AAAAAARRRRIBA!

Cinco de Derby!

The drive to Albany was pretty quick! Jeff and I arrived around dinner time, and we all decided to grab a bite to eat. Marissa is really good at finding new places to go. Her and Jeff have a really great attitude about trying new things. She took us to this small family Italian restaurant, and we had a great time. After dinner, we did some driving around and then headed back.

Saturday was amazingly fun! We all got up and got some breakfast in our bellies, and it was off to find some adventure! I'm always glad to be around people who have the same adventure mentality as I do. I'm very open to trying new things like food, activities, basically things that I've never done before. What's the point of TRAVEL if you're not interested in the culture, food and or things that a city, state or country is made of? There's really no point. I wouldn't classify myself as a picky eater; I mean there are definitely some things that I don't like, but I'm seriously no stick in the mud. I've been getting into hiking a lot more. It's a really great activity that is physical and it's actually really emotional too. There are few things that you can easily take part in, that literally take your breath away. Hiking is one of them for me. We headed to one of the state parks and it was totally packed. I couldn't have gone up for a visit at a better time. 

We hiked until we got way over there!

Under the waterfall!

We started at this cliff overlook point and parked the car. There were lots of people there, so we just kind of followed the crowd around the paths to see where it took us. We could see this waterfall in the distance, but I couldn't really tell how far it was. Jumping right in, we suddenly came to this SUPER STEEP staircase that lead straight down. The stairs were old, but there was no danger in them giving out. Pretty soon, we found ourselves twisting and turning in some really tight spots, until we magically arrived behind the waterfall. It was super awesome! I had my phone with me, so of course I was shutter bugging away at everything! We kept going on our hike and found a few more caves and another waterfall. We wound up on the other side of the park, and had to climb another set of steep ass stairs to get back up on the hill. It wasn't until we got up and started walking back, that we realized how far away we had gone! We were hiking for easily two to three hours. If I had to estimate, it was probably like a four mile hike at least, plus stairs. It was a good time.

After our hiking adventure, we headed back to the apartment to watch the derby of course! We washed up and headed out to a Mexican restaurant of course for dinner. I borderline hate Mexican food, but I didn't tell Marissa that lol. Some people will argue and say "oh it's because you've never had REAL Mexican..." BULLSHIT. Real Mexican food of course, is NOT Taco Bell. I've traveled plenty and have been exposed to some of the best Mexican restaurants around. I'm not really a fan. I'll eat tacos, because they're pretty much the same. It's the spices that I don't particularly care for. If I do Mexican, it's usually like TexMex. The wait was long of course, being Cinco de Mayo and all. We found seats at the bar and ordered margaritas. BIG MISTAKE. These bad boys were STRONG. I know I haven't been drinking much at all, but even Marissa got drunk after just one. I was about half way through mine, when all the sudden it hit me. Then the Dos Equis girls came around and bought us a round of beers! GREAT. By the time the hostess found us for seating,  I wasn't completely confident I could walk in a straight line to get to the table. As usual, I took it like a champ and made it safe and sound!

The food was really good! I have some strange expectations when it comes to food. I LOVE the smell of hot sauce, but I literally cannot eat it. Medium is even too spicy for me. I LOVE the smell of Southwestern/Mexican spices, I just don't like the way they taste. Odd ball right? Overall Saturday was a great day, when we got back to the apartment I totally passed out. It was a great day!