Mirror Lake Scenic Byway - July 17, 2010

We love exploring.  Last year, we took a wander along the Mirror Lake Scenic Byway and the North Slope Scenic Backway for a weekend trip (July 31-Aug 2, 2009).  James would really like to repeat that loop sometime, but this weekend we decided to just drive the Mirror Lake Highway and then finish our loop by driving down a little road - looked like it could be a dirt road according to the Utah Atlas - through the towns of Upton and Coleville.

Sometime this winter/spring there must have been an incredible storm.  We saw lots of trees that had broken (if they were alreay dead) or uprooted and were lying on the ground.  In the campgrounds and scenic overlook areas, there was a lot of clean-up going on to remove the trees.

Last year, we had a long way to drive, so we didn't stop along the Mirror Lake Byway very often - just took in the view from the car.  Today, we stopped as often as we wanted and checked out the sights.  Little Blue at the Provo River Scenic Overlook.

This is a 6-mile-long tunnel that the BLM built in the late 1940s to bring water from the Duschene River into the Provo River. 6-miles!

Slate Gorge.

Wild flowers.

Provo Falls - these are great.  There are multiple levels of waterfalls and people eating lunch or wading in the water (unless it is deep and fast like today) and it is really a pretty place to stop and stretch the legs.

We also stopped at a pull-out for the Crystal Lake trailhead - there are tons of lakes along this stretch of road and we wanted to go on a quick hike.  We decided not to hike up to Crystal Lake, but to wander around the edge of Lake Washington instead.  We figured it would take about an hour to walk all the way around. 

After about 5 minutes, we were speed walking through the trees and trying not to get eaten alive by the mosquitos.  Kind of like a dance:  Brush your hand along your left leg.  Brush your right arm.  Swish around your head.  Brush your right leg.  Brush your left arm.  Swish around your head.  Repeat.

After another 10 minutes of dance-hiking along the shoreline we turned around and went back to the car.  Neither of us had thought to pack bug-spray for a Saturday drive.  We got to hike for a total of 30 minutes and I think I've got a mosquito bite per minute.  I didn't stop long enough to take any pictures - there were man-eating mosquitos out there!

In May, the news reported that Utah has new "Welcome to Utah" signs.  The state installed 35 new signs, using seven different designs that would basically advertise for nearby attractions.

1. The Wasatch Mountains

2. Golden Spike National Monument

3. A Skier

4. A Dinosaur

5. Delicate Arch

6. Lake Powell

7. Zion National Park

Our drive took us into Wyoming for a very short stretch and we turned around at the border to see which Utah sign it might be.  It was the skier!

There was no sign along the dirt road we took to get back into Utah, but it was a fun drive.  The dirt stretch was pretty short and we had a nice paved road back home again.  We ate lunch before we left and I packed some summer sausage, cheese and apple slices (forgot the crackers) for snacks.  We ate those up and by the time we got home we were SO ready for dinner. 

Note to self: Always pack hiking shoes, bug spray, sunscreen, camera, extra water and lots of snacks!

Simpson Family Reunion - July 9-12, 2010

We took the LOOOOONG way to the family reunion this year.  We invited Brian and Tiffany to come with us - so we had a detour into Rexburg.  Brian didn't get out of class until 3 p.m. on Friday afternoon, so James and I went to the Idaho Falls Temple for a session on our way.

Friday July 9, 2010 - Idaho Falls Temple

We finally got to the campground at about 3 a.m.  Ugh that was late.  Amazingly, nobody slept in the car.  We had borrowed a 4-man tent from backcountry's gear closet, so we set it up in the dark for the first time.  It had one crooked pole, but otherwise set up without difficulty.  While we prepped our campsite, we heard coyotes off in the distance.  And then for the next hour-or-so we hear cows complaining about the coyotes.

I told James earlier that no one was going to wake up and come outside to say hello, that early in the morning.  I was wrong.  Kristen had gotten up to reset a braker and came over to say hello to me.  James was somewhere and I was rummaging in the car.  So Kristen walked up to Brian and Tiffany and they all stared at each other in the dark until I saw Kristen and came out for a hug.  Too funny!

Considering the time we finally got to sleep, I am so proud of myself for getting up at 8:30 am for french toast breakfast and visiting with the family.  (The rest of my tent slept through breakfast!)

Happy Birthday! 32! Open presents with McKayla. She turns 8 in 9 days.

Aspen helped Oma open her present. Oma's birthday was on July 6th.

Carlee brought the most enormous marshmellows for s'mores.  I think they are about 5x larger than any other marshmellow I've ever seen.  So James made s'mores for breakfast.  Two full-size graham crackers, one full-size chocolate bar and one enormous marshmellow.  And James said that he had too much marshmellow!
James and Brian declined to go rafting down the Payette River with us, so I put James in charge of the camera.  Here we are jumping off the bridge at the Cabarton put-in.  This was Tiffany and McKayla's first jump.  And McKayla's first rafting adventure.  I'm an experienced river rat.

Rafting down the Payette River.  Our boat had Opa, Kim, McKayla, Hannah, Tiffany and me.

McKayla "fell" in the river a few times.  Any time our boat got close enough to Jed's boat.  Anytime Jed's raft came close, Hannah would crawl to the far side of our raft - she's a really experienced river rat!  Tiff only fell in once, during a flat stretch when our raft bounced on a sneaky rock.  We had a good waterfight with Jed's boat.  I got "thumped" with an oar and Stella cried when Opa stole her from Jed's raft.  She didn't want to go in Opa's boat.  Otherwise, Stella is an awesome river rat!  So is McKayla!

James and Brian drove to the top of West Mountain while Tiffany and I rafted.  They met up with us just above the take-out and swam with us the rest of the way.

After rafting, we enjoyed dinner, some softball throwing and catching and fetching, Homer the Clown, a pinata, a shower, some campfire chatting and an early retirement to the tent.
Sunday July 11, 2010 - So sad to leave the family reunion so soon!  We drove up to McCall for a quick drive-around and watched one of the fire tanker airplanes take off and circle around for awhile.  Then back to Cascade to check out Kelly's Whitewater Park.  And finally, down to the Eagle Bike Park for a break from driving.

James

Brian on Clay's BMX bike

Tiffany on my dumpster bike

I even rode the bike a little bit around the pump park.  Until I fell over and James had to pick up the bike and dust all the dirt off.  Totally embarrassing.  Then Tiffany had to one-up me and crash on the big jumps.  Even had some great road-rash on her elbow and knee.  OUCH!

Got a couple good videos of the guys on the dirt jumps:

Video 1 - James

Video 2 - Brian

Video 3 - Brian and James

We got back into Rexburg at about midnight.  Brian has a 7:45 am class and Tiffany has an early start time for her work on Monday morning.  So James and I bunked in Tiffany's back livingroom and slept in way later than both of them! 

We took our time getting back to North Salt Lake and unloaded the car into the livingroom.  Where all the stuff will sit until we find the motivation to put it all away again.  Maybe next month.

And it was incredible fun to have a birthday card from GandG Price and a box of "Birthday Booty" from Alaska to open as soon as we got back.  Thanks for the birthday wishes and next year I'm skipping out on birthday thumps from the rafting paddle!

Happy Independance Day! - July 4, 2010

July 3rd was the celebration in North Salt Lake - since July 4th is a Sunday.  We went to our Ward Breakfast on Saturday morning - my friend Diana is the head of the Activities Committee, so she was working on set-up and her husband needed some muscles for help.  So we got woken up early to go help set up the breakfast.  James even helped flip pancakes.  I just played at the park with the small ones from my nursery class.  We skipped out on going anyplace to watch the fireworks and watched them from a distance instead.  It was a very mellow holiday.  Except that I stayed up late after the fireworks to make a blueberry apple crisp for the post-blessing luncheon on the 4th.

On Sunday, we had been invited to Logan to witness the blessing of my new little 'cousin'.  We still went to our ward (I had to give the lesson to the nursery class.  It was essentially about loving one another.  The main story was the Good Samaritan, but the coloring page was all about diversity). and then left as soon as possible afterwards.  So we were late to their chapel and missed the blessing, but we stayed for lunch and visiting anyway!

Tammy, Brett, and Kyrie Price - July 4, 2010 in Logan, UT- blessing day!

The Glen Price Family - Tammy Kyrie and Brett, Braeden Erin Jett JB and Kyan, Keri and Marcus, Ariana and Craig, Sydney Dallas Scott Jaxson Hunter and Sarah, Kelley and Chad, Nancy Glen and Maddox, Michelle and Alan.

The 007 posse - Friend, Friend, Jordan, James, Craig, Scott and Maddox, Alan, JB, Glen, Chad and Brett

On our way home, we decided to drive up by Bear Lake to look over the view.  It definitely wasn't on the direct way home, but it was a different way home.  We stopped in Randolph, UT to peek in the window of the Wilford Woodruff Home:

An antelope - he crossed the road right in front of us.  His two lady friends stayed on the side and crossed after we left.

We followed highway 39 past Monte Cristo campground and tons of 4-wheeler and snowmobile trails and ended up driving past Pineview Reservoir and Snow Basin before wandering our way back home. 

Happy Independence Day!

Malan Peak - June 30, 2010

Hiking with Aunt Lynnette (white t-shirt), Karen (pink) and Donna (blue) up Malan Peak in Ogden.

I had the morning off of work.  It is the last day of the month, and I was scheduled to work until 9 p.m. to get the last of the bills in for the month.  So I got a free morning and Aunt Lynnette invited me to go hiking with her.  So glad!  We left the parking lot before the sun came up to hike in the cool-ish morning.  Aunt Lynn brought these neck-kerchiefs that you soak in water and they cool your neck for hours.  LOVED it - thank you!

Donna and Aunt Lynnette modelling their neck-kerchiefs.

Aunt Lynn and Jessi at the top of Malan Peak - incredible view of Ogden.

Whooo  Hoooo! I made it!  And I only got passed by one little old man.

Had fun photographing the wild flowers.

And the RATTLE SNAKE!

Really pretty hike, definitely worth doing again!  Thanks for the invite Aunt Lynnette!

Utah Highway 35 - June 25-27, 2010

Another reason we love Utah is that there is so much to explore.   Just toss the futon mattress into the back of The Outlaw and the camping gear and away we go!  This weekend we chose Utah Highway 35 along the southern edge of the Uinta Mountains.  We spent the first night at the Mill Hollow Reservoir Campground with the fantastic 'white noise' of the reservoir's spillway just down the hill from our tent.

We brought the bikes and I had 'googled' mountain biking trails near our campsite. There was a nice long one called Heber Mountain and it was 17 miles round trip from the reservoir to the top of Heber Mountain.  James was smart and drove us up the dirt roads until we were only about 3 miles from the top and then we rode the rest of the way.

Well, James rode the whole way. 

My bike got tired, so I had to push it the last half-mile or so to the top.  But I made it!

There isn't a fancy sign to say you're at the top, but the road ends and we did find this little post-thing that says there is a $250 penalty for removing the little post-thing.

The view was really beautiful and once I recovered from pushing the bike up a mountain, the ride down was hilarious fun!

Video - Jessi mountain biking

Video - James mountain biking

We had lots of time to scout out our next campsite, so we went exploring.  And even though it had a really, really pretty campsite along the river bank, we decided not to spend the night in Hades.

Instead, we drove a crazy dirt road called "Blind Creek Road" along Granddaddy Mountain and some really spectacular switchbacks.  We discovered that navigating by road atlas is almost navigating blind.  We had no idea how steep and twisty the road would be, or that it would be a dirt road most of the way.  And when we got close to the campground we were looking for - we discovered this beautiful dam:

And the atlas didn't show a body of water there at all!  I checked the date of the dam construction against the copyright date of the atlas and the dam was built before the atlas was printed.  It was a very good surprise to find the Upper Stillwater Reservoir and even better, the road from then on was paved.  We picked a campsite with a view and James grilled up some burgers and corn on the cob.  Yum!

In the morning, the water level was lower, or there were more logs blocking the spillway because the water patterns were different.

And it was Sunday, so our weekend explore was over.  We drove through Duschesne on our way back and took Highway 40 past the Starvation Reservoir.  It is a significant body of water in the desert.  We saw a couple of these "Dominguez y Escalante Expedition 1776 to 1976" markers with history of their explorations in Utah.

We also drove past Strawberry Reservoir and Deer Creek Reservoir.  I think maybe Utah has more reservoirs than Idaho based on the number we passed this weekend.  And we ended our drive by going over the Guardsmans Road from Midway to Brighton to check on the snow levels and play some Frisbee in the Solitude parking lot.

I do like that Frisbee.