Day 2- vaca

Before I start with Day 2 I just want to say that I think Sen. Kucinich rocks the poo for introducing the articles of impeachment against Dumbfuck Bush. I'm ashamed at our "free speech" media for not picking up the story, but whatever. It happened and it's important. Read about it in detail here or a summary here.

Day two- We woke up early, as we did most days of the vacation. I am not sure why we woke so early, but I think it was about 6 when we woke and then about 6:30 when we got up and moving. Breakfast was part of our stay at Cali Cochitta so we went over to the outside garden table at 8:00. There were a few folks already eating and chatting. The food all of the days we were there was phenomenal. I love good food and this was the tops.

After breakfast we headed out for our first mountain bike adventure. Dan had chatted with a local when picking up a patch kit and got a few recommendations. I guess the conversation went something like this.

Dan- "So, what are some good novice trails?"

Local bike shop lady- "You here with your girlfriend, huh?"

Dan- "Yeah."

LBSL- "Do you want to keep her?"

haha!! So after finding out the trails that wouldn't create a rift in our relationship we decided to take the Bar M Loop. The first part was my hell. Why? Because it was a slow long climb up a lame gravel road. I hate that. So, freaking hard and boring! Give me something fun! Finally when we got to the top we got to see some great views and it was a bit more up and down and technical. We could look over the valley and see Arches Nat'l Park. After a good bit of fun terrain we headed down only to have to get back on the stupid gravel road and climb back up. I want it to all be down! Or at least short, steep ascents. None of that slow, long bullshit.

After our morning bike ride we got cleaned up and had a fairly forgetable lunch. Then we headed to Arches National Park. I don't think I've ever been there. When I was a child my grandparents took me on a lot of trips, but this isn't one I recall. We could see a lot of the rock formations that we saw from a distance earlier in the day.

We got out at Park Avenue, but decided to forgo that hike. Then we drove down to the Windows Arches. We hiked around to the Arch that's just south of the window and then headed to the South Arch. When we got there I sat down on a rock and asked Dan to take my photo. He sat down on a lower rock and obliged my request. Then as he was getting up he acted like his back was hurt. I asked if he was alright and about then he went to one knee and said, "Will you spend the rest of your life with me?" As he said that he held out my ring! Then he said, "Will you marry me?" I was grinning like a moron, and said, "Yes!!" We decided to continue on our hike after some hugging and kissing. I nearly tripped a few times because I was looking at my ring instead of on the path.

When we got back to the B&B we decided to do this hokey riverboat cruise thing. Obviously, it's not billed as being hokey, but it most obviously is. It's called "Canyonlands by Night." You have a Dutch Oven dinner. Having a 12 year old in the house makes anything called 'Dutch Oven' a lot funnier than if you think about the food made in a Dutch Oven. Anyway, it was basically pot roast with various side dishes. It was tasty, but I'm sure not low fat. Then after the dinner you get on this flat bottom boat with 40 or so other people and go up the Colorado River. Our guide told us about the geology of the rocks and pointed out some fun features in the rock. He gave us some interesting trivia about the area, etc. That part was pretty enjoyable. Then we got to a spot in the river just as night fell and he stopped talking. The "real" show began, or should I say that's when we entered "Hokeville, USA". Honestly, this was a program out of the 70's. It began, "In the beginning God created the earth and sky." or something ridiculous. The description of how heroic and brave the white men were as they settled the area, and of how cruel the Native Indians were to settlers made me about want to jump off the boat and swim ashore. I tried to tune out the "formal program" and focus on how pretty the stars and just floating back down the river was. At one point they said something about God and Dan started whispering loudly, "GOD IS GREAT!! GO GOD!! WOOHOO!!" in my ear. He's a kook. I was sorry the whole program wasn't the old guy telling us stories about the area. He was much more engaging than the other.

It was 10:30 by the time we got off the boat, so we went back to our room and crashed. It was a long, but fun day.