We’re almost to the end of my first Vegas recap series! Don’t worry, I’m taking a long break before I get into the next recap, even though that will be equally exciting and unique. These posts take FOREVER to write, and I’m sure they take forever to read, too, so thank you so much for your interest—any bit that you’ve followed along means so much to me, and I pray you can take something meaningful or helpful from this series.

In today’s post, I’m covering our LAST full day!! We took this entire day to explore as much of the Strip as possible using their monorail, which is not that expensive and can take you to every “section” of the Strip. We saw tons more awesome hotels and did a lot of browsing within them and, as usual, I was blessed with awesome pictures to share!!

This trip is such a powerful reminder for me to ALWAYS express gratitude for every little thing God has blessed me with and not get caught up in “the next thing.” For instance, I’m already thinking about getting to a beach ASAP—like on to the next trip—but I remember seeing pictures of the Venetian interior, for instance, on Instagram, and actually thinking it was in a foreign country but falling in LOVE and thinking how amazing it would be if I could get there eventually. And I did!

I’m not trying to sound ungrateful for saying this, but part of the human psyche is that when you finally experience something you’ve been wanting to, it’s awesome, but it’s so easy to move on and forget about it—the novelty wears off. This is actually a psychological concept they talk a lot about with money or really any experience that increases the hormonal chemicals causing happiness. Every time you get a “hit” of something novel that causes the spike, it takes even more the next time to get more of a reaction, and those feelings can become what we crave. That’s why gratitude is so important—you can train your mind to rejoice always (1 Thessalonians 5:16).

Day 4: Exploring the Hotels on the Strip

Pretty much everything we did on this day fit in this post, but I had to save something to keep you coming back for the last post—when we fly home, even though I have a lot of different, cool pictures from that, and the last post will include more writing because I’ll be reflecting like I talked about in the first part of this series. So, the last activity of our trip will be included in the last post, and it was great.

Waking Up

We took our time getting ready again, not heading out till almost 11. We put Twilight: New Moon on! I forget it was almost Halloween when we went out here, so Freeform had tons of Halloween-related movies on.

I would miss this view and room!

Grabbing Breakfast at the Flamingo Hotel and Getting on the Monorail

We grabbed our usual desserts from that Nook Express place I talk about here, and then we headed outside, following the sign to the monorail, their little train that whips you up and down the Strip. I was going to buy tickets when we got there. I LOVED this view outside: all the blue in the sky and bright greenery of the palm trees gave me more Florida vibes!!!

I kinda look scary with the donut frosting in my teeth…but this was a great place for a photo op! I’d wondered what the circular walkway above our drop-off location was when we arrived, and it is the platform for the monorail!

Mom looks adorable as always—I love this shirt.

THERE’S THE POOL I DIDN’T GET TO GO IN! It looks so beautiful. I will come back and go here for a couple hours someday. Maybe when it’s the middle of summer and hot as crap and I can really appreciate it. 😂 I’m gonna buy the $100+ daybed, too! 🤣

This was a nice entrance!

Hot pic of me waiting for the monorail to come. Buying tickets was super easy; they had a booth when we entered, but the lady there actually recommended I buy them online ’cause it’s a couple dollars cheaper, so I did that and was able to get day passes for us both saved to the wallet on my phone, which was super easy to scan. That was like $30 or not even, so we definitely got our money’s worth.

They also have maps everywhere from the booth to right above the entrances of the different stations/stops and what hotels/tourist places are located at each, so it was super helpful and easy to follow.

This is on board!

It goes pretty fast with great views. It really did remind me of The Hunger Games‘ train.

First Station: MGM Grand

Our first station was at the left end of the Strip to us. We got out at MGM Grand, which was not on my list of hotels to see, but we had to walk through it and actually saw some cool things. I recognized Brad Garrett from Everybody Loves Raymond, a show my family likes, but I don’t like it nearly as much as King of Queens, my favorite TV show of all time!!!

The lobby was incredible! We loved that big golden lion statue.

Mom liked my shoe aesthetic with the fancy floors.

Excessiveness is one thing Vegas does well.

We got a little bit lost here once we walked out of that lobby ’cause this just takes you out to the road; I was trying to get across the street to Luxor and New York, New York. I was interested in seeing Mandalay Bay, but it was quite a ways out there even from Luxor (they do have a tram between them, though), but Mom didn’t want to see it because she thought it would be too eerie because of that shooting there, which it was actually the anniversary of when we came out.

We had to backtrack and follow the signs more closely! These hotels are too dang easy to get lost in. I would not want to know what it’s like being an architect of these things and laying everything out; they are literally like a maze. That’s an area that fascinates me, though; I’ve always wondered even how hospitals are made and how you decide what rooms and areas are going where ’cause they seem like mazes half the time, too.

I also took a picture of this “CRAPS” station because John Crist, a Christian comedian who makes YouTube videos, did this “Bible verse lady goes to Las Vegas” video that I LOVED even years before coming here!! It’s hilarious; he connects everything he sees to Bible verses, and he’s not doing it to mock it, but it’s so funny what he comes up with, and there’s a scene in that where he gets to a CRAPS station and says, “Don’t you dare even look at it. We do not swear in this house,” and I thought that was hilarious, so when I saw this, it made me think of that. Watch the video here—it’s super short but hilarious! I love that now I recognize everywhere he’s been, too!

This is still inside MGM!! It’s so amazing!

We finally came out by a pedestrian bridge to cross the street. New York looked amazing in the daylight up close!!

This background! ❤️

Here’s the view looking down the opposite side of the Strip.

I asked Mom if she wanted to go on the Big Apple Coaster; she said heck no. 😂

We didn’t go into Excalibur but it made for great pictures!

I couldn’t get this bow to tie and stay put to save my life so I made Mom do it. 🤣

We had to get on a tram there to go over to Luxor, and that was free.

Luxor Hotel and Casino

I mentioned earlier that I wanted to stay in this hotel ’cause it’s literally a pyramid, so I wanted to at least see inside it for myself.

Everything is just so cool.

It did not disappoint! I still can’t get over how the rooms FORM A LITERAL PYRAMID! I do want to stay a night here someday.

I LOVE WATER!

This is too cool.

We did walk around for a bit upstairs—they have some cool museums here, but we didn’t stay long.

It was definitely worth visiting! I can’t believe how well-designed even the outside is. They spare no expense.

After that, we took the tram back to Excalibur and were going to explore the New York hotel.

New York, New York Hotel and Casino

This is what it looked like when we walked in. I was trying so hard to find Village Street Eateries in here because the photos made it look like how an NYC street would look, but we walked into a regular food court, and I was so disappointed, thinking that’s it, and Mom was giving me another spiel about how pictures and marketing are deceiving, but I kept saying this is past even that; it’s flat out lying. Well, we kept walking and THANKFULLY stumbled across them before leaving!!

We went in this store and bought some stuff. I bought an $80 Las Vegas shirt! I fell in love with it at first sight; I couldn’t resist, and I’m so glad I bought it. It’s adorable—you’ll see it in the last post. Mom got Hunter a Golden Knights shirt.

We had to go in here!!!

My mom, dad, and I all LOVE Reese’s!!

This was so cool mainly because of the merch, and I wish we had bought something like that.

Here’s Village Street Eateries!!!

They literally have a chandelier up in that window! They should rent out rooms there.

I’m glad Mom got a picture of how extensive the sports betting is! I can’t wrap my head around how much gambling there is.

Village Street Eateries did not disappoint!

When we stopped to go to the bathroom, I loved this picture. ❤️

They even had this outside to represent the Brooklyn Bridge!

Hello Kitty Café

The other thing I wanted to do here was stop at the adorable Hello Kitty Café!!! I remember getting into Hello Kitty when I was younger, and she has such a cute, girly aesthetic, so I died when I saw this was a thing while researching stuff to do. It was right outside New York wedged between T-Mobile Arena, which was right across the street, where their hockey team, the Golden Knights, plays!

It cracked me up to see these pigeons wandering around because at the Grand Canyon, we learned that the birds were contagious with diseases, too.

It was SO cute! I used to play Hello Kitty Café on my phone (way back when we were going to Florida!), but they haven’t updated the version I played so I can’t anymore. 😭

There wasn’t even a line!!

The treats looked adorable, but I didn’t get any this time around.

I did get merch!! $100 worth of it. It’s reasonably priced; it just adds up. I got that black tee, the pink tee, and the black trucker hat!

We walked back to MGM after this to go back to our hotel area for lunch; Mom was getting hangry.

I found this!!! The Hunger Games Exhibition!! There was a museum you could’ve paid to enter (where that big fence is), but I got to see some of it outside!

This is what Jennifer Lawrence wore in the movies as Katniss!! I can tell she’s a lot taller than me—she’s my mom’s height. I think I could fit into it otherwise. 😄

We did both!!

Horseshoe Station

Now we’re back at the Horseshoe Hotel in our neck of the woods. That is a cool hotel with the way its layout is set up. We saw this cool Twilight Zone mini golf place inside of it. Mom thought Dad would have liked it.

Similar to how they have restaurants and stores lined up straight outside of the hotel entrance, they also have shops that go back inside of the hotel. There were some cool stores in here!

These stairs were stunning!

OVERPRICED WAHLBURGER’S!

I really wanted to eat at Wahlburger’s because they were a restaurant I’d seen when researching stuff, and for some reason, they looked delicious to me. Well, they had one right outside of the Horseshoe, and we ate there. Hardly anyone was there. We ordered two cheeseburgers, ONE cup of fries, Mom got this lemonade in a cup, and I just got a Dr. Pepper bottle. IT WAS $60!!!!! That is horrible!!! It was good but definitely not that good; it’s like fast food! For that money, I should’ve gotten to see Mark Wahlburg there. Mom kept the cup and wouldn’t stop saying it’s a $60 cup. So that is my one regret, except I did like the food; it just shouldn’t have been that much.

The Cosmopolitan Chandelier

I think we may have just walked over to the Cosmopolitan since it wasn’t that far. I hadn’t been in this hotel at all yet but wanted to because of their infamous pink chandelier everyone gets their picture by on Instagram. It was super cool!

It’s definitely a very upscale, fashion-forward hotel.

I thought these “floating” escalators were awesome!!!

Bellagio Conservatory and Botanical Gardens

After that, we went right next door to the Bellagio, which we’d been in a little bit, but we hadn’t been to the huge conservatory where their botanical gardens are all made up seasonally. That’s free to see, and it is AMAZING!

You get incredible views of the Strip from the Bellagio entrance.

The Bellagio is also a beautiful hotel. I loved the exterior details and design. We had been in this hotel before on the end closest to us where the shops are, but this was our first time going through the actual entrance. I wanted to see their beautiful gardens and conservatory inside, which is free!!

Another designer! Mom was thrilled 😂

I have such a funny story about these doors from the second trip I took to Vegas, so stay tuned…

I love water fountains.

It had quite the unique design inside! I don’t remember smelling any weed in this entrance when we went, so I appreciated that. It is definitely a very luxe-feeling hotel.

They had some more designer stores on the side of the entrance here. I’d heard about Rolex watches before and how ungodly expensive they are. They also had a Hermés store I was kinda interested in because supposedly their bags go for around $40k, but I thought the design seemed incredibly bland from the outside and I don’t deserve to live if I ever buy one of those. If any of you have one of those bags, I’m sorry, but if I have people that rich reading this blog who are ever looking for some ideas on how to spend money, I’ve got a list. 😂

There are no words to describe how enchanting and amazing this conservatory is!!! It was all decorated for fall, Mom’s favorite season that I adore, too, and it is so incredibly immaculate, detailed, and breathtaking. This is a must-see. I couldn’t take enough pictures; every single inch of the room was photogenic.

I just can’t with these beautiful and vivid bright fall colors!!!

I LOVED how that little pond to the right had legitimate steam rolling across the water like mist…

The bright sunflowers and fairies floating over the warm flowers against the soft acorn lighting created the coziest fall vibe, perfectly encapsulating the season.

I loved to see the deep rosy pinks in the mix.

I want to hire someone to make my backyard look like this someday. It would cost a fortune, but it would be a dream. I seriously think this is a taste of what heaven and the Garden of Eden did/will look like.

The dangling leaves and this giant oak tree!! I couldn’t get enough.

Hahaha I asked Mom if I could at least post one candid of her. 😂

I love this deep, moody purple with pops of soft pink flowers. Fun fact: the first blog design I ever had here was dark purple and pink. 🙂

Yep, I even took a selfie with this bush.

THE MOON! THE PUMPKINS AND BRIDGE! Anymore as I get older, I’m loving the simple life I was born into and the beauty of raw nature. Natural sights that God has created like the moon and cosmos are capturing my affection more and more. More reason why I want to have a garden wedding instead of a city wedding like I’d thought about!

I love pumpkins and their shade of orange.

The dusting of glitter amidst the flower petals melts my heart… 🥲

GIANT CATTAILS!!! Here’s something funny from my childhood: I had a little obsession and fascination with cattails for the longest time. I couldn’t wrap my head around how you could touch them and they’d just poof into thin air. It seemed too magical. I remember sitting in the backseat as we’d drive up to my grandparents’ house a ton, and I always thought I’d see them in the ditches and fantasize about grabbing some and touching them. One day, my parents went somewhere by themselves and brought me back some cattails. I can still remember my mom entering our laundry room holding them; I think she was even wearing her old blue coat. They were not this type of cattails, the ones I typically envisioned, but that golden color where the feathers or whatever you actually call them looked sparse, and THEY DIDN’T WORK! They thought they were either too wet/old/something for it to happen. So, I’ve actually never experienced the magic of a cattail. If any of you wants to still make this childhood dream of mine come true, I’d be very appreciative. I still love that my parents picked some for me. 😊

They also had an owl in the tree! You’ll see it better in pictures to come. Owls hold lots of meaning for my family because my aunt Connie, who passed away from breast cancer, loved them, so they always make us think of her. ❤️

I am excited to one day have a house of my own (HA, in this economy we’ll see if I can ever even afford one…!!!) and decorate it for fall with beautiful flowers/mums like these. These flowers reminded me of the mums my mom always gets in the fall and hangs around our deck.

I LOVE monarch butterflies, too! Here are some more fun facts that are so special to my heart from my childhood: we used to find monarch caterpillars on the milkweeds that would grow in our yard, and my parents would help me “rescue” it and place it in an old plastic ice cream bucket with the things it needed to survive and flourish, and we would wait for it to grow and transform into a butterfly! I think I had two of these that I remember two years in a row; the first was named Breezy—I think after some character in a show I liked, and we released it at home.

The second was named Alyson after one of my favorite authors at that time, Alyson Noel (don’t ask me what I was doing reading her books when I was younger than 10…okay, she did have a YA series I got at a book fair OH MY GOSH THE MEMORIES THIS IS BRINGING BACK TO ME RIGHT NOW 😭, but that is another story of trauma for another dayyy hahaha). I was up in Estherville with my grandparents when she was in her chrysalis, so my parents brought her when they came up and had to be very careful with her in the car, and we released her in my grandparents’ driveway! She stuck around on their tree for a while afterwards. It’s so funny; I’m sure they’re long gone (IN HEAVEN!!!) now, but sometimes I feel like whenever I see monarchs, they flutter around me, and I always think is that my two babies. 🥲 We also used to get HUNDREDS of monarch butterflies on these tall trees we have by our driveway; I need to scan and upload a picture we have of it someday!

This is so ethereal and beautiful.

The fairies and feet in the logs are adorable!

The moon and owl. ❤️

We got to go inside the tree!!

A very nice lady offered to take our picture!!

I love sunflowers!!! There used to be this house in Ames way back where this student parking lot was where my first roommate, Rachel, used to park, and they had actual sunflowers in front of their house!!

I would love to know who designs all of this and how it’s done. It is incredible.

Me asking Mom what she thinks of Rolex! 🤣

It definitely seemed like a more upscale crowd checking in. They had cute fall decorations everywhere. Mom actually told me she didn’t like this hotel (not the gardens—she loved them) because it seemed “too elitist” and snobby. 😂

Sketchy Story #1

I believe this is the time where our first scary encounter occurred! Joy. So we were walking back to our hotel now, and as we’re closer to our entrance on our side of the road, there’s a homeless guy walking around. It breaks my heart to see any homeless people anywhere, and we did see our fair share of them on the Strip. I think earlier in the day, we saw a guy literally rifling through a trash can on the Strip… It’s such a complex problem that unfortunately we’re not equipped to deal with. Most of them mind their own business, but this guy seemed like he had some mental health issues because he started shouting expletives and following the crowd walking along the Strip. He sounded angry about something and we didn’t know what he was going to do, if anything. Thankfully, we were part of a big crowd, but there was this bigger guy behind us who was even looking like what the heck… We were like just get us the heck out of here and into the hotel…

They have even MORE shops at Planet Hollywood!

I don’t remember why we went back to the hotel, to be honest. I think Mom wanted to take a break. We thought about going to the pool again, but I think she wanted time to just lay in bed and chill, so we did that for a couple hours. Around dinnertime, we decided to head out to the Venetian and explore that side of the Strip a little more, where I planned on getting dinner.

I am so proud of how clean this became.

Being paparazzi again!!!

This is a bar with gambling stations at the seats inside of either the LINQ or Harrah’s, I want to say? The monorail didn’t stop right at the Venetian so we had to walk to it from a nearby hotel.

I was so excited seeing the Mirage!! It looked so tropical and beautiful; I couldn’t wait to come again.

Another view of Caesar’s Palace’s Forum Shops!

When people walk in your shot… 🤣

They had this HUGE McDonald’s!

I LOVE the Mirage waterfall!

The Grand Canal Shoppes at the Venetian

I was so excited to go in the Grand Canal Shoppes at the Venetian! I knew the sky would look like it did in The Forum Shops, and there was a canal of water running through it with gondolas like Venice in Italy!! Plus, they had some designer stores, too, I wanted to see. Mom was like OH NO at this point.

They had these sidewalk-escalators that took you inside. This is where the next sketchy story happens on our way out.

I loved the view!

The gondolas also go outside! We had to pick either going on a ride indoors or outdoors, and it was hard to choose!

This looks like a literal castle.

Here we are inside! My mom was like you’ve already shopped…and that was fair, honestly. But I still was so excited seeing all the stores we don’t have here.

Everything about this is beautiful!

I made Mom take a ton of pictures for me here since it was so cute, and she got annoyed.

She did good!

These shops also kept going farther and farther inside.

I love string lights!!!

I took selfies when Mom quit on me. 😂

This is so beautiful, I can’t even. Everything looks so serene and quaint. I feel like I don’t even need to go to Venice, but it would be fun to compare it to this. I would LOVE a hotel room where the windows are if they had them!!

I’ve had a fantasy since middle school ever since watching The Fault in Our Stars where my husband and I ride in a gondola through a canal in Amsterdam together on our honeymoon, except we’re not going there on our honeymoon; we’re going to the Caribbean. Someone tell my husband I’ve got everything for the rest of our lives all figured out; all he needs to do is show up. 😂

It actually looks like you can go upstairs where the windows are!!! I should’ve figured out a way to get up there.

I can’t thank Mom enough for her patience with me on this trip; she actually got such great pictures for us. She was even starting to learn what I like and best practices!

This is actually reminding me of a lazy river and I’m having a clear flashback to being at Discovery Cove, laying in a rescue ring or something in their lazy river—I think I actually was on like a noodle—and staring up at the lush greenery all around me and above me…and thinking about honeymooning there…I can’t thank God enough for the special moments of my life like that. I feel like for most people, good things make them forget about God, but I have been through enough where I truly feel like every moment is precious, and every blessing like that makes me rejoice in Him that much more.

Once again, we went clear through the shops to the front entrance of the hotel, basically, where we saw some astounding sights!

They also had decorated for fall!!

DANGLING LEAVES IN THE PRETTIEST FALL COLORS!

And a GONDOOOOOOOOOOOLA! My dad used to yell that about train cars when my brother and I were very little going over the train tracks in Ames on our way up to Estherville, too.

Still upstairs, there were so many designer stores in the depths of this place. This is where Mom got impatient and hangry!

I went into Tory Burch again and saw the cutest ballet flats.

I LOVE how this store looked! This is like walk-in closet dreams, haha, but I would NEVER have a closet this big, obviously. Think of how many homeless people could live here. 🙃 I am aware the issue runs much deeper than that, though, and I’m certainly not advocating for liberal policies like what’s being done in NYC where we start putting people in public places…there are other solutions.

I looooooove these sandals. I’ll wait for them to go on sale, though, like I did my other ones of hers. The glossy Barbie pink ones on the left are cute, too.

Then I went to Jimmy Choo again. I don’t blame Mom for being frustrated, but this was all so extravagant and new to me!

I loved the way they had things laid out, too, and I love all this sparkle.

I went into Louis Vuitton since I hadn’t yet. My favorite designer is actually Louis Vuitton and a little bit of Prada. I also want a pink Givenchy bag.

Mom did come in with me shockingly because I remembered saying these were cute! I tried to pick one up to see if I could find the price, but I couldn’t move it much at all.

This is Kate Spade again. I got one of her bags at Nordstrom Rack last fall in the cutest shade of baby pink, and I love it.

Okay, I love these photos but I couldn’t get all the yellow tinting out of them without desaturating it entirely! I promise my teeth aren’t *that* yellow. 🥲

Yes, close your mouth, that’s better.

I had to decide on dinner before Mom killed me. I had been thinking about one of the restaurants right alongside the canal and shops here, but they looked crazy and like you needed reservations. I think Mom was ready to eat something immediately, so I thought we’d head back to our point on the Strip and get some sort of fast food again. We also bought our tickets for the gondola ride; I decided I wanted to do it at night outside, which ended up being fantastic, and that’s where the final part of this series will pick up. That wouldn’t start until seven, though, which was perfect because then we had time to get something to eat beforehand. This was definitely pricier; it was actually the same price as the other attractions, but the ride was only 15 MINUTES. So you’re paying $70 (for two of us) for a 15-minute ride. But I don’t regret it!!! I had to laugh; you could buy your own private gondola, where no other people would be on the ride with us, for $140…

We walked by these tubs on our way out. One day, I am going to take a bath with rose petals!!!

The evening glow was stunning once again.

This tower is gorgeous.

Sketchy Story #2

Okay, time for another scary experience. This one was actually more disturbing, BUT there is a chance it could’ve been innocent…but it just didn’t seem or feel like it. It happened right between these photos as I was on that escalator going out again. One thing I will say about Vegas is you do see a lot of single men by themselves just kinda loitering and hanging around the Strip…which can make you wonder, especially because the other night, when Steven was dropping people off, he told us to be careful since Las Vegas is the top destination for human trafficking supposedly, which doesn’t surprise me at all since they legalize so much crap, and as tourists, we need to be cautious and not just think that won’t happen to us because we’re around a bunch of people. He said we need to be careful being on our phones and taking pictures like tourists, too, because they could prey on us.

Well, as I was coming down, we were just standing in place because it’s an escalator, but Mom was a couple yards in front of me, and I was taking some pictures when all of a sudden, I could feel some guy’s presence behind me, and I could tell it was too close. He was a young single guy; I would actually say he wasn’t unattractive necessarily, except he had that upper lip mustache every guy and their dog had after watching Maverick, and I’m not a fan of that at all. But he was by himself; nobody was coming behind him, and he was only a few feet behind me. Plus, we had been on the escalator so it was already moving, and we were like halfway down so he walked up that close to me. I feel like a “normal” stranger would have gotten on and just stayed on not moving or kept some more distance since usually people don’t like to be super close to people they don’t know. Plus, people are always talking about your gut feeling around certain people, and I felt like something wasn’t right.

So, that being said, I wanted to get closer to my mom, but I wanted to be discreet about it because I know you’re not supposed to show fear, either. I actually pretended like I was taking pictures so I could shift my body and make it look natural as I moved, like I was just trying to get more angles, so I could get closer to her. I know you’re not supposed to be on your phone, but I did it for a reason. Then, as we left, I still didn’t think much of it because I was like okay, that’s weird, but I’m by her now, and we started walking down the Strip, which was still packed. We started talking about where to go for dinner, and as we’re walking, there’s this little mini strip of casinos with a Subway inside that we remembered seeing, so we decided to go there. I think I could still feel his presence because I was getting anxious, and I remember as I turned to go in the casino, I think I pushed/pulled the opposite way on the door, and I freaked out ’cause I felt the urge to get in there, and Mom said she thought that guy was following us because he turned to walk back the opposite direction…

Now, could it have been a coincidence? Yes. But it seemed strange and a little far-fetched. My heart was beating so fast as we went inside and through all the slot machines because the Subway was clear at the back, and I kept thinking he was gonna come back inside and find us. I didn’t think he was following us at the time, so we’d been talking about where we were going as clear as day, and I’m sure he heard. I felt paranoid even as we ordered our food and sat at a little table way back there, and even Mom told me not to worry and that she didn’t think he’d come back. We had a cool moment from God Mom pointed out to me when as we were eating, we saw a police officer at the counter. He didn’t even order anything; he must’ve just chatted with the workers for a bit. She said that was a sign He is looking out for us and protecting us! It’s just disturbing to think about if we were being followed and what that guy’s intentions were. I’m thankful we never found out.

The food was good!! We tried to eat somewhat balanced on this trip.

Next Post:

Alright, we’re almost done!!! I’d say I’m sad but I’m NOT because these posts have been a pain in the BUTT to write, and it just so happens that of course, I’m doing my independent study for my blog where I’m being GRADED on consistency, and you don’t know how many late nights I’ve spent putting these together… I love my blog, but I don’t love it that much. I don’t think I love a lot of things that much. Writing isn’t my idol, and I have no desire to be a workaholic. I crave a balanced life with three meals a day, eight hours of sleep (I think my body thinks it needs 10-12, which is alarming…), quiet time with God, and some down time to relax my brain and process and reflect. BUT this has been a joy to relive all over again, and if there’s anything I’m going to work on constantly, I guess I’ll take it that it’s my blog…

In the LAST post recapping this trip, I’m sharing the gondola ride we took outside at night, which was stunning and so much fun, all the pretty pictures I got from the plane ride home, and my reflections on this trip: what I took away, everything I bought, a bunch of candid photos of me bossing my mom around as she took my picture, and more. Thank you SOOOOO much for following along!!! You all make this so, so worth it!!