#1 - Seeing my brother Ryan again! A little more than two years ago, on a different trip to Utah at a different time in our lives, we dropped him off at the Missionary Training Center in Provo. From there he went to Santiago, Chile, to teach people about our religion. Missionaries for our church dedicate two years exclusively to this work, with no contact from their friends and families apart from letters and a twice yearly phone call. Having not seen him in 25 months, we were pretty excited for him to come home! As the youngest, he is the last missionary in either of our families. No more of these two-year goodbyes!
#2 - Hiking. Lots and lots of hiking. We were only in Utah for about a week, but it was long enough to remind me just how little to do there is in Kansas City! Here you can't just drive a few minutes up the canyon and go hiking in the mountains or fishing in the rivers - which we did every day we were in Utah.
Bridal Veil Falls was just a trial run, though. Next up: The Y!
Let me just say, that mountain is STEEP! Travis noted at the foot of the trail that the map indicated there would be 8 switchbacks. As we climbed, I was counting every single one (I mean that figuratively, because they were actually numbered and no real counting was required). By the time we reached turn 9, I was getting suspicious. After turn 12, I was ready to pass out, but what could we do? Nowhere to go but UP! Travis later admitted that he didn't know where that number 8 came from - he thought he read it. I guess it was a good thing we misjudged the total distance, because had I known there were more than 12 turns, I probably would have given up after 1. There has to be some sort of life lesson in that...
No matter - the kids did fantastic!
Ever since we left the flat plains of Kansas during our road trip and entered the Rockies, Brooklyn couldn't stop talking about wanting to climb a mountain. Every time we came near any type of incline or rugged uphill trail, she tried to scale it. We promised her on this trip we would climb a mountain!
We had not really prepared for hiking, so I had only packed summer-y shoes and dress shoes for them. Not hiking shoes. So Travis picked up some shoes for the girls at a thrift store. For $5 total, those girls were comfortably outfitted and ready to go! Troy just wore his athletic-type sandals, with socks, because that's how he rolls. (Later, back in MO while unpacking, I found his running shoes, which I had brought with us without even knowing it. Whoops!)
The kids ALL climbed that entire mountain! Even Troy, who walked the whole way by himself except for maybe a cumulative 200 yds. of being carried. He was determined to climb that mountain independently!
Still climbing...
Brooklyn finally reaches the Y!
The view was definitely worth the climb!
Of course, then we had to hike back down. I thought it would be easy, but it was SO steep it took a lot of control not to send ourselves hurtling off the side of the mountain. But about halfway down, the strangest thing happened. A group of beautiful girls appeared carrying large trays heavily laden with delicious baked goods. They were like, "Here, have a cupcake!" and I was like, "DON'T TALK TO THEM! IT'S A MIRAGE!"
Just kidding. I was actually like, "I have no idea who you are or what you are doing, but YES please!" Also I accused them of trying to undo all the work we'd just done with their scrumptious baked delicacies. Whoever they were or for whatever reason they were handing out treats to hikers, their plan worked. I only wish I had a picture of the AMAZING deliciousness that was the treats.
Wait. I have one more story about hiking the Y. Speaking of life lessons, I have one for you. Once when I was at BYU, during Homecoming week a bunch of students hike up here to "light the Y". It's a big tradition, and tons of people go. Some friends and I got together and commenced our hike. I should specify that we were about 3 or 4 girls and one guy. After one or two switchbacks, we (girls) decided that switchbacks were stupid and a waste of time, and we could make much faster progress by leaving the trail and climbing up the mountain in a straight line.
(Spoiler alert: No. No you can't.)
The lone male among us was doubtful of our plan and decided to stick to the trail and meet us at the top. To make a long story short, we encountered many surprises, dangers, and disappointments, before finally backtracking and finding the trail again, after having wasted additional time and made no further progress. We met our skeptical friend very shortly after, who looked bemused and none too surprised to see us in our defeat. Moral of the story: It is never a better idea to leave the trail and strike out on your own with no plan and no guide. Never. Ever.
Okay, and finally, Gigi's birthday!
My grandmother turned 80 on my brother's wedding day, so since he stole her day, we planned a separate party for her the day before. Unfortunately, our plans were somewhat dampened (ha ha, I am so funny) by the torrential rain! But that didn't keep us inside. We went to one of my favorite canyon parks for a picnic lunch and cake.
Even though it was pouring, we thought we'd take the opportunity of having everyone together to take a few family pictures.
My brother found this tree that had seven branches, all joined at the same roots. Since there are seven of us, we thought it would make a perfect picture!
Travis preferred this viewpoint. Har har har...
Um... I'm trying hard to remember why we moved away from the mountains...
And that's all for now.
Next up - the actual wedding!
Stay tuned.
2 sweet nothings:
Thanks for documenting some of our doings while in Utah. Your pictures make me a little envious that I didn't go with you climbing that morning, but I was so tired and still had so much to do. It's all good. I'll now have to get busy and chronicle some of the events from MY perspective. Love you! :)
I love the fall colors! That's it, I've GOT to get into the canyon next week!
I'm tired from your hiking retelling. I only hiked the Y once while I was at BYU. Ug, it is hard!
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