The One Where We Got There Late

I don't know what it is (maybe the 4 hour drive) about camping in Moab but we always get there after sundown.  It makes it very hard to find an open camp spot and we inevitably end up on the same mesa overlooking the city.  It's a beautiful view in the morning but a little chilly at night.  This trip was no different.  Justin, his dad and I went camping and biking in Moab back in April before it got too hot.  It was our first bike ride of the year so we took it easy and didn't do the big Slick Rock trail.  We hit up the Bar M practice trails which are still really fun.  I even (unknowingly) did part of Dead Man's Loop, yikes!!  I think I surprised myself the most with how well I actually did on that trail.

We also did a short hike out to Corona Arch. 

This arch is famous for being easily accessible for "arch swingers."  People hike to the top basically wearing rock climbing gear and then swing out and through the arch.  It's pretty crazy!  Someone actually died recently on that very arch because they didn't measure the rope correctly.  Ouch!

 *For some reason we didn't take pictures at the Arch so neither of those are mine.  They're from Google.

Sunday morning before we drove home we went to Canyonlands and Justin showed us where he'd been backpacking the month before.  We did a short hike and took some pretty pictures.

The aptly named Canyonlands :)

  Justin and Wes standing on an arch.  Looks totally safe right?

This is the view from below!  There is literally empty space directly below the arch walkway.  Crazy!!  Kinda like the rock bridge Indiana Jones had to cross in the Last Crusade.

 

 Me and Justin on the arch.

I just think this one is cool with the jet flying by.

Justin being silly.  As usual.

A ranger was giving a talk right when we showed up so we learned what all these formations are called.  I already can no longer tell you but it was neat.

Hmmm, this may be the only biking post without pictures of our bikes!

The One with all the Skiing

Justin's uncles all came out to Utah for a long ski vacation.  Justin and I went out with them a few times and got some pretty good skiing in ourselves.  It's official- I'm nowhere near professional but I have a need for speed.  If I were to compete in a Winter Olympic event it would be the downhill because that is fun!!

Jeremy saw these "floating trees" so we stopped to take a few pictures.  Crazy to think we had just skied down through that cloud!

 Left to right: Justin, Wes, Kelly, Jeremy & Mitch

Right to left: Justin, Wes, Kelly, Jeremy & Mitch

I took a few videos of everyone else jumping in the terrain park at Snowbird.  I myself have never ventured into the area and probably won't for another long while.  It does look fun though :)

They're in chronological order.  Justin went first but apparently didn't have enough speed.  I think his outbursts are hilarious!!

Then somehow I caught this guy falling.  I love when people fall!!  It's too funny.  Although it is definitely not funny when I fall myself.

Then Wes had a umm, let's say "impressive" run.

I'd have to say Jeremy had the cleanest run though.

Watching these videos I realize it sounds like an 8 year old little girl narrating.  Rest assured, it's me.  And I'm definitely not 8 :(

The One with the Red Castle

This was the first trip from our backlogged outdoor adventures.  Pioneer Day (the 24th of July) is a state holiday in Utah so Justin and I took advantage of the extra day off for a backpacking trip.  Being so decisive, it took us about a week to decide where to go but we finally decided on Red Castle, a gorgeous rock formation in the Uinta mountains.  We invited Justin's dad to come and drove over Friday night to camp at the trail head.  We pulled in just before sunset, had some tasty banana boats and enjoyed the amazing views of the night sky.

The internet said the trail was only 8 or 8.5 miles long so we thought it would be a decent hike to do Saturday, camp overnight and come back down Sunday morning.  You wouldn't believe it, but sometimes the internet is wrong!  Justin's GPS said that from the trail head to our chosen camp site was actually over 10 miles!!  I was exhausted!!  It was a beautiful hike but I think it was also mosquito hatching season up there.  They came in swarms and we went through almost half a bottle of bug spray!  We still made it up to the rock and camped on the shore of Lower Red Castle lake.  The original plan was to hike the rest of the way up to Upper Red Castle Lake Sunday morning for some awesome photo ops but I think after Saturday's hike Justin was the only one with the energy to make it.  And it was a little snowy.  And by little I mean a LOT snowy.  We passed some other hikers who informed us that Upper Red Castle Lake was still frozen (!!) so you'll all just have to enjoy these pictures from a distance :)



At the trailhead.  You can see how muddy the trail still was.
And how many horses had been through it.

The first look at Red Castle.

This is when Justin and I realized we were wearing matching shirts.

Our awesome campsite...

complete with kitchen/living room, a great view :)

And friends.

Red Castle

Lower Red Castle Lake



 

Not-so-Red Castle in the morning.

This is why we didn't make it all the way to Upper Red Castle
Lake.  If you look just below and right of the center you'll
see the waterfall created by the melting ice.  It was much
bigger in person :)

 



 

 

The One on the 4th of July

I love our country!  I'm so grateful to have been born in America, with its freedoms and privileges.  It is by no means perfect but I prefer it over any other option on earth.  I'm grateful for my ancestors who sacrificed to get here and later fought to keep our country free.

I also love our patriotic holiday.  I love red, white and blue, and fireworks and barbecues and Star Spangled Banners.  The 4th of July usually means I also get to be with my family but this has not been the case for the past 2 years now.  I'm starting to see a trend :(

This year Justin and I had a lazy summer Fourth.  Lazy on the day of; we went camping the weekend before- post to come.  We slept in, caught a Green Lantern matinee (pretty entertaining- it's not Batman but still very good) and had a barbecue with Justin's dad and David Harris.  So much good food!  That was probably one of our best grillin' outs ever :)

Justin and his Padre.

That's a lot of pork.  And super good grilled corn!

The GrillMaster.  Or Master in Training- we're
still working on it :)

Afterward we were debating which park to go watch fireworks at.  There is one within walking distance of our apartment but David heard that the show at the next closest park was going to be spectacular.  So he rode with some friends and Justin, his dad and I hopped on our bikes and rode about a mile to the park.  We found a spot pretty close to the front and got ready for some good ol' American entertainment.  Unfortunately whoever told David that was going to be the best show was wrong.  So very wrong.  It didn't last very long, they didn't turn the park lights off and 2 girls in front of us decided to get in a fight.  Which prompted everyone else to stand up and watch them and block everybody else's view of the fireworks!  Thank goodness there were plenty of police officers out in force so the fight broke up pretty quickly.  I also think it was genius that we rode our bikes because we were able to get out ahead of all the pedestrians who were blocking car traffic.  We made it home so fast that we were able to catch the end of the Bees baseball game firework show which had a much better finale.

Happy (slightly belated) Fourth of July!!  Go America!!