Duchesne in August

There's something about going to Duchesne in August that just feels right. Perhaps I have positive memories because the first time I went there was just hours after Kevin and I first told each other we loved each other. Perhaps it's that we're there when the roses are still in bloom, when the hay is being cut. And since the past few years have been so wet, it's still beautiful and green, even in August.

In a lot of ways, Duchesne is predictable and nice. We will always go four-wheeling at least once. We (or at least Kevin) will help out on the farm at least once. We will watch a few too many movies. It's just a nice, laidback lifestyle for a few days (at least for us as guests . . . his parents always stay busy).

This year had a special treat -- the D'Nerdz reunion. Kevin's senior year, he and a few other friends created a band as part of his friend Derek's campaign. The summer after Kevin graduated, they performed at some dances and other events. But after the members of the band started leaving on missions, it never came together again.

Until now.

There I was again, back in high school, listening to "Kryptonite" and "The Middle" and "Swing Swing." And they actually sounded pretty good! It made me so happy.

Southern Utah, Day 3

The third day, we went to Goblin Valley and Wild Horse. Here's yet another tip for you all: Don't believe Google maps' times. It simply does not take an hour to go 5 miles on a paved road with no construction. Oh well. We got to Duchesne several hours earlier than we had anticipated.


At Goblin Valley, we played hide and seek and acted out scenes from Galaxy Quest. What I like about Goblin Valley is that it's got hoodoos same as Bryce Canyon but you can actually climb on them.

Kevin hid first . . .

Well, from exactly one direction, my hiding spot was good . . .

My imitation of Sigourney Weaver:

 Blasting imaginary aliens:

After we had our fill of fun in Goblin Valley, we went to Little Wild Horse, which is another slot canyon. I think Peekaboo was supposed to be more like it minus all the sand.

Near the beginning:

 Definitely wouldn't want to be stuck here in a flash flood . . .

After going about a half mile in, we hit a wall of rocks and debris (complete with a plastic bag from Walmart I was scared to touch). We'd had enough clambering on the first day of our adventures to last us a lifetime, so we just turned around. And thus ended our Southern Utah trip. The end. :)

Southern Utah, Day 2

Luckily, the rest of the trip wasn't quite as eventful as the first day. In fact, except for the scenic route at Capitol Reef being closed (again, check ahead of time!), we were able to stick to our plans pretty well.

We woke up on Tuesday and headed off to Lower Calf Creek Falls. We were glad we went as early as we did because the hike sure got hot fast! When we got to the waterfall, things cooled down quite a bit.

We had planned to go swimming, but the water was COLD! At least we had some fun in the sand:

After that hike, we took the amazingly beautiful drive on Highway 12 over to Capitol Reef. Wow. It's the best of both worlds -- trees and forests on one side, red rocks and canyons on the other. This should give you an idea of what it looks like (although this picture hardly does it justice):

Once we got to Capitol Reef, we decided to hike up Cohab Canyon a bit. Here's another tip for you: Don't believe weather.com. It said the high in Capitol Reef was going to be 81. When we were the car said it was more like 91, and I'm inclined to believe that instead.

But still, it was a pretty cool hike.

That night, we stayed in Hanksville in a room with two beds. When we were in bed, I asked, "What's the name of that one singer who sounds like Evanescence?" Kevin said, "Oh, I know who you're talking about. The one who sang 'Only Time.'"
"Yeah," I responded.
"We have to find out who we're talking about. It will kill us if we don't know," Kevin said. So I headed over to the bed where we had our laptop. But on my way out of bed, my feet somehow missed the ground and I instead went flying and landed on our laundry in between the two beds.
"It's Enya," Kevin said as I struggled to get up. Oh, the irony.

Lessons and Tips from Southern Utah, Day 1

On Monday, Kevin and I headed on a vacation to southern Utah for a few days to see the red rocks and slot canyons. Although I felt like I had done lots of planning and list-making, by the time we walked into our hotel Monday evening, I felt like I had failed at everything. Looking back, it's good that we were as prepared as we were, because this first day turned out to be a bit more adventurous than we were anticipating.

So, for all of you planning a trip to southern Utah anytime soon, here are some pointers.

1. If you spend two hours working on making new mixes to listen to in the car the night before your vacation, your packing will be seriously delayed.

2. When in doubt, call actual people. There were some hikes we considered going on but decided against because we thought they were closed. When we found out they were open, we didn't made room for them in the schedule, so we missed out. (I'm looking at you, Navajo Loop.)

3. Pay attention to road signs. You feel a lot smarter if you follow a sign that says "Highway 89" than if you run into a sign that says, "This is not Highway 89" (yes, it actually said that). Luckily, that detour only took 10 minutes.

4. If you stop at Escalante Outfitters, don't assume that just because you and your husband almost finished an 18'' thin-crusted Slab pizza one time that you can also finish a 16'' pizza composed mostly of meat and a much thicker crust. They really aren't comparable.

5. If your sweet mother goes to all the trouble to provide links to maps for you, and you happen to have your laptop with you, keep the links to the maps open. And not just Google Maps (it's kind of clueless, but I'll discuss that more on that in another post). Otherwise, you will fret as you look at Google Maps in the middle of nowhere, Panguitch County (or Kane County) wondering if Harris Wash is where you're supposed to turn off. (Luckily I had saved one of the pages my mom linked which said to turn off Dry Fork, so we didn't actually get lost until we were hiking down the wash, and we managed to correct that quickly.)

6. If you're going hiking at any point in the day, wear a T-shirt, not a new cute shirt and nice shorts. Yes, you may get tired of wearing T-shirts every time you go hiking (and in 90% of pictures taken of you), but at least you don't mind them getting dirty.
 What may look cute on a gentle stroll in Bryce Canyon

may look kind of ridiculous in a mud pit in Peekaboo slot canyon:

Luckily, all of the dirt washed out. Took an hour in the shower and perhaps a time or two in the washing machine, but my clothes are clean again.

However, all of this could have been avoided had I followed this next piece of advice:

7. When you are headed up Peekaboo and a little boy shouts out, "Hey, that's really muddy," don't disregard his message because he's little. And don't take it as a challenge, either.

8. When you are encountering a mud pit with a tiny ledge on one side, sometimes intelligence is more important than willpower. I said, "I can do this" seconds before I fell in the 2-foot-deep mud pit. Instead, I should have said, "right beneath this ledge is dried mud that I can walk on and I can hold onto the ledge rather than walk on it." Alas.

9. If you have spent the last 5 years of your life feeling somewhat cheated that you didn't get to go to the Peekaboo slot canyon but instead went to some obscure (albeit awesome) slot canyon somewhere in the vicinity of Peekaboo, stop feeling cheated. When there are mud pits in Peekaboo, boring slot canyons look awfully appealing.

10. If  a slot canyon dubbed "Spooky" seems a lot tamer and a lot less, um, spooky than Peekaboo, then it's probably not a good time of year to go explore Peekaboo. (Not that we finished Spooky either because Peekaboo had worn us out, but we did get a lot further in.)

Okay, so really the only major mishap the first day was in Peekaboo. Other than that, the day was pretty good and full of spectacular views:

Have I ever mentioned that I really love Bryce Canyon? :)