Throwing Stones

Cracking himself up!

Ensign Peak

Yesterday we returned to a place that Bill and I visited on our initial visit to SLC. It is called Ensign Peak, and it has amazing views of the valley. The first time we were out here, which was almost exactly 1 year ago, we didn't hike all the way to the peak, but we made it up there this time. It was very cool!

We weren't sure how Evan would do in what we call 'the baby backpack', but he hung in there.

The top picture is April 27, 2008 and the bottom picture is April 29, 2007

The trail to Ensign Peak

It is a little hazy, but way off to the right is the Great Salt Lake

Salt Lake City!

Salt Flats Videos

Salt Flats

Bill took us on another adventure this weekend. He had heard that we should drive out to the Bonneville Salt Flats Raceway. So we packed up the car and headed due west for 100 plus miles. There is absolutely NOTHING west of Salt Lake City. Here is our journey....

After about 95 miles of NOTHING, we came across this sculpture called Metaphor: The Tree of Utah. Some Swedish fellow built it to bring some bold colors to the stark landscape of the salt flats. Apparently, Utah doesn't much care about it since A: you can't even pull off the highway to enjoy it, and B: it looks like some of the sculpture has fallen down and nobody has bothered to fix it.

Here we are at the Bonneville Raceway. The road out here just ends in a cul-de-sac and then there is nothing but salt.
You can drive out onto the actual raceway. Even this semi drove out!

It is actually salt!

Evan, setting the jeep speed record!

There was lots of sand art.

Bill loves to fly a kite!

One of the cones outlining the racetrack.

Bill's speed record in a Hyundai is 40MPH!

The claim is that it is SOOO flat that you can see the curvature of the earth.

Checking out the curvature.

I would have to say this was one of the strangest places I have ever been. It was just so bleak, desolate, and it felt like literally we were standing at the end of the earth.

Silly Evan

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Before and After

BEFORE.....

AFTER....

I think he looks like a little British baby now!!

Zion Videos

Zion Part 2

This is where we stayed in Springdale. It wasn't the nicest place in town but it worked great for us.
The view from our room.

On Saturday the town had an Earth Day celebration. Mostly it was just locals singing on this stage. It was the perfect place to celebrate the earth.

Bill will answer his phone anywhere at any time (remember the cross-country skiing picture??). This time we were listening to a guitar band when his phone rang. Turns out the conversation was short, as his brother couldn't hear him!!

Cute, little hippy restaurant where we had dinner. Bill tried fish tacos for the first time...and last!

One of the really great things about Zion is that they limit traffic inside of the park. They provide a shuttle service that makes 7 stops throughout the park. Evan thought this was especially great too, he loves public transportation.

This picture is of what they call Court of the Patriarchs. From left to right the names are Abraham Peak, Isaac Peak, and Jacob Peak

Funny Face!!

This is one of the shuttle buses in the park

Our last morning in Springdale

On the trail on the way to Emerald Pools.

This is a picture of the Lower Emerald Pools.

This trail was not as accessible as the others that we took so we didn't make it all the way to the Upper pools. It is hard to tell in this picture, but the trail made me a little nervous.

Our last picnic in the park before we headed home.

Soaking up the sun

The view as we drove up and out of the park. I took this picture about 4 times. In other words, at each switchback, it was just so gorgeous! We took the scenic route home, which was nice, but added about 2 hours to our drive. This tunnel is in Zion and goes through the mountain for about 1 mile. It was so dark inside as there was no electricity, only an occasional window carved into the side.

I had to add this picture...this was taken out the window of the car on our way home. And this is pretty much what it looked like for 3 1/2 hours of our drive. Quite a difference compared to the vibrant colors that we saw in Zion.