To the "Honeymoon" and back

Spencer and I have been home from our honey moon for just over a week now. I highly recommend a honeymoon, it's the best excuse you have to get away and be as social or unsocial as you want without having to make any excuses. Besides, what could be better than spending 24/7+ with your favorite person in the world? We don't have our wedding photos yet, a few from family members but not from our photographer so I guess I'll blog backwards starting with the honey moon and then talk about the wedding later.

We spent two nights at the Hilton in Sandy where Spence had booked us the romance package that came with sparkling cider and cheesecake upon our arrival and then free breakfast both mornings. Saturday night we used free movie tickets we got from our dentist to see the final Harry Potter. It was so fantastic and it really had a sense of closure so I was fine with it ending. Sunday we left for Park City where we had rented a condominium for 4 days. We had booked a one bedroom one bathroom condo but the property had overbooked so they upgraded us to a three bedroom two bathroom condo (even though I assured them that it was just the two of us and we wouldn't need all that room). We finally felt like we had time to settle in and relax. It rained a couple of times while we were there. It was lovely to have summer showers creating a cool breeze to keep things comfortable. Our bedroom had a balcony that looked out over green mountains and a green belt path by a bubbling brook, simply glorious. We didn't overbook ourselves with things to do so we didn't feel pressured but one afternoon we walked the green belt to down town in hunt of pizza (my choice) and stopped at a few playgrounds along the way. We stumbled upon Red Banjo Pizza which happens to be the oldest restaurant in Park City and it was a comfortable, casual place decorated in old time saloon style. The pizza was DELICIOUS! The crust was soft with a crispy bottom, not greasy, a fresh sauce...nothing gourmet about it just simple and mouth watering. We walked in and out of little shops and galleries. We made our way to an ice cream parlor with the sweet smell of home made waffle cones wafting out into the street. I'm not a waffle cone lover but for the Java Cow I made an exception and I still don't regret it. We're talking melt in your mouth waffle cone. YUM! (You'd think I enjoy food or something....)

My surprise for Spencer (that yes, I actually kept ) was a hot air balloon ride! Neither of us has ever been but one of our very first dates I remember talking about how we both wanted to fly in a hot air balloon so I splurged and made a memory. We were there to watch them set up, then we flew for about an hour, and then we helped the company take down the balloon. It was such an interesting process. There were six of us in the basket: the pilot and an assistant he was training, Spencer and I, and two women visiting from Florida. It was so fun and a great day to fly. Did you know that you don't necessarily steer a hot air balloon? At different altitudes the wind is blowing in different directions and speeds so depending on where you want to go you just go up or down to catch the breeze. Our balloon was black with a gold stripe and I'll admit that I was disappointed that we weren't flying in the colorful balloon like the group next to us when we were preparing to take off. I was glad to find out, however, that I wasn't alone when the women flying with us mentioned the same thing and then politely asked the pilot why he chose black. He said that of all the colors black is one of the only colors that has the longer life (so it doesn't fade as quickly as red or yellow, etc.) and it absorbs more heat than any other color so he uses less fuel. After hearing that I felt really good about going up in the balloon with such a logical pilot.

After Park City our original plan was to go camping out in the Uintas but Spencer, the wonderful man that he is, suggested that since we have so much time, why not go to Glacier National Park in Montana and camp out there? That was the best suggestion ever! We made the eight hour drive to Glacier (we did stop in Missoula on the way) and there is not one ugly part of Montana. It's beautiful country and the sun doesn't start setting until 10:30 at night so there is plenty of time to play. I've never seen so many water falls and lakes (that are mammoth by the way and the water is so clear the only reason you can't see through it is because it's deep, we're talking unbelievably blue-green people) and pine trees so close to the road you have to drive with the windows down to enjoy their heavenly scent. Truly a breathtaking view everywhere you look. Our favorite area is just outside of Glacier called Flathead Lake. It's the perfect combination of mountain life with a feel of the coast. Everyone there had a cherry orchard in their yard and huckleberry bushes. We stopped at a roadside stand and bought a bag of fresh cherries from a woman who makes her own herbal remedies and has a talking parrot named Tiny. We saw so much wildlife. It's like the entire state is a national park.

My favorite part of the park was Lake McDonald. People say you go to Glacier for the hikes and to see the Glaciers but I say go for the rock skipping. The lakes have eroded the rocks to perfectly smooth discs that are great for skipping. Spencer and I easily spent a few hours just playing in the freezing water skipping rocks. Something else interesting is that the rocks are so colorful: reds, purples, oranges, browns, blacks, blue/greens and the color is more vibrant if the stones are wet. We spent three days in the park wandering on trails and keeping an ever watchful eye out for bears. We saw bald eagles galore. One day while we were skipping rocks in the St. Mary lake an eagle swooped down right in front of us, caught a fish, and then it landed on a tree still within our sight and we watched it eat the fish!! SO COOL! One night we went to what they call a "Star Party" where we were able to look through telescopes at stars, clusters, constellations, and galaxies with a ranger. Unfortunately I didn't last long because it doesn't enough until 10:30 or 11 and to see some of the really neat stuff you have to wait until it's really dark...I'm just not a night owl so after an hour or so I sat in the warm car while Spencer soaked up the stars.

Spencer was on the hunt for a grizzly bear the entire time, he was bound and determined to find me a grizzly. We saw 6 black bears (mostly cubs or some momma bears with a cub or two) but no grizzly. We were so close to the Canadian border that we had wished we'd brought our passports but we've decided we're going back anyway so next time we'll remember to bring those along.

Reluctantly we left Glacier and headed back in the general direction of home. On the way out of the park Spencer and I had done the Jr. Ranger program (I was bound and determined to get a ranger badge) but by the time we got to the last visitor's center they had closed (the other centers stayed open until 9:00 but for some reason this one closed at 6:00) and so I did all the work but I didn't get the badge. I'll admit that I was pretty upset and almost cried, but I attribute that to exhaustion and a little disappointment.

We went through Yellowstone National Park and came through the North Entrance (new to both Spencer and I) and then we stayed the night at The Hostel in Teton Village before seeing Grand Teton Nt'l Park the next day. It was while we were in Yellowstone that we finally saw a Grizzly bear! He was up on a hill and we were sure that he was slowly winding his way down but I decided I didn't need him to get any closer because he was gargantuan, but beautiful at the same time. We considered our trip a success! We did the Jr. Ranger program for both Yellowstone and Teton and we both have a patch and a badge to prove it. After Teton we made it the last few hours home to our little apartment not wanting our adventure to end. We still say it hasn't, the honeymoon lives on, and next on our list is Great Basin National Park in Nevada.

Here are a few pictures...we took so many it's hard to decide which to post but hopefully they'll do justice to the wonderful time we had.

(I was going to try to put them in order but it was taking too long. Why not spice things up a little anyway? These are jumbled and in no particular order but your best bet is we're going backwards from Teton to Glacier to Park City...mostly Glacier)