#ourfirstvacation

benson sculpture garden #coloradovacation #ourfirstvacation #colorado #bensonsculpturegarden (at Benson Sculpture Garden)

Happy #nationalbestfriendday babe. So happy that I have you in my life and that I can love you all up. #smile #perfection #happiness #mybaby #loveher #qotd #ourfirstvacation (at Hillcrest, San Diego)

Oh MAN have the past 2 weeks just FLOWN by in a whirlwind of FUN! 2 weeks ago Brian and I kind of moved into his parent’s house together ( they were on vacation so we fed the cat, etc ). I had a cold. In the summer, super annoying. He took care of me though. We stayed in most nights so I could rest and work on getting better for our camping trip the following week. We had some of his friends over for the Labor Day, that was a blast! We grilled and cooked for about 15 of us, even made fresh salsa! I think I only stopped at my apartment twice to get clothes, other than that we were together every day after work. I loved it! It was so fun to “play house” for a week and a half. I’ve never lived with a guy before, and generally when I sleep at Brians, I get up early so I can run home to my apartment and get ready for work. It was a whole new feeling to NOT leave in the morning but to get ready together at the same time! Last Tuesday we left at about 4:15 in the afternoon to the Upper Peninsula to go rustic tent camping ( and by rustic they mean no electricity or running water..there were 2 outhouses for the campground..) by Little Brevort Lake. (yes you read that right.. RUSTIC TENT camping in September, and yes..we were probably drunk when we decided to go). We got to our campsite around 10pm on Tuesday night and it was still in the low 60s. I even got bit by a few mosquitos. We slept with all the tent windows open and I almost got too warm in our sleeping bag and comforter on top of us. I thought to myself that I should have brought more capri’s or shorts or something! And then it was Wednesday afternoon. The rain came. We decided to up to Sault Set Marie to the Soo Locks (http://www.saultstemarie.com/soo-locks-46/ ). We had all been there before (by we I mean, Brian and I, his brother John..whom we call Newman..and his best friend Dave), but Dave wanted to take us to this place for lunch that had THE BEST white fish and we had some time to kill. We were lucky enough to arrive at the locks just as a 130 foot long 75 foot wide ship was coming in! It was so cool to see how tight the fit was and to see it get lowered in the locks! Because the weather wasn’t ideal there weren’t a lot of other tourists so we had a chance to chit chat with the crew. We went souvenir shopping after that and then mosey’d (yep, I’m making that a verb) our way to the resteraunt. We had a fun time eating and talking and making a plan for the rest of the day. We ended up driving around a little more, going to the casino to get out of the rain, drink some cheap beer and lose $100 on slots and video poker. It was great! We made it back to the campsite in time to make a fire to have it rained out to sit under our tarp and “grill” burgers on our Coleman Stove while we listened to Michael Jackson, Fred Bear by Ted Nugent, and BSB (Daves playlist..not mine..) while we listened to the rain. I think it maybe got to 48 degrees that day. The rest of the week during the days we adventured to Castle Rock (http://www.castlerockmi.com/ ) to where I almost died from all the steps! We also went to The Mystery Spot (http://www.mysteryspotstignace.com/ ) where we took the guided tour, found our way through the maze, and played putt putt golf..Newman lost by 1 stroke and had to buy us all icecream! We all sat in Daves truck..who got 3 hole in ones!...with the heat on haha. Brian and I also climbed a light house to take pictures, we had a roadside picnic with a great view of the bridge, ate MRE’s (Meals Ready to Eat…both Dave and Brian were in the army and wanted John and I to experience them. And yep..2300 calories later from that meal..I still haven’t pooped), grilled steaks on the tripod over the fire, made hobo pies, ate a bunch of smoked fish, went wine tasting, fished on the lake where we camped, went to Tahquamenon Falls (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tahquamenon_Falls ) and overall just had a great week! I also decided to wade thigh deep into Little Brevort Lake to dunk my head in the 50 degree water to wash my hair twice..what an experience! J On Friday, two more of our couple friends came up..Nick & Rachel #2 and Kevin & Stacie, it was so fun to have so many friends to hang out with! There were 19 spots in the campground (we had campsite #5) and there was only one site filled by someone we didn’t know, other than that we had the campground to ourselves !!(probably because no one else was as crazy as us to tent camp during the raining and cold in TENTS..the other camper had a nice trailer..with walls..) It was nice to get home yesterday late afternoon and take about a 45 minute shower. Then we got some chicken and cookies for dinner (don’t judge..) and watched 3 movies. Perfect lazy evening after unpacking and while doing laundry. Today Brian starts work as an Operations Manager (he got a promotion..proud girlfriend right here) at a different hotel property. I’m so excited for him..he has worked hard to get a promotion and he has worked EVERY damn shift there is to prove himself. The only minor drawback is that this property is just over an hour away. He has decided for the time being to commute daily, and his new boss is pretty awesome and has told him he is more than welcome to stay at the hotel whenever he needs. As we were falling asleep last night I told him that I was a little nervous about missing him because we were pretty much inseparable while we were camping, and had been living together for a week and a half before that. Tonight he works until 11pm so he wasn’t sure if he was going to spend the night at the hotel or not. So I wasn’t really sure when I would see him. He said not to worry and he would download some sort of facetime / skype / oovoo app and he would call and it would be okay. Then today on his way down he told him that he would be coming home tonight and would come straight to my apartment so we could see each other. Gosh I love this man.