The Farmer's: Getaway

Andrew and I were able to go on a little getaway to Phoenix, Arizona this past week. It was sunny and in the 70's all four days we were there. We spent most of our time relaxing at our great hotel, which was situated on a cliff that overlooked the city, and eating delicious Mexican food. Two things are worth highlighting from our time in AZ...

(1) The Grand Canyon
We took a train from Williams, Arizona to the Grand Canyon. As we headed north for Williams at 6:15 in the morning to catch the train, we watched the outside temperature drop in our car. About 1.5 hours into the trip, as we drove through the beautiful mountains, snow began to appear on the ground. We obviously didn't know what we were in for - if we would have, we wouldn't have left that beautiful 70 degree weather!

Well the train ride (2.5 hours long) was okay, pretty uneventful - except for Mr. Clarence Clearwater. When we arrived at the Grand Canyon we had three hours to explore before having to re board the train. This was Andrew's first visit to the Canyon and my second, so I had been prepping him for our adventure... To our surprise, the path/main trail that followed along the Canyon rim was covered (thick) with snow-packed ice. NOT SAFE!! Especially when you consider that the only thing separating you from the bottom of the Canyon is a knee-high (if that) barrier - Check out our pictures to see what I am talking about!

Yes, the Grand Canyon is most definitely spectacular and we are both glad we had the opportunity to see it... But I have to admit, I was more concerned about slipping and falling over the edge than enjoying the beauty of the Canyon. If you ever plan a trip to go, make sure it's not in the winter!!

By the way, you'd appreciate the photos more (see end of post) if you knew how much it took for me to sit on that ledge - I'm pretty sure I was shaking in fear...

(2) The morning of our return flight to DSM
Our flight was scheduled to leave at 6:37 a.m. Our plan was to leave our hotel no later than 4:15 a.m. Besides checking in at the airport, we had drop our rental car off as well. So we are both around and ready to go and it's 4:11 a.m. Andrew gets a stomach ache and heads to the bathroom so I decide to load the trunk with our luggage. I take one of the bags out to the car, pop the trunk as I am walking towards it, and I hear the hotel door shut behind me. Oh no, I forgot to bring a key with me - I'm locked out... Oh well, what can I do... So I proceed to the car only to find that we are completely boxed in our parking spot. Great. I get in the car anyways and try to straighten it out the best I can. Yep. Not going to happen. We are stuck - on a cliff - at 4 a.m. in the morning.

Soon enough Andrew peaks his head out the door. I'm still in the car and I try to motion to him that we are boxed in (later, Andrew tells me it was more like I was flailing my arms in a panic). He can't see what I am referring to so he steps out further and the hotel door shuts behind him. Guess what? He doesn't have a key on him either. So not only can we not get our car out, we are locked out of our hotel room with the front desk being located in another building which is a good 6 minute walk from our room. After more intense panicking, Andrew runs (at a fast speed) to the front desk to get a new key. In the meantime, I start knocking on doors to see if I can find the culprit (the person who boxed us in). No luck. No one is answering their doors. Andrew gets back. We get into the hotel room and I begin calling the hotel rooms around us. Thankfully, my second call was answered by a woman who turned out to be parked next to our car (not the car the boxed us in though). Her moving her car would allow us to get out of our space!

So after all of that, we ended up pulling out of our hotel at 4:37 a.m. Everything turned out fine and we laughed and are still laughing about it. Knocking on hotel room doors at 4 in the morning - who does that?!!

Well here are some photos from our vacation. Most of them are from the Grand Canyon.