Moab!

A few weekends ago, Jake and I were lucky enough to take a mini vacation to Moab (pronounced Mo-Ab for you non-Utahns) WITHOUT KIDS!! We planned to bike a trail called Slick Rock and visit Arches National Park.

Now, let me first say that I am not a sissy. I don't like to camp, but I'm not what you'd call "indoors-y". I love outdoor sports like snowboarding, water-skiing, and wakeboarding. I like to bike, and I'm not scared to try new and challenging things.

That being said, I have to admit that I didn't complete the slick rock trail :( It was completely new to me. It was hard. And scary! On the drive down, Jake was telling me that the trail was intermediate. But when we got to the practice loop the first night, and I couldn't coax my borrowed bike down the first hill, he changed the level of difficulty to "intermediate- advanced." The hills were so steep that you had to ride the brakes the whole time, and lean back off your seat over the back tire to keep from flipping over the handlebars. When the downhill ended, you didn't get a nice little flat stretch to recover. Nope, you immediately started up another hill so steep you had to stand up leaning over your handlebars to avoid falling back down! Like I said, scary!

I did finally conquer my fear and race down that first hill, and every hill after on the practice run. I was pumped to hit the main trail the next morning!

And we woke up to snow.

But did we stay in our hotel or spend the day shopping? No way! We were there to ride! So we headed out to the trail. We made it about a third of the way through before I couldn't hide it from Jake any more- I wasn't having any fun! It had started to snow again, and I was covered in mud, and already exhausted. Being the wonderful husband he is, Jake agreed to head back (it was our anniversary trip, after all, and he wanted to keep me happy!). We did the practice loop one more time, then went back to the hotel to rest.
I'll need alot more practice and experience before I'll be able to enjoy Slick Rock!

Sunday we went to Arches. Neither of us had been before, and it's beautiful! We hiked to the famous Delicate Arch by accident (apparently I can't read a map, and told Jake the hike was only .5 mile, when it was actually 3!!) but it was worth it!

Breathtaking! (The view, not me!)

It was so much fun to get away for the weekend. I didn't have worry about the kids being cold, or hungry, or needing a nap. We ate when we were hungry, slept when we were tired, and only had to take care of ourselves!