Pretty in Pink

Here are a few pictures of Callie all ready for church today

Life Elevated

Deb and I decided that we would go hiking today to commemorate the kickoff of Summer. There are several canyons that go up into the mountains from here which neither of us have ever been to, so we said, "Let's go!" The first one we went to explore is called Blacksmith Fork Canyon, down near the south end of the valley. We were specifically looking for trails we could hike on, but the scenery itself is often worth driving up these winding roads.

About 15 miles into this canyon we had had enough of following sluggish RV's with their caustic diesel exhust so we turned around and started back down. About halfway back we parked at an empty campsite by the river to have a snack and fresh air. Upon closer inspection ofthe site when we got out, we found that the fire had not been put out properly. there was absolutely no trace of anyone still occupying the place so we proceeded to separate the wood and stir up the coals to put it out. We found a plastic bottle nearby and used it to get water from the river to dump on the fire. throughout our trips back and forth we found out that the careless campers had also left a lot of firewood there too!. Since there was no one there to claim it and we had done our environmental duty to protect the whole forest from going ablaze, we claimed the firewood as our own and loaded it in the car.

With our new low-rider car, we proceeded down the rest of the canyon road. We went to the next available canyon looking for adventure and Providence Canyon was the right candidate. Four miles in, we stopped at suitable place on the side of the gravel road. We parked the car, got out and started going up the side of the mountain. There was no clear trail , just a thin, dry creekbed/gulch thing going up so we followed that as best we could. It was quite steep and the rocks were loose and treacherous, but we were feeling adventurous and happy from our acquisition of the carful of firewood so we pressed on. Our goal was an outcropping of rock about halfway up the side of the mountain.

Practically hugging the side of the hill as we ascended, I got a good close up view of the rocks as

I climbed. At first glance they looked like average gray, run-of-the-mill-rocks... until I noticed something imbedded in one of them. Then I noticed TONS of little things imbedded in these rocks! If you'll notice the little light grey thing at the bottom left of the rock, that is what caught my attention.

This is what was on the other side of the same rock! You can see all the fossilized remains of many of the sea creatures and plants that inhabited the sea floor of the ancient Lake Bonneville that covered Utah and much of the Great Basin area al those eons ago. We collected several more specimens just like this, some with even more stuff fossilized into the rocks.

We got back in plenty of time to make it to our ward's traditional Memorial day FHE BBQ. We even donated some of our firewood to the cause. Fun Fun!

Moving

Over the past little while I've been slowly bringing things over to Deb's house from mine. The other day I dug up my tent that has been sitting under some stuff outside for the past year and a half. It has been in it's bag; but I had figured that it would be all mildew-y, rotten and falling apart from sitting through two winters, two autumns, two springs and a blistering hot summer. I assumed the elements had done their worst, especially if any moisture had been trapped in there for vso long. I didn't have any hope as I pulled it out of the bag, which wasn't waterproof- water resistant, but not waterproof...

To my great surprise and pleasure as I began to unroll it the shiny maroon top material revealed itself to be in perfect shape and good as new! YAY! There are a few tiny little spots of mildew that will have to be scrubbed out, but all in all it will be ready to go as soon as we want to go camping this summer. I'm so excited!

May 22

Anyone who is familiar with my history knows that today is signifigant. This day today is especially signifigant because starting now I will have spent more of my life with my disability than without it. I'd say I've come pretty far since then.

Cache Valley Hillbillies

Last night we felt like we needed a little adventure so we moved my greenhouse over to Deb's place. Since I spent most of my free time over there and we're growing our flowers for the wedding, it makes sense to have it where we can take care of them better.

We did it at night so there would be less traffic, fewer strange looks and stares.

The only thing we would have needed was a rocking chair up on top for granny and we would have fit the description for the redneck-of-the-week award. Looking back at it, we still might get the prize...

As I drove the rear dolly from the inside, I felt like I was a pioneer driving a covered wagon with those three hoops. Lucky for me, Deb is much cuter than a team of oxen!

Phoenix

As we progressed further south, I naively realized that cactus-filled landscapes aren't just decorations for the movies. It was pretty cool being around all the desert/tropical scenery.

We went to the Mesa Temple . . .

. . . A couple times . . .

I also learned that Palm trees aren't very cuddly.

I've got a few more pictures to post, but they will have to wait until tomorrow. These should hold you all over for now!!

The next leg

When we finally reached the Grand Canyon it was just past dusk so it was too dark for any decent pictures. I had to photoshop the ones we got in order to make them the least bit visible. This first pic was just a teaser canyon before we got to the real one. We still had quite a few miles to go before we got to the real park.

Here is the before picture:

Another one with a little color tweaking:

(There IS an) Arizona

Right back in there is the entrance to Bryce Canyon National Park, where you will find natural beauty and awe-inspring gorgeousness that will make your jaw drop. we didn't have time to go in there see for ourselves but here are a couple pictures of what others have found. Some slot canyons:

Those pointy formations are called hoodoos.

Just a few more miles down the road we hit Lake Powell. Again, we didn't have time to do a lot of sightseeing, but we made a point to stop at Glen Canyon Dam for lunch. This is the dam that creates Powell.

This is what it looked like back in 1983:

This ends the first leg of the journey. . .

Easter

These are from awhile back but I didn't put them up back then.

These are all I have for now for this post, I might get a couple more later!!

Fluppy Dogs

17 hours in a car in the middle of a desert(complete with cacti!) will make wierd thoughts go through one's head. A certain ill-fated cartoon shpw from 1986 randonly popped into my brain for some reason. Fluppy dogs have nothing to do with this post though, so that's all I'm going to say about them.

Now through the miracle of modern technology I am able to surf the web on Deb's laptop while she takes a turn driving. I can blog, e-mail, watch the latest Susan Boyle video on Youtube, plot our course in real time, anything I want!

We're not quite to our destination yet, but we have accomplished two of our major goals of the trip so far. We stopped at Glenn Canyon Dam at the bottom of Lake Powell...I mean puddle Powell. That was pretty cool though. By the time we got to the Grand Canyon it was late dusk and there wasn't much we could see. Now we are just on the rest of our trip and there really isn't muchelse exciting going on.

I will post pictures when we get home because this computer has issues with the memory card from my camera.