25th Anniversary Trip

We don't take vacations.....well, we took one when the kids were 4 & 5 ( they are 23 & 24 now)....there just isn't time with Jeff's work schedule. This year while we were away from home on a job we had our 25th anniversary. I said we should do something big since it was such a big anniversary. A few days later he told me he figured out what we would do and it was big! I was so excited! He said we are going to the Grand Canyon....it is big! LOL!
He worked 9 months straight of 7 days a week, with only 5 days off, and none of them were together.
He told me to work on planning a trip. I knew he deserved some time to just relax, and be away.
God has been so good to us to give him such a good job, and God blessed us with an awesome trip!
We left on a Monday and drove across 11 states on our journey to the Grand Canyon. It was awesome that we had the best weather the entire trip! We arrived in the Grand Canyon National Park late Wednesday night, checked into the lodge we had reserved for 5 days, got something to eat and went to sleep. I woke up early the next morning, walked the short distance to the rim on the canyon and watched the sun come up over the canyon. There is no way to explain how gorgeous that view is.....my first time seeing the canyon AND at sunrise! WOW! I told my family and friends what went through my mind was " Oh, Lord, my God....when I in awesome wonder, consider all the world Thy hands hath made" It was absolutely AWESOME!

My very first view of the Grand Canyon!

We spent 5 days in the park seeing the canyon from every view point possible. Just driving, getting out and walking the rim, dining at the restaurants there, and enjoying our time together.

Jeff planned for us to see the sunset at 3 different points he had read were the best. It was so beautiful!

Pictures cannot do it justice! I met a lady on our last morning there. I had gotten up early again to see the sunrise one more time, and she walked out with her coffee at the same spot. She was celebrating her 70th birthday, and when her husband ask what she wanted she told him to see the sunrise over the Grand Canyon once more. She said " I know it rises in many places every day, but this is by far one of the prettiest" I think she was right!

We left on Monday, and I was sad.......sad to be saying goodbye to time with just Jeff. Sure I travel with him when he goes away for work, and it is just the two of us, but he works so much that we don't see each other a lot, and when we do he is tired. Especially last year. So, I enjoyed seeing him relaxed ( except the day we hiked 1.5 miles down into the canyon and back out.....yikes) and just enjoying our time together. He is the hardest working, most loving man I know, and I am so undeserving. Absolutely the grace of God that I get to call him mine!

We took our time driving back home. We traveled Route 66 for a long way, just because I love stuff like that, and stopped whenever we saw something that interested us. My husband remembered my seeing a sign for the World's Largest Windchime on our way there, and he remembered the exit number so we could stop on our way back. I had forgotten about it, but that is one of the many things I love about him.....how he thinks of me and things I like.  On Friday we got up and started driving after we went to breakfast, we hadn't traveled very far when we saw a bill board for a tractor pull. This was all God! We LOVE tractor pulls! It is something we've done together for a long time. Seriously, I love them.....I love the huge tractors & trucks, the loud sounds they make, the smoke and the competition. I cheer the loudest and smile the biggest when we go. We stopped a few exits later, and drove to the venue, bought tickets, then went to find a motel room. It was absolutely the perfect ending to our anniversary trip.

God had kept us a day ahead of all the bad weather and led us here for the grand finale! LOL!
The next morning we got up and drove the final 6 or so hours home. So many good memories mad on this trip.....so much laughing, and smiles.  We've mentioned something about the trip every few days since we've been home. Absolutely loved it!

Here we are at the first annual NTPA Winter Nationals!  A sweet young lady sitting beside us offered to snap our picture after I told her we were celebrating our 25th anniversary.

When we left Saturday morning, Jeff said " Let's roll" I knew this meant pedal to the metal and get home. He ask me just before we crossed the state line out of Indiana if I still wanted to stop at the huge candle outlet there. I said no, I have enough candles at home. He said "we agree on that"
However, he had already decided to buy me a wind chime on this trip ( he has bought me many over the years), and hadn't found one yet. He bought me a huge Corinthian Bells chime, and its blue...my favorite color! I told you, he is the best!

We stopped in St. Clairsville, Ohio to pick up a few groceries, and then we went home.
Stopped to see these cuties, of course.....