This trip was quick and had lots of ups and downs and excitement.
I had called our hotel the morning of the trip to ask if we could get our two rooms next to each other. This reservation was made 10 days prior through Priceline. However, when I called the hotel, they did not have our reservation. We ended up having about 5 phone calls between the hotel and Priceline and about 3 hours on the phone working on all kinds of issues, from the reservation not being sent, to the hotel being overbooked, to there being no other options they were giving us with sold out places in the area and lots and lots of frustration getting things all sorted out. I was totally out of patience when we finally arrived at our hotel that evening. But to our further frustration, when we arrived, no employee was to be found on the hotel premises, front desk and all. All ten of us waited for over a half hour waiting for someone to show up. I had a race early in the morning and needed to get to bed. It was a very frustrating day. When we finally did get to bed later than we wanted. The babies were not wanting to sleep. At around 11pm we heard a major argument going on outside our window. We were on the main floor. It was very loud and heated. Steve suggested that maybe we ask if the front desk could do anything about it. I looked out the window to find that it was the lady from the front desk having a fight with who I am guessing was her boyfriend. The fight lasted quite a while. It was super frustrating. The babies awoke a few times in the night, with Sam even falling out of bed and hitting his head on the nightstand. I dragged myself out of bed about 3:45am and headed out for my race. I was beat!
But this is what the start line looked like. Gorgeous.
The morning of the race I was having stomach issues. It was everything from dry heaving to having to rush to the toilet a few times. I was not feeling the best. I made a nice friend on the bus ride up to the start line. He was a Kenyan and a really neat man. It was fairly warm at the start line, and that was not good, because you don't want it warm before you even start. The course was way harder for me than I anticipated. It was on rocky gravel for a few miles. It was quite steep for a good part of it too. I was out of breath the entire time. I think it was the altitude. I just did not do that well. I was struggling. I finished in 1:55, which was my worst time of the last 4 half marathons I've had this Summer. I was disappointed. I ended up placing 15th in my division of I believe about 50 women. I was hoping for much better.
The photo below is of all of us waiting for someone to show up at the hotel.
The gas station in Beaver had tons of I love Beaver paraphernalia. I thought that was funny.
Anyhow, the trip was feeling like a total flop until we got to Bryce Canyon around noon on Saturday. It was a beautiful day and beautiful place. I was tired and sore from the race, but I ended up getting a nice second wind from the beauty of it all.
Celeste said her leg was hurting and had to sit out at this tree while the rest of us hiked.
We took what we think was at least a three mile hike with the kids. We had to carry babies on our shoulders because it was a little tough for them.
This hike was AWESOME! We loved it so much. See Andy peaking through that rock in the photo above? And Hana below.
Everyone trying to touch the hoodoo.
After the hike we built a fire and sat around it eating and playing games. This was such a wonderful time together as a family!
