Traveling

Two days after Christmas, we crammed too much stuff into our van and headed off to Georgia. Luckily, this photo does not reflect all of our travels, but some moments were like it. And you can see how packed the van was.

We drove seven to eight hours a day, and tried to do one fun thing each day. In New Mexico we took a walk in a nature park, where Peter had fun chasing geese and I enjoyed a demonstration garden.

In Albuquerque we toured the Balloon Museum. I discovered hot air balloons are quite boring to fly. They only go up and down, and then you have to wait for wind currents to take you anywhere. (They had a few simulators up.)

I enjoyed the humid, swampy air in Arkansas where we took a little walk and went disk golfing. We lost two disks in the first two holes on the disk golf course. The course was by a river, and on the first hole there was water on either side. I threw mine into the water on the left, and Joe threw his into the water on the right. We kept going anyway and enjoyed the rest of the course.

We spent the weekend at Aunt Becki’s house. Peter had lots of toys and cousins to play with, and it was a great break from lots of driving and Cars 2 (we watched that many times to get Peter through the trip). I’ve wanted to go visit for a while, and enjoyed spending lots of time with them. The weather has been incredible, so we went out to the park one day. Becki’s a great photographer to, and posted photos of us here that are very cute.

One week after leaving, we arrived at our final destination: Duluth GA, just northeast of Atlanta.

California Vacation

We left Sunday afternoon for the long drive to California and proceed to drive hours through the middle of nowhere. Highway 6 in Nevada has got to be one of the boringest roads ever. We found a lovely motel in Tonopah called the Clown Motel. The name scared me a lot, but the price was good. The hotel was decorated in clowns, not my choice of décor, but it was clean and functioning and most of all cheap so it worked for a night.

Back to the road, we made it to Yosemite before lunch and entered the east side on the Tioga Road. It’s not the prettiest part of Yosemite, quite a bit like what are mountains are here and I don’t need to drive hours to see that. We did climb the Lembert Dome which was a four mile hike to the top of a granite capped mountain. It’s a good way to wimp out of hiking half-dome. Peter hiked a lot too.

We camped up at Hodgdon’s Meadow. It was a bit far from things but at least in the park (reservations aren’t plentiful a month before going). That evening we made a stop to Bridal Veil Falls and then to the store to buy everything we forgot, including a can opener and flashlights. I’m miffed about the flashlights. I love a good headlamp. A cheap flashlight was not a good replacement.

The next morning we went down to Mariposa grove to see the Sequoias. We took the bus down (Peter quite enjoyed that), and enjoyed a stroll through the forest. I absolutely love old-growth forests with huge trees. We went back up to Yosemite Valley and took a bike ride to Mirror Lake. It wasn’t much of lake, but was a fun ride. Joe set to work building something with sand and Peter and I waded around the creek. There was a good view of half-dome there too. We visited the visitor’s center and finished by hiking to lower falls.

Back at camp we had our only camp fire of the week. (I really don’t like camp fires.) We cooked hot dogs and strawberry marshmallows and Peter didn’t get burned. (Last trip he picked up a hot hot-dog stick and burned his hand pretty good.) That was it for Yosemite—we camped up and drove out the next morning.

We went through agriculture paradise mixed with very dry areas to visit Joe’s brother in Pacific Grove. After a short visit, we went down the coast to camp at Limekiln State Park. It is a beautiful place to camp. We were about 100 yards from the beach. There were also areas up in a redwood grove.

The next morning, we hiked the few trails in the park. That was probably the most serene, fun and pretty part of the whole trip. There was a 100 ft waterfall, lots of redwoods, creeks, and the lime kilns for which the park was named. The kilns were much bigger than expected and pretty cool to see as they gradually eroded into the landscape. On our way back a random guy hailed us. He recognized us from the Yosemite campground. We were neighbors for a couple of nights there, and then ended up in the same campground 5 hours away. Very random.

We drove to a few other State Parks, including a cool waterfall at Julia Pfeiffer state park, and another less-cool one at Big Spur. That one involved a hot, ugly trail up to it. The original trail went thought the cool redwoods, but had been burned out and instead we bypassed the redwoods for a steep, shrubby slope. We went to Pfeiffer Beach in the afternoon and played in the sand. I even got a little nap in.

Friday we spent visiting Joe’s brother and family again. He had a double sea kayak that we took out on the ocean. Even Peter got a ride. We also took a very long walk over to Fisherman’s Warf for chowder and ice cream. It was a lot of fun to visit with them.

Saturday we drove home. It included a delicious lunch at Chili’s, which was wonderful except Peter threw up his huge pizza right after. He threw-up a total of five times before I wised up and gave him Dramamine. After that, he was so much happier. The drive home was long and almost uneventful. We ended up getting a flat tire 40 miles west of Wendover at 10:30 at night. Somehow we still made it home on the spare and pulled up at 2:30 am on Sunday.

Here’s a load of pictures to complete the long post. Enjoy.

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Vacation

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To end Joe’s three-week break, we took a vacation. My planning consisted of when we were leaving, the general direction we were headed, and what we were going to eat. I made no reservations or firm destinations. On Monday night, the day before we planned on going, poor little Peter started to throw-up. Much of that evening and the next morning were spent cleaning carpets or doing laundry. He seemed okay after a long nap, and we were both unwilling to cancel the vacation so we headed down south.

We stopped by Cove Fort as a rest stop. I realized how wasteful I’ve gotten, and I want to be more thrifty. On the tour, they were showing all the ways they would reuse materials, like making old clothes into rugs. I was also impressed by the craftsmanship behind everything. They lived well, even when they didn’t have a lot.

Next we went to Cedar City to visit a good friend. She wasn’t home. So we kept driving and went through Kolob Canyon for a scenic drive. During the drive Peter threw-up again (but he was doing a lot better, just ate far too many fruit snacks). We went back to Cedar City and stayed the night at my friend’s house. That was very nice because not only was I able to wash the clothes Peter threw-up on, it rained. I also play the best game ever–The Farming Game. My farm was filled with fruit trees. The game is actually pretty representative of farming too, including real pests and harvest schedules. Someday, I might go ahead and own a small farm. In the meantime, I liked pretending to be a farmer.

We finally made it to Zion’s the next morning. Our first stop was to get a campsite, but the campground was already mostly full. We managed to find what must have been the worst site in the whole campground. It was a walk-in site a good 100 yards or more from our car with absolutely no shade. I was just very grateful we found a campsite.

After lunch, we took the shuttle up to Emerald Pools and hiked up and around. I was surprised that I was in decent shape, and Joe is in shape not matter what he does. Peter started his wining and no’s that lasted a lot of the trip. He did enjoy himself: I think he also got very tired. His favorite activities included splashing in puddles and throwing rocks into the river. I think he prefers the scenery of “cars” more than beautiful red cliffs.

The next day we went to hike Angel’s landing and did all but the last half mile. I was very surprised that they have a trail there and I don’t think I ever want to finish it. I hike to enjoy myself not scare myself.  We had Peter along too, and he makes an excellent excuse. On the way back he started crying, and we all got a much-needed nap back at camp. Our final hike was the riverside walk. There were plenty of rocks with a river near by at the end  for Peter.

No camping trip is complete without a campfire. We did hot dogs and s’mores and within an hour of lighting in, we put it out again. I’m just not into campfires, and ours was smoking too much. The next morning we were all ready to go home. Overall, it was a great trip. (And cheap. The whole thing cost $100, mostly in gas money. Joe even gets paid time off at his work.) But camping with toddlers ends up in a lot of complaining.

Disneyland

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My dad had a conference in Anaheim, so Peter and I tagged along with some of my family and went to the beach and Disneyland. Peter would wake up in the morning and just rock in his stroller, excited to go to back to Disneyland. We were there three days of magical fun, and rode nearly all the rides. Peter did wonderfully the entire trip, and it was fun to have him along. The more cheesy rides made him excited: so they were better for us all. The only thing bad about the trip was Joe had to stay home and go to school and work. Thanks Mom, for letting me come!

Vacation

We survived our vacation, and enjoyed most of it. Trips are much harder with a kid in tow. Everything took longer to do and so we didn’t do as much. But it was still very enjoyable. First we had to stop by a couple of public gardens that were beautiful. We went up to Logan and visited lots of family and friends, kept going to Grand Tetons and camped two nights. It rained, but not when we were putting up or taking down camp. Just the whole day we had to go out hiking and visit places. We went hiking anyway, but not quite as much as we might have. The one trail we went on was across a lake, up to a fall, and back around the same lake. We saw a moose + baby on our way back, and it stopped raining.

We visited my brother who moved up to Powell to go to school, and back home taking one final stop at my wonderful grandparents. It turned out to be a great trip. I decided not to really plan it–we had a direction and that’s about it. As it came close a lot of the plans just came together. It was fun and a nice break from home.

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Family Reunion

This weekend was the my dad’s parents family reunion. I got to see all of my cousins, some of whom I have not seen for ages. We went up to the Heber Valley girl’s camp. The first day, we went canoeing on a small lake and Joe and I shared a canoe. We out paddles all my other siblings we raced against.  Little Peter went with his grandparents on a paddleboat. Lots of fun, except Peter was pretty tired. He cried for a while, and finally went to sleep.

After an okay night’s sleep in the cabin (Pete was up a few times, but did go right back to sleep after nursing), we did some ropes courses. My family was pretty good–nice long arms and athleticism helped us out, although I cannot swing on a rope for whatever reason. Then I climbed a hanging log and went down a zip line. I’ve never been that good at that type of thing, but I did it.

Most all the rest of the weekend was spent eating and talking. Then Monday, Joe and I went to a garden and Ikea. Peter was so tired after all of that. Today we are spending a day at home with good naps so he’ll hopefully be back to his cheery self. Oh–he’s also started to figure out crawling. He can go forward a bit, and isn’t so frustrated.

Great-Grandparents with Pete and cousin’s son

This is from the picture cube we made.

Sliding over to zip down

Hugs from brothers

Camping

We went on our first camping trip with Peter this past weekend. I decided to go up Hobble Creek canyon to Cherry campground because it was close, but mostly that’s where I found a campsite. So on Friday, we loaded up and headed out. It went very well too. Peter slept fine, we had fun roasting huge marshmallows and eating tin foil dinners. The next morning, we packed up and went on a hike.

The hike was the left fork of Day’s Canyon, and it left from the campground. I printed out the USGS map, but didn’t look at it. Turns out the trail involved crossing the stream 15 times! This wasn’t over bridges but wading right through or using an occasional log. I’m glad Joe was carrying Pete–we wouldn’t have made it far if I was. I get a bit scared crossing on logs. At the end of all the crossings was a beautiful meadow where we had lunch. Great hike for a hot day, just make sure you are wearing something that can get wet. We had our Chaco’s on, so it worked great.

Socks with Sandals. Convenient, not fashionable.

Hiking in Fall

So last Saturday Joe and I went hiking up Logan on the Crimson Trail. At even though it was Novemeber–it wasn’t cold! It was the best hiking weather we could have asked for. Cloudy, just warm enough not to need a jacket. The trail was pretty awesome too. It ran along the top of this rock wall imbeded in the canyon. So heres some pictures, along with the jack-o-latern pumpkins we made at Halloween

Us on the trail

Babbling Spring

Liz on the scary cliff

Jack-o-Latern 1

Jack-o-Latern 2

Hammock

So I got Joe a hammock for his birthday. I love to camp in hammocks–that was last summer’s fun thing to do on the weekend, so I decided to get Joe one so he could go with me.

We went up to Cherry Creek by Richmond, which I thought was a new trail. When we got there, I realized that we had been there last spring. Oh well. It was still a pretty good trail. Hiked up a while and passed 3 hunters coming down. I HATE HUNTING. I always feel like I can’t do anything in the fall up in the mountains without having to A)Hear gunshots and B)Worrying about getting shot. But I went anyway, mostly because I know B probably won’t happen if I not stupid.

We didn’t get up there until about 7:30, so in the short amount of time we had, we hiked a short distance, and hung the hammocks. I was worried about getting cold, and Joe was worried about mosquitoes, and instead we got rain. Now, I do not have a rain fly for my hammock. I was lucky to have brought along a blanket that turned out to be pretty water resistant. Joe’s hammock is nicer than mine, and is water-proof. He wrapped it around himself and was good. The hammock also turns into a lean-to/rain-fly/other useful camping things, which is why I immediately thought it was the coolest thing ever and bought it for Joe for his birthday.

So sleep after 3:00 in the morning (when the rain started) was not that great. I did get to watch the sun rise, I can’t see any colors, and the next I can see all the green/red (the fall colors have started!) of all the trees.

Fun trip–however not the best for sleeping.

Trail to Camp

Hammock Stacking

Joe in Hammock

Last Day of Vacation

We slept well on the nice soft bed and leisurely ate breakfast. We then started out at about 9:00 AM on our longest driving day ever from Portland to Logan. We planned for only one stop at Multnomah Falls. It is a beautiful site. Not much water was falling but it fell a total of over 600 feet so it was amazing to see. We quickly hiked to the bridge that spans the river just about the second fall. We got back to Logan at about 10:00 PM. Over all we drove about 2400 miles around our vacation loop. We had tons of fun and hope to do other fun trips like this in the future.

Mulltnomah Falls