Following the reception, we hopped into the back of a luxury Lincoln stretch limosine by American Transportaion. The driver honked all the way as we left the ranch on our way to the Hyatt Dulles. Arriving at the hotel, we checked in to a luxury suite overlooking the airport where planes could be seen landing and taking off. Champagne and chocolate covered strawberries met us in the room.

Early Sunday morning we took the shuttle provided by the Hyatt over to Dulles where we caught our ride to Vegas. Two plane rides and a stop in Chicago landed us in Las Vegas where we caught a cab to the New Frontier Hotel & Casino. We checked in to our room where the bell hop met us with our luggage. We only had a few minutes to drop off our things and catch another cab over to Mandalay Bay to pick up our tickets for the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) Rodeo Finals. At this point, we finally had time for a meal. We realized that we hadn't eaten a full meal since the breakfast before the wedding! We found a neat American cafe at Mandalay Bay where we had a wonderful lunch. Time to head back to the hotel to get cleaned up for the rodeo. Then, back to Mandalay Bay by cab for the big event! We had 5th row seats right in front of the chute gates. After a great show, we headed over to the After Party with the Charlie Daniels Band where we danced and Ashley got her Wranglers signed by all the bull riders. After a couple hours, we headed back to our hotel where Gilley's (rebuild of a famous Texas honky tonk) was located. While hanging out at Gilley's all of the bull riders showed up for the "party after the after party"! Twenty-six hours after getting up to catch our flight, we finally went to the room for some welcome sleep!

Monday started with breakfast in bed, delicious and relaxing! Over breakfast, we spent a little while looking over the various "to do" magazines trying to decide how we would spend the day. We decided on walking the main strip, picking up show tickets for our visit and checking out Everything Coke (four floors of Coca-Cola stuff) and M&M's World (five floors of M&M's with an entire floor dedicated to Elliott Sadler!).

After a long day on the strip, we headed back to the hotel for a quick rest and to wash up for the evening. For dinner, we headed out in search of a steak. We had wanted to get a table at a restaurant overlooking the fountains at the Bellagio. But, we learned the hard way that you *really* need reservations at any of those restaurants. We did get to see the fountain show - which was incredible. We ended up having an absolutely incredible dinner at Smith & Wollensky, a steakhouse that had been in Las Vegas since 1977. The steaks were aged on site and were unbelievable. It was also right across the street from the New York New York. So, it made it easy for us to get over to the show after supper.

The show was interesting. Promoted as an erotic Cirque Du Soliel, there isn't much that we can put down and still have the site be PG-13. Our seats were in a private sofa for two which was right up next to the stage. We only got picked on a little bit and really enjoyed the show.

After the show, we head over to the Coyote Ugly which was in the New York New York. This bar is known for its beautiful bar tenders dancing on the bar. They invited girls from the crowd to come up on the bar and dance. Ashley danced a few and then we decided to head back to Gilley's for some honky tonkin'.

Tuesday started with breakfast in bed, again :) Over breakfast, we spent a little while looking over the various "to do" magazines trying to decide how we would spend the day, again :) We decided on doing the gondola ride at the Venetian and then walking the other half of the main strip. Later in the evening, we hoped to have time to see "old Vegas" over on Freemont Street.

After hanging out at the Venetian for a while, we hopped on the Las Vegas public bus and rode it all the way down to the Sahara where we had lunch at the NASCAR Café. The entire inside of the restaurant was decorated with NASCAR stuff including at least a dozen actual cars suspended from the ceiling. The tables each had a race track map on them and all kinds of memorabilia scattered the walls. The menu consisted of a wide variety of race-themed dishes starting with appetizers ("Qualifying Lap") to deserts ("The Checkered Flag"). Our waitress was awesome and even took a picture of us in front of Dale Jr.'s car.

After lunch, we had enough time to grab a cab back to the hotel for a rest and to get washed up. In fact, our rest was so nice that we were running a little late to the Lance Burton show. Luckily, there were some cabs visiting the Frontier and we were able to catch a ride down to the Monte Carlo. Again, we had amazing tickets. We were on the second row directly on the end near the aisle. We grabbed a few drinks and were seated. Not long after sitting down, a maitre'd walked by and asked Ashley to hold onto a cocktail napkin and that Lance would ask for it. During the show, Lance did ask for the napkin. He ripped it up and made it seem like he was going to make it whole again. Instead, doves flew out of his hands.

Following the show, we caught a cab and took a cab tour of Freemont street. Most of the original casinos are located on Freemont including the Golden Nugget and Binion's Horseshoe along with the neon cowboy and cowgirl. We even drove by a bunch of wedding chapels including the drive-thru chapel where Elvis got married!

Our cab dropped us off at the Stratosphere where we took the VIP elevator to the Top of the World restaurant. We enjoyed an amazing five course meal as the restaurant rotated to show us the entire view of Las Vegas at night. It was the perfect way to end our stay in Vegas.

Wednesday would have started with breakfast in bed but it was just to early having to catch a flight. Instead, breakfast was Burger King and Cinnabon at the airport on our way to Phoenix. We arrived in Phoenix around lunch time and went to the rental counter to pick up our rental car. The attendant was very nice and upgraded us to a full sized sedan for only $4 extra a day. A short ride in the shuttle put us in the driver seat of a 2004 Dodge Stratus.

In our new rental car, we made our way towards the city in search of the Phoenix Art Museum. We wanted to see their exhibit by the Cowboy Artists of America which actually opened on our wedding day. On our way in search of the museum, what would we come across but a Whataburger! Of course, we had to stop for two whatachicken sandwiches for lunch.

The exhibit at the art museum was inspirational. We had decided months before the wedding that we wanted to make our wedding gifts to each other a painting that we could enjoy all our lives. We took notes on several artists that we liked as we walked the exhibit. Even thought we saw some incredible works, we decided to purchase a print from an artist we saw months prior - Nelson Boren's "Fourth of July on the Ranch". For those of you who came to the wedding, this print is on the CD we gave as favors in the background of insert listing the song titles.

After leaving the museum, we made our way over to North 79th Avenue to see one of Carl's childhood homes. It was really neat to see the house. It was decorated for Halloween with streamers around the door and a "graveyard" in the front. Carl said that he remembered it a lot larger than it actually was.

With the important stuff done, we went to go check in at the Days Inn. We picked up a bunch of hotel fliers and decided to do a little western wear shopping in historic Scottsdale. Shopping started with a visit to Sheplers and continued with a walk around old town Scottsdale. While Ashley was trying on some jeans, Carl talked to a local about the best place to eat in town. He recommended Los Olivios, hands down. This restaurant is as old (or older) than the town itself and is a family owned and operated authentic Mexican place. The building was an old adobe house that had a really "homey" feel and food was great!

We went back to the hotel and Ashley crashed for a nap. Carl made a few phone calls while she slept and made an appointment for us to go on a 4x4 ATV tour of Tonto National Park the next day! He also called the night clubs in town and found us the best honky tonk. We ended up heading out to Graham Central Station in Tempe and had a great time!

We woke up Thursday morning and it was raining in the desert. We were pretty sure that our reservations for the ATV tours would be cancelled. Carl called them up. "Are you kidding? We haven't cancelled a tour in 12 years. People actually like coming out in the rain!" Ok. We were on our way. It turns out that we were the only people on the tour to show up :) So, it was wet and cold but we saddled up for our tour. Turns out that what we thought would be a quiet tour through the desert ended up being a wild ride, keep up if you can, romp through the desert in the mud. It was so much fun and we were soaked all the way to the skin.

After a quick change of clothes, our guide offered to drive us through Saguaro lake park which was only a couple of miles away. It was absolutely beautiful and really showed the pride that the folks in the area have for thier natural resources.

Lunch was Wendy's on our way south to Tucson. The rain kept coming down but we managed to make good time and in about 2 hours we arrived at the White Stallion Ranch to a wonderful reception.

We checked in to our deluxe suite with whirlpool tub and quickly had a shower to wash off all that sand. At the WSR, all meals and activities are included in a family type setting. We joined all of the other ranch guests in the main house for a wonderful steak dinner. After dinner, we enjoyed a guitarist who came to entertain the guests - a perfect ending to a wonderful day in the desert.

Our first full day at the ranch began with a delectable cooked-to-order breakfast with the other ranch guests in the main dining room. Afterwards, we all made our way to the barn to saddle up for our morning ride. Here we met our horses. At the WSR, they assign a horse to you based on your skill level, height and weight. The horse and the saddle is then "yours" for your entire stay. At the time, we didn't appreciate how important this is but it turned out to be instrumental. It allows you to have a saddle that only has to be adjusted once. But more importantly, it allows you to get to know your horse over a couple of days meaning that with each ride you and the horse form a relationship that allows you to improve as a rider over your stay. Carl's horse was a beautiful grey named "Grey Cloud". Ashley's horse was a red paint named "Dusty".

Our morning ride was a beautiful slow walk through the desert. It was cool and dry but not dusty, due to the rain the previous day. The ride was very enjoyable and brought us back just in time for lunch.

After lunch, a fair number of the ranch guests (including ourselves) did some team penning. In this timed event, teams of four riders attempt to seperate three cows from a small herd of about ten cattle. The three cows are then driven along a fence line and into a pen. We were paired up with a father/daugther who were both fairly experienced. We did it three times and were able to cut our time from 2 minutes, to 1 minute, to just over 30 seconds. Not bad for total novices! It was a total blast and we're sorry we weren't able to do more of it while we were there.

Because team penning requires that you ride faster (at least at a trot), we had to pass a "fast ride" test to participate. During the test, it became apparent that we really needed lessons. They passed us to team pen at a trot but said that we would have to have a lesson before we could be passed at a lope (canter). You must be passed at a lope to participate in the fast rides. So, following the team penning, we had a lesson which improved our riding immensely!

After the lesson, we were ready to be off the horses for a while and we headed back towards the main house. The ranch had arranged to have a local artisan woodworker visit to show and sell his wares. His work was unbelievable and all made from wood found at the ranch. We decided on a gorgeous bowl made form Mesquite and made the purchase. It now sits in our living room and reminds us of the ranch every time we see it.

Since we had a little time before supper, we decided we needed a soak. So, we got changed and went for a swim in the heated pool and the very hot, hot tub. A quick nap and it was time for Ashley's massage. She had always wanted to have a "hot rock" massage and luckily, the ranch had a masseuse on staff. The massage was absolutley incredible... well worth every penny... and was followed by an equally enjoyable supper.

After a long day of riding and relaxing, what is better than a night on the town? We headed out to the local honky tonk (mentioned almost exclusively on the radio) - Cactus Moon. The radio station was actually doing a promotion there and we won almost everything they gave away including tickets to the NASCAR truck race which was in Phoenix the next weekend! It was a great time :)

Saturday began with a "breakfast ride". We met our horses at 8am and rode out with the other ranch guests into the middle of the desert where blueberry pancakes, skillet potatoes, scrambled eggs, bacon and hot coffee waited for us. At that point, guests could choose to go on a long fast ride or a shorter slow ride back to the ranch. We decided on the shorter ride as we had arranged to go to Tombstone for the day.

We picked up a pair of box lunches (provided by WSR for those who are taking day trips) and left for Tombstone. Just before we were to reach Tombstone, we happened upon a western wear store where we had a little shopping spree. They had some wonderful clothes and boots that we just don't see in Virginia.

Not wanting to waste too much time, we ate our box lunches and headed into Tombstone. It was like stepping back in time. We saw a reenactment of the great shootout at the OK Corral and then took a walk around town. It seemed like much of the original town had stayed pretty much the same. In fact, at Big Nose Kate's Saloon, folks still rode thier horses in and parked them out front. Wow.

We went by the Courthouse, which the city had converted into a museum. It had all kinds of neat relics of the time including weapons, clothing, printing presses, etc. Don't miss it if you ever ride through.

We wrapped up our trip to Tombstone by checking out Boothill Graveyard where we walked amongst the dead. For $2, we got the map of the graveyard which told the stories of those that were buried there - who they were and how they died. The graveyard overlooked the mountains where Geronimo held up and was eventually captured. It was quite interesting, not to mention beautiful.

Back at the ranch, we enjoyed a wonderful meal with the other guests and then watched as a falconry expert shared birds which he brought to exhibit. It was quite a relaxing time and a fitting end to our stay at the ranch.

Sunday morning started early. We had a 7am flight out of Tucson International and made our way to get there by 5am. We returned our rental without any incident and boarded our flight. The trip home was uneventful and bittersweet. We were both sorry to see our trip come to an end but were excited to get home and start our new married life together.