Twenty.Fourteen Vacation

Over the next few days, I will be posting about some of the things we did on our trip to Georgia & back!  It was an amazing adventure and we got to experience MANY incredible things!

Our destination was Helen, Georgia. This has to be one of the cutest towns I've ever seen! The look and feel of the town is as if you are in a small German town. It is a perfect town for the Southern Worthersee, a Volkswagen/Audi/Porsche car show. Brendan is o-b-s-e-s-s-e-d with Volkswagen and Audi cars, so this was a perfect trip for him.

Brendan decided that he wanted to enter his car in the show. So, we got up early Saturday morning and put it in the show. His car looked amazing, along with a lot of the other cars. Unfortunately, Brendan did not make it in the Top 50. By the looks of the cars that DID make it is, he had really tough competition!

Southern Worthersee was only a small portion of our trip. Stay tuned for more posts about the things we did on our way back home.

Glendalough State Park

About two years ago, my cousin and I decided to plan a camping trip with our friends. We had the tent, supplies, and food, all we needed was a place to camp. We searched the Minnesota State Park website and took a peek at all of our options for camping. We decided to go to Glendalough State Park, and we were pleasantly surprised! We had so much fun camping there, we decided that if we ever wanted to make a day trip to a place that we could canoe, this would be our spot!

Recently, Nicole and I decided that we were going to take a trip back to Glendalough State Park, but only for the day. We paid very little to get into the park and we decided to go canoeing down the chain of lakes. It was so much fun!

                                                                               

Glendalough State Park is a beautiful little park by Battle Lake, Minnesota. You wouldn't know that such a cute little park was tucked away amongst the fields that surround Battle Lake. It is a great place to go, even just for the day. The self-serve system is the best! You don't have to wait for a park ranger to be around in order to rent a canoe. All you have to do is put your money in the box and off you go!

Now both of my aunts like to go up there for a few hours with the kids and go swimming. My entire family now enjoys this wonderful little park that Nicole and I "discovered."

If you are ever looking for a place to go for the day, Glendalough State Park is a great choice!

Yellowstone National Park in 2015?! I think YES!

I haven't posted in a bit, so I figured I'd post about our possible trip to Yellowstone National Park. I can't tell you how excited I am for this trip! We won't be going until May or June of 2015, but I am already printing off information brochures and planning it all out. Let's just say, I am excited. I just read this crazy article about how the road to the geysers has melted. It's amazing what can take place on this beautiful earth.

I'll make additional posts in the future about the things we are hoping to see. If you've been to Yellowstone National Park and have any tips of places that I must visit please feel free to leave a comment!

Glacier National Park, Montana

Today I want to share memories from our trip to Glacier National Park in Montana. 

In 2012, Brendan and I went on a camping trip to Montana with Brendan's family. When they invited us to go, I was so excited. I had always wanted to visit the beautiful state. It was a long car ride but it was worth it.

Painted Canyons

Our first stop was the Painted Canyons in North Dakota. This was probably the only interesting thing in the entire state. I definitely think that if anyone has a chance to stop and see the Painted Canyons, that they take the chance. It is something you won't forget.

Going to the Sun Road

Once we got to Glacier National Park, the first thing we did was drive up the Going to the Sun Road. It is a road that spans 50 miles through the park's wild interior, winding around mountainsides and treating visitors to some of the best sights in northwest Montana.

Our first stop on our drive through the park was by this beautiful river. The color of the water is absolutely gorgeous!

As we continued our drive up the Going to the Sun Road, we got to see exactly what Glacier National Park has to offer. Beautiful snow topped mountains and green valleys.

These are just a few of the photos I took while driving the Going to the Sun Road. Trust me, there were plenty more photos taken. I just don't want to have 150 photos attached to this post. ;)

After a bit of driving, we had to stop off and have a snack! Turkey sandwiches, granola bars, and bottled water. What a better place to have a snack than a stop with a view of a glacier. According to the informational sign, most of the glaciers are starting to melt away.

This was my favorite part! The view over the lake is so pretty. It's just amazing how much beauty there is in Glacier National Park. As we were looking over the lake, someone noticed that there was a black bear behind us on the side of a mountain.

 At the end of the Going to the Sun Road, is a very nice little area where you can get souvenirs, take old time photos, grab a snack, and many more things. I was a little sad to reach the end, because I knew that we wouldn't get to look at the wonderful view any longer. Good thing I took a bazillion photos. ;)

 Great Bear Adventure     

Another thing we did while in Montana was go to the Great Bear Adventure in Hungry Horse, MT. This was a really neat thing to experience. You are able to drive through a bear park where the black bears are not in cages, but walking all around your vehicle. Obviously this is a place where you want to keep your windows up!

Zip Lining

One of the highlights of the trip was zip lining through the mountains! We went to Whitefish Mountain Resort. At one point, we were 300 ft above the ground and the longest zip line was 1900 ft. At first, I thought I wasn't going to be able to do it because I do not like heights. But once we got started I didn't want it to end! There were times where we had to walk up the mountain to get to each zip line location, and a chair lift that brought us to the highest one. If (okay, more like when) we go back to Montana, I will want to do this again!

This trip is one of my favorite memories. We did so many fun things while in Montana. I cannot wait until Brendan and I take another trip back. 

Scrap bookin'!

Scrap booking has got to be one of my favorite hobbies! I love putting memories onto a page to look at over and over again. I made these two pages for my beautiful animals, Meeko & Audi. 

I am excited to continue making pages and share them with you. :)

Sign Creation

Here is the first homemade sign I've made. It was so simple! Luckily, my parents have tons of old wood boards that I can use, so I am very thankful for that! Here is how I created my sign:

Step 1: Figure out what you want your sign to say.
Finding the perfect saying for your sign can be tricky! It took awhile for me figure out exactly what I wanted. So, I decided to search eBay for wall decals! I actually bought this decal from eBay because I didn't have any stencils and I figured that doing this would save some time!

Step 2: Pick out the perfect size board for your sign.
You definitely want to make sure you have enough room for your saying. Find the board that fits perfectly.

Step 3: Paint the board the color you want.
I decided to paint mine green, since it was going in my bedroom and we have a brown/blue/green theme going on.

Step 4: Distress the board.
In order to give my board a distressed look, I just took white paint and painted a light coat over the green. Immediately afterwards, I took a rag and started to wipe the white paint off.

Step 5: Apply decal.
After the board was dry, I applied the decal using the directions it gave me. I spaced my words out differently, so I just cut the words apart and put them where they I wanted them to go.

This was such a simple project! Using the decal definitely saved time and made it much simpler.

First Tattoo

I'd like to share my first tattoo experience! I've always wanted a tattoo. It took me forever to figure out what I wanted to get. I knew for sure that I wanted one on my foot, but I just didn't know what of. I decided to get an infinity sign with an anchor because I always want to remember that no matter where my feet take me in life, I need to always remain strong.

About Me

Let's start by introducing myself. My name is Amanda Danielle Erickson. I am 23 years young. In my senior year of high school, I made the decision to do the post-secondary program at a local tech college, where I got degrees in Legal Administrative Assistant and Paralegal. I currently work in a county attorney's office, and let me tell you, every day is something new. I enjoy camping, canoeing, hiking, traveling, swimming, scrap booking, playing video games, and many more things. I am currently in a relationship with a (almost always) wonderful guy, Brendan. We've been dating since 9th grade. Crazy how the years just fly by! We bought our first house together in December of 2012. You never know how exciting that first house can be. Of course, a house isn't a home without animals, so we decided to get our kitty, Meeko, in January of 2013. But one animal just isn't enough for me. We got our black lab, Audi, in February of 2014. They both have such personalities and I enjoy every minute I spend with them.

My life is just beginning, I have so many years ahead of me and I cannot wait to see what kind of adventures are in my future.