reunited

 It had been since October 2019 that we'd seen H's folks.  When we asked if they would be comfortable flying out for a week at the end of May, they readily agreed.  They arrived in SLC on the Wednesday before Memorial Day weekend; as soon as I could get out of work on Thursday, we all climbed into our rental minivan (minivans are not cool but wow, are they convenient, easy to see out of and hold a lot of stuff) and drove down to Moab.

White Rim Road down below

L and P have visited us in Moab before - it helps that L likes the heat.  The weather this time around really cooperated: it was hottest on Friday, and we had off-and-on rain and short hailstorms on Sunday, but otherwise it was quite comfortable for Moab at the end of May.  No complaints!

The gang at Grand View

Each morning, H got up and did a road ride on the bike path (plenty of room to bring his road bike in the minivan, even with all our stuff and food and dog) while Milton and I did short hikes - two in Millcreek Canyon, one up the Moab Rim trail and one along the Pipedream trails - about an hour and a half each time, just enough to get our exercise on.  H and P managed to get walks in almost each morning as well.  Then it was back to the house for a quick breakfast, loading up the cooler and heading out for excursions.

A rare photo of both of us

We went up to Canyonlands on Friday, figuring it would be the least crowded on that day, plus perhaps cooler up on the mesa.  We had to wait maybe ten minutes at the entry gate, so that wasn't too bad.  Our first stop was Mesa Arch.  It's only about a quarter mile in to the arch and we all hiked in, dodging all the oodles of other people heading there as well.  

Dunno what it is but it's cool

Next, we tried to stop in at Upheaval Dome but couldn't get a parking spot, and then swung by the Grand View point.  It was pretty clear and the view down to the White Rim Road was its usual spectacle.  The national park was too busy for lunch so we cruised over to Dead Horse Point State Park where we were able to get a covered picnic table.

YGP new goat residents

Other activities over the lond weekend included a visit to Woody's (hoping for the Yankee game but settling for a barn-burner of girls' collegiate softball instead), checking out the Moab Arts Fest and the Main Street shops (shout-out to Moab Rainbowls for a delicious smoothie!), a La Sal loop road scenic drive and drives down Kane Creek Road and the Potash Road.  We also attempted the dinosaur tracksite at Mill Canyon but that is still closed for site work.

Moab Rim in the morning

We spent some time along the Colorado River as well: lunch at the new picnic spot just a few miles up Route 128, watching the rafts/kayaks/SUPs float by, and venturing out on the footbridge.   After the rain and hailstorms, most of the wind had moved on too and it was quite pleasant - unusually cool for the end of May but most appreciated.

Local screech owl skeptical of me, P and Milton

Since we are all about avoiding the crush of post-long holiday weekend traffic, we all got up at the crack of early Tuesday morning and drove back to SLC then.  L and P stayed with us for a couple more days - I had to go back in to work and H had to do some work-from-home, so many thanks to L and P for the weeding and pruning they did in the front yard!  We had dinner at Grid City on our last night together and then they flew back to upstate New York Thursday morning.

The gang along the Colorado River

It was a really good visit - here's hoping not to have to wait two+ years for the next one!

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