Seize the Day!

My Grandma donated her old box of Halloween costumes to me last year.  I was rifling through it the other day trying to come up with costumes for Spencer and me to wear to our neigbors' Halloween party.  The homemade brown pants kept sticking out to me, and then inspiration hit me!  A trip to K-Mart for suspenders and hats, followed by a search through Savers for a vest, and we had the perfect costumes.

Newsies!

I sort of threw the outfits together last minute (the party was Friday evening and I bought the hats, suspenders, and vest Friday morning) so we ended up not having any newspapers to carry to the party.  Lucky for us, there were two newspapers on the porch of the neighbors who hosted the party, so we "borrowed" them for the evening.  I even downloaded "King of New York" onto my phone so we could have our own theme music!  

Thanks Spencer for being such a good sport and letting me dress you up once a year!

The Narrows

I live in an awesome ward.  There is a group of ladies in the ward who get together once a year for a big women's adventure.  In the past they have hiked Mt. Timpanogos and done the Rim to Rim hike at the Grand Canyon.  This year the ladies planned a trip to hike the Narrows in Zion National Park, and I was invited to come along!

So the plan was to hike from the top of the Narrows down to the bottom, a 16 mile hike through the river which required a back country permit.  Average hiking time:  13 hours.  However, a few days before our scheduled adventure the temperatures plummeted and the area got a downpour of rain.  This meant rising water levels and dropping temperatures in the canyon.  But we hoped for the best and drove down to Zion Friday evening to get our gear and prepare for the day ahead.  

Side note:  The ladies make shirts every year to wear on the adventure.  Here is the shirt for this year.

So cute, right?

I was feeling a little nervous already, mostly because the water temps were supposed to be in the 40's and air temps in the canyon in the 50's.  Brrr.  But as we drove down, I started to learn a bit more about the women I would be hiking with and my nervousness greatly increased.  Most had run marathons or half marathons, a few even qualifying and competing in the Boston Marathon.  How was I supposed to keep up with these women?!?

Saturday morning we left our hotel bright and early to catch the 6:30 am shuttle bus that would take us to the top of the Narrows.  It's about an hour and a half drive, with the last half hour on dirt roads.  Because of the rain earlier in the week, the dirt road was too muddy for us to drive through, so we had to turn around and come back.  Time for Plan B.  We would start at the bottom of the Narrows and hike up as far as we could, and then turn around and come back.

Because of the cold temperatures we all rented dry suits, which ended up being a life saver (though not the most attractive outfit)!  

Yes, two of these people are men.  A couple of husbands tagged along.  It was comforting to have a little priesthood authority, just in case.

We started up the river around 9 am, and hiked/swam/floated our way up through the river as far as we could go.  It was amazing.  I really had to push myself to fight against the current, and I got really tired as we began making our way back down, but I did it!  And I had fun!  And I didn't slow anybody down!  We ended up finishing in 3 different groups.  Two ladies turned around a little early, followed by the group I was in, and a few die hards followed about an hour later.  My group got out of the river around 6 pm.  I was exhausted!  Luckily we planned to stay one more night in the hotel, so we just showered, ate dinner, and crashed.  Sunday morning we drove back home.  I wasn't even sore the next day!    Probably because of the cold water I was in for the majority of the hike.

All in all, it was an excellent trip.  I got to know some amazing women, and was able to really challenge myself and feel empowered for succeeding.  Next year I will have to take Spencer, but we'll plan to go in August instead of October.  

Oregon Day 1

Spencer and I haven't taken a vacation for a while.  Unless you count little camping trips within driving distance, which I do not.  So we figured now was the perfect time to go.  If you've ever used Groupon, you might have seen their vacation deals.  Spencer and I sat down one evening and searched through all their vacation destinations.  They had a couple of different offerings in Oregon.  Spencer went there for chiropractic college and loved it.  He has always wanted to take me up there.

We settled on a mountain resort in Bend, Oregon.  Then we had to figure out flights.  We could have flown in to Portland and then taken a connecting flight to Redmond, which would put us just a short drive from Bend.  Or we could fly into Portland and drive three and a half hours to get to Bend.  But it wouldn't be like driving down the I-15 corridor, with nothing but sage brush and junipers.  This was Oregon, after all!  So we decided on a shorter flight and longer drive.  And I am glad we did.  

Friday.  Our flight left SLC at 8:30 am, and because of the time zone difference, we arrived in Oregon just after 9 am.  We had the whole day ahead of us!  First stop - checking out where Spencer lived during school.

Spencer had a pretty sweet set-up for housing during school.  He lived in an apartment above the Multnomah County Medical Examiner's Office (aka the morgue) free of rent.  All he had to do was answer phone calls after hours.  How cool to say you've lived in a morgue!

Here is Spencer outside the old morgue building.  It has actually been converted into a dermatology clinic now.  The windows at the top are part of the apartment where he used to live.

From there we drove out to see the college(no pictures, sorry!) and then headed towards Multnomah Falls.  We took the scenic byway to get there, and it was amazing!  Along the way we stopped at the Vista House.  It is a small dome-shaped building that was constructed in the early 1900's to be used as a resting place for travelers.

Here's a view of the inside.

It's hard to tell, but all the windows were stained glass.  It looked very much like a cathedral.

The views around the Vista House were pretty spectacular.

I think that's the Columbia River.  Pretty sure.

Now to Multnomah Falls.  I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

This picture reminds me of Star Wars when Luke Skywalker meets Yoda in the swamp.

view looking down from the top of the Falls

The hike up to the top of the falls was pretty steep, but not much more than a mile in distance.  There were signs along the way telling what number switchback we were on.  There were eleven total.

We left the Falls and headed toward Bend.  We stopped off at Smith Rock for a minute along the way.  It's an incredible area for rock climbing.  There are tall sheer cliff faces all along the perimeter of the 'Rock.'  If we could have checked luggage at the airport without paying such a ridiculous fee, we would have brought our climbing gear and gone climbing.  Oh well, maybe another time!

After arriving in Bend, we found our resort and checked in.  You may notice the complimentary bottle of wine on the counter.  How thoughtful of them.  We left it for the cleaning ladies the day we checked out.

Since our room came complete with a kitchen and everything, we decided to run to the grocery store to pick up some food.  Finding a grocery store in Bend was ... tricky.  I don't know why.  But it was.  We finally found one after driving in circles for an eternity.  Then it was back to the resort to relax and rest up for tomorrow.

Oregon Day 2

Saturday.  I have a total of two pictures taken of today.  Not because we didn't do anything though!  In the morning we took a little walk along some nature trails at the resort.  The trails twisted and turned and split off into little offshoots.  And they were well used by the locals!  Every few minutes a group of runners or bikers would pass by, always with a friendly hello.

We took the trail right from the back door of our room and down around a small lake.

Once past the lake we saw some lava formations before heading back through the trees.

After lunch we drove over to the Old Mill District, which is a quaint shopping center along the river.  Most of our afternoon was spent walking around all the shops.  We also drove through downtown Bend.

Then it was back to the resort.

We ate dinner at the resort's bar and grill.  Then we tried out their three different hot tubs and pools.  It was around 9 pm when we went to the pools, and the air was COLD!  So I stuck mostly to the hot tubs.  But I did try one of the pools for a few minutes.  Those hot tubs were a nice way to end the day.

Oregon Day 3

Sunday.  We slept in, listened to the morning session of General Conference online, and then checked out of the resort.  It was time to begin the drive back to Portland.  We stopped along the way now and then at scenic overlooks.  Most of the drive was so green and lush, but of course I didn't take pictures!  

Spencer managed to take a picture at one of the (less stunning) scenic overlooks. 

 This area must have had a fire burn out many of the trees not too long ago.  But it was still pretty, and we saw a nice little lake in the distance.

Our flight was not until 6:30, so we had a little bit of time to spend in Portland.  First stop - the Portland Temple.

I loved how it was just tucked away right in the middle of a forest of trees.

After walking around the temple grounds, I asked Spencer if we could pick some blackberries.  There are wild blackberry bushes growing EVERYWHERE in Oregon!  It was near the end of berry season, but we still managed to find some good ones.

The berries were a tasty appetizer, and it was time to head to downtown Portland for a bite to eat.  After some soup and sandwiches at a sidewalk cafe, and with just a few extra minutes to spare before needing to head to the airport, Spencer remembered the Rose Gardens and wanted to take me there.  Oh man, I could have spent all day at this place!  But as luck would have it, we had about 5 minutes to look before we needed to speed off to the airport.  I did manage a few snapshots before we left.

It was sprinkling a little, so all the flowers were covered in perfect little water droplets..

We parked right next to the public restroom.  I just HAD to get a picture.

That has got to be the cutest little bathroom building ever!

Now all we had to do was fill the rental car with gas and get to the airport.  This proved to be a little complicated however.  We could not find a gas station anywhere near the airport!  We were a bit frantic for a few minutes as we drove aimlessly down various streets.  Would we miss our flight???

Finally we spotted a Costco gas station!  Did you know that you cannot pump your own gas in Oregon?  It has to be pumped by an attendant.  Spencer said that's so people will have jobs.  Interesting.

We ended up making it to the airport with time to spare before boarding our plane for the flight back home.  An hour and twenty minutes after take off, we were in Salt Lake City.  Home again, home again, jiggity jig.