trading my sweat pants for my hiking shoes.

mr. lesley and i decided to celebrate thanksgiving this year in a less than traditional way.

instead of stuffing our faces, laying on the couch, braving the black friday sales, and setting up our christmas tree, we road tripped it out to the utah/arizona border to camp, hike, and visit the wave.

my sister and brother in law and their two friends justin and heidi (and their wonder dog) were so kind to let us tag along on their adventure and use two of their permits to see the wave (this place is legit. you can't just show up and hike to it. you have to have special permission. they only give out twenty passes a day and a lot of people want them, so this was a once in a lifetime sort of thing).

after arriving on thursday, we made ourselves the best camping thanksgiving you could imagine, complete with cornish hens, stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn, brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie to top it all off! it was delicious. 

although the temps were pretty frigid, the campfire kept us warm and with all the beautiful sites surrounding us, there wasn't much room for complaining. 

we spent friday hiking through the slot canyons at buckskin gulch and all day saturday at the wave.

words don't do justice to the beauty we saw, so i will let the photos do the talking.

i couldn't have asked for a better thanksgiving!

a little atypical? 

maybe.

worth it? 

totally and completely.

just call me a pilgrim of the desert.