Moab 2008

Memorial Day Weekend 2008

We ventured down to Moab Utah, 4 wheel drive capital of somewhere they say. Well we were delayed a bit thru Spanish Fork canyon due to a deadly accident, finally got down to Moab at 11:00 p.m. Just in time to hit the sack. Saturday's trip was planned out to be white water rafting on the Colorado River. Our guide Carly wasn't in such good shape, 1/2 way thru the trip, she ended up throwing up in the boat. Not such a good thing to do when the boat doesn't have a drain, nonetheless, we made the best of it. The River was running the fastest it's ran since 1983 they said. Not a lot of rapids as the river was simply too high, oh well. Next time!!

Our vacation was spent with the Benson's. We had planned on hiking in Arches National Park the next day. Sunday we awoke to nice cool temps and not a cloud in the sky. Got started in Arches at around 10:00 or so, the crowds were enormous, although given Arches size, not a lot of people on the trails that we ran across. Hiked up to Landscape arch first. Gorgeous arch, then up to Partition Arch, took some family pics and back down to the parking lot. The Park Ranger showed up next to our cars, lo and behold it wasn't for us, but the cars that were parking illegally close to us. As the Ranger was standing there, I asked her if they had any campsites available for this evening. We didn't make hotel reservations for Sunday night because we didn't know if we'd stay. Well they did have 2 sites available. So I rode over with the Ranger to the campground to put the paperwork in for the site. The Benson's took off at this time. Dave came down the previous Tuesday and rode his bike (unsupported) from Fruita CO down to Moab, UT, a 100+ mile trip, good job Dave!! His friend Jessie and his girlfriend Lou stayed behind with us as we ventured over to our next hike.

Delicate Arch, what can you say other than WOW!! What a beautiful arch and a gorgeous hike up to see it. Although I do believe it's higher than a 480' elevation gain as they say on their paperwork. Our GPS Navigator Justin didn't bring it along on this hike.

Back to the campground to pick up our car then out to eat, what a meal that was at Pasta Jay's. Great to spend time with Jessie and Lou.

Now on to the fun of the campground. Arches is set up beautifully. Our site # was #1, set off from the rest of the campground around all the rocks. Got our tents set up and sleeping bags thrown in and the boys started the fire. Words can't describe the atmosphere around the area. While we were setting up camp a lone deer showed up and just looked around and walked off. Again, gorgeous.

Got up Monday and broke down camp and headed home. ahhh, our own bed and pillows.

Kids are off school now so let the summer begin.

The Meihls