2nd Annual Enoch to Escalante Ride

Alfredo has been excited about this day for months now.. he is riding 130 miles off-road on dirt-bikes with our neighbor Brandon, his son Billy and 15 other friends/neighbors; they are going from Enoch to Escalante. With stops for lunch and providing that nothing goes wrong with their bikes, it should take them about 5 or 6 hours to reach their destination. They'll stay tonight in Escalante, watch the Pioneer Day Parade tomorrow morning, then they'll start the trip home. Have fun guys, stay safe and we'll see you tomorrow!... in the meantime, while the guys are away, the girls will play! and I'm off on my first girls night out in months - a trip to the movies to see 'The Proposal' with my friends Stacey and Liz.

Bryce Canyon Nat'l Park: Queens Garden & Navajo Loop Trails

I'm ashamed to say that having lived in Utah for nearly 5 years now, we've never been to Bryce Canyon! With this amazing natural wonder just being a little over an hour and a half from our house, we thought a visit there was well overdue! I'm in love with the red rock and rock formations we have here in southern Utah and I was in awe with all the hoodoo's (the chimney type stacked rock) to be found in Bryce Canyon... they truly are magnificent and Bryce is a place that everyone just has to see for themselves, you can never even begin to describe how it feels to look out over the thousands of acres of amazing views deep in the canyon. Having only a few hours in the park today, we did the Queens Garden & Navajo Loop trails - 2 trails that join up in the middle to form a 3 hour hike... and wow, was it an amazing hike! The start of the hike took us way down to the canyon floor, meandering in and out of the hoodoo's on switchback-like trails that were so beautiful. Owen loved when they'd cut holes in the red rock to make little tunnels so the trail could continue - he had so much fun running round and hiding in the little hidey holes that were naturally cut into the rocks. Once the trail hit the bottom floor, we walked for a mile or so before it started to climb up again, really steeply through a series of switch-backs, through this amazing slot canyon, ending at the top of the canyon. It was a very beautiful hike and the weather was perfect; really warm but it rained a fair bit - not heavy, just a perfect amount to keep us cool! Owen was a real trooper and walked the whole way, we were really proud of him.

Cedar Breaks Nat'l Monument: Alpine Pond Trail

First off, CONGRATULATIONS to my little brother Mat who married his sweetheart Luisa in England yesterday, 18 July 2009. Unfortunately we couldn't afford to be there, but I've heard that the day was fantastic and I'm excited to see pictures. Congratulations to you both, we are so happy for you! Meanwhile, back in Cedar City, the temperature hit 100F and we decided to head up the mountain to Cedar Breaks in search of some cooler weather. We hiked the Alpine Pond trail which was beautiful. The mountain is full of wild flowers at this time of year and the 2 mile round trail was so colorful. Owen had a blast, running ahead, picking flowers and pointing things out. We've been to Cedar Breaks so many times but each time we're blown away by how beautiful it is. After our hike, we took a short drive up the road to Duck Creek and the annual Duck Creek Days where Muddy Boots (our friend's band) were playing so we stayed there for a couple hours to listen to music, dance and visit with friends.

4th July Weekend... the Sunday

The last day of this very fun weekend and it's back to work tomorrow for me :( but today was a lot of fun! We went up to Navajo Lake with Roger & Arlene and their cute daughter Bailey. We BBQ'd, had fun collecting water for their cabin from a nearby spring (Alfredo got soaked!) and hiked part-way to the beautiful Cascade Falls... I say 'part-way' because heavy rains had caused land/rock slides to destroy the trail and prevent us going further.. but what we saw was beautiful and I'm hoping they reconstruct the trail soon so I can go back and finish the hike. In the meantime, I'm eager to get back up the mountain to hike and mountain bike the many other trails we saw on our travels up there. Happy 4th July everyone! - I hope you had as much fun as we did.

4th July Weekend.. the Friday

So the 4th July Independence Day holiday weekend has never been one of my favourites, don't know why because we've always had a good time - I guess because it's not a holiday celebrated in England, I don't get as excited about it as the Americans do, but the longer I'm here, the more it is becoming one of my favourite holidays.. and this year was the best yet, thanks to our amazing friends and neighbors with whom we spent the weekend - it was crazy and a lot of fun! Friday was a day off work for me... 3 day weekends are always very welcome! In the evening we went to see our friend Roger's band 'Muddy Boots' (http://www.muddybootband.com/) play in Beaver. We went with our good friends Robyn & Dwayne and had a super evening. Muddy Boots put on a fantastic show and if you ever get the chance, you need to see them play! You guys rock!!