Miller Motorsports Park - September 11, 2010

Hooray for free tickets!  We got really, really good free tickets today.  They were for the "Suites" - which meant we had access to an area just above pit row - can you see the pit crew changing the tire!?

And our tickets included LUNCH! And sodas and water and some small snack food - like swedish fish and m&ms and mixed nuts. Yum.

Right when we arrived, they were prepping for a race.  We walked through and picked out "OUR CAR"for the race. It didn't win, but it wasn't last either.  And we could stand just above their pit and watch them change tires and drivers and refuel.

We wandered around the course a bit to watch them go round, and round, and round, and round... from many different perspectives.

There is a driving school at the MMSP - for racing or for defensive driving.  The school did free "skid car" rides.  The only catch was that you had to listen to the spiel while riding and their guy had to drive.  So we went for a ride.  They even let Hudson ride - but the spin outs were VERY mellow for his ride!  The small wheels are part of a hydraulic system that actually lifts the back end of the car.  So when the driver chooses, the car can make some SERIOUS donuts!

We had to leave in the middle of this car's race, but I cheered for it - the only pink car I saw all day!

We ended our day at a ward BBQ up in Big Cottonwood Canyon with burgers and salads and s'mores and chatting around the campfire.

Flight School - first helicopter flight - September 9, 2010

There was a mandatory Open House at the helicopter flight school, Upper Limit Aviation, on Saturday, August 21st.  They needed the students to do paperwork, get paired with their instructors, get their passwords for the online scheduler and other helicoptery stuff.  They also provided burgers and dogs for lunch and there were some chips, but lots of hummus and vegetable finger foods.  Trying to keep the pilots skinny!

Salt Lake Community College doesn't own the aircraft or employ the instructors, but they do keep the money.  All the money required for training goes onto James' SLCC OneCard and then as he flies, Upper Limit debits his account.  This makes the lenders happier because if Upper Limit were to go out of business suddenly (like some private flight schools have done), then the flight school won't disappear with all the money.  Another good thing, James will be getting his ratings AND working on his associates degree at SLCC.

Upper Limit Aviation is just down the street from Life Flight.  After I got off work today, I hopped on the bicycle and pedalled over to Upper Limit.  They let me hang out in the lounge with a window onto the tarmac and watch for James and Jason to land at the end of the first lesson. 

Here are the helicopters in the hangar - James was the only student flying at the time, so the rest of the tiny little choppers were hangared.  The two beginning training helicopters are the R22 and the R44.  The R22 is cheaper, smaller and lighter.  The R44 is a little more expensive, a little bigger and can carry a little more weight.  Lucky for us, James and his instructor are light-weights and James can train in the R22 and save us some money.  He'll have to transition into the R44 for his instrument training, but that's not for a couple more semesters.

This is on the ground just outside of the hangar door.  (Bottom right corner is tarmac asphalt, upper left corner is the hangar wall and hangar floor and the door track)

This is the very first helicopter James got to fly.  It is tiny!  That is the fuel truck behind it.

James and Jason - Jason is from Alaska too!  Kodiak and Anchorage.

According to James, "Hovering is hard." 

It seems a lot of flying in a helicopter is similar to flying in an airplane.  He's able to keep it level and fly in a straight line and make turns and do radio traffic.  But hovering is tricky.  You have to use your feet and each of your hands independent of each other to do different things.  One hand controls the forward and backward movement.  The other hand controls the elevation.  The feet control the spin of the helicopter (keeping it facing in one direction).  So far, when the instructor keeps control of one thing, James is able to do the other two just fine.  But if James has all three parts, then the hover gets a bit rowdy.

One instructor told him, "A helicopter is inherently unstable and wants to fall out of the sky."

James thinks, "GREAT, the helicopter is trying to kill me."

James has now flown with three different instructors (due to scheduling conflicts) and each of them are encouraging - James has good instincts and just needs to practice the new stuff.  Each time, it is getting easier and more automatic.

P.S. Happy Birthday Nick (Sept 8)!  Happy Birthday Carter (Sept 9)!

Labor Day in Bryce Canyon National Park - September 3-6, 2010

We adventured in Bryce Canyon National Park for Labor Day weekend.  Our plan was to spend Friday night in a campground, backpack down into the park and spend Sat night and Sun night, then drive back to NSL on Monday.  Kathleen flew in on Thursday evening and we worked on Friday.  Then hit the road! 

After our last Arches Nat'l Park adventure - where we had to camp inside town at a super-expensive campgound in the very last available campsite that didn't even have a picnic table, in a tent that didn't even have a floor - I reserved a campsite ahead of time.  We camped inside the park at the Sunset campground.  Such a relief to see our name on the sign!

James had reserved a small 3-man tent from backcountry's gear closet for our adventure and we set it up at midnight.  It turned out to be a small 2-man tent.  Kathleen set up her sleeping pad in the back of The Outlaw and we had to decide what to do for our planned backpacking nights.

There are no advance reservations for the backcountry campsites in the park, so we went to the Visitor Center in person to find out what sites were available, if any.  Almost all the backcountry sites were available, but none of them have any reliable water sources.  Even trickier, the free shuttle doesn't go all the way into the park so if we hiked out a different trail, then we'd have to hitch-hike (which is illegal according to the backcountry camping information guide) back to the car.

We decided to backpack only one night and camp at one of the big campgrounds on Sunday night.  We chose the Iron Springs campsite - which does have water, but it is pretty sluggish and tastes very metallic, so we just planned to pack as much water as we had containers for and hike back out first thing in the morning before it gets too hot. 

Our trailhead was at Rainbow Point - at the far end of the National Park - in fact, the road ends at the Rainbow Point parking lot.  It was fun to drive through the entire park and stop at a couple viewpoints along the way.  Natural Bridge:

Can you pick out James along the Rim Trail?  He's wearing blue.

We also saw antelope, deer, chipmunks and even a coyote!  Just hanging out in a meadow next to the road.  He stayed long enough for us to turn around, drive back, turn around again and take a handful of pictures.  Then he disappeared into the trees.

Every overlook point has the same WARNING sign:  Dangerous cliffs.  Watch your children.  Stay in your car during lightning storms. No pets or bicycles on trails.  Do not leave valuables in your car.

The hike down to the campsite is 3.9 miles and it is down!

This sign is for the Bristlecone Loop (a 1 mile loop with educational signs about Bristlecone pines and other vegetation), the Yovimpa Point Overlook (I think Yovimpa might be "Bristlecone Pine" in an Indian language) and the Under the Rim Trail.  We were heading down the Under the Rim Trail - it is 22 miles of trail along the bottom of the canyon - if you were to hike the whole thing.  Once we passed the sign, we didn't see many other hikers.

3.9 miles seemed like a long way, but it is beautiful!  We saw small horned lizards and startled one deer.

Success!  The Iron Springs campsite sign. Camp within 150 feet of the sign.  Campfires are not allowed. Protect your food from bears. No bathing in the non-existant water sources. There were a couple logs that were ok to sit on, but it certainly wasn't my favorite campsite.  No cooking rock and no campfire and no water.  Camping in the desert is very different from the usual Simpson Backpacking Adventure.

James packed the "bear bucket" that we borrowed from the Visitor's Center (so we wouldn't have to tie our food up in a tree).  It was probably most useful for protecting our oatmeal from the ants and horned lizards - do you think they like oatmeal?

This is the origin of Iron Springs and the inspiration for the name of our campsite.  The water just sort of oozed out of the hill under a tree - you can see some of the roots.  The ground around and downhill of it was very spongy and muddy - a few hoof prints, probably deer - and any tree trunks in the water are stained orange.  I tasted it.  It was cool and metallic-tangy.  Maybe tang could have masked the flavor?

James packed the little 2-man tent, but we decided just to throw the sleeping pads out on the ground and sleep in the open.  I got a few mosquito bites - mostly on my arms and shoulders from when I got hot and opened my sleeping bag up - but otherwise, I didn't miss the tent.

Here is one of the little horned lizards.  Most of the lizards would scoot away fast if you took a step toward them, this one actually let me catch him.  We saw one big one and the rest about this little one's size.

All packed up and ready to go!

James took this photo from the ridge top on our way back out.  Can you spot the light green patch of Aspen trees in the valley?  They surrounded our campsite and Iron Springs.

The ravens were huge!  And had the people very well trained!  This guy wouldn't take food out of your hand or hop to the ground for food.  But, if you put a pretzel onto the rock fence post where he was standing, then he would eat it. 

After we hiked out of Iron Springs and back to our car, we decided to choose our campsite for the night.  We spooked one deer on the edge of the campground and then this little lady stopped to check us out before bouncing after her friend.

Our Sunday night site had plenty of wildlife.  We tempted these guys with some trail mix - mostly sunflower seeds and peanuts.  We had 2 or 3 chipmunks and 4 or 5 Stellars Jays coming in for the feast.

We did some more hiking - I KNOW!  After we hiked 3.9 miles up uP UP out of the canyon, we did more hiking!  This little chipmunk was begging for treats.  And when James gave him some sunflower seeds, he seemed to say, "That's it!?!"

This is along the Queen's Garden trail.

Along the Navajo Loop - coming up the two bridges section.

Thor's Hammer:

Our Sunday night campsite in North Campground.

On Monday morning (Happy Labor Day!), we explored along the Rim Trail.  Just wandered out of our campsite and out along the rim of the canyon.  Beautiful morning! 

We packed back up and decided to go back to the Visitor Center and watch the video about Bryce Canyon geology and check out the museum.

We learned a lot about the types of plants and animals in the park, including the rare, endangered Utah Prarie Dog. And on our way out of the park, we spotted one crossing the road to it's den!  Pulled into the nearby parking lot and then I tromped out through the weeds to try to get his picture.

I felt a bit like paparazi, stalking a celebrity!

Stopped by the Bryce Canyon Airport and the Subway in Bryce Canyon City for lunch - not the most expensive Subway in the country, but close.

We only took one detour on the drive home.  We chose to drive the Mt Nebo scenic byway instead of the freeway.  The leaves weren't turning yet, but the views are still incredible.  Plus, the Boise St. v. Virginia Tech game was on the radio.  Go Broncos!

We really enjoyed exploring more of Bryce Canyon National Park.  Next on our National Park list: Canyonlands!