For our first anniversary Devon and I wanted to take a little trip. Our anniversary happened to fall over Memorial Day weekend, so it was perfect. Originally we had planned to go to Moab, but since a Super 8 Motel room was going for over $100 bucks, we went to plan B....Kanab, UT! Okay, it's better than it sounds. It was actually a perfect location. We were 30 minutes from Zion and one hour from the Grand Canyon.
Day One was spent at Zion. In the morning we took a little hike called the Watchman. It was a decent hike with pretty good views.
That afternoon we hiked up to Emerald Pools. Devon used to going swimming there as a kid. When he was just a little, little guy he almost drown. So, a big shout out to the big hairy man that saved my husband's life. (I owe him one!)
Day 2 took us to the Grand Canyon, North Rim. WOW! This was my first time and I was blown away by how beautiful it was!! Pictures do not do it justice.
Then the fun began! We did something that I've wanted to do since I saw it on an episode of The Brady Bunch. We rode Mules down the Grand Canyon! It was amazing!!!!! I even had a little near death experience of myself. Before I tell you about that, you'll need to get to know our mules.
This is Dagwood. To sum it up, Dagwood was lazy. He liked to go at his own pace, which was considerably slower than the rest of the mules...
About 10 minutes into the ride, Ron our guide, had to give Devon a switch to give Dagwood a little motivation.
Then there was my mule...
Tom. Tom was the exact opposite of Dagwood. Tom did not like being stuck behind the rest of the mules, he had his own agenda. The only thing that these two mules had in common was that they like to eat. Hence where the near death experience came in. On the way back up we needed to to stop about every ten minutes to let they mules rest. These little rest stops looked something like this...
Tom didn't like these rest stops, he wanted to be moving. But, if he was going to have to wait, he was going to eat. I was trying my hardest to stop him from eating the grass, but like I said, he had his own agenda. Now, there was this luscious looking patch of grass down the edge of the cliff and Tom decided he had to have it. So, he kept inching forward. I began to freak out. Devon assured me that I wasn't even close to the edge. But then Tom made a final lunge toward the grass. I screamed and Devon called up to Ron, our guide. At least, I thought it was Devon. Come to find out, it wasn't Devon at all, it was Gabe the rider in front of me. Ron was able to talk me through getting Tom off the edge of the cliff. After that experience I was holding the reins so tight that Tom started trotting backward, almost causing Devon and Dagwood to trott of the cliff (served Devon right for not protecting his wife ;) After than experience Tom did not calm down.
If you look at this next picture you'll see that Tom and I are right in front of Devon (he has the camera.)
In this next picture, you will now see that Gabe and Big Mac are now in front of Devon and Tom and I are in front of Gabe and Big Mac.
Apparently Tom did not want to ride behind Big Mac, so first chance he got he took matters into his own hands. All and all we had a great ride! We saw some gorgeous views.
And made some new friends.
That night we, of course, had to go to...
To properly celebrate our first anniversary (it's Outback, but Devon's head is covering half the sign).
An anniversary trip wouldn't be complete without a truck full of polygamists...
On day 3 we drove home, but kind of took the long way. We were able to hit one more National Park on our way out...
I'm very grateful that we had such a wonderful trip. But so much more than that I'm grateful that one year I ago I married such a wonderful man!!!
