Red Pine Lake

Last weekend Ryan and I hiked up a trail in Little Cottonwood Canyon to Red Pine Lake.  It was still pretty snowy at the top and the lake was still about 85% frozen.  It was really pretty up there and we saw some "whistle pigs" as soon as we started eating our snacks.

We are getting everything packed up, its hard to believe that we only have about 2 weeks left here before the whirlwind of Stef's wedding, Greece, and the move.  We've hit our favorite restaurants on last time (Mazza and Bombay House - we still have to get to Chabaar and Sundance).

Next week is the resident dinner held for the incoming and outgoing residents.  It feels like we were just being welcomed to Salt Lake!  Its going to be an exciting July to say the least :)

Tour de Utah

Our weekends in Utah are numbered.  We've spent this month trying to do some "Utah Favorites" and use up Ryan's remaining vacation.

We spent Memorial Day weekend in Moab, Utah.  This little town gave us easy access to Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park.  Ryan spent some time here back in September and I went down and enjoyed for a weekend back then.  It was nice to revisit with a little more time and some of the sights in mind.  We were able to hike to the iconic Delicate Arch (its featured on out license plates!) and see several other arches in both parks.  We ate at some good restaurants, our favorite being a burger joint called "Milt's." 

We also hiked "Behind the Rocks," to a canyon with a few areas requiring us to wade through water.  At the beginning of the canyon I found myself unable to get over a boulder that was blocking the path, after trying, crying, and trying again we decided to just turn back.  Luckily there was a guided tour coming up behind us.  With some encouragement from their guide, I was able to get over the rock and continue on.  

Knowing that there was water in this canyon, I wore my bathing suit bottoms under my shorts.  We had to stop and put our clothes in a dry bag and bite the bullet.  It was awkward and uncomfortable to negotiate around a log that was wedged between the walls.  It didn't help that I saw a spider on it right before I was supposed to climb over it to jump in.  My dear sweet Ryan obliged, even while freezing in waist deep stagnant water, and flicked it away for me.  I half jumped/half fell into the water and in a few seconds the water was behind us.  We dried off pretty fast in the heat and finished off the canyon with a few rappels.  

On the walk out we saw some ATVs driving over some crazy rocks and ridges.  It looked really fun, someday we will rent one and try it out.

The weekend before we hiked in Zion National Park.  This is a special place for us because its where we got engaged in 2009.  

We hiked up Angel's Landing and enjoyed some beautiful sweeping panoramas from the summit.  There were a bunch of chipmunks running around at the top.  We also walked along the river, hiked up to Hidden Canyon, and walked through the freezing waters of Kanarra Canyon.  It was a great weekend.  My favorite park was going to St. George in the evenings and seeing the sunset from Pioneer Park.

A few weeks before this we also got in a quick jaunt to Wendover, NV and won $60 at the Montego Bay casino, and hung out at the salt flats of a bit.

Now its time to get down to business with packing and getting ready for the move :)

"Rock of Ages" hike

Ryan at Delicate Arch

Dead Horse Point State Park

Canyonlands National Park

Mesa Arch

Fiery Furnace

Fiery Furnace

"How do you feel about going back to work on Wednesday?"

San Rafael and Green River

Ryan and I decided a while back to take a trip to Zion National Park. the weekend of October 12.

Well the government really put the kibosh on that one.  We headed to the San Rafael Swell near Green River, Utah instead.  *Note: Utah opened it's national parks that Friday, but it was a little too late at that point.

We stayed at Robbers Roost Motel, and ate at the dinky restaurants in Green River.  We bought a watermelon from a stand near a gas station.  It so happens that Green River is known for their watermelons.  It was really good!  We used Ryan's pocket knife to cut off the top and ate from the melon like a bowl, finishing it by Sunday.  We had dry bison burgers at the "Tamarisk" restaurant a few blocks from our motel.

The highlight of the trip was canyoneering in Little Wild Horse Canyon.

We had to take off our socks and shoes at a few places and wade through some pools of muddy water.  It was a long canyon and actually looped through a second one.  I really enjoyed it.  It was challenging, but it was also fun so that you forgot you were working hard.

We stopped at Goblin Valley State Park and walked around the "Goblins" for a while.  This was about a week before the now infamous video of those guys pushing over a rock formation came out.  I will say, some of those rocks look like they are about to fall, but it also looked like those guys had to put a lot of effort into pushing that one over.  Anyway...

We hiked "Crack Canyon" on Sunday and drove back to Salt Lake Sunday.  It was a really long drive back because we took a detour though now-open Capital Reef National Park.  By the time we got there we were parked-out and just bought our magnet at the gift shop and headed on.

We stopped in Bicknell to attempt and sweet-talk a few piece of pie out of a diner/motel that is closed on Sundays, but we couldn't find any employees.

By the time we got to the city we were starving as it was 8pm.  We stopped in Provo, but everything but Applebees-type joints were closed.  We ended up at the Belgian Waffle and Omelette Inn - the 24 breakfast joint right by our apartment.  It was really good and hit the spot.

The pictures of Ryan haven't been uploaded to the computer yet, but here are a few of me:

uh oh...

Almost knee deep in cold muddy water

Goblin Valley

Not so Bland in Blanding

On Thursday after work I headed down to Blanding in southern Utah to reunite with Ryan. He is down there for the whole month of September on a clinic rotation. Thursday was the day after our 3 year anniversary, so at least we got to see each other within 24 hours of the day :)

The drive is about 5 hours. It took me a little longer because of lots of construction and a little rain along the way. The drive was so scenic, sweeping views of mountains, plateaus, mono lines, mesas, buttes, spires... Rock changing from gray to brown to orange and red. 

I was so happy to pull into the driveway of Ryan's home for the month. It's a 70s style brick home with a garden kept by the neighbors who live in the basement-turned-apartment. Ryan had dinner ready which was great because I was starving. 

We didn't do much else that night, but got up early to head to some petroglyphs and then onto Monument Valley. We stopped for breakfast at a coffee shop in Bluff. This is the landscape I've wanted to see in person ever since enjoying Wile E. Coyote chase the roadrunner all around the buttes and mesas of the southwest. We put the Fit to the test, and thankfully it made it all around the unimproved road through Monument Valley. 

Goosenecks State Park also had a really neat lookout into one of the worlds "best examples of an entrenched meander" according to the sign. It was one of my favorite lookouts.   

We had some ice cream that evening and watched a thunderstorm for a while before starting one of the puzzles in the apartment. 

Saturdays plans were changed a little due to Friday nights rain closing some trails. We headed to the House on Fire ruins which has us repeatedly crossing a stream using stepping stones we threw in ourselves. 

Ryan even took his socks off at one point in anticipation of me going ankle deep in water. He was going to give me his socks to change into. Fortunately it wasn't necessary and we both made it across each time. 

We drove through natural bridges monument and enjoyed more scenery before heading back in. 

We made popcorn and brought it with us to watch another storm. Afterwards we finished the 500 piece puzzle (one piece missing of course) and went to bed. 

Sunday morning after breakfast I followed Ryan in my car to Arches National Park. Time flew as we hiked around a bit looking at all the rock formations.

Soon it was time to head out of the park for lunch. We had some soup and wraps at a small cafe in Moab before we parted ways and I began the (now an hour shorter) drive home. I got a few new reviews done for TripAdvisor and some neat pictures of our adventures. 

It was a really nice weekend, hard to see it end!

Coffee shop breakfast

Arches national park

Over 500 pieces!

Thunder storm

House on fire

Arches

Endless Summer

Im looking forward to flying home tomorrow to celebrate my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary on Saturday.  I'm going going to catch up with friends and other family for a good 10 days! Hopefully my elderly dog Winston is up to the visit.

These past few weeks Ryan and I have been enjoying breakfast (and occasionally dinner) on our patio, and going on at least one hike every weekend.  We also stop at City Cakes about once a week for cookies, and a taco truck often as well.  They are so good and dirt cheap!  I've been hitting the gym quite a bit and really enjoying the Zumba, Barre, and Lift classes that are offered.  I've also started dabbling in alcohol inks as an art form.  See pictures below.

 Last weekend we crossed the valley and went to the other side - to the other mountain range who's name escapes me.  We hiked right next to the copper mines.  There were a lot of atvs going up and down the dirt road to the trail head, once hiking we saw several hunters with guns and crossbows which made me kind of nervous.  Good thing I had my rainbow scarf around my shoulders, not many elk wearing those this season.

Work has picked up just a little.  I've been asked to be on the SPinal Cord Injury Team - which is a new initiative the company is starting with the U.  It's still in its infancy, but it sounds like it will be really interesting and I'll learn a lot.

I also got my hair cut!  Bangs!  There's a picture on facebook.

These are all on 6x6 inch ceramic tiles:

Shooting Stars and Sizzling Maseca

I can't believe it's the middle of August already.

I really enjoyed the health screening clinic for one week.  The pay was good and the work was easy, and I got to meet a lot of people. The room we were in had a really nice view of the mountains.  Unfortunately these screening clinics arent on any kind of regular schedule, so quien sabe (who knows)  when the next one will be.

I finally received a job offer from a home care agency with which I interviewed last month.  I've started training and should be out on my own within the week.  I'm happy to start working with some regularity.

Ryan has really been enjoying the GPR.  He's learning a lot and really just enjoying dentistry and getting more efficient at his procedures.  He is on call again starting Wednesday for one week.  He's also been listening to spanish lessons in the car on his way to and from the clinic.  I listen when I'm in the car with him and I'm getting a little better with it too!

We hiked to Lake Blanche on Saturday and came back down in time to see The Tour of Utah road bike racers go by, flying down Big Cottonwood Canyon.  It was really neat to see.  We finished off our day with gluten free pizza from The Pie near the U Campus.

Sunday morning found us waking with the nighcrawlers.  We got up at 4 and made it up to Guardsman Pass by about 4:45.   We were looking for shooting stars/meteors.  Ryan got an excellent shot of one with our camera.  We each saw about 4 or 5 go by over about an hour period.  We came home and got back in bed for a couple hours.

I've been making tortillas and arepas with the masa (maseca) flour I picked up a couple weeks ago.  Both recipes are basically just corn flour and water with maybe a little lime juice or salt and tossed onto a frying pan.  I use very little oil and we always have home made tortillas now, the arepas make a good bun substitute for burgers or sandwiches.

I've started dabbling in alcohol inks on yupo paper as well as ceramic tiles.  I'm still learning how to use them, but I'm having fun doing a little art work.

Ryan will be headed off to Montezuma, Utah in a couple of weeks for the entire month of September.  I'll be visiting Canfield for the first week he's gone, and I plan on meeting him half-way one weekend while he's down there.  He's bringing his bike and is looking forward to mountain biking is that area.

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone back home, including celebrating my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary.  I'll also be going to se Train in concert at the Canfield Fair with mom  :)  Fun times ahead!

We've spent quite a bit of time in the Wasatch since moving here

Mint Limeade at the Pioneer park farmers market

Ferguson Canyon

Check out that meteor!

Hike up to Lake Blanch

Lake Blanch

The Tour of Utah bike racers

Alcohol ink on tiles, nevermind the TP!