Birthday Surprise of a Lifetime

Pardon me whilst I gush. That husband of mine is a true keeper- even though he STILL teases me about 'BC'.......

So my birthday rolled around and the morning of, JD told me to pack. He didn't tell me what for or how long but just to pack. He was so cute- every question I asked got met with a 'I dunno.' No hints, this guy!


FOUR HOURS LATER we rolled in to Sedona, AZ. First of all- that's a long time to be in a car not knowing what's going on or where I'm going. And second of all, holy red rock! It was incredibly beautiful! I was amazed at all of the rock formations. And I am not usually all that interested in rock. This was breathtaking. We both decided you have to be there to truly soak in the beauty. Even professional photographs don't capture the Sedona formations in all its glory.






This is a picture of the adorable bed and breakfast we stayed at. I love bed and breakfasts. I've been wanting to go to another one since our first- our honeymoon. It was so charming.


As you can see I was not dressed for travel. I'm usually a ball cap and sweats kinda gal when we travel. I don't like fashion getting in the way of the fun- wastes too much time to do my hair!

Another shot of the beautiful desert landscaping.

This is one of those labyrinth things. JD and I walked through it and then halfway there we got bored so we stepped over the rocks and took off. I kind of felt bad because I know these things are almost a religious experience for some people. Did we ruin the mojo by not following the labyrinth? Who knows.

JD ringing the bell. Why is it there? No idea. But if there is a bell, we must ring it. Sedona is a total hippie kinda place.

They had the most wonderful treats and appetizers. So gourmet that I can't even tell you what half of it was. In fact, we had to look up the name of one of the ingredients on the internet because we had never heard of it and wanted to be sure it wasn't some kind of alcohol. The best was the Rosemary Lemon Squares. Oh.....boy........

Our camera busted while there, so we had to get one of those disposable film numbers at Walgreens. We kept feeling like we had to explain ourselves amongst the digital-minded tourists. But anyway, you can see that this pic is from the disposable camera. It's JD eating breakfast at the Lodge. Such good food!

This is my birthday dinner at an amazing sushi place. Didn't know fried cream cheese sushi existed and my life will never be the same. What a meal! (Note the adorable husband dressed up to take me out. I loved it! Felt like when we were dating.)

The red rock- can't even capture how amazing this view is. You are just going to have to go and see for yourself!

Looks like JD is doing bunny ears on me, but no, it was windy and that's my do flying around.

This is in Flagstaff. I heard such good things about Flag that I wanted to go visit and see if it would be a good place to live if we end up settling in AZ. I felt right at home in hippie-ville. It's been so long since I've seen dreadlocks- just like downtown Missoula.

JD and the red rock

Kicking back at the Lodge

Downtown Sedona is a tourist trap. Lots of cool stuff to look at and people trying to sell jeep tours. If we would have gone on one, I would want to go on the Pink Jeep tour. Or maybe I'll just buy a pink jeep.

There is a lot of cool art in Sedona.

"Hmmm.... you're red is off. It's that pinky-red that makes you go, oh yuck." (What blog is that taken from, hmm? Hmm?)

Then JD surprised me even more! He had gotten in contact with his dad who used his connections to get us a free trip to the Grand Canyon! Everything was comped. The helicopter place even called us VIPs. JD's dad has done a lot of lobbying on behalf of tourism and we reaped the benefits.

"Breaker 9-40. The lady's got a question." (Name that TV show.)

The Grand Canyon from the view of the helicopter.

Amazing

More of Grand Canyon

Thanks for the great birthday trip Sweetie! You swept me off my feet.