New Toys and Old Festivals

We bought a new ATV!  On Saturday morning, September 8, we drove to Weller Recreation, in Kamas, to pick up our snowmobiles and ATVs, all serviced and ready to ride this fall and winter.  We then spent the weekend at the cabin, but not entirely by design. We thought this was our week at the Iron Blossam condo at Snowbird.  When we got there Saturday night, car fully loaded, we were told our week doesn't start until next Friday.  No problem--back to the cabin we went...

Dave and I loved driving the two ATVs around Pine Mountain.  We drove through areas of pine, sagebrush, and aspen, smelling the sweet mountain smells.

 

I checked out good-looking cabins with the same focus that I use for good-looking canines in my continuing search for the "dog of the day."

 

Back at the Spend Love Nest (remember Grandpa Spendlove's sign?), Dave painted the front porch while I dusted and polished.

 

We enjoyed the views surrounding our own little cabin, which is not much bigger than the condo at Snowbird.

 

 

Whatever else we do, early in September, we always visit the Greek Festival and the State Fair.  The Greek Festival was chaotic this year, with larger crowds than we have ever seen.  The bouzouki music pounded and we had to fight for seats.  Still, the crispy calamari, savory stuffed grape leaves, lemon rice, and Greek sausage in pita bread were irrisistible.  We will be back.

 

 

 

 

The Fair is utterly predictable and utterly unpredictable.

We always visit the pigs, sheep, goats, and cows, and we always sympathize with mother piggies trying to get a bit of rest in the middle of their own version of chaos. 

We always check out the craft areas, but the things people make continue to amaze us.  Here's a hand-crafted coffin to house a teddy bear.

Here's a prom dress made of blue plastic. The photo next to the dress shows the creator wearing it.

Here's a huge statue of a bug made out of a car radiator.

Here's a butter sculpture named "Hunger Games."  Cows play the role of the characters in the just-released movie of the same name.

But here is something really, really beautiful--a collection of hand-crafted, inlaid wood bowls.

We always visit the Home Arts and 4-H areas, and think back to the days when Lisa and Camille were in 4-H and displayed their sewing projects at the Fair.

We always check out the commercial buildings, as well, where we see wonders like this pink piggy barbecue grill and a casket for a "green" funeral (you're buried without preservatives and have to get into the ground within 24 hours of death).  This Indian headress reminds us of the Rendezvous, where Dave bought his coyote roadkill hat.

 

 

We always wander down the midway, as well, There are great hot dog signs and treats like this "splat ball" game.  There was also the US Marine sign-up station, with a huge, blow-up Marine statue and a guy trying to do 15 pull-ups to win a t-shirt (he only got to 11). 

 

 

We always admire the rides and wish we had grandkids with us who wanted to ride them.

 

And finally, we always exit the Fair past the square dancers.  This year, there was a sign offering square dance lessons.  A friendly guy told us there is a Friday night square dance club in South Salt Lake with a spot all ready for Dad and me.  Dad shuddered and rushed away.  I guess that's an activity, like birding, for when we're retired....

 

Floating Down the Colorado

Absence does make the heart grow fonder.  Dave and I have not visited Moab, just for fun, for several years.  We were guests of Zions Bank for the Moab Music Festival on August 31-September 1, 2012, as a result of my service on a Bank advisory board.  We stayed over for Labor Day.  We were overwhelmed with the beauty of the red rock cliffs and moseying, green Colorado River. 

We stayed in a cabin at Red Cliffs Lodge, fourteen miles up the river from Moab.  It was a delightful place, where we could sit on the patio and watch the light change on the red cliffs surrounding the river.

 

 

 

Horses grazed in the field across from our cabin.

Flags decorated the driveway to the lodge and its related winery.

On Friday evening, we wandered through Moab, enjoying the quaint shops with spiffed-up Western goods, and the picturesque signs.

 

 

 

 

We ate dinner on the patio of the Lodge and enjoyed the sunset over the Colorado.

 

 

On Saturday, we took an all-day float trip down the Colorado.  We traveled fourteen miles down a placid river with only one Class 2 rapid--all the rest were 1's!  Dave had expected whitewater and was disappointed, but I relished the chance to hop into the water and float down the river in my life jacket!  Dave and I also rode the "duckie," a small kayak, as well as a large raft.  These photos were taken with a disposable underwater camera and so are not as crisp and clear as those taken with my Canon Rebel....

 

 

On Saturday night, we attended a "virtuosi" concert in a large white tent on the side of the river.  It featured soloists playing flamboyant pieces on a variety of instruments--a violinist playing Ravel, a pianist playing Rachmaninoff, a double bassoonist playing a solo based on Indian sitar music, and a chap with an electric violin playing a jazz variation on Michael Jackson themes!  Many were young musicians just out of Julliard School of Music in NYC, so the concert was both very innovative and very well done.

 

 

As wild and exotic as Moab looked to us, there was nothing wild and exotic about the Moab First Ward chapel!  We could have been anywhere in SLC or Florida or Washington State.  It was Fast Meeting, and we were strengthened by testimonies of people we had never met before.

Dave and I spent the rest of the day at the Canyonlands.  We drove past Hole in the Rock and stopped by Newspaper Rock, filled with petroglyphs which were hundreds, or even thousands, of years old.

 

We hiked up a rocky trail to see all over Canyonlands.

 

 

 

 

I wore dainty sandals without traction and had to wait below while Dave tramped up the slickrock, holding onto a metal chain, to get a view of the Needles District.

 

 

We drove to the starting point for Elephant Hill and watched an SUV ever so tentatively make its way over that 4x4 nightmare.  Grandpa Spendlove liked to prove his manhood by barrelling over Elephant Hill, but Grandma says the repairs to the car always cost more than a tour company would have charged to handle the driving!

 

On Monday, we drove to Island in the Sky, in the northern portion of Canyonlands.  Seduced by the beauty and excitement of Canyonlands, we made reservations for a jeep tour over Elephant Hill in November and a jeep rental in April.  Bernie and Eleanor Engelhard will join us to drive from Island in the Sky down Shaeffer Road.  The faint, light lines and switchback trail in the 3rd and 4th photos below are Shaeffer Road.

 

 

 

 

 

We enjoyed Mesa Arch, whose image hangs over our bed in the St. George house.

 

We finished our adventure with a stop at Dead Horse Point.

At Green River, on the way home, we paused to stock up on the luscious Green River melons.  Dave talked with Camille on his cell phone, even in this remote spot.