Our Anniversary Trip!

Our Anniversary was on May 9th. Joe's wonderful mother had volunteered months in advance to watch the kids so that we could get out of town alone. We weren't sure if it would actually happen since we worried about leaving Emmett with his ear problem and didn't want her to have to deal with a cranky baby. Since he had a cold we had to put off the surgery till the the 12th. And I just knew that with a cold he'd get another infection soon. But surprisingly he seemed happy the day before we were leaving so we went ahead with it but made sure that there was a antibiotic waiting at the pharmacy just in case he did get bad. Mom was great and let us go for 2 nights! I have never left the kids for more than a night. (unless you count hospital stays)  So we left on Friday the 8th and came back on Mothers Day Sunday the 10th. It was so much fun!

Yes, we went back to Green River, and camped in the White Wash Sand Dunes. And I know you are thinking that this is the complete opposite of the Anniversary Inn. But, we've never been big city, and have never claimed different. I've had some people that don't know me well react with concern and pity when hearing that we are going camping for our anniversary. So I'll set the record straight. It was my idea. Joe didn't force me to come here. What can I say? Motorcycles and my man are my idea of romance! So we set out on friday afternoon for a grand adventure!

   Standing on the bank of the Green River.

A panoramic picture of our camp.

The full moon rising above the red cliffs.

The first night we set up camp and went on a quick 4-wheeler ride before it got dark. That night was beautiful because of the full moon. We watched it rise as we sat and talked around the campfire. Isn't it funny how you are so excited to have some time away from the kids, but then find yourself talking about them the entire time you are away?

The next day we got geared up and embarked on an incredible journey. First up, Mary's Trail.  It's a challenging trail that is all on slick rock.  2 years ago, I had my hardest crash ever right smack in the middle of that ride, and I wanted to conquer it. I had a couple crashes on it, the worst being while going on a side hill. I went over towards the hill with the bike on me, but the weight of the bike made it slide down the edge. The bikes foot peg pinned my ankle to the rock and it hurt like heck! I couldn't get the bike off  myself because of the the awkward way my leg was twisted. So my man came to the rescue. I'm sure I'd be missing a foot or at least have a broken ankle if I hadn't been wearing my riding boots.  It got swollen, but surprisingly for how much it hurts, there isn't much bruising. Kinda sucks that there is nothing to show off. 

So we set off again. We came upon where I had crashed hard before. ( This is when I went over the handlebars and landed face down then my bike flipped forward and hit me on the back and then rolled twice down the hill before it stopped. I thought for a bit I might have broken a rib in the back but after taking some Advil felt much better. Just beat up the muscles a bit.) I opted to walk my bike through it instead of playing mind games with it. But this is what I had to go up next. 

I didn't get to try this the last time because of my wreck right before. It was very intense but "oh so cool" that I made it.

Next I had to go down a cliff. To me, down is much scarier than going up. I always picture myself flying over the handlebars. And as you can see in the video, I had to put a lot of thought into this before embarking. But it turned out okay and its fun to have conquered a challenge.

Here's just a little video of me riding some easier parts of Mary's.

After Mary's we went on and road a trail that we call the Gray Hills. It's a really fun and easygoing on slick rock hills that are obviously "gray."

Then we went from there across the valley to the Dead Cow and Calf washes trail.  They are really fun especially since the washes have lots of water in them right now.

On the way back to camp, Joe decided to climb this cliff in the wash. Here's a couple videos -

His ankle is still pretty beat up looking and swollen, but he seems to be able to walk fine. I just wish that my ankle looked as cool as his. 

After this we went back to the trailer and had a late lunch/early dinner whatever you wish to call it. Then we suited up again and hit a new trail we hadn't been on before called the Rick Lee Trail. Somebody had posted a sign at the beginning in memory of this guy who died a recently. My first thought when seeing the sign made me wonder if he had died on this trail, or if he died from something else and they just thought it would be nice to name his favorite trail after him. Then when we came to a certain spot, I began to lean towards my first thought.  Here's a video of the spot. The movie doesn't give it justice. The ledge is about 10 feet high to the first ledge then another 5 or so to the bottom. The ramp is nearly as straight down as the cliff is.

I'm thinking that when Rick Lee died, there was no ramp. Just a guess though.

From here we went on exploring trails and ended up a long ways away at the river. From there we road back to camp.  It was a total of about 8 hours of riding and around 90 plus miles that we covered. It was such a blast, but so tiring. Towards the end I could hardly keep my bike upright in the sand because I was so exhausted.

The next morning we got up and started cleaning up camp to head home.  We were able to squeeze in a quick 4-wheeler ride in the sand before going. And good thing it was quick because the main road out had a lot of sand blown over it and we got stuck and had to air down the truck tires to 5 pounds of air to get out.  Of course then we had to air them back up after - so that added an hour to our travel time.

All in all it was an amazing trip. But we missed our kids and we were glad that they had such a great time with Grandma and Grandpa Adams.