Moab for Memorial 2018

Can  you believe May is over?  I can't.  But alas, it was time for the annual trek to Moab with my friends.  John has agreed to be my regular travel partner for this trip.  Philip and Tiffany also join in.  And this year, was a huge group.  We had 82 people in our group this year.  Out of that, 70 people joined in the group meals!  That is lots of friends and  must mean we are doing something right to attract such a crowd.  For the last several years, I've organized the accommodations and group meal plans so this is a significant undertaking to say the least.

But we have lots of families that have joined for many years and know the ropes.  And the additional people are friends and family of the regulars so it makes it much easier because everyone helps everyone else.  Everyone comes and goes as their schedule allows.  We chose to go down Friday and come home Monday.  That is enough for me.

We got on the road fairly early on Friday.  We dropped Bella off at the boarders and were on the road by 10:00.  This was great because we beat much of the holiday traffic.  We stopped at our regular spot in Price, Big Don's Pizza.  We shared a delicious pizza and large salad which was super yummy.  We pulled into the RV park by 2:30 which was great time.  Before I could even get out of the car, I was surrounded by friends helping unload the car. This is much appreciated as you can imagine.  John had found the tequila and passed out a few shots and posed with friends for photos.  We hurried and got all settled in.  And it was HOT.  93 degrees.  Wow!  The Hummel/Brown's invited us to join them for dinner at Pasta Jay's.  We had  a nice dinner sitting on the patio sweating our asses off.  But it was delicious.  That night, we all gathered to catch up and enjoy some cocktails.

Loaded and on the way

All unpacked and ready for libations

Love these two!

Saturday, we decided to take a picnic  lunch and drive up to he Castle Creek Winery.  It is a beautiful drive along the Colorado River.  Philip and Tiffany had never done wine tasting and now that they were of age, I was happy to share this experience.  We found a nice little table in the shade and enjoyed our picnic while staring at the red cliffs around us and the lazy river next to us.  We decided to continue our drive down the canyon, and across the road down Potash road to look for the petroglyphs.  I couldn't exactly remember where they all were but we did find some.  We had to get back to the RV park as our team was on tap for dinner.

We followed suit of another family for dinner and did a Hawaiian dinner with Kahlua Pork, Rice, Macaroni Salad, Green Salad, and Coconut Macaroons.  It was delicious.  I ordered some leis so we could hand them out to everyone.  And let me tell you, we did a fabulous  job and the food was excellent!  It was easy work cooking for 70 people when you have 20 helping you cook.

Cute Ella (Kimberlee's Daughter).  She got engaged on Saturday!

Bridger (Ella's Fiance), John, Ella, Me

Tiffany and Philip

Nightime libations with my huge bottle of Hornitos tequila
 I got in Vegas last summer just for this trip!

Custom Cuban Daquari made just for me from my Cuban rum I shared

I bought this shirt just for this trip.  This is with AJ and
Jaden (Lesley's son).  They both work with Philip and Tiffany.

Sunday, John and I decided to head up to Arches only to find out the park was closed for the 3rd day in a row due to the number of people already in the park.  So we decided to drive to Canyonlands.  We got towards the pay station and realized it was over booked as well with a wait of at least an hour to pay to get in.  So we decided to head over to Dead Horse Point.  I was told a few years ago that it was absolutely  not accessible so I wasn't real thrilled but what else do I have to do??  We pulled up and alas, there was a paved sidewalk to a look out point so I practically vaulted out of the car and went to look.  John did the short walk to the look out point while I enjoyed the view from the paved area.   It wasn't too long before we were back together driving back to camp.  We decided to meet up with Philip and Tiffany for some lunch in town.  Then back to camp for a nap before dinner.

That night, the group had a Mexican dinner with shredded chicken, seasoned beef, and carneasada.  It was so good!  After dinner, we went back to our cabin and commenced in some hi jinx drinking.  I had some tequila I didn't want to take home.  I started a "fire sale" on the table of the beer, tequila, and fruit I didn't  want to take home.  Before I knew it, we had probably 40 people chipping in and partying with us.  Somewhere along the way, fruit from breakfast showed up and we made drinks with it.  Turned into a big jungle juice thing.  We all agreed the second batch was the best.  I quietly passed on the jungle juice though.  I know that stuff is dangerous.  It started as a lazy way to deal with the empty bottles as I put them under the table with a ceremonious "Clank".  It became quite the pile that everyone had to come see.  Honestly, ridiculous.  But really fun.  At about 11:00, John and I had enough so we faked our way out and went in the cabin leaving the party to carry on without us.

Lesley, Mama Gayle, Stacy

Me, Lauren, ?, John

Me, Mama Gayle, Jen, Kim

Me and Kimberlee

Philip and me

Kimberlee double fisting the jungle juice

Me and Allyson

Me, Kimberlee, John

Philip, Stacy, Ella

Snapchat fun with Kimberlee

Ella and Bridger playing with Snapchat

John succumbing to peer pressure

The carnage.  Ridiculous!

Sunday was  like a bad movie when we went out to see the damage.  It took about 30 minutes just to clean up.  We enjoyed a little banana bread after our clean up and decided to pack up and get out of town.  Philip is an amazing kid and had us packed up in no time.  We were on the road home by 10:00.  We met in Price at Groggs for a burger and were home by about 2:30.  John was anxious to head home to see his kitty.  I was ready for some feet up time.

We had a great trip.  Ever year,  I wonder if I really want to go again and every year, I am glad I did.  We already have 72 signed up for next year.  The cabins at the RV park are all reserved.  Crazy isn't it?