Our Grand Adventure

Amazing.
          The only word I can think of to describe the gorgeous views of the Grand Canyon. And, the wonderful weekend my hubby and I shared together.
After a long, 6 hour drive (well, a long 6 hour sit in the car for me) we finally arrived at the Grand Canyon! We stopped at a visitor center run by National Geographic where I had to restrain Keith from buying new hiking "toys" that we either 1. already have or 2. would have no (practical) use for. Here we also bought our $25.00 ticket into the Park (which was almost lost on the short walk from the building to the car... Keith was a little too excited looking through the map that he dropped it.. whoops! Luckily it was still on the ground when his wife realized it was missing)
It was a good thing we bought that pass outside of the gate (and didn't actually lose it) because there was a HUGE line of cars waiting to buy passes and we got to bypass the line and go through the "special" gate with NO line! We felt like "ballers" haha.
      Once we got into the National Park we decided it was best to check into our cabin to make sure there were no problems. After driving around a bit (and Keith learning that people actually LIVE at the Grand Canyon and getting wayy too many ideas...) we found where we'd be staying... the Maswik Lodge. We got our keys and headed to our cabin. It was lovely inside- simple and perfect. Other than the fact that there was No air conditioning! We had expected that, and were pleasantly surprised by the 3 large fans that were in there- thank goodness!!
Keith had made us dinner reservations at the nicest restaurant at the Canyon, so I promptly started getting all dolled up so we wouldn't be late. It started thundering outside (which Keith successfully tricked me into thinking it was kids running around for the first 10 or so minutes.). We left for dinner a little early so we could get a glimpse of the canyon. It was POURING by this point! Luckily I am a "true" southwesterner now and could tell by looking at the sky that this opening of the skies was only going to last another 5-10 minutes so instead of having Keith drop me off at the restaurant I had him drive around until it stopped pouring (so he didn't get soaked running from the parking lot!) My Southwestern intuition was on point and it stopped raining shortly, but not before Keith and I got to see a beautiful full rainbow! It was amazing!
Keith dropped me off and after about 20 minutes of searching for a parking spot, met me at the El Tovar Lodge, where we'd be having dinner. Since we still had about 15 minutes until our reservation time, we decided to finally see the "big hole in the ground." Let me tell you. It was wayy more amazing than I had ever expected and more than just a "hole in the ground"....

We met another couple who were celebrating their anniversary as well! They were nice to take a picture of us...

It was quite windy after the small storm

Me trying not to get blown into the canyon....as well as not give the other visitors a peep show!

We enjoyed a very romantic dinner complete with the view of the sunset over the Grand Canyon

....as well as a delicious bottle of champagne....

....and a surprise dessert set up by my wonderful husband ahead of time!

(Thanks mom and dad for the "anniversary money"....it allowed us to enjoy this very special meal!)

      
After dinner we walked around the rim of the canyon some more and just enjoyed the scenery and being together.

Happy 1 year Anniversary!

(don't worry- I'm not that brave...there was a small cliff below this that I would fall onto instead of falling alll the way down...yikes!)

On the way to our car we ran into this guy enjoying his late night dinner...

It's not the easiest to see... but a HUGE Elk!

The next morning Keith got me out of bed super early so that we could see the sunrise.... and it was totally worth it!

I Highly recommend a trip to the Grand Canyon in everyones lifetime!

On our drive home we stopped at "Bearizona" a drive thru wildlife park. It was really fun!

We saw a lot of really neat animals... but these were my favorite!

They came right up to the car!! ahh!!

               I loved the bears.... but the bear cubs were more favorite!!!

They were soooo cute!

ahh that feels good! :) too cute!

There were also cute wolf pups! Now Keith is even MORE convinced that Rocky is part wolf!

We had such an amazing trip together and are blessed to have had the opportunity to visit one the of 7 wonders of the world for our 1st wedding anniversary. We look forward to the years to come and can't wait for the next adventure!