Trading Babysitting in St George

This past weekend, Mike, Cora, and I invited Lindsey and Rob and their kids along for a mountain biking trip to the St George area. It was a dream of a weekend! We got a nice VRBO rental just outside of Hurricane and traded babysitting so we could ride with our spouses! Plus a couple of other rides in addition to the spouse rides. It was a bit of last minute trip since we had to watch the weather and decide if we were going to camp or rent a VRBO, plus if the weather was going to be good enough to even ride! But in the end it was and we scored a nice rental the night before we drove down.


We drove down Thursday night. Mike and I were first to get there, and then Lindsey and Rob pulled in around 10:30 pm. The next morning we made some breakfast and hit the highway to drive up to Gooseberry Mesa. Mike and Rob rode the South Rim and a bit of the North Rim while Lindsey and I explored the road and all the fun treasures of rocks, cacti, and cryptobiotic soil with the kids. Then Mike and I watched the kids and took them to Fort Zion to play around while Lindsey and Rob rode JEM as a downhill, and we picked them up at the bottom.

Feeding Cora in the parking lot of Gooseberry Mesa

Still at Gooseberry Mesa

On the dirt road leaving Gooseberry Mesa

With Charlotte and Calvin, Lindsey and Rob's kids, at Fort Zion

Charlotte and Calvin at Fort Zion

Mike and Charlotte (in the window) at Fort Zion

Mike and I gave Cora to Lindsey and Rob and they headed back to the rental, while Mike and I rode JEM as an out-n-back. I felt so good on that ride! Or maybe it's just because I was leading for the whole climb, but he did already ride a hard ride earlier that day so he was pretty tired. But like usual, he led on the downhill since he's so much faster than I am.

We took Lindsey and Rob to the bottom of Bearclaw Poppy where they went for a ride up it and back down it, while we played around in the foothills with their kids. Barrel Roll was next on our list, where Lindsey took one for the team and watched ALL the kids while Mike, Rob, and I rode Barrel Roll.

Toting Cora around the foothills of Bearclaw Poppy

Me, Mike, and Rob heading out to ride Barrel Roll

Before leaving town for home, we stopped by a very fun and new park in St George so the kids to could their wiggles out before the long drive home.

Cora at the playground

Testing out the mommy and me swing

Chilling with daddy