10/15/23 Last Letter!

 Hey! Can you believe it?!  It's your last letter from home!!! This time next week you'll be one tired Hermana sitting in my kitchen with me!!! 

What a week!  Monday was Columbus Day - so everybody had to work ('cept me!!!!) haha

I stayed home and worked on projects. I took your car to the tire shop and had the tires inflated and then to Walmart and got an oil change then to the car wash and got the shebang inside and out and then brought it home and scrubbed it for a couple more hours. Wow, it was dirty and still isn't great! haha. 

I also cleaned the pool and worked on the yard a bit and I don't even remember what else. I just remember I was super tired by day's end! 

On Tuesday Emmalee came over and did Holly's hair and makeup. She looked really pretty. Afterward, we went to the Covington Home to take pictures. And the funny thing...it was decked out in Halloween decorations. NOOOOO!!!! So we found some areas and took some pictures and I think we got a couple of good ones. We just want one or two to blow up and put out for the wedding. 

While Emmalee was over we got a knock at the door...someone had hit the Hoppie's car which was parked out in front of the house. Another NOOOOOOO!!!!  So they've been driving your car around. They thought the car was going into the shop for just a day but turns out they may or may not get it back by Wednesday. They took it in on Thursday morning last week. Oy!

Wednesday the YW came over and painted pumpkins and ate treats. We had about a dozen of us here and it was a nice activity. Dad had football that night due to fall break. 

Thursday morning we got up and headed to Moab for a 35-year anniversary getaway trip. It was totally different than anything we've ever done before.  We got a bed and breakfast the first night and then a very remote cabin  (called basecamp) the second and third nights. 

The host for the B&B went running while we were at dinner and fell and broke his ankle. He had to have search and rescue get him off the mountain (Moab Rim Run). Poor guy. That meant we didn't get his famous huevos rancheros -- I was kind of bummed. (I'm sure he is too!!!). 

We went to Arches before we got to the B&B and then we went to Miguel's Mexican Restaurant and had the MOAB -- mother of all burritos -- it was really good!

Friday morning I got up early to watch the sunrise and then we went to Canyonlands and Dead Horse Point State Park. Our favorite of the three was Arches, then Dead Horse, and last Canyonlands.   We stopped and had pizza at Canyon Pizza and it was delicious...I got a jalepeno popper pizza and dad had meat lovers. (1/2 and 1/2)_. We had about 1/2 a pizza left and we put it in the back of the truck. 

Welp. The road to basecamp was so jostly that by the time we got there, pizza was all over the back of the truck and looked like scrambled pizza mess!  So that went in the garbage! No salvaging is possible!

The road to basecamp was unlike anything we've ever experienced -- harrowing - honestly I never want to do anything like that again (we didn't even want to come home! haha).  We had the opportunity (and had planned to) to rent an ATV and explore but after the ride in we were like...no..we're good!  Canoeing or Kayaking was also not really advisable -- the walk down there was pretty rough for dad and it was just cool enough.  So we drove to a boat house and hung out there for a bit, played card games, enjoyed nature, watched sunrise, sunset and the stars at night, made yummy food, watched the MOAB 240 (runners run for 240 miles...what the heck are they thinking?!). The aid station was at our lodge. 

So it wasn't exactly what we imagined but it was really good and fun. I slept a solid 8 hours both nights (I seriously can't remember the last time I slept 8 hours) - and I loved the fresh air and the clear skies and the unending scenery. 

There was so much wildlife too...big giant spiders, skunks (sprayed 2X our first night and stunk up the place bad!) chipmunks, a 210 lb tortoise, dogs, deer...I think there was more...birds...it was just really a different life than we're accustomed to. 

We enjoyed the eclipse as well. With a whole bunch of people - Tom the cabin owner, Jake and Jesse (brothers that work there), and Theresa(also works there - from NY just like the brothers), and three of the 240 runners that got disqualified because they came to the aid station 20 minutes later than permitted, a lady with her two kids that was staying in the back room, some of the aid station workers. It was just a whole bunch of random people and we just hung out on the porch for an hour together talking and watching the eclipse. They were very different than us...purple hair, gay, tattoos...

we felt very out of our element. But it was a good time!

Tom told us a ton of funny stories. One of the stories: 

A horror movie was made there (The Canyonlands) - and the star Steph Barkley was a real...unpleasant star. (He used much more colorful language to describe her. Anyway...she was a real primadonna and complained about everything. She came back from filming one afternoon and a skunk had sprayed over by her room. They told her not to go over there and she wouldn't listen. It was awful and she cried and made them move her room. She was so mad. 

The lady in the next room came out of her room. She was a Navajo Indian. She inhaled deeply and said what is it about this mountain air?!  I haven't been able to breathe for a long time and now my sinuses are clear as can be. 

While we were there on Saturday Tom got radioed that a brand new RAM had gone over the edge of Hurrah Pass and fell 150 feet. The dog was ejected. Somehow both the man and the dog survived. Jake and Jesse and Theresa loaded up in an ATV and went to rescue the dog (which they did). Wow! The RAM owner's son was driving with him (in a separate vehicle) Imagine how awful that would be to watch your dad go over a cliff like that and then have to watch from up above and not be able to do anything about it. Two helicopters came and search and rescue. They had to close the road both directions. They said when it finally opened there were 40 vehicles lined up to exit. I can't even imagine. That did not make use feel better about having to leave the next morning!

Sunday morning we got up and out of basecamp at 9 a.m. and headed over Hurrah Pass. It took us 1 hr and 5 minutes (both in and out, very consistent).  It really is a white knuckle, make your heart pump, kind of awful experience. When we got out we still had 5 hours to home. Poor dad got the worst stomach ache and cramps after about an hour. We stopped at a rest stop called ghost rock and dad had to get sick in a real live out house.  It was seriously the worst bathroom ever!  I'm convinced it was stress!  And maybe poptarts...he doesn't usually have that crap for breakfast. 

We made it home by 3:30 today and I quickly unpacked, made bread and headed to E&D's house for dinner. We just got home from that after 7 p.m. WOW what a weekend and we're off to work again in the morning. 

This week is just packed full of things -- dad has a dr appointment, Monday night pizza, dinner with B&L, YW, staff retreat all day Thursday, Hoppie's leave, D&K arrive, B&M arrive....KATIE ARRIVES!!!!  

Boom!  

Travel safely and we're so excited to see you!

Love you so much! 

Mom and Dad