How did Utah get to be so awesome?

We did it!  We left the comfort of our little Boulder home-away-from-home 6 months to the day that we originally left Maine.  We were sad to say by to Brandon, Lynne, and the pups but so excited for this next chapter!

Our first stop was Moab where we camped along the banks of the Colorado River at the trailhead for one of the super popular mountain biking spots.  As we sat there cooking our dinner, Search & Rescue pulled up and spent the next several hours getting an injured biker from somewhere out there on the trail.  Needless to say, that area was crossed off my list for our later biking adventures.  We had a nice warm night to gently ease ourselves back into truck living before it turned wet and frigid the next two days.

Stopping along the Colorado River

Our scenic drive in to Moab

See how warm and cozy I was?  Not for long. . . 

We went to Arches in the rain and managed to squeeze in a long hike in the afternoon between showers.  It actually turned out to be good hiking weather, but it was pretty iffy for a while.

That's Delicate Arch in the background.

In the pouring rain, we chose the 1/2 mile loop instead of the 3 mile hike in to the arch.

Landscape Arch

View from the trail

Partition arch (there was another mini one next to it)

Black arch

Double O arch

The Dark Angel

We saved our mountain biking for the next day since it was technically dry, but only because it was cold enough to snow on us.  We'd come all that way just to bike, so we headed out to the Moab Brands area and biked around getting a good sample of the types of biking out there.

I could only bike so long before the bumpy slickrock took its toll, so that afternoon we went to Canyonlands for a driving tour of the park (and to get another stamp in my little passport). 

Mesa arch

Apparently I can't look into the overcast direction of the sun for more than a second

Ok.  Now this brings us to Tuesday, right?  We had a long drive through Utah, checking off Capitol Reef and Bryce Canyon in one day to get us camped out near Zion.  

One and only shot of Capitol Reef

Amphitheater

Natural Arch

We spent Wednesday and Thursday in Zion, hiking and having a great time in what is now my favorite national park.  BUT. . . you're going to have to wait for those photos!  We're now in Las Vegas about to meet up with Sean and Danielle for the weekend so there will be much, much more to come soon!