Sunday, August 2, 2009

Days 10 - 13: A Glorious End.

Or, OH EM GEE, I NEVER WANT TO DRIVE AGAIN. (Only kidding. It wasn't too bad.)

Driving consumed most of the past days after LA. We drove 8, 10, 12 hours each day – which makes me wonder how I'm still married. Because, seriously, if being in a two foot radius for most of the day isn't a trial for your marriage, I am jealous. (PS: Mike, I love you. But you know it's true.)

We drove to the Grand Canyon Monday, camped – I had some Jiffy Pop which pretty much made my week – and got up at 6am (to the alarmingly loud caws of ravens) to hike a bit into the canyon. I had to get some coffee to bring along, of course.

Coffee in the Canyon!

We only hiked 1.5 miles into the canyon, but it seemed to take forever hiking out – I sweat a ridiculous amount for 9am. Which was okay, really, because I knew I'd be sitting on my rear for the next three days (eating fries and ice cream, naturally.).

Squirrels Love Coffee, too. :)
Despite the whole litter part, I love this. :)

Even though it's a popular park, I was unprepared for the sheer amount of people at a the Grand Canyon. It was packed! Which, on one hand, is fabulous – more people vacationing and appreciating nature, awesome! On the other hand, crowds can be frustrating. Ah, well. I need to be a happier person.

We left the canyon and headed for Amarillo, Texas for the night, stopping by Albuquerque for some dinner and a bit of Route 66 driving. After driving through the most insane lightening storm of my life, we drove around for about thirty minutes looking for our hotel at 1am. Turns out we had the wrong address, which didn't suck at all.

We headed to St. Louis the next day, making a lunch break in Oklahoma City, where we proceeded to embark on an amazing ice cream binge. We went to an adorable diner and got some food. Then, we ordered the Chocolate Nirvana – homemade brownie, tons of ice cream, hot fudge, hot carmel, raspberry sauce, marshmallow sauce, homemade whipped cream, and cherry.

The girls at the table next to us looked longingly at our sundae and muttered something about “diet” and it being “such a date food.” Little did they know – we are just two food-loving kids married to each other. :)

After spending the night in St. Louis, Missouri, we'd planned to drive to the Gateway Arch in the morning. In reality, we slept in, got a very late start, and I was completely flustered by trying to drive in the city – so we ended up driving by the arch, instead. Just as exciting, right? (Don't tell me how awesome the arch is or if they hand out free Starbucks and Krispy Kreme or something.)

When I start contemplating how a post about we tried the new Subway flatbread sandwich in Illinois, I realize that my vacation is over. Sigh.

7 comments:

  1. Oh hurrah, your vacation sounded so awesome! And Jiffy Pop? Possibly the coolest thing I've seen in the last little while :)

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  2. Sounds like an amazing time, and I love that squirrel photo!

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  3. Ah I love the Grand Canyon! They celebrate Christmas on my birthday (August 25th) at the North Rim because it's snowed in on December 25th!

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  4. hahaha, Ash, didn't you hear? They were giving away free CARS that day at the Arch!!! ;)
    you're hilarious and i love you.
    I'm so glad you guys had a wonderful trip and are back at home safe and sound, what an adventure!!
    I love to love Jiffy Pop, camping trips are never the same without it!

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  5. Oh my goodness, Ash! The end of the vacation sounds absolutely incredible (and gorgeous, too!) I'm glad it was a good time, even if you had to come back to the real world.

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  6. I cannot believe your trip is already over, btw. That's so cool you got to hike into the canyon. We just walked around the rim because we weren't there for too long.

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