The Penultimate Weekend

Jake has officially been accepted to grad school in Oklahoma. The countdown has begun and so has his attempts to get as much done before he leaves as he can. I'm sad he's going to be leaving but it's hard to be depressed when you're having so much fun. It was his penultimate weekend and it was packed! I'll just stick to the main things we've been doing and leave out all the little ones. It began on Friday when we visited the Springville Art Museum. They still have their exhibit up "Sagebrush Pinion and Pine" which we both wanted to see as well as their new sculpture garden which was finished just 2 weeks ago. The art was all great and we stayed till they closed. The sculpture garden was cool, but I think their signs need a little work already. I don't think they're outdoor friendly.

On the way home there was so much traffic so we decided to drive The Alpine Loop...and then we decided to pull out to look at the view...and then we saw a trail...and that was that. The wildflowers were amazing, the weather was perfect, and we just couldn't resist even if we only had flip flops on and no water. I lost my shoe once while bushwhacking back to the road but I found it and miraculously we didn't get any poison oak. Jake did get a tick, but he caught is before it burrowed in.

Here Jake was showing me some "Leave No Trace" practices. When we left you'd never know someone was stupid enough to make a firepit right in the middle of the trail, well, maybe someday you won't be able to tell. I got behind taking pictures and when I finally caught up to Jake this is where I found him... (Here he's trying to make a grass whistle) We ended the day with a big frisbee game in the park and played till it was so dark people were getting hit with the frisbee cause they couldn't see it coming. Saturday was non-stop. Jake has always wanted to take his brother and some of his nieces and nephews climbing, so Saturday morning we went hiking up Rock Canyon in over 100 degree weather with Jake's dad, brother, and two of his brother's kids. We managed to find a route with a little shade and everyone got to go up once.

Everyone wanted a picture of themselves climbing for facebook so I was taking close up shots. I went up last and while I cleaned the anchors, Stew took my camera and got a couple cool shots of me from far away. I wish he'd been taking them the whole time, they turned out great. After climbing we raced back to the car and over to Provo Canyon where we rented some of those inflatable kayaks. We actually had some of our own but the shuttle ride to the top almost makes just renting them worth it. We reserved 3 tandem ones but when we got to the top they only had two tandems and two singles left so Jake and I got our own and the kids rode with their dad and grandpa. It was so fun! Jake helped rescue a girl stuck under a bridge... and I helped rescue a guys shoes. It's not like real kayaking, mostly floating. It was tame enough that Jake and I were trying to stand on our boats like gondolas...we both fell off, but I fell into my boat, Jake fell in the river. Sadly no pictures. Rivers and cameras aren't friends.

After we all got home from the river, Jake and I took out his parents quads. I've only ridden one once about 6 years ago, but I did ok... and Jake did donuts around me. We went all the way to the top of the mountains behind his house. We saw the sunset, a great view of Utah Lake, and then we saw some big gray clouds full of lighting and headed home. On the way back we saw deer, rabbits, a rattlesnake, and a bunch of poorwills. We tried to watch a movie when we got home but found that after 3 hours on a 4-wheeler we were unable to hear anything with our ringing ears so we called it a night.

Sunday there was a big celebration family dinner for Jake going to school. Later we took one of the quads out again but this time Jake drove and I just rode behind him...and this time we didn't see the big gray clouds full of lighting till it was too late. I've never been caught in such a crazy rainstorm. We were racing down the mountain in the mud trying to keep ourselves as low as possible. By the time we got home our arms were covered in welts from the rain and we looked like we'd been swimming in our clothes. (luckily I didn't have my camera with me. It'd have been toast) At least we made it home safe. Lighting struck in the park right next to us as we sped past and we were screaming all the way home. His whole family was on the porch watching for us when we pulled in. It was an exciting end to a fun weekend. Less than 2 weeks left and only 1 more weekend... I wonder what we'll do next...