peace out, moab

Since we haven't yet figured out how to live in Moab full-time, we had to at last pack up and go home.  But not before hitting the trails one last time.  First, however, we had breakfast at the Peace Tree Cafe (fruit, yogurt and granola; and a quinoa bowl with brown sugar, walnuts and dried cranberries).  Peace Tree is also a juice bar and they had some great-sounding smoothies on their menu; I was really tempted to get one but wasn't sure a smoothie would give me enough get-up-and-go for getting around the MOAB Brand Trails.  Perhaps next time.

Here comes the weather

When we got to the trails around 9 a.m., there were only ten other vehicles in the lot.  It was overcast and the cool temperatures meant that lots of desert cottontails were out and about, getting bunny things done.  As it turns out, even my non-smoothie breakfast didn't give me enough energy to combat the cumulative fatigue in my legs and I only made it once around our loop.  H went around again (much faster, as it turns out, when he doesn't have to wait for me) while I read my book, perched on the truck tailgate.  He finished up just as the rain started.  We tried to wait it out but the clouds looked like they were settling in for the long haul so we took that as a sign to hit the road.  We stopped in at Ray's Tavern - they are very busy during the mid-week lunch hour! - for a beer, garden burgers and fries, then continued on our way.  The red dust will wash out of our clothes but the memories of yet another successful Moab trip are here to stay.

It's like this sign was written for me