"May you LIVE all the days of your life" - J. Swift

Monday, June 28, 2010

Outside


I wasn't expecting it as one of my "firsts" in the new things experienced this summer, but my 23 year old roof is at the end of its life. RIP dear roof. So, my friend Tim who's a general contractor is putting a new one on for me, and I am helping. Oh the fun things you can do when you're a homeowner. My first time roofing, and I wouldn't be sad if it was my last. It's hard work... at least, the tearing off of the shingles can get you a good workout. I haven't exactly stayed clean through the process (note picture below). After a few days of toil and labor, and several sore muscles that I'm fairly certain had never been worked out in my body before, we're onto the easier part of putting the shingles on... and hopefully Thursday it will be complete. I'll add updated photos once it is done. Then again, it's a roof... who pays attention to what roofs look like?



Though most of my week last week was spent roofing, I did find time to go on a hike with my roommates and to go to a Bees game. I have a few pictures from hiking as shown below. These are from a hike on the Rocky Mouth Trail -- only a few miles from my house. It's a whopping 0.4 mile hike each way... fantastic destination, and only disappointing because you don't get much of a workout with it being so short. 1 or 2 miles and it would be perfect.











Last, here are a few pictures from a hike Connie and I did a week ago at the S curve in Big Cottonwood... a hike called Broads Fork.

A new favorite lunch spot of mine... the bridge a mile up the trail.







The good summer of 2010 continues... The good part being the getting things done and enjoying life. The job search... not so successful. So, I don't write much about that. Unemployment would be far more relaxing if I was a millionaire.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Tour de Utah begins




I was born and raised in Utah... still here, and still have never done most of the touristy experiences around. For instance, I had never hiked to Mt. Timp Cave National Monument (or Mt Timp for that matter... later this summer on that one) until a couple weeks ago. I had also never been to the infamous "clothing optional" hot springs at Diamond Fork until last night (no show that night though). And there are so many other not-yet-completed adventures within a couple hours' drive of the place I've lived most of my life, and it's high time I get out and do them. So my touring Utah summer has kicked off and I can now add a few adventures to the list of "checked" items, with hopes of many more to be checked off soon.

Memorial Day weekend was when it began. After canceling a trip to Yellowstone due to bad weather, my roommates and I made up for it by packing in the local adventures. This is when we hiked to Mt. Timp cave (which I had never done), went to a Real Salt Lake game (which Connie and Cherissa had never done... at Rio Tinto Stadium anyway), enjoyed an hour and a half at a massage and oxygen bar (which none of us had done), and ate at our favorite thai and indian restaurants (which I was all too excited to do again). All-in-all it was an immensely enjoyable backup to Yellowstone. A few pics from Memorial Day weekend follow.











The next weekend Connie and I continued a tradition with the 2nd annual "Make Adam give up a perfectly nice Saturday morning to take us to Carl's Cafe and fishing on free fishing day." It was a success... except we didn't catch any fish. Or was it 20 fish that we caught? We kept mixing up our answers when different people asked. Ok, the correct answer was "zero". Maybe it had something to do with how the lake was FROZEN!? We were not expecting that. But there was a little melted area by the dock so we at least pretended there was a point to throwing in our lines. Adam's a great sport to take us fishing two years in a row. And we had a great time, even though the fishing itself was unsuccessful.





Finally, this weekend we continued Tour de Utah with my first time going to Fifth Water Hot Springs. It's a 2.5 mile hike (easy at that!) to a water fall and 5 varying-temperature hot spring pools. It was amazing... and I will be back! This adventure was headed up by our friend Joseph. I've wanted to go there since I was a student at BYU, so I was grateful for the invitation. Another long-time goal fulfilled.






The next picture of me was of me trying out a new style of brainfreeze.... sticking my head through a waterfall. Each of our group did this... a kind of initiation rite I believe.






Tour de Utah is off to a great start. Hopefully the coming weeks and months will bring more new and exciting experiences. Stay tuned...