Coasting Through Life

The thrill seeker in me has always enjoyed been obsessed with roller coasters. I grew up about a six hour drive from Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio. Not sure if you've ever heard of it, but it's kind of a big deal. Cedar Point calls itself "America's Roller Coast". It's actually really clever, or cheesy depending on how you look at it, because the park sits on the coast of Lake Erie. Roller coasters + the coast = America's Roller Coast! I actually experienced my first roller coaster ride at Michigan's Adventure,* but we won't go into detail about that place. Let's just say I was hooked from my very first ride, and it's been all downhill, and uphill, from there.

* When I was in 8th grade I broke my ankle on a water slide there, and I ended up needing surgery to fix it. The words Michigan's Adventure sort of leave a bad taste in my mouth now, but I'm not bitter. No.

This is really embarrassing, but growing up I had a VHS tape consisting of front seat rides on the best roller coasters in the country. So what. I'm an only child, and I had a really great imagination. I actually thought I might want to be a roller coaster engineer at one point. Then I realized that engineers need to know crazy complicated math, and then I didn't want to design coasters anymore. I would rather ride them. However, I digress. The 3-D video tape really made me feel like I was there in the front seat. Don't judge me. After watching my incredibly thrilling 3-D roller coaster tape, I had the itch to ride these roller coasters in real life! Only makes sense right? Let me tell you the rides are much better in person than from the couch, or chair parked in front of the television, in your living room.

Desperado Roller Coaster at Buffalo Bill's Casino in Primm, Nevada

Over the years though, in real life I've ridden roller coasters in Michigan, Ohio, Florida, Texas, Colorado, California, and Nevada. Basically if I am anywhere near a roller coaster, I try need to ride it. Pretty simple.

While in Nevada last week, I asked my husband begged relentlessly to ride the Desperado roller coaster at Buffalo Bill's casino in Primm, Nevada. It was one of the coasters on my VHS tape, and I have always wanted to ride it. I mean I grew up "riding" this ride already. Let me tell you this was a serious life goal, and I was so thrilled to get the opportunity to get on that Desperado and coast! We hopped in the pickup and drove the almost 30 minutes to Primm. Upon arriving at the casino, we find that the roller coaster was shut down due to high winds in the area. We had driven past dust devils and massive dirt clouds on our way to the casino, so it shouldn't have been a surprise. Finding the Desperado, my dream, temporarily closed was one of the biggest disappointments in my life! Maybe I'm a little dramatic, but there was no way I was going to leave the state of Nevada, for possibly quite a long time, without riding that roller coaster! No way.

Instead of sitting around the casino waiting for the slight possibility of the Desperado reopening, we did what any defeated young and adventurous couple would do. We put on our game faces and took off for the Hoover Dam! I mean, the next best thing to a dream roller coaster ride is a tour of a massive dam made of concrete right? I think so! More on the Hoover Dam tour later though. That's a whole post of its own.

For good measure and bragging rights of saying we were in California, I asked my husband if we could drive across the Nevada/Cali state line before heading to the Hoover Dam. Score!

After touring the Hoover Dam, it felt like the wind had died down quite a bit. It crossed our minds my mind to call Buffalo Bill's casino and see if the Desperado had reopened for the evening. After some number punching to speak with a human on the 800 line, we found out that the roller coaster was indeed open for the night. Although, in the same breath the woman said that if the wind picked up again it would close. My husband decided it was probably in his best interest to get me on that ride, so off we drove again to Primm! Let me tell you this seemed like the longest ride ever. I kept hoping the wind would stay calm, because it would have been heartbreaking if they closed the Desperado due to wind again. A girl can only take so much heartache.

We arrived in Primm, parked the truck, walked/ran (guess who was the one running) to the front doors, rushed through the casino to the ticket booth, bought Desperado tickets, waited for a few endless minutes, and boarded the roller coaster for our ride. Let me tell you, I will never get enough of that "clink, clink, clink" as the train climbs the first hill. Then most everything was downhill from there! We laughed/screamed/cried (happy wind-blown tears), and we had an exhilarating ride to end our fun filled day. Hopefully I'll get more opportunities to coast my way across this country, because I, Ashley, am a roller coaster addict.

Free Stuff is Good. Pools are great!

A couple of days ago, I mentioned that my husband and I visited an incredible pool in Nevada for free. Yes, completely free entrance to a pool on a hot and sunny day. It was like winning the pool lovers lottery I tell you, and I do love spending time at the pool.

Days before leaving Colorado, I researched casinos that allowed non-hotel guests entrance to their pool. As far as I know, most (there are a few exceptions) Las Vegas casinos require that you are a guest of the hotel in order to enjoy their pool. The researcher in me was discouraged that I had not found a pool we could use as visitors, but my husband saved the day and told me about a casino south of Las Vegas, called the M Resort, that allows people to pay an entrance fee and use their pool. I was sold at "pool". My husband browsed the M Resort website and found that women over 21 get into the pool for free, and men pay a fairly small entrance amount ($10-15) to use the pool. Upon arriving at the pool entrance, the employees told us that the entire weekend was free for everyone, men and women. I mean, combining free and pools is like winning the lottery twice! Needless to say, we were pretty happy with our free day at the pool, which actually turned out to be not so free after a couple buckets of beer and some lunch. Oh well. You win some, you lose some.

We relaxed at the M Resort infinity edge pool for most of the afternoon. The lack of crowds was a very pleasant surprise, and the deejay-mixed music created a fun pool atmosphere. Food and drink prices were surprisingly reasonable for Vegas standards too. We expected higher prices, but it's possible they are more competitive since the location is a far enough distance south of The Strip. Too bad their room prices seemed a bit high, because my husband and I agreed that we wouldn't mind staying at the M Resort over a Las Vegas strip resort some time. Our day at the M Resort pool was a nice way to start off our time in Nevada together.

I'll leave you with some pictures

from our day at the M Resort:

Happy Friday blog friends!

Travel and Airline "Perks"

From my seat I could see this brilliant bright blue lining the horizon. That blue then faded to a darker blue and then almost to an inky black sky filled with blazing, bright white dots. Flying to me is still a very peaceful thing, because it feels incredibly timeless. Soaring above daily life and across time zones feels almost surreal, especially when thinking about cruising inside of a metal tube above the clouds. I will never tire of flying. The quiet moments, the sunsets and sunrises, those are times when I love gazing at the world below. Problems seem to melt away into the horizon, and I almost forget where I am and what was bothering me. One moment just fades into the next, and before you know it you're somewhere else.

Although at times I could do without the crowds of people, crying infants, and seat backs reclined inches from my face, I still love to fly when I can. Window seats, early morning departures, or late night and quiet flights make most disturbances fade to the background. The smell of warm chocolate chip cookies seems to ease discomforts too. Even though we cruise above daily life below, the creature comforts of life on firm ground still exist. At times, the cookies and television on board the plane take away from the often peaceful experience of flying. Daily distractions or not, flying is such a peaceful thing for me.

Instead of a bright blue horizon, after the sun sets I enjoy the stars from a higher altitude than usual. Funny how they feel so close when you're sitting in the window seat. At times it's almost like you can reach out and touch a star or a cloud. Sometimes it's so easy to lose track of time and place while on board an airplane. Before I know it, I'll be driving myself home after spending time in the sky. For a moment, I almost forget that I just left my husband and am heading home without him. At times, it feels as if we're still together. Flying does that to me, and I welcome the quiet time to think about life and reflect on life below the clouds.

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It is highly likely that I was born with an uncontrollable a tiny bit of a travel bug. I typically enjoy adventures, discoveries, and learning about new locations. For me, a big perk* of being married to a pilot is not just travel opportunities, but it's an opportunity to stretch outside of my comfort zone once in a while. Doing things that are not always comfortable force me to learn and grow. When things get too predictable, our life changes in drastic ways. For example, my husband's new job is taking us to Florida. While I've always enjoyed the water, beach, and sun, I had no idea that Florida would be my home some day. This travel bug is more of a learning bug for me, and I never intend to stop learning.

* An additional perk, of knowing people working in aviation, is when you board a flight that a flight attendant friend happens to be working. It also helps when they may or may not give you a free mimosa, or two. Not to mention the free DirectTV they may or may not have given you for free. All of the above things make flights just a little more smooth.

I'm Back... and with a Picture Sneak Peek

As you might know, I have been in Las Vegas visiting my husband for almost the past week. Unfortunately I'm not familiar with guest posting, not to mention I didn't leave myself enough time to schedule any blog posts before I left, but I am glad to be back with you all today! Please don't think that I left you for good. I would never do that. Hopefully you all had a great weekend, and I wanted to share with you a few pictures from my time spent visiting my husband in Nevada.

Later this week I'll go into detail about:

travel and airline "perks"

free entrance into an incredible pool

visiting the Hoover Dam and some "Damn" jokes

our ride on a world class roller coaster!

I hope you'll join me!

And I'm Off...

Las Vegas is one of those places that almost (notice I did say almost... you won't hear me complain about going again) stops being fun if you go too often, but I am thrilled of having the possibility of visiting the Hoover Dam this time! I guess that doesn't really count as Las Vegas though does it? Either way, I'm going to visit my husband who's still there for his job training! It's been about 2 weeks since I've seen him, and that is a little too long if you ask me. So off to LV to visit my favorite pilot.

I actually just got off of the phone with my husband, and he scolded me (in the nicest way) when I told him that I had to write a quick blog post before I went to bed. Blogger addiction, anyone?! It's 11pm here, and I have to be up at, oh, about 3am. He might be slightly worried that I won't wake up in time. The funny thing is, that even though I'm not a morning person at all, I always get up super easily (yes, even at 3am) when I have a plane to catch. There's some traveling blood running through my veins I tell you. If only I could figure out a way to make money traveling and writing about it. Goodnight blog friends! I just couldn't go to sleep tonight without a post for you all. I might have a blog addiction, but for now it's off to sleep.

Are there any places that you've visited too many times?

Does it start to lose the thrill after a while?

Do you have any vacation destinations that you never get sick of?!

White Out

Today is all about white.

Fortunately I am not talking about the weather in Colorado today. However... Kristina, over at Pretty Shiny Sparkly, started a project called "Bloggers Do It Better", and today I am taking part in her White Out challenge. Who doesn't like a little challenge now and then?

The idea was to plan an outfit around the trend of wearing {mostly} white.

Here's my take on the trend:

Jacket: LC by Lauren Conrad @ Kohl's (clearance)

White Jeans: Arden B.

Tank: Old Navy

Jewelry & Belt: Forever21

Bag: Nordstrom bp

The White Out Challenge was fun, and I cannot wait for some warmer weather here in Colorado. It feels a little weird to wear so much white when there is still snow on the ground, but I think this is a fun trend that can be very versatile.

If you want to play along, go on over to Pretty Shiny Sparkly and link up!

Happy Tuesday!