And then the rain set in. We hadn't gotten much weather during monsoon season, and Utah is always in at least some kind of a drought, so it felt ungrateful to complain. But maybe not rain during vacation! It felt like being back in Maine again - it always rained during our vacations there - except for, you know, desert.
On Friday, A and M did a damp, 3.3 mile town walk. Then H and A rode their MTBs down to the start of the Moab 240 to watch the crazy runners head off. The Moab 240 is an ultra trail marathon that is 240 miles long (give or take). Last year, it was hotter than normal conditions for the runners; this year, they had rain and snow and overflowing creeks and so much mud. It is such a cool event and both H and I wish we had it in us to do such a thing. It isn't so much the distance that's intimidating - I would LOVE to hike the course, over a period of (many) days - it's the sleep deprivation.
After the runners headed off, we rode down to Proper Brewing (it was on the way home) for one beer, then stopped at Woody's for one beer, before returning home. It's important to support local businesses.
Saturday found us three doing a quick Practice Loop (2.3 miles) hike up at Sandflats in the morning. We figured it would be the least wet and muddy trail we could do; indeed, all the potholes were full of rainwater. It dried up enough in the afternoon for another visit to the Spitfire for dog-friendly patio beers. But Saturday night we got a massive thunderstorm - the lightning was incredible. Milton was not pleased.
On Sunday, after A and M did another townwalk (3.2 miles), the humans headed out on their bikes for the last road ride of vacation (20.2 miles). It was much cooler after the storm but the rain had wrecked some havoc along the trail: lots of downed branches and sand/mud washed across the bike path. Our ride ended up being shorter than we intended, actually, because the bike path along the river was flooded and impassable.
And that was it. We cleaned the house and did yard work Monday morning before packing up and heading back to SLC. This fall vacation was perhaps a little less active than past year's due to the adverse weather. But we did get out and do at least one thing outdoors each day, and had double sessions several times. Plus all that weather meant A read ten library books!
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