Fall and Thanksgiving in Southern Arizona

In October 2003, Warren and I spent a weekend hiking in Tucson, including hiking in Saguaro National Park, popping down to Mexico for a day of shopping, and visiting all our usual haunts in town.  (We went to Tucson a lot when we lived in Arizona!)

Then, since we had so much fun on the previous trip to Tucson, we headed there for our five day Thanksgiving break in 2003. We hiked in Chiricahua National Monument...

visited the gimicky old West town of Tombstone and the old mining town of Bisbee (shown below), and several other spots along the way.

Four Corners Get-away

In October 2003, Warren and I spent a long weekend exploring the Four Corners area, spending a day hiking Monument Valley...

...a day hiking in Natural Bridges National Monument and nearby Butler Wash...

 

 ...and a day hiking the rim of Canyon de Chelly, home of centuries old cliff dwellings.

 En route between Natural Bridges and Canyon de Chelly, we checked out Valley of the Gods State Park, a 'little Monument Valley.' Anywhere else in the world this would be a major attraction, but such are the riches of the Four Corners area that here it is merely a BLM-administered area.

Northern Arizona Adventures

In September 2003, Warren and I spent yet another weekend in Flagstaff, hiking from Locket Meadow to "the Inner Basin"--the inside of the ancient San Francisco volcano (which came to a fiery end millions of years ago.)  Flagstaff is so beautiful -- a perfect hiking destination.

We also checked out Petrified Forest National Park --  home to a collection of broken, fossilized logs dating from the Triassic Period (225 m.y.a.) It's an interesting place to visit, but not necessarily a place to visit twice (unless you are a nice guy like Warren, and your wife hasn't been there yet).

Long Weekend in Wisconsin, Michigan, and then some

In the summer of 2003, Warren's father was flying his new (self-built!) airplane to Wisconsin to attend the Osh Kosh Air Show, so Warren and I hitched a ride and spent five days exploring Wisconsin and Michigan (...and actually a bit of Minnesota too, since while in northern Wisconsin, we absolutely could NOT find a hotel with vacancies, and ended up driving hours into the neighboring state of Minnesota before finally finding 'room at the inn' at 2am!)

These first few pictures are (1) Warren and his dad at the controls of the airplane, and (2) a very air-sick me, post vomiting, cherishing a few moments on solid ground while Tom refueled. I usually didn't get air sick, but flying over the Rockies on a hot day in a little airplane was just too much for me.

We both absolutely loved the lush landscape, especially on our hike out to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore (MI)...

...and our kayaking trip to the Apostle Island sea caves (Apostle Island National Lakeshore, WI).

Eloping to Zion National Park, Utah

In April 2003, Warren and I eloped to Zion National Park in order to exchange vows at the spot where he proposed. We made a week of it, exploring many parts of Zion, as well as the surrounding areas.

We went on hikes in Zion's western section...

...and spent a memorable day at nearby Snow Canyon State Park.

We also hiked out to see some dinosaur tracks, followed very vague directions to visit a picturesque little ghost town called Grafton, and even visited the nearby polygamous community of Colorado City. (Granted that's not what people normally do on their honeymoon, but we were in the area after visiting Grafton, and I was curious!)

Zion was always our special place. It's heaven on earth, a place that gave both Warren and I a sense of peace, a sense that we were 'home'. It was the perfect place for a perfect honeymoon.

If you haven't been there, you need to go.

On the way home, we drove through Grand Staircase National Monument and stumbled across a truly great slot canyon, which we spent hours exploring. Several months later, while flying over the area, we circled around and found the exact canyon from the air. So cool!