got sand?

M and I packed up Friday night and headed east to meet up with my folks in the desert. I hadn't been to the desert since early 2000, and it was M's first trip. We packed light, brought munchies, and bummed rides and vehicles off my Dad & Pam, since we can't afford toys of our own in the foreseeable future.

After a brief training run on Saturday morning, we suited up and headed out to Oldsmobile and then on, under the train tracks, to Boardmanville. And then back to camp, pausing briefly at Olds on our way back in. M rode 3/4 of the run on the Banshee, and sat 1/4 out in the Razr. I would have liked more bike time, but my arms are telling me that I got quite enough excitement in for one trip.

We had a blast, and M's already trying to figure out how many trips we can make next year... and if it's worth it for us to by the season pass instead of weekly ones. The break even point is between 3 and 4 trips, depending on whether we buy the permit in town or at Sweet Marie's.

... and rings

Instead of taking it easy on Sunday, as we'd originally planned, M and I went down to talk to the jeweler about our wedding rings. He knows exactly what he wants, and it's just a matter of ordering or commissioning a piece to his specifications. My ring took a bit more discussing, and I finally got to see this jewelry CAD program M's been raving about since they designed my engagement ring.

It was pretty cool to see the wire-frame model of my ring next to the finished product. ... I suppose this goes without saying but here goes nothing: If we drew it up on the computer to talk about it, I probably don't have a picture of what my wedding ring will look like to show people. ;)

So that's one more wedding-related decision down, and a few dozen left to go.