Moab!

Grandma Kathy came with us to Moab this year.  We decided that we would make life a little easier on ourselves and stay in a condo instead of camping.  We shared the condo with the Bunny Browns, Sarah, Levi, Leah, and Sarah's mom Jeanie.  Karen and Tucker Brown and Alex Hois also joined us in Moab.  We even got a short visit with the Ogburns and their friends who were there as well.  It was nice to have so many folks together.

In our past lives, a Moab trip meant riding our bikes ever day until our legs couldn't move any more.  As a result there is a lot of Moab that we haven't really explored.  This year we decided to ride a little less (can't impose on Grandma Kathy's baby sitting ALL the time...) and explore and do a few more things.  That said, when we got in friday afternoon we had to get out for a short ride.  Since we didn't have much time, we headed for known territory and Erin and I rode a nice section of the Sovereign trail.

The next day, Xander, Kathy and I headed out with the crew in the Jeeps (and Toyota, sorry Levi!) while Erin met up with Tina for a hike.

The trails were fun and the scenery was beautiful.

 

We took some time to get out and explore.  Sarah decided to try cliff diving, while Xander experimented with rock climbing!

That evening we had a wonderful dinner with everyone back at the condo.  It was fun to get all the kids together to play.

The next day Tucker and Karen and I headed out early in the Jeep for a trip up Cliffhangar.  Wow, what a trail.  I was really impressed with the capability of the Jeep.  Even without differential locks it could handle a lot.

After the morning Jeep excursion Erin and I headed off with Karen and Tucker, while Kathy and Jeanie took the kids to arches to explore.  We rode the Baby Steps trail, which was really fabulous.  Baby steps was a new trail to us and has fast and curvy single track.  I almost thought I was in Fruita!  There were cactus flowers everywhere.

 

Jeanie and Kathy had a lovely hike through arches and the kids got a chance to play and enjoy.  Kathy liked arches so much that we decided to go back the next day.

On Monday Erin and Alex and I headed out for a morning mountain bike ride.  We were still in pursuit of new trails, so we tried the MOAB Brand trails.  I was a little unsure what these would be like, as the Bar-M Loop is described as a "mellow family ride on a dirt road with rocky sections".  Not usually our style.  However the Circle-O, Rockin' A and Bar-B (get it MOAB...) were reported to be "more difficult".  These trails turned out to be really excellent.  The singletrack sections were fantastic, and there was tons of quality slick rock riding.  Not as much steep up and down as the slick rock trail, but excellent riding surfaces with plenty of whoops to be entertaining.  Very nice.

After lunch back at the condo we met back up with Kathy and Xander and headed back to Arches.  Kathy really wanted to climb up to Double Arch.  We did the short walk in to the arch and then scrambled up the rock face (with Xander in his pack on my back) to the highest point below the arch.  Absolutely beautiful.

 

Afterward we headed for delicate arch and did the long hike to it.  Neither Erin nor I had ever hiked to the arch, we had only seen it years ago from a distant overlook.  It was a much tougher hike that I had realized, and Kathy did an amazing job, having just had knee surgery a month prior.  The arch really is breathtaking.

Tuesday we had to depart so we had a nice breakfast in town, although we discovered the Jail house cafe is closed on Tuesday :(  Oh well, next year.  On the way out of town we drove up to Top of the World which has an amazing view over castle valley.  We then boogied to the Grand Junction airport where Erin dropped me off to fly to Huntsville and she, Kathy and Xander drove back home through some nasty weather in the mountains.