Geography nerd takes a hike.

Today was Memorial Day! It is always so nice to have a holiday from work and a beautiful summery day to spend with my husband. Especially when we get to spend it outside together.

Yesterday--Sunday--we had a fun family picnic with lots of the Holloway's. Jared and I started playing a game with 3 of the young boys, aged about 3, 5, and 6. The game consisted of them standing on one about 5 feet from me. I, or Jared would bounce a kickball at the ground and then the boys had to catch it. Probably one of the most simple games I have ever played, but they LOVED it. Soon, five other kids ran over and wanted to play with us. We moved our game out into a large grassy field, and Jared and I started punting the ball as high as we possibly could. This provided an opportunity for shrill screams from the girls as they crouched on the ground with their hands covering their heads waiting for the ball to drop. The boys, contrarily ran around arms outstretched trying to catch the ball. It was hilarious. The older girls soon started hogging the ball to themselves, and the younger kids started getting sad because they were not getting a turn any more. I reasoned with the girls about being fair and immediately the three year old ran up to me and said, "You're going to be the coach!". Cries of agreement rippled through the rest of the cousins.

Sure, why not? I'll be coach. A coach that occasionally gets bored with being coach and runs into the crowd, grabs two kids around the waist and runs pel-mel in between the other kids and intercepting the ball. A coach that won't let a real game happen--with scoring and rules etc. Since it was Sunday I didn't want to get into competition and feelings hurt so I said no when they asked if we could play soccer. I will have to play soccer with them some other time. Jared and I eventually wore ourselves out when each kid asked us to be twirled...

So today was a holiday!! And it was a perfect day. Jared and I both woke up early, and having planned the night before to have breakfast and leave a quick as possible, we actually accomplished our goal and were on the road by 9:00 am. Hooray!

We had no idea where we ought to hike, but wanted to try some place new. We drove up to Draper--by way of the pass that goes over the mountain rather than around on the I-15. There were gobs and gobs of bikers climbing that huge hill. We even drove past a team of cyclists speeding down the hill in the opposite lanes. I exclaimed, "oh man, my dad would love this! He'd be all, 'what kind of bike is that, what is that one, oh that is sooooo cool!'". Sorry dad, I didn't see what any of them were, but I'm pretty sure I've seen that team ride by when you were out here once before. They wear green and black.

So, back to finding a trail. Long story short, it took us 20 minutes, but we found a trail and started walking. We had no idea where it went, if it was even a public trail, or what kind of terrain we would find. We were pleasantly surprised by the following spectacular trail. Turns out it is called Corner Canyon Park. I very much want to go there again.

Mount Timpanogus. The snow is melting! Almost ready to be hiked!

Wild flowers, so pretty. 

Draper temple

We ran into some other hikers who said the trail we were on connected with another  that Trail-headed at Jacob's Ladder. Never been, but we will have to try it sometime

What a beautiful day. 

Yours Truly.  I was loving every minute of this hike. It went from rolling hills with deep water carved gullies to rugged, steep mountain slopes with sagebrush.

The smell reminded me of being a kid and going on hiking trips with my family.

I'm so happy that now I have this man in my family to share these new adventures with. He makes me so happy.  And he looks so good in his hiking boots. Those were one of the best things we ever bought--perfect for Utah. One day not long from now, I know I will miss getting to drive <30 minutes to spots like this.

Snack break

One of the greenest summer's we have had so far. The rain makes every day that much more beautiful. 

Being myself. Weird. 

Oh hey. 

I don't even know. But he looks pretty great doing what ever it is he's doing. 

Look at those cool rocks. 

We paused on this rock (below) and recovered our strength with a few snacks and water. While we sat reposing and planning a backpacking trip to Europe (ASAP), we heard a loud "Boom". The sound shuddered the air and was followed by 8 others. They were spaced out equally, and though we still don't know what caused them, we think that it was either dynamite in the Geneva rock quarry, or a cannon.

At this exact moment, Jared is singing, "I'm a maniac, Maniac! 

The best part of this morning hike was spending it with Jared. He is now in Billings, and tomorrow, he begins his week of shadowing. I'm really looking forward to hearing from him how it is going. Also because it's going to be lonely without this guy. He makes me smile.