Wasatch Wildflower Festival

Warning: this post contains lots of boring flower pictures and their corresponding boring scientific Latin names.  

I took the day off Friday and took Miles and Ian to the Wasatch Wildflower Festival.  We drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon in the morning and parked at the base of Brighton Ski Resort.  The volunteers were all excited when we arrived because we were the first ones of the day.  We had our own private guide take us on a hike and show us all the wildflowers.  It was overcast and we had a few light rain showers, but it was a great respite from the desert valley heat.

In this picture the white flowers are Richardson's geranium (Geranium richardsonii), the black ones are western coneflower (Rudbeckia occidentalis), the red ones are Indian paintbrush (Castilleja spp), the purple ones are monkshood (Aconitum columbianum), the yellow ones are groundsel (Senecio spp) and the big white one is  false hellebore (Veratrum viride).

 This is native Utah bush is twinberry honeysuckle (Lonicera involucrata).

If you look closely at this flower it looks like a bunch of elephant heads on a stick, thus the common name of elephant heads (Pedicularis groenlandica).  It grows in wet marshes and along streams.

We saw lots of these plants last week in Millcreek Canyon, but they weren't in bloom and we couldn't figure out what they were.  Our guide told us these are false hellebore (Veratrum viride).

It was raining earlier in the morning and everything was wet.  All the volunteers had jackets and long pants and we felt a little unprepared in our shorts and t-shirts.  But we only got a few sprinkles and the day turned out really nice.  I liked this arrangement of monkshood or wolf's bane (Acontium columbianum) with paintbrush (Castilleja spp).  There are lots of varieties of paintbrush and they mingle between each other so I'm not sure which ones these are.  Painbrush are interesting because they are semi-parasitic and their colors may change depending upon the host plant.

I was excited to see a white version of Monkshood.  We had never seen one before.

We saw these beautiful pink Lewis monkey flowers (Mimulus lewisii) growing out of a rivulet. 

There is a lot of variety of buckwheat or sulphur flowers (Eriogonum spp.) growing up there.  

Ian and Miles were great hiking buddies.  Miles took most of the photos (at least the ones that turned out).

We enjoyed this patch of fireweed (Epilobium angustifolium) growing near the top of the trail.  After the big Yellowstone fires in 1988 fireweed was the first plant to appear and start to stabilize the soil. 

We saw this American pika scurrying back and forth between boulders, he was carrying little branches of leaves and grass onto a pile on a boulder.  

Pearly everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea) has nice little white flowers which last for a long time (thus the name).  This is a flower I've enjoyed growing in my own garden.

I was really excited to find this flower, Monardella odoratissima, which is also known as mountain coyote mint, mountain beebalm, and mountain pennyroyal.  When you touch the leaves, your fingers are left with a wonderful mint smell.

Here is a closeup of the blooms.

The sky mostly cleared up when we got up to Lake Mary.  It was so nice to be outdoors and the lake is just stunning.

 We took a break on a boulder and enjoyed the view.  We had trail mix for a snack and soon we were accosted by a scurry of cheeky chubby chipmunks.  They ran all over trying to get our food.  They were hilarious to watch.

 On our way back down we saw some yellow monkey flower (Mimulus guttatus).

This is the approximate site of the fateful ski accident of 2009.  I don't think I've been up here since then.

 There were a few patches of Rocky Mountain penstemons (Penstemon strictus) near the base of the mountain.

We were driving down the mountain when on a whim we decided to take Guardsman Pass over the mountain.  The road was very steep and very rough in places, but we were rewarded by some awesome views of the mountains and valleys below.  We were glad we took it.  It felt like we were on a mini vacation in a remote forest.  

We ended up in Midway and we went and saw the crater.  Miles and Ian's have great-great grandparents who immigrated to Midway from Switerland which makes them 1/8 Swiss.  They have a little grocery store there called "The Store" that has a built in deli and pizza place.  We ordered a delicious pesto mushroom and spinach pie.  It was an excellent finish to a very fun outing.

Strolling Cousins

Last Saturday afternoon we went to my niece Elizabeth's baptismal service.  She was so pretty in white.  It was really nice to visit with family.  After the service we drove to Buhl Idaho and stayed overnight with my brother James and his family.

Sunday morning they blessed their new baby, Maddison.  She is such a beautiful baby.  Sunday afternoon we had lunch with Brooke and James and Brooke's family in Hagerman.  It was a really nice afternoon and it was so nice to spend it with family.  I didn't do too well taking pictures, but Nigel was really cute playing with his cousin Jaydaka and I did get a short video clip.  Here they are strolling around the driveway.

Welcome to the Badlands

We were looking through old photos and we found this video of Saffron.  This was from our trip last year when we stopped at Badlands National Park in South Dakota.

Here's a transcript:

Welcome to the Badlands.  It's very rocky and some plants live here and my Dad and Mom think it's called the Badlands because cows will just fall off and fall off of tables.  And we like to have a clear view of part of the Badlands.  You saw your view, don't you.  We can walk around a see a viewing and we can go around and walk on the Badlands.  But it says be careful and watch out for rattlesnakes.  Now this is the end, goodbye!

I'm pretty bad at filming, but I think Saffy has a future in television journalism, don't you?

Hair Jealousy

Lisette and Miles just got back from their Super Summer trip to Flaming Gorge.  Even though it was more peaceful around the house without them, I missed them. Here is Lisette in front of some roses.  Isn't her hair cute?  Melinda, Lisette and Saffron now have pink stripes in their hair.  Our friend with breast cancer had a pink hair party because she didn't want anyone to shave their head for her.

Miles doesn't plan on getting his hair cut until after The Hobbit comes out in December because he wants to be an elf.  Does anyone have a spare set of prosthetic pointy ears?

Here Miles is teaching Nigel how to mop.  Either he's trying to teach him life skills or he's pulling a Tom Sawyer and trying to get him to do his jobs for him.  

Ian is in the eleven year old scouts right now and he and I are going on some camping trips this summer. Ian's excuse for not cutting his hair is that he is a Nazarite -  and we all know what happened to Samson when he cut his hair. (Also, like a good Nazarite, Ian won't touch dead animals either).  

Here is Saffron with the first vegetables from the garden.  She doesn't want to cut her hair either.

Nigel's hair was getting just a little crazy, so yesterday he got it cut.

Can this be the same little boy?

Nigel and I are the only ones committed to having short and naturally colored hair.  

Why haven't I posted the pink stripe hair pictures yet?  It's too late and it's too much work.  Maybe later.  Stay tuned.