Day 69, The Things We Do For Love

Many of you who know me know I am afraid of heights, risk averse when it comes to outdoor adventures, and I'm unsteady on my feet. You also know that I do things, like riding my bike and swimming lessons, to get more comfortable with them so we can enjoy the outdoors together more. When Colleen travelled with us, I sometimes would sit out hiking the higher peaks.

Denis scored one of 50 permits a day for the Arches back county hike, the Fiery Furnace. It is certainly beautiful and unlike any place I've ever been, or will be again. But, it was challenging beyond my expectations and I found myself wishing I could have sat this one out. We both came out without any broken bones and with lots of memories of the spectacular scenery. Here are a few photos.

We spent the rest of the day hiking other less challenging trails and seeing more of the arches and marveling on the scenery.

On the way back to the campsite, we stopped in Moab to pick up a few things - funny how when you cook you have the habit of running out of things... I found the Moonflower Community Co-op. It had great fruits and vegetables, although a bit expensive, house baked goods, and house made salads and sandwiches, etc with lots of vegan and gluten free options.

We thought we'd reward ourselves with ice cream before dinner. We stopped at The Spoke on Center. After all the excellent ice cream we've had on the trip, I'm sorry to say this one just didn't measure up.

We got back to the pod just as it began to rain. It had stormed last night. We're pretty high up and noticed snow in the mountains this morning.

Luckily, we've made it over a major pass and only have Tehacaphi to go. Fingers crossed, snow will wait a few more weeks.
Location: Arches National Park, Utah, USA

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