Carving out our niche.
Today Kristie and I decided to go for a hike to see if we couldn’t dislodge this baby of ours a little bit. Destination: Y mountain. During the 1,100 feet of switchbacks, almost everyone we passed reached out to Kristie–conveying everything from words of admiration, to unsolicited tips on other labor-inducing techniques. I think she’s reached the point where people that see her being active assume it’s labor-inducing activity, and not her daily routine. Ha.
No baby yet!
This area had gotten out of control–and we want to plant it–so I rented a roto-tiller from Home Depot to tear it up. I think the tiller had too little horsepower though, cause it tore me up. I was at it for hours and hours…that grass had some seriously deep, fabric-like roots. I pulled out so many clumps of weeds I’m surprised there’s anything left in there. Like the shades?
My brother Coleman stayed with us for a few days after wrapping up his first semester of college. On Sunday we met up with Houston, Nathan, Kendra & James for a picnic up at Timpanogos Park.
Note: Do not try this at home. Baby tossing was performed on a closed course by trained professionals that never slip.
Note 2: Don’t worry Kristie. I won’t ever do this with our little girl.
The Wagstaffs (family friends of the Tanners) invited us up to their beautiful cabin at Solitude ski resort this weekend. Being the ski bum that I am, I was beyond excited for another opportunity to get out this season. So Friday night we picked up Houston and made our way up a snowy Big Cottonwood Canyon, arriving at our destination just after dark. It wasn’t long before we settled into deep couches to watch the Vancouver Olympic opening ceremonies with a big group of family and friends.
The next morning a bunch of us struck out early to the lifts, hoping to get in as many runs as possible. It had snowed a bunch the evening before, and it snowed the entire day…so conditions were perhaps the best I’ve ever skied. Since Denny had been coming to Solitude his entire life, he and his son Drew were able to take us directly to the best stashes of thigh-to-waist deep powder. I decided to forgo lunch and ended up skiing for seven straight hours. Pure bliss.
Kristie “I Don’t Want to Squish the Baby” McConnon wasn’t feeling quite up to skiing, so she decided to run 9 miles at their home gym and play with Therese’s adorable nieces back at the cabin instead. That night we watched moguls, short-track, luge, biathlon and a bunch of other awesome Olympic competitions, taking a few breaks to play Scatagories and some other fun games. Watching Apollo and Kearney take silver and gold respectively were certainly highlights.
[check out that gnarly curling iron burn on Kristie's neck. That has to be some kind of record, poor girl]
On Sunday we went to church at the Brighton Branch, which was literally at the base of a ski hill. It was one of the prettiest churches I’d ever attended. Later on we had a big family dinner and dessert, complete with a Valentines Day party put on by the little kids.
We were planning on heading back that evening, but one of Kristie’s client’s rescheduled and I didn’t have work, so we didn’t have to take off till this morning. All in all it was a wonderful weekend escape with great skiing, great activities and really great company.
So we decided to take Coleman camping to show him some of the beautiful canyons and mountains around here. By the time we arrived it was pretty much dark, so Kristie helped set up the tent while Coleman and I went foraging for firewood.. Since we’ve camped in the same spot a few times before, dry fuel was becoming increasingly scarce. Coleman decided to solve this problem by foregoing the sissy kindling and jumping straight to a 9 foot dead tree he found near the campsite. Why pick up sticks when you can spend a half an hour trying to splinter a 6-inch-diameter log into submission?
So after much pushing, pulling, jumping and bashing, we had enough wood to get the fire blazing.
That night we took a short hike out to the gigantic meadow a little ways up the trail. I wish I could have captured it with a camera, but it’s just too immense for a single lens…and it wouldn’t have done justice to the full moon anyways. We just layed there for a while in the middle of it…probably leaving human crop circle shapes in the tall grass.
We had to hike out early to get Kristie to an appointment with a client…and Coleman and I had a big day of back to school shopping ahead of us. Here’s a picture of the morning after, back down at the base:
Kristie and I got to go camping up near big springs this weekend. Every time we go, we’re amazed by how much we love the experience. I’m kinda bummed that we’ll only be in town for maybe two or three weekends in all of August and September…otherwise I think we’d go every Friday night.
I’d also like to take a moment to express my love and appreciation for our amazing little tent. It was only $20, but it’s the lightest, coziest, most convenient setup I’ve ever known. It’s been with us for more great trips than I can recall…and on the sad day that it passes on to tent heaven, I’ll undoubtedly hold a moment of silence.
In the morning we hiked to a huge meadow that Nathan told us about. It was gorgeous.
For the third consecutive year, Kristie and I made it down for the annual Massive Moab Trip for a weekend of hiking, camping, thrill-seeking and all around good times. It’s hands-down one of the best summer trips you could imagine. For additional context, read the intro to the post of last year’s trip. WARNING: This is the largest, most picture-heavy, bloated post I’ve published to date. There, now you’ve been warned.
This year we had a special guest from back East…my brother Coleman flew all the way out from Massachusetts to join us for the adventure. He just graduated from high school, so my parents bought him flights as a gift (not too shabby, eh?)
To make the most of the trip, we packed up all our gear and left on Thursday for the group camp site outside of Moab. This year it was both easier to find (thanks to better maps and iPhone GPS) and huge. We arrived on the tail end of a rainstorm that produced an amazing rainbow and later, sunset.
After setting up camp (with an awesome pop-up tent c/o Leah and Johnny) we met up with old friends and congregated around the campfire for food, conversation, banana boat treats and an impromptu dance party. People kept rolling in all throughout the night…by morning the place was hoppin’.
We got up early on Friday (thanks, in part, to the 30-foot campsite flyover c/o Jordan Mower and his airplane….gooooood morning) and made our way directly to Arches National Park. Coleman had never been to any of Utah’s reserves before, so we were anxious to show him some of the beautiful hikes we’d come across in years past, and discover some new ones while we were at it.We started by driving through the park, all the way to the Devil’s Garden trailhead. From there we hiked in and spent hours scrambling from one amazing geologic formation to the next.
It was a little unsettling to walk by Wall Arch, a formation that collapsed under its own weight on August 4th, 2008. We had taken a few pictures under it before it crumbled…now it’s just a mess of rock debris. (It didn’t, however, keep us from scurrying atop plenty of other arches we found this weekend.)
Check out pictures from various hikes we did that morning and afternoon (8 straight hours of it!):
Around 4:30, Leah and Jonny arrived and met up with us for some fire-grilled pizza at Zak’s in downtown Moab. From there, we reconvened with the larger group and headed over to Delicate Arch for the traditional MMT sunset hike. If you’ve hiked Delicate before, you’ll know how breathtaking it is to round the final corner of the trail and take it all in. We took a bit of time to relax near the top, and then gathered for a big group shot and assorted other pictures. Here’s a sample:
Back at camp later that evening we squeezed me, Kristie, Coleman, Leah and Jonny into what must have been a 3 man tent. It was certainly cozy, and borderline comical.
Saturday morning we headed over to the huge sand hill to play, race and launch ourselves off the conveniently-situated boulder that sits about 3/4 of the way down.
Every year we have a sand hill race…I’m the one on the far right, coming in at 4th place:
Since it was Father’s Day the following morning, many people wanted to head out a little early…so the annual BBQ was rescheduled for lunch. This gave us enough time to get some of the sand out of our teeth and hair before joining up with everyone at the city park. The BBQ, as always, was phenomenal. Austin and company prepared appetizers (bruschetta), steaks (Montreal/brown sugar/garlic/?), chicken (lemon-pepper), corn on the cobb (grilled in husk), mint-lime mojitos (tasty, yet virgin), and Banana’s Foster for dessert (to die for). People played Ultimate, chilled in the park and enjoyed the good food (despite a passing drizzle). While we were over testing our balance on the slack line, there was a pretty epic ice cream fight, which thankfully, we did not get mixed up in.
Immediately after lunch we took off to Left Hand…our favorite off-the-map cliff jumping spot. Here’s a quick clip of me jumping:
After playing around there for a while, we kept hiking up the trail to upper Left Hand–a spot we’d never been before that offered another pool to jump into. We snapped a few shots while we were up there:
That night, most people had left for home, so at the campsite there were only a few other tents besides ours. We made a fire, cooked tin-foil dinners, watched the gorgeous sunset, and then, out of nowhere, a HUGE wind/lightning/thunder storm blew in. In minutes the wind had flattened our tents, all but extinguished our fire, and blew our camp chairs into the embers. We were scrambling around trying to secure everything that wasn’t tied down. At one point Coleman took off running to chase down a neighboring tent that was hurtling end over end through the desert scrub brush. I could see him silhouetted against the skyline everytime there was a bolt of lightning that lit up the sky. Eventually, the storm passed, and we were able to regroup and get situated for the night…but it was a pretty awesome experience while the storm was raging.
The next day we got to explore Canyonlands National Park before making our way out of town. It’s got a barren sort of beauty that I’ve never witnessed before. Some of the hikes and views are extraordinary.
All in all it was once again an unforgettable trip…I’m always amazed by the natural beauty of this state. It was awesome, also, to be among such good friends and family. I’m not sure if there will be an MMT ’10…but if there is, I have no doubt it will live up to expectations.
[btw, if there are any MMT admins reading this...thank you for putting together such a rad trip. You've outdone yourselves once again]
We headed up to Idaho again for the long weekend. We knew it would probably be the last time we’d see Ang for a while, so we wanted to make it count. This time we got to hitch a ride with Leah and Jonny, which made for a really fun ride, cruising in the Civic.
On Saturday, the Wagstaffs invited us to go boating with them in the afternoon…so all of us packed up and headed to Lake Lowell. We got to try wake surfing, which was an absolute blast. I didn’t get any stills of me, but there’s a great one of Cole below:
That night we also got to go to Kristie’s friend Summer’s reception, where we ran into a bunch of good friends. Amanda surprised us by being there, which made our night. (She actually ended up riding home with us Monday night–a trip that has got to be one of the most enjoyable Boise-to-Provo drives to date.)
On Monday we got up early and headed to a park to play ultimate frisbee with the Wagstaffs and a bunch of others. It was pretty competitive and fast-paced…we had a pretty good group out there.
When we got home we spent the rest of the day BBQ’ing, playing volleyball and enjoying the beautiful weather outdoors. For some, the sun was perhaps a little too much:
The weekend was long and enjoyable, and as always, way too short.
Kristie and I got to help plan the ward campout this year up at a beautiful cabin somewhere south in the boonies of Utah (Schofield, perhaps?) It was fun, and a lot of work. We’d never had to buy and organize the preparation of three meals for 50 people before. Let’s just say it was a learning experience, and I now know each isle of Costco intimately.
Before retiring to our trusty two-man tent, we had an evening filled with campfire s’mores and various activities in the cabin (foosball, pingpong, etc…they don’t mess around). Saturday was more of the same, with plenty of lounging around.
What a weekend.
First, a little background. John and Paul Louthan are Moab, UT locals, born and raised. Since they’re such good guys, they decided to get a big group of friends together in ’06 for a Moab excursion.
It was such a success that they decided to make it an annual event. So when the next summer rolled around, preparations for the second annual Massive Moab Trip (MMT) began to take place. By this time I had met the gregarious, oh-so-charming Austin Baird, who extended an invitation. So Kristie and I joined the party and ended up having an absolute blast.
So this year, things got bigger, better and even more organized. The trip had official admins, campsites, excursions, maps, medical contacts, you name it.
Although the trip officially began on Thursday (with people heading down for 4-wheeling, mountain biking, climbing, etc), I could only afford to take one day off of work. So at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Kristie and I hit the road for the 4 hour trek down south. The weather forecast before we left predicted 99, 102 and 97 degree temperatures for the three days we’d be down there. Moab in the summer feels like a red sandstone oven…but it’s terrific it you want to get some sun.
We arrived in downtown Moab right after dark and spent some time walking around the local shops. From there we set out to begin searching for the group campsite for that evening. I had a map, but we couldn’t manage to find our group 10 miles into an obscure canyon where they were supposed to be. At one point, the dirt road got especially rough, and I ended up running our poor Ford Escort over a deceptively tall rock. After the initial jolt, my stomach sank when I heard the awful noise the car was emitting. I jumped out with a flashlight to survey the damage, and didn’t see any obvious fluid leaks. I suspected it was the exhaust, but didn’t know enough to be sure. I was just hoping it didn’t die this far out of town.
After climbing back into the car, we met up with a couple other cars that we likewise lost, and we formed a caravan that took us back to the town, where we eventually connected with the main body of the group that was arriving late from a night hike. A couple guys checked out the Ford and seemed confident that it wouldn’t cause much trouble besides the annoying noise and a slight ding in our gas mileage.
The first night was fun, meeting up with old friends and setting up camp. We brought our trusty two man tent and crashed at about 1:30, with alarms set for 6:45 to wake for the rafting trip the next morning.
Friday began early as we made our way to get outfitted with the World Wide River Expeditions rafting company for a trip down the Colorado River. If interested you can read their description of the trip on this page.
Around eighty of us made it down for rafting. If you can, imagine eighty 20-somethings on 5 giant rafts with an additional 4 inflatable kayaks. It was madness.
The Colorado was moving fast, and it was cold! I think everyone was pretty happy about that however because the sun was scorching. The trip was probably an 75-25 split between flatwater and rapids…and when we weren’t on rapids, we were generally capsizing nearby boats, playing king-of-the-raft or doing something else that kept us wet.
From the river we headed to the Moab city park, a rendezvous point of sorts, to nap in the shade of the trees and play ultimate frisbee.
Kristie and I packed all kinds of good food and fresh fruit to keep expenses down and make things easy. At 6 pm we all regrouped and jumped in cars to head up to Arches National Park to hike to the famous, breathtakingly beautiful Delicate Arch.
Even though Kristie and I hiked Delicate last year, we had yet to be there for sunset…which was gorgeous. Our group was everywhere, which made for fun pictures and fun times.
That night we spent another long stretch looking for our designated campsite, but finally arrived in time for bed. As we were setting up our tent, one kid overturned a rock a found a huge scorpion about 15 feet from where we were working. This was somewhat upsetting to Kristie, but we settled down anyways, hoping that scorpions would stay put where they were.
Saturday morning we awoke and met up with Theron, Fudge, Katie and Molly, who arrived late the prior evening. They joined us for a trip to the giant sand hill, one of my favorite spots around town.
As usual there was the normal horsing around and pictures to prove it.
At 1:00 we met at the park again and headed off to the Left Hand trail head to hike to the swimming hole and cliff jumping spot. Left Hand was another highlight of last year’s trip that we were eager to revisit. We spent the afternoon catching sun and launching ourselves into the blue oblivion into the water below.
Unfortunately, like last year, a member of our group sustained a major leg injury. Last year a guy dislocated and badly fractured his leg, and this year a girl jumped too far and broke both her tibia and fibula. If you don’t gauge it right, the water gets just too shallow to absorb the impact. Not fun.
We regrouped at the park by 6:00 pm for our much anticipated MMT barbeque, with Austin “Steak Night” Baird at the helm. Nothing short of a miracle, he managed prepare or coordinate the preparation of:
It goes without saying that this weren’t no burgers n’ hot dogs affair…it was a barbecue oasis. Everyone ate until they were stuffed, and there was plenty extra to give to our river rafting guides and other locals that we’d invited (some of which had let us borrow gas grills for cooking).
The trip officially ended after the barbeque, and many left to go home. But, like last year, we stayed for the unofficial after party. After setting up camp for that night, we joined a bunch of friends to sneak into a hotel hot tub to relax for a few hours before heading off to bed.
Sunday morning we went to church and then took off to enjoy a little more of Arches National Park. We discovered two additional hikes that we had missed last year (The Windows and Sand Dune Arch) and had an absolute blast exploring and taking in the natural beauty of our surroundings.
Windows:
Sand Dune:
From Arches we hit the road back to Provo, exhausted, happy and completely in love with the great outdoors. Our busted Escort sputtered the entire way home, but held out like a champ.
MMT ’09, anyone?
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