We finally did it!

Ever since like.... high school, some friends and I have been talking about taking a road trip to California to go to six flags. Every summer it gets brought up, and every summer something happens or schedules don't align, or something happens and it never panned out.

Until this year.

We just started talking about one night. And everyone was just like yeah, let's do it! So we planned it. And everyone was game. Although a few days later we decided to alter the plans a little, and the new plans didn't include six flags. Yeah for a cheaper trip, boo for no roller coasters. But we couldn't make it work on a weekday and we didn't want to spend tons of money to wait in lines all day. But that's all besides the point. It was all planned, yet we still didn't want to get our hopes up too high. We were all still thinking it wouldn't happen. Something was going to come up. We had been planning this trip for years and it never worked out. But then the day came. And we went. WE WENT TO CALIFORNIA. We finally did it!

It was a pretty short trip. But oh so fun!

                                                             Hotel Shenanigans! 

Our first stop Friday morning was the Santa Monica Pier:

 And of course we rode on the iconic Ferris Wheel! The view wasn't bad at all...

We stopped our Pacific Park adventure for a bit to eat at Bubba Gump's right on the pier.. that place was one of a kind. Such a fun little restaurant. 

 Then we went back on the coaster! 

It certainly wasn't six flags worthy, but it was still fun! 

We took selfies the whole time....

You can't do that at six flags! (I'm making myself feel better)

 Our next stop was supposed to be Hollywood. But traffic was completely horrendous. It took us almost 2 hours to get to this awesome Harry Potter store. Although they were all out of chocolate frogs...

 The Great Hall

 Voldemort guarding our masked faces.

Then the moment I was waiting for. 

DODGER STADIUM: 

 #6

 I was able to convince them that this was a good idea! They're keepers for sure! 

 We hugged in the hot dog line. And 2 separate people asked if we were from Utah. What the random!?

 Saturday we drove down to Huntington Beach: 

Beach, Dodger stadium, Santa Monica Pier, Roller coasters... pretty solid trip if you ask me! Time to plan another one! 

Chicago 2014

Jeremy, Matthew and I are all trying to watch a game in every major league ballpark before we die. So far i've only been to 5...  I need to up my game! So this last weekend we went to Chicago to see Wrigley Field. It was awesome! We got to our hotel Saturday morning about 2 am (after our flight was delayed, and then waited for 45 minutes at the airport for our hotel shuttle). We were finally all settled and ready to sleep at 3ish. Then we were up at 6am to start the adventure!

Leaving Phoenix:

(I love AZ)

Our first stop was the bean in Millennium Park. 

 And, naturally,  the classic bean selfies...

Then we went on an architecture cruise right on the river. It was so cool! Our tour guide was a home grown Chicagoan, who had a lot of Chicago pride that seeped out of his monologue, with lots of cool facts and history of the buildings, as well as the types of architecture.  I mostly just wanted to go for Wrigley Field, but everyone else wanted to do this. So I forked out the big bucks... and i'm so glad I did. It was one of my favorite parts! I would definitely recommend it! 

 I can't get over how much I love this skyline!

Waiting for it to start

 Amanda really did enjoy it... (but remember we had less than 3 hours of sleep)

Then we walked along the Navy Pier. They were doing a lot of construction, so it wasn't as cool as I had hoped. But we did walk to the top of the parking garage for more cool pictures of the skyline! The pictures don't do the beauty justice. 

Then the moment I was waiting for: WRIGLEY FIELD. It surely didn't disappoint! This year is the 100 year anniversary, so that made it even cooler! (Fun fact: The Cubs played the Dbacks on the very 100 year anniversary this season) They're doing all sorts of fun throwbacks and promotions this year. 

 Chicago really does have great fans. The Cubs aren't even that good this year, and it was freezing outside, but it was packed. (We've got work to do Dbacks fans!) We left after the 7th inning stretch, which may have been the coolest part of the game! It originated at Wrigley Field with the cubbies. So with that and the fact that Chicago has awesome fans, everyone was singing at the top of their lungs.  It was pretty sweet!

We went back downtown to Union Station. It was closed for some huge red carpet event, so we couldn't go inside. 

The next important thing we needed to accomplish: Chicago style deep dish Pizza! We went to Giordano's Famous Stuffed Pizza. It was de-lish! The crust is stuffed with lots of mozzarella cheese, sausage, mushrooms and peppers. And then the sauce is on top. It was delightful! 

After pizza we walked back to the nearest train station and rode an hour back to the airport, got another shuttle back to our hotel and went to sleep by 10:30-11ish. We were EXHAUSTED! Then we were up at 2:45am to catch the 3:15 shuttle back to the airport to get on our 5am flight back to Phoenix. 

With less than 7 hours of sleep both nights combined, it was a crazy 24 hours, and i'm still a little tired...  But it was so worth it!