Another Moab Weekend

Brad and I headed back down to Moab for some more mountain biking and hiking. We did a lot of mountain biking last weekend there but thought some more won't hurt. This time the weather was typical Moab weather--dry, hot and sunny. I believe it was about 95 degrees. It was wonderful. We got down there Friday night and had a fire. On Saturday we relaxed at the campsite making breakfast and reading.Then in the late afternoon we biked the Sovereign Loop. We biked this trail last weekend and loved it. So we did it again.






That evening we cooked some amazing chicken over the fire and had some salt potatos. Then we just hung out by the fire talking. It was the prefect day.
On Sunday we got up and made breakfast again and then headed out to Arches National Park to hike to the Delicate Arch yet again. This was our seventh time hiking to the Arch we decidied and we just can't get enough of it. It is just so cool.
After our hike we headed to Colorado to do some mountain bike. We took the scenic route from Moab to Colorado through the Colorado River gorge. It was so pretty with the Colorado river and Moab's red rock.
In Colorado, we biked a georgous trail which had great views of the Colorado River.




All in all it was a great weekend with no rain. We relaxed and got in some great mountain biking.

Rainy Moab

Brad and I finally broke out the tent and camping equipment. It was great to sleep on the ground again in the great out doors. We just did a quick weekend trip to Moab to get in some mountain biking. Moab is usually 100+ degrees but the weekend was rainy and on the cool side. It was the prefect temperature for mountain biking when it wasn't raining.
On Saturday we went for a ride but had to turn around due to the fact we saw a storm coming our way. We got in a couple miles and going back to the car was going to be quick because it was mostly down hill but we didn't make it.

We were about a mile from the car when it started to pour fat heavy cold rain drops. And then when we were about a quarter of a mile from the car is started to hail. Yes, hail in Moab in the middle of June. We got to the car dropped our bikes and got in out of the rain. This ride is defiantly going down in the record books. We waited for the rain to stop then we packed up our bikes, changed into dry clothes and drove out of the canyon. On our way out of the canyon there were a bunch of waterfalls. It was so pretty. We never saw Moab after a rain like that before (because it is always so dry).
We decided to ride a trail since the rain has come and gone. We tried another slickrock trail. It was kind of disappointing seeing how the trail wasn't marked really well but we had fun just riding around on the rock.




That night while cooking dinner it rained some more but we still had a fire and enjoyed our meal. We cooked the best chicken.
It rained most of the night but was nice to hear it coming down while in the tent. In the morning we decided to go for another bike ride before heading back to Salt Lake. We took our time packing up our gear and we discovered and talked with people who where from Ithaca, NY who were out here mountain biking. So we gave them suggestions of what to ride.
We got to the trail head and we could see another storm but we didn't think it was heading our way so we decided to start our ride. 10 minutes into the ride I turn around to see the black clouds right behind us. We didn't make it back to the car before it poured on us again for the second time this weekend. We just laughed, dropped our bike and climbed into the car out of the rain. After about 20 the storm was over and we changed our clothes, and had lunch while we waited for the trail to dry out. Then we got back onto our bikes and got a great ride in. The loop we ended up doing was about 8 miles. The weather cooperated and it was hot and sunny the whole ride.


We were both beat by time we got back to our car. We packed up our bikes and headed into town to get a bit to eat before driving back to Salt Lake. Even with the rain it was a good weekend. We got to enjoy the outdoors and got some good rides in. So we can't complain.
More picture are to the right!

Mexican Riviera Cruise

Brad and I recently took a week off to go on a cruise to the Mexican Riviera. We left from LA and went to Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta.




This was my very first cruise so I didn't know what to expect but it was a great time.
First of all the cruise ship was huge. It had a casino, shops, bars, 6 hot tubs, 3 pools, a workout center, an ice rink, a theater, a basketball court.

Adult Pool

Pool and Hot Tubs

Royal Promenade
The main things we did on the cruise was sit in the sun, eat, see the sights, eat, go to shows and eat. Did I mention that we ate a lot. Every night we had dinner in the formal dining room. We had steak, prime rib, turkey, lobster and then for desert we had cakes, cheesecakes, ice cream. I am shocked I am not 20 lbs heavier because we ate and ate some more. The food was excellent. The best part was that we ordered more than one entrée and 3 desserts every night. They had a cafeteria on the ship where we could eat but we got the good food at the dinner room. They also had a café with sandwiches, cakes, and pizza which we could eat at 24 hours a day. We stopped there regularly too. Every night they also had show we could attend. They had comedians, singers and dancers, the newlywed game. All the shows were very entertaining. As for sitting in the sun the ship had a ton on deck chairs so it wasn’t a problem to find a spot. Also with the ship being so huge we could get away from people if we wanted too. They also had an adult section with 2 hot tubs, and a pool so we didn’t have to be around children. It was nice. The cruise didn’t have a lot of children on it because school is still in session so that made it even more enjoyable.
It was a little on the chilly side when we left LA but once we started heading south the weather warmed right up. In Cabo it was easily 90 and HOT HOT HOT! Mexico was exactly how I pictured it. Dirty and hot. How it is on tv is how it is. They make their money selling souvenirs to tourist so while you are walking the streets you are being hounded to buy stuff. That got old really fast. Our first port was Cabo San Lucas, like I said before it was hot. We did a kayaking trip (through the cruise ship) to see Los Arcos which is a rock arch in the middle of the water.
Los Arcos
After our kayaking trip we sat on the beach and then walked around the town and got something to eat.
Our next port was Mazatlan. We did a shore excursion through the cruise where we went to a beach for 5 hours and ate and drank the whole time. It was wonderful. After our time at the beach we took a taxi into the city. It was really dirty but it great to see how people live in the other parts of the world.
Mazatlan

The Beach we hung out at

Relaxing

The Beach
Our last port was Puerto Vallarta we did a sightseeing tour once we got on land. It was fun we saw a lot. The food was really good here too.





It is amazing how different all three ports were. Cabo was dry and very desert like, Mazatlan was very poor and dirty and Puerto Vallarta was very touristy and built up.
All in all the trip was great and exactly what Brad and I needed. We haven't been to the beach in three years and it was nice to get away for a long time.

09-10 Ski Season

Brad and I ended our 09-10 ski season this weekend. We can't believe how great of a season it was. We did a lot of skiing. I skied 20 day and Brad skied 23 days. We had wonderful weather and skied at least 7 powder days. We didn't ski as many resorts as we did in past seasons but we did ski Solitude, Brighton, Targhee, and the Canyons. The best ski day I would have to say was skiing Easter. Brad and I never skied such light and fluffy powder before. See the post and pictures in prior post.
Now it is time to get our camping, hiking and mountain biking stuff out. It's going to be a great spring :)

Amazing Skiing!!!

Brad and I spent the weekend skiing. Utah has been getting hit with Pacific storms since Wednesday night and the skiing has been wonderful. Since April 1st we have gotten more then 45 inches (yes almost 4 ft)of new snow in the mountains and it is still coming down. Most people who live in Utah don't like to ski in April (due to poor conditions) and all the tourist stop coming to Utah to ski, so the ski resorts are pretty empty.
Our amazing ski weekend started out at Solitude where we had a powder day on with about 5 inches of fresh snow. It was great with hardly anybody on the mountain and the a ton of fresh snow. Brad and I woke up early and got to the mountain as it opened and skied hard for about 4 hours (and until the snow got skied out). After those 4 hours we were both exhausted and our legs were burning. It was wonderful. We ate and rehydrate ourselves then headed down the canyon. We were so beat that Brad and I both took a 2 hour nap before we had enough energy to shower and go to dinner at our friends Wes and Shannon's place.
Happy Easter!!! On Sunday we woke up to snow in the valley. It was so pretty.
Brad and I were beat from skiing the day before and from our night with Wes and Shannon but I got up and checked the snow report and couldn't believe we got 7 inches of snow over night. Two powder days in a row is uncommon. So we got out of bed and ready to go in record time and headed to the Canyons ski resort. We skied first tracks (which means we were the first people down the run) and skied the same run until lunch.



Like Solitude the day before with it being Easter and the end of tourist season there were hardly any skiers. Brad and I were the only people skiing this one run for about an hour and a half, and once people did find our run we head for the trees and skied there since nobody else was skiing them.









Brad and I have skied at least a dozen powder days in the three ski seasons we have been in Utah but we never skied such fluffy and light snow before. It was just amazing. We skied powder all day and had a great time. At 4 pm when they kicked us off the mountain we went down to the base area where the Canyon's had a free concert and drank a beer.


We still have one more weekend to ski (most all the resorts close April 11th) and then our 2010 ski season will done.

Check out all the pictures I took on Easter to the right of this blog.