Road Trip, Part Nine: Monroe Mountain

Let me preface this post by saying that I'm tired of blogging about a road trip that started over a month ago. This will be the last post about this road trip... I for one, am ready to move on!

Our final two days were spent on Monroe Mountain. Monroe is a small farming community where my father-in-law grew up. It's just a few minutes outside of Richfield, Utah. My sister-in-law hails from another small farming community, nearby called Joseph. Her family has a cabin up on Monroe Mountain. We've been hearing about this cabin for a better part of 15 years. I recently blogged a "mouse" story that originated from this cabin. Needless to say, it's legendary....

After driving over 13 miles on bumpy dirt roads and up 5,000 feet, we arrived at the cabin. This is the meadow out front... that draws in Elk daily.

The swings adjacent to the front porch were a huge hit.

Now it's our turn to demonstrate the potato gun. The meadow where the cabin sits was the perfect place to launch them!
Grandma had to try it....

All the kids hanging out in another beautiful meadow where there was signs of recent elk activity.

A gorgeous lookout just 5 minutes walking distance away...

A chipmunk eating the leftover dinner rolls that didn't get shot into the trees.

We went for a sunset drive over to Manning Meadow Resevoir. It was beautiful at the end of the day.

Taylor and Ash... just 3 days apart and the best of friends!

The sleeping area in the cabin... six double beds and one single. We actually all slept well given the fact there were 14 of us!

The kids seeing how many people they can cram into one bed!

Here's the cabin... it's been around for decades, but it's still doing really well!

Ian with his "fan club". Meals were very interesting as the boys had to take turns sitting next to him and someone was always upset about the arrangement. Ian was a very good sport about it. Now he knows what it would feel like to be famous and have people following you around 24-seven.

We loved our time on the Mountain, but we were so happy to head home. Two weeks on the road is enough to try anyone's patience! Thanks Jeff and Molly for inviting us up to the cabin. We had a great time!
The End!

Road Trip, Part Eight: Marvellous Manti

The whole reason this two week long road trip was even conceived, was for this. Matt and Sharilyn were headed to the Manti Temple for their sealing on their 2nd Wedding Anniversary.This was only our second time coming to Manti. We'd been once before, way back in the starving student BYU days to see the pageant, but we'd never been inside. The temple workers at Manti are a bit prejudiced... and they have good reason to be. The architecture and beauty of this temple far surpass most. And that doesn't take into account that it was constructed in the 1800's!Beautiful wildflowers were everywhere! It's too hot for such beauty in the desert!

Grandma suffering through a "everyone is taller than me" moment. She's such a good sport about her height (or lack thereof...)

Grandma with all her granddaughters... Now a picture with Grandpa and his sons and grandsons. Check out all those future RM's.

The entire group! Gathering them all for one photo was an experience, but we managed it!

Matt and Sharilyn... we are so grateful that we could come for your sealing in the temple. It was an experience I will never forget! Love you guys!

Road Trip, Part Seven: Adventures in the Beehive State

In two days time, we visited three Temples. Monday morning, we went to the Provo Temple with Matt and Sharilyn for the first time. I haven't been to the Provo temple since we lived in Orem, but I was pleasantly surprised. The inside and out had undergone some renovation and grounds keeping upgrades. Thankfully the escalators inside were gone. I always thought they seemed out of place. And on the outside, where there used to be a big driveway drop off area, it's now beautiful landscaped with gorgeous flowers and a fountain. HUGE improvement! (Sadly, I didn't have my camera with me....)

This was the second... The Oquirrh Mountain temple. I'm sure I spelled it wrong, but in case you still haven't heard how to say it, it's like "o-kur". So it's much easier than it looks! Since this temple hasn't been dedicated yet, it's open to the public for tours. It's always an exciting experience to take the kids through the temple so they can see what it looks like.

While we waited for our turn to tour through the temple, we got to hang out with Jeff and Molly and their kids. This is Ian with his "fan club".

All done and ready for dinner... Taylor is wearing the BYU shades he bought on campus earlier in the day. On the way back to Utah County, we picked up Wendy's for the kids and then headed to Tucano's for dinner. It was my parents first trip to a Brazillian Grill. It did NOT disappoint!
My favorite was the garlic sirloin. Oh... My... Gosh...

The next day, after the sealing in Manti (which deserves it's own post, that will follow tomorrow), we went down to Joseph to hang out with the family. Uncle Gordon became Uncle of the Year taking all these guys out on the Rhino.

Taylor and Tyler shot air shot rifles to their hearts content. This town is a boy's paradise!

That night, the four oldest cousins slept out on the trampoline. They didn't take enough blankets however and the girls came inside about 5 a.m. because they were too cold.

And last, but not least.... PROOF that Jeff knows how to cross the street. (Inside family joke.)

Road Trip, Part Six: Timpanogos and Stewart Falls

Let me just preface this post by saying that the Park Rangers who manage the Timpanogos Trail head parking lot would do well to put up a couple extra signs. It's been seven years since I've hiked this mountain... and one generally assumes that if there is more than one trail head in a parking lot, that they will be clearly marked and defined.

In our excitement to get hiking, we started up the wrong trail head. It was NOT marked, until you were about a mile into it. Even still, we couldn't figure out what the signs meant, since it was all abbreviated.

In it's defense, the hike up to Stewart Falls was gorgeous!

I just wish I appreciated the falls a bit more. They were amazing.... but this is when the realization comes crashing down that we'd hiked the wrong trail. For almost 2 miles... which meant 3.5 miles hiking round trip on the wrong trail.

I'm not going to lie... I was PEEVED. How did we blow this? Months of training and we went up the wrong trail? Now, even with optimal trail and weather conditions, we were sure not to make it to the top. I hiked back to the parking lot with a speed that even surprised Eric. I needed to vent and I didn't want to take out my frustration on anyone in our group.
Back in the parking lot, we regrouped, went potty and found the right trail head. Turns out a big 15 passenger van was parked right in front of the trail head, blocking it from our view in the parking lot. We got started on the right trail and then met the TERT crew (emergency crew) who informed us that we were NOT going to make it to the top. There was too much snow and ice for it to be safe.

As crazy as that sounds, having them tell us we couldn't make it to the top melted away all my frustration. Even if we had started out on the right trail, we wouldn't have made it to the top anyway. Now it was out of my control and I could just enjoy the hike for what it was.

Soon after we began the hike, we discovered these little guys on the trail. There were everywhere. In a few weeks the mountain would be swarming with beautiful butterflies, I'm sure!

I loved this tree and had to snap a photo... It reminded me of the Banyan Tree in Lahaina, Maui. Lots of the foliage reminded me of Maui... odd, huh?

Due to the heavy and recent snows on the mountain, all the streams and waterfalls were huge! We walked at least a half mile on the trail in an inch or two deep running water.

More cute caterpillars... we counted at least a dozen on this leaf alone!

View of the trail with hikers...

This is where we turned around. Partly because it was getting late in the day and they were forecasting thunderstorms, and party because no one had snow gear and shoes with good traction. We talked to a couple who had just crossed this first part of snow and they said turning around was a good idea. They'd crossed a dozen or so spots like this before they gave up, but the girl said that coming back down the snow fields was no picnic. Her nerves were shot.

So, once again Timp defeated us. I'm not sure when we'll get another opportunity to try again. The ideal hiking time is late August, which is bad for us because our kids are already in school during the whole month of August. Maybe someday we'll do it again. Maybe someday we'll succeed.

Road Trip, Part Five: a Holiday in Holladay

Our first day back in Utah started with a dinner with my dad's family. Here my mom and dad (on the right) are with his aunts and uncle (Bill, LaVee and Elaine). They live in Holladay on a huge lot that has the most gorgeous, kid friendly back yard you've ever seen!
It had rained that afternoon, so the little boys tried sliding down the hill in grocery bags... wasn't terribly successful, but they had a great time, none the less!

Then the "big boys" got their turn for fun. Bryce brought over his potato gun and gave us a demonstration. With just a little AquaNet and a potato, they provided entertainment for all ages. We were amazed at how high that thing launched them into the air... Eric inspected it so he could make one himself... which he did before the vacation was over.

Taylor had fun trying to catch the potatoes with his baseball glove when they came back down.

We had a great night, with lots of good food, good company and good entertainment!

Road Trip, Part Four: Yellowstone

I think Yellowstone National Park must be one of the most beautiful places on earth!!! I was so glad we got to visit it... I just wish we had more than one day!

We stopped at a picnic area next to this river to eat lunch. It was gorgeous and the river water was suprisingly warm! There were fly fishermen everywhere!

This is the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone... the waterfalls were amazing. We hiked in the rain to see this waterfall, but it was totally worth it!

Wildlife was plentiful... we did not see any bears however. Bummer!

Amazing pools of boiling hot water... I know there is a technical name for this, but it escapes me at the moment! This particular one looked like a hot tub!

The Main Attraction: Old Faithful

These Bison get so comfortable with cars that they don't even notice you!