Yosemite National Park

Here we are at the sign by the front gate at Yosemite. Melody had never been there, so we decided to spend a couple of days camping and hiking some of the scenic trails.

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I'll get the unpleasantness out of the way first. There were no camp sites available in any of the park camps. Even the one I had planned on using (figuring it was so far away from the valley floor that it surely would have a few sites empty). No such luck. We spent 8 hours in the car the first day driving to Yosemite, looking for sites, and driving back outside the park to get a spot in the closest campground we could find. Below you see my cute wife beside our new tent.

Okay, better things happened the next day. We got several GREAT photos of all the must see sights, including El Capitan (looking East on the left and looking West on the right). No climbers were on the face that day.

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This is Bridal Veil Falls, our first mini-hike which was very nice. Later, on our way to the foot of Yosemite Falls, I snapped this photo of Half Dome, which from this angle looks very similar to Old Man Mountain. In reality, what you see from this view is mostly the face of the cliff. The dome itself is very thin - almost like it should be named 1/10 Dome instead of 1/2 Dome.

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You've seen (and maybe been through) drive-through trees - this is a drive through rock near a southern entrance to that park. Very picturesque. We would have enjoyed it much more had we not already been in the car for 7 hours looking for a place to camp... At right you see me outstanding in my field. Actually, the meadow that is Yosemite Valley.

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Below is a far-away view of Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls, and the other one is also taken from a distance with me standing up close to the falls with my arms spread and getting wet.

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Probably my favorite part of the day was when Melody let me hike all the way up to Vernal Falls. It's a short 1.5 miles one way - and a 1,000' gain in elevation. It's really not bad until the last 2/10th of a mile. Then it becomes very steep stair steps - and very wet. That's why they call it the Mist Trail. I got soaked through. Anyway, here's couple of shots of Vernal Falls. On the left 'm at the top of the falls looking over the edge, on the right is just below the falls. Beautiful.

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While I was moving up the trail, taking pics at the top, and running back down, Mom made it much of the way up. I was impressed. It turned out to be easier to head up at that elevation (6,000'-7,000') than I thought it would be. I'm grimacing in the photo below because I'm holding the camera while having the mist from the falls blow right into my face. Did I mention that I got very wet?

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We visited the museum, saw the exhibits, hiked to the falls, and did pretty much everything we wanted. There's a lot to do, but we didn't want to stay outside the park again for a second night, so we drove home. Maybe we'll have to do it with you guys some time.

And finally, for those who were camping at the coast several years ago (sorry Chris, you were in Boston) here's a special feature I know you'll appreciate.

State Fair 2011

We had a great time at the fair Wednesday. To give you some kind of flavor (get it?) of what I spent most of my time doing, see the photo below. This is actually a picture of a picture, but I like how it makes me feel, so I included it here.

I started with a Jumbo corn dog, then a tri-flavor popcicle. Added a large lemonade because we tasted some of the "Local Chef Cook-off" produce (yumm), then Mom and I downed a kind of disappointing cinnamon roll and milk, so I chased it down with a funnel cake. For the real meal I had a 14" polish sausage (no kidding, 14 inches) along with some grilled vegetables (and more lemonade). I polished off an ice cream sandwich on our way out the door. It was a fun day.

Below you see two of the three stilt walkers that roamed the fair grounds. They weren't really mimes (at least one of them was talking most of the time), even though they dressed the part.

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On the left you see my impersonation of Paul McCartney at Abby Road (I remember once just after I started teaching that one of the other teachers at Bridge St. School said I looked like Paul - I thought she was crazy), and on the right Melody stands in front of one of the great pyramids of South America.

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When we were in England I got my picture taken in a phone booth. Wed. it was Melody's turn. Now take a look at the chart of "one-hit wonders" from the really fun Rock & Roll exhibit. Pam and Kim (and David) take particular note of the 5th song down. Yes!

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Not much to say about these last two photos. I just like the work done (by teenagers) on this 3' vase with the "Up" characters. Below that are just a couple of statues that I thought the grand kids would like.

There were a lot of fun things to see, and it was nice and warm. I could probably go back for another afternoon/evening and spend more time there. But then I always have fun at the fair.

You Guys Remember This?

In the first 15 years we were married, we never lived in a place with a garage. So we saved our money, asked my Dad to be the "consulting engineer", and I built a garage next to the house. After we poured the slab floor and before I started framing it, I had the and Mom join me in putting our hand prints in the wet cement.

I didn't really plan too well, because when I installed the door the threshold ended up covering the date, Mom's & my names, and part of Chris' name. (You can just make out the lighter strip at the bottom.)

This may have to go with us if we ever leave this house - along with the downstairs closet door where how tall each of you were on various dates is recorded. (And Kim's infamous "height" statement.)



Another Baby Hall

No, not in our immediate family, but most of you know James and Sabrina are expecting in November. Today she let us know that she had just come from her latest ultrasound - and found out they are expecting a girl!

New Trailer

For several years now I've been using a trail that a good friend left for me when he moved to haul equipment for concerts, and make trips to the dump. It was a great blessing to have, but it has it's draw backs. A high deck, no ramp, fairly heavy, and bit of an awkward shape.

So last week I bought a trailer that I've had my eye on for a while. It's an ATV trailer with two ramps, a low deck, and is pretty light. I added the sides to make it capable of carrying all kinds of loads.

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The sun hit the reflector just right so that it looks like it lit. Cool.

July 4th

We had a reasonably good day on the 4th. It got better as things rolled along. Mel and I both worked on some of the projects that we each have on out lengthy list to accomplish this summer (which seems to get shorter every year).

I prepared the new rain gutters for installation, Mom sewed, I put the air conditioners in the windows, Mom did some other work.

Later I grilled hamburgers and made some home-made root beer. We had our favorite cabbage salad, potato chips, fruit and ice cream with the sweetest black berries I've ever eaten! Yumm.

The best part was the fireworks show that night. I wish I had photos to share, but no luck. Some of you will remember that the folks down the street from us always have a lot of combined ground works, and a few illegal bottle rockets. This year they had TONS of ground works (several combined families) and lots and lots of rockets! Melody & I stood out there and watched for some time. It was the best fireworks display I've seen in years. Hope you all had enjoyable days too.

Camps and Hiking

In the past three weeks or so I've been to both of our stake's Aaronic Priesthood and Young Women camps. Below are photos from the AP Camp. there was a lot of snow very late in the year (who would believe the kids were having snow ball fights, then swimming in the water).

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One of the highlights of this camp was a visit from Elder Robert C. Oaks (Emeritus Seventy). For those who may not know, Elder Oaks is also a retired Four Star General in the Air Force. His remarks to the boys were especially interesting, because he focused on the 13th Article of Faith and obedience to the commandments (specifically: tithing, Word of Wisdom, and morality) rather than just telling war stories (he flew fighters in Vietnam). Afterward, he gave the boys a chance to ask questions, and that's when he gave some details about serving in the armed forces, being shot down over the Mekong Delta, how the ejection seat worked, and whatnot. That's him in the center below. It was great.

Probably his best line of the evening was when he was introducing himself and said: "you may be impressed that I can still fit into my uniform after all these years, well, all it means is that I was fat when I retired."

The two photos below are from a little hike Chris and I took up Adams Canyon, just east of Kaysville. Even though we were a bit concerned that it might rain, we actually had perfect weather for the trip. It was cool and nice. However, there was too much water for us to actually get to the falls where we intended. We got all the way there, but couldn't cross the creek to see them. We had lots of fun.

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And finally, below is a short video of a creek running down from Camp Bountiful, where the YW held their camp this year. I made an exploratory hike down about 1200' from camp (and back up again - very steep - I haven't sweat that much in weeks!) This was a really nice, very overgrown, shaded trail, but steep! I had a good time.