roadtrip: elko, nv

have you heard of elko, nv? don't worry. i've grown up in nevada and had hardly heard of it. elko, ely, emu: who really has the time to figure out the differences? maybe a month ago justin & i decided to go to SL,UT for general conference. my bff8's mother is in the motab and [i think] it's her last year so we best take advantage of tickets now. justin had the brilliant idea last night that we start the 8+ hour drive early and do a pit-stop along the way. luckily, his intern partner in crime nicole [they both work in the republican caucus office- there are other interns but none are quite as cool] works for a hilton in vegas and so does her dad so she hooked us up with a discount- of over $100!

great job photobooth.  i barely made it to the bed on time. and justin....did his best to look interested.

when we imagined staying in elko, we figured we'd get a cheap place like we did on our honeymoon [which was prrreettttyyy shady] so a hilton hotel? score! the only thing- the coupon we had was for employees. so naturally they assumed justin was an employee when we checked in. that was all nice and dandy- not too many questions he couldn't field [q: what's your hotel like in vegas? q: how nice are the suites? q: how busy are you guys staying? ]. so we dropped off our stuff, jumped on our comfy bed then high-tailed to a highly recommended [steven's best friend] mexican place - 9 beans and a burrito. more like 9 nasties and a suckito. i'm not a huge mexican fan but i enjoy macayos & pepe's so i thought i could deal. no, it was nasty. my salsa was green water so i asked for some different kind - and got red water. my hard taco was greasy and we waited over 20 minutes for food- at a fast food place! lameo. so sadly i needed to pick up something else post-dinner. and the only option: taco bell. oh how the turn tables...

we were eagerly looking forward to a night of relaxation, m&ms, and espn [justin. not me. i'm looking forward to reading my new book 'water for elephants'. and yes, i did only check it out because it's a movie with mr. edward cullen- check out the awesome trailer!] but alas, it would not be so. on our way up to our room, our check-in clerk that was so chatty [description: our age-ish young guy, tall, blonde, and two-blinged out ears] FOLLOWED us to our room. granted, he was going to the room right next to us, but it gave him more chances to try to break our alibi [q: how much do you guys get paid in vegas? q: what do the rooms look like? q: do you guys get incentives? q: how much do your rooms cost?] justin thought quickly and told him he does maintenance so he got out of the last one but still, dude was totally sniffing out our lie fib. we were outside our door talking to this dude for 5 minutes! the second we got in our room we dimmed the lights and played alseep.




who knew hilton employees were such the sleuths? who knew steven's friend could not be trusted for restaurant recommendations? and who knew elko was quite the thriving metropolis.

not us.