Bears and Casinos

Hello!

Once again, life is good. The weather is still really nice, colder in the mornings and warmer throughout the day. Get this…I am even a little bit excited for it to get cold because my uncle ordered me some sweet north face snow boots :) not to mention, my matching jacket! I kind of sort of had another mid-college change of plans, it happens right? I’m not going to go on about it but literally everything was against me for nursing and for multiple reasons, I am changing majors…probably to nutrition and dietetics…shoutout to my best friend Laurs for giving me the idea. So, nothing for sure yet but I’ll keep you updated.

On Friday, Cody and I shopped a little….for fishing stuff, duh haha and then grabbed Arby’s for dinner and ate on the patio outside my apartment. I’m trying to soak up every second of this weather! Saturday, we left for Eleven Mile State Park really early. It was about an hour away, past Woodland park, but an easy drive and really pretty.  We took a chance on this park but after searching for somewhere to go for a long time, we decided to risk it and got really lucky! We hiked, if you will, about 15 minutes to a spot by the lake to chill, fish, get tan, etc. for the day. It definitely had the most beautiful scenery that I have ever encountered.

We didn’t catch any fish…as we figured, but I had fun playing in the freezing water, snapping pictures and playing with a little chipmunk. He followed us around for awhile and when we sat down to eat, he was really interested in the cheese-its and Cody ended up feeding him by hand! 

He ate the first one but it took him about 5 minutes and then he would take goldfish we gave him and store it and come back for more…it was entertaining! Before we left, we went to the South Platte River to fish a little before dark. The sky was literally pink as the sun was setting.

As we were leaving, I told Cody that the thing I missed the most was my dad’s steak, as he cooked it for me at least once a week almost all summer! Steak sounded sooooo good to both of us so you guessed it, we searched for any local steakhouses on Jane, my GPS. The closest one was 38 miles but it was towards Colorado Springs so we figured it was worth it. It was also called ‘Steakhouse’, so it had to be promising, right?

Well, long story short it was an experience. Jane led us up a dirt road on the side of a mountain, which was a total fail. The plus side is that a huge bear crossed the road right in front of us so that was nifty. We turned around and decided that “Bob’s Grill” 4 miles up the road would be our next option and ended up in Cripple Creek, Colorado.

After being scared that everything would be closed for the night, we were so happy when all of the lights were on on the strip of what we thought were restaurants. I mean naturally, you’d think places like “Steakhouse” and “Home Cafe” and “Bob’s Grill” had to be places to eat, right? WRONG. As we parked and began to walk down the strip, we realized they were all casinos. I mean who names a casino “Home Café”, really? So, hungry, dying laughing and tired, we decided to try to walk through the mass of slot machines to the restaurant in the back and actually made it no questions asked. There was a 25 minute wait but at that point, we were just delighted that we were about to get to eat. After being seated, we read ‘cash only’ on the menu which definitely changed things, seeing that neither of us carry cash but soon we were informed that there was an ATM so it only got better from there. Steak, toast, hashbrowns and eggs was only $2.99 with a drink included. We thought it was a joke. Talk about best place ever! Our night was made. Anyways, we made our way back without hitting a deer, which were everywhere right beside the road and they were huge, people in Mississippi would die to kill a buck that big haha. We even went to a Wolf Park on Sunday. You had to pay, which wasn’t up our ally so we just walked around the outside to see the wolves and some foxes.

Monday morning was early. It always is. But, I went shopping after class and got some Air Force gear for games so I’m ready to go now! Tonight, I went to USAFA to visit Cody to celebrate 4 years, after he finished intramurals and he surprised me with some things so that was nice :) it was sweet getting to see him! As we were leaving where I pick him up on base, I almost hit the black tzo fox that is always around and Cody informed me that if I would’ve killed it, there would be many angry cadets! I have never seen a black fox before but that thing just looked evil.

We had a national student exchange meeting on Monday and another girl here is from LSU. Even though technically I am supposed to hate LSU, I found comfort in the fact that the girl said “yall”, haha. Literally, no one says it out here so I get weird looks or comments often but I’m okay with that.

Even though USAFA football will be nothing like State football, hence the lack of cowbells, I am still excited for the season to begin this Saturday. Two roommates and I got season tickets so we’ll be entertained on Saturdays this semester! Today, Melissa and I signed up for a ski and soak trip through the outdoor center here in December...we’ll take a bus up to Monarch and ski/snowboard for the day and then stop by a hot spring on the way back. The program I am in here pays for it so that’s always a plus. 

I am excited about this weekend! Cody's family arrives tomorrow and I am picking Alex Fountain up from the airport on Friday, tailgating with Cody and his squad on Saturday and having some roommate bonding time somewhere in there. We don't have school Monday or Tuesday so that's warmly welcomed as well :)  

First Time For Everything

The past few days have been pretty chill, which I don’t mind at all! Thursday night Cody and I ate dinner on base after he showed me around a little and then we hung out at a little lake/reservoir for a couple of hours. Melissa and I made him and some of his friends a bazillion cookies so I took those to him! On Friday, Cody got to leave for a little bit so I picked him up after Melissa and I left the mall and picked up a ring of shrimp that was on sale and some cheese dip/chips and fruit for dinner. After that, we watched animal planet and wandered around my campus so I could find all of my classes. Oh yeah, and USAFA was on fire...no big deal.  Melissa told me she saw smoke from our window but I told her it was probably a cloud...oops. 

Speaking of clouds, it's really tricky deciding if the weird grayness over the mountains everyday about 4 or 5pm is rain or just clouds...we make bets daily on what time it will rain! On Saturday, Cody and I went shopping and did the incline in Manitou Springs. We went to the mall for a minute and of course I convinced him to let me go to the pet shop for a second to look at the puppies…I want one so so so so badly. There was a yellow lab puppy that wanted me to take it home more than anything. Anywho, then we went to Pets Mart to get me some fish and grabbed Starbucks on the way…nom nom nom. Cody so kindly suggested that I ask the lady which fish are the hardest to kill and then choose which ones I wanted from there since everyone knows that if it is smaller than a cat, I’m very likely to kill it….not intentionally, of course.

3 days later and they’re still alive and kicking so things are going my way!

 If you don’t know what the incline is, here’s a good link: http://manitouincline.net/main.htm Basically, it’s 2800 railroad ties one way which may not seem like a lot; however, a lot of the steps are like a foot tall so I guess I’m lucky that I’m tall. Cody stopped for/with me probably like 5 times but we made it up in about an hour and down in about 30 min. We waited until about 5pm to go so it would be cool outside. I was convinced that it was a lot harder to breathe but I think not being in shape had a lot to do with it. It was funny because there’s a false summit so you think you’re almost to the top and then you get there and realize you’re only like half way done which is a total slap in the face.

 It was fun though and I’m glad that we did it! 

That night we watched the movie “Unknown”. It was so good that I even stayed awake through the whole movie, which is a miracle in it of itself. Sunday was a lazy day. Before going back to the Academy, Cody and I went to the southern part of Colorado Springs and discovered a very nice shopping center with pretty much anything I could ever need so in the instance that I come across a gold mine, I know where all my money will be spent! I feel like I grocery shop all of the time but when I find a good deal like $.58 powerade zero, I just can’t turn it down haha. I also visit the Dollar Tree very often. I still love it here. The first day of school I woke up at 11am and I was done with class by 1:30...that is called a wonderful Monday! However, I changed my schedule so that I’ll have my philosophy class with Melissa and Brooke so now I have four 8am classes; however, I’m done everyday by 1:30 and most days by around 12 so I’m definitely not complaining. Like I mentioned before, I have the best view and 2 windows in my room, which is nice but because of that I also hear everything that drives down the road at night outside of my window, such as concrete cleaner trucks that are completely obnoxious…good thing I can fall right back asleep easily! Last night I felt my first earthquake, which made me think I was going crazy for a minute.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/usc0005ic9.php

I was sitting at my desk and my chair was rocking sideways and after sleepily putting together that my chair rocks back and forth, not side to side I stood up and saw my fish tank water sloshing and grabbed my bed all in about 4 or 5 seconds. Then, I ran out into the kitchen and all of my roommates were asleep so I text Cody and he thought he was crazy and just tired too, but it turns out it was a 4.6 earthquake! Scary! There's a first time for everything I guess! This morning I finished with class at 9:15 so I went to visit Cody at the chapel until 12. I could get used to that. This week I don’t have many plans. I still have to take care of some books, get a few school supplies and do some random things. This week is like a “back to school” week so there’s movies on the lawn and dodgeball tournaments and things like that that my roommates and I are planning on going to. This coming weekend should be fun, as Cody and I are planning on going somewhere adventurous...but that’s about all I know right now.

Adventure #1

Tuesday was my first real day on my own. Melissa and I woke up around 10 to run some errands and meet our other roommates for lunch at a restaurant called BJ’s Restaurant and Brewery. Leighna moved in today so we gave her a ride there. I ordered unsweet tea. Shortly after, I was informed of 2 things: one, the term “iced tea” was the proper terminology and two, I had to choose between black or tropical. At that point, I said “mmm, I’ll just take a coke” hahaha. After hanging out for a few hours, Melissa and I went grocery shopping and got rained on while we were trying to collect all of our Gatorades that had fallen out in the back of my car and then we waddled to the door as fast as we could. I decorated my room and it feels like home.

After hanging around the apartment waiting on the rain to pass, we decided to find a trail up to the little mountain/hill behind UCCS that overlooks the city and our apartment. We decided it would be the perfect tanning spot and we hope to go back soon.

We stayed up talking until like 2am and then woke up early (by early I mean around 9am) to go to USAFA. We met Cody and one of his friends and hung out for about an hour before we attempted Eagle’s Peak. I got to see him in ABUs for the first time today so as many of you know, I was delighted. I really wish I had a picture for you, haha but really.

We weren’t entirely sure where to go on the multiple Eagle’s Peak trails and after awhile of getting nowhere we came back to UCCS to lay out and get some sun :) Oh, and not to mention I got a parking ticket. THANKS USAFA. But, since I don’t go there I don’t have to pay it so wahooo. After we came in for some lunch, we accidentally fell asleep for a little while and woke up to meet another USAFA girlfriend, Brooke, and her mom. She just moved here from Texas and she is going to UCCS as well so it was nice to meet her. Tomorrow night I am going up to USAFA to have dinner with Cody, so I am excited about that. I promise I'll stop boring you with the little details of my life soon though, classes start soon and I'm in the process of getting a job so no worries!

Home Sweet Colorado

The past few days have been great! To begin with, I moved in on Friday after multiple issues….first they couldn’t find my key and then they discovered than a boy was living in my room so I got put in a completely different building than I was originally in and then I was told that I would have to change rooms AFTER I HAD MOVED IN. Regardless, it’s all worked out now and I have a much better view than before so I am not complaining! My mom and I moved everything in on Friday after a 4-hour delay and a nice lunch at CiCi’s Pizza. She was tired so in order to give her enough energy to hang up my bazillion clothes, I pulled her out of my room and to my car in a shopping cart every time that we went to get more things out of my car….I wish I had a picture to show everyone! Later Friday night, I went to USAFA early before I was supposed to see Cody to hangout with some other girlfriends and Ellie! It was so great to see them!

Then I went to get Cody and after showing him around some, I unpacked some of my things while he did homework, gross. And then we headed to New Panda for dinner nom nom nom :) He put some of my shelves together that I was too lazy to deal with at that point as well. Saturday we started our day out with brunch at “The Egg & I” which was delicious! Following that, we decided to be touristy and went to Garden of the Gods and Helen Hunt Falls at Cheyenne Mountain State Park.

 Garden of the Gods was beautiful, as always. Cody and I went a little fast for my little short ninja of a mother but she kept up pretty well :) It was neat to get to show her around some! By the time we got to Garden of the Gods, the housing director had called me and told me that my new room was ready so that afternoon, Cody and I headed back to move all of my stuff. Halfway through we went to pick up my mom and headed to Walmart for some random stuff. Rule #736: do not take Cody to Walmart with you if you have a long list…especially on a Saturday. Haha, only kidding but sortof not. Cody plugged everything in for me and made sure no cords were showing and fixed all of that for me so that was sweet of him :) Once I got moved in and my mom had helped me organize some things, she decided she wanted a burger for dinner so Cody insisted that she try a “butterburger” from Culver’s—turns out he had a good idea! Sunday flew by – we had lunch at Texas Roadhouse because I was dying for some rolls (shocker), and I couldn’t find O’Charley’s on my GPS….fail. Then I had to come take a test for a final in one of my online classes blahhhh. That wasn’t exactly how I wanted to spend Cody’s last day of the weekend or my mom’s last full day here but you gotta do what you gotta do. I took Cody back to the Academy after we watched a few Rivermonsters episodes and picked up my mom for some grocery shopping and to see my room all fixed up. This morning I picked her up and we headed to Denver! It was a pretty drive, so I didn’t mind it. The clouds are surreal here, not to mention the mountains.

 

After eating lunch at Wendy’s, I dropped her off at DIA and headed back to the Springs! It was nice talking to my dad and catching up with some friends on the way back. Tonight, I decorated and hung out with my roommate…which I love by the way! I’m hoping to see Cody maybe once this week and then on Saturday for sure! Tomorrow, Melissa and I are going to find out where our classes are and go to lunch with our other 2 roommates so I’m excited about that. I’ll post some pictures of my room and my view soon! So far, the weather has been perfect and I love it here. I start classes on the 22^nd but my load is pretty light so I’m excited about that for a change.  I feel like I am at home now that my room is all personalized and I can somewhat find my way around the springs. My address changed…it’s

UCCS, Alpine Village

Rachel Blackwell

4645 Stanton Road

Antero House, Box 32

Colorado Springs, CO 80918


You should write me :)

The Journey!

Unfortunately, I didn't have wifi at either of the hotels for the past 2 nights, so here is what was meant to be posted....


August 10th

Day 1 of our adventure was a total success! We left this morning a little after 8 after we took some final fam photos!

 We made it to Wichita, Kansas after nearly 10 hours of driving which wasn’t bad at all! Arkansas was rainy, Oklahoma was surprisingly pretty minus the tolls and for whatever reason, I’m not too fond of Kansas. I have pretty good feeling about the next state though :) DUHHH. Oklahoma had super nice rest stops even though we didn't see any indians :( Karen would have fit right in!

 

She was more than delighted to sign the guest book in Oklahoma!

We stopped in Blackwell, Oklahoma and hardcore searched for a Blackwell sign and found 2…one of which we had to park at a 4-way stop, set my camera tripod up on the hood of my car, dart across the street, dodge a police car and dart back in 10 seconds to beat the car coming up behind me all for a picture!

 No worries, we made it! We’re both pretty tired tonight and I’m sure we’ll sleep good in our little white concrete walled jail cell of a hotel room. I’m hoping to make it to Colorado Springs tomorrow but we’ll see :)

Until then, goodnight!


August 11th
Whoever told me Kansas goes on forever wasn’t lying! I think we spent about 8 or 9 hours in that state…the highlight of it was definitely the wind mills, we were mesmerized, haha!

It didn’t help that as soon as my mom got in the car this morning at 9am, she started a word search, which meant that boredom started early today! As soon as we got in Colorado, a storm hit and my mom was amazed by the lightning so she spent probably 30 minutes trying to capture a picture of it…sadly, she never got her picture even though we ended up with tons of the one below, haha.

We heard the song “Good Life” by One Republic maybe 15 times today. Even though I like the song I got sick of it so I’d only listen to it until the line “Paris to China to Coloradoooo” came up which at that point I would sing it at the top of my lungs. We stopped to pick some sunflowers on the side of the road (since Kansas is the sunflower state they were everywhere!) for the middle of my future kitchen table because it sounded like the crafty, domestic thing for me to do…but they were covered in ants so I dropped them and ran back to my car like a little girl since by the time I realize I have an ant on me, the whole colony is climbing up my legs. The funniest part of today was probably about an hour before we got here. I lied to my mom and told her we were almost there. By “almost there”, I meant we only had 1/18 hours left….her “almost there” was about 10 minutes so it got a bit violent after 45 min had passed and I kept saying that we were “almost there”. We went to UCCS to get my student ID card made tonight so that my move-in in the morning will go smoother and a bit faster.

I couldn’t have been more excited about seeing a gas station with a “$1 any size ICEE” sign so naturally, we stopped. I hope to move in around 10am tomorrow but I'm sure I'll be awake before then :)

Catch You In Colorado!

Well, my countdown has finally gone from months to days and now to hours! I spent my last day with some great friends and my parents, doing some last minute things before I head out like getting a license plate for my new car...yeah, I'd say that's an important one. I will be leaving Olive Branch, MS in about 8 hours as I say goodbye to crazy hot weather and humidity, thank goodness, and sadly, my daddy. We’ve been especially best friends this summer from going out to lunch every Sunday, to grocery shopping at least 4 times a week and from him staying up late waiting for me to get home from work to looking at new cars on the reg as a new found “hobby”, if you will. Nevertheless, there is a time and a place for everything and I am definitely excited about these next few months. 

In between my final exams at the University of Memphis yesterday, I was sitting outside by this huge, beautiful fountain studying and listening to music when a song came on the radio on my phone called, “God Gave Me You” by Blake Shelton. Part of the song says, “God gave me you for the ups and downs, God gave me you for the days of doubt And for when I think I lost my way, there are no words left to say, it’s true, God gave me you”. I imagine that most people think of the person that the song talks about to be a significant other but it made me realize how thankful I am that there’s a God that loves me so much to put so many wonderful people in my life, especially everyone reading this. I have truly amazing parents, a great family, a better boyfriend than I could have imagined and many other people in my life that truly care for me and although I have always known this, it means more to me now than it ever has and I am so glad that God has given me all of you. 

For this all too exciting car ride, my mom and I have stocked up on Chex Mix, magazines and cookies that my aunt made us for when the radio and I-40 gets old…since we stay on it halfway across the country. Surprisingly, everything and then some fit in my car…even though it weighs a bazillion pounds and you can definitely tell! We’re planning to drive until we drop…which actually means we will drive until my mom gets hungry for breakfast and then we will drive until I demand lunch and then we will be lucky if we even make it to dinner before the hotel (which is hopefully in the middle of Kansas) or before we kill each other, only kidding J well, for the most part…she’s bringing extra happy pills so we should be just fine! 

Well, I’m off to bed on a full stomach after a delicious dinner of steak and potatoes that my dad cooked for me to get ready for an early morning…but no worries, I shouldn’t have problems waking up tomorrow. Catch you in Colorado J