Weekend Report

We just got back from our memorial day weekend. A nice long jaunt down to southern utah and a place called Dark Canyon. Dark Canyon is a long canyon that connects in the south to the Colorado at Lake Powell and the north in the southernmost part of Canyonlands N.P. It is quite interesting in that it is part BLM land (NW part) and National Forest land (East part). We entered from the BLM side on the sundance trail. Not truly a trail, more like a nice old jeep road for 2 miles, then a trail in the desert for 1 mile, then a scramble down a cliff edge (see pic).

Once we got down it was nice (hot, but nice). Took a nap in the shade, then set off to follow the river down to find a swimmin hole! Found a nice deep pool by some rocks that we could jump into. Just what the doctor ordered. Nice cool dip to cool off. Hiked back to nap some mroe in the shade!! Ate dinner went to bed, got up at 5am, to hike out before the sun got too high on the scree slope and ate breakfast back at the Vanagon. Drove to Moab, hung out, camped and came home. 750 miles round trip. Good hiking, good company. We'll update more in the next couple days with some more pics of Dark Canyon!!

Weekend Fun!

Had a great weekend! Saturday we had a bbq for my work staff, about 20 of us altogether. Rich cooked up an amazing feast of bbq ribs and chicken... his ribs are to die for!! Yum yum!! Good times were had by all. :-) Sunday, Kathy, Gloria and I went to Logan Canyon for a hike - it's about an hour and a half north of here in the Wasatch Mountains. We will be taking groups of kids from work up there for camping and backpacking next week and we wanted to hike the trails beforehand. We did about 8 miles, through beautiful riparian ecosystems, aspen groves, past beaver dams, and then up into gorgeous meadows til we got nice and high with spectacular views. It was an incredibly beautiful hike. It'll be interesting to do the trip with the kids - tell ya all about that next weekend!!

Project 337 & the Met

Friday night we met up with LeeAnn and Jordan to go to dinner at the Metropolitan (more on that in a second). First we decided to check out the 337 Project a grass roots art project in SLC. It was amazing, and we didnt even get inside!! The 337 Project was conceived by a couple that bought an urban building, hoping to renovate it into lofts on top for them to live in and small business on the bottom. After finding out that it would be cost prohibitive to renovate they decided they would have to tear down the building first, then build lofts anew. In the meantime, they opened the building to local artists to come and do their thing. Each artist was assigned a room, or hallway or ceiling to express themselves artisically. Some of the work is exceptional, some, not so great, but when put all together it is an amazing, amazing representation. Unfortunately, we went before our dinner reservations and didnt have time to tour the inside.... next Friday we will go down again as it is the last weekend it will be open - then, it is torn down. Check out the website to see more, it's truly awesome!

http://337project.org/

Next, we went to dinner at the Metropolitan. One of the best restaurants in SLC. During the month they have something called Dine-O-Round in the city. This is were really great restaurants offer their yummy food for a set price that is always affordable in 3 course meals. Fantastic! http://www.themetropolitan.com/

Now, if only DQ were open!

Yep, after a loooonng day of yard work, what would be more perfect than an ice cream cone at Dairy Queen? Unfortunately, they're not open around here on Sundays! Bummer. Anyway, Rich and I had a great day doing tons of work around the house - a perfect day for it. High 80's with a nice breeze that kept us cool. Great for playing too, I suppose, but I'm battling a sore throat and allergies that are making it very difficult to breathe! Rich just took the day off to get stuff done... it feels great, though, being productive and seeing the fruits of your labor. The yard looks phenominal! We trimmed, planted, mulched, washed, cut, cleaned, etc.etc. The gardens are now all good to go for the summer. This is going to be the year of the garden! Veggies go forth and prosper!! :-) I have planted tomatoes, beans, peas, broccoli, cucumber, squash, zuchinni, onions, peppers, dill and cilantro! The herb garden is going crazy already, and we have lilacs on our new lilac tree, yea!! :-) Hope you all had a great day, and Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there!!

Revisiting Yosemite

I wanted to update the weblog with something and was looking through My Pictures when I was inspired by Yosemite. I thought, why not revisit some great places and share them with you all from time to time? This trip Kathy and I took a handful of summers ago, it was amazing. We started out driving through Las Vegas, spending a night as Kath had never been there before and it's a must to experience, if only once. Then we want to go to Death Valley to experience the hottest of hot there is - only to be surprised by some unseasonably wet and cool temps! Flash flooding and flannel shirts is what we experienced there! Well, on to Yosemite which is the most remarkable place you can imagine. Towering rock, waterfalls, huge trees, meadows. The color pic is Tuolumne Meadows, a magical place. You are also looking at the famous Half Dome, El Capitan, and of course the tree made famous by Ansel Adam in his photographs. That tree collapsed a couple of weeks after we were there - we feel pretty blessed to have been able to capture it's image ourselves! Enjoy!

Friends in High Places

Last weekend (I'm a little late posting!) Gloria, Kathy and I hiked Grandeur Peak. This is a great local hike, that gets you up real high, real quick. A challenging hike for the first mountain hike of the season as it bumps up 2600 vertical in 3 miles! The beginning of the trail is very steep, following a beautiful creek up through the woods, then it opens up to a serious of mellower switchbacks through scrub oak, then a little steeper again to the summit. Great views all around. It's fun looking at the city down below - hard to imagine we can be so far "out" yet so close!