Adventure Tattoos *

We flew into Salt Lake City on Sunday, got our rental car, and went in search of coffee.

While caffeinating, we quickly read up on the most important facts about Salt Lake, including the inversion effect and that the roads in the city were built wide enough for ox cart drivers to be able to make u-turns.

We stopped in Temple Square but mostly enjoyed the tulips, which were in full bloom. Having seen what we came to see, it was time to hit the road for Park City!

One of the other things we had read about Salt Lake was that while there is a direct route to Park City, if you’re willing to add a few minutes to your journey, you can make an excellent loop upwards into the mountains via Emigrant Canyon - we very much enjoyed our drive.

Park City Living

Upon arrival we went for an awesome backyard hike with our hostess, Coreena. It was a little muddy and it rained a little, but we loved it. The views were incredible and the oxygen was limited - a potent combination.

We were very fortunate and enjoyed dinner in that night. We made some top notch guacamole and risotto. It was both of our FIRST times making risotto, so it was a pretty big deal. Coreena also introduced us to a meditation cookbook, which includes a practice along with each recipe. We continued to flip through it during the remainder of our stay.

The next day we borrowed a couple of bikes and took the bike trail to downtown. We are both early risers and found it amusing to watch the town go from totally closed when we first arrived around 8, to a few signs of life when we left around 11. One of the places that was open was a gallery of photos by the wilderness photographer Thomas Mangelsen. We were both awed by his ability to capture such intimate moments with nature, especially ones of the bear “399.” Look it up!

Coreena also took us for an amazing drive to see the many views of PC, and she set us up to mix and play with essential oils. Coreena is the creator of the Cor Pendant, minimalist and beautiful aromatherapy jewelry.

Spending time in Park City with Coreena was a total blast and we are excited to go back and share more with her and with our friend Glee Corsetti!

Joe’s Valley

We were lucky enough to catch our friends Sean & Lauren of Littlebigvan en route to Moab. Joe’s Valley is a popular bouldering destination and while we only saw it for about an hour total, it was so awesome to catch up with our friends; they’ve been on the road since September and are still living the dream! Here’s us post-climbing:

Moab

Can you overuse the word “Wow” ? If you swap it with “Woah” are you diversifying your vocabulary?

We were completely overwhelmed as we drove the route down to Moab. Suddenly everything around us was giant and magnificent, in stark contrast to what we experience on the highways back East.

Our first stop was Dead Horse Point, which we timed out to arrive with an hour before sunset. This was quite the way to begin the Moab portion of the trip— views for days. See below:

Like what.

Arches National Park & Corona Arch

We woke up early today and set out to do a sunrise hike of Delicate Arch. It took us about thirty minutes from the Wolfe Ranch parking lot to get into position:

We feel very privileged to be able to witness the sun set and rise in such beautiful landscapes. It was also also a huge plus to beat the touring crowds. We arrived in the park around 5:30am, spent about 5 hours hiking around, and as we exited we saw an unbearably long line of traffic waiting at the gate.

Other things we saw: Salt Valley Overlook, Broken Arch (it’s not broken? 🤔), Sand Dune Arch, Balance Rock!

Moab itself is a pretty great town. There’s a ton of cool coffee shops and restaurants and obviously a huge outdoors industry here. Our friend and spontaneous guest Ike told us a little bit more about the Moab culture and we loved hearing about the unique sense of home he’s created here.

We also enjoyed the sneak favorite hike of the day, Corona Arch - another amazing sandstone wonder; while the morning hike in Arches was amazing and highly recommended, there was something understated and beautiful about Corona that we both loved.

Ok, it’s off to Flagstaff in the morning and we are so psyched! Thanks to (Sheila’s) Aunt Cathie for the excellent Moab to Flag recommendations.

Sheila & James

PS - James is supposed to say “hi mom and dad” here because they are waiting for a shout out. 👋😅