Decorating...mini Microburst?...and...

We bought a new outside awning this past summer. It is equipped to go in when the wind reaches certain strengths. But...I can't hang my pretties on them. I haven't figured out the solar or fancy lights, but that will come to me. This is what I did with a couple of my favorite windsocks...

I took a look at that shepherd's hook and said, "My, my...that rounded area is just right for my 8" cake pans. So I took out my cheap plastic beads and made sun catchers to attach. Looks good...not like glass, but lots cheaper...lol.

Then we have Halloween coming up, so I decided on my purple lights, cobwebs and fuzzy spiders. Well, those cobwebs were a challenge. I now understand why other folks have such messes with them They just do not come out of the package like the illustration shows...but we're decorated.

The pumpkin will be carved later...

We were sitting inside relaxing after all the decorating the other day, when all at once...we were rocked by a powerful wind...the awning flipped up (fortunately not broken)...plants fell over...chairs flew in the air bouncing off the awning. The wind lasted just the blink of an eye. It hit just the middle of the coach. The decorations in front and the bbq towards the back...not touched. It's the weirdest thing we've ever seen. We're calling it a mini microburst. There were no clouds...no thunder...no rain...it was a beautiful day before and after. None of the other neighbors had anything but a little breeze all day.

Today we walked a loop up to the bottom of the Telegraph Pass...got eleven geocaches...left early to avoid the heat...but didn't get back to the pickup until about 3 hours later...LOL. It was over 80 at that time.

But we had a great walk...and had fun! Like my beard? We thought we had all the tall grass laid down in front of the rock the camera was set on.

Notice the towers on the hill? We've walked up there...two new caches there...we won't ever get them...lol...tough steep walk.

About finished with another novel, so I'm off to read, as my man watches the Nascar race.

"The Eagle has Landed"....

Er, rather the RV has arrived on the lot in Yuma. We're pretty well set-up, but slowing down tremendously. It's HOT! 94 in the shade and 81 in the RV with both air-conditioners going.

Few more things to do...and finding more that we forgot to bring. Norman brought the other satellite receiver, but neglected to grab the remotes. So guess what he's doing in this pic?

YEP, trying to get a remote a dealer/friend here in Yuma gave him programed for our receiver...lol. He'll get it done, but it might take another beer...Sorry kids, if you spend the night in the house, you'll have to watch TV from our bed...lol.

Drat Congress...Tea Party...US government...whatever!! We weren't supposed to arrive here for at least another week, but the next few places we wanted to see..."closed". After a bit of discussion, we took the shortest route here.

We stayed in the desert last night...hot, but loved the 'big desert night sky'. I stole this image, but

all night long, whenever I woke, I placed my pillow on the nightstand and looked out the window at this type of site. Our Milky Way is so wondrous!!

That's it for now...first 'happy hour' of the season is coming up. I might think up a nibble to bring. Many of our neighbors haven't arrived yet, so there won't be many.

BTW...the desert soil is really fertile...the weeds in everyone's yard are as 'high as an elephant's eye'. Oh well, most of them hire Jesus and his crew to clean the yards...And we'll be hiring Alberto and his crew to wash and wax the RV before the day is over.

Last National Park before the "shutdown"...sigh

Kolob Canyon is part of Zion National Park, but a smaller, different and less crowded section.

Remember you can click on these pics to make them larger.

At Zion we were driving through the red rock canyons, here we drove through pine and juniper forests to viewpoints of the red rocks. These are part of the Hurricane Fault. The canyon peaks were violently and suddenly uplifted thousands or more years ago.

We walked out to this viewpoint and took this shot. In the very far distance is the flat plateau bordering the Grand Canyon.

Then we wanted to walk the Taylor Creek Trail. I told Norman I'd go a little ways, but I just couldn't take one more day of climbing at these altitudes.

 I loved the way this old tree framed Norman and the rock behind it. The juniper smelled so good along the trail.

 Our grandkids would be proud...yep, see flat rocks...gotta stack those rocks.

This was the majestic ending to the trail...two arches, one over the other. They are both 'blind' arches, ie: they have backs. See! We do learn along the way...another Earthcache.

It was a wonderful 5+ mile hike on mostly flat ground. We saw two cabins constructed in the 1930's (before I was born...lol). We crossed Taylor Creek 48 times going one way...got sand in our shoes...saw critter tracks, but no critters.

And today we take advantage of the 'shutdown' to rest our sore leg muscles...shake the red sand out of our shoes...and figure out where we'll go tomorrow...it certainly won't be the North Rim.

80 MILES an HOUR? Bryce Canyon

And my girl (pickup) isn't used to 80...nor do her drivers like to go that fast. But we did a respectable 75...LOL. We were passed by everyone...including trucks and U-Hauls...except for others from out of state.

BRYCE

"Along the Navajo Trail" (my favorite cowboy's song...Roy Rogers)...This was our favorite part of Bryce Canyon National Park...the Navajo Trail.

 Click on the picture to make it large, and you will see all the switchbacks, we took to get halfway down.

And this is the bottom half of those switchbacks. I'm the one waving the blue baseball cap.

The bottom...this is called 'Wall Street', and yes, it is a geocache. The trail was only about 2 miles long, but the scenery was quite diverse. I think my favorite areas were the pockets of pine, aspen and juniper trees...beautiful!

"End of Trail"...my wish, but I still had to do a set of switchbacks to the top. Boy oh boy, I have a terrible time climbing at high altitudes...just run out of breath...whew! Do you see the two rock bridges? They are both cracked so won't be there in a few years.

This was about a three hour drive from our private park in Hurricane, UT, because we took the most beautiful scenic drive (Hwy 14). All along the way the aspen were turning every shade from green, yellow and red.

About twenty years ago we drove up the east side of this road to camp in a cool spot in the summer. We were with friends and had been camping in our boats at Lake Powell. Now we know...we ascended an 8% grade to get to our Lil' Duck campground...but it was beautiful and cool.

Coming back we took the freeway. That took about half the time as going over.