Moab

Days 53 - 56 (September 15, 2021 - September 18, 2021)

For a few days we stayed in Castle Valley, just outside of Moab. Kim and Lori offered to let us stay in the vacation yurt they built there, which was a little haven in an amazing place.

It even had a quite the view from the composting toilet.

We had lovely evenings at the yurt...

Appetizing on chips with Monisha's new favorite salsa:

Feasting on burgers and wine on the porch:

Reading and drinking seltzers at happy hour: 

We also played Innovation and card + dice games, made hot cocoa, and of course watched some more Downton Abbey!

Our first full day in the area, we explored Canyonlands, an awesome and much less crowded counterpart to Arches (which seems to be full most days). Mesa Arch is one of the most famous structures in Canyonlands. We had seen pictures of it, and were amazed by how much cooler it is in real life! For some reason seeing a stunning view through an arch is much more striking than the sum of its parts. Anyway, here are some pictures we took that don't do it justice ;)

Another highlight of Canyonlands was the end of the Grand Viewpoint Trail. For one, there was a pretty awesome view. 

Even more excitingly, there was a crack we had a lot of fun attempting to chimney climb. It was actually quite doable except for the very last part of climbing out onto the top of the rock. Neither of us could succeed at this bit, because our bodies didn't quite fit...

Our last Canyonlands hike was to Upheaval Dome, a formation that could either be a salt dome or an eroded impact crater, they don't know which. The hike goes to two different viewpoints, and we had fun forging our way to yet one more a little further along. We also did a lot of running up and down rock formations, which was both challenging and exhilarating.

Moab was hot. So we found several ways to cool off! The first day we arrived, we waded into the river at Sandy Beach.

Another afternoon, we got smoothies at a food truck.

One of the days, Monisha decided she was saturated by hiking to beautiful places and seeing amazing things. The idea of a relaxed day that involved water sounded great. So, we bought a variety pack of Bon & Viv hard seltzers, packed snacks and pb&j sandwiches, rented tubes, and went tubing down the Colorado River! It was perfect. We both agreed it was the ideal way to spent the day.

And after our tubing ride, one of the employees gave us a jar of peach jalapeno jam she made herself! Which, we found our later, is truly delicious.

Moab has this cool little square of a bunch of food trucks, and that evening we liked the idea of continuing our relaxed day vibes. So we got a couple of very good pizzas from another food truck.

Thank you (again!) Kim and Lori, for inviting us to use your Castle Valley yurt. It really enhanced our stay in the area!