canyonlands in a day

this was our 3rd attempt at a vacation. we were planning to drive down on monday (memorial day), play all day tuesday, and drive home on wednesday. we'd booked a hotel room and rented a jeep for exploring/driving to hikes. pace did really well on the drive down thanks to my mom entertaining him in the back seat. we made good time on the drive, and decided to stop in and hike around canyonlands before heading to moab, as it was too early to check in to our hotel.

we drove around the park, had a picnic lunch, and did a little hour-long hike. we inaugurated the hiking backpack, and pace loved it! he was so happy being above everything and able to look around. it was actually very windy, and sort of chilly and overcast on monday. the park ranger said there had just been a snow storm in the la salles on saturday. the green and colorado rivers are already flooding, and the run-off from the snow pack hasn't even hit yet!

happy little camper!

the white rim trail is down there--daivd was eyeing it.

more happy campers!

that night david and i went on a jet boat tour up the colorado river. it was a fun date! we had a dinner and then loaded the boat when it was just getting dark...and a little cold! we rode up river, with the guide pointing out faces in the rocks, and fun features. on the way back down river, it was completely dark, and they had music choreographed to go along with a light show, showcasing the cliffs and rocks. they had a driver on the road next to the river, with lights in the back of the truck. it was really very pretty.

we got back from the show around 1030, and pace had just woken up crying, and my mom was uncomfortable in the hotel. i'll admit, it wasn't a 5-star place, and it was definitely a lower quality than i was expecting. there had apparently been a scuffle with a cockroach while we were out; you could hear the other hotelers on the other side of the walls/walking around above us; my mom wasn't interested in the jeeping excursions; once pace started crying, it just escalated into a full out meltdown (screaming from 1030pm until 1am--i was sure we'd woken up every other resident within a 3-mile radius); i'd had probably a total of 6-7 hours of sleep the past two nights (pace was up a lot for some reason); in the middle of pace melting down, he threw up 3 times (i'm pretty sure he can't tolerate apples, and that had been on the dinner menu for him)...there were a lot of frustrating factors that night.

so at 1am when david said, "michal, we can go home if you want to, but we'd have to leave now, i can't do it later," i jumped at the chance and said, "yes--let's bag this whole thing and just go home." pace screamed while we were loading up the car, driving down moab main street, and for probably a good 30-45 minutes more in the car before he finally fell asleep. we got home at 4am, and pace woke up screaming. he finally went down and i think i was in bed by 5am. we all slept until 10. except for pace, who was up and ready to go around 630/7. crazy kid.

3 weeks of vacation crammed into 3 days

attempt #4 at a true vacation. we went back to moab to try and do the vacation we'd gotten rained out of three weeks prior. we went down with brian, heather, and their daughter katelyn, and jake (his wife lisa couldn't make it this time). brian loves dirt biking, so he brought the bikes and helmets. jake does canyoneering tours professionally, so he brought his expertise and gear to see the inside of moab. david was set for some fun!--keep going to check out the next two posts about canyoneering.

we got there thursday night, had all day friday to play, and planned to leave saturday afternoon. we stayed at slickrock campgrounds, which are pretty nice, considering we were camping! they have large bathroom buildings with flushing toilets, running water, and showers. campsites range from full rv sites, water/electric hook-ups only, or tent sites. we rented a water/electric site for brian and heather's trailer, and the rest of us just set up our tents on the same site.

successful ride down--pace slept for probably 2.5 of the 3 hours. he loves this little hippo.

the west side of white rim trail was still closed due to flooding, so instead of riding that, the guys planned a full day of fun. first: mountain bike ride along slick rock trail before sun is up. they came back for breakfast around 930. second: do the slot canyon with repels down to morning glory arch. third: dirt bike to gemini arches. david had wanted to get another bike ride in, but they didn't get back from dirt biking until 930pm--shower and hit the sack!

pace's pack-n-play doesn't fit in our tent, so we brought his little hamper as a "crib". he was slightly too big for it, and although i brought a ton of blankets to be comfy cozy for him, he sort of squashed the blankets and wasn't comfortable at all in the set up. so we rolled up a sleeping bag for him so it'd be fluffy on top, and it worked. of course, david and i were a little chilly that night, minus one sleeping bag. and i kept waking up to make sure pace hadn't turned over or gotten suffocated by the fluffy bag. heather found they had accidentally packed 6 bags total, so they lent us one the next night, and everyone slept much better.

pace's new favorite song: itsy bitsy spider. he especially loves when we do the little motions.

on saturday we had to check out by 11, so we spent the morning de-camping, and then brian and heather took off to price to see her family, and jake and david wanted to get one more ride in. we went to dead horse point and they did a 9-mile ride, and pace and i walked around the visitor's center, and then did a little walk out to the colorado river overlook point. he got another good nap in.

overall a great trip! pace did really well--slept well at night, napped well during the day, handled the car rides pretty well. the ride down was great, as he slept most of the way. the ride back was a little rough on him, but we made it. he's done after about 2 hours in the car, so if he's awake for any of that, and if it's a longer ride than 2 hours, it's a little hard.

you know a vacation is good when it's hard to get back to your normal life, instead of wishing for your normal life to start again!

a few reasons to fall in love with southern utah

i was there

destination: morning glory arch. arrival: by foot and by rope. heather and i hiked in with the kids on negro bill canyon trail. the guys parked at the top of another trail, hiked through slot canyons, repelled a few cliffs, and met us under the arch. how about that for adventure?!

(quick interjection for a funny story: the tuesday after we got home, i woke up around 4 or so to feed pace, and my right arm started itching. i itched it, but also felt bumps. after i fed him and put him back down, i went to the bathroom to take a look. i had what looked like hives on my arm, on the outside of the crook of the arm. i put on some hydrocortisone and went back to bed. when i woke up, the hives had turned into this small, bumpy rash about the size of a quarter. somewhat itchy, but not bad. i thought i'd just wait and see. it got really itchy that night, and only got worse when i put on more hydrocortisone. so i itched it. i woke up the next morning to more bumps spreading along my arm. i'd had poison ivy before, and this didn't look anything like it. skin things make me nervous, and since this skin thing was spreading, i decided to call the dr. the more i thought about it, the less i wanted to go--"i had worked for dr's for nearly 10 years! all he's going to do is tell me it's something like poison ivy." i thought. so i looked up images of poison ivy online, and they all looked different, and none like my rash. i decided since they were all different from each other, mine very well could be poison ivy. so then i googled "is there poison ivy in moab?" guess what?!--the very first link that came up was to the negro bill canyon trail advising hikers to be careful, that the trail was full of poison ivy! mystery solved. i just put on calamine lotion, and it dried right up.)

heather and i started in the parking lot (the traditional way). when we got out of the car, we noticed a rainbow going across the sky and another rainbow halo around the sun. we were hoping that meant good fortune for our hike, and not something like encountering storms, deadly snakes, or pirates along the way.




we made it to the arch with kids in tow! the rest of my photos from the hike are in the previous post. the hiking backpack was very comfortable, i felt great using it with pace, and he loves it! he falls asleep every time in it.

we couldn't have made more perfect timing. it took us about 2 hours to hike in to the arch, and we sat down wondering if we'd already missed the guys, and if we hadn't, how much longer they'd be, how they were doing, etc. we had walkie-talkies, but when mine was on, david's was off, and when david's was on, mine was off. apparently. we never communicated successfully through the walkies. too bad. we had arrived, i was feeding pace, and about 10 minutes later, we hear someone yodeling. crazy brian. then a rope came off the side of the cliff. here they come!

their hike in, starting at the top and working their way down. courtesy brian's camera for their journey through the rock:

always a good idea to meditate/do yoga while canyoneering...

jake's at the top, throwing a rope down.

here come the descents. this was the final repel down the cliff by the arch where heather and i were waiting. i think it's about 90ft to the ground. right before they guys came down, another group of hikers came in with little kids. they stayed and watched the repelling show, which they thought was awesome! i'm sure it made the guys feel like superstars--the families were taking photos, congratulating them when they made it down, and "ooohhhh-ing" and "aaahhhh-ing" their descents!

brian was first to come down.

then david. i documented the entire thing--he's afraid of heights, so this was pretty monumental...

finally to the free-hang. david let out a few involuntary yelps at this point. i think i would have, too, with my feet dangling 60 ft in the air!

about 10 ft off the ground--you can breathe again!!

yep, that's where you just came from!

"i was there!"

my camera wasn't fast enough to catch jake. he is such a unassuming, softspoken, humble, mellow guy, but you get him on a cliff with gear, and he turns into a super-billy-goat-spiderman-hero. he was completely at home on the cliffs, nimbly hopping over the edge, and then--bam!--he flipped over, and flew down the rope head first. what a show!

he was on the ground before my camera was ready for another photo!

we all ended up hiking out together, squeezed in our car back to the campground, and then the guys went back out to get brian's truck. lunch anyone?

spring has sprung

i finished the series a few weeks ago--now we just have to hang it on the right wall in pace's room. fall is my favorite, with winter being the runner up. they seem cleaner to me, not so busy.