Vacation 2009 Part 1

A bad day on vacation is better than a good day at the office. 

So far our vacation has been better than the office but has not been as fantastic as we had hoped.

The first day out went well.  We stopped at a few outlet malls on the drive to St. George.  At the one in Barstow, which is in the middle of nowhere, we were amused that we were the only customers speaking English.  Love to see those euros and yen flowing into the California economy.  I managed to find some Skecher walking shoes that are supposed to enhance your workout while walking.  At the outlet mall in Nevada, we found new dishes at the Williams Sonoma outlet.  We made it to St. George at a reasonable hour and had a decent night's sleep in the Ramada, which I choose because it is next to the only Starbucks in town. (Unlike in Los Angeles, the Starbucks in Utah are few and far between.

The next day, unfortunately, started with bad news for Paul involving his work.  He spent many hours that day on his iPhone trying to cope.  We headed out to Moab after a hearty breakfast at Bear Paw Cafe.  Most of the day went fine until I was stopped for speeding on I-70 not too far from the turnoff for Moab.  Luckily for me I got a warning instead of a ticket.  But it is always annoying and frightening to be stopped by the State Police and asked questions about where you are going and what you are doing in Utah.  

Saturday we headed out to Arches for a beautiful morning of hiking and taking pictures.   I started to feel like Gumby so we went back to our B&B after a late lunch.  I fell asleep for 3 hours and Paul discovered that his expensive Nikon was broken and none of the Arches pictures he took were recorded on the memory card, including ones I did not take because I did not climb everywhere he did.  He spent time trying to figure out what was wrong but apparently the problem is in the camera and not the memory card. Needless to say my photography nut husband is not happy.

Today we went to take a jet boat trip down the Colorado River.  We had been worried about the rain which was forecasted and had threatened all morning.  We get on the boat and head down the river about 5-10 minutes and suddenly the boat turns perpendicular to the direction we should be going.  Since it is a flat boat, the current and wind made it impossible to make even the first turn on the river so we headed back to the dock for a refund.  Paul and I were lucky we had a car to drive to Canyonlands but not as lucky with the weather.  Between wind and rain, the views were spectacular but hard to capture on the point and shoot cameras we have as backups to Paul's spiffy Nikon.  We ended the day luckily with a very good meal and our proprietors' home made chocolate chip cookies.

I really am having a great time.  Bad days on vacation are better than a good day at the office.  It's not even close.