Hiking at Sundance

All this past week our children were AWL (absent WITH leave), having been abducted....with permission (and maybe due to some begging!) by Tyson's parents.  They had a fabulous week with grandma and grandpa while Tyson and I had lots of fun, just the two of us.  We did some bowling, exercising, and finished some long over-due house projects. Due to all the crazy wildfires going on all around our little community we also went out chasing smoke and sunsets.  I felt like we were in the movie Twister as we barreled down the dirt roads searching for the prime location.  I was very glad we were only chasing sunsets and not tornadoes though!  This is my favorite picture that Tyson took.  It looks like a birthday candle to me.

For two of our "vacation" days we went over to Provo/Orem area.  The first day we had lunch with friends, Travis and Sherri McQuivy, at Texas Roadhouse (holy heck, have you tried the Portabella Mushroom Chicken!) And then we went shopping and checked in to a hotel where we went and tried out the hot tub.  The next morning (I was rudely awakened by the alarm at 4:15 a.m!  Lesson learned:  check the hotel alarm clock to make sure a former occupant has not set it for an insanely early time with an exceptionally loud volume level!) we went to spend the day in the great outdoors.  First we went to Bridal Veil Falls and then on up to Sundance ski resort.  We rode the lift about halfway up the mountain and then did a lot of hiking.  When I was a kid I had a recurrent nightmare in which I always fell off a ski lift, only to wake up just before hitting the ground.  So I've always had a completely irrational fear, or perhaps just a reservation, about ski lifts.  But all was well and I just held on real tight and tried not to look down too much (though, have you ever ridden a ski lift down the hill....much scarier!)

First we did the hardest hike, Arrowpoint Trail, which takes you straight to the top of the mountain with an elevation of 8,600 feet.  There were some exceptionally steep hills!  I thought it would be easier coming down but my knees were really feeling it (and I woke up the next morning so very sore!) The view was amazing, even with smoke from all the Utah wildfires.  We enjoyed lunch at the top of the mountain.

Then we hiked back down to the Stewart Falls hike.  In all, we hiked about 8 miles.  It was a perfect day for it.  The weather was nice and there were very few other hikers.

Tyson thought I was crazy because I chose to hike 2 miles back to the lift so we could ride down, rather than take the 1 mile path to the base of the hill.  What can I say?  I had finally faced my fear of ski lifts and wanted to try it again! 

We returned back home that night feeling very gritty, tired, and somewhat sunburned, but we had a great time.  A HUGE thank you to my excellent in-laws, Bill and Susan, for taking care of our kids for us (and for taking the cactus spines out of Garrett's leg!)  There's nothing like a week without kids to make you realize how much you adore them!  (and then a day back home to remember why you sent them to grandma's in the first place!  Only kidding....kind of!)