April 3, 2016 - Moab, Utah - Day 2

Tanya's Daily Scoop
CURRENTLY TRAVELING IN: MOAB, UTAH

Bikes, Sand & Dinos?!

​Greetings from Moab, Utah!
We arrived here early yesterday after a 5h drive from St. George, and our first stop was the Monitor and Merrimac mountain bike trail.

While Dave got busy changing tires, I went to go explore some nearby fossilized Dinosaur Tracks and to "get out of his hair" - being that he gets all stressed with me waiting on him. ​

This Mill Canyon site is very unique because many of the dinosaur track sites in the Moab are preserved in the Jurassic sandstones exposed in the area.        At these sites, only one or two types of animal tracks often are found preserved at any single location.

The Mill Canyon Dinosaur Tracksite is Lower Cretaceous in age and represents a different environmental setting than the nearby Jurassic period sites.

The site also contains as many as 10 different kinds of tracks! Several of these tracks are either new to North America or are from animals not currently known to science from skeletal fossils in this area.

It was all very cool!!
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And once I was done checking things out, I had gone back to Dave and saddled up.

Beautiful Wildflowers

Off we went, this time finding the trail head with no problem whatsoever...or so we thought!
But nothing looked even remotely as we remembered.

And we continued to pedal on...
Huffing and puffing away through just miserable sandy conditions.
And I'm not talking your average beach sand.
We're talking Sand Pits...I'm talking something like I image Mars dust to be like.
As fine as powered sugar and nothing you want to attempt pedaling through - and did I mention we were heading uphill?! Ugh

Dave was suffering big time, and he's the big mountain biker out the two of us.
I remained silent (aside from the huffing and puffing).
I remained positive and I would not complain, I was determined to succeed at this ride and finally check it off of our list!
Boy did we ever get a workout!

There was biking and there was also hiking our bikes, but we continued...
Dave semi joked around about how grueling it was, and how it was anything but fun.

We eventually arrived at the crossroads that we assumed was our turn (from the poor excuse of a map that we had), and continued to pedal pedal pedal. I was DETERMINED!

Determination Towers

At least from this point on we were mostly going downhill. No holds barred, I bounced around rock hoppin, and did what I had to.

But also at this point all I could think about was lunch and getting back to the truck.

We had reached and past our mileage goal for this trail on the odometer and yet there was no parking lot or truck in sight.

We kept pedaling, we had no choice. And finally I caught a glimpse of parked vehicles. We were almost done. Dave was lagging, and I just wanted to finish. 

Our next stop was in town, we were heading to the bookstore, to pick up a new Moab mountain biking book - to add to the collection.

While we were in the bookstore we happened to come across the newest edition of the Moab mountain biking book that Dave already has.
We admired the new and much improved maps, and also had noticed that the ride we did today was nowhere to be found!
The recommended one that we got out of an earlier edition of this guide was no longer ever mentioned!

Oh let me guess why....because it sucks???

Anyhow, our last stop before calling it a night, was dinner, and poor Dave looked so darn tooten exhausted.

He was ready to collapse. And that's just what he did (after dinner and once we got to our Glamp site).

As for today, Dave woke up feeling pretty thrashed. Plans are to go off to do another ride, and this one is even longer.
But we will have to play it by ear, pending how Dave feels after breakfast...
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Guess you'll find out tomorrow if we are heading to Canyonlands National Park and if that's where we'll start pedaling...

Wish us luck,
​-T

Elisa's Daily Scoop

Last Day Events Around NYC (Macy's Flower Show, Auto Show and more...)

Hello, Hello!! 
Well, I'm writing to you today back home in Nassau, Long Island and enjoying the beautiful sunshine pouring int.

The only issue is the heavy winds we are experiencing.  I just caught a glimpse of the weather report and there are already 13,000 homes without power due to downed power lines from the high winds.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we are not affected!
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Lady Liberty’s torch has been re-created with some 8,000 flowers — a perfect centerpiece for Macy’s America the Beautiful-themed flower show. (credit: NYPost)

Not sure what you had planned today, however, I thought I would mention a few local NYC-area events that are coming to end, with today being their last day.  

Sadly, I had planned to go to the Macy's Flower Show, but the girls' dad wanted to see them, so there wouldn't be enough time for me to go and come back during the short window of their visit together.

Unfortunately, it will be too late by the time they return and they are still catching up on some homework due tomorrow, their first day back from Easter break vacation.  

If you are thinking of doing something fun and spontaneous today - here are a few exhibits and events that may be of interest to you...

Macy’s Flower Show
April 3, 2016
Macy’s State Street, floor 9.
See spectacular arrangements of flowers from around the world and attend scheduled events at Macy's Flower Show at Free.

MoCCA Arts Festival
April 3, 2016 (11 a.m. to 6 p.m.) 
The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art features celebrity cartoonists and illustrators, art on display, and hundreds of small-press exhibitors at Metropolitan West.

New York International Auto Show
​April 3, 2016
Jacob Javits Center
​The New York International Auto Show  is billed as the nation’s first and most attended at Jacob Javits Center.

Affordable Art Fair
April 3, 2016 (Repeats in Sept.)
Metropolitan Pavilion in Chelsea
Browse contemporary paintings, prints, sculptures, and photographs from 80 galleries at the Affordable Art Fair, with workshops and activities.

New York Peace Film Festival
April 3, 2016
All Souls Unitarian Church, NYC
See films focused on humanitarian causes.

New York Flute Fair
April 3, 2016
Columbia University
Features performances, workshops, exhibits, master classes, and a competition.

American Crossword Puzzle Tournament
April 3, 2016
Marriott in Stamford, CT.
Billed as America’s oldest and largest, the awards prizes for solving eight original crosswords. Reception.

I've had a very productive morning so far.  Caught up on my laundry, we went to church and now, I'm headed to get a quick manicure while the girls are gone.

See ya'll back here tomorrow!!

-E
xoxo