Ahhh, Sunday. Easter Sunday, at that. The shop is closed, so I’m off, but Matt still has to work… Even though he was off on Friday. Weirdness. 

Anyway. I went for my run this morning, after having rearranged my entire training schedule for this week, showered, ate breakfast, did ALL the things, packed up the car… And when Matt was off, we loaded up his bike and the last few things, and we were off!

The drive was pretty uneventful, we stopped in West Vail for dinner at McDonald’s, and made it to Fruita and Robb State Park around 7:30… Just in time to pitch the tent in daylight, and catch one of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve seen in a LONG time.

When we were finished pitching camp, we fired up the LavaBox, had a couple beers, and then went to bed. 

I slept through the night! SO nice! I woke up 5:30ish, hung out in bed reading a book for a bit, then got up to catch the sunrise. I made some coffee and set up a timelapse over the tent, but truly the sunrise was meh from our campsite. At least sunsets are good from where we are. 

Matt got up eventually, and after coffee we had some bagels.  We hung around waiting for it to get a bit warmer, then got moving for the day. We filled up bottles and drink mix and all the things in our packs, and headed over to the Kokopelli trailhead for the day. 

Matt went for a ride, I went for a run. My run was as meh as it gets, really. I just could NOT get out of my head. At least I was in Horsethief Canyon, which is super spectacular, with views for days and days and days…. 

I got back to the car and chilled out until Matt got back from his ride – which was WAY better than my run. 

We went back to camp, had some lunch, and basically sat around all afternoon until it was time to make dinner. We played with new microphones and also with some camera stuff at least, which was sorta productive. 

Dinner was steak fajitas (YUM!), and some ciders and margaritas… Then chilling out by the LavaBox, another sunset timelapse, and bed. 

I woke up stupid early as is my usual after a fantastic night of sleep, got out of the tent, and headed to the other side of the pond for sunrise. It was pretty, but the sun came up over the RV section of the park, not over the water like I’d hoped… It was still pretty, though. And the frogs and birds making all the noises were awesome. 

When the sun was up, I headed back to camp, where Matt was up. We made coffee, had more bagels for breakfast, and got our butts in gear for the day. 

We headed to 18 Rd., where we got ready to do our respective things… Matt took off on his bike and I took off on foot. 

I had a pretty good hike, up Prime Cut and back down Kessel Run. I finished well before Matt (we actually ran into each other at the car; I was almost finished, Matt was not), and I sat in the car and worked on videos for a bit… 

When Matt got back, we went back towards town and went to lunch at the local brewery, Reckless Brewery. Their IPA was delicious, and so were their pulled pork bbq nachos… YUM!

We headed over to Over the Edge bike shop for a few when we were finished eating and then back to camp. We spent the rest of the day just chilling out and catching another beautiful sunset… 

Then bed. 

I woke up in time for sunrise again – my thought was to try to go around the pond and see if I could find a good spot, but coffee and my blanket in my chair won out and I set up a timelapse right at camp. Sunrise was pretty enough there with coffee in hand, wrapped in my down blanket, reading my Kindle. 

When Matt got up, we made way too much breakfast – eggs with red peppers and onions in tortillas with cheese and salsa – and started packing up camp. 

I had a call with my coach, and by the time I was off, Matt had everything packed up. We threw it all in the car and headed for the Colorado National Monument. 

We found our hike – Window Rock – and wandered around on top of a rock band, staring out at other amazing bands of rock for a while. The views were absolutely amazing! 

Eventually, we got to the visitors center and decided to take the road back to our car. We decided to drive around the monument, stopping at a couple of pull outs to see more cool rock formations. 

When we got to Grand Junction, we headed east to Palisade, where we had lunch at the Palisade Brewery. 

Then it was back in the car and all the way home. 

Here’s the video: