Coyote Gulch

I spent four days last week hiking with some of my siblings in the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument.  Tuesday morning we hiked into Coyote Gulch.  We were graced with cloud cover which made the hike so much more enjoyable.

I'm wearing my backpack which hasn't seen any action since the early 90's.

Ruth, Joy and James are modeling the latest fashions in backcountry wear.

Clair, our intrepid guide, leads the way.

After about three miles marching through sand and then over slick rock, we reach our destination.  Yes, we were up very high.

You want me to hike down where?

Seriously, are you nuts?!  Go down there?!  Do you want me to die?! Where's the elevator?

This is a view of what we climbed down.  Yes it was completely insane.  At the end James climbed back up and retrieved my pack for the final descent and I used a rope on the way down. Thanks again, James.  Aren't little brothers great?  It reminds me of how "I didn't apologize for when I was eight and I made my younger brother have to be my personal slave."

 We had a really sweet camping spot, right underneath Jacob Hamblin's Arch.  There was also a natural spring with cool clean water just a 100 feet away.

This is the other side of the arch.

This is one of the natural amphitheaters that was carved out by the river.

Notice the people the bottom?  The sandstone walls were massive.  It reminded me of walking between the skyscrapers in Chicago, shaded almost all day.

It was breathtakingly beautiful down there.  This is a popular destination, but we went at an unpopular time and were rewarded with complete solitude.

Pickle pie

My parents are in town visiting from Alaska. Although Alaska has it's nature adventures, I think Dad has really missed the southern Utah desert. As soon as he arrived Joy and Dad went down to enjoy the beautiful sites on the Colorado plateau. In one weekend they went to Arches National Park, Goblin Valley, and Capitol Reef National Park; quite the whirlwind trip.

For years Dad has told us about this cool restaurant in Bicknell (near Capitol Reef) that has unusual pies. This time they brought some pies from the Sunglow Motel and Cafe home to share with us. They were as delicious as they were unique.

My favorite was the buttermilk pie, which had a nice clean lemon taste, however the pinto bean pie was a close second. Lisette's favorite was the pickle pie, and everyone liked the oatmeal pie.

These were first class pies; the crust was just right and the fillings were excellent. Thanks for sharing, Dad!

Baby it's cold outside

It has been so cold this week. My office at work is cold, my bedroom is cold; it seems I just can't get away from the cold. This is about the time last year when we went to Disneyland and enjoyed the warm weather of southern California. Too bad we can't go this year.

We've been having high drama at work. My employee has been in a relationship with someone in another department at work and it has gone sour. Unfortunately they haven't been very mature about it and their problems have been bleeding into work life way too much.

We've been planning to take a "vacation at home" to get away from the stress of work life, but I think we may have to modify those plans. Maybe we can break it up by taking some time off and having a couple of long weekends at least.

James was visiting today from BYU Idaho. He has to get a couple of crowns on his teeth on Monday. Clair, Carrie, Bobby, and Joy came to visit. We made fish tacos and then played Bananagrams and Settlers of Catan afterwards.

We originally had planned to go night skiing, but it was just way too cold. Here's hoping that next week is warmer than this one.

Off to China for James

Friday night I had some of my siblings over at my place. We were having a little get-together for my brother James. He's the baby of the family. He's actually 14 years younger than I am, but only 13 years older than my oldest daughter. We're always glad to have him visit; he's great with the kids and really pleasant to be around. He's been going to school in Anchorage so we don't get to see him too often. He's taking a little break from school right now to teach English in China. It should be a really good experience for him. He'll get to visit Hong Kong for a few days before he gets to the mainland. He'll have room and board at the school and they will teach him a little Mandarin. He plans on having time to visit the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, and the Terracotta Warriors. It should be very educational and a good experience for him.

It was fun to have my siblings over. I haven't seen Joy for a little while. Her hair has grown out longer and it looks good on her. Also, she brought over her new dog, Olive. She is an adorable young bulldog. She was so much fun to play with, and Ian loved walking around the yard with her. I think it made Melinda kind of nervous though. She wanted me to take a shower to wash off all of the "dog germs" after Olive kissed me. Just imagine Lucy from "A Charlie Brown Christmas" right after Snoopy kissed her, and that would be Melinda. But Olive was just so cute and so fun! She has this loose skin that's so fun to rub, and she is just so solidly built that she's fun to squeeze!

Connie made it over after her Harry Potter book group at Barnes and Noble. She's been really busy at getting book events going over there, and she does a really good job at it.

Clair came over earlier with little Makenna. It seems like school has been keeping him very busy. But you can tell he loves his little baby. He makes a great dad.

Carrie shared tragic pet stories with us. I didn't realize that when little Peaches (the dog) died that James didn't know about until a week later when he asked mom, "Where is Peaches? I have been looking for him all week and I can't find him."

Michel was over with most of her kids. She is starting to teach school this fall so she has been busy getting her classroom ready. The cousins had fun playing together and James enjoyed seeing his nieces and nephews before he had to go.

On Saturday I took James out to do a few errands and then Carrie picked him up in the afternoon so they could hang out and then she was going to drop him off in the airport.

Saturday I also swept up dog hair off the kitchen floor. Still, it would be fun to have a dog to play around with. Melinda is going to be really nervous when she reads this.