Mr. Moab & Me

 Not gear you'd expect for the desert, is it?

 

I like Christmas. I like vacation. I like the Dynamic Duo. Why are these 3 things together so tricky? We’ve tried far-flung (and expensive) escapes. We’ve tried staying home. This year we voted to try another option – an easy, off-the-beaten-path getaway (planned by my fella) to Moab.

Probably you’ve never heard of Moab in December. There would be a reason for that, and that reason is cold. Cold dissuades everyone from a wintertime Utah adventure. Everyone except for us and a bunch of Japanese tourists who got suckered by a travel agent offering December deals to the desert.

 What the Moab desert looks like in winter.

 

But the secret to marital bliss (and family vacation and long car trips) is compromise. My fella is better at this than I am. So I put on my big girl underpants and got onboard with Mr. Moab and his idea of vacation bliss. This included a long drive, hiking in snow and hard rock (both looking at and listening to).

I did all of these things while also remaining true to myself. I bought a bunch of magazines for the drive and a cute, new parka for the hiking. I refused to educate myself about the rocks, but I took artsy shots of them and teased my guy about his blissed out expression and metro sunglasses (both are activities – the photography & the teasing – that I really enjoy).

 Guru Girl on a break from hiking.

 

I can now report it was a pretty decent vacation. Our family dynamic stayed the same. Plenty of whining and complaining (from our offspring, as well as ourselves), but somehow it’s better in a remote location where one doesn’t have to do chores. And I was such a good sport on the hiking that on our way home, driving past the outlet mall, my fella actually stopped, without a pained expression on his face. Talk about Merry Christmas!

It’s hard to relinquish control. It’s hard to go on a vacation you fear will be a disaster. But it can be worth it. I didn’t discover a newfound passion for nature or cold this trip, but I did discover a newfound appreciation for some things I’d forgotten, like the fact that ACDC’s “Back In Black” is a little bit genius, kinda like my guy, who booked us into a really nice hotel at a spa on our way home. Ah, the sweet smell of eucalyptus-scented compromise.