Driving through Oregon

Driving through Oregon

Beautiful scenery!

On Sunday, August 19th, we departed from Caldwell, Idaho and drove to Kennewick, Washington. Along the way we passed through Oregon. The scenery in Oregon was absolutely beautiful! I wish we could have spent more time there!

Idaho - Caldwell Night Rodeo

Matt, Jamie and me with Bill Bailey

Jamie refueling the stupid magnum;-)

I decided to try bull riding one night...and was not very good

Caldwell Night Rodeo


Matt and Jamie chillin' at the rodeo


Me with "Tony Lama"


Jamie with "Tony Lama"


A bull rider at the rodeo

Unhitching the truck all dressed up.

Crossin' Dixon

Matt and I being ridiculous!

Random car on the side of the road that looked like the General Lee

Matt showing John's mother pictures from our adventures!

Jamie and I left Utah on Sunday, August 12th and made the drive to Nampa, Idaho. Nampa is located between Boise and Caldwell (the location of our event). The event in Caldwell was the Caldwell Night Rodeo. Apparently, it's one of the few night rodeos remaining and is a fairly touted rodeo for Pro Rodeo. The rodeo didn't begin until Tuesday, August 14th, but we were invited to a media dinner on Monday night, post load-in. Because Jamie and I had never been to a media dinner for a rodeo we weren't sure what to wear. When speaking with our on-site contact, Bill Bailey, before load-in we asked what the appropriate attire for such an event would be. Bill said that some people get really dressed up and others just wear jeans and a button down so there would be a mix of everything. Jamie and I felt we should get somewhat dressed up so she wore a cute dress and I wore black pants and a nice top.

Upon arrival for load-in (in high heels), we quickly realized that we were WAY over-dressed. Apparently Bill's idea of dressed up was a bit different then ours. Everyone there was wearing Wranglers and button down shirts...not to mention cowboy hats. We stuck out like two sore thumbs!

Dinner was good, sort of like a summer barbeque. Everyone was supper friendly and we had the opportunity to meet a few of the radio station employees before the concert. After dinner, everyone headed over to hear watch the Crossin' Dixon concert in the rodeo arena. They sounded great. It was a great performance.

Matt flew into Boise on Tuesday evening and then joined us for for the event from Wednesday on. We also had the chance to meet our supervisor's parents (they currently live in Nampa) for lunch one afternoon. Furthermore, while in Nampa we had to bring our sick truck into the FORD dealership to have repairs done. The rental car we received was a Ford Magnum...I wanted our truck back:-(

The actual rodeo began on Tuesday and lasted through Saturday. Our hours were extremely short for this event, which was a good thing because it got extremely hot around late afternoon in Idaho. We would be setup by 6:00 every night and only be operating until about 10:00 each night. After we closed down we had the opportunity to go watch the rodeo. It was cool to see a true rodeo and the first time I had ever seen a full fledge rodeo. I've been to PBR once before, but never seen the whole deal. It was a whole new experience for me and we got to learn a bit more about how rodeo is scored and about the other events as well.

The atmosphere at the rodeo was really fun, after the cowboys were finished competing they would hang out by the beer stands and mingle. Also, several nights after the rodeo there was a dance right on location. We went to the dance two of the nights following the rodeo. I have never seen so many cowboys in my life. They all liked to dance too. Several cowboys took Jamie and I out on the dance floor and twirled us around. I didn't know what I was doing, but pretended and just let them twirl me around the floor, hoping not to trip over my feet.

We met a cowboy who had Tony Lama (a brand of cowboy attire) embroidered on his shirt and joked that he was the actual Tony Lama, in fact, we began to refer to him as Tony Lama so much that I think they began to think we believed he was "the" Tony Lama. We thought this was especially funny because of the pics from Park city - look at the of Jamie and I with the giant Tony Lama boots!

Oh, I almost forgot that Jamie and I decided to be big kids and buy T-shirts that say "Future Caldwell Night Rodeo Star"...what a great buy;-)

Video at Olympic Park in Utah

Fun in Utah

Singing in the cab!

Our new Utah friends, Jon and Kiehl

After our bobsled ride

Jamie and I preparing for our bobsled ride

Jamie and I at the show

Jamie in front of the distance slope

Jamie on the alpine slide

Jamie and I at the entrance to Olympic Park

Some of the Olympians preparing for the show

Getting ready to make their jumps

Crazy tricks!

A little hang time

My first spa day ever!

Jamie having a pedicure

Me having a pedicure done

Jamie with the giant boot

I sort of loved this giant boot!

View of Park City from the ski lift

Jamie on the ski lift

Me on the ski lift

Jamie pouring her root beer float

How about that orange cream soda float?!

Bringing CMT bliss to KUBL in Salt Lake City, UT!

Jamie and I enjoying our Winnie the Pooh cookies

The liquor store...next to the cop shop

The stairwell down to the dungeon...or...liquor store

We arrived in Utah, very late on the 7th and actually didn't get to see any of Utah when we arrived because it was already dark by the time we crossed into Utah. Once we pulled arrived, we headed to downtown Salt Lake City to drop the trailer. After getting rid of it at Penske, we headed to Park City, Utah to the condo we reserved for the week. Park City was the home of the 2002 Winter Olympics and also a thriving little resort town. Main Street was covered in cute boutiques and different shops for tourists and locals. There were tons of places to eat and some bars as well, but because it was the off-season most of those closed early.

Our first full day in Utah, the 8th, we headed back to Salt Lake City to drop in at KUBL, a radio station client of ours. We brought CMT bliss in the form of a giant cookie cake, koozies, magnets, and other CMT goodies. They loved it! We then spent the afternoon hanging out in Salt Lake City. I discovered that I am not a huge fan of Salt Lake City. I don't know what it is but there was just something missing about that city. Needless to say, the three of us were ready to head back to Park City. We also discovered that Utah has pretty intense liquor laws. You either have to order food to also order a drink or become a "member" at bars. It almost makes you feel as though you are doing something illegal just going into the liquor store...maybe because it was next to the cop shop and down in a dungeon.

The following morning we got up early to bring Matty to the airport for his family vacation. After dropping Matt off, Jamie and I went back to bed for a little nap before venturing out for the day. We walked down to the town ski lift, which gives rides in the summer, and jumped a ride on the ski lift to take in the view. This, strangely, was my first ride on a ski lift. Who would have thought my first ride would be in the middle of August! Anyway, it was an absolutely beautiful view.

For the remainder of the day, we decided to have an extremely girly day so we headed to a spa for pedicures and massages. This was my first experience for either of those and man was it relaxing. We also managed to do a little shopping, of course.

On Friday Jamie and I brought the truck to Ford to have some repairs done. It was not a fun afternoon. We thought we would be there briefly but it took them a couple of hours alone to diagnose the truck. We were pretty lazy the rest of the day and decided to watch a movie in the evening.

Saturday was a day filled with fun! Jamie and I had plans to go to the Utah Olympic Park for the afternoon. We arrived a little before noon...just in time to see the Flying Ace Allstars show. Basically, the members of this Allstar team are either former Olympians or training for the Olympics currently. At Olympic Park, there is a huge simulated ski ramp that is used in the summertime. The ramps are watered down and the skiiers land in a huge pool. They go down these huge ramps and do all kinds of crazy flips and tricks into the water. The show was amazing!

Jamie and I bought wristbands to partake in all of the fun activities at the park. There were two ziplines. We rode both of them. One was the longest zip line in the world! We also rode the alpine slide, which was nearly a mile long and wrapped around in circles down the moutain. It was a lot more fun then I had expected. The last ride we did for the day was the Comet. The comet is a bobsled. It's the summer version of the real deal and we actually had a bobsled pilot take us down the actual track that was used in the Olympics. We reached 68.8 miles per hour and the run lasted about one minute. Before it was our turn we actually got to be the ones to push the group before us. It was really cool, and of course we felt like we were in the movie, Cool Runnings...or pretended anyway;-) It really was such a rush to ride in the bobsled though. We definitely figured out why they call it a bobsled because your head just bobs all over the place;-)

While at the park we met a guy, Jon, who works at the Olympic Park and also lives in Park City. He invited Jamie and I to meet up with him at a bar in Park City called, Club Suede. There was a very popular Reggae band playing that evening called, Steel Pulse. Jamie and I decided it would be fun. Later that evening we grabbed a cab to the club, but not any old cab...this cab had a microphone wired into the speakers so we got to sing into it on the way to the bar... how fun?!?

We had a lot of fun at the bar and it was so packed because Steel Pulse is so popular. And now we have new friends in Park City, UT!

The drive to Utah

The CMT truck in Wyoming!

So beautiful!

What beautiful blue skies!

On the afternoon of August 7th we left Colorado and headed out for Utah. Basically, the entire day consisted of driving through the entire state of Wyoming. Wyoming is such a beautiful state, but it's very repetitive. Basically, it's beautiful scenery, but there is little civilization, which makes a drive through the state super long. We stopped in one of the only small towns that we passed to eat diner. We ate at an Applebees and seemed as though everyone from all over the state came to that one Applebees to eat at the same time. Apparently it's the hotspot:-)

Rockies and Brewers game in Denver

Jamie at the Rockies game



Downtown Denver

The crew at the Rockies game

What a view!

The final score of the game...Rockies won!

Tonight Matt mentioned that the Rockies were playing the Brewers in Denver, so the three of us hopped a bus downtown and headed toward the stadium to watch the remaining of the game (it was about the 4th inning by the time we arrived). We had decent seats, as the ball park wasn't that crowded. The view from the ball park was beautiful. Behind the scoreboard you could see the mountains in the distance.



The Rockies ended up winning the game, which made all of the locals happy! After the game we headed downtown to eat dinner before jumping on a bus back to our hotel. Tomorrow we depart from Denver and head to Park City. We will be stopping at one of our affiliate stations in Salt Lake City, but all of the hotels in Salt Lake were sold out due to a large event in the city so the nearest place we could find was Park City. Park City was the home of the winter olympics a few years back and has gained recognition because of that. As much fun as we had in Denver, I am looking forward to Utah!

Whitewater Rafting on the Arkansas River

Matt, Jamie and I with our guide, Roland after rafting

Roland put our raft in a rapid and let us "surf" for a bit

Look at us work as a team

The whole crew in the raft...we were with three randoms

Jamie, Matt and I in those hott wetsuits;-)

Early on August 5th, Jamie, Matt and I got up early and drove about an hour to go whitewater rafting in Colorado. We went to AVA (Arkansas Valley Adventures). We went to their location between Buena Vista and Granite and checked in to raft on the Arkansas River. We requested Roland, the guide we met in Idaho Springs, and he ended being our guide down the river. Roland also suggested that we raft the class 5 rapids which was the tour called The Gauntlet. We changed our reservations in advance so we could do so.



When we arrived at AVA, we checked in and put on our wetsuits and other gear to prepare for the trip. Man, wetsuits are funny clothing. Anyway we prepared for the river and took a bus over to the entrance. I had never been rafting before and it was soooo much fun! Apparently the river was much lower then it is in the beginning of the summer which means that it is less intense. The rapids were still a challenge but Roland was an excellent guide so it was a really fun experience! After we finished rafting, the guides prepared fajitas for us for lunch. What a fun day! I feel so lucky to have had such wonderful experiences while in Colorado! I definitely want to come back to vacation sometime in the future.



After our rafting trip we drove about two and a half hours back to Denver. When we arrived, Jamie, Matt and I met up with my friend, Brenda and got to have dinner with her! It was so awesome to see her again and at least spend a few hours with her!