A few months ago, Dave started planning a motorcycle trip to go see the solar eclipse. He is really into out-of-the-ordinary things and is very adventurous to say the least (one of the many reasons why I love him). He invited many of his motorcycle buddies and asked me to ride on the back of the bike during the trip. Despite my fondness for his bikes and his love for them, I declined and opted to drive the car and meet the boys in southern Utah. I was even lucky enough to have my friend Katherine whose husband is a part of this "motorcycle gang" drive with me to that I wouldn't get lonely. She actually ended up driving most of the trip so I got spoiled cause I hate driving long distances.
We left on Friday after work and headed down to southern Utah taking the scenic route. We passed through many creepy little towns and I even got to see the Manti Temple for the first time which was gorgeous by the way. The boys (there were seven of them) were ahead of us so we just followed behind them until somewhere along the trip we got ahead and ended up waiting at the campsite for 45 mins for them to arrive and by then it was pretty late. I was happy that we had the dogs to keep us company because those kind of things scare me for some reason...I guess I've watched too many movies. When they finally showed up, I was ready to curl up in my sleeping bag and call it a night. When morning came and I stepped out of the tent to see the campsite in daylight, I was astonished by the beauty of the red cliffs in the distance. The campsite was near Bryce Canyon and seeing the red rock reminded me of how much I love southern Utah and it's majestic desert landscape.
Here are the boys on their hogs. The pic is missing the other two but shows the pretty cliffs in the background :)
We left around 9:30 to start heading towards St. George and to go find food. We stopped at the Thunderbird Restaurant (Home of the Ho-Made Pies) in Mt. Carmel and ate some yummy breakfast and I got to know the guys in the gang. I hadn't met them yet and it was great getting to know them individually. We also got to learn the back story of why it was called "Ho-Made Pies." You should google it ;)
After breakfast, we headed up to Zions to stop there for a bit on our way to S.G. and got to get out and see the awesome sights. Since we had the dogs, we weren't allowed on the regular trails so Katherine and I let the boys go on a small hike while we stopped at a camping area to let the dogs play.
Our stop at the Thunderbird cafe, home of the "Ho-Made Pies"
Zions!
Dave posing all sexy...
Indy was having such a good time riding along :)
Our stop in Zions.
After a little while resting and relaxing, we hopped back in the car (the boys back onto their bikes) and finished the last leg of the trip that ended in Washington which is near to S.G. Paul, who is Katherine's husband, has a cousin who was SO KIND to let us stay at his house. When we got there feeling tired from the drive and heat, we had a air conditioned house with many rooms and a pool waiting for us. We wasted no time jumping into the cold water and even got the dogs to jump in and cool off. We ended up ordering pizza which was to perfect topper to our pool party. So much fun!
Pool party!
As evening wound things down, we took naps and woke up with cravings for something sweet. Neilson's Frozen Custard called our names so we jumped on the bikes (I got on the back of Dave's this time since we were just going to ride around town) and headed to St. George. But first we got a picture of the boys and their pride and joys...
The best part about this is that the pictures in the background are puzzles of various Disney characters. Went perfectly with the tough guys and their tough motorcycles ;)
When I tried the frozen custard for the first time, I was in heaven. It was soooooo goood! But like many unfair things in my life, it ended up making me sick and almost ruined the evening. But luckily I was able to quickly recover and enjoy the rest of the night which included riding around to 3 different Red Box's to look for the movie Bridesmaids. Unfortunately, we weren't able to find that gem but instead chose to rent "Tucker and Dale VS. Evil" which ended up being highly entertaining and may be up there on my list of great comedies now...
Yummy custard!
After the movie, we all passed out in our comfortable beds. The next day, a few of the boys left early to get an early start back to Salt Lake City and those who stayed behind went of Red Robin for lunch and swam a little more. At about 4:30, we headed for Kanarraville to watch the solar eclipse. Kanarraville is an extremely small town home to about a little over 300 people but when we got there, you wouldn't have been able to tell. The streets were jam packed with cars and people setting up their telescopes and camps and at first we were a little disappointed that we might not be able to find a good spot to see the eclipse. That's when Dave's knack for spontaneity came into play and he found an empty foreclosed house with an open drive way to park in . Was it legal for us to be there? Probably not, but we stayed out of trouble and enjoyed our prime location. However, I may or may not have checked out the inside of the house since the back door was unlocked.
Before the eclipse began, we bought special glasses to be able to see the sun without hurting our eyes. The glasses were definitely over priced, but worth it because we were able to see everything and enjoy it as it happened. Adding to the fun, our friends Matt and Mere showed up withe their family and we had a BBQ in the backyard of the empty house. I love the funny memories we made that day. Another neat thing was to watch the shadows slowly turn into crescents and then finally into full circles and it was even more amazing to think that we were in the best place in the world to see the eclipse and the full ring of fire.
Festivities in Kanarraville
Waiting for the ring of fire!
Once the eclipse was over, it was a bittersweet time for Dave and I because he was to leave on his own to head to California to find us an apartment in LA. I was nervous the whole trip thinking of him riding all the way to LA on his motorcycle by himself mostly through the desert. So when we said goodbye, it was difficult for me to see him riding away not knowing if he would get there safe. But God was merciful and answered my fretting wife's prayers by allowing him to reach his destination safely with only sunburns to show for the journey. But in true Dave fashion, he pretended to be a cowboy in the lonely west as he rode through the desert and camped out on the side of exit ZZXYXX when he got too tired to ride anymore. He heard coyotes at night and woke up in the morning to steal some continental breakfast at a local hotel. I love my riff raff!
All in all it was a great weekend with wonderful people and full of fun memories :)
