New Tree

We've been thru two white pines in the northeast corner of the back yard. Each lasted a few months and then got yellow and dropped their needles. We gave up on evergreens and are going to try a native Nebraska cottonwood. That corner of the yard is wet, so this guy should do well in his new home. The tree barely fit in JP's Odyssey.

 

Storm Clouds

This was the hottest summer here since the dustbowl days of the mid-30s. We only had one tornado watch all season. We had some cool clouds roll thru with that storm, but no twister. This is actually a color picture from my phone. There was no color in the sky.

 

Soccer Mom

This summer GP played in the Y soccer program. We were halfway thru the season before we realized that one of GP's teammates belonged to the general manager of my company. Lincoln is such a small town.

 

Seven Years of Cat Hair

Earlier this summer, when the temperature and humidity started to creep up, our A/C started to slow down and couldn't keep up. I tore into it and found that the evaporator was completely clogged up with dust and/or cat hair.

 

We change the filter regularly, but after seven years, some stuff managed to get thru and stick in the fins. Yuck. It took a couple hours, but I was able to toothbrush it clean and get our cool airflow back.

 

Day 8 - Back to Reality

Our last day of time away from reality was spent getting back to Lincoln. First was the 2-hour drive back to Vegas. Then the hour-long wait in the security line. Funny how everyone arriving in Vegas is alive and full of energy, but when they leave it's a different story.

 

CP found what he wants to do next time we visit Las Vegas.

We had a 2-hour layover in Minneapolis, so I took the family to my favorite airport restaurant: Ike's. They have fantastic food and a nice atmosphere. I usually travel thru MSP, and Ike's makes layovers something to look forward to.

 

They serve "The Weekender"; a meal-sized bloody mary that makes for the perfect ending to a long trip. Cheers!

Day 7 - Winding Down

For our last full day of vacation, we stayed in St. George and took it easy. After breakfast at Gramma and Grampa's, we did a trail hike at Snow Canyon. After a week of scrambling around in the sun, the boys were tired and cranky, so we spent the rest of the day at the pool.

 

We did dinner at the Chuck-O-Rama all-you-can-eat buffet. The boys made sure that they got their money's worth. CP's dinner highlight was mixing every flavor of fountain drink together to make "suicides". They caught up with him later.

 

After dinner, we went back to the red rock of Snow Canyon and watched "Aladdin" at Tuacahn. What a cool venue! The boys enjoyed the performance, and it was truly a magical night with the special effects and backdrop of the desert.

 

We had a blast on our Utah vacation. The boys were the right age to be able to enjoy all of the outdoor destinations. Thanks Gramma and Grampa!!

 

Day 6 - Zion

Our backsides needed a rest after riding mules thru Bryce, so we took it easy the next day and only did a quick tour of Zion.

 

The weather was perfect, and the water level was low, so we hoofed it up the canyon to the start of the narrows. The boys had fun wading and swimming their way upstream.

 

By the time we made it back to the lodge, we were tired, cold, and hungry.

 

Day 5 - Mule Ride

After lunch at the historic Bryce Canyon Lodge, we moseyed down to the corral and hopped on our mules for a 4-hour tour of the park from a different point of view.

 

The boys did their first mule ride a long time ago when we went to the Black Hills. Since then, it's their favorite big-park adventure, wherever we go.

 

We went down into the canyon, then up and over into another canyon, then from the bottom, up and over into yet another canyon. I was grateful to be riding and not hiking. It would have been one of those endless hikes where you question why you're doing it. What's the point of going down if you're only going to hike straight back up. Riding made it different and I was able to enjoy going downhill without thinking "Ugh. Once we get to the bottom, we're going to have to climb back up 500 vertical feet."

 

Day 5 - Bryce Canyon

After being cooked by the hot wind & dust of AZ and the Glitter Hole, we headed north the next day to the high country of Bryce Canyon. This turned out to be the boys' favorite destination.

 

As immense and inaccessible the Grand Canyon was, Bryce was the opposite. It offered an intimate experince with easy trails into its depths.

 

 

 

The trail down to Wall Street consists of nothing but switchbacks.

 

We ended our morning with a hike down and thru Wall Street. The boys had never had so much fun. The hike back up, at 8,000 ft above sea level, had them panting.

Day 4 - Petroglyphs & Glitter

After the New and Improved St. George Airport, we headed south into AZ on dirt roads in search of petroglyphs.

 

The BLM maintains a trail at the base of Little Black Mountain, a 500-ft mesa with very nice petroglyphs all around its base. The kids had a blast running around, climbing, scrambling, and getting dirty. The wind picked up while we were there and dried us out like dehydrated apricots.

 

Part of the fun with petroglyphs is trying to figure out what they mean. Are they merely graffitti, carved by bored teenagers, or do they have deep meanings? Grampa is in the Erich Von Daniken camp on this topic. He showed us all a complex drawing that clearly illustrated a De Havilland Beaver (or Otter - we weren't quite sure) on floats. I'm in the bored teen camp on this one.

 

Next, we went on to find "The Glitter Hole." It's a gypsum mine completely in the middle of nowhere. There's a pure gypsum deposit just below the surface. By pure, I mean that the deposit is essentially a single giant (50+ feet in diameter) crystal of clear and shiny gypsum. The tailing are nothing but orange-sized clear crystals. The kids all hacked at the wall of the mine for an hour, trying to chop out the biggest piece of crystal they could. GP ended up with a hadfull of blisters from the rock hammer.

 

Day 4 - The New & Improved St. George Airport

After a long day at the Canyon, we figured we'd take it easy on Day 4 by staying around St. George and checking out some of the local scenery. First stop: The New and Improved St. George Airport. It's way out in the middle of nowhere, and Grampa moved his hangar from the old mesa airport in town out to the new place. The boys were fired up to sit in the cockpits of the planes.

 

MB was ready to go for a ride in the back seat.

 

What could be more fun?!?

 

After Grampa's hangar, we visited the new St. George Air Museum. WOW!! I was impressed. CP was doubly impressed; he got to touch a real MiG.

Day 3 - Grand Canyon

We hit the road early on day three and headed south. We crossed the border into AZ and stopped Under the Banner of Heaven in Colorado City. JP wouldn't let me shop for additional wives. Something about not being able to control the one I have...

 

A few hours later we reached the north rim of the Grand Canyon. This was JP's first experience on the north side, and the boys' first time to the canyon, ever. We had lunch at the lodge and sat next to one of the ginormous picture windows that overlooks it all. We hiked out to Bright Angle Point and GP didn't like the exposure at all. CP didn't seem to mind.

 

One of the things that caught us by surprise was the abundance of lush green meadows on top of the Kaibab Plateau. After driving all morning thru red rock, red dirt, and red dust, the bright green of the grass and aspen was breathtaking.

 

 

Utah Day 2 - Tubing!

 

After lounging aroung the condo pool and catching up with family, we loaded up the boat and hit Quail Creek Reservoir for some tubing action. The water was beautiful, and the scenery even better. The boys tubed for two hours. Since it was a weekday, we shared the entire lake with only two other boats.

 

After tubing, we caught up with the B's at their campsite in Snow Canyon for a cookout.

 

Summer Vacation 2012

This year our summer vacation took us west (as usual) out to beautiful southern Utah. I have a bunch of pics, so I'll put up a post for each day.

Day one was a travel day from Lincoln to Omaha to Minneapolis to Las Vegas to St. George. The boys had a blast. The MSP airport is now their favorite airport (and mine, too). We flew over Grand Junction, Moab, and Zion. I was sitting on the north side of the plane and was able to see all the red rock from above.

This is sand mountain and St. George. Last time we were here, we rode 4-wheelers all over down there.

We stopped at Grampa's favorite restaurant in Mesquite to load up on $3.95 steaks. We made a wrong turn in the casino and wound up at the buffet. An hour and $60 later we emerged much satisfied. CP put away four steaks himself, plus a large plate of salad. At this age, buffets are a good thing for the boys.