Florida

We were able to go down to Florida for a few days which was so fun! Jesse was the photographer for his friend's wedding reception but we also got to hang out with his family, eat yummy Southern BBQ and seafood, and even hit the beaches before the oil did.

Henderson Beach in Destin

I got over my fear of the ocean a little bit more and did some body surfing, boogie boarding, and snorkeling.

Jesse actually knew what he was doing...

And I kind of got the hang of it...

There were a few good Southern storms.

We made a quick trip to Seaside where parts of the Truman Show were filmed, and we found the actual house they lived in...check the sign.

Thanks to his family, we took out the wave runner so we could tube and knee board!

Our time there was definitely too short but now it's back to business...finals!

Ok enough pictures of us...I'll get a few more interesting subjects for the next update.

Moab Trip #1

Oh Moab. Memorial Day came around and we couldn't let the day off go to waste! So we headed down to Moab for a nice 24 hour adventure. This time around the adventure team included James, Alyssa, and Vanessa too.

We made it in good time with enough daylight to set up camp. Problem #1 - we didn't reserve a campsite. Memorial Day Weekend + deciding to go to Moab on a whim = NOTHING AVAILABLE. We knew it would be busy...but we just figured it would add to the adventure. Well, it added, that's for sure. The next two hours of searching is a story I'll reserve for another time. As we contemplated sleeping in the parking lot of a gas station, the owner told us about a HUGE music festival, Desert Rocks, going on about 20 miles up the road. Apparently, 2,000 people were in attendance and no one was reserving campsites out there in the middle of nowhere! Finally we found it and I couldn't have been more excited. There, out in the boonies was a full stage set up, tons of booths with hippies selling stickers and Bob Marley t-shirts, and a rockin' concert going on! PLUS we found the best campsite just a few miles down the road. Win.

The next day we just played around Arches National Park.

Photo cred: Jesse

Photo cred: Jesse

Photo cred: Jesse
Photo cred: Jesse

Photo cred: Vanessa OlerHere's the gang...

Photo cred: Vanessa Oler

Photo cred: Vanessa Oler

Photo cred: Vanessa Oler

We saw way too many signs like this...

Photo cred: Vanessa Oler

Or ones saying "this is not a designated campground area." I guess we aren't the only ones who've been desperate for a campsite!

I think I fell on my face right after this picture.

Photo cred: Vanessa Oler

We wanted to hit Delicate Arch at sunset, but we also knew we'd be starving by then, so Jesse loaded his Osprey backpack with all of the essentials and we started the hike up.

Photo cred: Jesse

The wind is SUPER loud in this one so just turn down the volume...but it's worth it to watch just to see what surprises came out of Jesse's pack.


So... on top of Delicate Arch, we cooked 3 different types of soup/chili in our jet boiler, roasted marshmallows, shared an entire watermelon with our new friends around us, and watched the sun set over the arch!

Photo cred: Vanessa Oler

New salesman for Jet Boil?

Photo cred: Vanessa Oler

We all decided this would be the best way to cut the watermelon...

Viva Moab! We'll see you again for the Massive Moab Trip! TBC.

Little Sahara

Utah is full of so many random places to see and experience. Milla & Austin told us about Little Sahara which is just a couple hours South of Provo. Explanation coming...

On our drive down we saw this deserted factory/storehouse sitting up on the hill and had to go explore. As we walked towards it we made friends with a couple old chaps just as curious as we were.

The view was pretty sweet once we got to the top of the rubble.

We still have no idea what it was but there were tons of photo ops.

We continued our journey through podunk towns (a few of which would be perfect settings for horror movies), passed by cattle herders rounding up the gangs, and finally made it to Little Sahara. Basically, it is hundreds of acres of sand dunes! A word to the wise: don't go unless you have ATV's to play around on!

It was an experience just driving around this giant sand box watching the thousands of people (of all ages) riding ATV's, dune buggies, and dirt bikes.

If you know me you are aware that I love to people watch. This place is high on the list. I'll just say that rat tails and wife-beater tanks are welcome....do you have a visual yet?

We kept hearing about Sand Mountain so we went to find it...and it is exactly as it sounds - a sand mountain. This is where the party was.

It's hard to see just how big it was, but basically the riders would gun it up this thing then slide back down still at full speed. Nuts.

Little Sahara is just something you need to see for yourself. We'll be back...with ATV's!

Stewart Falls

Ok- I'm way behind on blogging. So sorry.Who reads this anyways?!

Well, for those of you who do, this is what we've been up to!

Jesse and I were crazy enough to take classes during Spring (and I'll be pushing through Summer as well). Really, it hasn't been too bad. It's nice to be on campus with so few others (except the EFY kids...ah). Yet amidst our studies we've managed to fit in a few fun adventures with more to come.

About a month ago we hiked up to Stewart Falls just above Sundance.

Because the snow is still melting, and the runoff isn't as strong, we were able to hike up a little closer.
We made our way to Salt Lake for dinner at Biaggi's - an excellent choice for anyone craving Italian. The atmosphere is classy and the food is so so good.