Bluff Balloon Festival 2016

It's early January. You're tired of the snow, and you're ready to get outdoors. So, what do you do? You plan a trip with your best buds and fellow explorers, and you head to the Four-corners area where it's MUCH warmer.

...only it isn't.

We packed up the van and headed out right after work. This is our norm. We only get so many vacation days a year, and rather than spend a vacation day driving, we typically drive at night, set up camp, then awake to our new location in the morning.

There was a lot of snow in Montecello and Blanding on the way there. We'd never seen so much snow down there this time of year.

We loaded up the tents and rigs and headed out to check out House on Fire ruin. We'd been here before, and it's not a bad hike at all... when it's dry. The drive was exciting, plowing through 2' of fresh snow. The van did AMAZING.

After our hike we headed in to town where we saw the Bluff Fort Visitor's Center. It was cool to connect with the history of the town and how it was developed. However, we had to remember that the Utahns who "settled" it weren't really the first to settle it.

We headed to the Senior Center to learn more about the first settlers of the land. There were multicultural presentations and great food. It was a fantastic night.

The next day we headed to some more ruins that the BLM ranger told us about. We drove all of comb wash and found some neat little spots with some small rock art.

Back in town, we headed to a local art gallery to see the art the locals were making. It was AMAZING to see what they had. Navajo art wasn't really my thing, but after visiting this gallery, I now am a big fan of Navajo art. Being minimalists, we have learned not to buy things we don't need, but we sure appreciate all the art we saw.

That night we headed to Valley of the Gods to connect with some more friends. By this time our group was about 20 people large. That's the perfect size for a group. Everyone has someone to talk to, we all hang out around the fire and make great memories.

The next day, we got fed up with the cold weather and headed to Moab, our favorite city. It was SOOOO nice to get out in the warm weather and go hiking with Fender.

All in all it was a fantastic trip. It was so fun to meet new friends and have so many people join us. We hope more people can keep joining us on our adventures. 'till next time!