In From Out West

Alright, we're ba-aack! Did you guess it right? The Grand Canyon? Yup, you got it - that's where we've been. Joey and I took a good old-fashioned Griswold style vacation to the Grand Canyon. Well, that was one of the main attractions at least. Joey's Uncle J. and cousins live in Prescott, Arizona so we hung out with them for about three days while they took us shopping, hiking, site seeing, and oh my goodness eating. The eating. Joey and I have decided we will be fasting for a month due to the menu on the trip. And can you tell that we're from Texas by this picture? Geez, didn't realize it at the time.

Anyway, Prescott is absolutely beautiful. It's the kind of place that makes you wonder why we live in flat and humidity-heavy, Houston. (Houston, I didn't mean that and you know it. I know you can't do anything about lacking mountains and scenic views but, goodness could you give a girl a little relief from the humidity?)

We had a great time hanging out with family that we don't get to see very often, checked out the Grand Canyon, and ended our trip with a few days in Sedona. We had so much fun and very importantly, we just relaxed and took in the view.

Arizona is absolutely beautiful. Uncle J. let Joey and I borrow his truck for the second half of the trip so we were able to see plenty of the state up close and personal. On our way to the Grand Canyon, I fully expected to see cowboys and Indians riding over the landscape, with buffalo and teepees on the horizon. There are jagged mountains made as if chiseled out of complete rock and then there are hills that look like a giant had been playing in a huge sandbox making mountains out of sand and then spinkling his work with a light layer of shrubby trees for effect. The whole of it really is a picture right out of a movie. A John Wayne movie to be exact.

We drove past roads with names like Hell's Canyon and Devil Dog Road. By Day 3 our skin as well as our noses were completely dried out and we were panting for breath with the smallest exertion.

We tried what I have termed Az-Mex food which doesn't hold a candle to Tex-Mex. It's heavy on the chile powder and chipotle. Oh and get this. At one restaurant you actually had to pay for chips and salsa. Don't they know chips and salsa should automatically appear upon sitting down and most importantly be free of charge? I had fun watching other couples sit down, obviously not aware of the Chip & Salsa When You Show Me The Money Policy either. They would look around at all the other tables with chips and salsa, not knowing that we had paid for it to be there, and you could tell they were trying to figure out if they had just gotten left out. The waiter could have a lucrative career as an actor, as time and again when someone would ask for chips and salsa he would act so surprised as if it were crazy to expect free chips and salsa. "Oh, you want chips and salsa? So one order of chips and salsa then. What's that? Oh, you have to order it of course." As if if he were not asked this question 50 times day. Craziness!

I've got quite a bit to show you so I'll post more on our adventures including pictures this week. As much as we had fun, we are glad to be back!