Searching for Yogi & Boo Boo (and Harrison Ford)

From Chicago, Clayton flew back to Eastern New Mexico, and I was off to places even more remote: Jackson Hole, Wyoming. My parents were going out there for a business reward trip for my Dad and I tricked them in to letting me come along for the ride.

Stepping off the plane at the little Jackson Airport, a driver greeted me with a sign that read: "Miss Anderson" and whisked me off to the Four Seasons. ( Yes. I'm a lucky little shit). I was mesmerized the entire drive to the resort. I grew up in the flat cornfields of Illinois and spent the last seven years in the flat swamps of Florida. Having jagged peaks like the Grand Tetons rising around me, is not something I'm used to.

Mom and Dad were at a dinner function so I had sushi at the bar and joined them for the after party. The air was cool, the camp fires were burnin, booze was flowin' and the Raymond James execs were having a grand ol' time!

They had another group function the next day so I decided to walk around Teton Village and then do some hiking around the resort. I found a nice little trail heading up the mountain and walked about a mile before discovering what I'm 90% sure were bear droppings. I decided to turn around.

Later that afternoon we took the bus into the town of Jackson, and had dinner at the Snake River Brewery. Coincidentally, my childhood best friend Kelly's little brother Cam is now a brewer at the Snake River Brewery. He met us and gave us an awesome tour of the Brewery. I had no idea that so much equipment and effort was necessary for making beer and I now appreciate this wonderful beverage even more!

The next day we hiked around Jenny Lake in Grand Teton National Park. Gorgeous.

Back at Teton Village we rode the gondola to the top of the mountain. Which was still covered with Snow!

The next morning we got up early and drove up to Yellowstone National Park. This was pretty much one of those places that you always heard about as a kid; picturing bear, and moose, and preventing forest fires. But I honestly never really thought I would get to go there. I had absolutely no idea the enormity of the park. It took us the whole day to drive around the main loop but you could probably spend a week there and not see everything. Of course we had to be like the Griswald Family Vacation and stop to see Old Faithful. Yep, it was corny. Less corny attractions were the live buffalo, moose, bear, rivers, hot springs, waterfalls, and canyons. This place has a lot of scenery.

While I never did find Harrison Ford, I had an amazing time in the fresh air of Wyoming. Thanks to my parents for letting me tag along! But I was also ready to get back to Clovis to my own Boo Boo :)

The coolest table in Chi-town: TABLE 6!

After a 6 hour drive from Oklahoma back to Clovis and 3 whole days at home it was time to hit the road again.  After spending most of the summer criss-crossing the country in a car I was happy to finally be traveling the way God intended me to: in an airplane! LBB to DFW to ORD. I slept most of the way. Preparing for the upcoming hangovers. This was Clayton and I's first flight together. Traveling with a boyfriend = free pillow! :)

After sitting in a van in Chicago rush hour traffic for about an hour we checked into our swanky room with an awesome view of Navy Pier at the Hyatt Regency Chicago. Would you believe 30 minutes later we were in the bar? We reunited with Jeff & Amber and other members of the bridal party. The girls split off to head out for Amber's bachelorette party and the boys were on the hunt for whisky and beer.

In true Ambular fashion, the bachelorette party consisted of:
1. Lots of tequila
2. Being asked by a bouncer to leave the bar... If you know Amber, you know why. If not, trust me, it was hysterical... and it happened in the kitchen!
3. Stumbling down the road in high heals.

The next morning my awesome parents drove up from Champaign to spend the day in the city with me and Clayton.

I finally saw the BEAN! (first time even though I lived in Illinois for 19+ years)

Obviously, we HAD to check out the newly opened Margaritaville Chicago at Navy Pier. And my super fabulous besties from High School, Lauren & Tracey, drove in from the suburbs to join us for lunch!

We capped off the afternoon with an architectural boat tour of the city. I <3 boats.

Are rehearsal dinners usually as much  fun as weddings are? Well.... if they are serving delicious pinot noir, if you're assigned to Table 6, and if the grooms cake resembles booze they are!

The next morning Clayton ran off to a guided tour of Wrigley Field while I got pretty with the other bridesmaids. Amber hired a trolley to take the bridal party around the city for wedding photos. We classed up the trolley with coors light in styrofoam coolers, had a lot of fun, and took some pretty awesome pictures thanks to: http://adamjnovak.zenfolio.com/amberandjeff. If you're planning a Chicago wedding, this guy rocks!

Allow me to introduce you to the most freaking fabulous wedding ever: 

-A beautiful bride

-Navy Pier Roof top

-Lounge Furniture on the Dance Floor

-3 Bars!

-Amazing dinner stations including, fried chicken, mac 'n cheese, chicago style pizza, hot dogs, & nachos, pasta station, carving station, baked potato station, followed later in the night by grilled cheese & tomato soup & chocolate milkshakes & red velvet cake!

-Firework show over lake Michigan

Oh and I had a pretty good lookin' date ;-)

 My life of the party boyfriend rounded up the boys for a stellar performance of "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin"

And I caught the bouquet :-) :-) :-)

Now I'm not an overly emotional person and I especially hate saying goodbyes... so when it came time at the end of the night to say goodbye to my best friend and roommate as she headed off to wedded bliss in the sunshine state and I headed back west to start my next adventure, well yeah I balled my eyes out and poor Clayton had no idea what to do with me.

Having been Amber & Jeff's roommate for the last year I witnessed all of the headaches planning such an extravagant event caused... but in the end every thing was perfect and I think it was worth it. Thanks Amber and Jeff for throwing such a fabulous party!

O~K~L~A~H~O~M~A!

South Texas to the quaint little town of Guthrie, Oklahoma was about 7 hours with a quick stop at Tinker Air Force Base so Clayton could pick up some mess dress accessories. And you know I had to stop at the Oklahoma welcome center!

First time in Oklahoma!

Now, you know its going to be a pretty epic wedding weekend when all of the guys show up in cowboy boots and shorts to the rehearsal dinner! Awesome barbecue buffet, awesome booze, awesome friends!

On Saturday we explored downtown Guthrie; stopped in a couple of antique stores and found a little diner for lunch. We watched a re-enactment of a wild west gunfight in which they stole the bride and hauled the groom off to jail.

The wedding was gorgeous and Clayton looked handsome in his mess dress... and in the other 3 costume changes he had during the evening:

And did I mention he caught garter ;-)

South Texas by Inner tube

Rebecca, Clayton and I left Clovis on Monday, June 13th, for Austin, Texas. After an 8 hour drive through West Texas and the Hill Country we made it just in time for dinner. Iron Works BBQ and a cold Coors Light hit the spot after so much car time. I was thankful to have Rebecca along for the ride so that the vote for country music was 2-1 instead of the usual 1-1... not that my vote doesn't usually win out anyway...

On Tuesday we went down to New Bruaunfels to the Schlitterbahn Water Park. Fail: Waiting in line for an hour and a half for one water slide. Win: Finding a pool with a swim up bar.

 After plenty of beer and sun we cleaned up and headed down the road to the San Antonio River Walk. My sweet sweet grandma told me that if we went to the River Walk, Clayton needed to take me on a boat ride because "it's romantic". How could he argue with grandma? I got my boat ride. Followed by a delicious Mexican (what else?) dinner.

Early Thursday morning, Clayton drove me to a testing center in downtown Austin where I took and PASSED my National Board Exam for Massage Therapy. We spent the rest of the day celebrating in the best possible way.... floating down the Guadalupe river with a cooler of beer. This is without a doubt my new favorite thing and I pray that some day I will live near a river for this purpose. 

I should probably explain that when you hang with Clayton Pasco, costumes are always required... so we classed up the river Kid Rock style with bandanas.

Clayton of course came prepared for the treacherous river rapids with personal flotation devices.

When we got back to Austin that night we put our boots on and went down to the Congress Avenue bridge to watch one million bats fly out for their nightly feeding.

The next morning, Rebecca flew back to Kentucky and Clayton and I headed up the road to Oklahoma. Maybe its because I was traveling with Pascos, but its true what they say: Austin is weird. And fabulous.