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.

Zion National Park

Up early...ha-ha...it was about 8am, packed a lunch and piled in the car for our trip to Zion. Now I need to say right off the bat, we did no research. We've never visited a National Park except in the off-season. We had no idea, what we were in for. But we learn quickly...

It was so crowded there was practically nowhere to park at the visitor center. So we made a quick dash to the restroom, made a decision and off we gooooo.

We went up the only road cars are allowed...

The drive through was slow with everyone gawking at the magnificent scenery and pulling over to snap pictures and/or hike. That was us, too.

Plus we picked up the three Earthcaches and one Virtual cache. After all, it's our favorite way to see a new area.

 The Great Arch (We hiked to a viewpoint over this)

A 'slot canyon' (We got 'stupid' here and hiked to far along the rock slopes, but we made it back.)

I loved this shot of part of the hike to the overlook. Oh, and I'll add the overlook pic here.

 Thank goodness for railings and stairways cut into the stone in a few places. It was a pretty sheer drop and a 'yahooooo' down once in a while. But did they have to leave spaces between the boardwalk section? Eh gads, I almost had to close my eyes and hang on tight to the railing to cross this section. (Remember me? I'm the one, who has never made the top of the Astor Column, because I can see through the stairs to the bottom far below...oooooooo.)

The drive included a 1.1 mile drive through a tunnel cut in the rock. Because of the height of the RVs and buses, it was one-way traffic. They had to drive carefully through straddling both lanes. Bicycles and walkers weren't allowed. On the way back down through the tunnel we carried three bicyclists with their bikes (well, natch...lol).

When we got back to the park, we extended our stay two more days. We'll do Zion again and see the shuttle part of the park and the museum (I drove slowly around the parking lot three times trying for a space here.)

Today we're off to Bryce National Park...got our list of Virtual caches ready to go.

Hwy 93

We left Twin Falls before noon on Wednesday and headed south on the Great Basin Highway (93). It's good road, but one of those you wish you had auto-pilot on your vehicle. I should have taken a picture in the middle, but didn't. This one is towards the end of the basin...

Our plan was to stay in a couple state parks in Nevada. But a word from the 'wiser', they're not like Oregon's. Oh, and it does pay to do a little research. We did not... Our stop for the night was at Cave Lake State Park. It turned out to be a very small campground...no hookups...no pavement...and the showers were supposed to be remodeled in 2012. Did you notice, I said 'supposed'. As the temp dropped into the 40's no way was I going to shower. I'm beginning to stink...hee-hee. We managed to squeeze both the RV and PU into a space and settled down to dinner and cribbage. But the cool thing was to wake in the morning to this...

and 33 degrees.

As we headed east of Ely we were passed by a snowplow. Now that gave us some second thoughts! But no problem...

Thursday night was supposed to be in Cathedral Gorge State Park, but we did our research first and found they could only handle up to 26' vehicles. There was a great viewpoint just above the park. We were going to hike a trail or two, but after lunch the storm caught-up with us...

Ever heard of the Mountain Meadows Massacre? I hadn't...

A dreadful piece of Mormon history, I'll bet they'd like us not to know about now. This was ordered my the church leaders...carried out by members, Indians of the area and a U.S. militia composed of Mormon men. There was no apparent reason!

Then between 'George the GPS' and Norman, we wandered the streets of St. George, UT until we were finally at a deadend and had to disconnect to get around...LOL.

We're now parked in Hurricane, where laundry, unloading and washing the pickup and touring the National Parks near here will take place.

Sun Valley and beyond...

On Monday we took a little ride with Bill n Kathy to Sun Valley. Our little drive took all day...lol...

We liked the bear.

They liked the Moose.

 Sales everywhere, and we shopped, but didn't buy much. And, NO kids, Dad didn't buy the purple shoe...LOL

 Loved these twig buildings. I think eventually they'll be used as trellises for vines. The new art center will be located at this location.

This is a memorial to Ernest Hemingway, who died here. We walked along the slippery 6 inches of mud above a racing creek holding on to saplings for about 70 feet to get a birdhouse cache. Was it worth it? You bet...fun!

Lastly we strolled through a botanical garden in the making. This Buddist Prayer Wheel was brought by the Dalai Lama in 2005. But what impressed me in this area were the HUGE flat rocks. OMG, I'd sure love to have one or two in my yard.

Yesterday we did about a 3 mile walk here in Twin Falls. It was a wonderful morning...a bit cloudy...but warm.

The guys insisted on walking behind us, but eventually we got to walk behind them and enjoy the view.

 Along the way Kathy and I played with my camera...she is really pretty & will kill me if she knows I put this in...hee-hee...used the 'fisheye' effect. Then I used the 'sports' effect to try to stop the motion of the waves going over the rocks.

 44 degrees this morning and pouring rain...We're outta here after breakfast and heading towards the sunshine through Eastern Nevada.

Heading East...

 I'm feeling a little cautious about leaving the property for so long this year. So I've hired Ron the Garden Guy to keep the yard up, invited the neighbors to use the driveways anytime they want and made a couple other precautions. Now we just leave, have great times with our Yuma neighbors and hope for the best.

We were a little bummed, when we found out our quad riding in SE Utah was cancelled. But after a couple days and some discussion...our trip continues with just a slight change. We're now going to 'discover' SW Utah...the Vermillion Cliffs and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon before heading to Mesa and Yuma.

The first day was pretty laughable. We took the shortcut off Hwy 97 towards Silver Lake, Christmas Valley and Hwy 20. But we talked and gawked along the way until we reached a rest area at Summer Lake. OOPS, missed our turn and had to backtrack. The first night we watched the 'Harvest Moon' come up over a gravel pile where we spent the night just west of Burns.

 

The next day we pulled into Bruneau Sand Dunes State Park in Idaho. It's a beautiful park, but not what we expected. We expected a park full of quad  and sand buggy nuts, but not so. The only thing you can do on the dunes is walk and/or slide. The camp host was flabbergasted at the number of folks arriving for the weekend. After telling us we had to find a space in the overflow campground, he added he had never seen so many people here. BTW, the overflow is really nice; the trees just aren't so big.

 

On Friday night members of the Boise Astronomical Society came out to the observatory located in the park and set-up all manner of wonderful telescopes. We got to see magnificent stars, planets and galaxies. The young man from Mountain Home Airbase had his telescope trained on E.T. Yep, he's up there, but he does have a fancier name, I just can't remember it...lol.

Yesterday we did some geocaching, which included hiking to some. Although we left home with everything clean, the pickup and our shoes are terribly dusty now. 

 Of course, after being in the desert...ice cream is called for! We drove about eight miles into the tiny town of Bruneau for cones...

 Now we're off to Twin Falls and more adventures.

For those of you new to our blog, you will see an invite to join Feed Blitz. It will send you an e-mail, whenever I do another post. I do not intend to always put these on Facebook...sorry.

One last note...are the flies always this bad in Idaho in September? YUK!