A grand weekend

Joan’s position mainly follows a school teacher schedule. She gets off most, if not all, the Utah public school holidays, receives a spring break, and gets her summer’s off.   Joan’s enjoyed much time in the Pacific Northwest, seeing family, and catching up with friends.

As such, I’ve been playing bachelor here in the wilds of Utah.

I missed Joan quite a bit. But delighted she had such a fantastic summer.

Initially, Joan’s flight would come to our small air terminal here in Moab around early afternoon. A short drive from our part of town, and then we’d catch up and plan a trip for the weekend (of course.)

Well, our plans did not come together quite as well. Due to flight delays and re-routes, Joan flew into the larger regional airport in Grand Junction, CO (two hours away) at almost midnight! :O

We decided not to drive back to Moab that night, get a hotel room, do some backpacking up in Grand Mesa, and run some errands we’ve discussed on and off for a year now.

We did some shopping in the “big city,” made some spare keys for the camper shell surprisingly hard to make outside of a locksmith, and booked a room at the Aspen Lodge in Grand Mesa for Friday night.

Our dispersed camp in the Aspen Lodge. PCO Joan.

The astute person may notice something called a “marriage license” and a “marriage certificate” in the photo above.

And that’s the major errand we ran:  Going to the courthouse, getting married by a very friendly and helpful county clerk, and starting our honeymoon by going to Target.

So, yes, Joan and I are now married. 🙂

We celebrated with a dispersed camp followed by backpacking on the Grand Mesa. By many accounts, the world’s largest flat-top mountain in the world at nearly 500 square miles in size. At 10,000 feet in elevation, where we went with little elevation change, the trip proved perfect for celebrating the start of a chapter in our lives together and let Joan adjust to the higher elevations easily.

Though we’ve explored the area before, this part of the mesa seemed less well-used and maybe not as dramatic as the Crags Crest where we went earlier, the wild areas, views off the mesa rim, fewer people, and the wide-open expanse made a place Joan and I want to see even more.

The aspens and pines contrast with the high desert floor below.

Joan appreciated the view-to-effort ratio quite a bit!

Our second evening in the Aspen Lodge had a smaller room but arguably a better view.

PCO Joan.

We started up early in the day with an overcast morning and before the heat of the day.

We ended our “honeymoon” at the porch of the Aspen Lodge. A porch that meant the tailgate of our Tacoma and post-trip snacks in a cooler full of fruit, seltzers, and yogurt.

Selfie c/o Joan.

Our first weekend as a married couple could not get spent in a better way.