Rafting - Colorado River

So Barb and David finally got home last night around 5pm.  They had hike 6.6 miles up and over a canyon (2000 vertical feet). So, I am very happy that I did not go with them.  We decided to do steak for dinner so we had the Broken Oar.  It was OK.  After that we went to Crystals Cakes and Cones for ice cream and cup cakes. I got a red velvet cup cake. I took it back to the house and enjoyed my cup cake with a glass of wine on David's back patio.  The sun had gone down and it was a cool 90 degrees.  It is actually cool in the shade here.

So today, Wednesday, is our last day in town.  We met up with some of David's friends Jacques and Jeff.  Jacques has his own raft. We loaded it up and headed to the Colorado River to go rafting.  This raft was not like any that I've ever done before.  It has one seat for the one person who does all the rowing. 

And the rowing is backwards than anything I've ever rowed before.  You put the oars in the water and push to go forward and pull to put the oars back in the water.  It was hard to get used to.  I only actually rowed on about a mile area that was rapid free.  There were about 3 areas that had decent rapids.  Jacques said they were probably class 2's.  It was mostly a leisurely trip.   A few scary moments when even Jacques said "oh crap".  I figure that's not a good sign.  A week prior, David, Jacques and Jeff had taken the raft out and tipped it on the last set of rapids.  They said they had to float about 1 mile down river before they could get the raft tipped back over.  The trip was about 11 miles and took us about 2 hrs.  The water was moving pretty fast.  They said it normally takes about 3 hrs.

After our rafting trip, we went back to the house and cleaned up.  Then we met David's friends from the Sierra Club for dinner at the Moab Brewery.  Mostly it consists of a bunch of old retired guys. After dinner we took a short walk down town so Barb could get some souvenirs for her family.  I decided no one gets shit this trip.  I want to spend all the money on myself. We ran into the nice older couple from North Carolina that did the repelling with us on Monday.  I think we talked them into eating at Jeffery's which is the best steakhouse in town.  We didn't go this trip because we were trying to spend a little less money, but it is definitely the best place in town.

So, our trip has come to an end.  I love this place and all it has to offer.  If I weren't 2 years from being vested at work, I would move here in a heartbeat.  Who knows, if the opportunity presents itself, I may say screw my retirement plan.  We are all packed up and ready to head back to Wichita tomorrow.  We are going to try to make it in one trip.  Its about 13 hrs.  If you want to see all the pics from the trip you can go to Moab 2016 Photos 

Thelma and Louise Vacation

Well, we have been busy. Everyday has been jam packed with stuff to do. I think I last left off after my late night hike Sunday morning. So we slept in a little Sunday morning. Then we both got our massages from the best masseuse in the whole entire world, David Casper.  It was pretty painful, but my hip hasn't been too painful to walk on since. It still bothers me, but is manageable.

Then in the afternoon, we went to Mill Creek. They have a water hole that is about a 1 mile hike off the parking lot. There were 3 water crossings. The first one was kind of "aggressive" as a local put it. The next ones were pretty easy. I'd like to add my advertising spot for Keen sandals. They are the best things in the world. You can hike in them, raft in them, get them wet and they are always comfortable. The water hole was pretty cool. There were a bunch of young guys jumping from the rocks.  The water was very cold, but it was upper 90s outside so it evened out.  No, I didn't jump, I'm not stupid.  As we were coming in, one kid was getting splinted up for the hike out after he more than likely broke his ankle.



On our way back from Mill Creek, we ate at Milts.  This place has been recommended to both of us by people who travel here regularly.  I would have to say it was pretty yummy.  I had a cheeseburger and it was very good.  The tator tots were my favorite, though.  I would recommend this place to.  It’s a little off the main part of town, but it’s easy to find.

After dinner we went back to the house and laid around for a while.  Then we decided to go shopping.  We went to a place called Gear Head.  It had everything you would need for your weekend Moab adventure.  Then we hit a few more shops in town before heading back home.

On Monday, we drove up to the La Sal mountains.  They are just south of town.  You go from red sandstone desert environment, to a cooler mountainous environment just 20 minutes from town.  We took David’s 4X4 4Runner up there so we were able to take some single lane mountain roads.  The first place we stopped was called Oowah Lake.  Mountain lakes are the best.  It had a creek that ran into it. 

We hiked back to it and I was able to find a tree that was down over the quickly moving water.  Being the adventurous one, I climbed out on it and laid down.  It was so loud, yet the most peaceful thing ever.  The sky was clear and the water was cool causing the temp around me to be cool and not the sweltering heat we’ve had the past few days.  I could have laid there forever.

Then we drove to our next stop, Warner Lake.  It was a very small lake, almost more like a pond. It had a gorgeous mountain in the background.  The water was mostly still and it made for a great picture.

After driving the La Sal mountain loop, we went home and rested for just a little while before we were off on our next adventure.

That afternoon, we met up with our guides for our canyoneering trip, Dustin and Chris.  There were 10 of us in the group (originally 12, but we had a couple fall out due to the heat and have to be extracted).  We had to hike in 1 mile on the 1000 deg slick rock with no shade to get to our first repel.  We had one short crevasse jump that was pretty fun. I think I did it pretty gracefully.  When we got to our first repel, we got to share a small tree for shade.  It was awful.  We got all harnessed and helmeted up.  We got a short instruction on repelling. 

It wasn’t really that difficult.  I decided to go 2^nd because I didn’t want to stand in the heat any longer and the 90ft down in the bottom of a canyon sounded a lot better than where I was.  So I got hooked up to the safety line.  Then hooked to the repelling rope and laid back till I was sitting in my harness. It was actualy kind of hard to look down so I didn’t. It probably would have been a little scarier if I had. It was pretty easy to get down.  About half way there was a ledge where you had to walk a few feet to get to back to repelling.  He told us to keep our heels on the wall.  Guess who doesn’t listen.  I’ve watched movies where people repel.  It was much more fun my way.  I got down pretty quick.  Then I waited for Barb to come down.  She was pretty scared, but she did a great job.  After a few more came down, and our other instructor returned from the couple we lost, we walked to the next repel.  This was behind Morning Glory Arch.  We hiked to this arch last time we were there.  This one had about 30-40 ft of straight wall, then just a free repel.  The 1^st 5ft of this one was kind of uncomfortable.  Once I got to the flat wall it was better.  I felt like I saw back in my harness better.  I zipped down the wall then I was free of the wall and just hanging there.  It was a pretty neat view and I was able to turn around and look down and around.  Once I was on the ground, we hiked about 2.5 miles out of the canyon.

We stayed in for dinner that night.  That’s the benefit of staying at a house.  I had been having trouble with my phone today.  I couldn’t upload any of my Snapchat photos. I couldn’t upload anything to Instagram or Facebook.  I couldn’t even send pics in a text.  I stayed up late working on it.  I decided not to do the early morning hike that Barb and David were going to do with the members of the Sierra Club.  I just get like I had been going nonstop since we got here and I needed a break and a little alone time.

So today, Tuesday, I got up around 9am and went to breakfast at the Moab Grill. They had Wi-Fi so I was able to get some photos off my phone and backed up so I could access them if my phone continued to act up.  After breakfast, I went to give Fiona a bath.  Its her second one on this trip, but I can’t seem to get the bugs off the front bumper.  I used the heck out of the brush and got some, but I worry they will bake on in this heat.  After the wash, she needed to dry, so I decided to drive south of town.  I drove by the entrance to the La Sal mountain loop that we had taken yesterday. 

I remembered a spot where I wanted to take a pic of Fiona.  There were way more cows on the road today than yesterday so that was interesting.  I got to the pull off where I wanted to get the pic of Fiona.  I chatted with some guys from Maine who said all their friends ask them why they would come to the desert for vacation.  We all kind of looked out at the view and WE knew why.  Then I decided to drive the rest of the loop.  It was nice and curvy and the side of the road was a drop off into the mountain in spots.  It was so much fun.  It would have been more fun if the road wasn’t in such bad condition in spots that I couldn’t really get Fiona going too fast.  After the drive I headed back home.  Barb and David are still gone, so I’m so glad I didn’t do that hike.  I’ve enjoyed just sitting on the couch in the quiet and working on my blog.  Not sure when they will be back so I may be on my own for dinner tonight too.  Hmmm…where shall I go tonight?

Thelma and Louise Half Marathon

Barb and I are back in Moab for another half marathon. This time we did it as a relay.  I started the relay at 0630 hrs.  It started near the trailhead for Corona Arch.  This is the arch we hiked last year.  The race ran alone the Colorado river.  It was nice and shady for me since it was in a canyon and the sun was still behind the canyon walls.  It was still hot though.  Once the sun hit me and was pretty exhausted.  Barb and I had watched Thelma and Louise the night before the race.  During the race they had a Brad Pitt stop, with a bunch of “hot” locals.  They had a tanker truck sitting along the route along with an unoccupied Sheriff car (in the movie it was a trooper, but who beside other LEO’s knows that).  They did have some firemen hosing the runners off.  If only they could have thrown in some hot firemen (they were way too young) that would have been nice. My cut off to get to my finish and catch the boat back down the Colorado River was 1:15.  I passed Barb around my 6 mile mark.  She said they recorded her start time and just sent her at without me being there.  When I got finished (official time 1:33:42) the boat had already left.  So they told me to wait for the van that was sweeping runners that weren’t making the time limit for the half marathon.  I saw the van head my way, then turn around.  The people at the turn around station were cleaning up so I decided to help.  They gave me a ride back on their truck with a trailer, but they had to pick up cones and mile signs on the way.  So, I pitched in an helped.  There was no phone service and the volunteers didn’t carry radios so Bard had no idea where I was.  She was freaked cuz I didn’t get off the boat or the sweep van.  I eventually showed up and was able to take our baton across the finish line for a official time of 3:38:42.  We both finished and got metals.  That’s all that matters really to us.

After the race, Barb and I went back to the house and took a 2 hr nap.  Then we got up and went to Susie’s Branding Iron.  I had steak and shrimp.  I was so hungry.  Then we decided to hit the Canyonlands Rodeo.

After that, I took a midnight hike to a creek.  It was a warm night and when I got within 5 ft of the creek, the temp dropped at least 10 deg.  The best thing was there were so many stars in the sky.  I can’t even tell you the last time I saw the Milky Way.  It was so beautiful  I was able to lay there and see several shooting starts.  It was so quiet and the air was so breathable.  If it weren’t so damn hot and housing wasn’t an issue, I’d move here in a heartbeat.

So, today we both got massages.  Now we are talking about going to the same place I went last night but in the daylight.