Most fabulous weekend in a long time! Earlier in the summer my friends talked me into doing a triathlon with them at Lake Powell this fall. Knowing it would be a quick trip I begged on my mom to take the kids so we could drive down and back in a weekend. Bless her heart, she almost sounded excited about the idea! Thanks Mom!
Good thing we were kid free because I had this great idea on the way down to read a book from the kindle to Chad. I took Zofran before :) I was reading Edenbrook out loud to him and 1/4 of the way through the book he stops me with the question, "Ok I have to get something straight. You don't really think guys are like this, right?" Hahahahaha. I teased him a bit and kept reading. About 1/2 way through the book he interrupts me again. This time with a "Dang it! I missed our exit!"... 31 miles ago! Ha! He musta been enjoying the good read :) We were so grateful the kids were not in tow that it hardly phased us. We weren't in a hurry! Thanks Mom!
THE TRIATHLON
We obviously had a bit of time on our hands waiting for our heat to start... This is Heather peeking under the Helen bridge while I... I'm not sure what I'm doing.
The bike was gruesome! I'm pretty sure I would call that a mountain that we had to ride up. Too bad I had my road bike.
I couldn't resist adding this little treasure. The run was straight up to a turn around point and then straight back. Look what the photographer caught! Yep. That's me running up to the turn around point while Helen has already passed it and is on her way back. Ha! That's the story of our lives, right there! But what are the chances that an unfamiliar photographer would catch that?!? Hilarious!
Finish line! Ack! After doing the Olympic Triathlon in August I thought this would be a breeze. So I didn't put any electrolytes or anything on my bike. Thought they'd have some on the run... they didn't. Major crampage on the run.
This is NOT a faked pose! I really did hurt!
Yay for good friends and fun memories! Heather got 2nd in her age division, Helen got 2nd in her age division and 5th overall! I got 3rd in my age division. Good job girls! Say we actually train next summer?
HIKING
There were some pretty places down here and the weather was so nice! (other than the snowstorm we drove through coming through the canyon on Hwy 14..." why Hwy 14" you ask? Remember the missed exit?) This was Horseshoe something or other. Appropriately named if my dang camera would actually take a decent picture :( This was a pretty short hike with a spectacular view! We also did one called the Hanging Gardens on Saturday after the triathlon. No backpacks, other than water. Thanks Mom!
Wish I'd gotten some pictures of my favorite waiter ever! We went out to eat on Saturday night at this Mexican/Italian place. Odd combination, yes. The Chef apparently was Mexican but did her training in Italy. Chad said "order something you wouldn't normally" so I forgot to look at prices and bought one of the Italian plates... never been to an Italian restaurant before. I don't remember the name of the dish but it was quite delish! Better have been... it cost almost 19 dollars! Thank goodness we only had to pay for 2 plates! Thanks Mom!
The waiter though. Man talk about dinner and a show. He was hilarious. Never stopped moving... every bit of his body was constantly in motion and he musta been a stage guy on the side cuz his impressions kept coming. The funniest part was that he'd be talking normal (well as normal as a guy with pressured speech speaks) and suddenly he was slipping into an impression and cracking jokes right and left, then suddenly he was talking "normal" again. It made my head spin. And I'm pretty sure it took an average of 90 seconds from the time he told a joke to the time I started laughing. Everything went so fast! And I actually got to pay attention to the menu and the "show". Thanks Mom!
Sunday we went hiking up Wire Rim. This was such a cool hike! It was slot canyons almost the entire way! Coolest looking hike ever! It went in 13 miles. We made it about 4 1/2 before turning back. And we got to decide when to turn around. That never happens. Thanks Mom!
Here in one of the first slot canyons I thought it was an excellent idea to lean towards each other and kiss. Chad... well, he didn't exactly agree.
Haha. It still makes me laugh to think of the look on his face. He mutters "I'm a man!" and before I knew it he had grabbed me! Thanks for being a good sport Helen.
My camera actually took a cool pic! Yeah?
There were some really interesting pictoglyphs on the canyon walls. And some really interesting theories being bounced around about what they meant. Before we realized we were at Pictoglyphs we saw some interesting markings and Helen and Chad were arguing over whether they had been created by someone skipping rocks back when the entire area was under water, or... uh... I can't remember the other theory. Sorry. I must have been too busy laughing.
Adventure is out there!! Shortly after the pictoglyphs we came across this interesting part of the trail. It apparently had rained 2 days before the canyon was full of water in sections. This pic isn't at it's deepest. And I'm about 6 inches shorter than her! Haha. Certain members of our party wanted to turn back at this point (ahem, chad) but we all braved the cold waters. And oooooooh were they cold! No little children were drowned. Thanks Mom!
In the middle of the cracked dessert floor we found this little treasure. Something about, "With God, all things are possible" comes to mind.
A little indentation in the canyon wall had this nice little museum display. Ha!
We also filled our time with activities. Like throwing dirt clods at the canyon walls, lighting fires (I still think you guys are nuts!) And writing inspiring messages in the mud.
Any guesses on the author of this inspirational quote?
MOUNTAIN BIKING
Monday we took our mountain bikes up Rimview Trail. We actually only did half of the trail... twice cuz we heard that side was better so we turned around and did it again. So much fun. I have to admit after coming close to dying a few times in the beginning I got a little nervous. But my bike was new. That's my defense. Once I got comfortable with what it could ride over, oh yes and figured out how to shift the gears (did I mention it was a new bike?) I started to be a bit more gutsy. Helen of course flew. And Chad, the natural athlete, had no problems (grrrr). The trail was narrow in several places and ran along a ridge. I was grateful several times that I didn't have the Chariot behind me. Thanks Mom!
Chad, showing his better side :)
Oh my. It was a rather fun weekend. We camped while we were there and got to use my favorite tent again... our 3 man. I slept warm through the night, which I haven't done while camping in a while! We got to roast beef hotdogs over the fire, which lets face it is the only way to go. We saw many beautiful things, had great company, engaged in some fun activities, were safe, the cars worked well, no one got a flat tire while mountain biking (which may have been a true disaster cuz we'd sent our bike kits home on our road bikes with Heather!) and missed our kids, we did, but we also really thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! Thanks Mom!
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