More leaves with Grandma

Sunday after attending the temple dedication we decided it would be nice to take Anna Lou up to see the leaves.  They are turning fast.  We went via Zion Park, Duck Creek and Cedar Breaks and then down to eat dinner with the Randalls.  They were good to feed us again!  We took the brownies (new ones) we forgot for Lou's birthday for dessert.  It was a beautiful afternoon/evening.

The chicks are growing, and the kids enjoyed the brownies.  Ellie missed out on the chocolate shot.

Training Hike #2

Saturday afternoon, after we finished up a stake breakfast/program thing at the park, we decided to do a training hike.  Rattlesnake is a very appropriate one with you going straight down and then straight up for 4 miles each way...kind of a mini-Grand Canyon experience.  It is a very rugged trail and starts at about 10,400 elevation and drops about 2,500 feet in 4 miles.  We got to the bottom in about 2.5 hours and came back up in 15 minutes longer than that.  Lots of careful footing on the way down and lots of breathing on the way back up.  So beautiful with lots of leaves starting to turn on the drive there and along the trail.  Feeling stronger all the time!

We lunched and rested for a few minutes at the junction of Rattlesnake and High Mountain Trail - right by the waterfall in the picture. 

Lava Point FHE & Rock Trip

Monday evening we decided we would go up to Lava Point to eat dinner see if the leaves were changing.  Just a few aspens had started to turn.  It was pretty cool up there.  Our dinner was good.  We took a walk along the West Gate Peaks trail until it got too dark to see and called it an evening.  Ahhh...I love the fall in the air.

Had to have some rock right now and were busy Saturday with church stuff, so we went off on Thursday evening and had a great trip as usual.  We should have camped out, but didn't.  We enjoyed dinner at Jacob Lake.  After picking up the rock the next day we headed back and stopped in at Cameron for half each of a mini Navajo Taco.  That's about all you can get around and is very tasty.  Stopped again for cookies at Jacob Lake.  Enjoyed time together, beautiful scenery, great food, good books on tape and just getting away.  Rock trips are the best!

Happy Birthday Lou Anne!

Sunday evening we got to join Lou Anne and family for her #37 birthday.  It was so nice of her to cook us a great dinner for her birthday!  Bryan was on call or we could have had her come down and let us cook for her instead.  It was delicious as always and lots of fun.  Afton kept us entertained.  She is just at that funny age where you just have to be laughing and taking pictures of her all the time.  The whole family seems to really enjoy her.  Lou was a good sport about Paul and I  not communicating about who was bringing the brownies to the car...neither one of us.  So we just had to put candles in the ice cream and have it with the strawberries and chocolate sauce that we did remember to put in the car.  Grandma Kurtz came with us too.  It was a fun time.  Lou and Bryan have such a nice don't sweat it attitude about things.  You just relax and enjoy yourselves at their house.  Happy Birthday Lou!  We love you and are so proud of how you are living your life and raising your family in the Gospel.  

Afton was into hats.  She made it look so fun that Brady and Ellie had to give it a try too!

Brady got the last candle lit and then blew out the match...along with most of the candles.  We all got a good laugh out of that - and then lit the candles again!

A Real Training Hike

Last Saturday Paul was busy with a Scout Camporee, so I had to go it solo if I wanted to get out.  I felt really strange going without him, but I knew I really needed to get some training if I'm going to make it without expiring on the rim-to-rim hike we are planning for UEA.  We are doing it with my friend/co-worker Lynne from school.  It's something we all have on our "bucket lists".  Paul and I are worried that she will leave us in her dust if we don't get crackin'.  So I followed her lead and headed up to hike Observation Point Trail in Zion.  I decided I would be doing well if I could do it at 3 miles per hour on the uphill portion.  It is 4 miles up and has a 2100 foot elevation gain, so there was plenty of heavy breathing going on, but I did make my time goal.  It was magnificent!!!  The views and cool fallish weather were superb. I felt so ON TOP OF THE WORLD when I got up there!  I actually met up with Lynne just before I reached the top.  She started down and then turned around (crazy woman) and headed back up to meet me.  We hiked down together taking a little side trip over to see Hidden Canyon.  It was worth the extra few miles.  I had never seen it before.  I didn't remember to time myself on the way down, so don't know how I did on the that part.  It was a great day and I felt like I got some good up and downhill training in for sure.  There were times when it did feel reminiscent of our last hike out of the Grand Canyon and I had just a few malignant thoughts creep into my mind - "Are you crazy? Would any sane person want to hike rim-to-rim?"

There were flowers and water in the slot canyons and lots of green because of all of our recent rain.  So lovely!

Around Town phenomena

Once in a while we see some interesting things around town.  The other day on my way to work I drove around the corner of 200 East and there in the middle of the road was a boulder.  We have had a lot of rain with the monsoons and it loosened that rock and it broke off and rolled out in the road.  I was glad it was in the center lane and out of the regular flow of traffic.  I had no time to take pictures of it, so I called Paul and he went over and got a few shots of the rock and the water washing down.  I have never seen water coming down that little ravine before.

Right around that same time we saw a cool vapor trail in the sky on an early morning walk.  Didn't have a camera with us. but ran out when we got home and tried to get a picture of what was left to see after the sun had come up further.  Found out later that it was missile trail from some that were blasted off over at White Sands in New Mexico.  

North Rim Grand "Edventure" for Labor Day

We offered Kennis and Tavin several grand "edventure" options for Labor Day and they opted for the Grand Canyon (North Rim).  An early departure got us there in time for a full day of "edventuring".  First stop was Jacob's Lake for an assortment of cookies (a 6:30 am breakfast leaves your starving by 10:30 am) which were delectable as usual.  Bright Angel overlook  was our next stop - we spotted condors along the way there.  We explored the grounds, Lodge and Visitor's Center and then we were hungry again and ate lunch at a pull out overlooking the canyon.  Then it was off to the Kaibab Trail.  We hiked down as far as the Supai Tunnel to get the feel for how quickly the canyon gets very deep.  On the way out we were really feeling that elevation change. After that was a visit to "Uncle Jim's" cave.  We decided it would be an OK place to live for a little while with a little bit of tidying up and maybe a wood stove to keep things toasty. Then we drove over to the Cape Royal Overlook, enjoyed Angel's Window and the interpretive trail and the grand views of the canyon and the Colorado River. The weather was perfect with just a few sprinkles here and there while we were at the canyon.  Surprisingly, there wasn't much of a crowd.  Too soon our departure time arrived.  Back to Jacob's Lake to pick up sandwiches and more cookies.  We dined at a rest stop with the stone shelter keeping us dry during a rain shower.  Then it was back to St. George in time for bed.  Kennis and Tavin were appreciate, cooperative, energetic, hungry, a bit sugar high, full of laughter, easily entertained company.  It was a grand day and we were so pleased they could come along and make it so much fun for us.  

The trail head is at 8250 ft. and Supai Tunnel is at 6800 ft. - that is a 1450 foot elevation change in the 2 miles down to it.  The kids were champs and people kept commenting how great they were doing as they left them behind in the dust.  

Horned toads were a fun extra here.

Grand views with grand company!

We forgot to get  an entrance picture on the way in, so we took one on the way out.  Kennis had teeth of many colors during the day as she consumed Fun Dip packets.  Cheetos also added color to her smile.  

Great Basin - off the beaten path...path to great times

Friday it was get out there time again.  We wanted to head off the beaten path because of the Labor Day week end crowds. We got just what we wanted...few people and a great get out there place.  It takes about three hours to get over there.  We stopped at a cool old mining town - Cisco - to stretch our legs and ended up spending quite a bit of time there. 

This graveyard was such a forlorn place with many graves being children or very young people.  So sad and lonely in the middle of nowhere.  Reminded me of pioneer graves along the trail.  I read about it and people have come in to restore broken headstones, etc., but it is still just falling to pieces.  

The one picture shows the nest of a really big bird in the rafters.  Nobody but varmints has lived here in quite some time.  

We decided to camp out in the boonies since it was getting dark.  About 25 miles from Great Basin National Park there's a road to the boonies and to Lexington Arch.  We took that one and after about 11 miles of dirt (our Jetta handled it) and full dark we camped at the trail head to the arch.  It was a beautiful night with a full moon.  At about midnight all that changed and a huge storm of rain, wind, thunder, lightening and hail blew in full force, but we were snug in our tent.  We watched Extremely Close Incredibly Loud  before we zonked out.  It's a good 9/11 show.  In the morning we breakfasted in the tent (sprinkles here and there) and cleaned up.  A Vietnamese lady and her husband drove up.  He didn't hike, but she was pro.  She left just a few minutes before we did and we met her up there and took pictures of each other and visited quite a bit on the way down.  The arch is amazing - very rare to find an arch made of limestone.  Loved the hike!  We had some sprinkles on the way up, it was beautiful at the arch and most of the way down.  About a half mile from the bottom the sky opened up and just as we got to the car it started to hail.  We were glad when we got off the dirt and back to the highway, but it was covered with about an inch of hail. 

Then we headed to the park.  It was sunny there - about 75.  We had planned to hike to a lake where there are the ruins of an old mining operation, but the weather over that way looked pretty iffy, so we opted to do several shorter hikes in the park.  We were not disappointed.  We hiked the Bristlecone Pine, Glacier and Alpine Lakes Trails and a couple of interpretive trails as well.  It was so beautiful with intermittent rain and a little hail.  It was about 54 up there.  Wheeler Peak peeked in and out of clouds and looked like it was having some real weather on top.  After our hikes (we ate lunch by Stella Lake) we checked out a campground for future reference and then headed out.

The little Golden Mantled squirrel came running right up hoping for his share of our lunch, but when we just took his picture, he made a quick exit.