Zippety doo dah

We finished up our time in Moab with a day exploring Arches National Park, again saying "wow" all day long. It felt like Disney World, but for real. We saw huge red buttes that were shaped like elephants (i.e. Elephant Buttes hee hee!), balanced rocks shaped like spoons, arches that looked like bridges in the sky, and the fiery furnace, a landscape bristling with pillars of red and white striped sandstone. Afterwards, I got a pedicure to recover from the sensory overload, followed by a fantastic meal at the Desert Bistro (I ate ostrich and Caballero ate some antelope with corn cakes). The next day, we hopped on our road bikes up hwy 313 toward Dead Horse Canyon State Park, a fantastic ride through canyons with stellar views back over Arches. Unfortunately, were stymied by the threat of thunderstorms on the northern horizon and turned around shy of the Park. We were lucky not to get caught in any. Apparently we're catching a weird summer in the desert, since the temps have been in the 70s-80's with lots of rain. We're not complaining, though, because the alternative is dry and burning hot (in the 100's).

Yesterday we pulled up to our next BnB stop in Fruita, an old ranch house on the historic registry built in the late 19th century. It's a house complete with creaky floorboards, antique furniture and sepia-toned photographs of scary-looking old ladies. I was afraid the house might be haunted. I'll keep you posted on that: we have one more night left. Luckily, we have the place to ourselves, and Caballero made a delicious home-cooked meal in the huge farm-style kitchen, putting my fears to rest and making the house feel cozy.

This morning we hit up the trails, which are named after childhood songs and games (e.g. Chutes and Ladders, Zippety doo dah, etc.) All they need now is Candy Land and Old Maid to make it a complete set. After riding the trails, I know why they are named that way: we felt like we were riding a roller coaster made of smooth singletrack, yelling "Wheeee!" gleefully.

On another note, I just realized how great it's been to have very few decisions to make on this trip. Which bike to ride and when, and whether to eat ice cream after dinner or not. Next week the decisions will also be minimal, but different. We'll be up at a resort for a week near Rocky Mountain National Park. So...tune in next week to see if HQ decides to take up golf, hang out at the spa, or both.