A Grand Visit

Caleb's oldest brother came for a visit this week with his lovely girlfriend. We had such a great time together. I'll post a bunch of pics to recap our hike in The Grand Canyon and a trip to the zoo.

BTW: I know I'm SUPER behind on blogging. I still need to post T-ball pics and other stuff when I get a little more free time. In the meantime...

Day 1:
We left our kiddos in good hands and headed up North first to Jerome, AZ (one of the coolest towns ever!) and then to Sedona, AZ- Gorgeous as always.

This is Seth and Ruthie in front of the Haunted Hamburger in Jerome:


Ruthie's dad's name is Jerome so she had to get a picture with this shirt:


One of the many historic buildings in Jerome:


We got to visit my favorite shopping spot in Sedona:






The bros acting like cowboys:


Day2:
And so the hike begins... It was snowing at the trailhead and was surprisingly cold for April:


There are many petroglyphs and Indian dwellings along the Bright Angel and South Kiabab trails. Here are some of the ancient paintings on the an inner wall of the Canyon:


On the trail, mules always have the right of way. This is one of the many mule trains we moved over for during our hike:


Here are some of the countless switchbacks we treked through. At times it seems you'll never get to the bottom but step after step, mile after mile, hour after hour, you do eventually get there:


You can see how far we'd come down in this picture and the mules behind us on the trail:


We're in the inner gorge here, just past Indian Garden, heading toward the Colorado, anxious to see the mighty river ahead...


More switchbacks to conquer. You can see the very top of the rim and the tiny mules on the trail.


Finally, the grand Colorado River below:


...About six hours later...we're almost to Phantom Ranch here. If you look really hard, you can see one of the suspension bridges up ahead. Not much further to go:


DAY 3:
We totally scored with getting the River Ranger Station, which meant we got to shower and didn't have to freeze in tents(which we've done every other time we've hiked the Canyon). We ate a "home-cooked" meal and played cards but were so exhausted we were in bed by 8:30! (It felt like midnight) This is us the next morning ready for the difficult hike ahead of us:


This was our view from a foot bridge, just outside of the cabin we stayed in. Not bad, hu? See those top mountains? That's where we were headed. It's both exciting and a bit daunting to see the top, but SO WORTH IT once you get there! We got there in about 5 1/2 hours. It's such a mind thing because even though I know I'm capable, it's HARD work getting out of the Canyon.


This is the second suspension bridge we crossed to get back over the Colorado. We crossed it with mules behind us and the shaking was enough to make us pick up our pace and get over it as quick as possible. It was a little nerve racking:


This is the result of me running across the shaky bridge and shooting at the same time:


I can't even tell you have refreshing it is to be out in God's raw creation. For me, it is one of the most rejuvinating ways to spend my time. It is revealing and it reminds me of how great our God is:


We made a great team and had such a FUN time together:


We made it out!!! This is us back at the top after 5 1/2 hours of vertical hiking. Exhaustion and exhileration meet up at the trail head:


Day 4:
Let's go to the zoo. Hey, why not we're not sore and exhausted or anything- yeah right.










All of this adventure, travel and excitement made for a very tired trip home:
(just for the record, Seth & Ruthie wanted to ride in the back to spend time with the kids and watch movies with them. We didn't make them sit back there- just so you know;)