Last week was a big week for my family. My youngest sister, LeeAnn, works at Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. LeeAnn, an experiencer of life who got back from a trip to see Machu Pichu in early March, has already worked there for four years. I decided we needed to make the trip out there this year if we wanted to see it with her. It was the best decision I made in a long time.

Since our flights from Virginia to Phoenix were lengthy, I brought two books with me. I’d started The Big Rewind during my #sadsadbookfunk (lasted about six weeks beginning after I finished The Opposite of Everyone – fanfreakingtastic – until I started reading Did You Ever Had a Family), but I hadn’t gotten far. I knew it wasn’t the book that was holding me back. It was me. I finished this hipsteresque cozy mystery just before we arrived in Phoenix. It was a fun read and a good palate cleanser. What I loved about it the most were the song title chapter titles. They brought back a lot of high school and college memories. I took a picture on the plane after I finished it.

We arrived in Phoenix on Monday and had a nice dinner with my Aunt Marcia and cousin. Tuesday we had lunch in Sedona (so beautiful!) on the way to LeeAnn’s house in Prescott. My goal for Prescott was to stop by their indie bookstore while the girls went with LeeAnn and Zack to see the lack and do a little rock climbing. Danny and I got as far as parking near the bookstore before finding out that Allison had fallen into the lake and needed a change of clothes. I need another book like I need a hole in my head, but I was a little disappointed to not get a chance to go inside Peregrine Book Company Tuesday evening.

All was forgotten, however, when we got to the Grand Canyon on Wednesday. It was so much more than I had expected. I got tears in my eyes when I first saw it. LeeAnn took the girls on a mule ride along the rim, so Danny and I went for a walk to explore on foot. That’s where I took my favorite picture of the trip.



Thursday was my favorite day of all. We slept in, had a nice breakfast, and explored all day together as a family with Zack and LeeAnn as our guides. We hiked down into the canyon a little (the girls ended up taking a 3 mile round trip hike). After doing a little shopping in the village and taking a family picture, we took off driving to the east and stopping several times along the way.



I will never forget lunch that day. We pulled into a parking area and hiked about a mile off by ourselves and ate lunch cliff-side. It was chilly, but the view made everything about it perfect. Danny didn’t like getting that close to the edge, so he took pictures.



Before bed, I did get a little reading in each day. After finishing The Big Rewind, I started Crazy Rich Asians. Much to the embarrassment of my kids, I took a picture of it at a stop after sneaking in a paragraph. I wasn’t able to finish Crazy Rich Asians on the plane ride back (we were up at 2:25 am to catch our first flight Saturday morning) because I slept during the first half. I did finish it before going back to work on Monday. It was a lot of fun. Just like The Big Rewind, it was a great book to bring along on vacation. I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the series, China Rich Girlfriend. Just knowing it exists is enough of a reason to plan another vacation.

I hope everyone else’s spring has gotten off to as nice a start as mine has. I’m hoping to start posting more reviews, soon. After chatting with a reader via email earlier this week, I may just give the short blurbs a try on the blog, too. There’s no reason to keep them just to Litsy. Thanks for the inspiration, Marcia!

Happy Wednesday!

Like this:

Like Loading...
