Russell Moab Trip

Ah I looooove Moab! I had never been before I met Micah (genuinely didn't even know what Moab was, seeing as I grew up in Washington) but I'm so glad he has a passion for it.

We went down to Moab for just a quick vacation, to celebrate Micah's & his brother Josh's birthdays (Micah's is on October 25th & Josh's is October 26th) and also to be together as a whole Russell family.

Micah and I left super late on Thursday (the 24th)... like 11:00pm haha. We wanted to be in Moab for the whole day Friday and Saturday because we had to come back home on Sunday... Micah got a new job (woo!) and had to fly out to Texas for training.

We stayed in the Bowen Motel, pet friendly because our pup Zoey came with us. I think she loves Moab even more than I do. It was a fun full car, with Zo & Liv in the back, Micah driving & me playing DJ.  

On Friday morning (Happy Birthday Micah!) we went to breakfast at Moab Diner -- best breakfast in town.. mmmmm their bacon is delish! After we met up with the rest of the Russell clan, the boys went on a bike ride & the rest of us hung out around town for a bit, shopped in the classic Moab T-Shirt store & the Moab BARKery. I bought a onesie for Olive and a bone for Zoey.  :) Ali, my sister in law, babysat Livi for me since her little one Cat was feeling sick.

Livi rockin her new Moab swag

After shopping, we went for a hike to Hunters Canyon.  Dianne & Lynn decided to sit this hike out and offered to babysit Olive for me. It was kinda nice! The last time I was in Moab was when I was 8 months pregnant & Micah and I actually hiked Hunters Canyon. We didn't go all the way to the end because I was giant and wobbly, and felt like I was going to have Olive right there on the trail haha. Going on it the second time it was soooooo much shorter! We again didn't get to go the very end because everyone wanted to grab dinner earlier (for the kiddos).  :(  but I have heard that the end of the hike is the best part and I'm so bummed! Arg. One day I will see that view. We did get to stop and throw a stick for Zoey to go swim after in these big pools of water though. She used to haaate the water but now she is a total champ, loves it.

We of course went to Zax Pizzeria for dinner. I literally cannot go to Moab without getting dinner there. It's amazing! Endless pizza buffet and they will custom make any kind of pizza that you want. My fave is their honey chicken pizza.. doesn't sound that amazing, but trust me, it's sooooo good!

Seriously my favorite picture ever. Micah and his Mini

That night we had pie at the condo where Josh & Ben's families were staying (Lynn & Dianne were staying in the same hotel as us) and played a game called Heads Up. It is soooo fun! seriously, go download it on your smart phone, you won't be disappointed. You pretty much hold the phone up to your forehead while everyone else in the room sees the word displayed on the screen (i.e. a movie, food, actor, place, activity...) and without saying the words on the screen they have to get you to guess it. Like charades, but the fun twist is that your phone's forward facing camera records the whole thing so you have these ridiculous clips of people desperately trying to get you to guess what the word is... Pretty rad. I think it's only a dollar too, so hop on it. They have a "Just for kids section" too so it's not just adult stuff.

The next morning we went for another hike, to Negro Bills, which Micah and I had been on before with Zoey. Thankfully both hikes are dog friendly, so we didn't have to leave Zo in the car.

And this time Lynn & Dianne came with us and we brought Livi in our baby Bjorn and totally forgot sunscreen, a hat... ugh we fail at parents... so we borrowed sunscreen from Josh & Kelly then bought this amazingly touristy hat for Liv. It's for an adult, mind you... they didn't have infant hats. Oh the poor thing is going to hate us for taking pictures of her in it!

Negro Bills is very pretty, a lot of river crossings like Hunters Canyon. They're both pretty flat, but I'd say between the two, Negro Bills is more of a climbing work out. Nothing too technical, but just some bigger rocks to get over. To save on time we also didn't finish this hike... ugh! but I've finished this one before so it wasn't as disappointing to me.  :)  It ends in a big arch that you can repeal down (if you drop in from another entrance to the hike) and it's kinda neat to see people coming down it.

Dumb finger got in the shot, but look at that tongue! holy crap, crazy dog!

Olive was such a champ the whole 2.8 mile hike. Didn't fuss, took a bottle actually while we were hiking, and was just kinda hanging out. She had perfect timing to get bored/tired though, literally right when we saw our cars again, coming back. We strapped her into the carseat & took off for a quick lunch at Wendy's then to go for a Jeep trail, Hell's Revenge. 

on Negro Bills

Lynn, Ben and his girls were in a rented RZR 4-seater, Josh, Kelly, & their boys in their Jeep, and Micah, Dianne, Olive, Zoey, & I were in our Jeep. Full car!! Hell's Revenge is a very scenic, easy trail to do in any kind of vehicle. We went to the plateau at the end, took some pics, then turned right back around.

I love these two. 

Olive slept for pretty much the entire shaky car ride and Zoey tried to jump onto Dianne's lap in the front seat for the bumpy parts. Apparently Zoey doesn't love sitting in the car. So she & I jumped out and ran along side the Jeep for a little while.

That night we had dinner back and the condo, some pazookies (melty cookies with ice cream on top, yum!) and just hung out til we had to go home.

Fun mini vaca, wish we could've stayed longer!