Giving thanks... and warmth

Here we are another turkey-day gone and another successful adventure. After deciding to not go to New Mexico because of a southern storm, we ended up in the Needles district of Canyonlands NP just below Moab. As you can see, maybe we still went too far south!! Yup, woke up on friday am with 3" of fresh snow and snowing, 20 deg. After sitting in the Van all morning we ventured out at 1p when the snow slowed. Walked for about 3 hours in the fresh snow and solitude of the Park!! Beautiful!! Got a nice sunset in the now clear (and COLD) sky. Off to bed and a low of 10 deg overnight. EVERYTHING in the van froze (except us!!). Nice sunny day to look around, then drive the van home...after 30 minutes to defrost the INSIDE of the windows! Ah well, overall we were VERY comfortable in all the down we brought, plus the nice plush setting of the van, got lots of reading done!! Till the next trip!!!

A Not So Perfect Perfect Day

Do we do anything besides hike around here? As the pictures might suggest it was not a perfect day, but still, it was. We girls (Kris, Amy, Elizabeth and I) decided not to let a little inclimate weather stop us from hiking a new trail. Packing up our rain gear we headed out to do Thaynes Canyon looped to Salt Lake Overlook. A total of 6 miles, with 2000 feet of climbing in 1.8 miles and a long descent. It was a really cool trail, in Mill Creek Canyon. Much different from the more rocky high altitiude hikes of Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons, it is more woody and with a different feel. We had a new hiker/friend with us, Elizabeth, whom Amy met at a local fun raiser, she is super cool and I look forward to more outdoor adventures with her. Rich took care of some business at home while we played. He and I had a great bike ride up Emigration Canyon yesterday in perfect 70 degree sunshiney weather. I havent ridden in a long time and the long ride up was definately speaking to me on our hike today! This afternoon we started our NEXT project: the entryway. We took down that aweful border and now have to paint and put in a new light fixture. Looks so much better already! Hope ya'all had a great weekend too!

A Perfect Day

Ever have one of those days that leaves a completely contented feeling in your soul? Well, today was like that. Getting up early and relaxing with our Sunday morning ritual of good coffee and the Sunday paper, then a great breakfast at our favorite local diner. Home by 9:00 a.m with time to get some work around the house done before it's time to "play". A little yard work, a little house work, just enough to give one the feeling of satisfaction that something was accomplished. Afterward, Rich went off on his training day - a long ride and a run, and I went off on my hiking day, a perfect day to hike with friends. The sky was magnificently blue and the sun shining at a very warm and pleasant temp of around 50 (I'm guessing), just perfect for hiking. Amy, Gloria and I headed out for a hike, we were extremely excited because it was one that we hadnt done before, well, at least not all of it. Amy, Rich and I snowshoed some of this trail last winter but strayed from the actual trail so it was a new experience for us this time. We did about 8 miles from Butler Fork to Dog Lake, then backtracked a little to branch out on Mill A toward Gobbler's Knob and looped back to the beginning. We began going up very steep, as is typical for the Wasatch, then entered a gully that took us toward Dog Lake, through beautiful pine forest. On the way back from the lake, we veered off and Mill A took us around a huge bowl, through Aspen forests, it was really, really cool. We then ended up on the other side of the bowl, back in the pines and snow and made our way back to the junction with Butler Fork and out. It was an incredibly fun hike to do, lots of different scenery and trail. A truly awesome day.