Summer Camping Trips

My younger cousin Monica Ackerson got married on 7/7/07 at her parents beautiful cabin in Francis Utah. I knew that I wanted to be there for the wedding and that I wanted to go and hike around a bit in Utah while I was there. So I invited my little brother Jesse (who lives in Provo) and my favorite Buffalo friend, Jessica to join me on my hiking adventure in Canyon Lands and Arches National Parks. It was Jessica's first time to Southern Utah and my little brother hadn't been since he was a little kid.

So we were off with our little Chevy Aveo (the cheapest car you can rent) to Moab from Salt Lake City. It happened to be a week where Utah was breaking some heat records. I think the hottest it got was 108 degrees while we were there. I'd say the average temperature was 101 degrees. My aspirations of hiking 10 mile loops were dashed once I did my first hike of only a 1/4 mile. I came back to the car dying!!! I wasn't used to the temperatures and the elevation. In Buffalo it's only about 50-100 feet above sea level, where as Arches is between 4000-6000 feet. So we ended up doing the very touristy hikes of 3 miles or less, but that still kept us busy for 3 days. We also drove down to Four Corners so that I could get some Indian Fry Bread and so that my East Coast friend could add a couple more West Coast states to her "I've visited" list. I ended up buying several piece of jewelry. I can't believe the poverty that some native Americans live in while so many other tribes have millions due to bingo halls or casinos.

I took Jessica to my favorite restaurant, Cafe Rio, and gave her a chance to rent an edited rated R movie. Oh yea, I took her to Jamba Juice as well. You've got to take advantage of being in Utah while you can. All in all it was a grand trip, packed full. I didn't have time to visit anyone other than the family at the wedding, so if you are one of my friends from Utah please don't feel forgotten. I just didn't have time.

I love you all!