I'm so excited...I just can't hide it!

So today I get home and rush to get the mail as I have done all week. Why? Because I've been waiting for some hopefully very good news.

Today it came...from the National Park Service! After we didn't get a permit to hike Mt Whitney, I started asking myself what other backpacking hike would I like to do before we think about having kids...the GRAND CANYON! So today I reach in the mailbox, see the envelope and notice its not the thin envelope I got from Mt Whitney. This one was much more bulkier! Yup, we got the permits!

This time I requested at a minimum of 1 night, said we were willing to camp at almost any campground, and hike any trail. Basically leaving our options almost limitless. Luckily we got one of our top options. We got two nights at Bright Angel so we can spend a day actually hiking in the canyon and playing around. We are hiking Bright Angel on the way down and coming back up by the South Kaibab Trail. We go down on Sep 20th and return on Monday Sept 22nd! At least I'm going to get my backpacking trip after all.
We still plan to practice the backpack thing by going to Yosemite or somewhere in the sierras for an overnight trip during the summer. Our first training hike will be this weekend as we have to train for Half Dome. We will be going up Half Dome, again, on June 14th!

Yippee....I AM SO INCREDIBLY EXCITED! I literally came bouncing into the house today.