One vacation closer to moving

(Disclaimer!!! Has not been proofread yet!!!)

Now our trip to Moab is over... this summer is going too fast! All I can think about is moving and I am nine parts scared to death and one part exited. It just seems like I can't get moving out of my mind and it makes me sad. So even tho this post is about Moab, in the back of my mind it is about how we are one vacation closer to moving.

We left Wednesday evening. We meant to leave earlier but I wasn't feeling well. Well, I think I wasn't feeling well. I tend to psych myself out when I am stressed so it might have been a psychosomatic symptom  (look it up if you haven't heard of it) or maybe I just had a bit of the flu. Anyway, we headed to Moab and got on with our adventure. Thursday morning we did a trail system that we did last year but we added a few more trails to make it longer. Last year when we did this trail, Klondike Bluffs, I had the hardest time with all of the uphill. We had to stop more than ten times to rest and I walked by bike up a lot of the trail. That was last year. This year, I made it to the top without even needing a break!! We stopped a few times to see some sights, but we only stopped because we wanted to, not needed to. I feel like I have improved in my biking skill so much in the last year and this makes me happy. I am not so happy about the huge thigh muscles I am getting and the way my pants don't fit anymore but I guess I can deal with that. Also, last year we only did one trail here: the Klondike Bluffs trail. This year we added in a few other trails including Baby Steps, UFO, Little Salty, EKG, and Dino Flo. I loved this trail system! The trail books I have read said this is not a very technical or hard trail system, but I still love it and think it is a great ride. With all of the trails we added we did  between 15 and 20  miles of riding so we were pretty tired afterwards. Along with the biking we did some hiking here. When you get to the top of the trail you can park your bike and hike about a half mile into Arches. So we added that to our ride as well. Check out some pics of our day 1.

At the top of the trail where we parked our bikes to hike

Ending point of the hike in to Arches

After biking we went into a few shops in Moab to find souvenirs. Caleb bought me an awesome pair of handmade steal earrings. I love unique jewelry!

We had to eat a snow cone because it was so hot! In the high 90's and no shade. For dinner that night we ate at Pasta Jays; my favorite restaurant in Moab. Caleb got the cheese tortellone and I got I think it was cream cheese and spinach ravioli. It was delicious but I was sad that I couldn't eat it all. I will have to add pics latter when I can upload them from my phone. That night the city put on a Farmers Market so we wandered around that for a bit then read out books in the shade until it was cool enough to go back to our campground and go to bed. On this trip I read Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and Caleb read The Snowman.

On day two we decided to head to Dead Horse Point and Canyonlands. There is a trail system at Dead Horse Point called the Intrepid Trails. They weren't difficult trails and I probably won't do them again, but it was fun to zip quickly along the trails and overlook the canyon. I do have an ironic story to tell here tho. It starts with last year at Moab. Last year while biking at Klondike Caleb managed to do a hand stand on his bike when he hit a small rock which stopped him immediately. Unbeknownst to us but when this silly oops happened his derailleur broke. We kept biking along and everything was fine for about two or three miles at which point the broken derailleur somehow got stuck in his spokes (don't ask me for more technical explanations of what happened; I am not a bike mechanic). Caleb pulled it out and put a lot of effort into straightening the thing out. It somewhat was working so we continued biking up the slickrock. We got to the top, hiked into Arches, and then decided it was time to go back. We start going downhill and Caleb has to stop because his derailleur has came off! Some nice people on the trail helped us out with a pair of pliers to get the thing completely off the bike and eventually Caleb ends up having to take his entire chain off and just coasts down the entire trail and pushes his bike through all of the flat spots. Since this day we have done plenty of biking and much harder trails. We have never again had a problem with his derailleur until day 2 of this years Moab trip. Here we are on a pretty easy trail with nothing technical when a stupid rock jumps up and hits Caleb's derailleur.

Poor Caleb. Moab hates his derailleurs. Caleb was able to bend it out and finish the trail. It just seems too weird to me that this happened to him two times in a row in Moab and never has he had problems with it anywhere else. Weird! Well after our bike ride we saw all of the sights at Dead Horse Point and wandered around the visitor center. Afterwards we decided we might as well pay another ten bucks to go into Canyonlands since we were only a few miles away and it was still early in the day. A long time ago I had been to Canyonlands and Dead Horse Point but Caleb hadn't so it was fun to see it again and to go together. Pics? Ready,set, go!

Mesa Arch 

Mesa Arch

Whale Rock

Grand View Point

 Day three: we were pretty tired with all of the biking we had done so we didn't want to do anything too difficult. We decided to try the Moab Brand Trails. In order we did these trails: North 40, Circle O, Rockin' A, part of Bar M to the Lazy EZ loop. I really wanted to do the Bar B and Killer B section but by then my body was just too tired, the weather was too hot, and I didn't have enough water. They will have to wait for next time. The day was still pretty young so we had to find something to do. Food sounded good so we headed for the Moab Brewery. It was sooo good! I love food so much and one thing I really love doing with Caleb is going to different places and eating. Here I got Asiago and Garlic Ravioli. Yum! I can't wait to go again and get the Basil Pesto Linguini or Pistachio Crusted Chicken.

The day was pretty young still and we needed plans for the rest of the day. At the city visitor center I found a few ideas so we headed off to see Corona Arch. I don't know how I have been to Moab many, many, times with my family and never been to Corona Arch! It was a pretty short 1.5 mile long hike to a freaking awesome arch. There is a spot that I guess was a tiny bit spooky so maybe that is why I hadn't been there before. I was really excited to see it because a year or so back I found a video of a company that did chartered rope swings from the top of this arch and it looked so awesome! The company no longer is in business due to the dangerous nature of what they were doing and soon after the closure there was an unfortunate accident at this location. I was humbled to be here where I felt small and powerless to nature. If you are interested in watching the video HERE is the link but please be careful and think before you decide to do anything wild. Here are pics of this amazing place! 

From far away. 

Bowtie Arch. Just a short distance from Corona Arch

AKA Little Rainbow Bridge in reference to Rainbow Bridge in Lake Powell

Beautiful

The rest of the day we spent lounging at the park again reading until it got cooler and then we headed to Negro Bill Canyon and hiked to Morning Glory Bridge. It was a fun hike where we crossed a few streams and saw a bunch of tadpoles, fish, and crawdads! When we got to Morning Glory Bridge we ran into the same couple we had talked to earlier that morning at the Moab Brand Trails. Ironic, eh? This was our last night in Moab. We ate at Zax and ate all you can eat pizza, soup and salad. Sadly, this was the most unsavory food we had the whole weekend. Not that it was bad, it just didn't compare to the pasta I had had the days before. They did have honey chicken pizza tho, and that was quite tasty. 

All right what are we on, day 4? Day four we had to come home :( But we were not done biking yet! We got up early in order to do one more trail. We wanted to do Barlett Wash which was supposed to be biking playground where you free ride and get to play around on the slickrock. The trail getting there wasn't hard but we were not sure exactly where we were supposed to go. We rode and rode and rode and didn't even realize that we were already there. We just needed to use our imagination and play wherever we wanted to. We practiced jumping and all sorts of little tricks and had lots of fun. I think we would have had more fun if we were not exhausted and if we had other people there. With more people we would have become a lot more show-offy and probably tried to do crazier stuff. 

Our trip was a blast! I hope we can keep going to Moab in the future even tho in 43 days we are moving to Washington and will then be 952 miles away. There are still trails I want to bike! I want to do the Slickrock Trail again! We especially want to do the trail The Whole Enchilada . This trail has been a must for us ever since last year. We need a shuttle tho to do it which is why we have not yet done it. We need mountain biking friends!! Send them my way if you know of any bikers who are also looking for friends. 

Well world, I have been sitting on my butt too long writing this post. See you all soon! 

Before I go..... 

Rose: I have brownies right now! 

Bud: Caleb said he has 20 bucks burning a whole in his wallet which means we need to go do something! 

Thorn: I work 16 hours this Sunday!