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.
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!
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We planned a little get together for us sisters, Janet, Marilynne and me up at Janet's cabin in Washington. Of course we had our husbands come too! Paul and I got there Friday late afternoon and left Monday morning. Lynn and Marilynne got there a bit earlier on Friday and left Sunday afternoon. Janet and Tony left when we did on Monday. We had a leisurely time visiting, eating, going to church and playing a few games. Mostly we visited. Tony brought up some Walleye fish and pheasant that a friend gave him and cooked it up for us one evening. I thought it was very good! Marilynne and I brought the rest of the food so Janet would not be stressed about it. She's in early stages of Alzheimer's and says sometimes she can't remember how to cook things. And besides, they provided the wonderful accommodations at their cabin! I think attending church was very interesting. They have such a small ward there. I think there were 50 people their in total including us. They kept saying they wished all of us could find a way to move there! There used to be some very big food processing plants in the area and when they closed them down the town (and that ward) lost so many people who just had to move away to find new jobs. But, they were a nice friendly ward and I enjoyed the maybe 10 people Relief Society group and the great lesson that was given. Sunday afternoon we picked lots of apples to bring home for Janet and Tony to can and just for us to eat. There are so many different kinds of red and yellow apple trees growing all over their property. Some are wild and not as good they say. I liked all of the ones I tried. We made an apple pie with some of the Granny Smiths and it was very good. It was a very relaxing time. It's hard to see Janet struggling sometimes to remember things, but sometimes she amazed us with remembering things and names of people from long ago better than we could. It was a long drive of about 1800 miles. It took 2 days to get there and two days to come home. We weren't up for making it in one very long drive each time. I am having some really bad back problems (found out I have a herniated disc) so Paul did all of the driving, so we wanted to break it up. We stayed in Jerome, Idaho, in the same hotel going and coming. I'm glad we could get together while everyone can still make the trip. None of us are getting any younger. There were beautiful, big, cloud filled skies all the way there and back. We got a bit of rain a few times. We listened to some good books along the way. OH, while we were out picking apples, I looked down the path ahead where Janet and I were going to pick some other apples and there was a black bear down there eating black berries we think. I was so excited I yelled to Paul and Tony that there was a bear...and scared it away. We only saw the rear end of it, but it was pretty cool! They have seen a mother bear and two cubs on their game cameras around the place, so it was not that surprising. They said they've seen a bigger male bear. I was glad not to see him I think. I didn't feel afraid, just excited and sad that the men didn't get to see it.
The celebration is for Juge's #45 and Lou's #51. Crazy! Guess how old that makes us! Wow! We had a fun time doing a party/lunch at Park Place in Cedar City on the 15th. That's when we could all get together and we had a great time. Lots of good food and crepes and lots of fun visiting along with it. So proud of both of these ladies and the people they are today. They are both amazing and so accomplished in so many ways. Love you girls! Hope you feel loved and celebrated! And that's all of the September birthdays, believe it or not!
While we were in CA for Aunt Georgia's funeral, we had a little spare time that we used to drive around and check out our old houses, etc. It was fun! Some of them took a little bit of looking to find since we weren't quite remembering the exact addresses! These are pictures of my family home that I lived in from Kindergarten on and the 3 apartments/houses that we lived in after we got married until we moved to Farmington, NM, about 9 months later. The big red apartment building was first, the big gray house second and last was the little house. Paul actually lived in the big red apartment building in a different apartment when he was on his mission! It wasn't red then. We also found the old house that was the office where my mom worked. It had been repurposed to be an office for structural engineers. She took over as secretary there for Janet when she went off to school in SLC. Mom was there until she retired. We also drove down to Fairmont Park and saw the old tank. They used the lake to test the tanks to make sure they were waterproof! We also took a picture of the street sign for Wong Street in English and Chinese. I'm pretty sure that in the old days it was named Wong Way instead of Wong Street! Ha Ha!
