Weekend fun in the sun

We managed to cram a fair amount of fun into this past weekend, despite spending most of Sunday working around the house. On Friday afternoon, Jeremy suggested that we plan an evening hike up to Desolation Lake to watch the Wasatch 100 runners come through.  It was completely last minute, but we did a pretty good job of throwing together a plan via text messages at work.  After a quick pit stop at home to change clothes, feed Ruby, etc., we ran through Chipotle, grabbed a couple burritos for our packs, and headed up Big Cottonwood Canyon.  The hike up MillD to Desolation lake isn't particularly technical, but we were racing daylight hoping to get to the top before dark.

The trail

Self-portrait on the way up

It's about a 4 mile hike with 2000 ft. of elevation gain (not too bad for the Wasatch), and despite the fact that we're both pretty out of shape right now, we managed to make it to the lake with just enough light left to actually see it. We plopped down near the aid station and plowed into our burritos (note: Chipotle burritos taste even better when eaten in the middle of nowhere after a hike).

Jeremy "running" up part of the trail

(Look, I learned to make a gif animation!)

Just before reaching the lake

Our timing was perfect, as we were eating, Jeremy's friend Craig came through the aid station (~mile 67) looking strong.  He was pretty surprised to see us up there!  We hung out at the aid station for a few hours, lending a hand, saying hi to friends as they ran through, warming folks up and basically hanging out.  It started getting pretty chilly around 10:30pm, and we had only packed limited gear, so we decided it was time for us to hike down for the night.  Armed with our headlamps, we made pretty quick work of the descent.  I passed out in the car on the drive home (I think my week caught up with me) and we allowed ourselves to sleep in a bit on Saturday.

Saturday morning, we joined our friend Melissa and her dog Leia for Doggie Swim Day at our local public pool.  It's a pretty cool event!  As with many public pools, this one closes after Labor Day.  Each year, they open it up for a few hours the Saturday after Labor Day for doggie swim time.  It was a RIOT!  Picture 60 or so dogs of all sizes/breeds, about 100 tennis balls, and water... awesome!

Just getting started!

Loving Life : )

Ruby could not even comprehend what was happening.  She ran around like a maniac, in the shallow end, out of the shallow end, running laps around the pool, chasing literally every ball that was thrown.  At one point she was swimming along with a ball in her mouth trying to stuff two or three more in there.  She was in heaven!  We never really got her to do the running jump into the deep end like some of the other dogs, but she would "jump" in after a ball and she swam like a champ.  We had to pull her out of the deep end by her armpits because she couldn't figure out how to climb over the lip, but she kept diving right back in.

It's a race!

Bobbing for tennis balls

Ruby's buddy Leia saying hello

I'm fairly certain Ruby's drowning that brown dog for trying to take her ball... no manners!

All in all, it was a great morning.  We had to drag her out of there against her will.  She would have kept going past the point of exhaustion if we had let her.  Even though we only stayed for about an hour and a half, she pretty much slept the entire rest of the weekend!  I wish they held an event like that more than once a year, it was the perfect way to wear her out and she couldn't have had more fun!

Saturday afternoon, we wandered over to the Avenue's Street Fair with our neighbors and spent a few hours checking out the booths and sampling the food.  It was a nice, sunny afternoon and we both ended up with some pretty spectacular tan lines on our feet from our flip flops.  It's always a good weekend when you get odd tan lines :)  While at the fair, we picked up a Utes-themed bandana for Ruby so she can show her Utah pride this week for homecoming.  Beat BYU!!

Ruby-girl, the Ute fan!

(black dog on a black comforter = poor contrast, I know)