Category: Travel

Greg’s 29th Birthday Surprise Trip to NYC!

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Success!!

At the beginning of October (before my own birthday), I began to make plans for Greg and I to travel to New York City for his birthday in November.  I’ve never planned a surprise trip before (and I’m horrible at containing fun secrets!) so once I had everything booked it was so difficult not to talk to him about it!  But I managed to hold it in every time I thought of a comment that might give him some hint, and in the end he was completely surprised!

Continue reading “Greg’s 29th Birthday Surprise Trip to NYC!” →

Mini-Moon

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After our wedding on September 9, 2017, Greg and I spent three days in Woodstock, Vermont on a mini honeymoon (“mini-moon”).  It was nice to have a little getaway to decompress from the wedding and have some time before we had to prepare to move to Virginia!  We decided on a short, local trip because Greg didn’t have any vacation days left for 2017 and we were also too busy with the actual wedding to spend any time coordinating an elaborate vacation.  We are planning to take a longer trip in 2018.   Continue reading “Mini-Moon” →

Trip West 2017: Grand Canyon (R2R2R) | Day Five

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February 3rd, 2017

We started out at 8:30 am and it was chilly and shady.  Not much sun reaches the campsites at Indian Garden in the morning and evening.  We were eager to get going!

Over dinner the night before, we read over the trail description for this section.  One phrase pretty much summed it up: “seemingly endless switchbacks”.  Think about it – we came down the cliff, now we have to climb back out! Continue reading “Trip West 2017: Grand Canyon (R2R2R) | Day Five” →

Trip West 2017: Grand Canyon (R2R2R) | Day Four

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February 2nd, 2017

We got up around 7 am and were on the trail with our new friends by 8:30.  They had spoken with the ranger at Manzanita and asked to change the itinerary on their permit so they could hike to Indian Garden with us instead of staying at Bright Angel again and hiking out the way we all came down.  So we all headed off to Indian Garden on an overcast morning.

As we were packing up our things at Cottonwood, Greg reached into his bag and gave me another envelope.  This one was called “A Road Traveled Before” because most of our route that day would be on the same trail we took on Day 2.  In the letter he talked about many of the milestones we have achieved together – it was like a highlight reel of memories, both fun and sad.  It made me feel so grateful that we share these memories with each other. Continue reading “Trip West 2017: Grand Canyon (R2R2R) | Day Four” →

Trip West 2017: Grand Canyon (R2R2R) | Day Three

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February 1st, 2017

What a day! We left our camp at Cottonwood by 8 am. We only had to carry what we needed on the trail that day. We were able to leave our tent and other supplies at the camp since we would be staying there again that night. It was a weight off our shoulders!

We hiked 1.4 miles and stopped at Manzanita to fill up our water at the spigot since the faucet at Cottonwood was not turned on. My muscles took a little bit to warm up that morning. My calves were still pretty sore from the descent on the first day, but nothing too bad. I think my body just knew we had a long, difficult day ahead!

Continue reading “Trip West 2017: Grand Canyon (R2R2R) | Day Three” →

Trip West 2017: Grand Canyon (R2R2R) | Day Two

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January 31st, 2017

It was a little chilly during the night!  Colder than I anticipated judging by how warm the day had been.  But then again, it is the desert.  The temperature definitely drops when the sun goes down.  Normally I sleep like the dead, but if the temperature is too low, I end up spending the night in a meditative state instead.  Even so, I still felt rested when we got up for the day at 7:30 am. Continue reading “Trip West 2017: Grand Canyon (R2R2R) | Day Two” →

Trip West 2017: Grand Canyon (R2R2R) | Day One

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As mentioned in my previous blog post, Greg’s gift to me for Christmas 2016 was an amazing trip to see Celine Dion in Las Vegas and then hike the Grand Canyon for 5 days.

Before this trip, I had no idea there were trails that non-mules (aka people) could take into the canyon.   I used to have a few books from the series “Amelia’s Notebook” (which are awesome books, by the way) and I remember her family taking a trip into the canyon on muleback.  I’d been to the rim before and seen how steep the edge is, so I pictured all of the trails being too difficult for us lowly, hoofless humans to traverse.  Turns out there are actually tons of trails!   Continue reading “Trip West 2017: Grand Canyon (R2R2R) | Day One” →