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Saturday, October 19, 2013

Big Time



As the winter is hunting us down and waiting to devour us at any moment, I thought it would be a good time to take that last ride up Big Cottonwood Canyon. It's about 7 minutes exactly from my house and usually a very popular spot for cyclists. Except for today. Why was no one going up the canyon? Several people were coming down but alas, it was just the three of us going UP. I learned later what caused this phenomenon. Going up was grand. Fresh air, pine, sunshine, views of the snow and rock and newly-naked Aspens. Approaching the top after climbing 4,000 feet in 15 miles, all I could think of was food. Unfortunately for my stomach (which as this point was about to devour my entire body) the cafe at the top of Big was closed for "fall hours". All I could do was speed down about .4 miles to the nearest resort and sprint to the pizza cafe there. That .4 miles of speeding to the cafe had my fingers hurting, my lips numb, water pouring out of my eyes and my teeth just about chattering. Yes, the sun had gone behind the walls of the canyon and to say it was freezing could would have been an understatement. I waited for my two cousins (in-law) who I was riding with. We scarfed a sandwich and hot chocolate. Then the agony started. .4 miles had been quite traumatic in the cold but now we had over 15 miles of it.




 We doubted we could descend (well the women folk did) and we plotted how to get out of it but nothing was going to come to our rescue! We had no other choice but to go down. Was it best to hobble down so as not to get too cold? I decided it was NOT and bombed down the canyon around 40-45 miles an hour pretty much the whole way. Today was not reminiscent in any way of the last time I descended the canyon which included such experiences as: Joy, peace, relaxation, sunshine, warmth, gentle breeze, FUN. This was more like: Agony, pain, uncontrollable shaking, teeth chattering, and a moaning so loud everyone could hear it as I flew by. Many times the shaking and chattering caused the bike to wobble. Finally I was in the last few miles!! Using the brakes was becoming out of the question since my fingers at this point were not only numb but aching and burning and frozen in one position.

I guess the only good thing that came out of the suicidal descent was that I reached the parking lot where I could get to the van and try to drive up the canyon to give a ride to my relatives. Amy, who had even thinner gloves than me had actually stopped halfway down and did the one thing every woman secretly wants to do when her hands are frozen: She put her hands in her husband's armpits! Now that is true love! (and a true case of frozen fingers and hands!) Thanks for the pictures, Amy!

This was definitely the worst prepared I have ever been for the cold. Lesson learned. ...until next fall.


Thursday, October 17, 2013

The Peace of Wild Things

In the years past, much of my life was spent in nature. I think I'm finally getting back to those roots after a break of over 10 years. Now I have more worries than before but the words of Wendell Berry in his poem "The Peace of Wild Things express my comfort. The wilderness is one of the places where God speaks.

When despair grows in me
and I wake in the middle of the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free. 

Saturday, September 07, 2013

Dinosaur Time!


One of the most well-preserved skeletons ever discovered. The head of  the flesh eating Allosaurus.

So, traveling we went to Dinosaur National Park in Utah (our new home) last weekend and what an experience. Bones, petroglyphs, quarries, museums, psychotic chipmunks, and interesting campground people. And all of it only a few hours from our home!

Before this trip, I had never heard of Dinosaur National Park. Who would have thought that this place is  littered with dinosaur bones? They are literally sticking out of the mountains and scattered throughout the quarry. The main museum/visitor center/dinosaur bones viewing station is literally built right into the mountain. People who aren't necessarily into hiking on 100 degree sand up the fossil trail, can take the tram from the visitor center to the museum. Of course, we had to do both. Anna in particular grew beat red in her excitement.
the tourists


So, after traveling through the hot quarry we headed back to the campsite to cool by the river!

Caleb was our firewood fetcher.

That night around 10pm as we quietly sat by the campfire, a woman approached our campsite. Shining her painfully bright flashlight right into our faces she shouted with her thick German accent that there were thieves in the camp who stole her camera battery charging in the bathroom. We were to return it by the morning and if not, she was reporting us to the police. She proceeded to make her way through the whole camp, yelling and demanding and waking people up for quite a while after that. In the morning, the boys were elated to see a reward posted in the bathroom. Whoever found the battery got $50. They talked with her and she told them she would reward them with gummy bears from Germany. Not to be fooled by this, they said they would find the battery for ME to turn in thereby securing their $50 reward which would promptly be used to buy Lego. Unfortunately they failed. Aside from that it was a great campsite situated right next to the Green River. Another note about camping: Don't be surprised to find people not properly dressed to use the camp restroom. Apparently some people think they are the only ones using it in the middle of the night.


Arriving at the campsite, we were surrounded by hordes of chipmunks. It was as if we showed up in Africa to a bunch of starving children.They surrounded us and eventually scampered through our van, ate into our trailmix as we stood 3 feet away and generally acted like the rodents they are. Later in the day, Jesse yelled "OH NOOO" from the back seat. It took me about 20 questions to get him to a place where he exclaimed: "There's a CHIPMUNK in the van!". At this moment, the chipmunk flew across Caleb straight to the front of the van. The rest of the morning would bring several different chipmunk attacks. Normally all would be quiet and then the chipmunk would  all of a sudden flip out, come out of hiding and jump all over everyone. Eventually we decided we would have to remove everything from the van and lift all the seats up. Only then did it decide to leave us and we watched it flee with great gusto from underneath the back seat.

The final day we drove and then hiked to some great Indian petroglyphs and hiked to the very first box canyon I have ever seen. 
Jesse along the petroglyphs
of course, everyone had to climb up into the hole
Can you spot Josh's yellow shirt? Eagles had just been soaring in the canyon.
the amazing walls in the box canyon
a rock cubby

All in all, a great trip. We can't wait to explore more of Utah's amazing wilderness and stories of old! In a couple weeks we're heading to Zion where cooler temperatures hopefully await.
chasing down a lizzard
standing with the petroglyph lizzards

Bella enjoyed the Stegosaurus tail spike and back plate


yeah, these people