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| Arches National Park |
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| Organ Rock |
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| Balance Rock |
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| Balancing Rock/Skydive Position |
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| Camp Site - Hal Canyon |
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| Delicate Arch |
My friends and I recently took a trip to Moab, Utah where we surprised Rodrigo for his birthday. The girls and I drove separate from Rodrigo and his girlfriend, we left a bit earlier so they wouldn't accidentally pass us on the way down. We met at the Moab Brewery where we did surprise him by hiding behind our menus until he was directly in front of our table. We don't have any hope of being spies because we were laughing the whole time. We tried all of Moab Brewery's beers and had lunch then proceeded on to Arches National Park. We saw lots of rocks and arches... I know exciting right, but the amazing thing was thinking of how long it took the wind to mold these rocks into the sight we were seeing. We desperately wanted to see balance rock fall and I said they add concrete to the balanced portion so it will stay up there. Colleen decided to practice her yoga with a new position which we named balancing rock, due to the fact that Rodrigo was on her back (picture will follow ;) One notable sight at the park was Delicate Arch which is the arch on the Utah license plate, we hiked up a short ways to the viewing point because there was a storm coming in. Once to the view point Emily made the comment we were all thinking, "That's it." We were expecting something a little more aw-inspiring from the arch. We made it back to the are just as the storm was coming in with huge gusts of sandy wind then rain. Since we were camping and we couldn't set up camp while it was camping we decided to head back into town and grab an ice cream. The ice cream trip ended up being a walk around town till we decided on a bar which then became a diner where we got milkshakes. Once the rain let up we headed to our camp site at Hal Canyon on the Colorado River. When we got there it decided to start raining again, such as our luck. I started the fire so it would get hot for dinner then worked on my tent while everyone else was setting up theirs. I love my tent so much because it is so easy and fast to put up the only issues I had were getting the stakes to stay in due to the sandy area but that wasn't the tents fault. For dinner we made what everyone else called hobo dinners of BBQ, chicken, and veggies wrapped in aluminum foil and thrown on the fire grate. We forgot the tongs and flipper so Rodrigo had to use two sticks. The girls added broadcaster commentary to they process which made the job of cooking fun. "He is going in for the flip, and he makes it." "Best flip we have seen today, Barbara." Once dinner was over we had Green Tea Cupcakes and S'mores.
The next morning we woke up make pancakes over the fire in which we had to make a flipper with a paper plate wrapped in aluminum foil. Then we packed up and headed to the airport where we were going to jump out of a perfectly good Cessna plane. We made the jump with Skydive Moab company. There was a video of the man that apparently created tandem skydiving some 30 years ago who had the single most impressive beard I have ever seen, he must have been growing in for 30 years. It was a small Cessna so only two of us could go at a time, which was cool because we got to watch Rodrigo and Colleen land before Emily and I went up. This was everyone's first time but my second, and I'll tell you right now it didn't get easier knowing what was coming, if anything I was more apprehensive. But I had a great tandem partner who helped me relax by keeping it light. He apparently saw a care bear while we were climbing to altitude, I sadly missed it and I will keep a close eye out next time. The jump was exhilarating and scary all at the same time, I loved it. After we jumped I was starving so we went to this awesome little restaurant called Milt's Stop & Eat, we had burgers, onion rings, and shakes at a picnic table on astro turf. The drive home was long due to the fact that I was tired and all my adrenaline had worn off from the jump.
