We've been getting a lot of rain lately from an El Nino effect. Yesterday was rainy enough that the waterfalls around here started running! We drove out to see them at Snow Canyon and at Kayenta! They were awesome! All of the washes were running and the moss on the rocks looked beautiful! It was so foggy that the pictures look a little blurry.
We tried to do one of our favorite Fall walks, but the river was over its banks and into the trail at Brookside. The leaves were starting to turn and it would have been a pretty walk, but just too much rain lately (not anything to complain about). Another day we were up at a Single Adult dinner in Pine Valley and we walked up to see what's left of the Pine Valley Dam...not much. Burn scar and lots of heavy rains have really been devastating up there. So sad.
Jay started off the month with his 50th! Whoopie! They are in Kauai right now for his birthday/Fall Break celebration! I would say that's a big enough party for a 50th birthday! Happy big FIVE-ZERO Jay! We love you!
Next up would be Koen with another big one...#18! Made him a birthday picture card and gave it to Ferf to give to him when he came to her house. He's pretty much ghosted our side of the family. Divorce is an ugly thing and causes so much heart ache. Happy Birthday Koen. We love you!
We had to do Tasia's birthday when she came down from school a week early. She had things at work that kept her from coming down on her birthday. We had a great visit with her! She's loving her classes this year and is so enthusiastic about what she's studying! Happy #22 Tasia! We love you!
We had to do some rearranging of dates and plans for this trip to come off. Lots of rains and also the cancellation of our tour of the Sequoia Crystal Cave made this necessary, but it all turned out great weather wise and otherwise. We left early on Monday morning for the long drive to Lyndsay California. It was our base camp for the time at Sequoia/Kings Canyon. We had a cold, windy picnic in Barstow. We got there in time to go to the park and see Tunnel Rock, Hospital Rock and some beautiful waterfalls. We met some nice people from Canada there and continued to run into them throughout our time there. Then it was time to head back to town and get some dinner and some rest. We ate at Burger King that night.
Wednesday morning we stopped by the to see the General Grant/National Christmas tree before we headed to Kings Canyon. We did the amazing drive down the canyon and stopped off to see Knapp's Cabin and Roaring Springs waterfall along the way. We got clear to Roads End and hiked around a little to see Muir Rock and the beautiful Kings River. We found a great lunch spot for our picnic down there and then stopped to see Grizzly Falls. Then we hit the road to Mariposa. It was our base camp for Yosemite and had dinner at Subway, the only fast food place in town.
Thursday we started our Yosemite adventures. This was our day to see things in Yosemite Valley. Of course, from the valley you are overshadowed by all of the amazing peaks - Sentinel, El Capitan, Half Dome and so many others. First thing we took a little hike to see the dry, but still beautiful, Lower Yosemite Falls. We saw chapel, the Sentinel Bridge, the Heritage Center and did a lot of walking to see the Welcome Center and the Exploration Center while walking to a big meadow with amazing views. Then we had a great picnic. Next we went to see beautiful Pohono Bridge and Bridal Veil Falls and then drove up to Glacier Point - another one of many, long and winding, edgy roads that made Bean very nervous. But the views along the way were so worth the drive. We enjoyed the rest of the day and then made a pretty long drive back to our base camp at Mariposa for dinner at a crazy hamburger joint. It was wallpapered on the walls and ceiling with old time record covers. We waited a long time, but the food was very good and plentiful.
Friday was go home day via Tioga Pass road. The weather was perfect and the drive beautiful. We stopped off at Olmstead View Point for a beautiful view of the back of Half Dome, and then for lunch at Tenaya Lake/Beach. We walked some on the beach and I braved the cold water to get my feet wet. Then the drive home really started. We stopped just a minute to see Mono Lake. Along the way we saw cool rocks, wild horses, antelope, cows and mules and lots of long, straight roads. We got snacks and gas at Tonapah and then again in Caliente and finally got home about 8:30. So glad to get here and get to bed after that long drive. It was a wonderful, beautiful trip of around 1,700 miles. Paul did nearly all of the driving and was so great driving those endless, narrow, winding roads! Glad we did it and glad to get home!
I'm having some back trouble right now, but I'm thankful that I can still take morning walks pretty much pain free. This morning we took an extra long one out at Snow Canyon. We did about 5.64 miles to see a rockfall that we had noticed from the road a few days ago when we drove through the canyon. It could be seen from quite a ways up the West Canyon dirt road. What a wonderful walk it was. We are so blessed to live in such a beautiful place. There truly is "beauty all around". We went about 7 am so it was still cool and shady for most of the walk. We did see the rockfall scar with the binoculars. We took the Hidden Pinion Trail for part of the walk and also the Red Sands Trail as well as the West Canyon road. It was wonderful. After that we came home and pretty soon Supe called and reminded us that we were missing JJ and Siera's reception after their temple sealing. Thank goodness he reminded us! We just forgot to look at the calendar. It was right there and we were looking forward to it. It was actually JJ's birthday too. What a great birthday present...an eternal spouse! I'll be glad when my back is better and I can ride my bike up that West Canyon road again I hope. You can see the rockfall scar on the mountainside in the left picture below.
We caught the tail end of a hurricane coming up from Mexico and had a lovely cloudy/rainy few days here. We took a drive one day to see if any waterfalls had started yet. Nope. The ground was still just sucking it up. While driving out through Snow Canyon we saw a small desert tortoise along side the road on the pavement. That's a very dangerous spot for them to be, so we stopped to take a look. It was slurping up water from the pavement! Even tortoises love the rain I guess. We were worried it would come to far out into the lane of traffic, so we stopped at the fee booth nearby to alert them so they could move it. She said for us to just move it since she couldn't leave her place there. We drove back and Paul carefully carried it off the road and behind some rocks to maybe keep it away. Hopefully it found water to slurp from other places.
We also took walks up by the Desert Garden and saw the effects of the rain on all of the beautiful desert plants up there! So lovely to see so many things blooming.
