Weekend Get-Together in McCall, Idaho

January 18-21, 2008

When I am not traveling abroad, I housesit for my parents in their home just outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. It’s a great arrangement for me because (a) it’s free, and (b) my sister Cindy lives just five minutes away with her family. We have a great time together, and I am now very tempted to settle in this area once my travel bug has subsided.

Our other sister, Virginia, lives in McCall, Idaho, with her husband and four daughters. I had never been to Virginia’s house, so Cindy and I decided to fly up one weekend for a short visit. It was great to spend time with Virginia again, learn about her life in small town McCall, and see the incredible beauty of the area.

And we had such a great time with my nieces—four beautiful young women who are so talented and smart, it’s actually…inspiring (which feels somewhat odd to say about people a third of my age). That's what made it such a sweet vacay--hanging with the chicas and their cool ‘rents. We got the 411 about who they’re crushin’on, met Kassie’s off the hook BF, and watched some tight High School Musical II. OMG!

Among other activities, we attended the high school basketball game to see Kassie cheer her team on to…um, well, cheer for her team.

We also went cross-country skiing, my first time. Fun!

And one night I was treated to some songs by the family band—Kassie on drums, Ben on guitar, and Brooke as the lead singer. They are so fantastic! They actually play gigs around town…they are that good!

Kayaking with Orcas!

In the summer of 2006, Warren and I went on a kayaking trip off the coast of Vancouver Island -- and right in the path of migrating Orca whales. It was amazing.  Here are some pictures from our trip:

 

Zip-lining in Whistler

In the summer of 2006, Warren and I went on a Canadian adventure and stopped in Whister, where we enjoyed the beautiful scenery and tried zip-ling.  Here are some pictures:

Hiking in Glacier National Park

In the summer of 2006, Warren and I visited Glacier National Park and had a truly memorable time, including two brilliant overnight hikes and one stunning day canoe trip.  Here are some pictures (in no particular order):

Mini-Trips in Spring 2006

Mountain Biking at Lake Powell
In March 2006, we took a very memorable mountain-biking trip to the Lake Powell area. This was our first mountain biking trip together, and we immediately vowed to do many more. Unfortunately, our ancient bikes weren't so willing, and we had all manner of breakages during the ride...including a flat at the FARTHEST point on the trail. Ooog!

With bikes out of commission, we spent the rest of the weekend enjoying beautiful Lake Powell (top left), then hiking around Nevada's Valley of Fire State Park (right and bottom):

Southern Arizona Weekend with my parents
In mid-April my parents came for a visit. We were eager to show them a great time so we headed to Southern Arizona to take in the sites. We visited a cave, a state historic park, and did lots of eating out! We also toured Tumacacori National Historical Park to see the well preserved ruins of the Franciscan church built there in the early 1800s...

...and the nearby mission of San Xavier del Bac--"the White Dove of the Desert." This is the best preserved mission church in the United States, and stepping into this 200 year old church is like stepping back in time.

Best stop on the trip, however, was a visit to "the Biosphere." I've included the full text of the journal so that you can read about this totally unique, very interesting place that seems straight out of a Sci-Fi movie.

Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument
At the beginning of May we spent a long weekend outdoors exploring the enormous Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. I've included the full text from the journals here...because, truthfully, I am feeling a bit done with this little project for now so I'm taking the easy route. :)

Fall and Winter 2005 Trips

More Zion National Park
You can never tire of a place as magical as Zion National Park, so to celebrate my birthday we headed to Zion yet again. Best part was the slot canyoneering.

Watson Lake
Okay, this really wasn't a trip because Watson Lake is in Prescott (where we were living at the time), but we went there so many evenings that I had to include a few photographs. So pretty.

Thanksgiving Trip
In November, we spent Thanksgiving in Tucson (where Warren had a photoshoot), then headed over to California to spend a few days with my brother's family and parents (who were there visiting.) While in California, we spent one afternoon kayaking in the Newport Back Bay and had fantastically close encounters with all manner of birdlife.

Christmas Break
For the Christmas/New Years holiday, we headed up to Utah to my parents, stopping in en route at Bryce National Park.

After a few days at my parents, we headed through the snowy Uinta mountains over to Dinosaur National Monument to see real, actual dinosaur bones still intact in the dirt (very cool!).

After a few hikes at Dinosaur NM, we spent two days at Canyonlands National Park, hiking in the Island of the Sky area one day (above) and the Needles area the next (below).

We actually went off trail on the return portion of the Needles hike. If it weren't for Warren's supurb backcountry skills, we would surely have had to spend a night in the wilderness--sans tent, jackets, food, etc... It was actually a pretty scary experience, and I'll admit this: I wasn't terribly brave!

Our last stop before ending the two week vacation was to check out the 2,000 year old petroglyphs at Newspaper Rock State Historic Monument.

Summer 2005 Trips

During the summer of 2005, Warren and I went on a number of weekend jaunts in the Western US.  Here's a quick run-down of what we did:


Zion National Park
In early May we made another trip to Zion, catching a beautiful display of 'orange globemallows' en route:

While there, we hiked a bit in Zion, then explored nearby Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park:

In mid-May we took a weekend trip to California so Warren could photograph an airplane, and in late-May we spent a long weekend exploring eastern Arizona (on a photo shoot for a congressman, who wanted some beautiful landscape photographs of Arizona for his office in DC).

White Mountains
In early June we spent a weekend backpacking in the White Mountains, along Arizona's eastern border. It was my first pack-in trip, and other than having a fairly sleepless night, I was hooked. When it was all done, we climbed a nearby fire tower to survey our hiking area:

Zion National Park, again
In mid-June, we spend another weekend in Zion, this time hiking the East Rim Trail...fun but exhausting (a bit too hot!)

Backpacking in Pecos National Forest, NM
Having not gotten our fill of backpacking, we headed out again in early July for a three day hike in the Pecos National Forest, just north of Santa Fe. It was a beautiful spot, and a great hike (other than when we misread the map and ended up hiking over 17 miles in one day, fully loaded, at a 10,000+ altitude. Yikes!) En route to/from Pecos, we stopped in Santa Fe and Albuquerque.

Waputki National Monument & Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument
In August, we fled the Phoenix heat in favor of a weekend in the cool climate of Flagstaff (northern Arizona). There, we explored nearby Native American Ruins and climbed a volcanic cinder cone (two steps up, one step down). Then we headed over to the Grand Canyon and headed part way down one of the trails we'd yet to hike together.

Hiking in the Wasatch Mountains
In August, while on a weekend visit to my parents house in the Salt Lake area, we spent an afternoon hiking in the nearby Wasatch mountains. After hiking up to a glacial lake and braving a sudden and fierce storm, Warren surprised me with wedding bands made out of meteorite. What a guy! :) [We'd been married for 2 years at that point, but were fairly unconventional about the whole thing so we hadn't gotten wedding bands yet.]

On the way down, we actually got chased by a moose. Seriously!