New River Gorge

In the middle of August I went on a girls weekend trip.  We went to New River Gorge in West Virginia.  There were 7 of us and we stayed in this super cute little house that had a hot tub!  There were all kinds of things to do in the area that it was kind of hard to choose what to do!

My sister Missy took a selfie on the 3.5 hour drive.

On the first full day we were there, 3 of us, Missy, Brandy, and I, went on a bike ride.  That sounds simple, but we had a guided tour on mountain biking trails.  I've never been mountain biking before.  Turns out 14 miles of hills CAN be fun!

A lot of these photos were taken during breaks, because we needed a lot of breaks.

Tour guide Joel did not need breaks.

We got to stop at a waterfall.

This next picture shows the New River Gorge Bridge in the background:

Then us, under the bridge:

Many parts of the trail had drop offs...

...which made me realize that there are times where heights make me really nervous.

I'm glad I did that bike ride because I felt so accomplished afterwards.  It was hard and I did it!  I may have a few bruises to show for it.

This was a jam packed day because there's more.  We went zip lining that evening.  We did the Gravity Zip Lines and the longest zip was over 3,000 ft long!  Supposedly we got up to 50mph.  Four of us went zip lining that night, the three above, plus Andria.

Even later that night we all went out to dinner, it was a great pizza place called Pies and Pints.

Then even later that night, some of us relaxed in the hot tub.

The next day we did our other half of our zip lining package.  This one was called TreeTops Canopy Tour.  We zipped around from treetop to treetop and went on a few bridges too.  This one was a blast too!

There was a couple that came with us that we didn't know to round out the group.  Tour guide Jillian on the right loved us girls, we were her favorite! :-)

That night we all went out to dinner again.

I can't say enough how much fun I had on this trip!  It was great!  I would definitely go again.  We didn't stay on the resort, but the Adventures on the Gorge Resort was pretty cool.  We'd consider staying in a cabin there.

I got a tshirt from the shop at the resort.  I figured it was fitting since we did the zip lining tours.  I don't usually like shirts that just say a location across it, plus this shirt is that dryfit materia.

The group of girls I went with are pretty cool too!  Some of them are my soccer teammates and the rest are soccer wives.

Sam <3

Ohiopyle

I noticed my Monday posts tend to be my, "What I Did Over the Weekend," posts.  This weekend, I went to Ohiopyle with my parents.  It was about an hour drive for us.  Ohiopyle is a state park in Pennsylvania where the Youghiogheny [yaw-ki-gay-nee] River Gorge is located.  Its where a lot of people go for white water rafting.  Now I've never been white water rafting.  I think I would do it....anyhow, its beautiful there.  I actually took LOADS of pictures, but I took them on my dad's fancy camera.  He hasn't sent me any of them yet :-/  I still wanted to show you part of our day, so here are some of the photos on my phone.

My mom learning new things with her iPhone at breakfast.  She can send photos now!

I swear this was a pretty scene outside the car window.

Cucumber Falls

We hiked down closer to the falls.  It was pretty cold!

This was near some of the rapids where they raft.  You can see my dad's fancy camera around my neck.

Hopefully, some time I can show you some of the other photos I took.

What did you do over the weekend?  Anything fun?

I have a lot to show you on WIP Wednesday and possibly something to show you on FO Friday!

Sam :)

ETA:  I most definitely had to look up how to spell the Youghiogheny River.  Also, here's the link to the Ohiopyle State Park website.

Cuban Food, Hockey, and Pumpkin Picking

I went to Orlando, Florida for work Wednesday - Friday last week.  The only pictures I got on my trip were of my food the night we went to a Cuban restaurant.  I'm usually surrounded by picky eaters, therefore I don't get to try a lot of different food.  This meal was amazing!!!

It started with Sangria (so good!)

My meal was skirt steak with some mashed potatoes.  These weren't just any mashed potatoes, they told me they were from a South American potato, which tastes like a cross between a potato and sweet potato.  They were like sweet potato mash light!  They were so good!

I could not resist adding a side of fried plantains.  Every since I travelled to Brazil, I cannot get enough of them!

I didn't get any crocheting done on this business trip and I blame the bf.   :-)  You see, a couple of weeks ago he noticed that there were rewards points on a card that he's had for years.  Since he never knew there were points, they just racked up.  This is what we got!  It was better than Christmas!

Those Barnes & Noble gift cards turned into this!

I've been reading non-stop.  I love it!!!

I had thought that my weekend was going to be pretty uneventful, but I was wrong.  On Saturday, my parents neighbors asked if any of us wanted use their tickets to the hockey game that night.  I went with my cousin Ashley.  We had a blast!  Go Pens!  The Penguins won 4-1.

On Sunday I knew my parents were taking my two young cousins to the pumpkin patch at Simmons Farm.  Originally, my bf and I weren't going to go, but we woke up on time and decided, why not?  I didn't take too many pictures, as usual.  I only started on the hayride back to the shop area.

My dad tickling Josh with hay

Emily poking her head out by my mom

My pumpkin

Dave and I with our sour apple and caramel lollipops, the ride was a little shaky

I sent this picture to my Aunts warning them that they were about to be sugar-ed up!

Snow cone and funnel cake!

At the petting zoo, my dad saying, "Watch where you step or you're walking home!"  He was joking, I think.

It was a crazy week and after the farm I crashed and fell asleep for 3 hours!  It was a good time.

I have PLENTY of WIPs to show you on Wednesday.  I might have a little something to show you tomorrow too!

Sam <3

Put-In Bay with the Girls

Last weekend (9/16 - 9/18) I went to Put-In Bay, Ohio with some soccer girls/soccer wives.  It took me over a week to post about it because yet again I took practically zero photos and I had to wait for my sister to upload hers.  So here's the photos I stole from other people on the trip!

I've had a bit of writers block when it came to this post. I think I'm going to just let the pictures do the talking!

Our Ferry to the island.

Waiting

Waiting and looking at the camera!

My sister's hair flying everywhere!

It was cold and windy but fun!

There was something historical about this, but I couldn't hear the announcer because we were on the top of the ferry and again it was windy.

Apparently golf carts are the main mode of transportation on the island.

So we got our own!

Who doesn't love mini-golf?

:-)

Brandy at the chocolate shop

It was a fun weekend.  Missy (my sister) will probably yell at me for not writing more :-)

Sam <3

ps.  Someone gave me a blog award!!!  More on that soon!