May 12 – hiking in Capitol Reef NP
We hiked the Capitol Gorge trail.

 

Along this trail was a short steep hike to The Tanks - hidden water pockets

Then we hiked up to the Golden Throne.  This trail was 2 miles long with an elevation change of 730 ft.  Panoramic view of Golden Throne and Capitol Gorge.  Let me tell you, the  2-mi hike back down the mountain was so much easier!

After lunch we went on our third hike along the Fremont River.  This was an easy stroll along the river, then steep climb to panoramas.

My Fitbit showed 24,365 steps – 9.7 miles

May 11 2017 - Capitol Reef National Park
Staying at Thousand Lakes RV Park in Torrey, Utah.  Nice park with full hook-ups (electric, water and dump).  located just 6 miles from the park. 

Drove to the Capitol Reef NP visitors' center and ran into a bunch of Park Rangers. 

Stopped at some of the sights along the way:  Twin Rocks

Chimney Rock

the Castle

Finished the day with a delicious dinner:  grilled porterhouse steak, twice baked potatoes and eggplant topped with mozzarella - yum!  Beautiful evening sitting by the campfire.

Bryce Canyon National Park – May 7-11 2017

From Zion we drove to Bryce Canyon City.  And guess what?!  Driving through the upper portion of the mountains we hit a snow storm.  I called it a blizzard!  Really, May 7^th and snow?!  Got to the RV park and in the office a sign was posted: “Freezing temperatures tonight.  Disconnect water hose”.

May 8 – Beautiful sunny day.  We drove 18 miles to the southern end of Bryce Canyon National Park.  We hiked the Bristlecone Trail at Rainbow Point.  On the drive back we stopped at the different scenic outlooks:  Black Birch Canyon, Ponderosa Canyon, Agua Canyon, Natural Bridge, Farview Point, Swamp Canyon, Inspiration Point, and walked from Sunset Point to Sunrise Point.

May 9 – woke up to overcast skies.  Set out early to hike the Navajo/Queens Garden Loop.  The sun broke out just as we started our hike.  Another perfect day for hiking among the beautiful Hoodoos in Bryce Canyon!

May 7 – last day in Zion National Park.  Headed up to Kolob Canyon, located in the northern part of Zion NP.  We hiked 2 different trails today. Timber Creek Overlook Trail was a short easy hike.  Scenery was very pretty.

 Then we hiked the 5-mi Taylor Creek Trail.  The Middle Fork Creek feeds into Taylor Creek.  In the 2.5 mile walk to the Double Arch Alcove, we crossed  the Middle Fork Creek 60 (sixty) times!  Going by the time and gauge on Mike’s phone this trail seemed longer than 5 miles. 

The wilderness is so beautiful

May 3 2017
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Left Fresno to head out on our 6-month road trip!

Mike did all the driving today.  The worst traffic was on I-15 thru Las Vegas.  The scenery near Arizona was beautiful.  At one point, we looked ahead at the mountains and wondered where the road was going.  Turned out we drove thru the Virgin River Gorge.

Took 11 hrs to reach the Zion River RV Resort.  This is located 14 mi from Zion NP. Very nice RV park: full hookups, WiFi, Cable TV, pool, free morning coffee and a lot of other activities.
Kudos to Mike for his superb driving!!

May 4-6 2017 - ZION NATIONAL PARK
located in the Southwestern United States, near Springdale, Utah. A prominent feature of the 229-square-mile (590 km²) park is Zion Canyon, which is 15 miles (24 km) long and up to half a mile (800 m) deep, cut through the reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone by the North Fork of the Virgin River. The hiking in Zion National Park is world famous.

May 4 2017 - Zion NP is absolutely beautiful. Weather today was totally perfect.  We hiked to the Emerald Pools (3), Weeping Rock, the Riverside Walk, Court of the Patriarchs, and went on the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive.  In all, we hiked over 5 miles which doesn’t sound like a lot but this was mountain hiking.  A real cardio workout!!

first day hiking

in front of the Patriarchs

May 5 2017 - another beautiful day.  we set out early to hike to Scouts Lookout, a nice little viewpoint where we got a good look at Angels Landing and the main canyon below.  The steep incline lets up for a little bit until we reached an amazing bit of 1930's CCC engineering: Walter's Wiggles -- a set of many steep, compact switchbacks that takes the trail all the way up to the top of the ridge above Refrigerator Canyon.  From the Wiggles, it's just a few more minutes to Scout's Lookout.  At one point along the trail I had my doubts.  Didn't know if I could make the climb.  With a little bit of encouragement from Mike, we made it to Scouts Lookout - what a magnificent view of the canyon!! It was a 6 mile hike roundtrip.

Took the shuttle to the Zion Human History Museum.  From there we hiked the Pa'rus Trail back to the Visitors' Center and had lunch.  Afterwards, we drove out on the Zion-Mt Carmel Hwy, a 12-mi scenic drive with steep switchbacks and thru the 1-mi tunnel. Saw Checkerboard Mesa.

Checkerboard Mesa

May 6 2017 - drove to the other side of the national park. Drove up Kolob Terrace Road towards Lava Point.  Roads are winding and steep.  Came upon a cowboy and a small herd of cows & calves right on the road! 

The 20-mi drive took us to Lava Point Overlook.  From there we were able to see all the peaks in Zion Canyon where we hiked the previous 2 days. 

On the way back, we stopped at Grapevine Trail.  We hiked down a small canyon wall to North Creek.  OMG!  That was a really challenging hike - steep narrow, rocky path.  Just a few minutes from the start of the hike I was so close to telling Mike "I can't do it".  But we made it down to the creek.  On the way back up, I thought I was going to die.  Must have stopped a dozen times to catch my breath.  Mike admitted I scared him.

the slope is steeper than these pictures look!

May 7 - heading out to Bryce Canyon National Park.

March 2017
(a very costly month!)
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                 We went to the

Went to the Home Show looking for ideas and potential vendors to do work on the house.  Well, needless to say we were successful for a few upgrades to the house.
1.  Got the house power washed, primed and painted the exterior with the Coolwall application.

2.  Replaced the large living window with double-paned windows with 2 sliding side windows.

3.  Had solar panels installed.

4.  Enclosed the patio.  It's like having another room to the house.  I love it!

We are very pleased how everything turned out!

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Hosted by Lynn & Mike, this was the first gathering of cousins. The event was attended by 19 cousins & spouses. Our honorary guests were: Uncle Phil (Dad's brother) & Auntie Loretta, Aunties Vi and Ginny (Dad's sisters) and Uncle Hanfon. This was a very special gathering!

There was a unanimous vote to have the annual gathering at our house!!  Can't wait!!

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March 20th - went to Table Mountain Casino to see Martina McBride.  Good show.  She's been around for quite some time!

Loved hearing her old hits!