I don’t think the saying, I need to go back to work to rest after my vacation, has ever applied to me more than after the ten days Bill and I just spent in Wyoming, Idaho, and Utah. To say we were active would be an understatement, even though we spent a lot of time driving and put 1,641 miles on our rental car. As I mentioned last week, we flew into Salt Lake City and drove north to Wyoming for the Grand Teton Half. Once the race and some hiking in Grand Teton National Park were behind us, we drove south for phases 2 and 3 of our adventures.

 

Here’s a day-by-day overview of our week, and as I mention later in the post, I plan to write recaps of some of the specific events…

Sunday

With the race behind us, we hit the road Sunday morning, leaving the wonderful hospitality of inn keepers Greg and Beth at the Jackson Hole Hideout as we drove through the Star Valley of Wyoming and into Idaho. Once in Utah, we stopped for lunch at Cooper’s which overlooks Bear Lake, one of our recreational destinations from our days living in Logan, just 45 minutes southwest.

 

After lunch, we drove south to Ogden to meet up with our dear friends Drew and Kristie. We hadn’t seen them in about 23 years, but like with any good friends, not a moment was lost, and we picked right up where we’d left off. We closed down the restaurant as we caught up on life.

 

Monday

We spent all day Monday with Drew and Kristie hiking and watching Olympic ski jump hopefuls practicing their jumps into the pool at Olympic Park in Park City. We had lunch on the patio at the Stein Eriksen Lodge and later in the evening closed down yet another restaurant.

 

Tuesday

We spent Tuesday morning driving farther south to Moab, Utah where we’d be exploring the desert for the next four days. Our first stop was in Arches National Park where we made the hike to Delicate Arch, and then stayed in the park until dark so we could catch some sunset pictures.

 

Exhausted from too little food and hiking more than we’d planned, we stopped at a Mexican restaurant right around 9:30 PM. We both ordered chicken fajitas and margaritas and we’re about 99.9% positive there was no alcohol in our drinks. Famished and overly fatigued, we would surely have gotten the slightest hint of a buzz had there been the presence of even the smallest amount of tequila; especially considering how quickly we slurped them down. Perhaps the overload of sugar from the lime-flavored mixer was more what the doctor ordered to give us energy to unpack at the hotel. 😉

 

Wednesday

We celebrated Global Running Day by hiking in Canyonlands National Park where I picked up the hiking pace and ran a few times, and even found a moment alone in front of Mesa Arch to capture a running picture.

 

We also marveled at the size and depth of the Shafer Canyon, and were grateful for the protective fence; something not present at all canyons and overlooks.

 

Thursday

On Thursday we ventured to Dead Horse Point State Park, twice. We scouted out the park in the late morning and then returned for sunset where we met a very interesting gentleman who is riding his bike from the southern tip of Argentina to Alaska. He was fascinating to talk to and I’ll write more on him in a future post.

 

As the sun was setting over southern Utah, little did we know that the Caps had just won the Stanley Cup! It wasn’t until about ten minutes later as we were leaving the park and once again had cell reception that we read the good news!

 

Earlier in the day, between trips to Dead Horse Point, we returned to Arches and hiked (again I threw in a little running) to Landscape Arch and Sand Dune Arch, stopping at several overlooks along the way.

Friday

Bill had been dreaming of doing some mountain biking while in southern Utah and opted to hire an instructor for private lessons considering my cautiousness and lack of off-road riding skills. Despite being in a little over my comfort level, I had a fun time and Bill had an absolute blast! I would do it again but would prefer slightly less technical trails.

 

After mountain biking, we returned to our hotel for a quick shower and checkout before making the five-hour drive to Salt Lake City for the night. Things have changed a lot since we lived in the area in the early 80’s and ordering a drink with dinner was no big deal. Despite the much more relaxed liquor laws, the young man carding us said they were still very tight so their bar cards everyone. I thought it was humorous and just went with the flow.

 

Saturday

We had planned to get up and walk around SLC yesterday morning prior to our afternoon flight home, but I was done… I slept in until 8 AM and then stressed about our two large suitcases’ weight – flying out my bag weighed 53 pounds and Bill’s weighed 47 pounds, and luckily, the skycap let me move three pounds from my bag into Bill’s bag. I tried to repack exactly like we’d packed at the airport heading out. Once at the SLC airport, we just had to check off that our bags were under 50 pounds without them being weighed… All that stress for nothing!

For more pictures from our busy vacation, check out my Instagram.

 

In case you skipped checking in on my blog this past week, here’s what you missed…

Looking ahead to this coming week, I have nothing specific planned, but hope to start working on:

  • Grand Teton Half recap
  • Phelps Lake hike and meeting CL
  • Deer Valley hike and visiting Olympic Park with dear friends
  • Delicate Arch hike
  • Canyonlands hike
  • Dead Horse Point at sunset and meeting Karman
  • Mountain biking private lessons and ride with Sylvie

Life will be crazy as I get back into the swing of things and I’m taking on a new responsibility with work which will take up a little extra time. Life is good and I want to enjoy it so I’m not going to break my neck spitting out these recaps too quickly!

 

In addition to what I mentioned above, here’s a complete run-down of my workouts (completed mostly in our home gym) from this past week…

 

  • Questions:
  • Which National Parks have you visited and which did you enjoy most? ~ Yosemite just might be my favorite NP. 
  • If you bike, have you tried mountain biking? ~ This was a first for me!
  • Did you race this weekend?

 

And that’s a wrap… Have a great week!

 

Disclaimer:  This post contains affiliate links which means if you click on the blue product link and then make a purchase, I will receive a commission for referring you. You will pay no more or less for the product; however, Amazon will show their gratitude for my referral by paying me.

 

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I’m linking up with Holly at HoHo Runs and Wendy from Taking The Long Way Home for their Weekly Wrap. Be sure to check out not only the hosts’ posts, but the other great bloggers joining in on the fun!