the great southwest by the numbers

Just back from a week in the Great Southwest where I squeezed every drop of fun out of my spring break. I made it back home at 3AM this morning, so today was an extra-long day for me. It's back to business as usual now, but first, I wanted to share a little taste of our week out west...by the numbers. 

road-tripped 1,333 miles through 3 states…Nevada, California, and Arizona  

it took 5 flights to make it out west and back home again. almost missed my last flight and made it with just 2 minutes to spare. 

trekked through 3 major cities--Vegas // Palm Springs // Phoenix //

pricked by 2 cacti, one of which ruined a shirt

won a whooping 62 cents at the Vegas Casino

spotted 1 wild coyote—from the safety of the car, thank goodness

after seeing thousands of cacti during the week, I can now identify 17 cacti species

23 miles hiked through 3 national parks, 1 state park, and 1 Indian Reservation

found 🌵in 3 different desert ecosystems---The Mojave Desert, The Colorado Desert, and the Sonoran Desert

wowed by ~250 neon lights thanks to this visit in Sin City

14 gold mines visited while hiking through the desert

we brought home all the souvenirs this trip including 3 Christmas ornaments, 2 t-shirts, 3 national park patches, 1 poster, 4 jars of prickly pear cactus marmalade--so delicious, and 1 golden barrel cactus that thankfully made it through TSA

I made it a point to try to organize photos while we traveled, so I will have more to share from this west coast adventure all week long. In the meantime, there are tons of pics from our visit in my insta-story highlights.