FREEDOM!!!

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Well, today it is official, the first real day of our trip.  Today is the first day that we're doing anything different, the weekend is just the weekend, but today it gets REAL!  Monday morning, but no waking up early, no going to work, no case of "the Mondays" for us!  Melanie was so excited to sleep in that she woke up early to sleep in but then so excited that she couldn't get back to sleep!  The last week was a crazy, hectic, tiring whirlwind for us, with packing up all our belongings, packing our bags for the next 6 months +, performing some final repairs on the house, getting our new, tiny computer (a Lenovo netbook) that I am writing on right now, and the bittersweet goodbye's that come with a last day at work.  So now, our storage unit is at capacity, people are presumably moved into our former house, and everything we need (hopefully) we are carrying on our backs.  But... we survived, and now the real fun begins, today!

Final packing - eeeEEEEEKKKKKK!!!!

 We are flying out to Europe on the 27th, so that gives us roughly two weeks, by my watch, before the overseas portion of our around the world trip begins.  But that time will not be wasted, my dear readers!  What is in store for these crazy Beasleys?  Today we are driving from Salt Lake City, where we have been staying with Ben and Suzannah and Co. to Zions National Park to hike the Narrows and Angels Landing.  After that a trip to THE Grand Canyon, a place I've been trying to go for a number of years.  After that it's off to viva Las Vegas for the weekend, for some Beasley style PG fun in Vegas (really), including a ride on the roller coaster there, visit to the M&M store, and perhaps a show of Phantom of the Opera at the Venetian:

 among general Vegas-y stuff.  Pictures and fun to come!  After that, some time in Melanie's hometown, Aberdeen, to really get some R&R before setting off on the greatest adventure of all (not death).  So follow along folks, we'll be trying to document everything we can on our wild trip!