Out west summary

What an amazing trip we had out west this summer … 21 days and just over 4000 miles of visiting family and sightseeing in 8 states. The genesis of the trip was our cousin’s wedding in Phoenix for Memorial Day weekend. But there was also a really cool mountain bike race the next weekend in Flagstaff giving us a chance to visit other cousins who live there. Along the way here are some highlights from our trip:

Kristine and I below the red rocks of Sedona, AZ

Camping for a couple days at the Grand Canyon: Kristine ran to see the sunrise, Josiah and I biked 9 miles to see the sunset, Analise was the girl scout camping expert pretty much single-handedly showing us how to set up the giant tent we borrowed from the Mabry’s
Phoenix for the wedding and to visit family: Analise absolutely loved the wedding – especially getting to dance with her cousins and the bride and groom during the reception, Analise and Josiah both enjoyed swimming and playing with all four cousins, Josiah and I biked through the canals, and I had a chance to bike with Uncle Bruce in an awesome mountain bike park (Deem Hills). I also drove down to Tucson to do the longest, highest climb I’ve ever done on the bike (Mt Lemmon – 41.8 miles starting at 2300′ and ending at 9000′)
Flagstaff to visit family and race the Barn Burner: Analise and Josiah enjoyed playing and biking around town with their cousins, Kristine hiked up to the highest point in Arizona (Humphreys Peak – 12,600′), I placed fourth at the Barn Burner 104 mountain bike race, and we all camped at nearly 9’000 feet on the side of the San Francisco peaks. Also, Analise was totally into astronomy with the Lowell Observatory, the transit of Venus, and viewing Saturn through the 100+ year old Clark Telescope
Los Alamos: Kristine and the kids enjoyed exploring the Indian ruins at Bandeleir national monument while I had the opportunity to climb up and into the Valles Caldera – an ancient massive supervolcano
Tulsa for the Tulsa Tough bike race: the kids enjoyed biking all over town and doing well in the kids races. I had a chance to race three days including the climb up Cry Baby Hill which was very Tour de France like – check it out: [vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/43947788 w=500&h=281]
Tulsa Tough: Cry Baby Hill (2012) from Keith Walberg on Vimeo.

Some maps and stats – just over 4000 miles of driving … 1242 miles of riding and over 90,000′ of climbing split over 37 rides…

Our 2012 out west adventure (click to enlarge)