Annual Summer Cabin Trip

Hi everybody!

Time for my once-in-a-blue-moon blog post. 

I thought I would share a few pictures from our recent family trip to the cabin (my mom's side of the family). It is absolutely beautiful up the Weber Canyon. It feels like stepping out of reality and into a dream.

Clint and I took a walk one evening to the "Big Spring" where you can drink fresh mountain water almost exactly where the water comes out of the mountain. BEST. WATER. IN. THE. WORLD. We took a picture on the bridge over the Weber River on our way to the spring:

We went on a hike up the ridge behind the cabin one day. Clint's a hiking fool and he sort of initiated the whole thing. Once you get up high enough, above the firebreaker roads, you run into this massive grove of aspen trees. It was amazing.

Clint with our "minions" (a bunch of my cute cousins who took to following us on the trail. My youngest sister included.)

This one is on the road next to the cabin. This was just another beautiful evening up in the canyon and Clint and I took a little walk down the road to scope out some of the other cabin dwellings.

It sounds like we did a lot of walking, which I guess we did, but the main event up at the cabin is...BADMINTON!!! I played all night, every night with my cousins, sisters, uncles, parents, and the entire clan. Badminton is like the most underrated sport ever. So fun.

Autumn in Neff's Canyon

Neff's Canyon is, I think, one of the most beautiful hikes I have ever done in the Fall. Clint thinks it's because of the wide variety of trees along the trail that all turn different colors at this time of year. It's true that you see a full spectrum of Autumn colors!

I was loving the backlighting and the glowing colors of the trees. Both great conditions for playing photographer! :)

Return to Sunset Peak

We might just have to make this hike a Fall-time yearly tradition.  Sunset Peak is fairly short, about a mile and a half or two to the top, but still decent exercise.  The biggest reason is that the colors up Big Cottonwood are beautiful!!  Too bad it was just a bit cold and overcast so we couldn't exactly see the sunset from the peak.  But still a good Fall adventure.

I love Autumn leaves!

Mom, Jen, Dad, Clint, and me

First Day of Fall!!!

I adore Autumn.

Simply...

Adore.



The first day of Fall was last Saturday, September 24th.  And I was loving it. 

scenes from summer campfires

 I feel like posting about some of our recent summer events, but I get a little bored of listing one event per post.  So this one I decided to give a theme: summer campfires!!!

What would summer be without campfires?

Me: a drought summer season in Utah but I've still got swimming pools!
Clint: a depressing shame, and something that will never happen in his lifetime experience.

We both love having a crackly, warm fire in the mountains.  I love it even more when the campfire is accompanied by grand scenery and an artistic sunset.

Clint in his element.

We went up to my family's cabin in August, with my extended family on my mom's side.  It is well-known and even happily acknowledged that Clint is the family's designated Fire Master.  He gets the fire started, he keeps it hot and high while everyone roasts s'mores, and he is the last one to leave the fireside. 

A beautiful sky

a "narrow" escape... Zions Narrows, that is

Well, I know this post has been long delayed.  Clint and I had an adventurous time hiking Zions Narrows several weeks ago; we even thought we might have been rather lost or disoriented at one point even though that would have been pretty hard to do... I mean, all you do is follow the river, right? 

round, round, get around

Yes.  It is time.  Time... for an update.

This is the next round of Sam and Clint's Summer; part 2 if you will. I have prepared the 2nd round of our summer flash cards for you.  (The term "flash cards" being used here to illustrate my dilemma over selecting a few of the best pictures out of literally hundreds.)


Our first stop features a hike that Clint has been trying to orchestrate for a couple of years now.  Beginning at the Crystal Lake trailhead and ending at the Smith & Moorehouse trailhead, this hike was about 11 miles one way.  We got dropped off on one end and had a car waiting for us at the other end.  Beautiful scenery.  And conveniently, we did this hike the same weekend we were up at my family's cabin which is a mere 15-minute drive from Smith & Moorehouse, where we ended up.

There are many more pictures from the cabin.

But here is a personal favorite that demonstrates my hardcoreness: me and my mountain biking battle wound...

Sitting around the fire pit.

A back-packing trip to Duck Lake.

Lake Blanche hike

Hike up Mt. Raymond (a beast of a hike.  I am not posting pictures of me on this hike because I was cranky.  The last mile of this hike was bushwhacking up an incline of about a 40% grade.  I kid not.)

And here are the Karren outdoor enthusiasts triumphantly atop Mt. Timpanogos.  About 7 miles to the wind-swept summit and taking a little over 5 hours total.  My calves were very sore the day after.

And I should mention this honorary banquet hosted by my employer where I was honored as one of the Specialists of the Year in my department.  Pretty cool.  But the best part was a paid overnight stay at the Canyons resort which Clint joined me for.

Me and some co-workers.  Ya can't miss me.  Only of us is wearing a color other than black and white.

Part of my anniversary gift from Clint: 4 hours of shopping at the Outlets.  And he didn't even complain!  In fact, he bought me a new dress.  Awwww!

Part of Clint's gift: a new addition to the wardrobe.

A joint anniversary celebration:  Italian cuisine at Johnny Carrino's. Mmm.

Yep, that's 3 years for us!  And loving every second.

we get around

Wow!!! Summer flies.

Our time is filled with trips, barbecues, office parties, 4th of July parties, and visits from relatives who live out of town… and they are some of the best memories of our lives!

Sometimes I feel like summer -- and similarly, our lives -- whizzes by in a blur of activities and picture-taking. Every now and then, it’s good to set the camera down for a minute and bask in the party mood. I'm a basker. I love to bask. Instead of taking pictures like mad to remember the moment for later, I want to enjoy the moment now, while I'm in it. (Of course, this could also be viewed as my excuse for being a lackadaisical picture-taker and blogger.)

However, I do value my memories. I love having something to go back to, to look at and read and document. Plus, I also love getting comments and keeping tabs on who out there still reads about us!!! :)

Clint and I love to play. We've kept up with our summer goal of hiking once a week, we've played some tennis (though not nearly as much as we'd like), and we've had some awesome road trips. Here's our Part I of our summer...

Frary Peak on Memorial Day

Grandeur

 Peekaboo-Queens Garden Loop

(Bryce Canyon full trip here)

Grand Canyon Hikes

North Kaibab Trail...

Cape Final Trail...

...and Cliff Springs

Mt Olympus

Red Pine on July 5th

(pic MIA but here is a substitute)

Road Trip to Midway

...We Get Around Part 2

coming to Blogger Summer 2010...

Bryce Canyon Adventure

Enjoy.

I don't care who you are, where you're from, what you did...

If the above title is what you're thinking to yourself right now, then please.  Don't feel obligated to continue.

It does seem like a lot of pictures, and no one knows that better than me because I took all the time uploading them to Blogger, but, you know... compared to how many pictures we actually took on this trip, this is just a few M & M's out of the bag. 

Anyway, this was my 2nd trip to Arches, but 1st official time to hike around and actually acquaint myself with the red stone formations. 

First stop upon arrival in Moab on Friday the 12th:

Delicate Arch

This about sums up how I felt after a long week...

And Saturday's adventures....

including:

Pine Tree Arch

(we're actually standing under it - sorry you can't see the whole 'arch' thing going on.)

Landscape Arch

Double 'O' Arch

The remains of Wall Arch

and Clint pretending to be the Vitruvian Man (okay, so I told him to pose like this)

A mid-day picnic in a heated car.  (In case you didn't pick out the

white stuff

in any of the above pictures - yeah, it was cold).

Sand Dune Arch

At the Windows.  North or South, can't remember.

I think these are cool pics because they capture the drama of the sky against

the red rock as the predicted storm rolled in.

We were privy to witnessing Arches in all the conditions of:

Sunshine, Snow, and Rain.

Go figure.

Turret Arch

Double Arch

Guess whoooo???

Balanced Rock.

Park Avenue.

...and the obligatory visit to the Arches Souvenir Collectors' shop

specializing in Indecision.

We ended up with a few goodies.

This about sums up how Clint felt after 2 days

of traveling a total of at least 18 miles on foot:

While somebody else who felt the same way

found an alternate way to occupy the time...

...with the help of a little BSB. 

(If you were a teenager in the 90s,

you can probably figure out who fits this acronym.  But...

since you've made it this far

in the recounting of the Vacay,

then you deserve a hint at this point by

going back to the title of this post.)

Yeah. 

Anyway, the point is, I stayed awake.