Biking Adventures

For Fall break Dan and I took a short overnight trip with Lorin and Jake down to St George to Mtn bike.  We had taken a trip down to St George a few weeks before to try out a biking trail we'd read about online--Bearclaw Poppy.  We had so much fun that we decided to come down and do this trail again, along with a new trail that also looked fun called Thunder Mountain.  We checked into our hotel then drove down to St George Saturday afternoon to bike Bearclaw Poppy.  It was even more awesome than the first time we did it because I was more familiar with the trail; I knew what to expect, and the trail is so well maintained.  It's almost like a ski resort in that they have they have signs that point to the easiest route and the more difficult routes throughout the entire trail. We got down once, and decided we wanted to go again.  By the time we got down the second time and back to the cars it was about 6:30, so we decided that was enough for one day and went to dinner at Golden Corral.

     Sunday morning we woke up excited to get to our next mtn biking trail--Thunder Mountain.  Dan got on the internet to find out how to get there only to find out there had been a landslide and because of this the road that leads to the trail was closed...bummer.  But we started looking for another trail that sounded fun.  We found Gooseberry Mesa.  It sounded awesome.  We printed out the directions and heading for the trail.  The directions said the paved road turned to a "gravel" road at one point.  The author's definition of "gravel" would have to mean: a dirt road with giant boulders jutting out all over the place, only accessible with a 4 wheeler or monster truck.  (Our little Nissan Sentra wasn't going to make it).  We got as far up the Mesa as we could before we realized we had no choice but to turn around or risk damaging our car and not be able to drive home.  We considered parking our cars and riding our bikes the rest of the way, but, according to the directions, we were still about 10 miles of strenuous uphill away from the beginning of the trail head.  I was not up for that!  By the time we got back into the town of Toquerville it was 1:30.  We searched for other trails, but we were afraid the same thing would happen--we would drive all the way out to where it was and wouldn't be able to make it to the trail head because of our vehicle! At that point we decided to head home. Regardless of Sunday's mishaps, we had so much fun on this short trip.  I didn't get too many pics, but here the ones I got:

Ready to ride.

Me, about to go down on of the "fingers of death" as they are called.

Lorin bombing down

Dan.  The pics don't quite show how steep some of these hills and drops were.

Jake

Will I ever blog again??

Hopefully some of you faithful followers were wondering this?? :) 

Well I have been a slacker, and now there are quite a few things I want to blog about.  But I will start with the most important thing... MY birthday!!!

October 13th was the day.  I woke up early to go to class ( I would have sluffed without second thoughts except that I had a midterm).  After school I met Dan at Village Inn for breakfast, and then we went shopping.  I took full advantage... give me a few hours, and the excuse "it's my birthday" and I can do a lot of damage! My sweet husband was patient enough to follow me around the mall without complaining once.

Later that night we went to dinner with Dan's family at Olive Garden.  The food was yummy, and we had a great visit.  Dan's stubborn parents insisted on paying for us.  They are so nice. Check out my awesome PJ's. 

Dan's dad picked them out, which totally cracks me up!  I was also enjoying a homemade cinnamon roll from my thoughtful visiting teachers.

 We celebrated with my mom and siblings earlier in the week.  My mom made my favorite dish, Lomo Saltado.  Que rico!  We then played Clue (which is impossible to play with cheating siblings lol) and opened presents. 

24 years old...yikes

You try blowing out 24 candles while someone is blocking them...good thing I got a big mouth

the gang who celebrated, Dan was the photographer

Proof! I am still taller than my younger sister...as least for another few months or so.

my love

David hogged all the "tall" genes

Sillyness is classic

I hope to have more posts coming your way soon!