Love at First Sight

My love affair with the National Parks began when I was a freshman in college. My family had taken a road trip up to Colorado to see my cousin Bessie get married. Afterwards, we went to Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park. We went to Grand Teton first, and I was completely awestruck with the beauty of the mountain range. Also, it was amazing how many stars you can see at night when you are away from civilization. We then went to Yellowstone. We saw rivers, mountains, valleys, canyons, hot springs, and geysers. I never knew that something so beautiful and amazing existed in America.

As a sophomore in college, I started dating my wonderful husband Kelly. We had a mutual love of the outdoors. We always spent our weekends walking around the LSU lakes. We went hiking and camping together if we had a break. We got married soon after we graduated college. We honeymooned in Gatlinburg, TN so we could go to the Smoky Mountains. But all during that time, I was telling him how much I wanted to go to the Tetons and Yellowstone with him. I knew he would love it as much as I did.

Kelly and I have a tradition of exchanging ornaments with each other as our Christmas presents. The ornaments are supposed to represent something meaningful. For Christmas 2008, Kelly gave me two Christmas ornaments made from real leaves and the promise that we would go on vacation to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone for our vacation the following summer.

So, my next few posts will be about our road trip and the amazing time we had out there. Here is a picture to inspire you. It is the Teton Mountatin Range.