Tuesday, June 4, 2024 – Second Day of the Red Rock Ride-Two Rides!

Hey Darlin'!
An incredible day here in Utah. I had a much lighter breakfast (I still felt bloated from yesterday!), and we were on the bus and heading out by 8:00. It only took about 20+ minutes to get to our starting point in Bryce Canyon. Robert was still having trouble moving people to accommodate a group of four that wanted to be together but had been split between the A's and the B's, so I volunteered to switch, along with Jill, who had volunteered yesterday, but I demurred because I wanted to be in the first group out. Well, selfishly, I agreed to change because today, the B group was heading out first, so everyone got what they wanted and it was all good! It didn't take too long to get back on our horses and heading out, and I have to say, Bryce Canyon is truly stunning. The red rock and the hoodoos and the tunnels and everything were just jaw-dropping. I took so many pictures it will probably take all night to load them in! That ride was about six miles or so. At the edge of the park at a back entrance, they had our lunch set up, lasagna with garlic bread, salad, etc. I restrained myself and only had a little of each, along with a cookie, as I really don't want to feel this bloated again. Then we had a choice of either going on a short 90 minute ride back through another side of the loop through Bryce Canyon (which would only elucidate another two new miles), or take the long ride, another three+ hours, which they called the Snowy River ride, because it had a couple of steep hills to traverse. Well, as my goal is always to ride as many trail miles as I can, I, along with just seven others (and two wranglers), decided to do the long ride. While it may not have been as spectacular as the hoodoos in Bryce Canyon, it certainly had its own charm and gorgeous landscape, along with some history in the area, which made it all the more interesting. Some of it was road riding, which was actually nice because the wranglers were riding long-legged draft horse mules, so we had to trot often to keep up, and the famed Snowy River drop-off was fairly steep, it was mostly the steep dropoff on the side of the trail that made it a bit harrowing, therefore exciting and memorable! We made good time, and the 3.5 hour ride was more like 3 hours, and we were back to camp in no time. We were greeted by a smorgasbord of snacks, which I would have skipped if it wasn't for the jumbo shrimp and cocktail sauce, and I ate more that I should have, but it was oh, so good! I also had a couple of beers, though they didn't have any dark beer so I ended up with Corona. As I was walking back to my cabin, I got a message from Nathalie that Lola's foot seemed to be acting up, and the picture she sent me showed that it seemed like the whole nail fell off and only the shriveled quick remained, but it was hard to tell from the picture. She also informed me Lola had managed to knock off all my puppy-proofing and was found in my bed, dug deeply into my sheets, with the garbage can on the floor. What Lola want, Lola finds a way to get! I instructed her how to begin the antibiotic regime again, just in case, because she seemed to be a bit uncomfortable walking again, so we'll see how that goes. Meanwhile, back at camp, I started loading up my pictures in the hopes they'll be done before bedtime, and played a couple of video games for awhile until dinner. Chicken tonight, I only ate about half of everything, but to my surprise, one of the ladies had managed to obtain a bottle of Jack, so we had a couple of drinks during dinner, though again, not overdoing it, just in moderation. They had a singer tonight, quite a nice voice, but once the ride meeting was over, I scooted out and had my shower, so now I'm ready for bed, and it's only about 8:30. Pix are still loading, who knows how long that will take. Going to bed now, looking forward to a shorter ride tomorrow, and evidently a shopping day at Ruby's, so a relatively short day. Looking forward to it! Good night, babe! Love you!