Mountain Home Range-Part One

So the day after Fourth of July we decided to go on a big adventure up into the mountains. Instead of going to one of the more popular alpine areas, we decided to go exploring in a mountain range that's basically in the middle of nowhere. That would be more adventurous, right?
Our first stop was this big water tank. Water is obviously important in the desert, so we often stop to take a peek at water! Even if it involves climbing up a ladder.
Here's the view at the top. My brother Ed took this photo (and all the other photos that don't have the Desert Survivor watermark), which makes it look like a wonderful swimming pool. It's quite deep, and it's algae giving such a green color to the water. It was chilly, fed by a spring further up a canyon.

We could see corrals off in the distance, so off we went for our first hike.

They were sheep corrals, and the kids soon got into the swing of things, pretending to be sheep. Baaa. I like how Megan convinced Caleb to give her a ride.

Then it was time to go up to higher country. The map showed a couple routes up there, and we decided to take the road less traveled, the one that was more direct. The road got rougher and rougher...the canyon got narrower and narrower....

...and finally we reached a spot that was too rough for the second of our caravan of vehicles to make it.
The old Suburban I was driving made it! Ha, ha. Actually the joke was on us, because the air conditioning wasn't working and it was a rather warm day. (Ed actually took a few of these photos with my camera. I haven't figured out how to drive and photograph myself doing that at the same time!)

This neat little arch was hiding up in the rocks. We went back down the canyon and found a much better road to go up higher.

All the older kids wanted to have air conditioning, so the younger kids were with Ed and me. Or maybe they just liked our fun-loving attitude? Actually, I think Desert Boy and Desert Girl were the main attraction. They both love to have their cousins' attention.

To keep the ride interesting as we went through miles and miles of rolling road surrounded by rather monotonous pinyon and juniper, we played that we were on a roller coaster. Desert Boy quickly caught on to the game and decided that he was going to be the loudest screamer. You can see (and hear) for yourself:


To be continued...

Cheesy Smiles

The kids and I went on a little hike the other day, and they were cooperative enough to pose during one of our many snack breaks. I figured what were the chances that they would both have their eyes closed and a cheesy smile?
I wandered around for a couple minutes taking photos of flowers, and when I got back to Desert Girl, she was stuffing a fistful of dirt and grass in her mouth. Apparently it tasted good. Desert Boy was eating chips and oblivious to everything else in the world.

Fourth of July

I'm only a couple weeks behind on posting for the Fourth of July! Our day started bright and early with a 5k run. It's been years since I ran a 5k, and although back in March and April I was getting in some regular one and two mile runs, recently I had done virtually no running. Too many early morning bird surveys and knee and hip problems (I know, I sound like an old lady!). So I set a very generous time for myself to beat, one that I would have to keep jogging most of the time to make, but not too fast so that I would be in pain for the next few days.

Fortunately I was able to jog the whole way, and the route was one I had taken Emma on a couple times while Desert Boy was in preschool, so I was distracted by looking at flowers I had previously photographed (or what was left of them). At the end, Desert Boy was eager to join me.

He'll be a good racer someday!
Here's the finish line.
Desert Boy ate some of the snacks with his cousins Ruby and Grace. I tried to catch up to them the entire race, but they stayed ahead of me, making the run look so easy. Fortunately I beat my time, and even though I was ten minutes slower than when I ran in college, I was still happy. Maybe some day I will attempt those faster times again--or maybe not!
After some rest and recuperation and lunch, it was time to relax in one of our favorite activities--playing in water! Desert Boy and Lola carried innertubes over to the nearby swimming hole.

This is a settling pond for irrigation and was dug out to about eight feet deep early in the summer. High water brought lots of rock, sand, and silt down, and now one-third of the pond is less than a foot deep and the rest is only about three to four feet deep.

The water is from the mountains, so it's a bit chilly, but a good way to cool off on a hot summer afternoon! Thanks to my brother Ed for taking these photos. After all the excitement of our Grand Canyon trip, I hardly took any photos on the fourth.

I slipped away from the pond for awhile to go to a baby shower.

Cynthia should be having her baby any day! And in the background is Chayo, with her new baby. Little Emma is going to have lots of playmates.
And then it was time to go for the Fourth of July fun. We ate yummy food and then settled on the grass for the musical program. Emma had fun playing in the grass.
She even liked the fireworks, although I kept my hands over her ears to muffle the loudness. We got to watch from just across the field from where they were setting them off.
A lovely end to a relaxing day, just what we needed before our big adventure the next day.

Vacation Interlude

Our vacation with Ed continued after the Grand Canyon and other adventures, but we're going to take an interlude with this post and show some more recent stuff we've been doing. It's been a great summer, with so many fun things going on.

Nomi organized a play date up where she lives, and we were happy to accept. She has a whole area for a variety of activities, and Desert Boy was delighted to try out the play dough ice cream maker. Playing with different toys is always a real treat.
Emma agreed. She thought the big orange bubble wand would be a wonderful chew toy.

Or at least fun to lick! There were some bubble remnants on it, but she didn't seem to mind.

Brandon had fun wearing one of the animal masks. Sometime in the future I can imagine the kids playing a game and pretending they're the animals they're wearing.

Desert Boy couldn't resist playing with the water toys. He did listen to his Mama, who told him that he couldn't get wet until later. But you can see the glitter in his eyes. He's already imagining the moment when he can splash and jump in.

Isaac and Emma hung out together on the soft blanket. Isaac has mastered sitting and is really good at grabbing what he's reaching for.
The older kids started painting.

Desert Boy was busy painting on one side. Do you like his attire? Nomi provided painting shirts (thanks, Nomi!), and so that is on correctly. Desert Boy did the rest of the dressing himself. His pants are on backwards and are a little big, so he wanted the belt. The belt is also on backwards and somehow didn't manage to go through any of the belt loops. It made me smile.

Getting the paint on the canvas obviously wasn't the highest priority for Charlie and Ava. They were having a super time playing in the paint. Still photos don't really capture the energy level, but the video does a good job of it:



And then it was finally time--time to get wet! The kids stripped down. Desert Boy happily did that all by himself, and to my great surprise kept on his underwear (backwards, of course). He likes to run around sans clothing at home at times, but he has been very proud that he's a Big Boy and wears underwear now, and that might be why he kept it on. He tells me at least once a day, "I'm a Big Boy and I wear underwear." I smile and nod and agree heartily. This is something we'll be happy to go along with.

Elizabeth didn't want to get wet, but she had fun mixing paint colors and pouring them from one container to another.

It was a really fun play date, with so many neat activities. I didn't even photograph them all, and Desert Boy left crying because he didn't want to leave.

The next day we were ready for some more fun, with a foray to the nearby playground. Charlie and Ava had fun bouncing around.

They are so cute!
Desert Girl wanted to sit up and make sure she didn't miss any of the action.
And it was quite some action. Jenny had brought a swimming pool and put it under the slide. We filled it up, and presto, we had a water slide! It was a hot day, perfect for a water slide. Desert Boy went splash.
Charlie went splash.
Ava went splash!
Meanwhile, Brandon was checking out Isaac and Emma under the shade umbrella (with Henry nearby).
Both of the little ones are teething and are constantly chewing on things.
That gave Jenny time to try out the water slide. What a great idea, Jenny, thanks for bringing it!
The hose made the slide extra slick and even the adults when splashing into the pool.
We soon had a huge group of kids enjoying all the fun.


Meanwhile, Hector was trying to figure out the bouncy ball.
I think everyone had a great time.

Grand Vacation-Day Three

On Day Three of our Grand Vacation, we woke early again at our campsite and without even hurrying had packed everything up in the van and were on the road by 8 a.m. That early morning sunrise sure gets you out of your sleeping bag before much of the day has gone by!

We stopped at the Forest Service visitor center at Jacob Lake, the junction about 45 miles north of the north rim. The volunteer told us that there are a few park rangers who stay in the park during the winter, and to get out to the plowed road at Jacob Lake, they have a two-hour snowmobile ride. Talk about some isolation!

We drove back to Fredonia, then north across the stateline into Utah.
As we reached Kanab, we ran into a parade. I was ecstatic, I was hoping to see a parade, but I hadn't been able to find out in advance when any were. We don't get to go to that many parades, so I think it's a good experience for Desert Boy, plus they're just fun.

It was July 3rd, but because most of Utah shuts down on Sundays, Kanab, like many other towns, was celebrating Fourth of July on Saturday. We walked along the parade route and found a thriving downtown and lots of spectators.

The parade entrants were generous with their candy, and Desert Boy got some good practice in picking up candy and waving to people to encourage them to throw more.

Afterwards we stopped at the visitor information office and learned that their was a festival in the town park, located a few blocks north of main street. We easily found it and had a yummy lunch of Navajo tacos and tamales.

Besides a deluxe playground under some nice shade trees, the park also had a fountain feature, and Desert Boy enjoyed running around in it.

If there's water, he's happy. And he got even happier when we decided we had enough time to visit the city pool, located right next to the park.

The Kanab city pool was the fanciest city pool I've ever been to. They had a huge kid section, with a playground set right in the middle of the water.

I was happy to go down the little water slides with Desert Boy.

In the deeper section was a big water slide, a lazy river, and a lap/basketball area.

Ed tried out the waterslide, finding that it was much faster using the mat. Here's a video of going down the slide:



Desert Boy tried the lazy river with me and was a little scared because it was over his head. Then we put on his life jacket, and he found he liked it much better.

Smiles as we drift around. Thanks, Ed, for bringing your waterproof camera!

More happy swimming!

It was beginning to fill up as the day wore on, and we still had several hours to drive.

But there was enough time to get Desert Girl wet before we went on our way.

The scenery was beautiful on the winding mountainous highways. We stopped at an overlook to see Navajo Lake.

Then we went to Cedar Breaks National Monument, with its breathtaking scenery. It's a lot like Bryce Canyon, but on a smaller scale.

I liked that there was still snow down among some of the hoodoos.

We tried for another posed photo, but the kids weren't into it. So we drove along the monument road at 10,000+ feet elevation, stopping at various other overlooks and enjoying the 63 degree weather.

Ed and Desert Boy checked out the 2,500 foot drop to the bottom of the amphitheatre.
Finally it was time to go and drive further down the road, heading home.

Another ice cream stop helped make the trip go faster.

And then finally we were back in my valley, with some great storm clouds lending extra drama to the views.

Ed managed to get some great photos in the evening lighting.

Stormy summer evenings are definitely one of the best times to view the Great Basin.

And to top it all off, there was a rainbow out in the backyard. Home sweet home!