Memorial Day Weekend... In MOAB!!

Warning: BILLIONS OF PICTURES

A few months ago, my parents mentioned they might have plans over Memorial Day weekend, so I had told Kim that I would have to skip the Wyoming race as I likely would not have a babysitter. Instead, I asked Ariel what SHE wanted to do over the holiday weekend. Turns out, she really wanted to go to Moab (I guess I make it sound REALLY awesome).

Turns out my parents didn't go anywhere, so I hemmed and hawed about running with the girls, but ultimately decided time with A was more important.

Friday

I worked a short day so that I could get the car packed up in hopes that we would miss traffic in the mountains and get to the camp site before dark. My dad had decided to go out the day before to try and get a camping spot and to ride his bike for a few days. Luckily, he had gotten THE VERY LAST camping spot. Moab is hoppin' on long weekends!

We did NOT hit traffic, and made it to Grand Junction in time for dinner. GIRLS WEEKEND! 

A was pretty pumped about her first trip to Utah, so of COURSE we pulled over and did some roadside pictures:

We made pretty good time and got to the camp site just at dusk. Just enough time to get a picture of A in front of the tent. LOVED OUR VIEW. 

Saturday

We had gone to bed pretty early. With no cell phone service in the canyon and it being dark there wasn't much to do. We were up just before 6, when the sun came up. My dad took us to Arches National Park.
 

Balanced Rock

And then we hiked up to Delicate Arch

The hike round trip was just over 3 miles. We continued on to Devil's Garden. The parking lot there was full and we had to park on the street about a quarter mile from the trail head to hike to the Landscape Bridge. Rumor has it that when I was a kid people could still walk up to it. My dad swears that there is a picture of us eating lunch under this. 15 or so years ago, some pieces of the bridge broke off (luckily, not hurting anyone) so this was as close as we could get:

 

A and my dad (LOVE this picture)

 

We drove back into town and got a quick lunch (at McDonald's, ew). I wasn't able to bring my bike with me as I don't have a bike rack and apparently my front wheel doesn't come off. So while my Dad and A rode their bikes, I went for a short (2.4ish mile) run. It was HOT. Over 90 degrees. Nothing hurt, but I was tired. The bike path was pretty:

Unsure of what to do, we went to the Visitor Center to find out what was INSIDE nearby. We decided to head to the Moab Museum, which was a lot of fun, AND it was air conditioned. By 4:45 we were famished and headed to Zax for the pizza buffet! After dinner we drove up to Canyonlands and went to Grand View Point. We assumed there was just a view, but A found a trail and we ended up hiking another two miles!

BEAUTIFUL.

By the time we left Canyonlands it was already sunset. It was an hour-ish drive back to the campsite, so we went right to bed.

Sunday

My dad had to leave in the morning to head back to Denver. He had plans on running the BolderBoulder (never again for me!) so we were on our own for the day.

A and I decided to go on another hike. We headed out at 7:30 up the Negro Bill Canyon to the Morning Glory Bridge.

This was probably my favorite hike of all. We had gone out so early that it was mostly just me and A the entire time. We had a blast with the EIGHTEEN total river crossings. The trail was fairly shaded in the beginning so it was not as hot as the exposed hiking we had done in Arches and Canyonlands. We saw over 15 lizards on this one!

Another 5.3 miles done, and we headed into town. We did a bit of shopping and then headed to the Slickrock Cafe for lunch. Not the best food or fastest service, but I hadn't been there before so we tried it out.

After lunch we hit up the Arts & Craft Festival in the park on the way to the municipal pool. A had a blast jumping off the high dive (she even convinced me to jump off once).

We had dinner at my FAVORITE Moab restaurant, the Moab Brewery. After dinner, it was time to head back to the campsite, where A reminded me that I had failed to get a picture of our campsite "bathroom"

I was a bit worried heading out with no agenda. We ended up having THE BEST time. I'm so glad I spent the weekend with A, she is the best.