Manitou Springs

This past weekend I decided that I am too anti-social and called a friend to go to Manitou Springs for the day and walk around. Manitou Springs is a little town on the outskirts of Colorado Springs that is very artsy (and, by default, has a very high concentration of hippies). It is a fun place to walk around and just take in the local flair. So Joy and I made our way into town, parked, and began our adventure! This is the first thing we saw:

Oh yeah! The Trippin' Troll! Haha.

After we walked around a little more, we found a traditional "bear made from a log" statue, and had to take a picture with it.

Getting some Bear lovin'!

Joy and the bear

After posing with the bear, we moved on and found the next must-have of the day: Henna tattoos. We had a blast choosing the patterns and getting them done!

Mine looked like this-
And Joy's looked like this-


Sweet! After the paste came off, we were left with light brown "tattoos" that will fade in a week or two. So fun!

After getting our henna, we found a penny arcade with a photo booth and had a blast posing for the camera. We made goofy faces, cute faces, smiley faces, and weird faces. Now we each have a strip of amazing pictures to commemorate our awesomeness.

We finished off the day with a trip to the British Home Shoppe for digestives. For those of you not familiar with them, they are a British invention, and they are delicious! If you can find them, try them.

That is all for this episode of the life and times of Samantha Smiley! Check back soon for more funny and endearing stories! :)

Well, there's a first time for everything...

So tonight was Temple night, same as every other First Friday of every month. I drove to the church, was asked to drive to Denver, which I did, and began the trip after a prayer. I had a full car, and we were all chatting away with each other. About half-way through Castle Rock (which is about 45 min from C. Springs, the boys informed me that a patrol car had pulled out after us. I wasn't worried, as I knew I wasn't speeding and I hadn't done anything wrong. So I kept driving. But then the State Trooper turned on his flashy lights. Uh-Oh. I was in the far left lane, so I naturally pulled onto the left shoulder. I wondered why I had been pulled over, and I was assured by all of my passengers that they too had assumed that the speed limit was 75. So I rolled down my window, expecting something like a light having gone out. But no. Apparently while I was conversing with my passengers, I had neglected to see a sign that the speed limit changed to 65. Oops. The Trooper informed me that at my rate of 79 mph, I was going 14 miles over the limit. He also asked me why I had pulled onto the left shoulder, when I should have pulled off to the right. "Well," I said, "I've never been pulled over before." I'm a genius. GHAA! I knew I was in for it. I explained that I had not seen the sign, and that I had honestly thought I was still within the legal speed limit. He asked me where we were going, and I informed the kind officer that we were headed to the Temple in Denver. He smirked at me and said, "I may have to take away your recommend." I HAD BEEN PULLED OVER BY WHAT MAY BE THE ONLY LDS STATE TROOPER IN COLORADO. SERIOUSLY. He then told me that because I was only going 14 over, he wasn't obligated to write me a ticket, and could let me off with a warning. I'm pretty sure he could very well have written me a ticket, and I gladly would have taken it. Because I was going over the speed limit. I was the class dunce driver of the evening. But being the incredibly blessed person I am, he only expressed the regret that he could not accompany us to the Temple, because he was on duty and had to work. I swear, if it weren't for the tender mercies I receive daily from the Lord, I have no idea at all how I would have made it this far!