The highlight of my break? Adam took a whole WEEK off of work! That, plus him having Memorial Day off, gave us 10 blessed days to be together.
He got back from Brazil one day, and the next day we took off to the Grand Canyon. We split up the 16-hour drive into two days on the way there and arrived just in time to set up camp and enjoy the canyon before and during sunset.
Neither of us had been to the Grand Canyon, so during the drive there, we talked and wondered if it wouldn't be as big as we expected. It definitely exceeded our expectations! We decided it's one of the most incredible sights we've ever seen--to watch the rocks and plateaus go from browns and grays to oranges, red, and purples. It was truly awesome.
One thing I wasn't prepared for was how beautiful the sky is, too! Every day we were there, the clouds were amazing.
Watching the tip of the sun hide behind the canyon...
On our second day there, we decided to hike down into the canyon. We figured out that we hiked 9-10 miles total, which took us about 7 hours round trip. There were no water stops on the hike, so we stocked up our backpack and CamelBak with lunch, snacks, and lots of water and headed down toward the Colorado River. It was a tough hike, but definitely worth the views.
You can tell we're getting below the rim. This was at Skeleton Point. Not the most reassuring name, but the easiest part of the hike, so it may have been my favorite place. Also, the views from Skeleton Point were breathtaking. I wish we could have taken a panoramic -- everywhere we looked, there was canyon all around us. We loved this hike!
This is the closest we got to the river. Figuring out that it would take almost two hours to hike all the way down and back up, and thinking we didn't have enough water, we headed back up the canyon. It was a good choice because we ran out of water .9 miles from the top, so we still had a while to go on one pack of fruit snacks and an orange.
A view of Skeleton Point on our hike up. It was amazing.
Hot. Sweaty. Happy. Tired.
That night, we made tin foil dinners (I swear, everything tastes better when you're camping, but these were awesome!) and s'mores. So good.
On our third day there, our backs and legs were hating us, so we decided to take an easier hike and stay on top of the canyon. There's a trail that goes right along the rim -- like, literally, sometimes you look over the edge (with no railing, mind you) and all you can see are rocks that go down forever it seems like. It made for some really awesome views of the river, and we're so glad we hiked the rim. We walked 4.5 miles in about 4 hours, stopped for lunch, had great conversations, kicked rocks (you know, the usual), and enjoyed every minute of it. At every mile or so along the way, there were really wide openings in the foliage, and thankfully a railing, that allowed us to enjoy the views of the canyon even more.
Jumping pictures are a must.
We wished we could have self-timed this one and gotten both of us in one picture, but it was too hard and too scary to think of running down to this part of the rock just to get a picture. Adam looks very heroic, I'd say.
We survived!
Some people have asked us why we decided to drive that far, and the answer is that we just wanted to see the Grand Canyon. And since we will probably not (unless our plans drastically change) live in Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, or Utah, we thought this would be our chance to spend lots of time there and enjoy a road trip together. Being together 24/7, eating good camp food, going to bed at 9:30 every night, and enjoying God's beautiful creations was definitely worth it for us. We loved this trip!
Thanks, Grand Canyon. We're already planning a trip back in 10-15 years when we can bring our kids to see you.
You guys are awesome!!! And that sounds like a BLAST. We've never been camping since we've been married. But maybe we should go now :). Love you guys. Good luck with school.
ReplyDeleteYou SHOULD go! We don't get around to camping that often (like, I think we've only done it 3 times since we got married), but we love it. Your Original 7 Reunion sounds like SO much fun! I love your family.
DeleteThose are amazing pictures, you guys. I can't imagine what it would have been like to be there. I don't know about you, but I feel like when I'm trying to take a picture of a jaw-dropping landscape, my little ol' pictures never do it justice.
ReplyDeleteYou guys are reeeally close to the edge in some of those - holy cow. Butterflies in the stomach.
It sounds like a great time. Glad you guys could go. Love you.
Butterflies for sure. There were times when we would literally take one small step at a time toward the edge, holding onto each other to make sure we were stable. :) It was so fun though. Y'all should go if you ever get the chance. Love you!
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