We have taken some beautiful morning/afternoon walks the last week. You can see the effects of all of the rain we've had recently with rain puddles, greenery and flowers blooming! So beautiful. And one night we went out back and enjoyed roasting marshmallows for s'mores!
We made a late start and almost didn't find parking but I'm so glad we did! We loved seeing the art happening and enjoying the beautiful Fall weather. Then we hiked on down to the Grotto for a picnic lunch. After that we took the shuttle to the end and walked the trail up to the narrows. The Fall colors and Zion's cliffs were the best art of all! What a beautiful day we had in the park!
Lance and Juge gave us a Christmas gift of an airplane ride with his pilot stepbrother Zach Sheffield. It took some time for him to feel ready, but the last week of October we did the deed...and it was SO much fun! It was a small plane, with 4 seats. Paul sat up front with Zach and Lance and I were in the back. Zach did a great job of giving us a smooth and so scenic flight! We saw so much beautiful stuff that we love with the up above perspective! We saw the Coral Pink Sand Dunes, Gooseberry Mesa, the Snow Canyon Cinder cone area, the Zion area and more! Thanks so much for this really fun adventure!
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.
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.
We took our annual leaf looking drive on Cedar Mountain and it was wonderful as usual! Such vibrant colors making a feast for your eyes! I don't think I can say anymore than that!
 |
It was in-law year, so we were small in numbers, but it was still lovely and delicious. We had some trouble with the smoker, so we had half smoked/half baked turkey...very good! Ferf and Kennis joined Paul, Bean and me. They brought lots of yummy food to add to what we had. It was good to visit with Kennis since she's been off at school at U of U. Ferf's other kids went other places this year. I always think I'm not eating too much...not too much of one thing, but there are so many good things that you still end up feeling very full. Ferf and Kennis couldn't stay too long because they both had a lot of homework waiting for them. Ferf is in nurse practitioner school right now. Kennis is focusing on Computer Science I believe, and is a TA. She seems to be doing pretty well. She's like her mom and always works hard and gets good grades. My pics are not the best ever, but they're what I have! After Ferf and Kennis left Paul and I sacked out for a nap. Then we took Bean and went out for a walk at Snow Canyon/Johnson Arch to get the body up and moving! It was beautiful. We were there for sunset. After we got home Juge and Eden stopped by to eat some pie with us! More good times! Happy Thanksgiving 2025! Small but good!
