Lagoon

Joe got free passes to Lagoon amusement park through his work. We also had a free hamburger/hot dog dinner out in a pavillion.
First we ate and then we explored the pioneer village. The thought of getting on rides after eating wasn't to appealing so we took our time.


I went on this flying swing ride with my son and daughter. It's fairly gentle and I have always thought it was tolerable.


Right after the swing ride we made a bee line for the most intense roller coaster in the park. It's called Wicked and it's well named. It takes you straight up and straight down and if that's not enough, it does a looping action that turns you upside down. At the end of this post are brief videos of it
That was enough for me though and I didn't do any more riding after that.
Joe, Aaron and Sarah then went on another roller coaster called the Fire Dragon. That involved more spinning and hanging upside down.
Aaron and Sarah then went on the Cliff Hanger. The ride only performed some of what it normally does. They were disappointed that it never hung them upside down over the big water spouts like it's supposed to. Still, it seemed interesting enough without that.
Their dad went with them on the bumper cars, but dropped out with me when our two adventurous children got on the Samuri. That was so intense to watch. I can't imagine being on that thing.




Here are Aaron and Sarah waiting in line for the Samuri. It was the last ride of the evening.
We were in the park from about 6:00 p.m -10:00p.m. That's when it closed.

Smith and Moorehouse Reservoir

I always wondered what I might be doing when my children were grown and I was semi-old. It turns out that one of the things I do in the summer now is sit in a lawn chair and fish.
Today's little adventure was at the Smith and Moorehouse Reservoir. It's about an hour and a half drive from Salt Lake County. It's out past a little town called Oakly.
We first tried fishing on the north end and nearly got blown off the map. We picked up, got in the car, and drove further down.
We found a protected cove closer to the South end, and on the west side of the reservoir. The people next to us caught six big fish. We didn't catch a thing. We clearly have more to learn about fishing.





Joe caught one small fish but that was enough to get him pretty excited since this was the first fish he's ever caught in his life. Years ago he went fishing with our son and his boy-scout troop.
I always thought that he had caught fish then but it turns out that his son had caught those fish, although Joe had helped.
When it was time for us to leave, it was hard to get him to stop fishing so we could go.




This is looking South:




This is looking straight across from where we spent the day:




This is looking north:

When we got home I cleaned the fish since I had already done that recently. The first time I cleaned a fish it was a little gross. I've quickly progressed to where I don't feel freaked out about it and it's easy.
Stay tuned for more summer adventures. We have quite a backyard!

By the river

The nice thing about living a few minutes away from a canyon is that no matter how boring or stressful the day is, there is a place to go and unwind.
It takes 10-15 minutes of driving to get to one of my favorite starting points along the trail. Then about a 20 -30 minute hike up the trail brings us to a nice spot along the river. This is a secluded location, jut a few yards off of the trail. There's a big flat rock to sit on here.

This is looking East as the river rolls towards us:


The water was tumbling over the rocks directly below where we were sitting:


It made a deep pool here, before it went over another fall:


The trail we like goes along this river. Sometimes I can't believe we live so close to this. As a kid we would drive for hours to get out of the city limits of L.A. to see mountains and rivers.
Even though I haven't learned to appreciate the mountains during the winter, I hope that I never take them for granted. Maybe I should take up cross country skiing.
Downhill skiing seems a little hard, although my dad and brothers can make it look easy (I'm sure it's not).


My advice to the world is; get away from work, T.V, computers, phones, cars etc... etc.. once in awhile. You might live longer.