Fun little bike ride

I took a couple of hours after work on Saturday and went up the Whites Creek Trail and Dry Pond Trail. It was all together probably an hour ride up and down. It was a blast. I think I found a new hobby. Al though I will probably break my bike since it is coming up on 10 years old.


It was a nice workout going up and suprisingly down as well. My feet were tensing up at the bottom of the ride. I'll have to see how far it was but I'm guesing a couple of miles up and then a couple down. I probably topped out at near 8000 feet or so. There were some pretty good climbs in there.


It was certainly beautiful. The lower half of the trail was all covered and shaded by pine trees. When I broke off to the Dry Pond Trail it goes up the more barren south face. Up top is a cool looking meadow that is I guess a pond or was (hence "Dry" pond). It was fun.


I'm looking forward to checking out all the other trails that link together. We have the Thomas Creek Trail, Whites Creek Trail, Galena Creek Trail and some other connecting trails. All this is 10 minutes away and in the pretty Sierras.


I got some pics with my phone. Here they are.

Here's a little section of the trail on Dry Pond Trail. Fun single track on the south face of the mountain.

This is Dry Pond with Mt. Rose ski resort in the back.

When you reach the top this is what you see.

Here's a look back at the Sierras.

Our Family Vacation!

We had the opportunity to take a much needed family Vacation. We went to Utah for the "Watkins Family Renuinion" and to Celebrate my Grandfathers 93 Birthday. We had a blast. Here are the highlights of our trip.

The reunion was an Indian theme.

My cousins put together a parade for all the

young children. Mya is too shy to participate

in things like this but not Brianna. If you can't

tell she is the one in the Bright pink swimsuit.

As long as there is water or dirt involved

Adam is happy. Directly below is Adam

playing in water during the program portion

of the reunion. To the right Adam was playing

in the dirt outside of the cabin after church in

his Sunday clothes.

We were fortunate to be able to stay at the Watkins Family cabin just past Sundance up

in the Provo Canyon. The cabin is atleast 50 years old and still has the original "Kelvinator"

refridgerator. That still works. I absolutely love this place.

My parents took us shopping to the Provo Mall and bought the girls new dresses.

Here they are sporting there new dresses. Notice "Grandpa" behind the screen.

"SILLY GRANDPA"

We were able to do some target shooting. Jason had to buy a BB gun for us to use.

Mya and Brianna got a kick out of shooting the gun. Jason tried to help Adam but he

didn't really like that idea.

Brianna and Mya sure love their Uncle Morgan. He was so nice to take them fishing one

morning and Mya even caught a fish. But it wiggled its way off the hook before they

could get a picture of it. They don't get to see family very often so when they do

they would much rather be with them than with us.

Thanks Morgan for playing with the kids and taking them fishing.

Grandpa trying to teach Brianna how to fish.

She's good for about 2 minutes then she's done.
Me with Madelyn.




Mya caught another fish with Grandma's help. She sure loved this and surprisingly didn't

mind touching the fish. Brianna would rather climb and play than stand and fish.

Grandpa's trademark. Holding kids in the air, and Madelyn loves it.

Jason and Morgan decided to make a good fishing hole just behind our cabin by building a dam. Here is a before and after shot. Jason decided to get in the river which is probably about 32 degree's Morgan couldn't let Jason show him up so Morgan had to get in as well. Boys will be boys.



Adam loved relaxing with Uncle Chris. Chris eventually put Adam to sleep doing this.

BRIDAL VEIL FALLS

We hiked up Bridal Veil Falls and cooled off a little. The kids did surprisingly well hiking.

They just didn't care much for getting sprayed by the cold water.

Madelyn loved it up there and didn't mind the spray as much as the other kids.

Hence Briannas pouty face.

It had been years since I had hiked the falls and I loved the opportunity to be

able to do it again.

ROCK CLIMBING

We were able to spend some time with Megan and Ben Jason's sister and her husband.

They took us rock climbing at Rock Canyon. Everyone got to try even Adam.

Before we left we met by brother at a park near his work for a picnic and to say goodbye. The kids loved playing with their uncle Chris and showing off there tricks.




Since Mya hs started school she has taught

herself how to do the monkey bars. Look at that concentration.

We've decided to call Madelyn "Bright eyes" or Blue eyes whichever comes out first.

Thanks Chris for taking time out of your day to spend time with us. We love you.

OUR ADVENTURE GOING HOME.

Its really hard to tell by this picture above but every

one of the cars down there is a police car besides one Truck.

We counted about 28 police cars. He're a quick story; On our drive home we hit traffic. Thinking it was just an accident and that we'd be moving soon we turned the radio to KSL 1160 am which informed us that there was a shooting on the freeway which closed east and west bound lanes. What started as a routine traffic stop ended with a police officer shooting someone. Two hours later they turned us around on the freeway.

Then there was a horrible fire burning up in Tooele canyon. It didn't stop us but it was sure smokey though.

Sorry this is so long but we had quite the trip. Now its back to reality.