My good friend Wendy just reached the mournful age of 50 but we, her pals, were in no way going to let her mope about this milestone when we had some serious celebrating to do.
That's a whole lot of ladies, which means Jason had to tolerate a whole lot of girlyness. What a good sport.
For the first portion of the partying, a group of us girls, and Jason, ate at Red Rock Brewing Company in Salt Lake City, which is always an excellent spot for some pub grub. I had the wild mushroom polenta and I did not regret it. Yum!
Our group wasn't very big but what we lacked in quantity we made up for in loudness.A mouthful of food has the tendency to make one look like they're eating...sorry Robyn, this is the only picture I got of you. Blabbing is a particular talent of mine. I could talk the ears off an elephant or the hair off a mole. Don't believe me? Just give me a chance to open my mouth. I guess a toasty bun and wiener are what everyman looks for in a hotdog because Jas and Chuong were determined to figure out a way to make their whole meal crispy.Mission accomplished: the birthday girl got a laugh.
A week later another assembly of my friends headed up American Fork Canyon to roast hotdogs and marshmallows by the campfire in honor of Wendy. I think it is nearly impossible not to have a good time when relaxing with your buddies around a cozy flame while majestic pines form the only barrier between you and a glittering sky. We chomped and chatted the evening away and only closed our mouths finally when we realized that we had lingered way past the time when picnickers are supposed to remove themselves for the night.
Chuong stretched himself out on what Jason calls "the princess chair." Doesn't he look femininely regal?Who knew one Rachel-I mean marshmallow-could make such a mess? I had so much goo in untoward places that I couldn't keep myself from laughing until I cried. This only made getting that marshmallow down even harder and I nearly choked.
Happy birthday Wendy! May all your 50ths be just as festive.
A week or so ago Jason and I went hiking at Sundance Resort. We have biked and snowboarded Sundance many times but had never experience the extremeness of unextremely using our feet to travel its slopes…until now.
What a magnificent vista! The hills were a lush green and even Utah Lake, tinted by its algae bloom, added to the emerald hue.The picnic tables at the top of Arrowhead Summit were a great place to eat a snack and enjoy the visual splendor of the surroundings.That's Heber Valley sprawled out below Jason as he stands on Arrowhead Summit.
We accessed Sundance’s hiking areas by way of the lift and then spent the afternoon traversing some lovely terrain. Our first climb was to the top of Arrowhead Summit. This is the most challenging hike at Sundance. It ascends to the highest point at the resort, which is over 8,000 feet. The path to the summit, unfortunately, is along a gravel access road instead of a traditional hiking trail but the beauty of the peak definitely makes up for what the route lacks. The path terminates on Arrowhead’s ridge, which overlooks Utah Valley on one side and Heber Valley on the other. Gorgeous! These valleys were still very green (quite an anomaly for this time of year) making the view uncommonly pretty. What added most to the perfection of this hike however was the fact that we saw exactly no one the whole way. We got to savor the windswept glades and rugged pines without even a hint of humanity. There was certainly no shortage of people exiting the lift but they all headed straight for one of the downhill hikes. Ah the laziness of human beings, ever my vexation but still always my ally.
This vibrant meadow was too picturesque to pass through without taking a few photos.We came across this giant mushroom on our way to Stewart Falls. I think it's probably the biggest toadstool I've ever seen.Due to water flowing this year in areas it normally does not, the trail to Stewart Falls passed under an impromptu stream that tumbled from an unanticipated waterfall. We had to cross this steep creek using ropes.Stewart Falls is actually a series of 4 dramatic drops but you can only see the two lower ones here.
After climbing Arrowhead Summit we traveled back down the mountain by way of Stewart Falls. It was a nice easy return trip and the falls are always beautiful. Although I couldn’t help but think from time to time as we trekked along that the trail in front of me would be amazing on a bike, I must admit that moving at a slower pace was a relaxing change.
Jason’s mom Sue and his brother Jeremy were both born in July along with me and Jason. Yes, that means we go through enough birthday cake during the month to give a small country diabetes.
This year Jason’s parents decided that it would be fun to celebrate all our July birthdays by taking a trip down to Utah’s Dixie. They got us tickets to see the two shows playing at an outdoor theater in St. George called Tuacahn: The Little Mermaid and Grease. This gave us an excuse to take a break and spend the weekend in St. George together.
This is the condo at Lava Falls that we rented. It was a lovely building with a secluded patio.
Jason’s parents, Sue and Keith, stayed with me and Jason at a condo we rented for the weekend. The condo was beautiful and allowed each couple to have their own bathroom and bedroom while still promoting family togetherness. We got plenty of chances to play board games and chat; it reminded me a lot of hanging out at the old Sabin cabin but with less dust.
It felt like we were under the sea when that rain hit. It came sloshing at us from all directions.Jason's mom Sue had her birthday while we were down in St. George. We surprised her with a little lemon cake and a horribly sung birthday song.
Friday night Jason and I got down to St. George with little time to spare before the start of The Little Mermaid but we managed to make it. Not that our timeliness ended up mattering much. Do you remember the scene where Ariel rescues Prince Eric from the stormy seas? Lightning is flashing across the sky as thunder pounds the earth and a thrashing rain begins to fall. Well, right when that scene was being played out on stage real thunder began rumbling the sandstone plateaus around us and unforgiving water started pelting the ground. Jason and I had brought ponchos with us just in case but even with those on the wind whipped us so wet we ended up taking shelter in a covered area along with everyone else. After waiting half an hour for the rain to stop, which it didn’t, the show was canceled for the evening. There were a lot of little girls crying that night because of the unhappy ending to their fairytale magic.
Jason was queen-I mean king-of the mountain.Jason crawled up the sides of Jenny's Canyon. I can't take that monkey boy anywhere!St. George wasn't as hot as it usually is in July but we still were way past warm. This nook gave me and Jas a very brief break from the intense sun...and yet another opportunity to look silly.
Although it was sad that our Friday activities got halted, we didn’t waste time pouting. The next morning Jason, Sue, Keith, and I headed up to Snow Canyon State Park for some hiking and caving. Snow Canyon is a pretty area creased by pocked sandstone and surrounded by white and red cliffs. The colors of this region are shadowed by piles of black lava rock that an ancient volcano strew about. These dark stone outcroppings protrude the fiery landscape conspicuously but their most interesting feature lies beneath the park’s surface.
These sharp rocks weren't exactly a comfy spot to lay your head but Jason thought they needed planking so I humored him. This was the first lava cave we came across. Although it just consisted of two elongated caverns, it was massive and fun to explore with a flashlight.
Snow Canyon’s hillsides, which are roughened by jagged igneous rock, are further scarred by holes of various sizes: lava tubes. Years ago my parents owned a condo in St. George and so Jason spent quite a bit of time with me in Snow Canyon. Every time he came across a lava cave he wanted to explore it but he somehow was always lacking a flashlight. This trip though he was determined to make up for his previous inadequacies…sort of. He remembered to grab a flashlight before we headed up to Snow Canyon but he insisting on hiking in flip-flops. (Don’t get me started!) We trekked the Butterfly Trail to the West Canyon Overlook and then detoured to find some caves. We came across three. The first was easy to access with high ceilings in two long chambers but it smelled a little too musty and peeish for us to hangout in there too long. The second cave was very narrow so only Jason journeyed a bit into its belly.
I took this looking out of the entrance to that long tunnel we explored. Those goofballs are standing on a rim that circles a sloping incline that leads down to the spacious cavern that could have easily been confused for the tube's main draw.Sue and Keith were hesitant to wiggle down into this opening but we finally coaxed them into the cave's antechamber. This pictures was taken deep within the bowels of the earth. Okay, maybe not that far down but the throat of the earth at very least.
On our third discovery we hit the jackpot. This cave was fantastic! It’s opening to the surface was not terribly large and could have been easily missed if a couple of women hanging out on a narrow ledge a few feet down had not caught our attention. Access into this hole was tricky and required some scrambling and scooting and once inside we probably would have mistaken a big cavity at the bottom of the entrance shaft for the main attraction if some hikers had not exited out of a small unremarkable gap to one side of it as we were entering the tube. That little opening led to a winding slender passage that eventually widened into a large rock-scattered room. Awesome! Upon leaving that room the tube dived over a narrow little cliff; that drop-off looked tricky to navigate so this is where we decided to head back. But the moment we exited from this tunnel back into the main shaft Jason turned around and headed back in by himself. He had decided that he could shimmy down that cliff, flip-flops and all, and was determined to see where the tube led. It turned out that it went down another cramped twisting path to a second large cavern where it ended. After traversing the entire passageway he convinced me to go back in with him to the tunnel’s terminus. I am claustrophobic and therefore not a big fan of ducking through a little crack in the earth but in the end my curiosity got the best of me. I’m glad I braved it; it was a cool cave.
After hiking and crawling around all day we saw Grease that night at Tuacahn and, unlike The Little Mermaid, we actually saw it. It was a fun show that made me want to dance and sing and wear a poodle skirt.
We may have had a few watery glitches in our fabulous weekend plan but it still turned out to be a great getaway with plenty of fam time and some surprising adventures.
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