Before we’d gone to Raft for the Cure, Sukie’d already planned for a second trip to Moab, on the 4th of July weekend. As I’d mentioned in my last post, it could have been rained out, but Sukie and Guildy made it happen anyway. I’ll spoil it and say that it only rained on the 4th of July, only for a little bit, and we were able to get a fire going anyway, during the worst of it.
We left on Thursday night, but got to Moab before sundown. We were energized by the return trip, played some Fill or Bust until way late, which Sam prevented Lucas from winning, but we never finished the game anyway. There were more ‘Vengeance 2500’ cards played in that game than I’ve ever seen before. Almost everyone got Vengeanced, some people got hit twice by it’s mighty score destroying powers.
Friday morning, and I’d love to have pictures to prove it, we hiked to Delicate Arch. The boy, who is in no way an experienced hiker, kept zipping out ahead of everyone, then getting exhausted, and then resting too much. He did get in to a rhythm eventually, but it wasn’t until we were almost to the arch. Just before the arch, there’s a little arch you can climb up to (go go gadget calves!) and I made the initial trek with Shinobi, I brought a camera and I was fiddling with it while there was a couple resting in the shade nearby, and I was there for like 45 seconds before I looked up and saw the Delicate Arch for the first time ever. I was shocked, I said, “Wait, that’s it, right?” to which the couple behind me laughed, and confirmed the arch. Hell, I’d never seen it before. The damn license plates do it no justice. There’s something to be said about the scale around the arch, even the crows are bigger than elsewhere, the rocks seem really big, and the arch itself might as well be a skyscraper. It made me feel small, really small, so I was intimidated by it. The thin ribbon of rock you could traverse to get to the arch was actually at least two car lanes across, but I didn’t make the trek out to it, Striker, Sukie, and the boy did. Did I mention how much more energy the boy had when we got to the arch? He and Striker hiked out together, well ahead of the rest of the group.
I don’t remember if that was the day we started to play Bohnanza, but whenever it was, Guildy just dominated at that game. Because the game involves cunning and trading, I can’t win. I will always, without fail, give a friend the upper hand in a trade, unless it is very clear to me that doing so will lose the game for me. Because we don’t count coins until the end, I never know how close I am to utter defeat. Oh well, I had fun anyway, and even tied for second once. Though, usually I just suck at it.
We went hiking at Arches on the 4th of July, also, and did the first couple of Arches on the Devil’s Garden hike. It was fun, but none of them topped Delicate Arch. The boy became a Junior Ranger. We were pretty spent then as well. We hiked across Moab itself to get to the 4th of July festivities, which were not as much fun as the Caliente 4th of July party (mostly because it was just a bunch of booths, and there just wasn’t much else to it.) The fireworks we watched from the High School bleachers behind the campsite, which was pretty cool, about the right length for a fireworks show, but the sound of the explosions reverberating throughout the valley was just awesome.
We were all pretty burnt out on being in Moab at about the time the fireworks ended and there was some debate of just getting out of Dodge that night, we all decided there was no reason not to get a little rest beforehand.
All in all, I’d love to go back to Moab again, for a night hike at Delicate Arch. There’s something unpleasant, however, about being at such a beautiful place and then leaving.
I should also say that we brought in our own food, and that on the first day, after returning from Delicate Arch, we found a pile of raisins and a shredded up bag of trail mix. Apparently a squirrel had clawed his way in to our screened-in porch and got picky with the trail mix, which was Striker’s. I didn’t realize it was his until after I’d made several jokes about how our nuts got owned, but really it was Striker’s nuts that were owned. I wish I could tell you that I lightened up after learning of the nut’s origins, but I am a small and petty man, and Striker often is the benefactor of my poorer nature.
Ah well, I hated to wait so long after the trip to blog, but I really wanted to see my photos from the trip (which we left in Guildy’s bag) first. I’ll blog, photos later.
We’ll get the photos to you on sunday! We’ll be up there so we can bring the camera and you can try to dethrown me if you dare. Fantastic weekend!