The North Carolina State Fair

On our last day in the South, Adam, Ethan, Laura and I spent the afternoon at the North Carolina State Fair. It was an afternoon full of craft fairs, rides, animals, and fried foods.

You know you're in the South when there is a tobacco stringing contest...

I made everyone go to the horse show for a bit. It was a blast!

Photo by Ethan

One of the rides. 

Video by Laura.

Yep. Adam and I did that one...

Keeper of the things

Photo by Laura

All the fried foods: fried Reese's wrapped in bacon, fried oreos, and fried cookie dough. Yum.

Photo by Laura

The inside of a fried Oreo.

Thank you, North Carolina, for treating us so well! It was a great week full of friends, food, and fun!

Beach Time

While visiting Ethan and Laura in North Carolina, we packed up the car and drove out to Oak Island for a couple of quiet days on the beach. Laura's aunt and uncle were extremely nice and let us stay at their house that was right between the beach and the sound. The weather was absolutely perfect the first day and a little overcast the other two, but it was probably a good thing because I was too sunburnt to go lie on the sand again...

How many college grads does it take to fill a tire with air?

The front of the house. 

We went to a restaurant called "Fishy Fishy" one night for dinner and sat on their pier overlooking this sunset.

We also ate an unbelievable amount of fried food at "Fishy Fishy" including Jalapeño Hush Puppies, Calamari, Buffalo Popcorn Shrimp, and a Bacon-wrapped Shrimp Platter. Yum.

Playing charades

Lots of puzzle time

Burgers and daiquiris on our last night

Thank you so much, Laura's family, for letting us crash your house and enjoy the surf and sun! Back in the day, my family would vacation in North Carolina, but normally in June. Going to the beach in October was perfect weather and temperature and a lot less crowded- we had the beach to ourselves almost every day!

A Trip Down South

I was very lucky this month to take a trip down to Durham, North Carolina to visit Ethan and Laura (they're both at Duke right now, studying Medical Physics and Nursing, respectively...). Adam flew down too, so it was a great week full of friends, food, sunshine, and good times. And more food.

Always up for a good game of Disc Golf

Found a bull statue.

I AM A BELIEVER. Chicken and Waffles. We went to Dame's, and it was phenomenal. I didn't think the combination of chicken on top of a waffle with syrup would be remotely delicious, but it was SO GOOD. I highly recommend them, especially from this restaurant. But, you need to get reservations!

So. Good.

We found a brussel sprout tree and decided to eat some.

And, after years of hearing about them, I finally tried a Cook Out Milkshake. It was heavenly. I wanted to go back every day for more. 

More pictures to come, including the beach and the NC State Fair!

Ranch Life

So I spent the last 5+ months living and working as a wrangler on Tumbling River Ranch located in Grant, Colorado. We had no cell phone service and very limited internet. I know that's not an excuse for my lack of updates, and I'm sorry. But here we are!

So the ranch, like I said, was home from the last snow storm in May until the first snow storm in September. I worked primarily with the horses leading trail rides and giving horseback riding clinics as well as taking care of the herd. I joke that I made 75 new friends this summer, all of which had 4 legs. It's true! I love those ponies. But here are a few pictures of the summer. Enjoy!

Montana! That's my hat!

The Ladies of TRR ready for a Square Dance (the weekly Friday night activity. Let me tell you, I'm good at dancing in a square now!)

This is Berkeley. He got sick early on in the summer- he's fine now, but I stayed up the night with him. What a sweetie!

This is our overnight camp site. We do an overnight pack trip that goes up to Geneva City, a really neat ghost town right at timberline, then head down to our permanent camp site where we "glamp". "Glamping" aka Glamorous Camping, consists of a three sided lean-to complete with roof and mattresses and sleeping bags, hot french onion soup waiting for us when we arrive, and all of it is located in the grassy horse pasture. So, you wake up with the horses right outside your lean to, ready for a day of riding! So cool!

Fourth of July. The ranch (staff and guests) split into two teams, red or blue, for the week and had a massive field day on the 4th to see which team was better. Obviously I was on the red team and obviously we won. 

Leading a guided hike to Square Top Lakes, in the shadow of Mount Bierstadt.

I really want to find these helmets and buy them in real life.

Best friends.

Classic trail ride.

We saw an elk and these two didn't know what it was!

Dressed up for Hootenanny, an embarrassing night where we as a staff serenaded the guests in a roast/toast of the week. Also, Sarah from the ship came and worked at the ranch for the month of August. Clash of two VERY different worlds. But I loved having her!

Look at those fall colors! This is a ride we did that followed the Abyss Lake Trail for a bit, the turned right and followed the base of Mt. Evans and Mt. Bierstadt for a while.

I got really good at taking selfies on horseback.

A Real Rodeo

As I mentioned earlier, my summer at TRR was full of horses and fun. Every weekend, we would throw together a little Rodeo and anyone at the ranch could participate. We had barrel racing, keyhole, and flag racing as the horse events, as well as a wheelbarrow race and an egg toss for fun. Anyone (kids to grandparents, staff to guests) could do as many of these events as they wanted, and it was a really fun, really special way to end a great week with our guests. My favorite parts, however, were the wrangler only events where we basically showed off. Now, those of you who know me know that I will do anything to avoid the spotlight and "showing off" is not even remotely in my vocabulary, but I did enjoy these times at the rodeo because we let loose and just had a boat load of fun.

Here are some pictures of the rodeo. I hope you enjoy!

This is the flag race (on a horse named Duke. He's the fastest in the herd!)- you race around one barrel and pick up an orange stick, round the corner of the second barrel and drop the stick into another bucket. The person with the fastest time who can cleanly pick up and drop off the stick wins!

Warming up for one of the wrangler only events with Bueno.

Me and Freckles during the Pony Express Race. One of the wrangler only events, we split into two teams and have to race around a rectangle outlined by these poles. We had to hand off a saddle bag containing "mail" like the real pony express back in the day, and the team that had the fastest time won.

Victory lap after winning the Pony Express. That's me with my hand raised. 

Stacey came up to watch the Rodeo one day.

So did Mom. It was fun having them and showing them around!

Grand Entry on Boonie. 

And that's the rodeo, folks! It was a blast!

Second Contract Highlights

And here we are, catching up! Starting with Disney. My second contract with DCL definitely had it's ups and downs. But, the friends I made and the experiences I had made the entire experience worth it. I miss these people daily, and can't wait to reunite with them all in the near future!

Pirate night was always a good night when Stitch showed up.

So over Christmas, I was struck with a case of Conjunctivitis, aka Pink Eye. Despite my swollen eye and miserable attitude, it was still a great Christmas, full of characters, fake snow, and a lot of the Frozen soundtrack.

Even though it's blurry, the Fantasy at night was one of the most spectacular things I've ever seen.

Walking around downtown St. Thomas one day we found Blackbeard's castle!

And, my greatest accomplishment of 2014, I peeled a banana. I HATE bananas. The smell, the taste, the texture. Yuck. It took 23 years but I finally peeled one! I did not eat it though, nor drink the banana smoothie. Baby steps. 

My contract ended the day after my birthday, which was quite the timing. I had a month of vacation before I started work at the Ranch. More on that to come soon!