Arizona Bound

Well I finally got some traveling in this year! My dear friend Michelle, her daughter Kate, and I headed off to sunny Arizona so I could finally experience the Grand Canyon, and Michelle could get a visit in with her brother Michael. It began the morning that I came off night shift. By the time Michelle, Kate, and I arrived at the hotel Michael had booked for us I had been awake for 40+ hours, driven 2.5 hours, flown 3 hours, and then driven 2.5 hours. We had loaded and unloaded our suitcases and Kate's many things countless times, and even had a couple melt downs in the middle of the desert, where we also ran out of water!

But once we arrived in Flagstaff and got to our hotel things went well! I slept through all noises and felt like a new women in the morning. Which was a good thing, because the 4 of us were headed for the Grand Canyon Baby!!! Let me tell you, the scenery there is absolutely breathtaking and pictures don't even come close to doing it justice. But here are a couple anyways!

After spending a couple hours in awe at the Grand Canyon, we continued on our way. Our destination for the day was to end up in a small town named Page, at a hotel to break up the long drive to Michael's place in Chinle.

The scenery as we drove was amazing as well. Beautiful red rock and blue sky! I drove more than 1000+ miles in our rental car! We did arrive in Page that afternoon and proceeded to find some dinner and relax in our hotel room. But first, we made a quick visit to one of the biggest man made lakes, and a dam, in the middle of the desert in Page! This is Lake Powell. Beautiful no??

I also entertained myself in the hotel by putting sweet little miss Kate's hair into pigtails. They lasted a few hours until she figured out they were in there! :)

Also on our journey we had the privilege of visiting Monument Valley. There have been many old school western movies filmed here, as well as the 2nd or 3rd back to the future movie. It also had breathtaking views and enormous rock formations!

So after seeing the beautiful Monument Valley, we made our final leg in our journey and ended up in Chinle. Michelle's brother lives in Chinle and works as a pediatrician on the native reserve. We were fortunate to spend a wonderful week seeing amazing sights in Arizona, and spending some time at Michael's place in Chinle playing wii, relaxing, eating great food, and enjoying our time there. Then after our wonderful week, Michelle and I started our journey home. On our way to Phoenix airport, Michelle and I got some great views of so many cacti! Michelle took 50+ pictures, but I will just post one for you!

Once we arrived in Phoenix, Michelle and I decided that we had time to visit the outlet mall. :) It was great fun, and a beautiful sunshiny day!! We shopped for a while and then headed to the airport to catch our plane home :(

We made it home alive, Kate had a rough trip home, she was very tired, and very much out of her general routine so you can't blame the girl! But the trip was amazing and lots of fun! Can't wait to do another trip, hopefully sooner rather than later!