Summer Vacation: Havasupai

Okay now where to start with this post. Well, I will start eight years ago. When Stewart and I were first dating before we kissed or anything he went on a Rasmussen man hike to Havasupai. That was when I first found out about it. When he told what it is like I was hooked on the idea of going with him someday. I have been talking about it ever since. But with four babies in five years it wasn't seeming like it would be happening anytime soon. When I realized that we would have a month off with the kids out of school and Stewart having no work or school or anything I set to work dreaming about all the things I wanted to do in that precious time. Havasupi was high on the list. We called and made reservations and asked Stewart's mother to babysit the kids for us. We originally wanted it to be a romantic little trip for just Stewart and I but everyone wanted to go too so it became a family event and it turned out really fun that way and gave Stewart and I the excuse to take our little romantic trip to Tucson. Dad Ras, Whitney, Paul and Janine came a long with us. It was so fun to hang out with all of them. Janine is my niece and she is dating Stewart's little brother which is a pretty cute love story...When he met her at Angeli's baby blessing over four years ago he said to us, "She is the most beautiful girl I have ever seen!" He has had a little crush on her since and after his mission he wanted to ask her out for months and finally after six months or so he finally bit the bullet and asked her out. After dating for a while she fell head over heels for him and they are now this super cute happy couple and we are crossing our fingers they will get married sometimes this year. Stewart LOVES that if they do get married his brother will be his brother and his nephew. And I love thinking that I will get my niece as a sister. So fun.

So we woke up at 2:30am and loaded the cars with our packs and drove the three hours to the trail head in Arizona on the outer edges of the grand canyon national park. From there we hiked the 9 mile hike to the Indian village and our campsite. It was really hot by the time we got there and we were ready to hurry and set up our campsite and head to the falls to swim and play. We decided to go to Mooney falls first. You have to climb down the side of the cliff to get to the bottom of the falls. It was fun climbing down there and the water felt so nice. The water there is like swimming pool water, clear and the perfect temperature. We had a great time exploring and playing until Stewart and Paul decided to see how far back they could get into the falls by walking through it. They were having fun until the sand bar they were standing on dropped off into oblivion and they were caught in a whirlwind current that kept sucking them into the falls. Stewart was able to get out and grab his little brother and hold him up to the walls behind the falls until he had recovered enough from the lack of air that he could climb the rocks along the back side of the falls and get to safety....it was pretty scary for all of us. We had no idea where they had gone or if they were ok. They were gone for so long I knew that if they had been caught under the falls they would have been dead and honestly if Stewart wasn't such a good swimmer and if the Lord didn't help him they would have died. Thank goodness he spent his whole childhood and teen years swimming.

But of course the next day they were just as fearless climbing behind the next waterfall Havasu jumping off these huge falls. Those crazy boys couldn't just sit in the perfect water and enjoy the beauty, nope that had be jumping off something or swimming into some sort of scary craziness to be having fun. I don't get it but since having kids my thrill seeking days are long gone so I am sure they felt the same way about me. :O)

Being there was pretty mind blowing. It was so dang pretty it was like being at a world class spa...like now I know what all those spas and resorts are trying to recreate but they cant measure up to the real God created version. So amazing! I felt I had to keep pinching myself to make sure I was really there.

After spending time at havasu we headed to the new falls (they had a major flood in I think 2007 which washed out the old falls and created two new falls) which I don't think they have officially named yet. That was fun to explore...well, we sort of tried to climb up to the main falls through the water and that was super lame so we just walked and it was super pretty. And then we all decided to jump off a 30 foot waterfall...and I literally got spanked. I don't know what I was thinking but I was completely unaware that my legs weren't straight and I hit the glassy surface with my behind and basically thought I might die. It left me feeling like I had just given birth to a ten pound baby. My thighs and behind were black and blue when we got home and I was not surprised one bit. Plus I bruised my tailbone so bad I still have trouble sitting...that was the low of the trip for me. But after taking some time off and eating a super filling dinner I had fun exploring and even jumping off some little rock cliffs and stuff. I don't think it really sank in until that night how badly I was hurt though. I woke up at 1:20 am from the pain. I was so scared because we had to hike out that morning and a 9 mile hike carrying a 40 pound pack is not what you feel up to when you feel like you just gave birth to a beast baby. So I prayed like crazy that I would be able to hike out...It worked! When we woke up at 3:30 am to head out of camp before the sun came up I had literally had no pain. It was a miracle. And then of course when we got home I was dieing again but I was so grateful I could hike out of there without tons of pain, and we made good time too, just 4 hours. phew.

So it was great to have my dream of going to havasupi come true. I was bummed that I got injured and that we didn't spend more time just relaxing and soaking it up but next time we go I will make sure we get to do more of that and if I jump off any major falls my legs will be straight! It was a trip I will never forget and I will forever be grateful I got to witness such amazing natural beauty. I LOVED just being able to see such a beautiful beautiful place.

If you want to go yourself this is my advice. Make time to go off the main paths (we found these quite awesome places the last hours we were there that we really wished we had more time to play in), don't eat at the restaurant in the Indian village, do eat dehydrated meals, do drink the yummy spring water, wear sun screen, don't go behind a new waterfall without talking to the locals first, wear tight fitting water shoes, pace yourself on the switch backs, bring waterproof mascara, and take lots of pictures!!!