St. George Honeymoon

Can you believe I'm actually doing my blog again?

So, at the request of some, I need to put up some pictures of our honeymoon adventuring in both St. George and McCall. Both were GREAT! We had so much fun.

This is a picture at the end of the Johnson Canyon Hike. It was actually closed for the season, but they had a special tour-guided group going and we were able to participate. It was great being able to learn about different elements during the hike. Plus, it wasn't too long and had a beautiful scenic ending spot. This is Eric in front of the ending cliffs. It's amazing to see all that green in the middle of a red rock desert. We passed a beautiful arch, some tadpoles, and plenty of lizards on the way.

This is us outside the St. George Temple. It's a very beautiful building with a lot of cool history. A very different style than many of the new temple designs, I still love it's pure white and elegant feeling. We had a lot of fun going through the visitors' center and learning about the Temple as well as many other church historical sites.

This is us at our "Honeymooners' Picnic." St. George has a ton of bike trails spanning the city. We really enjoyed going for rides and listening to all the frogs in the ditch as evening fell. On this particular afternoon we packed a lunch and stopped at a quiet little park in the middle of the city. It was so relaxing. Eric was even kind enough to run and get me emergency allergy medicine so I could enjoy the breezy outdoors even more.

This is us at the top of Dixie Rock. It seems to be a common city tradition to climb the rock and watch the sunset, so we tried it out. The rock gives a great overview of the entire city, plus it's nice to just sit and watch everything light up as it gets dark. The Temple looks beautiful lit up. We sat up there for a while just enjoying the evening with a few others who decided to make the climb. The best part was just being there with my HUSBAND (what a wonderful word!).

A big thanks to the Irvines for letting us stay at their place while we were there. It was very comfortable and luxurious =). We were so glad to have access to making smoothies and watching movies on a big screen and coming and going when we wanted. The bikes and the pool were also greatly appreciated bonuses. You're the best!

McCall Honeymoon

So here are some pics from our McCall Adventure. It was a complete change of climate from St. George so we experienced a good variety.

This is my "Husband" (yes!) on his bike. What a stud! We had to rent bikes instead of having them provided (like in St. George...thanks Scott & Michelle) but they were pretty comfortable. They were called "comfort bikes" with a larger seat and shocks to make for a really smooth ride. The only downside was that there was very little traction. At one spot we were at a steep dirt hill and Eric spent about five minutes getting on and off his bike just to ride it up the hill because the tires kept slipping. Silly boy. He's so determined.

Our bike ride took us up through Ponderosa State Park's wooded trails. It was beautiful. We rode to a lookout point over the lake and really enjoyed the view. On the way back Eric coaxed me into taking an intermediate mountain bike trail. Whew! It was a little rough. The first bit caught me off guard quite a bit with dips, large tree roots, and sharp corners. I fell off several times and almost made Eric crash into me from behind, but we made it through. In fact, once I got used to the trail, it was pretty fun. It was a nice scenery change and made the ride interesting. Eric was right. I should trust his judgement more.

This is us at the lake. One evening we took some icecream sundaes to the dock and watched the sunset (we have a thing for sunsets and cool clouds) with our dessert. The weather was perfect (the mosquitos thought so too). Another thing I loved about McCall was that it wasn't a big town. It was a quiet little mountain town which meant we had the dock to ourselves. It was peaceful. And very romantic =).

Never mind the blurriness of the picture. The point is: we went kayaking!!! It was so fun! It was another one of Eric's great suggestions. I was nervous because I thought they tipped easy, but to my surprise not only was it very stable but much faster than a canoe. We kayaked across the entire lake - 3 miles if I remember correctly and it was a blast. We sang several of our own versions of "Row, Row, Row Your Kayak" (Eric's verses were hilarious) and did some splashing =). One of my favorite things was when the wind stopped and the water was silky smooth. I had to touch it because it looked so nice. We sat for a bit just to look at the water, sitting in the middle of a lake, surrounded by beautiful scenery.
What an artist Heavenly Father is!

This last picture - let me explain. When we got back to the beach, Eric really wanted to take a picture of us in the middle of the water. So he set up the camera on a bobbing dock and pushed us off hoping for the best. I thought it turned out pretty cool despite the blur. It's enough to see what's going on and makes me smile to remember my thoughts, "Please don't let my camera fall in the water!"

Honeymoons rock! We both agree, and decided that we need to go on more. In fact, I think it will be a lifetime pursuit. How does that sound?