Our Weekend in the Grand Canyon (Yep, Lots of Photos)

Well, not in the Grand Canyon but nearby.

This past weekend we decided to make the 6-hour trek from Santa Fe to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.  Our original plan was to go to the North Rim, which is less developed and thus less crowded, but due to Amie's new work schedule we didn't really have the time to drive all the way up there since it's an extra 200 miles or so.  This time around we had to settle for the more tourist-y side.

The drive down was actually pretty awesome.  Rob's back has been a lot better in the car for some unknown reason so he's been able to drive without a ton of pain.  Since driving causes an inappropriate level of stress for me, this works out really well for us. COMPROMISE. Also, driving 6 hours in the Southwest is so much easier than driving the same distance on the East Coast--the speed limit is 75 the entire way and the road is mostly straight--so the ride really wasn't as awful as I'd feared.

We got to the park and got our camping site all set up.  We managed to find a "corner lot" so to speak so we had tons of room and were positioned far away from the old people in RVs, which meant we could talk loud and drink and listen to music without fear of bothering anyone else.

Soon afterward we drove to one of the scenic viewpoints so that Amie and Robbie could actually see the Canyon since neither of them had before.  I know this probably makes me into a super nerd but I think I was actually more excited than I was the first time I saw it, just because I was anxious to see their reactions.  We spent the rest of the day checking out the different spots, throwing rocks over the edge to see how long it took to hear them land, and doing a lot of general oohing and aahing.  I took a lot of photos, too, as you can see (and the first photo of Amie is a great photographic portrayal of her initial reaction to the Canyon itself).

That night we had mac and cheese and hot dogs by the fire, and a few drinks of course. Pretty typical.

Also, I did a sexy dance, which Rob wanted to capture and I decided to share with you.

At around 9 or so we decided to go back to the rim and see how the Canyon was at night without the huge throngs of people cluttering everything up.  It was seriously gorgeous and, dare I say, almost spiritual.  I kept thinking about how crazy it is that the sun rises and sets on the Canyon every single fucking day without a single thought about whether I'm there staring slack-jawed at it or not.  I felt so insignificant and in such awe of our world and my tiny place in it, and yes, even atheists can be rendered speechless by how beautiful nature can be.

As we stood there, I decided to play with my camera settings a bit and see what my camera could do taking photos at night.  The pictures below were taken at this time (around 9pm on Saturday night) with no light whatsoever except an almost-full moon.  I haven't made any changes to these editing-wise except for a little bit of brightening on the first one.

Crazy, huh? It looks like midday!

Anyway Rob wanted to make sure I added that he did, in fact, pee over the side of the Grand Canyon while I wasn't looking.  He was pretty proud of himself.

We returned to the campsite and enjoyed the fire and each other's company.  We got a little crazy with the photography settings.

We all slept very well snuggled in our sleeping bags, and in the morning Amie was kind enough to make us some amazing breakfast sandwiches to start our day.  We went back to the Canyon to say goodbye and made our way back home.

So there you have it, a recap of my third time to the Grand Canyon.  We really had so much fun as a trio and I'm hoping we can take a longer, less crowded trip at some point.  

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

Our Florida Trip: Space Shuttles, Oceans and Beach Villages

Well here you are, the quick run-down of our trip to warm, sunny Florida.

On Friday night we drove to New Hampshire so we could make the early flight in the morning.  I won't go into the entire travel day because it was pretty uneventful; basically, we made it on time and I don't really like Southwest Airlines' "prison rules" seating methodology.

On Saturday we hung around the pool with Rob's mom and later went out to dinner with her, Rob's stepdad, and some of their friends.  We had a lot of fun (and a lot of drinks, whoops!).  It would've been a great night but for the massive gluten attack that hit me when I got home.  One of the worst feelings in the world is throwing up and not feeling better.

The next day Rob and I frolicked about on the beach.  It was too cold for me to go into the beach (yeah yeah, I'm from Maine and I'm a wuss) but we sat for a good 45 minutes just watching the waves and enjoying each other's company.  We went on a goofy little nature walk which was more like a wooden walkway to nowhere, and then ate a delicious homemade meal before going to bed early.

 

On Monday, Rob and I did our first and only tourist-y thing: toured the Kennedy Space Center.  If you are ever in Florida and you are a nerd, you should definitely go to the Kennedy Space Center.  It was nuts, yo. We paid a little extra and got to go inside the Vehicle Assembly Building, where they assemble freaking shuttles.  We even saw the remains of the shuttle Endeavour! WHAT?! I've never been all that into space, unlike my nerd husband, but this tour was freaking amazing.  We also got to see the launch pads from which Apollo 11 and the Challenger took off, got to sit/lay down in models of moon capsule things, went into the shuttle simulator (which was kind of lame, admittedly), and saw the original mission control consoles from the Apollo flights.  Funny story: they told us that there was more computing power in a digital watch than in the entire room of consoles.  Anyway, it was totally worth the money we spent on it and I highly recommend it.

 

The next day (Tuesday) we spent on the beach, and it was finally warm enough to go swimming.  Rob told me that as a child he always built sand "dams" to see if he could stop the waves.  We built a "wall" together, along with our "castle" and "serf houses" to see how well we could protect them.  Spoiler alert: not well.  But it was fun anyway and I love being a total goofy nerd with my husband.  I'm pretty sure everyone walking by thought we were just that. Also, if you're wondering why I'm prancing around like an idiot, it's because Rob wanted to capture a picture of me prancing around like an idiot. Also, appreciate my muffin top.

 

Tuesday was also the day that Rob got the call from Santa Fe confirming that he had the job! It was very exciting and in a way, I think pretty cool that we found out while relaxing and sunning ourselves on the beach.  After that happy little piece of news we drove into Cocoa Beach, where we had lunch with my friend Dorrie.  Dorrie and I have known each other since 4th grade and were always the best of friends.  I hadn't seen her since high school graduation so it was pretty awesome to catch up again.  We also opened our Christmas gifts from Rob's mom and chatted about our beasties.  

On our last day I intentionally bought a later ticket so we could enjoy the day without having to rush to the airport.  We built yet another sand village which was quickly destroyed and scratched ourselves up on some rocks in the ocean.  We tried to go to Orlando early to eat P.F. Chang's, but we couldn't find it in the ridiculous, labyrinthine mall in which is was located, so I ended up dining on potato chips, carrots, and candy. Yay, gluten-free diets.  After lots of flying and driving we got home by 12:30 am or so and totally crashed.

All in all we had a really good time.  When Rob and I go on vacation we tend to do a lot more relaxing than tourist-ing.  Honestly I'm a lot happier just sitting alone with my husband in front of the ocean than riding roller coasters, and I was reminded of this simple joy many times throughout our trip.  I'm a very lucky girl.

Anyway I hope you all had a great week and enjoyed the guest posts!

Buffle off to Shuffalo

Actually, we're going to Florida.  For 5 amazing days.  I'm leaving the computer at home and will therefore be largely unavailable around these parts.

For the first time, I've set up some awesome guest posters to take care of my blog while I'm gone.  Enjoy their posts and make sure to visit their blogs.

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

What I'm [Honestly] Wearing & Other Bits and Pieces

Have a seat, blog friends, I want to be straight with you.

Usually, when planning an outfit post, I pick a particularly cute outfit, put on make-up and make sure my hair is perfectly in place.  This facade that I have created isn't totally honest.

So I thought I would do an actually honest outfit post.  This is the outfit I threw on from clothes on my bedroom floor this morning--skinny jeans from AE that are too big and a shirt that is falling apart.  I put on no make-up minus some eyebrow pencil-ness because of my right eyebrow's propensity for partially disappearing in pictures.  But now that fall is coming, I have fewer and fewer cute outfits I can comfortably wear and I'm quickly transitioning to "jeans and shirt and Sambas" time. If I'm totally honest with myself, most days I look a lot worse than this (think purple-striped pajama pants and an oversized blue sweatshirt that says "Colbert/Stewart 2008"), but this is all I'm comfortable releasing at this time.

Without further ado, here I am, what I look like most days, pose included:

Pull that shirt down, hippie! And find a better-lit corner for self-portraits!

Other bits & pieces from this week:

1. My sister, mother, Rob and I were planning on taking a trip to NYC to see the new 9/11 Memorial and also take a ton of pictures in front of 30 Rock.  Alas, after we bought the train tickets we found out that you need a pass to go to the memorial, and none are available until mid-October.  Makes sense, but we were still pretty bummed. Luckily we got a full refund so no harm, no foul.  Also, we're thinking of going to NYC anyway in November or December for some Rockefeller ice skating!

2. I got such a positive response on my vlog last week that I'm already planning another one for this Friday.  I'll be linking up with Lindsay again so stay tuned for my next list of Little Things!

3. Thanks again for all your opinions on my Shameless Promotion post.  I think I'm going to start up some type of sponsorship program in October, but we'll see.  Stay tuned for this as well!

4. I bragged to Rob that I was going to make a hot fudge brownie sundae while he was in class, but caved when he begged me to wait for him.  He's too damn cute.

5. Today I was reading an article on how lame and "sad" tattoos are (these always rile me up, not sure why I read them) and I have to say that it really annoys me when people call tattoos a "fad."  Slap bracelets were a fad.  Acid-washed jeans were a fad (that hipsters seem to want to bring back, granted).  Leisure suits were a fad. Tattoos have been around for thousands of years, before organized religion or modern civilization, and have been more or less mainstream in the U.S. since the 1940s.  Fads by definition do not last, and tattoos have more than stood the test of time.  Don't like tattoos? Fine. I really couldn't care less.  Just don't minimize the experience of those of us who do or pull the self-righteous moral superiority card and expect tattooed people to care or listen.  As I saw once in a tattoo shop, "The only difference between a tattooed person and a person who isn't tattooed is that a tattooed person doesn't care if you're tattooed or not." End rant.

6. One upside to the above post was that I found a comment that I rather liked.  It's kind of corny but I like the sentiment: "Don't think of tattoos as being something put on skin, but as something that had to come to the surface."

I hope you all have a fabulous rest of the week, full of sunshine, warmth, and good vibes.

Our Trip to Boston

Yesterday was exhausting but awesome. My sister asked us to meet her in Boston for a fun day of funnery and other enjoyables.

For those of you that have not been to Boston, I highly recommend visiting if you are ever on the east coast (and while you’re there, come see us too!). The city is full of history, interesting architecture and people, and of course delicious food!

We got up at around 5 a.m. to head to the train station, a 75 mile drive from here. I know what you’re thinking because you totally remember my fear of trains, and don’t worry, I made it past the front of the train and into the train without any major breakdowns.

We were extremely fortunate to share the train with a billion Red Sox and Celtics fans, as both teams played yesterday. But aside from a few really loud, obnoxious middle-aged women who we’re pretty sure had already started drinking in the café car, the trip was uneventful and we made it to Boston while it was still sunny and beautiful.

We walked around, did a wee bit of shopping and ate some delicious food. Clearly Boston restaurants are very responsive to food allergies because I saw messages about it on every menu, which made for a very happy celiac-Caitlin.

Aside from a few train-scares in the subway, it was a really awesome trip and it was great to see my older sister and of course spend some time with my husband. Plus Boston is just a lovely town anyway.

While I have nothing against people who live in cities or visiting cities, every time I go to one I’m reminded of why I live in a small(ish) town. Rob and I were talking about how happy we are to be able to go outside and sit in our backyard, enjoy wide open spaces and a well-sized apartment. The boredom I experience sometimes living in a place where nothing happens is totally worth the quiet in my mind. City living just isn’t for us I guess.

Sadly it began to rain shortly after we arrived so I didn’t pull out my camera a ton, but here are some pictures for your enjoyment.



More of my fat eyelids.