Wildflowers!

Every spring, when the snowpack melts, it prepares the cottonwood canyons for a beautiful summer of wildflowers!  This year we had record snowfall so it took a little longer for the flowers to bloom - because it took longer for over 700 inches of snow to melt!

We took a hike with some friends of ours to enjoy the beautiful landscape.  We drove to Alta to hike up to Cecret Lake.  Here are some of the pictures from that adventure:

Riley and Kendall with their buddies at Alta

Here is some of that record snow fall that hadn't melted yet!  No wonder I was skiing on the 4th of July, huh? 

Checking out what types of wildlife to expect to see along the way

Try to guess which parts of the GORP Kendall is digging for?  No M&M's left after she had control of the bag!

More snow in the background on our way to Cecret Lake

 I never cease to be amazed at how these beautiful flowers seem to grow right out of the rocks!

 Taking a much needed break after she hiked almost the entire thing by herself!

The kids enjoyed cooling their feet in the lake - Unfortuantely Kendall fell and cooled off her legs up to her waist!  Ugh!

Aren't the gorgeous?

I love summer in the canyons!

So many colors!

 Love it!

 Love these two...

My hiking buddy

The beautiful landscape that Utah offers makes the winters here more tolerable - that and the great skiing!

Bikes, Picnics and Waterfalls

Last week the kids and I decided to get some exercise while taking in part of the beauty of Provo Canyon.  There is a great paved bike path along the Provo River through Provo Canyon.  We decided to pack a picnic lunch and our bikes and enjoy the sunshine.  We ate our lunch at Canyon View Park and then got on our bikes and rode a few miles to Bridal Veil Falls.  The parkway goes right to the falls.  We took a break here and cooled off in the natural spring water that feeds the falls.  Kendall complained of the temperature of the water more than Riley - but I didn't blame her, it was COLD!

 This is Bridal Veil Falls - Pretty, huh?

My handsome little man

 Climbing part way up the falls in the cold water

Sissy wanted to follow us regardless of how cold her feet got

 My little princess

 Love spending time with these two

Riley wanted to see under water with his sunglasses on

 I guess this proves that Little Gym has paid off, huh?

 The falls are so pretty.  I need to take Andy with us next time.  He's only seen it from the road.  I am going to miss these fun "field trips" with my kids once school starts again.

Alaska Trip - All Creatures Great And Small

As we made our return trip from Seward to Anchorage, we took a private shuttle which included a tour of a few places along the way.  One of those places was the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center.  Here they try to preserve Alaska's wildlife through education.  They also take in injured or orphaned animals and try to release them back into the wild if they can.  Some now have permanent homes at the center.  Our driver took us on a tour of the center and we got to see some wildlife that we may not have gotten a chance to see upclose.

These are Musk Ox

These are Elk

The safest way to see a Grizzly in Alaska

Hugo was pretty big

He only came out because his trainer was offering him some hotdogs otherwise he was content to lay below a ridge where he was out of sight.

Are they Reindeer or Caribou?  Guess since we were in Alaska and not the North Pole, they must have been Caribou!

One of their adult Moose

The babies - soooo cute!

Baby Bear cubs - don't look as dangerous at this size, huh?

Still wouldn't want to be without a fence between us!

These are Wood bison.  They were extinct for over 100 years in Alaska and are finally making a comeback thanks to the efforts of the AWCC.

It was fun for the kids to get a chance to safely see bear and moose up close.  Yes, we can see some of these animals here in Utah in the wild, but I wouldn't want to.  Last summer we saw two moose cross our trail at Alta while hiking, but we kept a safe distance.  Bear sightings aren't too common, but they do happen.

Sadly, this is the last post of our trip to Alaska.  We had a great time and are very thankful we had the chance to visit with all of my family together.  Don't know when we'll make another trip to the "Last Frontier" but I'm glad we got to do it while we live in Utah to cut down on the travel time!

Thanks to my brother and his family for letting us invade their home and family life, for allowing us to borrow a vehicle to get around town and for all the wonderful meals at their place.  Many thanks to my parents who did everything from babysitting, taking us out to eat, helping make dinners, being our tour guides, planning a good portion of the trip, etc.  We are very thankful for the opportunity to take this trip and spend some quality time as a family.

Alaska Trip - Hitting The Trail

One thing about Alaska is there are lots of glaciers.  Here in Utah, there are many places to see the evidence of glaciers, but in Alaska, you can actually see them in existence.  Exit Glacier is part of the Harding Ice Field located in Kenai Fjords National Park.  The amazing part of Exit Glacier is to see how much it has retreated over the years.  Global warming?  Hmm...Considering we know this glacier has been retreating since at least 1815?  

 You can see how blue the ice looks - it's from snow falling on the glacier and compressing into the glacier; it becomes dense and looks blue

We got some huge artic blasts of wind while we were at the base of the glacier!

We had plans of hiking with Riley up to the top or at least as far as we could get Riley to go, but it was really windy and cold and the flies were CRAZY bad.  No lie while we were walking through the woods to get to the glacier, I'd see 7-8 on my mom's back at the same time as she hiked in front of me!  We didn't think we'd be happy hiking in those conditions.

 Mom and Dad went with us to see the glacier.  They hiked to the top with Matt and Mere years ago and on their adventure came across a momma bear and her cubs - another reason not to take Riley with us to the top.

Part of the glacier melting

Doesn't the blue ice look incredible?

Looking up along the edge of the glacier

Looking down to where the water was forming a glacier stream which then flows out into Resurrection Bay

Looking in the opposite direction of the glacier.  Beautiful views in every direction!

So since we didn't take Riley hiking at Exit Glacier, we thought we'd try to hike at least part of the Mt. Marathon trail.  There is this huge race there every year on the 4th of July to the top of the mt. and back.  I think the race record is to the top and back in a little over 40 minutes.  The total elevation to the top of the mt. is 3022 feet.  The race distance is a 5K total.  The start/finish line is pretty close to their coffee shop so they do lots of business on that day!  It's a pretty big deal up there (my guess it's not nearly as tough as some of the crazy "ultra marathons" like the Speedgoat 50K they run at Snowbird 11,00 feet!) but draws lots of runners and from what I understand it's not easy to even enter the race.  We started to hike back to the trail, but somehow we missed it - it's not an official hiking trail that's marked, etc. so maybe that's why.  Anyhow, Riley had more fun walking along the boulders and rocks that lined the Lowell creek through Lowell Canyon.  We hiked back that instead.  He was really in need of some exercise and some extra attention from mom and dad.

My little guy is so handsome!

Isn't this canyon beautiful?  Reminded me a lot of the canyons here in Utah.

He can be very photogenic when he wants to be

 This is the wild fireweed that you can find throughout the area

Our hike back along the creek

 We decided to take a turn and head up a wash to a waterfall that caught our attention.  Riley wasn't too sure about it once we started our ascent, but he enjoyed it once we were finished crossing the water (the rocks were very slippery)

Doesn't this look like fun?

Thankfully Dad blazed the trail and helped little man across the wet rocks

It was steeper than it looks in this picture

Climbing higher...

Still going...

Hi Mom!

Can't go any higher

Me and my boy

 Looking back down through the canyon towards the bay

After our hike we were all happier.  Riley got to spend some QT with mom and dad and we all got some exercise.  Kendall was happy because she convinced Nanny to take a nap with her!