Moab

In January we booked a hotel down in Moab to go on a trip with the Robert's (our friends from medical school).  But because of the virus, we didn't know if it would actually happen.  But as it got closer, we decided to go ahead with the trip.  So in June, we went on a vacation to Moab.

The Robert's live in Pueblo, Colorado and have 3 kids.  Charley is Sophie's age.  Brinn is Aspen's age.  And Theron is Luke's age.  So the kids ages and genders all matched perfectly.

The first night we stayed in Green River.  The next morning we met to raft Swasey's on the Green River.  We borrowed Isaac's parent's raft and trailer.  The trailer is a piece of crap, and I was worried it would break the whole way down there.  But I was really worried it wouldn't be able to handle the dirt road to the put in.  Our van and ghetto trailer made it there.  And after a really long time blowing things up (largely due to a baby that needed to be held the whole time), we finally launched.

           

           

Isaac stayed off with Hazel.  And I rowed the raft with Kjirsten and all the kids.  Brad was on a Stand Up Paddleboard (SUP).  The river was really flat with very few rapids, but the kids had a lot of fun playing.  About half way down we met Isaac for lunch and then I switched him places.  He got to go on the bigger rapids, but there weren't really very many.

Then we went out for dinner at the Tamarisk.  It was delicious.  And headed down to Moab.

Isaac wanted to camp, but I told him he was crazy because it would be crazy hot and we had a baby.  So we stayed in a hotel with a nice pool.  We would have died without the hotel.  It was sooooo hot down there.  We went through so much water and ICE.  The hotel ice maker was a life saver.  Anyway...

              

             

             

             

On Sunday we went to Arches. I don't think we have been to Arches since Sophie was almost 2 and I was pregnant with Aspen.  We decided to hike to Delicate Arch.  It is about a 3 mile round trip hike.  It was the perfect length for our little kids.  But it was HOT.  By the end we had finished all of our water.  We went to a picnic spot for lunch and then decided to go back to the hotel.  

                                

We then went swimming in the pool that afternoon.  

               

And later we went to a park on the Colorado River for a BBQ dinner.  The food was good, but a lot of work.  But the park had cool fake rocks the kids had fun climbing.

               

                               

The next day we got up and ran the Moab Daily river.  This time I stayed off with Hazel.  Isaac was supposed to meet me half way and then we would switch.  I got to the half way place really quickly and had to hang out with Hazel for 3 hours.  It was terrible.  She fell asleep in the car and I carried her to the shade.  I thought she would take a nice long nap, but after about 10 minutes a bus full of guided rafters came and woke her up.  I couldn't get her back to sleep.  And she's at a terrible age now because you can't put her down outside or she eats dirt, stick, rocks, etc.  But she doesn't want to be held, so she squirms to get away the whole time.  I was super grumpy by the time they met me for lunch. 

             

               

But then we switched places and I took the kids the rest of the way down the river.  They had fun going on the ducky and splashing around.  But there were hardly any rapids.  And the afternoon wind picked up, so I had to row hard the whole time just to go downstream.

              

              

But the kids had a ton of fun, and especially liked playing on the beach while we set up, cleaned up, and ran shuttle.

That night we went to a hamburger place called Milt's.  It was terrible.  It was kind-of a hole in the wall diner that just had tables outside.  But there were some really big trees over the tables that kept dropping clumps of flying ants all over us and the food.  And the fries were nasty.  They were gray and completely drenched in oil.  Yuck.  Never going back to that restaurant.

On Tuesday we went biking along the Colorado River pathway.  The girls biked really well, and Theron really like biking and did great.  Luke on the other hand was struggling.  He was obviously really tired, so we had to work hard to keep him moving.  We biked from the hotel to the end of the pathway (maybe about 4 miles round trip).  But we had to cross the busy highway on the way back and Luke wasn't being safe, so he got in trouble and then he lost it.  So we went back to the hotel to rest.  Then later we went swimming.  The kids had so much fun swimming.  Sophie used her snorkel a lot.  

That night we went out for pizza.  It was yummy.  And the kids always eat pizza well, which is a bonus.

                            

                            

               

               

After dinner, we went back to Arches to try and avoid the heat.  We ended up hiking the loop with the Windows and Double Arch.  It is a really nice section because there are lots of arches that only have really short hikes to get to.  By the end Luke and Theron were pretty hammered.  And Hazel was starting to seem a little off.  She still nurses most of the time and won't take a sippy cup and doesn't know how to drink from a straw at all, so I was worried she was getting dehydrated.

             

             

             

             

In the middle of the night that night I got up with Hazel and she was burning up.  So the next day I decided to stay at the hotel with Hazel.  Everyone else went biking at Dead Horse Point.  Isaac said that Luke and Theron weren't handling the bike path very well, so Kjirsten took them back to the visitor center with Isaac, Brad, and the girls went for a bike ride.  Apparently they all did really well.  

Isaac bought the kids each a stuffed animal at the visitor's center and the kids were thrilled about that.  

                            

Then they came back and floated part of the Moab Daily again.  I drove shuttle and then went back to the hotel with Hazel.  So I spent most of the day watching HGTV.  But it was good for Hazel to get some rest and drink better.  

That night we went out to dinner at a really yummy Mexican Restaurant.  Unfortunately I can't remember what it was called.

On Thursday morning Isaac and Brad woke up early and biked Slick Rock.  I have biked it before, and know that it isn't easy.  They were gone a lot longer than they expected, but they made it.  Kjirsten and I took the kids swimming in the pool one last time and packed everything up.  

Then we drove home.  But it was such a fun trip.  The kids all played so well together.  It's so much fun watching your kids make instant friends like that.  The Robert kids were also very well behaved and have a lot in common with us, so it was easy to vacation with them (although we were always late to meet them every day.  Having a baby slowed us down so that no matter how hard we tried, we were always late).  I hope that we can make it a yearly tradition to meet them somewhere for a vacation.