The Honeymoon - The Grand Canyon

After our balloon ride, we hit the road for the Grand Canyon! We spent the afternoon here and then the next day we went back very early in the morning for a hike along the Rim Trail. The afternoon was super busy with tons of people, but in the morning we had the place to ourselves!

The pictures really don't do it justice. It is just amazing to see in person.

I spotted this little lizard right at the rim of the Grand Canyon!

Kinda crooked, but that's what happens when you use a rock for a tripod.

Jay decided to give me a heart attack by jumping the fence and scrambling down to this ledge with a seriously deadly drop off! That little brown speck is him.

Here's a close up all zoomed in.

And here he is scrambling back up! He's insane. I would have died.

This is the next morning.
On our hike we saw tons of coyote sign and scat, but this was the most drastic. It was right on the rim trial, just feet from the drop-off! We smelled it before we saw it. It didn't really smell bad, just weird. Coyotes feasted on elk that night!

The Honeymoon - Hot Air Balloon Trip

On the first full day of our trip, we had to get up at 5AM for a sunrise hot air balloon ride through the Arizona desert. We went with a big group and there were four balloons in all. Ours was the last to go up, but we stayed up the longest and went the highest!!

The sunrise was beautiful as we waited for the balloon to inflate. The one we went up in is the biggest hot air balloon in the Phoenix area.

Here we are, ready for lift off! You can see the other three balloons in the background.

Over the desert! There were tons of cacti.
And we went kinda high...

And then really, really high! We all had a bottle of water and we went so high that they were being expanded and crushed during the ups and downs!

You can see how high we are compared to the other three balloons! Then we came back to the ground, skirted the tops of trees for a while, flushed a huge jackrabbit, and came in for our landing.
We didn't know that this was going to happen, but upon landing the crew set up tables in the middle of nowhere in the desert and we had a wonderful breakfast with mimosas...mmmm.
As the deflated and packed the balloon, Jay and took a walk around checking out the desert. Here's Jay with a teddy-bear cactus.
And me with a big old saguro cactus. They told us that these types of cacti don't grow their first 'arm' until they are about 50-75 years old, so this one is really old.

Jay had to get in on the action too!

It was awesome! Thanks John and Rita!

The Bucket List

The Bucket List.

Place an X by all the things you've done and remove the X from the ones you have not. Things you have done during your lifetime:

(X) Gone on a blind date
(X) Donated Blood
(X) Skipped school
(X ) Watched someone die
(X) Been to Canada
(X) Been to Mexico
(X) Been to Florida
(X) Been to Hawaii
(X) Been on a plane
( ) Been on a helicopter
(X) Been lost
( ) Gone to Washington, DC
( ) Hugged a homeless person
(X) Swam in the ocean
(X) Swam with Stingrays
(X) Been sailing in the ocean
(X) Cried yourself to sleep
(X) Played cops and robbers
(X) Recently colored with crayons
( ) Ran a marathon
(X) Sang Karaoke
( ) Volunteered at a soup kitchen
(X) Paid for a meal with coins only
( ) Been to the top of the St. Louis Arch
( ) Seen the Northern Lights
( ) Been Parasailing
(X) Been on TV
(X) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't
(X) Made prank phone calls
( ) Been down Bourbon Street in New Orleans
(X) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose
( ) Fed an elephant
(X) Caught a snowflake on your tongue
(X) Fired a gun
(X) Danced in the rain
( ) Been to the Opera
(X) Written a letter to Santa Claus
(X) Serenaded someone
( ) Seen a U.S.President in person
(X) Been kissed under the mistletoe
(X) Watched the sunrise with someone
( ) Driven a race car() Been to a National Museum
(X) Been to a Wax Museum
(X) Eaten caviar
(X) Blown bubbles
(X) Gone ice-skating
(X) Gone to the movies
( ) Been deep sea fishing
(X ) Driven across the United States
(X) Been in a hot air balloon
( ) Been sky diving
(X) Gone snowmobiling
( ) Lived in more than one country
(X) Lay down outside at night and admired the stars
(X) Seen a falling star and made a wish
(X) Enjoyed the beauty of Old Faithful Geyser
(X) Seen the Grand Canyon
( ) Seen the Statue of Liberty
( ) Gone to the top of Seattle Space Needle
(X) Been on a cruise
(X) Traveled by train
( ) Traveled by motorcycle
( ) Been horse back riding
(X ) Ridden on a San Francisco cable car
(X) Been to Disneyland OR Disney World
( ) Truly believe in the power of prayer
(X) Been in a rain forest
(X) Seen whales in the ocean
( ) Been to Niagara Falls
( ) Ridden on an elephant
( ) Swam with dolphins
( ) Been to the Olympics
( ) Walked on the Great Wall of China
( ) Saw and heard a glacier calf
(X) Been spinnaker flying
(X) Been water-skiing
(X) Been snow-skiing
( ) Been to Westminster Abbey
( ) Been to the Louvre
( ) Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower
( ) Swam in the Mediterranean
(X) Been to a Major League Baseball game
( ) Been to a National Football League game
(X) Been White Water Rafting
() Written a book or screen play

Leaving, On a Jet Plane...

Tomorrow Jay and I begin our honeymoon journey. These are some of the places we plan to visit:

Slide Rock State Park in Arizona:

Sedona, Arizona:

Zion National Park in Utah:

Bryce Canyon National Park in Arizona (or is it Utah?):

And the Grand Canyon!

We cannot wait! And of course, Jay lost his wedding ring on Thursday! So we're going to get a new one while we are on our honeymoon. Oh yea, we'll also take a trip like this one:

A Thea Kind of Summer