Thanksgiving 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!!

We've had a good day at our house and everyone helped with dinner.

This was our Assignment Summary (created by Aaron):

Sarah: Turkey, cranberry sauce.

Aaron: Peach pie, mashed potatoes, stuffing.

Mom: Rolls, yams with marshmallows, green bean casserole.

Dad: Veggie dip with veggies, homemade Root-beer, homemade Ice-cream (pumpkin flavored).

Sarah folded fancy napkins:

Aaron liked the dry ice vapors from the root beer:

We had a fire going, but it didn't last long enough. Our log was too big! We should have chopped it up more. Oh well, it was nice for awhile and we learned something:

Our table was full of food. We'll be eating turkey for awhile. Not shown is Sarah's awesome cranberry sauce (made from fresh cranberries), or the pie and ice-cream:

After the big clean-up we gathered in the dinning room for a couple hours of games:

When we'd had enough of that we adjourned to the basement for two episodes of Dr. Who (modern version). That is one weird show (I liked it).

We'll all be up for awhile yet and we have a long weekend to look forward too.

It's good to have some time together as family and to reflect on everything we can be grateful for.

Upper Bell Canyon Falls

Today Joe and I were on a trail for about 8 hours. The Bell Canyon trail starts near the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon (very near to our home).

It's a short climb to the Bell Canyon Reservoir, which we skirted around:

The trail started out easy, but it became progressively more challenging. It was steep, narrow and rocky. It cut through shrubs and pine trees.

At one point we came upon a tree laying across the trail. I took off my backpack and went under it. Joe bushwhacked around it.

A large portion of the trail looked like this:

Looking down at the South end of the valley:

This mountain was on the north side of our trail. We had various views of it for most of the climb:

We're not to far from our destination here:

We've been at higher elevations, but we really worked hard for this one:

Pretty valley:

Another look at that mountain:

We were way up in the mountains where we got to go down into this neat little gorge. Someone had built a bridge across the stream bed:

We didn't go beyond the bridge because we had made it to the Falls and that was all we were interested in reaching today.

We sat on rocks and had a snack while watching the water fall. The loud sound of falling water is so neat. There were a lot of pine trees. There was some other type of tree too. We were walking on deep beds of yellow leaves that were all through here. It was a very pretty spot.

At last we had to make the descent. Here's Joe up ahead of me on an easier section of trail. On other parts of the trail I was concentrating on my footing:

We found this nice little place to rest on the way down. It's just a short distance above Bell Reservoir. We saw a sign mentioning that Boreal Frogs live around this area:

After a long but good day of hiking we drove to Draper for the In N' Out Burger place. Yes, it was very much out of our way, but they do have great food. We brought some home to my daughter too. Both she and I had hamburgers, fries and chocolate milk shakes. Joe had almost the same, except with a diet drink. So, that was our day. I think it's going to snow on Monday.?

Temple Quarry Park

If I ever turn up missing, check here first. I often go up to Temple Quarry Park because it's a pretty short drive from the house. It gets me right into the canyon.

Today Mom and Dad fed me lunch again (love it), but I really needed a walk afterwards.

Sometimes we park here and proceed to walk for miles. Other times it's just a nice place to take a short stroll. Occasionally I pick up river rocks and drift wood here.

See the holes in this rock. This is how the rock was prepared for blasting (late 1800's?) There's even an old spike stuck in one of the holes:

I can pull out of my driveway and be sitting next to this river in about 15 minutes:

Spring flooding has altered several sections of this river. Higher up, my favorite bridge was washed out. In some places the water doesn't have a very wide path right now. I hope it all gets fixed soon.

Big square chunks of granite that were left here:

So, mom and dad have city creek canyon for walking and I've got this.

I think I'm a forest dweller at heart. Anyone want to donate a cabin?

Halloween

On Saturday my son came home from Provo for a visit. He and his younger sister spent the afternoon making Halloween costumes.

I personally don't know who these characters are, but they claim that a lot of people their age will understand.

My son is a Legends Of The Hidden Temple contestant.

My daughter is a Survivor Of The Zombie Apocalypse (relates to a video game).

The costume seems a bit creepy to me, but she really is a sweet girl:

Halloween is a weird holiday. These two are prepared for a party this weekend down in Provo.

All I like about Halloween is the small children coming to my door.

Columbus Day Picnic

Today is Columbus day and Joe had the day off from work. I packed a picnic and we went up to Redman Campground in Big Cottonwood Canyon. It's closed to campers which just means we had our pick of tables and lots of quiet mountain road to walk on.

Can you see the two deer peeking out at us from the trees? Enlarge the picture to see them better. There were actually three deer, but one ran away.

While exploring the area we found this Yurt. It's part of the Solitude ski resort. We looked in the window and saw tables, chairs, shelves full of dishes and a huge 1800's style, metal cook stove (wood burning). Joe said that you can make reservations for dinners here (neat):

While in the campground we found a few excellent pieces of firewood which we brought home. There was a huge amount of it laying on the ground, so I doubt it will be missed.

Sunset Peak

It's October and we are running out of hiking days, so Joe and I went up the Catherine Pass trail to Sunset Peak. The trail begins in the Albion Basin area.

This is Sunset Peak. It was 10,655 feet high at the summit. It looked like the trail was going around the face of the mountain, but the real trail goes over a saddle and around the back:

Looking down into Catherine Lake from the trail. We went to this lake last week, but we got to it from Brighton.

Joe on the trail to the Peak:

We are on the summit here. It was 25 degrees and the wind gusts were strong. I found it hard to stand up straight. The top of the hill was small and dropped off on every side. I was seriously scared and just wanted to get off of there. Joe took my camera from me and got a picture of the moment.

We made it all the way to the top; now get me off of here!:

The view of the lake from the summit:

Looking down on mountain tops:

There were a couple of spots in the trail that I really hated. For example, I was hanging onto Joe as we went down this narrow and slippery place:

At last we are down where it is very safe. It was still cold at this point and we did this hike without our gloves. I put my hands into my pockets a lot.

Joe thought I looked like Darth Vader in my hood so I took it down for another photo. I took all of the scenery pictures and Joe snapped the ones of me:

Driving out of the canyon we enjoyed the color of changing leaves on the Aspen trees:

We made it home safely and were a little amazed at how pleasant and warm it is in the valley.

On Monday Joe is off work so we will do another mountain walk, but it will be less adventurous than todays trail.

Fall Hike

It's already October 2nd which means our hiking season will be wrapping up soon. Joe and I went on a hike that started at Brighton, in Big Cottonwood Canyon. We climbed to three different lakes.

Lake Mary was a real surprise. Most of it had been drained! It was a really strange sight.

Remember to click on the pictures to make them bigger.

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Lake Martha was the next lake:

There were lots of yellow leaves near Lake Catherine:

We sat on some rocks near Lake Catherine for about a half hour while we rested and ate apples, carrots, granola bars and beef jerky:

Scenery going back down the trail:

I collected some big pine cones at this spot. When I got home I put them into a glass punch bowl. They'll be part of our Holiday decor this year:

Going down the trail:

We think that very soon we will go up Catherine Pass from Albion basin to Sunset Peak. That sounds like a good view spot. My goodness, before we know it we will be snow shoeing again.