The Book Store

I know it's been a while.  For some reason I haven't been feeling very inspired lately, but I think I have my juices back.  One of my favorite things to do on the weekend is go to the book store with Cody.  We have one in particular I absolutely love.  It is called Half off Books. Maybe it's a franchise, but this particular one is adorable.  It's fairly small, but filled to capacity with used books, movies, magazines, games and everything in between.  My favorite part by far is all the used books.

When I walk the aisles I think of all the thousands of adventures people have been on inside those books.  All the strangers that have enjoyed some of the adventures I've enjoyed. And all the many other adventures I have yet to share with complete strangers through their used book.  I love imagining the person reading the book in my hand in exotic places.  Smiling at the funny parts and enjoying the book as much as I had.  As for books I haven't read.  I love picking out the most worn out copy.  Not because it's cheaper, but because I feel it was a well loved by someone.  I picture it being read dozens of times.  Being cherished by someone I have never met. And I hope that I will get to cherish it as much as the stranger did.

Books are my escape.  When I feel stressed out or that life is spinning out of control.  I pick up a book and it is an instant relief.  It relieves all the tensions of daily life and let's me escape into a new place.  A place I've never been or that doesn't even exist.  But when I'm reading it doesn't matter for I am one with the book.  I am now there with the characters having grand adventures. Contemplating and thinking things that I had never crossed my mind before.

Maybe I'll start doing book reviews on here.

What are your thoughts?  Do you love books and book stores as much as me?  What's your favorite part?

The Road Trip: Day 3

July 28, 2014 We left our hotel early in the morning to continue our adventures.  Today was all about Arches National Park.  Arches was just as spectacular as all the pictures make it out to be. We did most of the hikes and saw some incredible scenery.  We didn't do the delicate arch hike for two reasons.  The first reason was there was absolutely no parking to the trial.  The second reason was it was already super hot and I'm kind of  out of shape.  We took the easy way out and hiked the viewpoint instead. We hiked a lot of the lesser known arches, but they were still just as beautiful. We may not have spent the entire day there, but we definitely saw some beautiful scenery and got some nice hikes in.  We didn't do any of the long hikes so we were back on the road to Salt Lake City by 2 p.m..

On a side note.  Dogs are not allowed on most of the trials.  At no point was Riddler ever let down from his carrier attached to Cody's chest. Even with that being said apparently just the smell of a dog scares away the rodents.  Lesson learned leave the "dog" at home.

Now have a look at all of our pictures and if you haven't been down to Moab, it's definitely worth a trip.

At the entrance to Arches

"Balanced Rock"

Delicate Arch from the viewpoint

Cody is a climber at heart

Me not so much

Trying to push this tree back in place.

The walls were caving in

Cody climbing to the top of the arch

Cody and Riddler relaxing on top of the arch

Stay tuned for what we did while in Salt Lake City.

The Road Trip: Day 1 & 2

I've been dreading writing these posts because it means that our vacation is really over.  And man is that a hard pill to swallow.  This vacation was much needed.  It wasn't just time away from work or time to relax.  (Although those are both great reasons to vacation.)  It was much needed time spent with family and friends not to mention a little adventure to mix things up.

On July 26, 2014 we started our amazing road trip to Salt Lake City.  Our first stop was Albuquerque, New Mexico.  On our way to Albuquerque we experienced the most amazing storm in the desert.  There was a gorgeous lightning show with wonderful rain and just enough sunshine to make you feel as if you were in a movie.  I wish I could have captured the moment better on camera, but we were driving.  Once we arrived in Albuquerque we checked into our hotel. Hyatt Place I would definitely recommend it.  We went to Twisters for dinner.  (Supposedly "Breaking Bad" was filmed there)  The food was mediocre.  We went back to our hotel, relaxed and watched the UFC fights on Fox for the rest of the night.

July 27, 2014 was our most eventful day of our road trip.  We woke up early.  Enjoyed a nice complimentary breakfast at our hotel and started our journey north.  Our first stop of the day was Mesa Verde National Park.  Unfortunately that was a total bust.  We drove in the car for 4 hours just to find out that the actual park was 2 hours away from the visitors center. Instead of freaking out (like I usually do)  we decided to move on to our next adventure, which was Canyonlands National Park.

From Mesa Verde it was a 2 hour drive.  The drive was breathtakingly beautiful.  I saw rock formations I had never seen before.  There was one set of rocks that looked like it had horses painted on it in coal.  When we got to the visitors center we paid our fee and collected our map.  We were a little disappointed because we found out that Canyonlands is made of three separate pieces of land that are quite spread apart.  We originally wanted to visit and hike Island in the Sky, but here we were in The Pines section.  So just like earlier in the day we made the best of it and hiked some really fun trials with some really amazing views.  I would still call it a very successful day.  After Canyonlands we made our way to downtown Moab where our hotel was and stayed the night there.  If you've ever stayed in Moab you know how over priced hotels are.  We ended up staying in the Super 8.  The rooms were newly remodeled and nice especially for a Super 8. It was nothing special at all, but it was clean.

Take a look at all of the pictures from our adventures.

It's a pretty lame picture of the storm, but just know it was great.

This is the view from the Mesa Verde visitors center.

Family picture at the border.  We made it to Utah!!

Fun fact: We stopped at all the border signs, for except New Mexico.

Cody's turn to drive

Heading out on our first hike in Canyonlands.

Ancient ruins.

Cave family photo.

I of course had to take the adventurous route.

Cody and Riddler climbing the ladder.

My turn to climb up.

The view was spectacular.

Kissing on top of the world.

Cody and Riddler posing.

Taking in the scenery.

Off to the hotel we go.

Riddler is exhausted after a long day.

Stay tuned for day 3 of the road trip and what we did while in Salt Lake City.