Viva Las Vegas - Red Rock Canyon

First thing Friday morning, we went to the nearby Whole Foods where we bought some snacks, some green juice and cinamon rolls then headed out to the Red Rock Canyon. It was so beautiful!

It was the perfect day. Sunny, but with a slight breeze and the blue sky was so amazing.

Notice how this rock I'm about to climb on is gray, while the rock we started out at was very red? Yeah, we parked at the wrong parking area and did a LOT of hiking and asking around before finding the wall we wanted to climb on called "Wake-up Wall." We enjoyed the hiking, though, and I'm glad we stuck with it and finally found this spot!

I think we did 3 routes, then were ready to head home since we hadn't packed enough food and water to be out there as long as it ended up taking us to get there. On the last route, I decided I would try to clean it, but I had never done that before so when I got up there it took me a while. I was standing on a ledge and had great hand holds, but I think that may have made it more scary because I felt like that was all I had even though I had clipped into the chain twice. I was shaking like crazy the whole time! I don't know if I've ever been so scared my whole life! Pete was very patient and talked me through everthing, but I was too scared to rapel down which was the original plan because it's easier on the rope. He ended up lowering me down like usual after I untied the rope, fed it through the chains, and tied it back onto my harness - all while standing on a cliff 50 feet in the air!

I was happy that I had done it, but I was still shaking when I got down and I was kind of glad it was time to leave. We enjoyed our short hike back to the parking lot where Pete took this cool panarama.

Saturday was my long run. I was supposed to do 8 miles, but since my last long run was 2 weeks ago and went so badly, I decided to stick with 7 miles. I ran out towards the canyon for 3.5 miles, then turned around and ran back to our lovely hotel. It was a beautiful run, overcast with a nice breeze blowing. It was kind of hard running out because it was mostly a slight uphill, but the run back felt good!

I loved looking at this the whole way out.

My 3.5 mile turn-around point happened to be right at this sign.

I saw a ton of cyclists out there. It made me wish we had brought our bikes, it looked like a fun ride!

We took the rest of Saturday off to relax and eat some amazing food (more on that in the next post).

Our Easter Sunday was a lot different than usual. When we booked this trip, we didn't realize it would be over Easter weekend, we just thought we were getting a really good deal! I really missed seeing the kids hunt for eggs, going to church and having a big dinner with the family, but we still had great time! After a delicious breakfast at Rachel's Kitchen, we headed out for some more climbing at "Wake Up Wall."

We were all excited because this time we knew where to park so we could just get right to our climbing spot. but then the pull-out we were supposed to park at was totally full! We drove up to the next one which was at least a mile and a half up a hill that wound around the canyon. It took us quite a while to walk down to the parking lot, then hike out to our spot. As we were walking down, we saw all these little white things on the bushes, and when we took a took a closer look we saw that they were all filled with caterpillars. I had to take a picture to show Ethan.

We only ended up doing 2 routes this time. I was still feeing really scared when we did the first easy route so I went up it 4 times in a row which made me feel a lot more comfortable. My hip was kind of hurting so I told Pete that I was done, but that I would be happy to belay him as much as he wanted. Of course, once he got up the next one, I wanted to do it too! When he got down he went over everything I needed to do to clean the route and rapel down again, and I went for it. When I got to the top, I really wanted him to just lower me like usual, but he had me just hang out there for a little while until I felt more comfortable.

That did help. It was so scary! But I DID IT!

I felt so happy after I accomplished that scary thing that I didn't think I could do! And I did feel a little more comfortable than the time before so I felt like it was a good improvement.

Now we got to walk back to the car. This time we had to walk uphill for a long time. We were glad for the wind (that I didn't love when I was a the top of the cliff, btw!) so it wasn't too hot and we just enjoyed being out there and being together. When we got to where we could see the parking lot, we were so tired and sick of walking so I suddenly decided to run! We ran the last 2 little turns up the hill to the parking lot, backpacks and all! That was not easy, but it was fun and what a sence of accomplishment we had when we got there!

What a great day! We only ended up climbing 2 of our days there, but we still had a great time! Next time we'll be in better shape. And there will be a next time!