Where is it 3

You guys are a little too good at this game, so I am not going to give any hints this time. And as for the rule of "if you were on this trip with us you can't guess", if you don't remember wheather you were on this trip or not, go ahead and guess, you will probably be wrong, ha ha ha.

Epic Weekend

Sometimes I think we are a little crazy, and yeah, we might bite off a little more than we can chew every once in a while, well here is a good example of this. We left thursday after work with the intent of driving all the way to Jackson that night. We didn't make it that far, but at 12:30 and almost to Star Valley we stopped and stayed in a campground for the night.

The plan was to get up early and be to Jenny Lake and hiking by 10:00. Well it was a little further to Jenny Lake than we thought and we stopped to get breakfast in Jackson. About 12:00 we got to the trailhead and started hiking. I have not included pictures of this section of the hike as it was something I think that Angela and I would both not be bothered if we forgot. This was one of those lessons in "we need to buy some lighter gear" Anyhow we made it to the Moraine Camping area about 6 miles, 4000 feet of elevation later and around 7:00 PM. Despite the long day, nothing beats chillin at the campsite after you worked so hard to get there. We watched the sunset while we ate dinner and then watched the lightning in the distant Windriver Mountains and were surprised when thousands of moths started flying around us and even hitting us and the tent.

During the night we were woken up at 3,5 and 6 by hikers making their bid for the top. We were a little lazy, and woke up for good around 7. This is where the pictures begin. The first two are the morning view from our tent. The first is up to the saddle and the second is down into the valley where we left Cher, yeah it is a long ways down there.





This next picture is of me about halfway between the lower saddle and the black dike with the Middle Teton Glacier in the background. This is about where we realized we were in trouble because no one else was behind us anymore and we were sucking wind pretty good.


This is a picture looking up at the Grand from the lower saddle.


This is some of the crags on the Idaho side of the Tetons.


This is where we decided we were done for this trip. It was 11:00 we were both pretty tired and we had just made it past the eye of the needle, which I was pretty happy with. If we had another night to stay in the Moraine or didn't have to be back in Jackson by 8 to prevent worrying we may have made it further, but we learned a lot, had a great time and next time we will know more about what we are up against. The upper saddle was just above us another 300 vertical feet and the top was 1000 above us.


Not a whole lot of trees up there.


Look we are still happy! We made it up to where there is a notch and flat spot on the left side of the peak. Not bad for my first try.


The token Buffalo pictures.


Saturday night we stayed with Aunt Joan and Uncle Arnold in their Condo. It sure is a different world from staying on the mountain to get a hot shower and a nice dinner. Here are two pictures from our drive Sunday.



Overall we had a great trip, a little quick and for sure we need a little more time to acclimate and to climb the Grand, but we learned and nextime will be great. Our goodbye to Wyoming was wonderfull, as we were driving down the Snake River Gorge, the Fall colors were some of the brightest I have ever seen. We took some pictures, but you know, it is never the same on the camera. Made it home about 12:30 and went to work monday morning.

It's Official!

Yes friends and family, it is now official. I am a teacher. Yikes, I know. And although my class got out today with no math no spelling and a very confusing science lesson, I feel we will be ok in the end. Who needs math and spelling anyway, right? I just had to post so you would all know that I survived and that I am no longer wondering what I will do with my life. I loved it. But, boy do I have a lot to learn!

2nd Anniversary

Of course you can't let an anniversary go by without doing something memorable, so that is just what we did. We went to the Tushar Mountains near Beaver. Mount Delano is the highest in the Tushar Mountains at 12,134 feet above sea level. Delano is the highest peak in Piute and Beaver Countys, and the 7th highest of the Utah County high points. The trailhead is about 10,000 and the hike is only about 2 miles. It was awesome, you could see for 100 miles+ in all directions, to the Henry Mountains, Pine Valley and into Nevada. It was very pretty and very different from other high peaks we have hiked. Unfortunately we forgot our camera, so all you get is pictures taken with our Camera phone. Hope you still like them, they kind of look like paintings. On our way home from hiking, Angela got to use her new fishing pole, caught her first fish even, and then we went to the Green Show at the Shakespearean Festival. One more year of fun, and one more on the way.
Baldy and Belknap Peaks

North towards Sanpete County

Ang and the Mailbox

The little white dots are about 40 Mountain Goats about 100 yards from us.

The Reunion '07

Fishing in Whiterocks Canyon

The footbridge at Jones Hole

Jones Hole

The Clan at Jones Hole

The Subway needs a post too.

Since my parents were coming to Bryce Canyon, and my Dad has been wanting to see the Subway, we took them on Monday. We had two extra permits, and you can't let those go to waste, so we invited Tony and Dave to come down too. My mom did great, making it all the way to Keyhole falls. We climbed up and went to where the water got nasty, which is always a good place to turn around:) It was good fun for all, and we even go to use the Happy Hooker for the first real time. Here are just some of the many pictures taken.

Packed Summer

Here is the update, in hyperspeed. When Angela's brother Scott came home from his mission, Josh and Amanda came down to see him and spend some time with us too. We went to Las Vegas and Picked up Scott, and then when Scott and Angela's parents went home, the rest of us went to Zion for the day. We hiked the overlook trail and then played in the Pine Creek Waterfall where we built what have been dubbed the pooh castles. (Sorry I don't have many pictures) On a whim we stayed in Springdale and watched Transformers at the Imax, 9x larger (and you better know that when you leave, because they tell you that like 10 times) and unfortunately for Addy, probably 9x louder too. We had a great time with Josh and Amanda.

The next weekend we did work around the house and then stayed Saturday night at Yankee Meadows, a nice break from the heat. The following Friday night we went to Bryce Canyon with my parents. Saturday we rode the Thunder Mountain Bike trail which ended up being pretty intense, and then we hiked the Queen's Garden Trail in Bryce.

Thunder Mountain switchbacks over Red Canyon

Ang on the downhill

Oh how nice

Caught you Austin!

This is Ang heading for a razor ridge with the trail on top and very, very steep hills on the sides.

Queen's Garden

Queen's Garden

Queen's Garden

Queen's Garden/Navajo Loop