Arizona Love

After a blissful few days in Sedona, Dill and I headed back to Flagstaff with fresh laundry, a full pantry, and fun times ahead. I do hope this becomes somewhat of a trend, because this usually means we have spent good times with friends too. But for now, it's back to kickin' it with each other, reading books, going to bed early, and being dirty again for a few weeks.

Flagstaff was mostly bouldering in Priest Draw, where I got really sore a lot and spent a lot of time thinking of what I wanted to cook in the forest. Dill spent his time crushing roofs and sitting outside of the van in the morning, wondering what animals he would see each day. He did see some antelope one morning while I was still sleeping, but no pictures.

Typical boulder problem in Priest Draw.

Our home for a few days.

Fun rest day activity: Make balsamic glaze in a mason jar only using the residual heat from last night's fire.

Result: A delicious snack complete with paté and pretzels!

I tried to clean the jar by pouring water into it and sticking it back the firepit, only to have it explode. That was enough science experimenting for one day.

Sweet potato curry for dinner(and the next day's dinner).

We checked out some Native American ruins in Walnut Canyon before heading into Flagstaff.

Two cool cars!

Satisfying our burger cravings.

Inevitable van tinkering.

Taco feast after a long day of running errands.

Next up we checked out the Peaks area for some sport climbing. It was pretty cold so there was not a whole lot of sports action, but we did see a porcupine on our hike in, which was super exciting. Afterwards we picked fiddlehead ferns and cooked them up for a delicious pre-dinner snack.

That's not a giant squirrel!

Fiddlehead fern happy hour.

Veggie Paella for dinner!

Cold nights mean movie nights.

At the Grand Canyon, we finally entered the "climbing break" portion of our trip, hurray! But alas, no break from body activity, as Dill convinced me to go on a day hike down to the Colorado River and back, starting at the South Kaibab Trail and ending at Bright Angel, at a total of 17 miles. No biggie. Just kidding, this is probably the longest, most extreme changes in elevation and temperature in a hike I've done. But it was also the most beautiful, epic, happiest hike I've done. Definitely worth waking up at 4:20 am, bracing the crowds towards the top/end, being sore all afternoon and the entire next day. Also I got to eat potato chips afterwards. Win!

Quick pit stop at Red Butte beforehand.

What used to be my bangs are now alfalfa sprouts on the top of my head.

Carbo-loading before our big day!

All smiles at 5:30 AM.

And the sun is rising..

And rising...

Layers are coming off...

Questionable water on the trail...

Cool giant asparagus lookalikes.

This one had a mind of its own.

The moon is still out!

A mule tour.

So cool!

We finally see the river, Dill is so happy...

...and immediately needs to pee.

This is a bad picture, but if you look closely you can see another mule train on the bridge.

Dill is well hydrated for this hike.

Must have been breeding season, there were a ton of birds.

The mighty Colorado River.

Another bridge crossing.

Big ol' fruity pebbles.

And were heading back up.

Cool algae.

A lot less pictures were taken on the way up, for obvious reasons..

Someone told us that the Bright Angel Trail was not very scenic. We beg to differ.

We got so lucky with the weather being slightly colder than normal. It would have been so hot.

In the home stretch.

We did it!

No smiles at 1:30 PM.

Celebratory chips and beer at home.

Another celebratory beer rolling in to our home for the night.

A lookout tower for sunset.

The Grand Canyon from a distance.

Pretty shades of blue.

San Francisco Peaks.

It was a good day.

We left the next morning, but not without stopping at all of the viewpoints.

We then headed up north to Page. This place holds a special place in my heart, and apparently as of three years ago, a lot more people's as well. I had my bachelorette trip here three years ago, and when I showed Dilll all of the beautiful places we got to see, he seemed a little jealous. So I wanted to show him all the pretty things he missed out on, with a twist. Instead of renting a boat and going on Lake Powell and then going to Antelope Canyon on a guided tour, we rented kayaks and paddled into Antelope Canyon. The pictures below do not need captions.

Wondering why I didn't wear shoes, which was a mistake.

The only picture of Dylan paddling, and my finger is covering the lens! Oh well..

Horseshoe Bend at sunset, with a bunch of selfie-stick-holding tourists(not pictured).

Dylan making me nervous, although I sat in that exact same spot earlier...

Arizona, it's been real. Real pretty. We'll be back!