Omar and I met in 2013 and hit it off right away as friends. By about a year later, we were dating; tackling all the obstacles of work and long distance and whatever else life threw at us.
He proposed in June 2016 in Denali National Park at the base of Polychrome Glacier after a rainstorm that threatened to strand us on an isolated mountainside.
Both of us felt strongly about keeping the wedding small, having it somewhere brimming with natural beauty, and making it more about love and life's big adventures rather than having an expensive, stressful, commercialized, standard gigantic wedding.
We decided to get married at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Arizona is my home state, plus Omar had never even seen it, and ultimately it seemed like a good chance to make some big memories.
On 9/21/16, we hiked into the canyon with 8 of our closest friends. It's about 7 miles down the South Kaiabab Trail. Thanks to the inland remnants of Tropical Storm Paine, we got to enjoy a rare atmospheric inversion that put a blue sky overhead but a dense layer of fog and clouds down into the canyon. Not exactly the view you imagine when you imagine the Grand Canyon!
Over the course of the hike, the clouds cleared but the weather stayed nice and cool.
We set up camp that night along Bright Angel Creek.
On 9/22/16, we hiked through sun and clouds and pouring rain, 12 miles round-trip, over bridges and more bridges and boulders and one last extremely sketchy bridge to reach Ribbon Falls.
There's a path to hike up behind the waterfall itself.
One of Omar's oldest and best friends, Jamin Greenbaum, officiated our wedding ceremony there on the red rocks next to the splashing falls.
For us, it was perfect.
That night, we camped at Bright Angel again.
On 9/23/16, we split into groups for fast hikers, relaxed hikers, and oh-my-whole-body-hurts-why-am-I-doing-this hikers, and took on the 9.3 mile hike (4,500ft elevation gain) back up to the rim.
The next morning, we greeted the beautiful pink dawn at Horseshoe Bend.
Later that day, we braved an open-air caravan ride out to Antelope Canyon
for a walk through the most awe-inspiring quarter mile slot canyon I ever could have imagined.
We wrapped up that evening having dinner with my parents and oldest sister, Beth, who drove to Flagstaff to meet up with us. Per usual quirky family custom, Mom gave us a quilt and Dad gave us a firearm.
I'm so grateful for the twists and turns and challenging trails that led our lives to this point, and for the family and friends who support the next amazing chapter of our lives together. Literally and figuratively, it's been a long hard hike.
Here's to happily ever after!
:-)
He proposed in June 2016 in Denali National Park at the base of Polychrome Glacier after a rainstorm that threatened to strand us on an isolated mountainside.
We decided to get married at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Arizona is my home state, plus Omar had never even seen it, and ultimately it seemed like a good chance to make some big memories.
On 9/21/16, we hiked into the canyon with 8 of our closest friends. It's about 7 miles down the South Kaiabab Trail. Thanks to the inland remnants of Tropical Storm Paine, we got to enjoy a rare atmospheric inversion that put a blue sky overhead but a dense layer of fog and clouds down into the canyon. Not exactly the view you imagine when you imagine the Grand Canyon!
Over the course of the hike, the clouds cleared but the weather stayed nice and cool.
We set up camp that night along Bright Angel Creek.
On 9/22/16, we hiked through sun and clouds and pouring rain, 12 miles round-trip, over bridges and more bridges and boulders and one last extremely sketchy bridge to reach Ribbon Falls.
There's a path to hike up behind the waterfall itself.
One of Omar's oldest and best friends, Jamin Greenbaum, officiated our wedding ceremony there on the red rocks next to the splashing falls.
For us, it was perfect.
That night, we camped at Bright Angel again.
On 9/23/16, we split into groups for fast hikers, relaxed hikers, and oh-my-whole-body-hurts-why-am-I-doing-this hikers, and took on the 9.3 mile hike (4,500ft elevation gain) back up to the rim.
The next morning, we greeted the beautiful pink dawn at Horseshoe Bend.
Later that day, we braved an open-air caravan ride out to Antelope Canyon
for a walk through the most awe-inspiring quarter mile slot canyon I ever could have imagined.
We wrapped up that evening having dinner with my parents and oldest sister, Beth, who drove to Flagstaff to meet up with us. Per usual quirky family custom, Mom gave us a quilt and Dad gave us a firearm.
 |
| It's like a work of art. I call it "El Suegro Barbudo y Escopeta." |
Here's to happily ever after!
:-)
No comments:
Post a Comment