Kelsi finally has her own mountain bike! I think she loves it more than having a place to live because it took next month's rent. Kelsi told her dad that she might have to bring it into bed and cuddle with it that night and for a minute I thought she was serious. Luckily she was able to leave it in the front room and let me spend the night in the bed.
So naturally we had to go try it out. We had driven through Flagstaff on the way to Utah and we were so impressed that only 2 hours away from the surface of the sun (Phoenix), was this beautiful forested area. Even more importantly, they have mountains! Well, A mountain. Definitely better than the hills around the valley of the sun. The first trail we rode was so much fun, but so difficult. It was like riding a bike up a set of tall stairs because rocks and tree roots were sticking out all over the place. The way down was really fast and had some gnarly jumps and in general, much smoother than the way up. We wondered if we went the right direction! The scenery was beautiful and the temperature was very comfortable.
On Sunday night, we drove up to the top of Snow Bowl, the ski resort on the mountain. It has 3 lifts and cautions that only experienced skiers use the highest lift, because the only way down is on black diamond trails. Definitely different than Utah (we hope the prices for lift tickets will also be different than Utah).
Almost becoming a tradition for us on biking trips is eating at a Mexican restaurant one day after our morning ride. This time we found a good place with huge burritos. The Maires would be proud of us for eating a bowl of chips and salsa each as well as our grande burritos. It was enough to make us head back to the campsite and take a nap.
The next day we went on another bike ride and then took a jog on a fitness trail. On the way home, we drove through Sedona, which also has places to camp and mountain bike. Perhaps the most exciting thing wasn't the things we got to do, but the things we learned are available for us to do in the future. Don't worry, Utah, we won't forget you!
