to go anywhere cold, while it's actually cold. Sorry family in MN. You won't be seeing us the rest of the year unless you come out here. :P

My theory is that you only live once and there is a lot to see. So we need to get to traveling!

It costs how much?

It's time for the first ever contest on NorCalMrs' blog. So, for all 3 of you that read this blog, your chances of winning are pretty good. Here's how it works....

J and I went to the grocery store yesterday to pick up a dinner and a few misc items. I'm going to list out our purchases (without giving brand names so you cant look it up), and you tell me how much you think the total bill was with tax. The person who guesses the closest either over or under, will win. What do you win you ask? I'll be sending you a $5.00 Starbucks gift card.

Please list your guess in the comments section. All guesses must be submitted by Thursday, August 21st at 12:00pm.

Here is the list:

• 8 pack value pack yogurt
• Orange juice (med size container...approx 32 oz?)
  
• 4 boxes powdered drink mix 10 pk pouches
• cheese - sliced
  
• 2 boxes of cereal (not the super huge boxes)
• small frozen pizza
• coffee
• sandwich rolls
• baked beans
  
• med size container strawberries
• 3 apples
• head of lettuce
• 1 tomato
• thin cut chicken breasts (4 to a package)
• cookies
• sangria (cheapy bottle)
  

Mind you, these fit into 2 bags. Good luck!

Oh, and I'll be keeping the guesses private until the after the contest ends. :)

Questions posted:

Q: What kind of store was this purchased from? A: regular chain grocery store

Why so boring?

Have I been gone that long? I come back and my blogger is all different. Although, come to think of it...it could be my new Macbook laptop I'm on. My old laptop was about to bite the dust (or so I tell myself in order to justify this purchase), so I had to go out and get a new one. I've been eying the Mac's for a while, and they were offering a free ipod touch with purchase if you are a student. That sealed the deal for me. Now I have a fancy new Macbook AND an ipod touch! I pink puffy heart them....a lot.

What else has been going on? Not much at all. I'm going to school full time still. I can't wait until I'm done. This is not the part of my new career path that makes me happy, but once I'm done with this school and on to real school again, I'll be much happier. I only have 2.5 months of school left, then I start a one month (160 hour) externship, then I graduate. Then I can start making money again while I go to school at night. This being unemployed business is both good and bad. I HATE working, but I HATE not making my own money even more. I've worked full time since I was 17 and always been financially independent, so this has been the hard part for me. I'm also starting to get a bit bored. You can only sit on the internet and watch tv so much before you want to strangle yourself. I'm not resourceful enough to think of other things to do that don't cost money. Soon.

Hmmm...what else? Well, we are planning a few trips I am very excited about! We were supposed to go to MN to visit friends and family next weekend but our plans with our friends fell through (bad planning on my part), so we cancelled that trip and will probably use our tickets to come for the holidays? Although J said he would never go back there in the winter ever again. That may take some convincing. So, instead, we are going to Utah next weekend. J had a business trip out there and is doing a motorcycle track day while there, so I'm taking Fri and Mon off school and going with him. It's 100% free for us, so why not! I have never been, so I'm looking forward to it. Most of our time will be spent at the track, but at least we'll get out at night.

If any of you are my friend on Myspace, I'm sure you've seen my countdown calendar for Italy/Greece. Well, we've been trying to get there for the past 2 years, but it never seems to work out. We were going to go next May for the MotoGP race, and then spend 10 days there, but with the value of the dollar being so low, we have decided to hold off on that trip as well. BUT....we are going to JAPAN instead!!! Why you ask? Well, the MotoGP goes there as well, and they have a military resort right in the heart of Tokyo that will only cost us $58.00/night!!! I know, I can't believe it either. We are going to head over there for 7-10 days depending on our schedules and hit the race, see the sites, and tour the factory J's company has over there (he works for a Japanese co.). We also can fly through the military for free with J's military id, but it's not always guaranteed, so that part worries me. I may just pony up the money for the airfare, just so we are sure to get there and back. This trip won't be until April, but I'm starting my planning now, and we are both trying to learn some Japanese. Should be a fun time and I'm sooo excited!!

To Jen

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my good friend Jen. I miss you and I can't wait until you visit the states!!!

Hopkins

There is a show on television (yes, I've fallen off the wagon), that I cannot get enough of. Hopkins has got to be one of the greatest reality shows I've ever watched. I'm in love with medical shows, and reality shows, and this combines them. This show is so touching and real. I'm in love with it. If you have time, you can watch full episodes on their website.