Grand Tetons/Yellowstone

We had a great time on our vacation with Ed and Sara Staker and their girls.  My PHS friends might recognize Sara as Sara Skousen.  We left Thursday and drove to the Grand Tetons, where we spent the night.

Jackson Lake

Jim and Ed

Amy Staker, who had just had her appendix out 5 days earlier, Janae, and Anna Staker

Janae at Moose Falls, Yellowstone

Sara and Anna at the Mud Pots

My first bear sighting in the wild, a huge grizzly.

Grand Prismatic Spring

Anna, Sara, and Amy

Rainbow at Upper Falls.

Lower Falls

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

Grand Geyser

This picture doesn't begin to show how huge this geyser is.  It is much bigger than Old Faithful and lasts for about 9 minutes.

John and Sherene McClellan met us there.  They drove up on John's new motorcycle.  He was kind enough to give Janae a ride, making her day.  Unfortunately, there are no pictures of this momentous occasion. Also, there are no pictures of me included.  Ed took many pictures and I will include something with me in it as soon as he gets us some copies.  And then I will prove that I was there.

Janae's Room

Janae decided to clean her room.  It has been pretty scary lately, so I was really happy.  I don't have a before picture, but I have a during.

She moved almost everything into the living room.  This is only a small portion.  I couldn't get everything to fit into the picture.

This is after I shampooed the carpet.  (Who knew that there was carpet under all that stuff?)  For those who know Janae and her room, this is really astounding.  She is now going through everything she moved into the living room and getting rid of a lot of junk.  More pictures to come when she has moved back in. 

Pigs

I have been so behind on my wood carving projects.  I finally decided that I had to finish something.  These are the pigs that go to Noah's Ark that belongs to Eric's family.  They were supposed to get them at Christmas time, but as I said. . . .

I need to finish my Nativity and three Santas that I didn't get made for Kristine, Janae, and me.  Everyone else got theirs on time.  I am also working on Lisa and Todd's Ark.  (It's a secret so don't tell them, even though they read my blog.)  I just need to put the finish on it.

Grand Gulch 3

Things I didn't like about our trip:

-the wind, gusts up to 55 mph.  I hate the wind.
-hayfever
-snow, rain, sleet, hail, and wind all in the same day
-59 creek crossings in one day.  I didn't count the other days.  It was one of the wettest springs on record.
-bruised toe from jumping across the streams about 150 times
-rocks falling off the mountains into our camp
-having to pack used toilet paper out
-having to hike up Bullet Canyon
-too much dried fruit and not enough Snickers

Things I liked about our trip:

-plenty of water to drink
-my new sleeping bag
-my sleeping pads
-hayfever meds
-walking poles,  they saved me from falling more times than I can count.  I have really bad balance from the fibro.
-individually packaged Wet Ones
-Snickers Bars
-my hiking boots
-individual hand warmers, I put them in my booties to keep my feet warm at night
-my down booties I sleep in
-my hand knitted socks that wick so well
-my hat, even though it is hideous, it keeps the sun and the rain off me
-a 23 lb pack
-it was mostly sunny
-the ruins, they were great
-good friends and meeting new friends on the trail
-Mountain House lasagne
-a great husband that would let me rest while he made dinner and served me in the tent out of the wind
-Ziploc bags
-Crystal Light, filtered water doesn't always taste very good.
-duct tape, great for torn pants among other things
-great kids at home that I could trust to keep things going

Grand Gulch 2

Okay, I am suffering.  But what did I expect?

Grand Gulch Backpacking Trip

I've had several people tell me that I shouldn't go on these backpacking trips because I have both Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.  Many people believe that if someone has these illnesses, they shouldn't do anything but sit around and do nothing all of the time.  I have never been that type of person and I know from experience that that doesn't help either.  I hate having these illnesses, do but I'm not going to let them get in the way of my doing what I want to do.  So I went anyway.  I might suffer for it later, but I don't care.

So that being said,  here are some highlights of our trip.

Jim and I drove to Natural Bridges National Park on Monday and took in the sights.  We camped out in their overflow campground that night.  That was actually the coldest night that we spent that whole week.

We left Kane Ranger Station around 1:00 Tuesday afternoon.  Jim and I were joined by our good friend Doug Honey and his brother Alan.

We hiked for about 5 miles that afternoon and camped at Junction Ruin.  Jim took my picture to prove that I was there.  I usually take all the pictures and there aren't any of me.  This is in front of one of the living areas.  

This is Doug in front of a grainery at Turkey Pen Ruin.

Alan at Turkey Pen Ruin.

Split Level Ruin.  We spent the night just past this ruin, about 6 miles from where we spent the previous night.    It was so windy that day, with gust up to 50 mph we were told.  We had to cross the creek 59 times that day (but who's counting?).  It rained on us that night.  We were a little nervous because we heard (and saw) several rocks falling off the canyon wall, landing too close to us for comfort. 

The next day we hiked about 8 miles (through snow, sleet, hail, wind, rain, and a little sunshine) to Jailhouse Ruin, where we camped for the night.  Jim scouted that out for me, because I was tired and didn't want to press my luck with my energy.  I wanted to make sure I had enough to get out of the canyon the next day.  I had heard about what was coming.

Just around the corner from Jailhouse is Perfect Kiva Ruin.  

Jim and Doug looking into the dwelling.

Jim climbing out of the Kiva.

Perfect Kiva Ruins were perfect.  They were the best of the whole trip.  We saw many other ruins that I haven't shown.  Up to this point, the trip had been great.  Plenty of water.  The weather wasn't too bad most of the time.  The scenery was beautiful.  Then it came time for us to hike up Bullet Canyon.

This is what the trail up Bullet Canyon looks like.

Boulders, boulders and more boulders.

Okay, it wasn't like this all the way, just for 1/2 mile or a little less.  But it seemed like boulders all the way up. 

We stopped to take a rest because this was out next step to get out.  We all made it out finally.  

Doug and Alan went directly back to Mt. Pleasant.  Jim and I went to Blanding, where we stayed in a hotel (that was supposed to have a hot tub, which was out of order).  We went to the Monticello Temple the next day and then had a leisurely drive home.  It was a good trip, in spite of the boulders.  I'm not ready to think of a new trip yet.  It takes me about a week to be able to do that, but Jim is already thinking up some place new for us to go.

Early Easter

We are celebrating Easter twice this year.  Adam and his parents can't be here on Easter because his dad has to work, so we had our own celebration a few days ago.

He thought it was great.  He didn't know what was going on though.

He had an egg in each hand.  When he found a new egg, he would throw down one from his hand and reach for a new one.  Dad's job was to collect all of the discarded eggs.

Then a few days later, he finally got his first tooth.  His dad was slow to get his too.  So no cavities from 

Easter candy. Yay!