Goin' on Vacation

Hey all, I am heading out of town tomorrow. This time just for fun and relaxation and to spend time with family. Hopefully you won't hear from me - if you do, then you'll know I am slacking on my vacation-ing.

My 2 week road trip will start with me on my own (S will join me next Sunday) for 1-1/2 days, then I'll meet up with my best friend at her parents' house near Salt Lake City. My friend lives in Thailand, so it's just a real treat to be crossing paths with her. I also will be making the beer run for J and her folks - apparently you can't get decent micro-brew in Utah. Something we accel at here in the Pacific Northwest.

I'll spend a couple of days on my own at Arches National Park - never been there and am very excited. Then to Denver to stay with my sister, her husband, and my 2 awesome nephews (1-3/4 and 4-1/2). S will join us, then we will all head up to Rocky Mountain National Park. Since my sis and her family are not really the outdoorsy types, I am bringing the camping gear for all of us. Fit into my miniature rental car (to save the mileage on my Subi). After a couple of days at RMNP, S and I will head to a hot springs lodge near the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness for 2 nights (there are so many giant mountains in Colorado that they ran out of names and started in on the Ivy League schools: Mt. Princeton, Mt. Yale, etc). The lodge has natural hot springs in a river - ooooh, that's my favorite! Massages and horse back riding are also planned. And the champagne I am slipping into my bag. ;-)

Then off to Breckenridge to spend a couple of days with S's family - they have a family get together there every year, and this is the first year we'll be joining them. Apparently 4-wheeling is on the agenda. Never been, but sounds super fun in a red-neck sort of way. We'll take 2-1/2 days to get home - bombing through Colorado, Utah and Idaho, then dropping down into SE Oregon to see the Alvord Desert and wake up to birding at dawn at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge.

At least that's the plan. The beauty of a roadtrip is ... sometimes plans get thrown out the window. I'm so looking forward to the down time, the alone time, the reading time, the hiking time, the family time, and just relaxing with my sweetheart time.