Trip to see Mando Wando, Day 1

Ever since me, Ashley, and Mom went to Kanab last year to play with Mandy, I have wanted to go back. I even tried to convince Luke to move down there, I loved it so much! His answer was no, and deep down in my heart I know I will also need my mama close by whenever the time comes to have a baby (no that is not an announcement). As soon as I heard I had a four day weekend for Memorial Day I called Mandy up and told her I was coming down. I don't even think I asked, luckily she was as excited as me (well, maybe close). My mom was able to get her 3 day weekend turned into 4 and we headed down. Ashley goes camping every Memorial Weekend so she didn't get to come this time. Before we left, especially the week we left, I was so excited. I copied and pasted parts of some emails between Mandy and I...

NICKI TO MANDY:

Here are a few things I would like to do...

Find an arrowhead!
Go to Johnson's Lake (Isn't that the one you guys love?)
Sleep on the porch:) MANDY'S REPLY...Ellis may be more annoying than Elvis the Chicken last year. She is going to love licking your face! :) MY REPLY BACK...Ellis has permission to sleep with me. Licking my face will be a bonus. haha Gross doggy kisses. Doggy kisses are way better than chicken pecks and cockadoodling!
Have you ever been to Moqui Cave? or heard if it's cool?
Maybe Lake Powell?
Grand Canyon
I always forget the name of the place you were married, but that place is a must!
Ooooh is there a river raft place?
Meet the doggies!!!

I'm so excited and I just can't hide it! Love you!!!

MANDY TO NICKI:

(Mandy added to the to do list)

Go for a walk downtown at dusk, my favorite time of day in Kanab.

Also show you the famous Best Friends, it's just fun to see.

And, you have to try the best dessert in the world!!! Banana Cream Pie at Houston's. You will be in Dessert Heaven.

Ellis and Maggie can't wait to meet you. I have let them know you are coming and they are so excited they just can't hide it too. Me too!

NICKI TO MANDY:

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! I can't wait until TOMORROW! You have no idea how excited I am to come play. I don't know if I'll be able to sleep tonight. haha But really, I don't. I can't even hold still. It's been such a long week of anticipation.

Pulling into Big Rock Candy Mountain

I made friends on the way.

Mom made enemies.

I've got your back if that bear comes back for ya, Mom!

When we got down there, Mandy met us at Moqui Cave. It was a new experience for all 3 of us. The history was pretty cool. The cave was once used as a bar and dance hall, now it is a museum.

They still have the original bar set up. The countertops were really cool. They were made of rock and had funny designs in them, like some funky looking bird, palm trees, a camel, a pink flamingo and all sorts of random things.

This is the entrance of what used to be the dance hall. We always tease Mandy that she is half indian, because of her dark skin and she always looked so much different than us. We call her "One Feather". This picture is hilarious. Nice stance, One Feather.
Here's a closer look, because you know you wanted to see it better. I just couldn't post it without the teepee. So, now you get double the fun.

This is my attempt at looking like I have massive horns. Not only that but I can balance a teapot on top of my massive horns. Now, that's pretty intense. Too bad the wall was lit up or this would've been super duper cool.

After our cave experience, we had lunch at Rewind. Then, we went to Sherry's, Mandy's mother-in-law, and the four of us girls went on a four wheeler ride. I rode with Sherry. She drove much faster than I thought she would. Every time I saw a rabbit I would just giggle, and Sherry would say "that's a rabbit". She probably thought I was crazy, but it seriously happened more than once and all that would come out was a giggle. Cute little bunnies.

Mandy wasn't as fast as Sherry, which is probably a good thing since she was driving with no hands. Hope you were holding on tight, Mom.

Me, Mando, Mom, and Sherry at our destination looking over Kanab, BEAUTIFUL! (The weather was stormy on and off all weekend, but it made for some beautiful skies in a lot of our pictures and it never got too hot.)

Kanab

"I'm hungry, let's go get some killer Banana Cream Pie from Houston's" must be what Sherry is thinking. Ok, not really. I don't know what she was doing, but that's what was going through my head.

On the way back down
I LOVE this one of Mom and Mandy in their stunna shades.

On the way up Sherry and I saw some hawks circling. On the way down we passed them and two of them flew up from the ground and one dropped this snake from it's claws. It was totally cool to see. We stopped and waited to show Mandy and Mom. Sherry asked if I dared to take a closer look. I wasn't afraid of a headless snake, but I was a little bit afraid of the hawks screaching at us from the nearby trees. They didn't get me, and I got a picture of the snake and the birds.

After our ride, we dropped Sherry off and went and got our pie. It was the biggest piece of pie I've ever seen and so delicious! We had a seat by the window on main street and I looked up and a man was staring in the window. I just said "Whoa" or "Geez" and Mandy turned and saw him and about jumped out of her seat. She got some serious air. It turned into a laughing fit and I was the only one dying of laughter. I COULD NOT STOP! I was crying. The whole restaurant was staring at me. My mom snapped a couple hideous shots of my moment.

Laughter is the world's best medicine, right? Holy ugly!

Next up, we walked down main street at dusk to a place I don't remember the name... not Denny's Wigwam, but like it. Some sort of old western movie set dinner theater/souvenir shop with lots of fun things to take pictures with.

Excuse me, I'm washing my hair here in my horse trough.

Oh cute, it's Amanda posing at Amanda's!

That would be our shadows sneaking up on some imaginary indians.

Here we got a couple real good lookers! I said lookers, not hookers.

This is Mandy being extremely proud of her enormous belch she let just seconds before. What a lady!

It was getting dark and we could see Clint Eastwood through the backdoor, but when we tried to snap the picture he would disappear like magic. This top photo shows that you can't take your time taking a serious photo, it may turn into laughter. When we opened the door we realized the poster was inside the building, figures.

After they tried to get the point across by turning all the lights of outside we headed to Mandy's house and off to bed we went.