An Unforgettable Vacation!

On May 29th Jonathan and I headed to Texas.

Jonathan went for his job, while I went for what turned out to be an unbelievable vacation!

The first couple days I stayed with Deborah and Daniel and this darling sweetheart. 

(a splendid intro to my incredible trip!)

Here precious Caitlyn is enjoying watermelon at the slash pad in Greenville.

The next week I stayed at Amanda and Russell's house, but I have no pictures of that.

Then we began an 8-day trip out west...

The first night we camped at Clayton Lake, in New Mexico.

It was gorgeous!

To "we southerners", the scenery became more and more unusual

the farther west we went

And the road signs also became very unusual!

Here are Amanda and Russell in New Mexico, sitting atop Capulin Volcano!

Russell was the only one feeling brave and confident as we drove up the edge of that mountain, 

but Amanda was the only vocal one! (I was having fun listening to her squeals!)

And then, finally, we arrived at our longed-for destination!

This cute little camper is Anna and Steven's "home" right now, as they travel the country.

It's not as tiny as it looks once you're inside, and we all 7 stayed here very comfortably.

We were so busy enjoying the sweet company that we didn't get many pictures, 

but here are a few...

Eva and Hudson lizard-hunting

(and such interesting lizards they found!) 

A tree just Hudson's size!

For a scorching dessert, we were surprised by how cool it got at night! 

The kids were so cold this morning that they had to move to the sunshine to eat their breakfast!

And the next morning, we all headed for the Grand Canyon!!!

Here are Steven and the kids arriving at the bus stop

We were waiting for a bus with 7 empty seats

I'm going to post a few pictures from the Canyon, but they come nowhere near showing the breath-taking splendor of it!  It was truly spectacular!  

(If you haven't been, you cannot fathom the incredible awe of God's handiwork!)

Although we regret that Steven is missing here,

he is the reason we were able to have a group photo!

Here are Anna, Steven, Eva, and Hudson,

starting off on the Bright Angel Trail!

It was AMAZING! The view was unbelievable...

...and one little person had not an ounce of fear!

"Don't step back, Hudson!"

If you look closely at the picture below, you can see the Bright Angel trail

 winding it's way down the canyon. 

The trail is like 8 miles long, but we didn't go too far

That night we camped just outside of the canyon.

This was our favorite campground of the whole trip.

(even if we did all wake up FREEZING at 3 am!  It was 40 degrees!)

The next day we spent back at the canyon

The next two pictures were taken from one of the windows near the top of this tower

As I viewed this incredible sight, the words of "How Great Thou Art"

were running through my head.  What an Awesome God we serve! 

We all went back to Anna and Steven's that night 

Adorable kiddos!

Here Eva was pointing out a "Prickly Pear" Cactus.  Isn't that face priceless???

And Hudson was demonstrating a "Dessert Broom"

In the evening, we girls and the kids took a long walk, 

enjoying the very different scenery and the quickly cooling weather.

This photo was taken on Amanda and Russell's 2nd anniversary.

The last day we were there, Anna and the kids took us to a remarkable place...

A Beautiful Oasis in the middle of the hot, dry dessert!

Running water...

...Mulberries to eat...

...and a place to cool hot feet!

When we left Anna and Steven's, our next stop was the Petrified Forrest.

Once again, you can't get the full effect of it from photos.

The tree trunks here are hard and shiny like stones,

though it doesn't look like that in the photos

By night we had made it back to New Mexico

If you can't tell from the photos, this campground was nothing but dust and dirt!

We were told that it hadn't rained there since last September, and everything was so incredibly dry!

This is the top of our tent. Sitting on dust, surrounded by dust...nothing around but dust!  

About the middle of the picture you can see "Church Rock" in the background

Back in Texas, our very last stop - "Palo Duro Canyon" 

Palo Duro is the second largest canyon in the world.

It was lovely, but didn't quite compare to the Grand Canyon! 

We actually camped at the bottom on this canyon, and we were

visited by a thunder storm for several hours during the night!  What Fun! :)

Then it was back to Amanda and Russell's place for a couple days, and then my vacation days ended... but the remarkable sights/times with family will be in my memory forever!

Ecclesiastes 3:11 
"He hath made everything beautiful in his time"