Dolores Canyon

Mini history lesson... stay with me.  So once upon a time, Brett's oldest brother, Bryan, married Elaine.  And she had a daughter, Nicole, that was four or five years younger than Brett.  And then Bryan and Elaine got divorced.  And then Nicole didn't really see the Zierchers very much.  They all still live in the same town so they would run into each other occasionally and so Nicole would hear tidbits about us from time to time.  Fast forward 17 years.  Nicole was visiting Moab, UT with her husband and friends, Michelle & Brad, and remembered that Brett had gotten married in Moab.  So she emailed Brett to see if he lived anywhere near the vicinity and wanted to meet up with their gang for the day.  After many many many emails, we arranged to meet them halfway in-between our house and Moab.  And so this morning, after dropping the kids off at school, BZ and I headed to the Dolores Canyon.

that is nicole & tj on the left, michelle & brad on the right

yes,  i was trying to look like an idiot, mission accomplished!

 First stop was a tour of the ruins at the Lowry Pueblo. 

We had been there once before when Bennett was a wee little Nut so BZ grabbed the reins and acted as tour guide and all around wealth-of-knowledge-about-the-southwest guy.

how cute is my tour guide?

 this is a kiva, blah blah blah, ancient people lived there, they were short, blah blah blah

i was obsessed with this little horny toad, he was so cool and he totally loved getting his picture taken

 And so after a very enthralling history lesson on the ancient people, we got back in the cars for a short little drive over to the Dolores Canyon.

It was such a stressful day.  We had a picnic lunch and took turns taking the little duckie (that's the little blue boat *thanks Dan & Jill*) out on the water.  We swam and caught crawfish and drank 3.2% Busch beer (which by the way was extremely refreshing!).  Really, it's a hard life, but someone has to live it...

All in all, it was a fabulous day and it was great fun meeting new friends and relaxing a bit.  And then on the way home, BZ and I saw the most amazing ginormous rainbow that filled the entire valley close to Mancos, CO.

The picture doesn't even come close to doing it justice, but isn't that the way it always works :)  Hope you had a fabulous Tuesday! xx