Moab - Saturday 10/3/09

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SATURDAY: Was an official sleep- in day. Riley and Ron couldn't sleep, so they got up early and explored the rocks around our camp. Ron had promised Lori that she could sleep as late as she pleased and that there would be no pressure to do anything other than relax until around until lunchtime. After lounging around till late morning, we headed to the Farmers' Market in town, then began our adventures.

We all traveled together to the Poison Spider Mesa trailhead. There we took the kids up to a small panel of dinosaur footprints.

After that, Ryan and Sarah took their family on a hike to Corona Arch while Ben and Debbie's and our families enjoyed the Poison Spider Mesa Trail. Along the trail we met some new friends, Casie and Naoko in their rusty blue 4Runner. They were at a particularly rough section of road and were standing on the side of the road deciding whether to give it a go or turn back. After some careful spotting, a little peer pressure, and some heckling, they made it through the obstacle and tagged along with us for most of the rest of the trail. It was good to have them along, Casie's floor jack came in handy when the Jeep started spitting out the front driver's spring each time the front axles was fully flexed! We enjoyed a late lunch at the Little Arch parking area. Ron walked out to the middle of the arch and back, which is suspended 1000 or so feet above the Colorado River below. He was crawling on his hands and knees begging for his mommy by the time he was done. The kids really seemed to enjoy the ATVs. Lacey says that Debbie goes too slow. The ride included some play time at "the sand bowl," which is a section of the trail that we had never made it to before. On the return trip we made a stop at the Mary Jane Francis grave where legend says that if you leave her a quarter, her ghost will protect you and your Jeep along the trail. Toyotas must leave 2 quarters, because they need extra protection. Sorry Casie, I forgot to tell you about that, I'm glad you guys made it out safely anyway.

After getting back to town, a few of us went to the Priesthood session of General Conference, albeit a little bit late.