Thursday, May 30, 2013
Airborne Gymnastics
Jadeyn has been enjoying tumbling and romping and goofing off in his gymnastics class this year. It has been a great experience for his to just have some time to get out energy, make new friends, and practice listening to his teacher, etc. But, the finale of his TumbleBee Four class was to be able to participate in the annual extravaganza with all the other older classes. He practiced his routine to I Just Can't Wait to Be King from the Lion King and when it came down to performance day, he was really excited. It was a pretty proud moment to see him in his first "public event" and we cheered him on! He was to one out there walking on his tip-toes (a Cottrell family trait) and bouncing between skills! So sweet! He received his medal proudly and was so happy to hear that we were taking him out to Dairy Queen to celebrate. I couldn't help but continue my family's tradition of ice cream (at Delsea's IceCream Parlor in Boise) after every ballet recital and piano performance!
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Rally on the Rocks. Moab, Utah 2013
Rally on the Rocks. Moab, UT
What a way to start off the summer! We have been so focused on moving into our new home, that the Rally simply sneaked up on us and was the first time this year to take the RZR out! It was a dream to be able to to all the preparations in the comfort of our garage and not have to pick it up at the storage yard. Nice. So, off to Moab we traveled as the temperature steadily increased with each mile. Here we come!
Fins 'n' Things
Hell's Revenge
This one wasn't on our schedule, but when we finished Fins 'n' Things, someone asked the trail guide if we could add on Hell's Revenge. Well, that didn't take much thinking to jump at the chance. They arranged for the police escort to take the ones who didn't want to do it back to camp and still come back for the rest of us and off we went! What an opening for a first day on the Rally. The entrance to Hell's is so unique and awesome. There is really no sign on the trail from the start. You simply begin on a fin at the very edge of the parking lot and ride straight up it. Up and up you go on a fin about 15 feet wide at the top, peak and then right back down it, and from there it just simply gets better!
Some of the coolest views are the mounds of slickrock with two simple dark tire tracks marking the trail as it winds up, over, around and down.
Destination Tower is featured on the famous Jeep commercial where
they actually carried a Jeep by helicopter to the top of the rock to
film the commercial!
We visited Tusher Tunnel and take our annual picture on the ledge found on the hike to the tunnel!
Tip Toe Behind the Rocks
So, this was my day! After the intnsity of the past two days, Kevin decided to choose a trail for me to drive, and yes, it was pretty tame, but beautiful. The trail was easy, but the parts that should have been really fun: the straightaways and sandy parts, we went along at a leisurely 15 mph instead of flying. After yesterday's "yeehaws" with the cowboy, Jadeyn wasn't amused, so I had to completely stop a few times to let the group get ahead so I could "punch it!" Kevin said that it was a dead giveaway that our group was tame when the camping chairs came out at the lunch break! But is was a nice trail.
Poison Spider
"The Wall"
Wow! Intimidating, and it has good reason to be. This wall is about 18 feet at about 60 degree angle and quite honestly, is difficult to climb up just as a person, let alone something with wheels. We had an awesome guide who described exactly what needs to happen to master this obstacle. Basically, get your front wheels up and once your rear wheels touch, gun it! If you start to slip, whatever you do, don't hit the brakes because you'll flip right over backwards. Simply let off the gas and roll back if you get into trouble. Several in our group made it (at least on subsequent tries if not the first) and kevin decided he would do it on the way back. As we were leaving, another group arrived and the first RZR attempted it, hit the brakes and back he went, stuck in a perfect tailstand! (see the middle photo below). After they got him back on his wheels, his second attempt rolled him twice and he ended up on his side!
I still let Kevin try it and he did it perfectly!! I love this picture of him below with the front tire still up.
So here is Kevin's video of going up the wall. He made it look easy! You get to hear all the instructions from our guide at the beginning of the video and them, watch Kev fly! As a reference to see how nicely a RZR 4 goes over, take a look at the next video and you'll see it really isn't a piece of cake!
"The Wedgy or The Crack"
Pretty sweet obstacle that required careful wheel placement and confidence. You straddle a large V-shaped crack in the rock leaving lots of open space underneath you as you rock back and forth with three wheels on the rock most of the time.
The scenery was breathtaking on this ride. The slickrock close up, the red peaks in the distance, all framed by the incredible snow capped LeSal Mountains. Wow! A storm even rolled in darkening the sky and making the contrast of colors even more dramatic.
"Gravity Cavity"
Our guide took us on a small detour to do a portion of Golden Spike Trail just so we could experience what he calls "Gravity Cavity!" Sounds intimidating, right. Its real name is the "Launch Pad." Well, as each vehicle was deciding whether or not to do it, I started to get out to take a peek at it. There was a small uproar from the other drivers who teased me saying; you can't cheat, no peeking first! So down we plunged. Its a steep decline about 25 feet long and the other side is around 35 feet. There really isn't any way to have a photo truly show just how steep the slickrock is, but our RZR pretty much catapulted down into the cavern and then shot straight back up the other side! Wow! When our guide gunned it coming back up, he jumped his RZR right towards three dirt bikers and landed about 4 feet from them. We got a good chuckle watching them practically bail on their bikes to get out of the way. (Yes, he apologized and chatted with them afterwards).
Make sure to notice the photo below on the right. See the third vehicle's flag peeking out from the cavity. This is a good way to show just how steep the hill is.
Some of the other obstables that were challenging were "The Waterfall," "PrelaunchPad,"
"Tie Rod Flats" was like riding on rock waves. The slick rock undulates underneath your vehicle where the "waves" are too large to fly over them, but slow you down.
Below is "High Speed Mesa" In between nice rocky obstacles, there are some open sand flats where you leave space between you and the vehicle in front of you and hit the gas, whipping around the curve and drifting in the sand. Exhilarating!
"The Sand Bowl" is a huge sandbox perfectly suited for playing and donuts. Try to stop on the slope and your wheels just slide on down the sand.
So, we did Poison Spider on Kevin's 39th birthday, and boy oh boy, he smiled the entire day!
Back at Camp.
This year we decided to spoil ourselves just a little bit. See, most people camped at the RV park adjacent to the Arena where all the activities take place. Its and RV park that isn't too use to tenters. Our tiny patch of green, wedged between RVs served as our campsite last year. This time we rented one of their four tiny cabins, but there was a surprise: there was air conditioning!!! It did wonders to us after a day on the dusty trail in 95 degree heat to not have to suffer in a tent! We actually got cold at night!!! Jadeyn relished attacking the anthills outside and getting to know all our neighbors.
Since we have been doing this a few years, we were amazed at how many people recognized us! Granted, we have a little boy who is easy to remember since there aren't many children at the rally, but we saw so many people that we met last year or at the Taylor Park rides. Even some of the reps recognized us from being on the trail with them last year.
The Arena. The big open building served as the central meeting place for all rally events including vendors, banquet and driver meetings. This year, right in the center was Mater! The rescue vehicle had been fitted out perfectly and was Mater exactly! Jadeyn got a kick out of that and especially when he got to see him out on the trail!
There was an ice cream social even this year. I think over the whole rally, Jadeyn had about 5 ice creams since he is such a cute, boy, people even offered them to him for breakfast!
The rally was almost twice the size that it was last year and is gaining popularity by leaps and bounds! Last year it seemed that about 8 out of 10 vehicles were RZRs, This year it was about half due to the other companies finally catching up with Polaris. Pretty fun to see all the different capabilities of the different machines. We even got to test out a Wildcat 4 which was pretty interesting.
Drive-in Movie. Ever pulled into a dirt field in a RZR for an evening at the movies? Pretty sweet, huh? They brought in a "blow-up" movie screen, kinda like the blow-up bounce houses and we had popcorn and watched an extreme sport movie. Fun!
The Rally was so much fun this year and has become a sweet tradition and great way to celebrate Kevin's birthday!
What a way to start off the summer! We have been so focused on moving into our new home, that the Rally simply sneaked up on us and was the first time this year to take the RZR out! It was a dream to be able to to all the preparations in the comfort of our garage and not have to pick it up at the storage yard. Nice. So, off to Moab we traveled as the temperature steadily increased with each mile. Here we come!
Fins 'n' Things
Fins and Things, one of the most beautiful trails in Moab. You combine the thrill of the obstacles and slickrock with the beauty of the read rock, greenery and blue skies! Pretty awe-inspiring! Its pretty cool when you repeat a trail that was a challenge last year and realized how much more confidence you have on this just one year later. Take a look at the blog entry for May 2012 and you can read all the amazing parts of this trail.
Hell's Revenge
This one wasn't on our schedule, but when we finished Fins 'n' Things, someone asked the trail guide if we could add on Hell's Revenge. Well, that didn't take much thinking to jump at the chance. They arranged for the police escort to take the ones who didn't want to do it back to camp and still come back for the rest of us and off we went! What an opening for a first day on the Rally. The entrance to Hell's is so unique and awesome. There is really no sign on the trail from the start. You simply begin on a fin at the very edge of the parking lot and ride straight up it. Up and up you go on a fin about 15 feet wide at the top, peak and then right back down it, and from there it just simply gets better!
Some of the coolest views are the mounds of slickrock with two simple dark tire tracks marking the trail as it winds up, over, around and down.
3D / 7 Mile Canyon
We had done part of this trail last year and loved it and again it didn't disappoint. We were so happy to hook up with our friends from the Colorado Taylor Park Ride from last year and join them on this trail. Kim and Jeff are from Kansas and love the rides as much as we do. Last night we stayed up talking with them outside their cabins and had a blast telling stories and catching up.
Our guide for this trail was "The Cowboy." He was a sheriff for years and a search and rescue guy in Moab so he was full of stories, but the best part was that each time we stopped he would educate us about things along the way: the reason the rock formations are named what they are, the history of the people, the animals, etc. He even answered my question that has been bugging me since the first time we came to Moab. There in the middle of the red sand, we found beautiful white stones; he said that they were brought in from the ocean when all these plains were covered in water. We called them blood agates, he called them chert.
As a tribute to the cowboy, Jadeyn hooted out "yeehaw" on every sandy flat that we flew through. There is a whole canyon where the entire floor of it is soft deep sand and you wind your way through at alarming speeds! Yeehaw!
Tip Toe Behind the Rocks
Poison Spider
"The Wall"
Wow! Intimidating, and it has good reason to be. This wall is about 18 feet at about 60 degree angle and quite honestly, is difficult to climb up just as a person, let alone something with wheels. We had an awesome guide who described exactly what needs to happen to master this obstacle. Basically, get your front wheels up and once your rear wheels touch, gun it! If you start to slip, whatever you do, don't hit the brakes because you'll flip right over backwards. Simply let off the gas and roll back if you get into trouble. Several in our group made it (at least on subsequent tries if not the first) and kevin decided he would do it on the way back. As we were leaving, another group arrived and the first RZR attempted it, hit the brakes and back he went, stuck in a perfect tailstand! (see the middle photo below). After they got him back on his wheels, his second attempt rolled him twice and he ended up on his side!
I still let Kevin try it and he did it perfectly!! I love this picture of him below with the front tire still up.
So here is Kevin's video of going up the wall. He made it look easy! You get to hear all the instructions from our guide at the beginning of the video and them, watch Kev fly! As a reference to see how nicely a RZR 4 goes over, take a look at the next video and you'll see it really isn't a piece of cake!
"The Wedgy or The Crack"
Pretty sweet obstacle that required careful wheel placement and confidence. You straddle a large V-shaped crack in the rock leaving lots of open space underneath you as you rock back and forth with three wheels on the rock most of the time.
The scenery was breathtaking on this ride. The slickrock close up, the red peaks in the distance, all framed by the incredible snow capped LeSal Mountains. Wow! A storm even rolled in darkening the sky and making the contrast of colors even more dramatic.
"Gravity Cavity"
Our guide took us on a small detour to do a portion of Golden Spike Trail just so we could experience what he calls "Gravity Cavity!" Sounds intimidating, right. Its real name is the "Launch Pad." Well, as each vehicle was deciding whether or not to do it, I started to get out to take a peek at it. There was a small uproar from the other drivers who teased me saying; you can't cheat, no peeking first! So down we plunged. Its a steep decline about 25 feet long and the other side is around 35 feet. There really isn't any way to have a photo truly show just how steep the slickrock is, but our RZR pretty much catapulted down into the cavern and then shot straight back up the other side! Wow! When our guide gunned it coming back up, he jumped his RZR right towards three dirt bikers and landed about 4 feet from them. We got a good chuckle watching them practically bail on their bikes to get out of the way. (Yes, he apologized and chatted with them afterwards).
Make sure to notice the photo below on the right. See the third vehicle's flag peeking out from the cavity. This is a good way to show just how steep the hill is.
"Tie Rod Flats" was like riding on rock waves. The slick rock undulates underneath your vehicle where the "waves" are too large to fly over them, but slow you down.
"The Sand Bowl" is a huge sandbox perfectly suited for playing and donuts. Try to stop on the slope and your wheels just slide on down the sand.
So, we did Poison Spider on Kevin's 39th birthday, and boy oh boy, he smiled the entire day!
Back at Camp.
This year we decided to spoil ourselves just a little bit. See, most people camped at the RV park adjacent to the Arena where all the activities take place. Its and RV park that isn't too use to tenters. Our tiny patch of green, wedged between RVs served as our campsite last year. This time we rented one of their four tiny cabins, but there was a surprise: there was air conditioning!!! It did wonders to us after a day on the dusty trail in 95 degree heat to not have to suffer in a tent! We actually got cold at night!!! Jadeyn relished attacking the anthills outside and getting to know all our neighbors.
Since we have been doing this a few years, we were amazed at how many people recognized us! Granted, we have a little boy who is easy to remember since there aren't many children at the rally, but we saw so many people that we met last year or at the Taylor Park rides. Even some of the reps recognized us from being on the trail with them last year.
The Arena. The big open building served as the central meeting place for all rally events including vendors, banquet and driver meetings. This year, right in the center was Mater! The rescue vehicle had been fitted out perfectly and was Mater exactly! Jadeyn got a kick out of that and especially when he got to see him out on the trail!
There was an ice cream social even this year. I think over the whole rally, Jadeyn had about 5 ice creams since he is such a cute, boy, people even offered them to him for breakfast!
The rally was almost twice the size that it was last year and is gaining popularity by leaps and bounds! Last year it seemed that about 8 out of 10 vehicles were RZRs, This year it was about half due to the other companies finally catching up with Polaris. Pretty fun to see all the different capabilities of the different machines. We even got to test out a Wildcat 4 which was pretty interesting.
Drive-in Movie. Ever pulled into a dirt field in a RZR for an evening at the movies? Pretty sweet, huh? They brought in a "blow-up" movie screen, kinda like the blow-up bounce houses and we had popcorn and watched an extreme sport movie. Fun!
The Rally was so much fun this year and has become a sweet tradition and great way to celebrate Kevin's birthday!
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