Grand Canyon Adventure

For our one year anniversary Rory and I went on a crazy adventure to the Grand Canyon. It was so fun! We got there mid-afternoon the first day and Rory took me to a fancy dinner at the Bright Angel Lodge. We camped that night and woke up bright and early the next morning to go hiking. We did about 10 miles. It was beautiful. I think I could spend forever exploring in there. The weather was perfect for hiking. It was overcast but still warm enough for t-shirts.

It was super windy on the way down. And steep. But the view was amazing!

We took a little rest along the way to try out our new gorilla-pod. It's so cool! It screws into the bottom of our camera and has three legs like a tri-pod. The best part is the legs are bendy so it can attatch to anything. Yay!

There were a ton of these things on the hike. Sometimes it was like walking through a forest of weird alien plants. They're called agave.

We stopped at a pretty little oasis to try out the water filter we rented from the school. I guess it worked because we both drank the filtered water and neither of us is dead. We saw lots of cool insects and even some frogs while we were there. We thought we heard some mountain sheep but we never saw them.

Before we started our climb out of the canyon we stopped at Indian Garden campground to eat lunch. It was beautiful! The trail up to the campground was kind of funny because on one side of the trail it was a lush riparian area but on the other side of the trail it was desert.

The hike up the Grand Cayon was about 4.5 miles. Doesn't sound too bad.... until you do it. Oh man, I am out of shape! This shot doesn't do the steepness justice. We got smoked going up by two old men! It was pretty embarassing. One of them did say he'd worked at the park for 24 years so I guess I don't feel too bad about that one.

We did finally make it up but we were pooped. We ate some dinner and went to bed. What a great hike though!!

Our last day at the Grand Canyon it snowed. Brrrrrrrrrr!!!!! Since we were camping and didn't have wood for a fire we decided to spend the majority of the day in the heated buses and various museums/shops that the area had to offer. I didn't bring enough cold weather clothes. Luckily Rory brought enough for a small army so we were both plenty warm.

John Muir once said that when standing on your head the earth becomes heaven.... or something to that effect. Rory and I decided to try this theory (Transcendentalism) out. We found out that I can't do a headstand. I also forgot to open my eyes. Apparently multi-tasking is not my forte. Rory said that the Grand Canyon looked pretty cool upside down.

Our last adventure of the day was hiking/riding the bus along the canyons rim to Hermit's Rest. Hermit's Rest used to be the end point of a stage coach tour of the rim. It took three and a half hours to get out there and then they'd turn around and ride three and a half hours back. It only took us about 45 minutes. I love modern transportation.

When we were on our way to the Grand Canyon Rory saw these boulders that looked good to climb so on the way home we stopped. Sadly he'd forgotten his rock climbing shoes so he could only pretend to climb. It was a sad day for Rory.

On the way home we also stopped at a place called Moqui Cave. It used to be the town tavern but was turned into a museum. We found out that the guy who owns it is distantly related to Rory. We even got to see a picture of Rory's great great uncle. It was taken in 1914.

On our last day of vacation we visited grandma and grandpa Murdock. They're on a family history mission in Salt Lake. We also did some sight seeing. The top picture is from the 26 floor of the Church Office Building. We also visited Heidi and Jared but forgot to take a picture. We love you guys anyway!

Easter

We had a fun Easter with my family. Jessie and William joined us. Since we were big kids this year we got to stuff and hide the eggs for the egg hunt. I think we only lost a few in the end. We had amazing food and lots of fun watching the little boys run around trying to beat each other to the eggs. And then it rained. So that was the end of our outside Easter festivities.

Adam hid our easter baskets for us. We were so excited to find them!

Everyone getting ready for an exciting egg hunt.