{Journey to Cali}

Hello cupcakes!

Sorry I've been MIA, but I graduated from grad school, took a week road trip west, moved into my apartment in Cali, and have been applying for jobs. I wanted to do a recap post to catch everyone up on my life.

I'll start with Graduation Day (July 23rd)

My sisters and I , gahhh I miss them so much already!

Our traditional photo, mind you I am in wedge heels (You go Glen Co-Co!)

My parents <3

I am so glad I have such a close family who supports me and loves me unconditionally. It's hard to move away from a family who has always been so close, but I cannot wait for them to come visit. I hope someday my future children can experience the love, fun, and family time that my parents and sisters provided me with. 

My grandparents. My grandpa made me cry at my grad party. They are the sweetest!

Cory & his parents. They are also amazing! I am so glad to have them in my life.

And... the fam bam! 

Here is some of the other graduates from my program. Grad school isn't easy, but it is so nice to have a great group of people to experience it with.

The day before my journey west with Cory. We had a pond day and cook out.

Our first stop on our journey was Mizzou (University of Missouri). Cory's fraternity brother is an athletic trainer there. We ate at a brewery and stayed the night with him. In the morning, he gave us a tour of the campus and the athletic facilities. It was beautiful!

The next stop was Denver, CO. Let me tell you what... Kansas and the beginning of Colorado... so boring! I couldn't wait to finally get to Denver. Day 2 was our longest drive. Cory had another fraternity brother who lived in Denver, so he took us to dinner in downtown Denver on a roof top brewery/bar. I had tacos!

Then next morning I told Cory we had to get Vodoo Doughnuts. They were seriously the best doughnuts I've ever had in my entire life. The doughnuts were HUGE. We ended up getting 6 different flavors: captain crunch, smores, the vodoo guy, cream filled with chocolate frosting, maple bacon, and a really chocolate-y doughnut (I forget what the exact names were). 

My favorite was the maple bacon and the captain crunch. I posted more pictures on my instagram:@toriswholelife (follow this link to see more pictures from my trip)

{Captain Crunch}

{Maple Bacon}

We also stopped at a coffee shop. This was an almond milk latte.

Next, we drove to the Rocky Mountains to do a hike. 

It was so beautiful here! I couldn't believe my eyes. Pictures don't even do it justice. 

We ended the trek here and set up the hammock. The view was unbelievable. 

We literally ate protein bars and beef jerky on this trip, so I was so excited to get to real life and get my micro-nutrients in (bring on the salads)

We stayed with Cory's buddy in Denver for another night and went to a little restaurant across from his apartment. I got veggies and hummus. 

Then next morning, we got coffee and drove to Mesa Verde National Park. Oh and I forgot to mention, while we were in Denver we went to REI. If you don't know what that is it's basically the IKEA of outdoor adventures. We got some camping equipment.

It was around 7pm when we finally got there, so we pitched our tent and played cards the rest of the night. It was seriously so peaceful. We also didn't have cell service so it made us really appreciate our time together. 

There were so many deer near our camp site. They were not scared of people!

The next morning, we got up and packed up the car. We drove to the cliff dwellings. I can't believe people actually built these and lived in them! They were amazing.

That tower is the tallest tower in the park.

This one there was an opportunity to go on a tour down to the dwellings and see them close up. If we ever go again, we will be doing the tours. 

After leaving Mesa Verde, we stopped at the Four Corners. 

Our goal was to make it to the Grand Canyon to camp for the night. This was a little break we took before reaching the Grand Canyon. At this point, I thought we were close to the park but we actually had about an hour and a half before getting into the park.

During the rest of the drive to the Grand Canyon, Cory's GPS actually told us to turn down a dirt road and we ended up driving about an hour down a dirt road that led us no where. So we went about 2 hours out of our way before getting back on track. We ended up finally getting to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

After checking out the Canyon, we drove back out of the park to camp in the Kaibab National Forest. It was pretty cool because you literally could drive down a side road and find a place to set up your tent. On our way out of the park there was a pack of Bison. Of course we had to stop and take pictures. 

I didn't get a picture of our camp site, but it was literally in the middle of the forest. Again, we had no cell service so it was peaceful and relaxing. We sat in the hammock and looked at the stars. Well I should say I took a little nap while Cory attempted to look at the stars. It was a little too cloudy.

The next morning, we woke up, packed up, and drove back into the Grand Canyon National Park. We decided to hike down the Canyon. 

Going down the Canyon wasn't too bad, but coming back up was rough. It definitely wasn't an easy hike. We also passed multiple mules on the trail. 

After hiking, we decided we wanted to try to make it home that night. We stopped in Vegas to eat dinner with some friends. We got to our apartment around 1:30am Sunday. 

It was such a great trip. I love traveling, taking photos, and taking adventures with Cory. I am still reflecting on the trip and words cannot describe how amazing it was. 

I hope you all have a fantastic day and I will try to keep you updated on life.

Right now, I am studying to get certified as a personal trainer. I cannot wait to share more tips, tricks, information, etc with everyone. I also want to try to write my own programming. 

Later Taters

"It's a beautiful day, don't let it get away."