I had such a great week in Reno with the awesome Artinger family and my roommates. As it usually is everything didn’t go exactly as planned but I still have so much to talk about (this is me here-of course I have something to say)
We got into Reno around dinner time Saturday night. After an egg hunt for the children we decorated Easter eggs. I tried my hand at tie-dye eggs-I was pretty happy with how they came out but it took a few tries. This was evident when Nalani’s mom picked up one of my eggs and said “Whose is this? You should try and fix it.”
Easter Baskets after church! We had to hunt for them and of course I was the last to find mine and it was hidden in the highest place-I reached it all by my self though (didn’t even have to use a chair). After a delicious Easter dinner we did the Artinger family tradition egg roll. There is this ramp and you roll a decorated egg down it trying to hit other people’s eggs at the bottom; for every egg you hit you get a penny and for every egg that hits yours you give a penny (everyone starts with 10 pennies). It was a ton of fun!
On Monday, Travis (a family friend of the Artingers) was super nice and took us white water rafting (bucket list #12) down the South Fork of the American River. The water was higher than it is in the summer which made for some surprises along the way. Nalani went flying (Superman…err superwoman style) out of the raft at one point and that was pretty scary-but we saved her (:
If you ever need a confidence boost just put on a wetsuit and if that doesn’t do the trick add a super puffy life vest-I have never felt so sexy in my entire life. Also the wetsuit made me feel like Shamu’s trainer at Sea World…awesome!
that first statement was sarcastic-the second statement was not sarcastic at all
After all this adventure we decided to have a couple of “chill” days-we’d been going a week and a half non-stop after all. On Tuesday we went shopping at this giant outlet mall. Our last stop was Scheels, which is apparently the world’s largest all sporting goods store. I believe it…but only because this place had a ferris wheel inside-which we rode of course. I think that is a brilliant idea and that all stores should have some sort of amusement park ride in them. How bout a roller coaster that goes around the whole store so you can see where everything is before you actually go looking around?
Wednesday we had a “movie marathon”, we had about 15 movies picked out and watched 5 of them over the course of 3 days-maybe we don’t entirely understand the concept of a marathon :/
Thursday was Nalani’s 21st birthday (Happy Birthday Nani!) and she wanted to do this thing called The Ultimate Rush. Unfortunately it was too windy and the ride was closed, so we went to the Park instead. Above is a picture of me hanging upside down. For some reason this was alot harder for me to accomplish than it used to be and I hurt myself getting down-I hate growing up.
Later Thursday night we went and saw the new movie Water for Elephants. I didn’t think I was going to like it at all but I actually loved it. Great movie! I just wish I had read the book.
Friday was the big day-you could even call it the whole purpose of the trip- we set out on a 3 hour trip to California to go sky diving, only to get there and be told no one would be jumping due to too strong of winds. I wasn’t too disappointed because I didn’t plan on going but I did feel bad for Nalani and Emily. I was however a little offended when this crazy-haired old man who ran the place started talking to me. He looked at me and asked “Were you planning on jumping?” To which I quickly replied “Absolutely not!” Then he says with a completely serious face “Oh good because you are much too big.” I kinda just laughed and didn’t say anything as he stared at me with a dead serious look on his face. Then he says “Seriously. My gosh, what do you eat?” Yeah, this guy basically called me fat, I think it was a failed joke attempt.
On our way back to Reno we stopped and had lunch by this river of the side of the highway. While we were eating I spotted an otter swimming along. Nalani loves otters. We named this one Lucy and watched her for quite sometime. Because of this experience Nalani put this day as one of the best days of her life. I’m glad she was happy.
You know how they say “a picture says a thousand words”? Well, I think this picture speaks for itself. Nothing like what I expected from California.
While we were pulled over looking at the amazing view above I looked over and saw this little tree surrounded by rocks. It looked lonely to me so I took a picture to give it a little love. Then I thought maybe the tree likes being different. Maybe the tree likes being the only tree in a group of rocks. Maybe it’s not lonely at all-maybe it’s just independent and confident in who it is.
Lake Tahoe: Sand, Water, Trees and Mountains. All of natures good points. This place was everything I imagined and more. It was so beautiful I could have stayed there forever if it wasn’t so cold.
I love traveling so much and I am so incredibly grateful for all the amazing things I got to do and see on this trip. Whether it was playing charades with Nalani’s family, paddling my way down a river or marveling at God’s handiwork I had a wonderful time (end cheesy-ness).
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