It's SNOWING!!

SEPTEMBER 29! 4-6 inches in the mountains, who knows how much here. Low of 30 tonight. These pics were taken about an hour ago, and it's still coming down hard! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! Hopefully this is a sign of a good winter!! Alta, here we come!

Jackson, WY

A trip to Jackson is always so incredible. We decided to take the vanagon and go to Jackson for the weekend to get away before fall got away. With the dry temps and drought this year all the leaves are well on the way to turning color. With rain and ? snow predicted at the end of the weekend we figured this would be a great time to go. We spent friday night driving their, arriving at about 11:30 and parking in a road turn off to sleep. Then got up early on saturday to eat and start touring. As you can see we timed the color changing pretty well and saturday was perfect temperature wise. After making a loop of the park we decided to head back toward town and camp out Gros Ventre road. We got settled in and rested then went off to run. I started about 2 min after Karen when I met her coming back to the car after 0.1 miles and she was breathless telling me to get the cameras because a monster moose was at the entrance in a small strand of trees. As you can see this was the largest moose that I have ever seen. The antlers on his head must have weighed 200lbs. When he stood his back was easily taller than me. Impressive. They stayed for the rest of the weekend in the trees, mostly lying down, much to the flock of photographers standing in the field dismay. After a windy drive home we hurried to edit pictures and see what we got. For the weekend, lots of great colors, mtns, 3 moose, tons of antelope, deer and fun!!

Fall Colors and 11,749 Ft.

The beautiful fall colors were evident as we hiked up to the summit of Mt. Timpanogos, the second highest peak in the Wasatch Range at 11,749 feet. Three friends from work and I headed out at 8:00 am on a beautiful, but chilly Saturday morning. Four hours later we were sitting on top of the mountain looking at amazing views in all directions. To our west we really got a peek at some fall color as the reds were remarkable. The temps at the top were near freezing, (yes, 32 degrees) with the wind chill, as the wind was blowing about 30 miles per hour with gusts to 40. Fortunately, the wind was blowing into the mountain, instead of blowing us off of it! We ate lunch at the saddle prior to the final push to the summit and then, after a brief, very cold, few minutes at the top, headed back down. Total time on the mountain: 8 hrs. 15 min. About 7:45 of hiking time. Afterward a couple of beers and some food at the Porcupine - a great day!

Apple Pie and Happiness

Ahhh, what a lovely life, indeed. I was thinking about that as I was varnishing the molding for the livingroom, Rich was doing yard work, and Aerosmith was playing on the boom box. A lovely weekend, indicative of a lovely life. Friday, good friends Tammy and Ian and Kathy came over for dinner, very relaxed, a little salmon on the grill, sweet potatoes and corn on the cob, a nice glass of wine and great conversation started the weekend off right. Saturday gave us perfect weather, a great long run and a very productive day working on the living room, routering and staining the baseboards and molding, with a well deserved break to Dairy Queen in between coats. A relaxing evening reading and relaxing. Sunday was great, get up early, read the paper (our Sunday ritural), then a great breakfast that Rich fixed - spinach and feta omelette, fruit, and an English muffin. Some gardening for me afterward - harvesting herbs, weeding and pruning, then both of us went off for a bike ride. Rich headed south for a more intense training ride, and I headed north for a more relaxed recovery ride, a perfect day for it! Temps are now cooling off to a very perfect high 70's to mid 80s. After the ride, back to work varnishing, running errands together, and more varnishing. Then, the most lovely part of all... the apple pie! Rich and I made it together, Rich picked apples from our tree, he peeled, I cored, we sliced in our new food processor ( a gift from Dad and Jane), and mixed, Rich added his handiwork with a woven crust top, and wha-la! Well... I think it's high time I get down there and have a slice, Rich should be about out of the hot tub by now. Adios, for now! Hope you all had a lovely weekend as well!!

Labor Day Weekend

Well, it was a labor day weekend - we labored. No traveling or camping with the throngs of others, rather, we stayed home to work on our next "home improvement" project: painting the living room and dining room and replacing the baseboards and molding around the doors with natural wood (it's was all painted the same as the walls). So far we have pulled all the molding, primed and painted, then we got some of the new wood and played with some stain until we found just the perfect combination for a perfect color. It's going to be beautiful! Rich has to router all the baseboards - we wanted them a little wider then normal for a fuller effect, so we are buying the boards and Rich is cutting a simple edge to the top of them, the molding around the doors will be more traditional. We'll post pics later. I think we will need all this week to do the staining and varnishing and then next weekend to install.

So, along with all the house labor, we had some fun labor, too. Lots of running and riding and a great party. Rich and I have signed on for another half marathon in October, so I began training in earnest this week. Had my first "long run" Sunday (only five miles!) and we had a great long bike ride on Monday. I have been running before work due to the hot afternoon temps. We also went to Sean and Laurel's wedding party on Saturday. It was at the Gallivan Center, downtow SLC, outside, with a live band singing all the great dance songs from the r & b of yesteryear. Rich even got up and danced!! The food was great and the atmosphere even better.

Well, that's about it. Our ordinary, but extraordinarily wonderful life. :-) I guess the summer is officially over now, which is actually a good thing around here - way too hot this summer! I'm looking forward to cooler temps!!