"The Circle of Life" - Elton John

Nevada! Yep I headed out to Nevada which was a whole new experience for me! My good friend Erin is working at Safe Haven Rescue Zoo, a large animal rehabilitation zoo in Imlay, Nevada (Population 237) and I went to visit her. She picked me up in Reno and we drove 2 hours back to her place. She lives on the zoo property with another girl, Lindsey, and her bosses, the couple who own Sweet Haven, and of course the 3 tigers, 2 lions, 2 foxes, 2 bob cats, 2 cougars, and 1 crazy coyote. I loved it.

There was not much to do when you live in a valley with only two other “neighbors” as far as the eye can see and 45 minutes from a restaurant, but I managed to find things to do. Erinworked some days and I would come out and run alongside the tigers cages, watch them tackle boxes for the raw turkeys inside, or sneak up and scare the lions. It was very entertaining, however I did learn that cougars are TERRIFYING. I think it is by far the greatest mascot to have, they always had that don't even think about messing with me look. The tigers loved to play and I fell in love with Layla and Choi Hu. Kovu, the lion, had a thing for me and would chase me for hours. I miss those cats...

Lindsey was also great. We all went into town for mexican one night and stuffed crust pizza another, watched Calender Girls and the Office and I decided she fit in easily.

Erin and I stayed busy. We went driving around one day and

I got some homemadedelicious beef (or deer or something) jerky which Erin hated me for (it smelled up her car). We saw some concrete thing some guy made out of trash, not really sure how to explain it... One day we took the 4-wheeler up into the mountains and had lunch at the top of a mountain I forced Erin to climb. In my defense, I had no idea it was 80 degrees uphill... but the view was amazing and we had fun. I was a little worried the whole time because apparently there are cougars up there and I had already decided that cougars are the one animal (now more than pumas) that I don't ever want to cross.

Erin and I headed into Reno the day before I flew out because my flight was so early, and we had to try some gambling. We found a bar with free drinks, had dinner at a brewery in our hotel (grilled cheese burger mmmmm) and hit the casinos. I won 20 bucks at the slots but then somehow after Roulette and more slots I was negative 25 by the end of the night.... It was really fun though. It was hard to say good-bye to Erin since neither of us know what we will be doing next. I really loved Nevada. I see the appeal of heading out west. I couldn't get over the space and driving for miles before you see anything other than mountains and of course all those black cows.