New world

First day in Seattle WA. This is a photo of Pikes Market, not a photo I took obviously...but one I stole from their website. Anyway, I met up with Tera today, after church of course and we went to Pikes Market in downtown Seattle. Wow, what a cool place. It was late in the day when most vendors were packing up their flowers, jewelry, purses, art, and lots of fish for the evening. The narrow ally of open air shops was crowded anyway with people coming from the Wildcats game...football. (Is it Wildcats? Now I am doubting myself) Either way, there were a lot of football fans on the street. Tera and I ate some dinner and watched a huge barge, full of large metal boxes of something important I'm sure, get pulled into dock by two tiny tug boats. For landlocked girls this was a very exciting event. We watched these tiny 'little engine that could' type boats haul this million ton barge, it was spell binding. We talking for some time, by the way, Tera is here in Seattle working at the VA doing her large internship for Rec. Therapy. She has the town tapped already and showed me around. What a fun afternoon.

I must say though that I can't wait to come back and experience all these things with Ben. It is hard to see all these cool things without him. He has been getting a play by play via text message. Whether he liked it or not, he got my whole days events. I hope that makes him miss me less, I know it makes me miss him less.

Tera also showed me a really RAD bike part, downtown Seattle located under Interstate 5 (I-5), you heard me correctly, under a freeway. Check out this link for those who don't believe me. evergreenmtb.org/colonnade/

These photos don't really do it the RAD justice it deserves, but hopefully when I ride it, you will all get to see RAD photos of me. :)

All is well here in Seattle and the Xterra is a champ, can't wait until you are here with me Ben.

Until next time...

Moab trip cont'd

BIKING: There has been interest in riding bikes so for anyone who wants to rent...Poison Spiker Bicycles has daily rentals for $40, that's the cheapest I could find, you can reserve them and I would suggest it (435) 259-7882. You can get rentals cheaper at the ORP at the U, but you would have to rent them for multiple days and haul them down, then its way more expensive.

If you are going to bike you should bring closed toed shoes (tennies are good), shorts, biking shorts if you have them, a breathable t-shirt, a helmet (if you don't have one you can get it with the rental), water bottles (at least 2), sunscreen, sunglasses, gloves (i have a few pair if needed), food (energy bars or pbj).

CARPOOLING: Anyone who can drive and is willing to drive please say "I". This will help me plan carpooling because yes, we should carpool for sure.

I also need an accurate count of who is coming, please say "ME" if you are planning on attending. :)

Here is the list of everyone going so far: Ben, Rae, Josey, Amanda, Andrea, Garrett, Cendy, Katie, Pete (Ben's bro), Desi (Rae's sis), anyone else is invited, who did I forget?

Cendy, you can park in our garage.

Moab Trip April 8-11

Okay, many people have asked for details and a gear list. Here it is...

Ben and I will be leaving Wednesday morning by 7:30am so we can be in Moab by lunch time. We will secure our campsite (its 4 wheeler weekend so its going to be busy) then we will most likely go on a hike.
Thursday will be bike day, please reply if you want to rent a bike or have your own and want to bike with us. Depending on who's coming will determine where we go. For those not biking you will do arches and hike the delicate arch then we will all meet up in the afternoon and see Canyon lands.
Friday will be climbing day and everyone can do this, we have enough stuff and we will most likely hit up wall street or the ice cream parlor (I think thats the name) Friday night we want to travel to goblin valley and camp around there and Saturday morning either hike Little Wild Horse or play with the goblins, then we will leave about 1:00pm on Saturday to head back home. Friday is still up in the air a little so, there are other options for play that day.

Here is the gear list, if you don't have any of these things, let me know and we will find it:

• Sleeping bag
• Sleeping pad
• Tent (we have some and can share)
  
• tennis shoes/hiking shoes
• water bottles
• backpack/daypack
• shorts
• pants
• t-shirts and longsleeve shirts
• sweat shirt/jacket (it will be warm in the day and cold at night)
  
• socks (clean pair for each day)
• sandles or flip flops
• toiletries (we will try and get a campsite with a bathroom but no garuntees)
• towel/face towel
• pj's and underwear :)
• swimsuite in case we can poach a hot tub
• hat
  
• sunscreen
• flash light or headlamp
  
• pillow (optional)
• any gear you have (bike, climbing shoes, harness, stove, lantern, etc)

We can either go in together on food or fend for ourselves, I would appreciate some feedback on this before Monday the 6th so I can plan and go shopping at Costco if I need.

If you are going to bike let me know, I can tell you the best places to rent and what you will need to bring for that. Ben and I want to do two rides, one advanced and one intermediate...so just let me know who wants to do what.

This is going to be fun. I'm excited. Just respond to this post or give me a call. 801-520-6658.