Road Trip 2009

Well Cody and I went on the most amazing road trip of my life to date!!


















Our adventurous friends the Hillmans invited us to tag along with them, boy were we so thankful that they did!









We started bright and early Saturday morning and drove to the cute little city right outside of Zion National Park, Springdale. We arrived in the late afternoon and just decided to relax and hang out by the pool, because we had a very busy week ahead of us. The best part about this trip for me was the fact that everyday was something I had never seen or ever done before. We woke up the next morning and had breakfast and headed into the park. I have never seen Zion in person only pictures. It is amazing!! We had a tight schedule so we were only able to drive through. I would love to spend an entire day there and hike around.








From Zion we were headed to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. If you have never been it is definately something that should be on your bucket list!! There are really no words to describe the beauty of this place. Picture do not due the Grand Canyon justice!! The place we stayed was less than a five minute walk to the actual edge of the canyon, which was great because we would walk down whenever we wanted. We were able to stay two night there and had a blast hanging out
with Nick and Mckenzie.

We woke up at 4 am for the next leg of out adventure! HavasuPai Falls (click on the link to see more)
I didn't really think it could get much more spectacular than the Grand Canyon but I was wrong! It is a 10.5 miles
into the campground. There are only three ways into this beautiful place, Hiking, Mules or a helicopter. We choose Hiking in with our packs!! I am not much of a hiker and was not really nervous to do this because I was ready to push my self!! I had started running in the mornings to prepare myself, which definately came in handy for the stamina that was needed!!! There were a couple of times I just wanted to quite and die right there on the trail, but we all made it out alive!! Most people leave at early hours of the morning to hike out, but we choose to pack up our gear and hike out at night. It was not an idea I was fond of at the time, but so greatful that we did. It was dark, but we put headlamps on and just kept going!! When I do it again I will hike in and out at night. We left at 5:30 pm and arrived at the top at 10:47pm. It may seem like a long time, but it took us less time to get out than it did to get in. They say it should take you 60-90 minutes longer to hike out because of the switch backs at the very end that elevate you 2,000 ft in less than 1.5 miles!!! If you would like to see more pictures I have them posted on my facebook page.

Cody and I at the end of the 30 mile round trip hike!!










We ended the trip with a wonderful weekend in VEGAS!!!! Cannot wait to see what we conquer next summer with the Hillmans!!!!