Heading Home - Day One (01/05)

The ultimate goal for today's journey is to get to M's place so we can sleep for a bit before we return the rental car and get on an airplane. But before we get there, there's *loads* to see. We opted to go a different route through the canyon for the return trip, so we could see more of the scenery. Additionally, this will take us close to Red Rock Canyon & Bryce Canyon - where we'll detour to take in even more.

An arch - has the rock fallen away from the top of the arch (making it taller) or from the back of the rock (making it deeper)?

A hoodoo - the rock on top (like the helmet) is harder than
the rock in the spire, so it will eventually collapse

Greg climbing rocks

Sara, with her eyes wide open =)

An arch in Red Rock Canyon

Signs like these are all over Bryce

A cool tree and a Hawaiian snowman

I think Bryce Canyon is even more amazing than Zion. When I asked Greg why we didn't go to Bryce for the weekend instead, he mentioned a lack of facilities and that because it's at a higher altitude it's colder. I must admit that the temps were lower and the wind chill kept me from looking at a couple of the views.

I just love the colors!

We left the canyons around 5pm, but getting home was slow going. Encountered a snow storm, so we didn't travel over 40mph for quite a while. Even when we made it to the interstate we didn't get to take advantage of the high speed limits, as conditions weren't great. Oh well. We made it to M's around midnight - safe & sound.

On tap for tomorrow: Spending the day in Seattle with Holly & co.; final leg home.

Zion - Day Two (01/04)

We had breakfast as a group (except mom, who wasn't feeling well), then went back to the rooms to look at some of the pictures Greg has been taking before mom & Dave took off for home. Greg started the show at the beginning, but it would've taken a couple hours to get to the Zion pics, so he skipped directly to Zion and started again from there. We watched photos for about an hour, when the slide show crapped out for some reason. But we'd only made it through part of the hiking we'd done the day before. Greg has taken lots & lots of pictures. He's going to clean them up, then make a DVD that we're going to send to each of the family. A souvenir of the vacation - it'll be lovely!

Sara & I dropped Greg at a hike and then headed into town to do some shopping in Springdale. It's a quaint little town with lots of artsy shops. We found an internet cafe and were supposed to get coordinates for earth caches, but I couldn't figure out how to get the laptop to see the cafe's network access. Later, Greg showed me there's the equivalent of an on/off switch on the laptop. Who knew? =) But Sara & I found lots of pretty baubles before we had to head back into the park to pick Greg up. Once we were all together again, Greg opted not to do yet another hike, and instead went back into town with us to do more shopping.

We had a nice dinner at Wildcat Willie's and Greg got some really good shots of sunset. After our leisurely dinner, we went back to the internet cafe so Greg could get the coordinates he was looking for. It was a wonderful, relaxed day.

On tap for tomorrow: Check out; touring Bryce & Red Rock Canyons; heading to SLC to crash at M's place before flying out on Tuesday.

Zion - Day One (01/03)

It's quite amazing to wake up, step outside your room, and enjoy the view below. The scenery in Zion is spectacular - enough that pictures and words just don't do it justice.

I don't know that I'd opt to stay at the same location, should we make this trip again in the future. There was no complimentary breakfast, no mini-fridges in the rooms, and no internet (except in the lobby, which was in another building entirely). On the other hand, all you had to do was wake up, throw on clothes, and walk outside the building - then you were in the park with hikes and grandeur at your fingertips. Greg got up before the sun so he could hike to a good spot to take pictures of the sunrise and be back to have breakfast with us before 10am. From there, we went to Weeping Rock - a short hike, moderately steep, made a little tougher because of the icy snow-pack on the trail. But definitely worth the trouble.

Aaron, Marideyza, & Baby Amy had to leave after Weeping Rock so they could get home to AZ. It was sad to see them go, but I'm grateful that we had this time together. It was great to see them again, and especially nice to meet the new niece. She's a doll!! Safe travels, Little Brother! We'll see you again soon...

The next trail we took was called Riverside Walk. It's not nearly as steep as Weeping Rock, but it's longer. In the summer (or when there's no snowpack on the trail), it would have been a breeze and even mom could have come. As is was, the snow did cause havoc for us - but once again, the view was worth the trouble.

The trail does go beside a river, and we got to see more weeping rocks along the way. A steep part covered in chunks of icefall over top the granulated snow-pack triggered my phobia - maybe vertigo? It's not a fear of heights. It's an icy certainty that when I'm close to an edge I'm going to lose my balance and fall. It's worse when there's loose rock (or ice), since those could give way at any moment, with any footstep, and I can see in my mind myself and those I'm clinging to for dear life going over the edge and our ragged, broken bodies on the ground below. I have to admit I cried like a baby. But I made it past the spot with help (I might still be stuck there today if I were left on my own), and the view was definitely worth the trauma. I don't know if this phobia is something I can get over by doing more hiking and becoming more confident in my abilities, or if I just have to acknowledge that I'm going to be affected and make sure there's someone around I trust to help me through the bad parts. I suppose I'll just have to keep on, and at some point look back to see if it's changed.

After that hike, it was close to 3pm and we'd been told that sunset would happen at 3:45pm, so we headed out to a spot that was great for viewing the colors. While waiting for the bus... I mean sunset... we formulated a plan for future family get-togethers. It's going to be exciting and fun - new places, new adventures! Sunset was much later than we'd been told, so we sat in the car for a while to warm up. Then we collected Greg and headed into town for some sustenance.

Dinner in Springdale - this time we went to Oscar's. Dave had the Murder Burger with sweet potato fries - which sounded pretty tasty. All the food was mighty fine, and we splurged on dessert - homemade carrot cake and brownies... YUM! The evening was very pleasant after dinner, and even in the dark the scenery is magnificent. My poor camera does it little justice, but one shot turned out okay.

On tap for tomorrow: Mom & Dave head home - want to see some pics before they go; Greg's got more hiking to do; Sara & I are going shopping - yay!

Zion - The Beginning (01/02)

Today was the day to check out of the hotel, run a few errands, get some lunch, and hit the road south to Zion. Everything went fairly smoothly - although I would have liked an hour or two more in bed, but the free breakfast (and coffee) helped make up for lack of sleep. One of the stops before leaving was to Lehi Roller Mills. A couple years ago, I picked up some gourmet mixes - two muffin mixes (raspberry & blueberry) and a pancake mix (cinnamon). They were *heavenly*! I wanted MORE - and this was the perfect time to get some. At the mill, I found another vending machine for my collection. This one may look like a regular soda machine, but how many soda machines do you know of that are outside in the snow?? This is the first I've seen... and so it fits. (Chad, I'm still looking for the iPod vending machine in the airports...)

From there, we headed out to meet the rest of the troups for lunch before leaving. En route, I found a mystical sight: Orem has standing stones. Like Stonehenge in England. Now, I doubt these have faeries or magical properties, but they're pretty cool lawn ornaments. It's part of the decor for a physical rehabilitation center - the building itself was pretty cool too, but the stones are what got my attention.

We had a great lunch at Fud Ruckers. (If you haven't seen the movie Idiocracy, you should check it out - funny and kind of scary too, but don't let the kids watch. Fud Ruckers is briefly in the movie.) Once we finished dining, we hit the road...

The entire trip is about 300 miles (270 miles according to Google Maps). A fair distance, but once we hit the interstate, the speed limit was 75 & 80 practically the whole way. We stopped in Kolob Canyon breifly as the sun was setting to get some pictures. It's gorgeous there!

When we hit Springdale (a great little town just outside the park), we stopped at a gas station to do the necessaries, but also to ask about places for dinner. The helpful attendant listed a few places, and we decided on The Benten Spur... which Greg corrected me was actually The Bitten Spur... I think I need my ears cleaned out, since the sign clearly shows it's The Bit & Spur. At least I had the Spur part right. =) (I had a similar experience New Year's Eve: Sheri asked me a question, but I wasn't sure what she said so I repeated it back to her... Winter s**t cell phone? Made no sense to me at all... until she repeated it: When are you shipping stuff home? My, that wax buildup can hamper communication!!) Anyhow! Dinner was *fabulous* and gave us just enough energy to get checked in and settled into the hotel before we crashed for the night.

On tap for tomorrow: Greg's early rise; hiking; some of the party departs; watching for sunset.

New Year's Day

New Year's Day was a laid-back, relaxed, spend-time-with-the-family day. It was one of the few days we actually slept in a little bit. And since the next day we were checking out and heading down to Zion National Park, we took a little tour of the town (Lehi). It's a quaint little place - home of the Lehi Roller Mills (which make *awesome* muffin mixes, hosted the dance in Foot Loose, and contains a geocache).

From there, we decided to get lunch so we stopped at Marley's House of Harley. There's not much variety on the menu - you're pretty much stuck with lots of variations of mini-burgers - but they're good and the atmosphere is fun. You can look right into the workshop and store for Harley - but no one was there this day. For one of his burgers, Greg tried a fried hot dog - it sounds crazy, but it was really tasty!

At the house, it was so laid back that Greg & Sara took a snoozer on the couch before we sat down to play another round of Killer Bunnies. We had lots of fun decimating the bunny circle with black holes, the ebola virus, and a miriad of other weapons. BTW: You can't win (even if you have a carrot) if you don't have a bunny in play when the last carrot leaves the market - your carrots are given away to someone who does have a bunny. I didn't win - but I had a lot of fun playing!

The whole evening was good. Amy & Mom made lemon pies - then Dave made meringue for the first time ever... I think it turned out pretty good for his first time - seeing as he didn't even bother to look up a recipe or anything. =)

On tap for tomorrow: We're checking out of the hotel and heading down to Zion National Park.

Off the Grid

When we went down to Zion National Park (Friday, January 2nd), we left the grid. No cell phones, no internet. It's interesting (and a little alarming) how I missed those little conveniences. It also put me behind on my posting. Now I'm home again and have several days worth of posts to complete. Fortunately, I took a couple extra days off so I could recuperate - catch up on sleep, do laundry, put away the Christmas decorations, and... blog.

New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve was a BLAST! We started out by heading to mom's house. Sara & mom were going to a movie, and Greg was going to help Aaron with some car stuff. I got some more time in on my new toy (the DS) while they were getting dirty in the garage. Yay!

The car now has a new alternator and some belt thing - which is great for Aaron. Unfortunately, the repairs took longer than anticipated, so Greg missed out on lunch with my friends Brian & Julie. I've known Brian since high school - probably close to 20 years now... (and that dates me for sure - but man, it's *crazy* to think that we've known each other so long.) It was a lovely lunch and we spent hours catching up. The last time we had a chance to visit was almost 8 years ago - the girls have grown lots in that time, and they're so cute! And there's a new baby that I got to meet... We've decided that next time I'm down, we're going to plan an Event - a trip to the zoo, some caching... something where we get to spend more time together.

After lunch, Brian & Julie took me to the grocery store so I could pick up buttons for Salt Lake City's First Night. For $10 (could've been less if we'd gotten the tix earlier), we got to ride Trax into downtown SLC and go to all kinds of free, family-oriented events. There were several different venues, each with lots of activities. We got off Trax at the Gallivan Center, and ended up just staying there. Didn't even get a chance to explore the festivities at Temple Square, the Gateway, or the Leonardo. Which isn't to say we didn't have fun!

We saw fire dancers and the Incendiary Circus; had hot chocolate, fresh mini-donuts, and chili-cheese fries (not at the same time); put a New Year's Resolution in the beehive (I heard they're going to transport the structure with all the resolutions and burn it like a bonfire); watched a hypnotist play with volunteers from the crowd; and watched an artist paint as the band played while we waited for the final countdown. The fireworks were grand! It's been a long time since I've seen a display that elaborate in person. For the whole event, we only spent money on the food (and the buttons to get us in). Super cool!

The ride home was crowded... Waiting for Trax we were packed so closely together that it actually helped stave off some of the winter chill. Then, when we climbed aboard, I was standing in the stairwell holding on to Greg & Sheri, just hoping that we wouldn't have sudden moves and I'd go careening into the people around me. It took a while, as there were several stops between downtown SLC and Sandy, where we left the car. We got back to the hotel after 2:30am - a *long* day, but filled with lots of fun and adventure.

Welcome, welcome to the year to come! May it be better for us all than the one we just finished... =)

Family Fun - Eve of New Year's Eve

We started the day with breakfast a Mimi's Cafe. We don't have one back home, but we've already been to this one. Last time we were down, we ate here with Grandma, Dad & Aunt Anna - ah, fond memories. =)

From there, we headed to the house to connect with whomever was available. It was a pleasant day - I played on the computer and with my new Nintendo DS while Greg went shopping, then picked up Jeannea to do some geocaching. They went to the car wash to get the $100 Supreme wash for a dollar from the gas station down the road - which ended up being free because it wouldn't take coins or dollar bills.

For the evening entertainment, we pulled out mom's new game: Killer Bunnies. It's got lots of rules, but seems like it can be loads of fun. I didn't have any carrots, but I did have three bunnies - and one of my bunnies was lucky... We didn't finish because we went to the 10pm showing of The Spirit - so we'll be playing another round on New Year's Day.

On tap for tomorrow: car fixing with Aaron; lunch with Brian & Julie; First Night in downtown Salt Lake City. It's going to be a busy one!! =)

Family Fun - Day Three

We split the group today. Greg & Jeannea got up early to go to Antelope Island. We had people at work, school, shopping, and visiting friends. Sara & I went shopping for the chili & cornbread makings. While we were at the local grocery store, I saw yet another new (to me) vending machine - for movie rentals. (Chad tells me there's one in some airports that sells iPods... I'm going to have to look for that one!)

We spent lots of the day cooking. First getting the chili ready and into crock pots, then baking the cookies that Jeannea had already mixed up. Two kinds of ginger/molasses cookies for testing - there was supposed to be three kinds, but we ran out of time. Dave helped with the cookies, rolling the dough balls in sugar and swapping the trays. Sara helped with the chili and cornbread. We pulled the bread out of the oven just 15 minutes before we needed to head out to Auntie Dianne's house for the party.

The rest of the evening was a blast! All my cousins except two (and their families) were in attendance, with spouses and babies in tow. I think the group of cousins (not counting spouses, kids, or parents) is about 22 people - so if you add in the rest... I think we're looking at 60-80 people. It was great to see everyone - it's been quite a while since I've been able to attend one of the big Family Gatherings. I do miss visiting and catching up. I wish we had more time this trip (I wish this every trip), as I'd arrange some one-on-one time with people to do more than "party chat". I absolutely *love* seeing everyone and getting the hugs - seeing how we've changed and yet are the same. I just wish I had more time. Maybe on the next visit.

We had loads of great food and spent time chatting and catching up. Then it was on to the important stuff - the talent show & gift exchange. One of the cousins-in-law recited The Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert Service; Aunt Bonnie did her family rendition of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas (a tradition I haven't been around to hear for *years*); and the Killpack brothers put on animal puppets and got the kids to dance around. It's interesting to see that so many of the little kids respond to the same music - it means there's enough interaction between the families that activities, music, and learning items are shared. Like a great, big family! =)

Greg got a tub of cookie cutters and I scored a great travel game (that we're going to use on the trip down to Zion this coming weekend). I was hoping that we'd sing some Christmas carols - the whole reason I started the tradition in AK was because I miss singing with the cousins. We have lots of fun when we do it at home, but it's all about enthusiasm as there's no time to get together and practice or do any "serious" prepping. We did try to get a couple songs in, but it was amidst the chaos of people starting to leave and calling for a group photo since this is the most of us that's been in one place in almost 10 years. So I heard the ghost of memories past, and made lots of new, wonderful memories - it'll have to be enough for now...

On tap for tomorrow: Shopping and hanging out. Skiing was cancelled, as Greg & Sara both opted not to go (and now Sara has a cold).

Family Fun - Day Two

Today is the day that the whole family - absolutely everyone - will be together. We've got fun things on tap, but the best will be spending time with everyone. If you get up early (like Greg) to go for a run because you're training for a marathon, you catch things like this:

I, however, slept in until the last possible moment - yay! (*Definitely* NOT going to be running a marathon - that's me...) Sheri, Sara, Jeannea, Greg & I met for breakfast at IHOP. Even though we have one back home, this one has sentimental ties - we had breakfast here with Grandma, Dad, & Aunt Anna a year and a half ago. The food wasn't special - even though they offered steak and shrimps (apparently not meaning short people) - but the company was good. Sheri & Sara took off too quickly to be part of the photo op. Oh well - there's always next time.

In preparation for the family eat-a-thon, we stopped at Costco. Turns out there's a cache in the parking lot. They didn't find it, but they found the one in the other parking lot Greg "accidentally" pulled into when he passed our destination. And on the way home, we were going to stop and get the car washed (it's filthy outside, and not all of that is from us), but the line was too long and the price too steep - I'll just say they better offer inside detailing too...

The rest of the day was spent playing, cooking, visiting, laughing, and enjoying each other's company. A very, very lovely day! We spent hours & hours playing Rock Band, with people rotating in & out or changing instruments when they got tired. I played bass guitar (on easy enough for morons with no rhythm - EEMNR) and did okay. Then I moved to the drums... Let's just say that there are 4 drums, you have to work both hands, and somehow incorporate the foot pedal. I opted to work the red & yellow drums with a partner to work the blue & green and the foot pedal. Apparently when you're used to doing the whole set on your own (and probably on a higher setting than EEMNR), it takes a bit of adjusting to use only one stick and do half the drum set. But my various partners & I increased in skill from 72% (not really my lowest) to 94%. From there, I moved into Backup Singer - which really just means I sat with Sheri and tried to sing along. She did GREAT - me, not so much. But it was fun and there was lots of laughing and hilarity.

I'm not 100% sure about everyone else, but I had a marvelous time. While we were cooking, we didn't want to have anyone left out, so we crammed as many people as we could in the kitchen and overflowed into the dining room. People were so close together doing so many different things, we had to call out to move outside our particular location. =) Then we had our gift exchange. Baby Amy made out like a *bandit*!! She's got lots of aunties and uncles that seem to think she's pretty spiffy... (myself included!) =)

On tap for tomorrow: cooking chili, cornbread, & cookies for the cousin's get-together; a trip to Antelope Island (in the middle of the Great Salt Lake) for Greg & Jeannea; getting Sara prepped for skiing with Greg tomorrow; more family fun - this time including the extendeds.