Moab

The Valentine's Day gift for Nichole and I this year was to make a trip down to Moab, UT.  It's about a 3 hour drive from here and is pretty well known for its back country adventure.  A while back I had signed up to do a running race called the Moab Red Hot 55k.  So, this adventure turned out to be just a scoche more for me than for Nichole, although it was so fun to get away and spend the weekend just her and I!  Ethan, Brad and Jake spent the weekend having fun with the Almond cousins while we left the other 2 kids, Eli and Ava, with Nichole's dad who was so nice to come and spend the Friday and Saturday at our house.  Poor Jesse, because Eli got sick while we were gone and fussed pretty much the whole time.  I felt so bad for him.  Ava was pretty cute because she called us 12 times during those two days.  Whenever I would answer, she would just say, "Umm, dad, can I just talk to mom for a few minutes."  When we got back home from Moab, I read the voice mails on my cell phone and there were another 6 messages from Ava.  So, we talked to her 12 times on the phone and then had missed her calls 6 times.  I'd say she missed her mommy and daddy a little bit and just wanted to make sure we were going to come back.  That was pretty cute to hear my little girl's voice on the other end.  When the kids grow up, they don't want much to do with mom and dad, so it's good to get it in while we can.
I'd have to say that one of the nice things from this trip were the hotel accommodations.  When I reserved the hotel months ago, I found the cheapest place online.  It was the Days Inn.  Well, I thought to myself that it was a known and respected name.  They were offering a hot tub, a complimentary breakfast and a pool.  I thought that sounded pretty good and it was all for only $40/night.  The online pictures made it look pretty good too.  Upon arrival, I soon realized why it was the cheapest place in town.  Oh my goodness, the place was a dive.  So, I told Nichole, "well, at least it looks the same as any other hotel when you're sleeping and when the room is black."  Next time we will have to splurge at least a little bit and get a nicer place to lay our heads.

At the starting line, it was about 20 degrees when the 34 mile run race started...and yes, that is snow in the background.

Nate and I were just about ready to get started...Mr. Baldy and Mr. Wannabe Baldy

The 34 mile trail was full of different mountain terrain...very beautiful

This is about mile 7 looking down from one of the inclines

I hate the cameras with the phones.  There are never enough pixels to transfer a good picture digitally.  This was somewhere around mile 16 or so

Coming across the finish line at about 6 and a half hours.  The nice thing about trail runs is the mentality of the race.  They are so different from street races because it is definitely more laid back and enjoyable.  You tend to go slower and just enjoy the scenery and camaraderie of others around you.  The competitive feeling of trying to finish as fast as you can is just not as intense.  True, Nate and I could have gone faster and come in probably at least an hour earlier, but the thought is "why?"  Let's not kill ourselves and just have a good time enjoying the beautiful nature.  By late morning, the temperature had crawled into the mid 40's and super sunny.  It felt so good compared to the frigid valley temps of the Salt Lake area.

When finishing, Nichole told me she is going to do the 33k portion of the race next year with Nate's wife, Stephanie.  That would be awesome!