6.7.09

It’s time to leave Moab so now it’s off to the west coast, first stop Crescent City . It’s been tons of fun in Moab and we definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys camping and being outside, it’s the place to be. Although, I wouldn’t settle again for the easy white river rafting trip, it wasn’t very thrilling for the adventure seeker. But our boat did have some interesting events; it was our tour guide’s first season so that created an adventure of itself. Steveo had to save the day two times; our guide was about to miss our lunch stop on the beach so Steveo and another dude had to jump out in waist deep, freezing cold water to drag the boat to shore. And as we were finishing up the route, she got us stuck in ‘All Day Eddie’ which is a whirlpool type rapid that pushes you upstream, then pushed us back into another whirlpool so you basically get stuck going in a large circle. After we got out of that, she missed our stop where all the other rafts were docked so we had to keep going to the next one but then she was about to miss that one too so Steveo, once again, jumped out into chest deep water to get us ashore. And mind you the water was absolutely freezing and the wind was cranking, poor Steveo. But when it was all said and done, it was a great time, plus they fed us nice cold sandwiches! Oh and in one of the rapids, two of the kayakers in our group fell out. One guy was in the water for about 5 minutes before another private raft rescued him. The poor guy was shaking for about an hour after he was rescued, but he ended up all good. After our adventure we built a little fire, grubbed out on some food and relaxed in the cool weather for a few hours before hitting the sack. Today we packed up camp and headed off to breakfast before hitting the trail at Arches National Park . We explored the Primitive Loop, 7.5 miles, which passed through about 8-9 arches along the way. It wasn’t as strenuous as our earlier Canyonlands hike but there were still plenty of rocks to climb. We are now headed off to the west coast and Steveo couldn’t be happier to get to see his Redwoods!

6.5.09

Well were wrapping up our first day here in the great city of Moab, Utah. We arrived this morning driving around looking for a campground and we stumbled upon the Canyonlands Campground right here in the middle of Main Street. We love this little campground here, as we have no choice because it’s home for 3 nights. And at least this one has showers. Yes, we had our first shower tonight since Sunday night unless you consider wipes and a big sink a bath. Anyways, before setting up camp we drove around to find a bakery with some internet connection to check up on our online classes and post our blog and pictures, and plus we missed our bread store. I ended up getting a blueberry muffin that had this incredible glaze crust and Steveo had a usual blueberry scone, it was all delicious. After our bakery stop, we headed to the campgrounds to set up our camp before heading off to Arches National Park. It started to get a little windy and sprinkly but we kept on trekking up the road to check out The Windows. We just did a few small 1-2 mile hikes around Double Arches, North and South Windows and Balanced Rock. On our way back into town, we explored some of the shops to find Steveo a new pair of hiking shoes because his literally fell apart yesterday on our hike. We then made it over to the Moab Brewery for dinner, yes a real meal since 2 ½ days ago so it was delicious! At dinner we decided to go ahead and set up an all day white water rafting trip for tomorrow and a lunch buffet is included so we couldn’t be happier. On our way back after dinner, we stopped at the Red Box and picked up another movie to watch before bed. Here’s where the story gets good… the computer died almost to the end so we had to turn on the truck to plug in the laptop so it could get a charge. Well somewhere in between, I locked the doors with the keys in the ignition and didn’t realize it until I went to get the laptop out. Thank goodness Steveo has a spare clicker in the gas lid! Well because the keys were in the ignition, the clicker would not work so we were now locked out. We had to tear apart the tent to use the poles to prop open a back window to get the pole to unlock the doors. After 20 minutes, we finally got it open yay! We decided to go out for a celebration icee and found ourselves wondering around the grocery store on a Friday night with everyone else in Moab. It’s funny how all our good times our always revolved around food. Well it’s off to bed to get some rest before the big adventure tomorrow!

6.4.09 Pictures

It's so huge and beautiful; pictures just can't get it.

Perfecting our self timer

These are the trail markers so we decided to build one of our own

This was the coolest big rock

And Steveo climbing over to the ledge

6.4.09

Today was wonderful. We had a good night’s sleep and woke up to the sun rising over the mountain tops and canyons. I did some sitting out by the observation area to continue reading my book while Steveo slept in an extra hour. We then made our instant coffee and green tea, packed our packs for the hike and headed out to Canyonlands. We stopped at the visitor center to check out what day hikes we should tackle. We decided to go with the 8.3 mile Syncline Loop Trail (which ended up being about 9.5 but at least we burned more calories). The hike was amazing! We went down the canyon into the valley about 1500 ft and stopped for a lunch break just as we began our ascend back to the top; peanut butter and jellies, pretzels, apple and trail mix. After we ate, we rested for just awhile longer to let the burn in our thighs work its way out. We sat atop a rock that was just above the valley with huge canyons on either side of us. It was so peaceful I even fell asleep right there on a rock in 95 degree weather. Yes it was hot but nothing like Florida humidity. After our short break, we began the climb back up the canyon for another 1500 ft.; that was something us Florida people just aren’t used to. Our thighs were twitching because they were so fatigued, our calves were burning and our heart was a pumping but still the beauty of being out there all alone was well worth the temporary discomfort. Let’s just say, we agreed that our moms would be freaking out if they saw what we had to climb; we had to put our rock climbing skills to use and being from Fl, I don’t think we have much skill. But when it was all said and done, we would definitely do it again. We are just looking forward to how much food we get to eat over this trip! We are making and eating chicken noodle soup as I write. It was a pretty tasty 420 calorie meal, but we are saving room for our favorite cookies; we brought 4 boxes! Tonight, I think we will be taking it easy and going to bed early to watch our next movie. We are off to Moab , Utah tomorrow!

PS: Happy Birthday Brother and GO Magic!!!

6.3.09 Pictures

Our hiking trip!

View from our campground at Dead Horse Point State Park

Just down the road at another scenic point

View behind the visitors center at campground

And another

6.3.09

It was a long day 3 in the car but we made it to our first destination; Dead Horse Point State Park in Utah , outside of Moab . On our way here we decided to take another ‘scenic’ route up through Rocky Mtn. National Park in attempt to drive through Trail Ridge Road from Estes Park to the western Rockies and back down to I70. It was quite a detour but well worth the extra gas and time. When we first arrived to the visitor center, the road was closed due to snow but there were hopes to open it soon so we spent some time taking pictures, climbing small trails and admiring the wildlife of elk, deer and the cutest little chipmunks. After an hour or so, the road opened and we began our ascend through the top of the Rockies with an altitude of just over 12,000 feet. The snow was piled up at least five feet high in some areas so of course we had to get out and play for a few minutes. I have to admit I was pretty scared the whole ride because of the massive snow piles to one side and cliffs on the edge of the road with no guard rails on the other. I took the wheel after getting out of the park and to my luck, it started hailing on Steveos car and let me say he wasn’t happy. After a long day of driving, we pulled up to the campgrounds to find that the visitor center (where we check in) closed at 5. But I do have to say we called earlier to make sure we could check in and they said until 10 pm. After driving around to find cell phone reception, we finally made the call and they said to just go ahead and go to our site and they will check us in at 8:30 , what a relief. Since we haven’t had showers since Sunday night, we thought that should be the first thing on our list. I unpacked all the soaps, shampoos and conditioners but the soap exploded everywhere in the ‘hygiene’ bag. No problem right? I’ll clean up everything while I’m in the showers. Wrong! There are no showers so now were going on 4 days without showering. But hey, we have wet wipes, deodorant and body spray so it’s all good. After all the ups and downs throughout the day, we managed to roam around the campground and see the most spectacular views imaginable. I have to say, God is creative. The views here are unreal; words can’t describe them and pictures can’t capture them. We then headed back to camp to cook up some gourmet food, Ramen Noodles. Tomorrow we will attempt our first real hike out west in Canyonlands NP.

6.2.09 Pictures

The Arch

The wind powered field

The Arch again

Dinner

Our bed while on the road