moab is magical, as it turns out

I went to Moab this past weekend. Left Thursday afternoon, and got back today right around noon. I titled this trip on my iPhone calendar as "Moab: The Last Chance," because of the history I have with that silly place. I went on this trip a bit nervous and full of trepidation, but also hopeful.

Looks like third time's a charm, because this trip to Moab was exactly what I needed it to be; I got out of dodge with friends, and had lots of good times and laughs throughout the entire weekend.

Moab isn't so bad after all...

Highlights:

-Pronouncing it "Mobe"

-Sharing a bathroom at the condo with the crew, but Jeanna

timing her potty breaks just wrong every single time

-Staying up late talking and giggling girlishly

-The woman at the grocery store shaming and embarrassing us. #NotThatOld

-The ranger comparing us to elephants

-Cameron singing "Brown Eyed Girls" to me, Jeanna and Tracie

-The "500 Miles" singalong and totally owning it

-Being hoisted up a canyon crevice wall by Jeff and Cameron

-Cameron and Jeanna being navel-to-navel

-Tracie and Cameron getting Facebook engaged

-Singing "Come Sail Away" and "Living on a Prayer"

at the top of our lungs, for all of Arches National Park to enjoy

-Meeting a professional photographer at the Delicate Arch at night
who was gracious enough to take our pictures

(Thanks a million, Peter Shinyeda!)

-Guessing every musical artist on the MP3 player as the Beastie Boys

-Tracie realizing that her Facebook engagement to Cameron

might be in jeopardy

-Pajama party in the queen bed with Cam

-Massage train

-Captain and Mrs. Pot Stirrer

-"Solid human waste"

-The song murderer(s)

Favorite one-liners:

"For Peta's sake!"

"That was before Tracie declared Cameron's undying love for her."

"So much for not swearing on this trip."

"Jeff is a ninjaneer!"

"My armpits are on fire!"

"We should've set a jello salad this morning!"

"This whole trip is PG-13!"

"I did not bring enough underwear for that."

"Is there a pickle over there?"

"What the aych?!"

"I really did a number on him."

"Party in the bed!" *weird noises* *laughter*

"Have we got any Michael McLean?"

"You've gotta be careful with the tongue."

"I'm glad we're not in a horse and buggy this morning."

We'd planned to hike to the Delicate Arch Thursday evening, but we got into Moab a bit later than initially anticipated; instead, we went to our rental (condo) to drop our stuff off, then went to the grocery store. While we were there, Tracie talked to a lady (because she loves talking to strangers), and the gal asked us if we were in town for the race. We asked her what she was talking about, and she looked at us like we were from outer space or something and said, "You're kidding, right??" We assured her that we did not, in fact, have any idea what she was talking about. She told us that it was the high school state mountain biking race, dummies. Then she said, "Well, you look like you could be the parents of high schoolers." Thanks for that slap in the face, lady. Thanks a lot. 

But I digress...

After leaving the grocery store feeling rather older than when we entered, we headed back to the condo and visited for a bit, then hit the hay.

On Friday, we hiked Fiery Furnace in Arches National Park. Jeff had explored Fiery Furnace a couple of times before and was offended at the very thought of us paying extra for a ranger-guided tour, so we watched a video and got our permits and followed Jeff into the rocky wilderness. 

Just inside the trail head to the Fiery Furnace

You don't get to see a view like this every day...

hiking in...

Isn't Kelsey darling?

Let me start off by saying that Jeff is a great fellow; he's smart, athletic, an excellent cook, and fun to be around. Also, he is adventurous. Very, very adventurous. And very agile and capable. And adventurous. His idea of fun doesn't always line up with everybody else's ideas of fun. Or safe. He wanted to show us a particular arch in the park, and he showed us the way. Straight up between slots in giant rock canyons, and a few of us might have been...ah...nervous to take part in this climbing adventure.

This is where we coined the term "ninjaneer."

Honestly, watching Jeff climb up there was kind of horrifying and I think we were all praying he'd make it to the top safely. Once he made it to the top, we got a bit worried about how, exactly, we were supposed to follow Jeff up, because there was no safe way for him to get down, and he was our guide. 

Like I said, though, Jeff is smart (he's an engineer by day), and he rigged a couple of ropes to some rocks and he helped the rest of us get there. Cameron climbed up with a single rope, then he and Jeff dropped a couple of ropes down and hoisted us up. 

I volunteered to be the last one up, because I very seriously thought I might vomit on my way up. (I get a nervous tummy sometimes.)

Tracie made it look easy...

My turn. Of course they had to record it on video...

As scared as I was about the whole ordeal beforehand, it ended up being a lot of fun. 

After a bit more hiking, Jeff and Kelsey went off on their own in search of Jeff's beloved arch, and the rest of us looked for a way down. (Cameron had a GPS.)

Jeanna and I were elated to still be alive after that ridiculous ascent.
And here's a shout-out to Cameron's giant muscles for making that possible.

Cameron, Brooke and me

Tracie coined this "The Tree of Life."

Isn't it lovely?

The slotted parts of Fiery Furnace were pretty darn cool.

After making it back to the Amigo, we went to see Mirror Arches, then back to town for burgers (grilled to perfection by Jeff), then we did a night hike to the Delicate Arch.

Brooke, Jeanna, Cameron, me and Tracie.
Picture taken by a nice Finnish gal Tracie befriended

Best. Picture. Ever. Thanks again, Peter!
You are too kind and generous!

I'll post more pictures and stories from Moab soon, because there's a whole other day as yet unaccounted for. In the meantime, thanks to the crew for inviting me along on such a fantastic trip!