Castle Creek Winery

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Tommy and I set out today for Castle Creek Winery and Red Cliffs Lodge. It sits along the Colorado river and is approximately 14 miles of out town. Along the way we stopped on the side of the road and threw 3 bottles of my favorite Pinot Noir - Mark West - into the Colorado River. The wine was gone, of course, and in its place we put postcards of Moab. We stated on the postcards the date we threw it, to please contact us when found, and to re date it and throw it back in the river.

This morning,(I'm writing this the day after), Tommy received a phone call. A Kayak-er found one of them. He was 10 miles south of Moab. He stated he did re date it and threw it back in. We cant wait to see if anyone else calls and just how far they actually get. The river is flowing incredibly fast because of the snow melt. This is a record year of snow and it all seems to want to melt in one week. People are frantic. In some of the pictures you can see just how much it is past its banks. The white water rafters are loving it!

sorry, I cant seem to rotate this.

While at the winery we walked over to the lodge. What a beautiful piece of 'peace and quiet'. It is spread out over 45 acres and offers over 125 cabins/rooms. They house a museum on the grounds that we spent well over an hour in. It is self guided. Apparently there were over 120 movies filmed right here in Moab. Last year while we were here we saw a production company setting up tracks along the rocks for cameras but none so far this year. Paramount Pictures was all over the place here last year. I took pictures of some of the better know movies filmed where we actually do hiking. Virtually, all of the Marlboro Man commercials were shot here.Very interesting.

Oh and remember that Chevrolet commercial where the car and the pretty girl were on top of a hugely tall but skinny rock? That was here. We pass that rock often. It is extremely tall. They used a helicopter to drop off the model and the car. I hope they paid her alot because the winds sometimes hit 45 mph here. On top of the rock I'm sure it was worse.

Imagine sitting at your dinner table on the deck of this beautifully decorated lodge and having these massive red rocks for your view, while listening to soft music and the roar of the river in the background. Does it get an better?

Tommy and I sat on the edge of the river for a while and watched the rafters float by. One after another. It was a beautiful day. Clear blue skies, cumulus clouds all about. The temperature was in the mid 80's.

Instead of heading back to camp the way we came, we decided to take a road up and over the La Sal Mountain pass. It is only 40 miles but up and over any mountain around here is more like 5 miles to one. It was a rough road at times, but we're glad we did it. I received a text from Kyle while on the pass and he said he would call me in a few minutes. I asked Tommy to pull over so I wouldn't lose my signal and we parked in the middle of a cow herd. They roam freely here and after a while they thought Tommy was a cow because he got out and walked around they followed him! It was pretty funny. One guy looked really really angry, maybe he was the leader and had fallen from grace with Tommy the new head honcho. LOL. (Its the picture with the baby next to him.)


Kyle did call us. We only had 3 minutes to talk. We tried to finalize our arrangements for graduation but we were cut off before we were done. It is difficult because Tommy and I are out West and need to fly back East. His Dad is in FL along with his sister and need to go North. And his Grandma and Aunt are North of him and need to come South. It will all work out I'm sure, but for now its a mess. The entire graduation ceremony is up in the air because at any given moment they can  delay Kyle a week, for any given reason. Another way to screw with them, I suppose. Any plans we make are tentative. We do have our flights booked and we will be there from the 27th - 3rd. If we have to extend, of course we will, but it is not fun when you don't know 100%. We're keeping our fingers crossed.

He sounded so good! It was the first time I talked to him that he did not sound sick. He stated that 6 people in his Platoon had pneumonia. One died. Isn't that horrible? He also said another kid in another Platoon hung himself. I guess Boot Camp really is tough mentally. I'm just so thankful Kyle is a strong person. I couldn't be prouder!! We cant wait to see him!

LOL. The park is full.

you can see for miles and miles...

Tommy's Nemesis

Today the idea we are throwing around is to take Sire to Ken's Lake. We have not been there before and passed it yesterday on the way down the mountain. The sun is out, as always, and wind has lied down so more than likely that will be the plan.

Thanks for reading and have a good week. FYI, if you want more detail, please click on the individual pictures. They will blow up for you. Enjoy!

Kane Canyon Creek Trail

Saturday, June 11, 2011

We woke up at 8am and got with Gloria and Ivan to head into town for the county auction. They had a ton of old telephones and desks and even a road grader. Nothing of any use. But it was interesting and it got us up and out, early.

Afterwards. we went to the Moab Diner for breakfast, took a walk along the river and then headed back home.

Once home instead of jumping back in bed,which is what I really wanted to do, we took the Polaris out for a trail ride. We headed south (I think) to Kane Canyon Creek Trail. We did this trail last year and were on part of it last week. The thing with the trails around here is - they shoot out in so many different ways that you can literally spend a week on one trail and not see it all. So many little turn offs that go in all directions and go on for miles. It is very easy to get lost and with out a GPS to track us, I would not do it. There are no Mountain Lions or Bears out here, just coyotes and snakes but I can handle those, so being safe is not a concern. The sun is brutal  and sun block is applied numerous times throughout the day. Along with consuming gallons of water, and a Corona here and there! (We drink the beer so we have a target to shoot at!) Water bottle just don't seem to hold up!

picture frame arch

Which by the way, I destroyed Tommy's Coors Light bottle! BOOM! Straight through the middle of the label. He calls me Phoebe now. Phoebe is Annie Oakley's real name! My Corona bottle had little chance of survival also. It ended up in pieces. Tommy is still a better shot than me but if you consider that he has has 45 years of practice and was an Expert Marksman in the service, I think I do pretty darn good. He shoots with one hand, I shoot with two. As long as I know I can kill a bear or mountain lion I'm good with it all.

I totally forgot to put the battery back inside the camera yesterday. It was being charged overnight. So when I went to take my first picture, nothing happened. I was not a happy camper. I did, however, take some pictures of our day with my cell phone. They are not great but its all I have. Sorry. I'm going to try and sync my phone to upload the pictures. I hope it works and does not wipe out my IPOD. I have 5 days of music on it. Wish me luck.

someone left these guys...too funny!

We were on the trail for almost 4 hours and had a great day. Tommy cooked ribeyes for dinner along with grilled peppers - 3 different colors - they were awesome and we headed to bed early. The plan for today is to hit a winery and a ranch all in one. It sits on the Colorado river and looks to be amazing. Ill let you know.

this was the only shade spot all day!

Poof! Dead Center!

Thanks for reading and I hope the pictures come out okay.

Sire's Play Day!

Thursday, June 9, 2011

This morning we slept in. When Tommy woke me up he said it was 8am. When I got out of bed, poured some coffee I noticed the microwave said 10:15.  I reset it to 8:15. An hour later he told me he was 'Just Kidding"! It really was 10:15 when I got up. Damn it!

The first thing I did today was book our flights from Denver to Charlotte for Kyle's Graduation from Boot Camp. It will take place on the 30th. We should be in Steamboat Springs, CO by the 25th and will drive to Denver from there for our flights. Friends in Steamboat will take care of the animals while we are gone. My little sister and my Mom  live in Charlotte, NC so we will fly  into there and drive to Columbia, SC. We are very excited. We have not seen Kyle in 8 weeks. Although we write each other constantly, we miss him terribly.

The other day we ordered a new camera with extra this and extra that and yesterday it was delivered. Today's blog pictures will be taken with the new and improved one.  I hope they come out good.

If  you're not a dog lover, you wont enjoy this blog, sorry!


Somewhere around 12:30 we finally had our crap together and left for Mills Trail with Sire. We hit the dirt around 1pm. The first rock, where you see Tommy in the water and Sire just sitting there with a bunch of kids waiting behind Sire, is the worst part of the trail. There is a huge rock that you have to cross to get to the real trail. The rock is angled somewhere around 18-20 degrees. The bad part about that is there is a very fine sand that blows and sits on these rocks. No matter how well Lands End makes your hiking sandals, it cannot stop you from what they call 'skiing'. Sliding on your ass!

We could not get Sire in the water to swim by the rock because he could not touch the bottom and was scared. We talked him through the first part but he refused to complete it and just sat there. Eventually we had 3 boys push him in the water. He was growling, and the kids were scared, but we assured them he would not eat them. He was just really nervous. Someone, BLM (Bureau of Land Mgmt.) should build a pass through around this rock. I remember it from last year I hated it then too.

Once past the monster rock you walk through the 'Sahara Desert'. Its an open field with a path of deep red sand. Its only for 1/4 mile so its easy to survive, but on days with no breeze its rough. Today was not one of those days. The weather was beautiful. 85 degrees and clear blue skies.

After the 'Sahara' you enter the weeds. In and out of the sun and shade. A wonderful place and breeding ground for snakes. You walk along the river the entire trail and Sire would peak in and out the water. He had a great, great time. We saw no snakes.

We walked across the river 11 times. The thing about crossing a river that has nothing but river rocks on the bottom is - when you have no depth perception its bad enough, but then you step on a rock and it decides to relocate itself  while your stepping on it. Not Good! The water isn't moving fast but its still a bit tricky at times. Most of the times crossing I held onto Tommy. If I was going down, so was he.

We ended up at a local hangout where the high school kids go. It is a natural waterfall where they slide down on the rock below the water. On both sides of the waterfall there are cliffs where tons of kids jump off. They seem to have a blast. Sire was wanting to play with everyone. There were several other dogs there and they were all excited. Too excited. It was boom, splash, cheers, repeated every 10-15 seconds. Everyone was having so much fun.We pulled Sire away in fear of a fight breaking out. These other dogs were as big as Sire and if something stirred up there would definitely have been blood shed. There were German Sheppards and Boxers and Pitbulls. All really powerful dogs. It was chaotic with all the noise and jumping and splashing and people.

On the way back of the hike we took our time and let Sire play in  the river for a while at each crossing. Overall, I think he day was full and he had plenty of exercise. He slept the entire way home in the truck. The trail was only 1 1/2 miles long and we were on it for almost 3 hrs. It was a fun day.

 We had Tommy's chili for dinner tonight, finally, and yes, it was good! Thanks for reading and enjoy the pictures!

Not sure what the plans are for tomorrow. Maybe a trail with the Razor.