Arches National Park

Don't let anyone tell you that it doesn't rain in the desert.  Apparently, October has 1 inch of rain in Utah (the most of the whole year).  Our plan was to drive the 2+ hours to Moab, Utah.  The day started with a misty rain and it rained on and off for the whole trip to Moab.

Just imagine a hip, cool, Zen Gatlinburg.  That is kind of what Moab, Utah seemed like.  We looked around in the shops and I was looking for a rain poncho in particular.  It actually started pouring down while we were looking around. I actually found a rain coat that was a bargain for less than $30!!! You can see the jacket in my pictures.

Lots of hippie, granola types in Moab, I love it!!!
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
We ate a delicious lunch/brunch at a place called The Jailhouse Cafe.  There was some history behind the name, but I didn't quite get it (to read about it in the menu).  Let me Google it right now and find out!!  Isn't technology amazing!!!!
http://utahstories.com/moab_jailhouse_cafe.htm

The place only served breakfast and was a bit pricey for breakfast, but we joked that it was the first decent meal that we had all week!!   Price was a sweet town, but the restaurants were kind of mediocre.  As we sat and ate, we waited for the rain  to pass.

Armed with my new raincoat, we headed for  Arches National Park.  We were going regardless of the rain.     http://www.nps.gov/arch/index.htm   Check out the pictures!!!   We took a short walk to the "North and South Windows"  and then we headed for the Delicate Arch.
 

The Gossips

 

The colors were muted because of the rain.

 

Heading up to the "Windows"

 

We started on the trail as a large angry cloud came over.  As we headed up the trail it didn't look good.  I also had read the pamphlet and this was supposed to be a short trail to a viewpoint  of the "Delicate Arches".  This didn't look like a short trail!!!! 
 

Wolf Ranch at the head of the Delicate Arch trail

 

 We had trekked up a steep hill when we heard thunder and then decided it was time to head back to the car.  It was just in time because it started pouring as we hoofed it back to the car.

Nick is a little worried about that cloud.

This looks a little scary!!!

In the car, I looked at the map and realized that we had headed up a 3 mile round trip strenuous hike to the Delicate Arch, that had not been the plan.  The other trail was blocked, probably because of the heavy rain and maybe some of the paths were flooded.  Oh well, we decided it was time to head back to Salt Lake City about 4 hours away.
 

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at this HUGE sporting good store called Scheels.  It had a Ferris wheel and a large aquarium!

 

We were spending the night there(Salt Lake) so we could be close to the airport. We had an early flight Saturday morning.



We got back home around 3:00 pm and it was good to be home. We were most glad to see our only daughter, our dog, Cocoa!!! Well, Fall Break is almost over!!! It's back to the real world on Monday!!!

It's good to be back in Tennessee!

Lots of leaves have change(d) their colors since we've been gone!

 

Home!!



 

She was glad to be home too!!!

 

 

Thursday, More Zumba @ USU

Fun Times!!  (Thursday)
Today is Thursday and it's our last day in Price, Utah.  I'm going to miss this little town!!!  It's like a Mormon Mayberry RFD. 

Today, I went to  a Zumba class at the Utah State University East campus.  The instructor, Jerri, (I have already explained why I missed the class here the other day).  It was actually 30 min. later than the time I saw on the internet.  I told her I was coming to this one and she asked me to lead a few songs. 



Here's me with my new Zumba sister, Jerri!!

The campus is lovely, small and quiet.  It reminds me of Freed where my son goes, except maybe a little bit prettier.  There was a nice group of  girls and they were really sweet.  They liked the songs I lead and the instructor asked me to do more, but I thought the two were probably enough.  She did ask me to do the cool down and I felt comfortable doing that.  I have a great cool down that I do to Peponi.  Check out the video below.



http://youtu.be/Cgovv8jWETM (Peponi by The Piano Guys)






Nick is watching the Titans tonight at the restaurant in the hotel and then tomorrow we are heading to Moab.  I'll take lots of pictures to share!!!

 

Zumba in Price, UT

Yesterday/Today



I'm writing these about the day before, so I'm a little confused.  Anyway, I have about explored this little town all that I can.  I'm not sure if I told you or not, but the population is less than 9000.  That's small!!  It is a nice town though and it's completely surrounded by desert rocks and mountains.  This part of the country is called the high desert.










http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_desert

 
I looked through the "shops" in the downtown yesterday.  Everyone was very friendly and polite.  The downtown stills has a movie theater and what looks to be one of the original JC Penneys.

















Yesterday was filled with looking around in shops and Zumba.  I took a Zumba toning class with Jerri, the same instructor I had the night before.  She told me she would be back at the ballroom at the Utah State University campus tomorrow at noon and she asked if I would lead some of my songs.  I told her I would and I think I'll do a couple of songs that I know backwards and forwards.  One of them is "Big and Chunky" from the movie Madagascar. 






http://youtu.be/wCC-pziyNBc  (Check out the song!!)





Thank you Robin for letting me borrow it!!!   It's always a crowd favorite.  I also told her I would be going back to the 7:55 class.  She warned me that it would be very crowded.



Well, that always means a great class.  I went and I wasn't disappointed.  According to this instructor's profile, he's lost 50+ pounds doing Zumba!!!  He was great, but I felt like I probably had taken someone's "spot" in the class.  I know all about that!!! LOL  The room was tiny and there was probably 28 people in there!!!!

I had to add this!!  This was taken at the fun wedding I went to in Memphis.  If you can't tell, this is our "Bridesmaids" pose!!!  We are all friends who go to Honduras on mission trips.  The bride, Katie, and all of these people have been going many years!!










Well, I'm heading out to the class where I'm leading the two songs!! Wish me luck!!!





Nick is done with work today.  We plan on getting up early and either going to Moab or the Nine Mile Canyon.  We haven't decided which one, but we will spend the day hiking and exploring.  Then we'll head to Salt Lake City to spend the night to be ready to catch our plane.


 

Dinos & Zumba

Day 3

If you bought this lot, you would have this view!!!!!  Views like this surround the town.  They really need some hiking and running trails that take advantage of this beauty!!!!

Today's plan was to find a couple of Zumba classes and explore this neat little town.  I had gotten on the Zumba website and found that there was a noon class at the local college.  So, I set out to find that.

field trip

http://www.ceu.edu/museum/





 

The college is Utah State University and College of Eastern Utah  (I think).  I found out that they had recently combined.   The GPS didn't like the strange address: 421 E 600 N, but I finally found it. (I probably would have done a better job on my own!!) 

 The campus was really pretty and a nice young lady in the bookstore explained where the ballroom was and told me she would take me herself, but she was the only person in the store!!! (Every single person that I have met here has been very nice and polite!!)








Well, I waited for about 15 minutes for the Zumba class.  No one seemed to know anything about it, so I left. :/   Unfortunately, many people don't keep their Zumba information on the site current.

Zumba isn't just fun!!!!!!!!!!!

After that, I headed to the local museum.  If you are interested at all in paleontology, then you know that many dinosaur fossils were found in this area.  It was a very nice museum and although there had been a class on a field trip there earlier, it was quiet when I was there.

I looked around the town, but I won't bore you with words, I'll show you with pictures!!!!  Oh, I did end the day with a Zumba class that began at 7:55 (that would be almost 9 pm at home!!)  The instructor was great, she reminded me Olivia Newton-John in the music video "Let's Get Physical" 80's leg-warmers and all!!!!

Here's a very nice subdivision. (most of the homes in this town are tiny!)

 

This is up on a rise overlooking the town.  Homes are built right  up on the edge!!