First Campout of the year- Pine Park!

Oh what a great first campout of the year we had at Pine Park!  No one was there except us until just as we were leaving.  We went on Friday afternoon and came home Saturday afternoon.  We got there about 5:30 and got everything set up and took a walk up to overlook the canyon and then made a delicious dinner of pork chops, mashed potatoes, gravy and fresh green salad, and ate it outside.  We had some some wonderful Costco Danish for dessert.  After dinner we  took a short  hike up the South Boundary Trail and then came back and enjoyed watching the full moon rise and sitting out and enjoying the cool evening with the frogs croaking in the stream nearby.  We slept quite well in our little trailer bed.  

In the morning we took a hike up one canyon until it got too impassable and then went up another until we wanted to get out of it.  The streams were full of little fish and things were starting to green up.  The manzanita was blooming.  When we wanted to be done in the canyon we found a good place and climbed up and out of it. We saw bright red Indian Paintbrush up there. Then we went over to enjoy the amazing white rock canyons hiking through them on the way back to our camp doing about 4 miles in the process.  We love the amazing rock formations there.  They are made of bright white volcanic Ash-flow tuff in hoodoos, pyramids and mushroom shaped domes and undulating slickrock basins. These spires have eroded from thick deposits of white volcanic ash-flow tuff known as the Tuff of Honeycomb Rock .  An ash-flow tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash, rock, and gases derived from explosive volcanic eruptions. Pine Park lies at the edge of the ancient Pine Park caldera--one of dozens of calderas spanning from southwestern Utah, across central Nevada, to the border of eastern California. Back at camp we ate leftover Danish and green salad.  We took a nap and then it was time to pack it up and head home.  On the way home we made a stop at the Mountain Meadows Memorial site.  It's such a sad thing that happened there.  

March Birthdays - Jennifer #47, Sarai #14 and Joel #11 (celebrated late)

 

Paul and I took Ferf out for her birthday dinner early.  She was heading up north the next day to celebrate on the actual day with her kids (and Jay and Brynn).  We had a really nice dinner and enjoyed visiting with her and coming back to our house for cake and presents.   She has just been accepted into the nurse practitioner school that she hoped she would!  She's working hard at her home health care job now.  She has so much on her plate, but she works hard and finds time to play volleyball and do other activities with other single friends and seems to be making a good life for herself and being a great mom.  We are so proud of how she has fought her way through this very difficult time of her life with love and faith in the Lord.  Happy #47 Ferf!  We love you and we are proud of you!  

We went up to the Randall's for Joel's #11 celebration.  He's a deacon now!  How exciting to see him growing up and moving forward in good ways.  Happy Birthday Joel!  We love you!  

Sweet Sarai turned 14!!! She was excited to be going to Youth Conference for the first time.  We watched her open her present on Facetime.  I will always remember that Sarai being alive with no health problems is pretty much a miracle after how sick she got with meningitis after she was born.  So many things could have gone wrong.  So happy that she's enjoying a happy and healthy life.  Happy Birthday Sweet Sarai!  We love you.  

THIS IS THE PLACE HERITAGE PARK

 Paul had a doctor's appointment for his knee in Park City.  We went up on Thursday afternoon and spent the night to be there for the 9 am appointment.  We stayed in Heber City at a quant little motel that night.  The appointment went well.  Afterward we decided to spend the rest of the day sight seeing.  We ended up going to the This is the Place Heritage Park and spending the whole rest of the day there.  It wasn't entirely open since this is the slow time of year, but we enjoyed what there was.  We saw the National Pony Express Monument and the Mormon Battalion Monument.  Then we moved on to the Pioneer Center and This is the Place Monument and the Pioneers of 1847 Monument.  Then we took the little train ride around to see where all of the other park features are.  There were lots of them including the Native American Village, the Andrus Halfway House, the shaving parlor, the Huntsman Hotel & Grill, the ZCMI Kid & Candy Shop, The Savage Livery Stable and Petting Corral, the Blacksmith Shop, the Deseret New Print Shop, the B. F. Johnson Saddlery Shop, the Social Hall (which is also the Brigham Young Donut Shop - we got some and some hot chocolate), The Children's Monument and the Ship Brooklyn, the gift shop and more!  It was fun where there were people dressed up in period clothing to explain and demonstrate things about that site.  It was a cold gray day, but in our coats we did just fine. After that we went into Salt Lake and looked around at Temple Square. When we were all done we went and saw James' house with all of the remodeling and then went out for dinner with him.  That night we stayed at Jay and Brynn's house.  They are on vacation, so we had it to ourselves with the dogs.  Saturday morning it was time to head home.  We took the long route home and ended by driving through Zion which was a beautiful as ever.  It was a fun little trip. 

Spring Break 2025 - Chaco Canyon, Canyon De Chelly, Chiricahua NM, Saguaro NP, Billingsleys, etc.

Wow, what a great Spring Break we had!  We left Sunday afternoon after Stake Conference and drove to Ross and Lerlyn's in Aztec, NM.  We had such a beautiful drive with amazing scenery getting there.  Monday morning Ross, Paul and I went over to Chaco Canyon and had a great day walking among the ancient ruins there.  It was a bumpy drive for the last 13 miles of dirt road to get there, but so worth it.  (Lerlyn didn't feel up to the hiking and stayed home and made a wonderful dinner for us to come home to.)  We spent another night with them visiting and playing games and having a great time.  

Tuesday morning we left to head over to Canyon De Chelly.  It was another scenic drive to get there and then we spent an awesome day visiting all of the overlooks into the canyon.  You can't go into the canyon itself without hiring a guide, but there was a great young guy at the Visitor's Center that answered many questions for us both times we stopped there.  It was perfect weather again for this wonderful day. That afternoon we drove over to Pine Top-Lakeside where we spent the night.  We had some rain and snow here and there in the driving and overnights, but all of our daytime weather was just perfect for our outdoor activities.  

Wednesday morning left and we drove over to Chiricahua National Monument via the Salt River Canyon, etc. We arrived with a few hours of afternoon left to start our activities there.  We explored the Faraway Ranch section of it, watched the movie at the Visitor's Center, drove the loop drive and checked out the stops along the way, had a picnic, and hiked the short Sugar Loaf Mountain Trail and the Massai Point Nature Trail. Then it was time to head to our little studio/extended-stay motel in Willcox, which is about 40 minutes from the park.  

On Thursday we got an early start arriving at the park before the Visitor's Center opened to do the hike from there to the Heart of the Rocks Loop and return trail which ended up being about 8 miles round trip.  It was a beautiful hike with lots of amazing work done by the CCC including several very long stone stairways.  It was perfect weather.  It started out in the Lower Rhyolite Canyon Trail in the lower canyon forest and then climbed to upper Rhyolite Canyon, Sarah Deming Canyon and then to the top of the ridge where it met the Big Balanced Rock short trail and then over to Heart of the Rocks Loop that has many of the most unusual named rock formations.  It was classed as a strenuous hike, but didn't really feel like it was.  I didn't breathe hard or break a sweat because the trail was very gradual and the weather was not hot.  The rock formations that you could view along the way and then be right among at the top were so crazy cool!  Loved the whole thing.  On the way down I just glimpsed the long, dark tail of a Coati Mundi that was crossing the trail in front of us.  I sure wish I had seen the rest of it! When we got back from the hike we had a picnic by the Visitor's Center.  The only thing I was sad about was that they didn't have a park bag I could buy.  Both Chaco Canyon and Canyon De Chelly had them.  Then it was time to head back to Willcox for the night.  

Friday morning it was time to get back on the road and start the trip home. Along the way we stopped off at the Saguaro NP West Mountain Unit.  It was a quick stop, but really awesome place...maybe even better than the East one.  Then we drove over to Florence AZ to see John and Marge Billingsley.  Paul had been in the bishopric with John back in Farmington NM years ago.  They are wonderful people.  John and I had connected on Facebook a few years ago and he had invited us to stop by if we were ever down their way.  It is good that we did because John was just starting hospice care the day we came.  He was not in good shape, but it was so good to see them both.  After that we tried to take one scenic route through a canyon that ended up turning to dirt quite a ways in, so we had to turn around.  It was a really beautiful canyon with a crazy little town (Tortilla Flat) and a beautiful lake.  We found a good picnic spot along the way back and then went a different way to get to Chino Valley, our stop for that night. It snowed there that night. 

Saturday we planned to go home through Flagstaff and Jacob Lake, but when we got to the turn for Flagstaff the road was closed due to snow, so we rerouted to go through Page instead.  We enjoyed more beautiful scenery and got home about 2:30. We put things away and then headed up to take Bean to dinner in Cedar City.  After dinner we drove up the mountain a ways to see the snow. It was a nice time.  The whole trip turned out very well.  Our car is very in need of a wash due to the rain and snow, but it did a great job and we got wonderful gas mileage.  Happy Spring Break 2025!  It was a BLAST!!!

The Creamery and Cove Fort with Bean

 We had a nice Saturday afternoon with Bean.  We picked him up from Mountain House in Cedar at 11 am and drove up to Beaver and had a tasty lunch at The Creamery.  After that we drove up to Cove Fort and spent time taking the tour there.  We had a good time and enjoyed hearing about the way those people came and made a life there in the middle of nowhere.  They worked so hard and pretty much produced what they needed to live.  They hosted and fed the stage coaches and mail deliverers and all others traveling that route, and provided lodging for those who wanted it.  Really amazing people who knew how to be self sufficient.  We stopped again at The Creamery on the way home for dessert.  It was nice to spend that time with Bean.

Toroweep!

The weather was perfect, the road was ROUGH, the views were GRAND, and the canyon was 3,000 feet deep, and the river was a beautiful green ribbon at the bottom.  It was a grand trip out to see the Toroweep Overlook of the Grand Canyon.  I was a little worried about how our truck was going to come out, but Paul maneuvered it carefully over the very rough road, especially that last 30 minutes worth. The view kind of leaves you without words to describe it, and feeling like you don't want to get too close to that long drop.  We had a nice picnic lunch with no wind and just a little squirrel watching us closely hoping for a crumb of some kind.  It kept hiding and popping out in new places trying to get close.  We saw some other people there who had made it out on 4-wheelers, in a jeep and on motorcycles. It was an awesome day together!

 

First cookout of the year!!!

Paul and I took our first cookout of the year out to the old quarry at the very end of February.  The weather is unseasonably warm (and dry).  Paul cooked DO potatoes and we had a yummy wedge salad, beans and some brisket and bread to go with them.  All very good!  Afterwards we hiked around and enjoyed seeing the amazing beauty of the rocks and plants and all of the scenery!  We packed it up just before dark and headed home for some root beer floats for dessert.  Such a lovely evening together! We "adopted" some rocks that we brought home for the yard too!  

February birthdays - Kennis, Lenae and Anna Lou

 Kennis #21, Lenae #45, Anna Lou #93.

Kennis - We just had to be happy with a card and a phone call since she's up north at school right now.  It's the big #21 for her this year!  She's moving forward with her schooling and getting on with life after some hard knocks.  Love you Kennis!  Happy #21!

If Weed were still here with us, this would be her #45.  Some family came down for a little President's Day weekend hike and we had a little picnic at our house.  Juge made a yummy cake and we sang our happy birthday to Weed.  (See post about her birthday celebration.)

We celebrated with Anna Lou by taking her out to dinner the night before.  She ate coconut shrimp to her heart and stomach's content!  We came back to the house afterwards for ice cream and cake.  She had us buy 100 cream puffs for her to share with her housemates at Beehive House to celebrate their on the afternoon of her actual birthday.  She wanted to be there all day to receive phone calls from family and friends all day long.  Hopefully she got enough of those to fill the need.  She's 93 and going strong!  She said she hopes this will be her last birthday celebration here on earth, but I think she may stick around for several more they way things are going and with all of the good care she is getting.  Happy #93...and many more?