Life have been quite interesting lately - more of this to come! - but Maria and I had three excellent weeks of vacation driving around on the West coast of the US.
The calendar swapped to September and our planned vacation was getting closer - unfortunately so was hurricane Irma and it didn't slow down as we had hoped.
Our original plan, was flying to Orland, driving around Florida state including Florida Keys and end up in Miami Beach. With Irma in the way though - we were lucky to change our tickets with our airline with no charge!
We flew into Las Vegas and had a few days of relaxation planned - Maria likes to be by the pool getting tanned.
In the evenings we went out to explore Vegas - after all Hollywood bombards us with information about Vegas through movies, series and tabloid media.
We had booked tickets from home to watch Jeff Dunham at Caesar’s and afterwards hit the casino!
Down 40 bucks after multiple hours of fun including free drinks, I couldn't really complain about the treatment we received on our last evening of Vegas.
American Muscle
We had booked a car to drive around for the remaining weeks of our vacation - when picking up our "Intermediate SUV" however, we were presented a Ford F150..
Seeing the size of the Car, Maria and I agreed we would have to swap for something smaller - just getting out of the car garage would have been an interesting step.
At our luck, the rental agent didn't have any additional SUV's and we had to "settle" with a Mustang 2017 GT 5.0 ... I had wanted to book that car form home, but it was too expensive for the entire trip! Now we got it for free - but had to come back the following day to swap with the SUV the rental agent ordered for us.
For that day, we had planned to drive through Death Valley and I could come up with no better place, than Death Valley drive the Mustang - It was an amazing drive and we enjoyed it to the fullest!
Needless to say, back home, Marias brothers and dad were quite envious!
Sightseeing, sightseeing and more sightseeing!
Having just less than three weeks to see the west coast it already quite a fast-paced trip - We had something to do and see every single day.
After Death Valley we returned to Vegas, swapped in for our SUV and after an additional day to rest (and watch the show) we were ready to leave Vegas for additional adventures.
We went past the Hoover Dam on our way to one of our trip highlights; the Grand Canyon!
Little did Maria know, that the Grand Canyon would also be a setting in which our life’s would change ?
Asking the big question
I landed in Copenhagen 12 days before our vacation, after an extended weekend in Seattle - Time was not in my favor, but I had a clear plan - I knew what I wanted; The one ring (no pun intended) that Maria had her eyes on.
The plan was already pretty tight; I needed the ring and her Dad's blessing before our three weeks of vacation; otherwise the plan would have to be changed. That I got sick after getting back from Seattle, didn't help ! But at last, Thursday, two days before flying out to Las Vegas, a sample ring of the one Maria wanted was at the local post office and during that evening, I received Frank's (Marias dad) blessing as well.
Now I just had to get it through airport security without anyone raising an eyebrow and asking what was in the backpack and ensure Maria didn't notice a thing for 6 days though carrying around the backpack that held the ring.
The 6 days were almost over, and we arrived at the Grand Canyon. The view is astonishing, and we found a spot to enjoy the sunset.
With the sun slowly setting on the horizon and the warmth of the sun disappearing - time was running out. Luckily Maria had no clue what I was about to do - so feeling super nervous I could take the stance, on my knee, pop open the box containing the ring and ask her to marry me - with a yes as response.
The vacation was far from over
But the remaining details will have to wait for an additional post.
2 comments
What awesome views! Congrats!
Thanks Chance! :)