Road Trip 2013 : No Internet, Long Recap

Well, I should have realized that when you are driving through the desert, internet service isn't going to be as strong as I am used to. This is the reason why I have been MIA with the updates the past few nights. We also have been doing a lot more hiking than I was expecting. The past 2 days we have hiked more than 14 miles. Its been amazing and such a good workout, also allowing us to see so many things. But, by the time we get to our hotel at night... I am WIPED OUT and do not have a ton of energy! 

For all of you reading this that live out in the west near these places... I am officially jealous of you. I am SO in love with everything out here. As if I was meant to live out here and somehow just didn't get the memo!! Maybe someday... :) 

The Grand Canyon. We took a 7 mile hike around the South part of the Grand Canyon. 

It was perfect weather and truly just so amazing. 

There weren't a ton of people on the trail that we were on, which made it really peaceful and more real. However, that meant we were not able to get a ton of pictures of both of us. This photo above was at the very end...we finally got someone to help us out!

Our next destination was Lower Antelope Canyon! Absolutely stunning! The walls of the canyon glow with the light and it seriously was unlike anything I have ever seen... I mean... LOOK AT THE PICTURES!!! 

Isn't it just AMAZING??! God's creation is just unexplainable! I couldn't get enough.

Next stop was Zion National Park. 

We ended up hiking up to Angel's Landing, which had me face some fears of heights and being close to the edge of cliffs. We then did a bunch of other little hikes. 

We ended up hiking to the top of that rock mountain!!! 

and made it up and back down in one piece!!

After hiking all day, we stopped for a quick lunch and then jumped in the car and headed 

to Bryce Canyon National Park.

The ride and views just blow me away... literally, I feel like my photos look fake! And they aren't!!

Gorgeous views!!

thats Andrew walking down there to give some perspective. 

The sun began to set on our day and we headed to our hotel...where I am now finishing up this post and will be shutting off the light. We are getting up at 7:30am tomorrow and heading on our 5 hour drive to Arches National Park. 

Have any of you visited these places? Share your stories in the comments!! 

Road Trip 2013: Sedona

Ahhhh... VACATION!!! We woke up yesterday and made our 6:15am flight to Phoenix and arrived at 6:20am! Only missed 5 minutes of time because of the timezone difference!! Though, I was exhausted due to the fact I had finished packing up final orders at 11:57pm the night before and then packed up my suitcase and did not go to sleep until about 2am(to then wake up at 4am!!) All to say, I was running on fumes!! 

But, I am loving being on vacation and being free to just sit and not think about anything!! I am debating taking a few extra days off when I get back, just to make sure I am geared up and ready to go for the summer months, as we have another break for a dear friends wedding back home at the end of August!

The views around here are amazing! I am in constant awe of the creation around me. This morning, I was able to wake up at 7:30am and went for a nice long run soaking in the views! I came back to the room after and made Andrew do some extra workouts with me...pushups, crunches, jumping jacks, and squats. He was a trooper and joined me. Even though, I was pretty determined and he, hesitant to what I was going to make him do. Below is what we did after my run...

50 jumping jacks

50 crunches

45 jumping jacks

45 pushups

40 jumping jacks

40 squats

35 jumping jacks

35 crunches

30 jumping jacks

30 pushups

and on and on and on until we had only 5 of each left!! 

One of my favorite things about the trip so far is that we have a 2013 Convertible Camaro that we are driving around. We have had the top down EVERYWHERE we go. I am just hoping I do not get addicted to it and feel the need to beg Andrew to buy my one for my birthday next month! ....though, we could never afford that!!

Today was filled with some good food at The Wildflower Bread Company and then an Indian restaurant, along with a great hike to the Devils Bridge and a few other spots that we found. I am looking forward to staying active on this trip, as its been my goal since March 5th to EAT CLEAN and put in more effort for working out... less ice cream and thinking I can eat whatever I want! So far, so good!

I am pretty tired tonight... from the run, the hike, and all the sun we are getting being outdoors and in the car (since the top is always down!!!). So - this post is going to be ending now with some pictures to give you some visuals and then we are going to probably take a little walk down the street to unwind & enjoy our last night here in Sedona!! Next stop.... GRAND CANYON and a 6 mile hike tomorrow! See you in the next post!! 

Now I can cross "get picture with a Convertible Camaro" off my bucket list.

Its gonna be a windblown hair kind of trip.... and I am LOVING it!!

Gorgeous view from my early morning run!!!

I love just sitting and looking around... I can't believe these views are actually REAL!! 

Yup... thats me...looking over the edge!!


Thanks for stopping in and following our trip! 

Day 10: Jelly Beans + Giveaway

  

Our roadtrip is slowing down to more low key and relaxing days. Its a good way to end it as the beginning was filled with A TON of hiking and walking. Today we slept in and did a little shopping near sacramento, then we stopped to have lunch at Chipolte (one of Andrews favorites). After lunch, we headed over to the Jelly Belly Factory, which was our only real plan for the day! They didnt allow pictures in the factory, but we took a few in the lobby. It was fun to see how Jelly Belly's were made and where they started. Who knew there was such a process to them!

We each got ourselves some bags of jelly belly's filled with our favorites. Below is our bags...can you guess whose is whose???

It should'nt be too hard to tell!! :) And its kind of neat to see the difference between us!

Do you have a favorite flavor?? Let me know in the comments!! :)

We ended the night with some more shopping and then a low key meal at Chic-fil-a! Ohhh it was good!! I wish someone would open up one back home!

Tomorrow we head to Napa Valley to go on an Olive Oil tour and drive by all the vineyards! Tomorrow will be our last full day and our last night in California! I just can't believe that this wonderful trip is almost over...

GIVEAWAY GIVEAWAY GIVEAWAY!!!! Yes, A GIVEAWAY! I am participating in a giveaway with The Posh Daisy! Its her birthday and she has put together a nice little giveaway to kick it off!! Happy Birthday to her and GOOD LUCK to you! Go check out her page and enter to win! There are a bunch of prizes from a bundle of different vendors, including ME! I am including a $20.00 shop credit with FREE SHIPPING!! WOO HOO!! Ready, Set, GO!! Click Here and Good Luck!!!

See you tomorrow for my last post of our vacation...I will be reopening the shop on June 1st!

Day 5 + 6: Yosemite National Park

There is so much to talk about and show you... I don't even know where to start! Andrew and I have been taking hundreds of pictures between the both of us! We are enjoying going through all our pictures at the end of the day and picking out the best ones to share! Between yesterday and today, it has taken quite a while. However, I think that the ones I will be posting will give a good overview. Andrew and I have both agreed that most of the view and scenes we have been blessed to see just can't be captured by cameras. I would reccommend this trip to anyone... its beautiful here.

The drive up was breath-taking. We finally arrived at our next destination where we would spend the night in a tent. Not the greatest night sleep for me... but I still had plenty of energy for our long day of hiking ahead! We had to put all of our food in the green bear box in the picture below and there were reminders EVERYWHERE to not leave food out!

Before we went on our hike.. we took a raft down the river. SO FUN!!

On our hike, we saw some deer... although, they are EVERYWHERE!! I got so close to them...

Then.... We saw a BEAR!!! and because I wanted a good picture... I got closer to it than I was
suppose to...good thing there were no park rangers around. ;)

We did a little bit more hiking up to Mirror Lake...

THEN! Andrew motivated me to trek up the 2.5 mile uphill hike to Vernal Falls. This hike consists of a very steep trail, that turns into a STEEP 600 staircase hike.... did I mention steep??!! Once you hit the stairs, it also starts to pour down mist from the Falls (really its like rain because you get completely soaked)!! Good thing Andrews camera is waterproof, as we got some awesome pictures...its hard to pick out the highlight pictures... there are SO many! I suppose I got my workout in for the next year or so!!! The first picture was me before he mentioned going up to the Falls... I was perfectly content with looking from afar... but in the end was THRILLED to have made it to the top!! It was amazing!!! AMAZING!!!??

Can you tell I was a little bit wet here? The rainbow was even more dazzling in real life!!

We made it to the top!!??? The pictures dont do the waterfall or the height of it justice!

And after a little break and some snacks, we started back down to the bottom.
This was the scariest part in my opinion!

Since we were already soaking wet, pictures for our fellow trekkers was in order! Its been so nice to have people around to take pictures of the both of us!

Andrew always has a good eye for the best shots! He took one of me and then told me where to stand to get the picture of him the same way! Such neat memories...

As you can see, the trip down the side of the waterfall was steep and very wet! Such an amazing experience though and I would do it again in a heartbeat!!

Thats an overview of our day 5 + 6! More to come for Day 7 as we have a little bit more time in Yosemite and then head to Murphy, CA to stay in the Victoria Inn.

Check back later for more! Don't forget you can follow my blog via google connect on the right, so you will never miss a post! :)

Day 1 : San Francisco

Just a quick little update! We made it safe and sound to San Francisco! Spent the entire first day walking around the city seeing just about everything we could and walking about 10 miles or more! By the end of the day... our feet were telling us...STOP! I also thought I was tough enough to walk around in sandals. NOT a smart idea!

We got ourselves some famous sourdough bread... in the shape of a turtle!

Waited in line for tha cable cars... a long time and made some new friends from Ohio! Shout out to you guys if you end up stopping by the blog! ;)

Sat by the sea and the golden gate bride for a while. SO PRETTY!

And walked through the Exploratoriam!! I felt like we were in another country! It was beautiful... just plopped right in the middle of a neighborhood! I was jealous to say the least.

Its been wonderful so far! Headed to Monterey/Carmel today! About 2 hours and 45 mintes of driving ahead of us and Andrew read about an off the beaten path Strawberry Picking area that we might stop by!

 Thats all for now! Keep checking in for more updates on our trip! Or - connect with google connect so you'll never miss a post, giveaway or update!!