Utah Trip

I am finally getting around to posting about my trip to Utah back in July!

Driving through a dust storm to get to my Dad's.  We spent the night there and then everyone headed out the next morning to make the BIG drive.

Passing Lake Powell along the way

 

Our first morning there was Blythe's birthday.  Grandma Homer is the best party thrower around so of course she went all out for Blythe and she was in heaven:)

The weather was beautiful and the kids had a blast playing outside.  They also loved having Great Grandma & Grandpa out there with them:)

My brother and I had a very eventful, but ultimately unsuccessful, bike ride! We decided to try and ride down the Jordan River Parkway. We made a couple of discoveries.  One was that it is a pretty neat idea but it is NOT friendly to road bikers who want to cruise over 13-14 mph.  There was just too much foot traffic, hairpin turns, tunnels with blind exits etc. We started out and after a few miles hit a dirt path which is kind of a no go on a road bike:(

We turned around and decided to try going back the way we came. The bike paths mostly go under the main roads so you don't have to stop to cross the city streets.

We came to a tunnel that was flooded and we were a little bit worried about biking through it because we couldn't tell how deep it was.

We decided to cross the main road through traffic and catch back up to the path on the other side.

We found a great stretch of path with no one else on it (Oh wait there was that random old man wearing almost nothing and sun bathing on a bench!) so we could really ride at a decent speed.  We were so happy that our ride was finally taking off when...

We came upon this! We were locked in and pretty bummed out about it.  We decided to turn around and ride the path back the way we came again in order to meet up with my dad who had the kids at a local park playing.  

When we came back to the place where we could have to cross the main street again we found we were locked in.  We were a bit confused since this gate was open a few minutes ago and we had just entered through it!  Then I remembered seeing a maintenance truck to the side of the path when we came in.  Apparently the gate we entered is usually locked but we happened to come at prime time and sneak through without realizing it:)  When the maintenance worker left he locked the gate behind him.  Now we were on our own to find a different path out.  I decided this was getting crazy and we were going to brave the water under the tunnel.  It turned out not to be deep at all and we were berating ourselves for not using it in the first place and saving ourselves a load of trouble!  We started to ride towards my dad and we were on our way.  We were almost there when I made a navigational error that took us way out of our way and things spiraled down from there.  Eventually we just pulled over at a fast food place for a bite to eat and called my dad to come get us.  I guess I should know better than to read the map on my phone while pedaling through traffic at 15 mph!  Lesson learned.  We still managed to get in 25 miles but it was definitely not the ride we were hoping for.

They have some great parks near my Grandparents house and we took full advantage

My awesome sister who spent all day hanging out at parks with me and the kiddos:)

We decided to ride the light rail into to Salt Lake City and take the kids to see Temple Square.  The train ride was interesting.  It was super crowded because it was the 24th of July and our car was filled with college kids.  There was literally standing room only at some points.  The highest point (or lowest depending on how you look at it) of the ride was when Rand and Blythe started having a huge fight over who was going to hold on to what hand hold. The argument culminated in Rand yelling as loud as he could "Blythe you better let me hold on here or I am going to kill myself!!!" It drew the attention of pretty much everyone on the train.  Talk about embarrassing!  

My brother was a great help with the kids, but I think he was starting to get annoyed that everyone thought we were a couple out on a stroll with our children.  This actually happened several time on the trip.  He eventually took to saying "This is my older SISTER, eleven years older!"  I couldn't help but laugh.  I claimed the confusion was because I look 17.  He though it was because he looked so old and mature:)

 

This is a bad picture but we stopped by City Center to check things out and it was pretty cool. Next time we're up there I want to go back when we have more time.

Trevin and I decided (actually I kind of roped him into it since climbing isn't his favorite) to ride up Little Cottonwood Canyon.  It is known as one of the best (or worst depending on how you look at it) climbs in the US.  My dad dropped us off at the fork in the canyon and we started our uphill grind. This ride gains 3500 feet in elevation 8.4 miles.  

It was pretty tough but also beautiful and I just kept plugging along.  I was slow and steady, actually super slow and steady:) My brother started out ahead but gradually lost momemtum.  I think he started out too fast for a climb like this.  He is still learning to pace himself:) I eventually passed him on the side of the road and he seemed pretty done.  He didn't want to climb anymore so I told him I was going on to the halfway mark and then I would turn around.  I thought about leaving him there but I had probably another hour of climbing and I felt bad leaving him to bake on the side of the road:(

I continued on to the halfway point and when I turned around he was still sitting on the side of the road!  I was really hauling now so I yelled that I would meet him at the bottom.  After I reached the bottom he still hadn't shown up so I started climbing again until he came down.  We decided to just ride the rest of the way to my Grandma's instead of calling my dad since we skipped out on half the climb up the canyon.  We rode down Wasatch Boulevard back to Sandy and I put in an even 20 miles.  This was by far my favorite descent I have done on my bike and I can't wait to go back again and do it right!

Later that afternoon we drove up to the Logan area to visit my other Grandma and my Aunt's family.  I took this photo because I think they have cool front door:)

Leisel painted the girls nails and they were in heaven! My kids loved all the attention they got from my aunt and cousins.  Rand fell in love with Brielle (17) which created many hilarious situations.  Bryce (14) was a great sport to entertain the kids and let them basically crawl all over him for three days.

Grandma Great and Farrah.  We were so glad to visit and catch up and we hope they survived us.  We can be a pretty intense bunch to host when your not used to having little ones around.  

After this we headed back to Sandy packed up and drove home the next morning.  We had a fun trip but we were all glad to head home and see Nick!