expecting desert, we were pleasantly surprised at how green and wooded the mountains are.
we decided to take a hike up to a mountain lake. (i forget the name of the lake). we enjoyed the pine fresh air, the wildflowers and the beautiful aspen trees. brian decided to take a dip in the lake which was way too cold for me. in fact i had goosebumps and i didn't even go in the water.
after our hike we got a hold of noah and siemay who were just pulling into town. we met them for a nice dinner in town and got caught up. it was so great to see them... they are some of our closest friends. i only wish we lived closer to each other so we could spend more time together... especially since they are having a baby in about 6 weeks!
we were all pretty sleepy after a day of traveling and headed back to camp after dinner. i had my doubts about the quality of the cheap $30 tent brian purchased, but it seemed to do the job for the first night.
(prime camping spot right next to the creek)
after a leisurely breakfast and coffee the next morning we ventured out to check out the rock climbing. the guys were excited about the quality of the rock. siemay and i warmed up on some easier 5'10ish climbs. she couldn't exert too much energy being 32 weeks pregnant, and by the time we moved on to harder climbs, i was too cold to motivate to try much. we did venture over to some more 5'10's and were ready to do some more climbing, but it started raining.
(this is brian on a hard climb)
because of the cold rain we decided to forego the tent sleeping and take noah and siemay up on their offer to let us sleep in the camper. siemay cooked us up a dinner of mein, beef and vegetables and we played game after game of boggle as we listened to the rain hit the camper roof. surprisingly, when i peeked out the window later, the rain had turned to snow!
the next morning the snow had melted on the ground, but the highest mountain peaks were now covered. beautiful!
rich pulled up to our campsite, and it was great to see him as the last time we saw him was almost 2 yrs ago at noah and siemay's wedding. the 5 of us decided to go down to moab to get some coffee. we left the mountain with down jackets and hats, and when we stepped out of the car in moab it was hot! like 90 degrees hot.
we got coffee and juice at a local coffee shop and then went to big bend where there were some great boulders we played around on. later in the afternoon we went back up the mountain and brian and i took a beautiful hike on the trans mountain trail. the aspens were gorgeous as were the freshly snow capped mountain peaks. brian and i found a beautiful and peaceful spot amongst the wildflowers and a babbling brook.
(like brian said, 'two bumps on a log')
after our hike, we met up with the rest of our friends and began cooking up dinner in the camper. we ate some good food and celebrated rich's birthday.
(siemay is SO thoughtful!)
(this is rich before the "marshmallow challenge")
(this is rich after successfully completing the "marshmallow challenge" despite being tricked by brian who didn't mention that he had "jumbo" marshmallows. this gave us all some great entertainment!)
the next day we had a nice day climbing. after i tired out from climbing i decided to take a hike. soon after i began my hike, i realized just how tired i was. all i could focus on was completing my hike so that i could get back and eat my gluten free muffin!
our final day in moab was spent hiking around the arches. it was hot!... but beautiful!
siemay only hiked part of the way with us because she was having some braxton hicks contractions.
i followed the guys up to the top of the arches. halfway up, i realized that i was going to have a difficult time climbing down. when we got to the top i saw chains meaning that most people used a rope to get up to where we were... we didn't have a rope. and i was wearing sandals. and the rock was burning my hands.
so i kind of freaked out a bit... actually i was contemplating my funeral. it would have been easy for me to start panicking (maybe i did a little). thankfully brian and noah totally helped me out. noah climbed down beneath me and blew the sand off of the holds while brian stayed close to me in case i needed to grab onto him.
i was sure happy to be back on the ground and alive! and i was thankful to have such good friends willing to put themselves in danger to help me feel secure. (And a God who protected me... i was really pretty scared!)
after our hike we were super hot and went across the street to hang out at the river. the current was strong. the guys jumped in while siemay and i dipped our feet in. we had a very funny experience with a passing tour boat that will probably be a story that we will laugh about for years. i can't describe it on here as it's not exactly rated for general audiences.
during lunch at a local restaurant we discussed how fun it would be to all purchase some land together and build separate homes and have our kids grow up together. hopefully one day!
