Our Long Weekend in Arizona Part 2: A Wonderful Wedding & Climbing Cathedral Rock

Part 1: Courthouse Butte and Bell Rock Hike, The Hudson, and Midgley Bridge

The ceremony was held in Red Rock State Park under the shade of a huge tree.  The weather was absolutely perfect (after the forecast was calling for rain all week) and the ceremony was really touching.  I couldn't help but tear up during the vows they had written for each other. It was beautiful.  Congrats Drew & Alexa!

After a few family pics, we were on our own for a few hours before the reception started.  The venue was the Tlaquepaque Arts & Crafts Village, a really cool little complex with art galleries, shops, and restaurants, so we headed right there to check out Oak Creek Brewery.  Dave drank, I ate some fries, and we got to know some of Dave's cousin's long time family friends.  And soon enough it was time for the party to start!

The reception was wonderful.  The space was so cute with a lot of special touches from the couple including a Polaroid camera setup to fill their guest book with fun shots.  The chicken marsala dinner was delicious.  The DJ was great and we even got Aunt Linda on the dance floor for the cupid shuffle.  It was a really fun wedding and I think the couple really got to enjoy it!

After jamming all the decorations into the groom's car, we headed back to the house for the after party where I somehow managed to stay up until 2 am to laugh with/at all the drunk people.

Sunday had a slow start.  Dave was hungover and I was pretty tired too.  I spent the morning soaking up some sun on the back porch until we were finally ready for another hike!

We headed up the road to Cathedral Rock for a 1 mile hike up to a look out point.  The hike was labeled moderate difficulty so we figured we'd just take our time with lots of breaks and see what I could do.  A mile seemed doable.  The first part of the hike was fairly easy and when we got up to the base of the rocky portion the view was so cool.

Then we started heading up the rock and about half way, it got pretty steep.  There were foot holes in the rock and we started to use our hands for part of it.  When we got to the top of that section I suddenly felt a bit of regret, I really didn't want to go back down it.  We took a little break and I was feeling slightly anxious.  I wanted to continue and we were so close!  But my gut was telling me no.  The portion above us looked even more difficult and I decided that it wasn't a good life choice to keep going.  I am not a rock climber!

 

I went back down the steep portion with a crab walk, dragging my butt along some parts, and it wasn't that bad.  As soon as we got back down, I was so mad at myself for not going all the way.  I was really bummed, but just had to remember that I was better safe than sorry.  We hiked a little around the base of the rock and then called it a day.

We spent our last night in the house hanging with our family and enjoying delicious steaks on the grill.  Then we said our goodbyes and headed to bed nice and early.

To be continued with our awesome day at the Grand Canyon...

Our Long Weekend in Arizona Part 1: Courthouse Butte and Bell Rock Hike, The Hudson, and Midgley Bridge

Almost a month ago Dave and I boarded a plane (for the last time for a while) for a long weekend in Arizona.  We were invited to his second cousin's wedding and thought why not make a little vacation out of it.  His cousin rented an awesome house for the whole family in the Village of Oak Creek, just south of Sedona and all the beautiful red rock formations located there.

Our trip started out a little rocky when we were stuck on the runway for a whole hour.  We were 14th in line for take off and when we finally got to the front of the line our plane was rerouted!  Our route was changed 5 different times (which the pilot said had never happened to him before and may have been a glitch in the system) but it could've been worse because when we finally took off the pilot told us there were 35 planes waiting in line behind us!  When we finally landed in Phoenix, I wanted to punch the guy at the Hertz rental counter in the face.  But soon enough we were on our way.  Dave was a trooper and drove the 2 hours up to Sedona while I slept.  When we finally arrived, it was midnight aka 3 am EST.  Dave's family welcomed us with open arms and cold beverages and soon after I crashed hard.

On Friday, we woke up right at 7 am and couldn't seem to go back to sleep since it really felt like 10.  We started our day off with Linda's famous giant pancakes (I may have had a second breakfast of eggs, bacon, and toast...) and a few hours of lounging.

In the afternoon, Dave and I headed about 2 miles up the road from where we were staying for our first hike.  We did a 4 mile loop around Courthouse Butte and Bell Rock and it was so awesome!  The hike was mostly easy and the views were unreal.  Pictures don't really do any of it justice.

 

It took us about 2.5 hours with lots of stops for pictures, snacks, and taking in the scenery.  4 miles was a perfect amount for this preggo.

After some relaxing and freshening up, we were on our own for dinner since the rest of the family was headed to the rehearsal dinner that night.  I had my eye on a few places on yelp and we decided on The Hudson.  I should've made reservations ahead of time to get a table with a view, but we weren't sure our exact plan so I held off.  When we got there they told us it would be a 90 minute wait, so we headed to the bar instead and nabbed two seats together about 5 minutes later.

The food was amazing!  We started with 3 different kinds of bruschetta: smoked salmon with pesto cream cheese and capers, BLT with crispy bacon, marscarpone, tomatoes, and arugula, and a warm mushroom and riccota version.  So good!  Then we tried their famous corn chowder, which was really zesty and tasty.  And then I couldn't really settle on a main course until we realized they had prime rib, which is what I knew everyone else was eating at the rehearsal dinner, and I had to have it!  It was seriously delicious, perfectly cooked and seasoned and really hit the spot.  We took home some leftovers to save room for an ice cream stop on the way home.  And then everyone hit the hay nice and early to be fresh for the big day!

Saturday we headed out early to go see Midgley Bridge, a must do on Dave's list for the trip!

I didn't really think I was afraid of heights until we got here.  The walkway was very uneven and the rickety railings definitely weren't going to save your life if it came down to it.  As I was inching towards the edge to get some good pictures, a young boy, 6 or 7 years old, came up and stumbled and it made me so nervous!  I told him to be careful!  He casually replied "I am" and his dad told us he'd already tripped 4 times.  Eeeep.

We went on a short hike there and took some pictures of Oak Creek below, but soon we were headed back to the house to get ready for the wedding!

To be continued... Part 2

Mental Health Day Required

Yesterday I left my house at 7 am and didn’t get home until 11 pm.  I had a pretty good day, but it ended with a stressful meeting and a 40 minute drive behind someone who had no interest in doing anything close to the speed limit.  I got home feeling drained!  I went to bed but couldn’t really fall asleep.  Fast forward to 2 am, when I woke up thinking about work.  EW!  I woke up with a headache and felt like I hadn’t slept at all.

Mental health day, boom!

I woke up 4 hours after my alarm originally went off and felt refreshed.  I put dinner in the crockpot and laced up my boots.  Puddin’ and I headed out on the trail to enjoy the sun peaking through the trees.

The temperature was almost 40 degrees, the trail was empty, and Pandora provided the perfect soundtrack.

I got my heart pumping up the mountain, focused on the peaceful feeling of the woods, and took a couple of extra deep breaths.

I already feel so rejuvenated.  The rest of my day will be filled with grocery shopping and food prep for the chicken parm dinner I’m making for my sweetie tomorrow (going out for vday is so overrated), cleaning and organizing, and I think I’ll finish with some yoga.  Mental health day success!

Do you ever take mental health days?  How do you fight stress?