Cedar City Trip

Things have been a little hectic for me this past week or so and I'm a little late getting this out. Here are some highlights from my recent trip to the Utah Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City with Julie. 

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This is my second trip with Julie Jensen to the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s summer season and we’re starting  a few traditions.

The main stop we HAVE to make is the city of Beaver for several things:

1. Fresh cheese curd (aka “squeaky cheese”) from the Cache Valley Dairy factory. I know, right? Beaver is NOT in Cache Valley, but whatever. I’ve found the NEED to stop in Beaver for squeaky cheese each time I pass through town. If you don’t believe me you can ask my friends about the highly dangerous and illegal Dukes of Hazzard move I made on I-15 as I said, “I must have my squeaky cheese.” If you’re plugging this into your GPS systems, search for “Dairy Farmers of America Cheese Factory”. Do not buy your cheese from the gas stations, it’s not as fresh and is no longer squeaky. Not that there’s anything wrong with it, but it’s just plain old cheddar cheese when it’s not fresh and squeaky.
2. Arshel’s Cafe. By the time you’ve been on the road for three hours or so, you’re ready for a meal and this is one of your options in Beaver. I’ve always been happy with my selection of grilled ham and cheese or burger. HOWEVER, the reason Arshel’s is a must is their homemade chocolate peanut butter pie. TO. DIE. FOR. Enough said. Check it out! 

Last year, on the way home, we stopped at Cove Fort for a potty break, little look around and considered the guide’s tour presentation Sunday School. This year, we went to Cedar Breaks to worship amidst God’s creation. Believe it or not we did talk to a couple of strangers about the Church and how not every Mormon are Republicans. Tada! I’m living proof! Aside from that look at the view! God is good.

Turquoise Sky

I took this picture with my cell phone on the evening of July 3rd at about 8:30 p.m. ... Yes, I can be that specific because with this steel trap of a mind, I clearly remember taking this picture after the army band concert on Temple Square. It was such a beautiful night and we were all in awe at the beautiful sky when we got out.  The sunset was amazing, but alas, my camera phone was ill equipped to take a decent picture of it.  I do like the contrast of the turquoise sky against the temple.

DDD: Freebird Tour 2010

This past Memorial Day, our DDD Group took a road trip to Brigham City to go to the Bear River Bird Refuge. The last time either Tracie and I went there was a good six years ago or so. We had a ton of fun spotting some pretty awesome fowls. In this bird-friendly excursion, we had hoped to look at some pretty birds, then eat a cow at Maddox. Unfortunately, Maddox was closed, so in keeping with the fowl theme, we at at Roosters in Ogden (where we ordered fowl-friendly pizza, fish and chips and fish tacos) and topped it off with dessert at Farr's ice cream parlor.

On a side note, for some weird reason, Tracie was just captivated by the door knobs of the ladies room at Roosters.

Persistence

Remember the birds' nest outside my door that got knocked down last week? It's back up and I finally got a picture of it with the birds in it. You can tell that there were still some remnant of old nest as it is lighter in color. The darker part is made of fresh mud. Persistent little birds! Despite the mess they make right below on the staircase, I'm kind of rooting for them.  I wonder if there are any eggs in the nest.

How Great Thou Art ...

I can't believe that I shared this picture with facebook a week ago and had not made the time to blog about it. I had actually been thinking about the Koolau mountain range for a while and last week I surfed the internet and found a picture that depicted the mountains as I will always remember them. When Julie taught her lesson on The Creation a couple of months and asked me to help out, I brought a bunch of pictures of nature I had taken throughout my travels and also shared a story about these mountains. I love the water falls that form and cascade down the crevacis of the mountains after a good rain storm. I remember riding the bus into town one day and as I came out of Wilson Tunnel, this vista appeared.  The words of a hymn I love came to mind:

O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder,

Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;

I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,

Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,

How great Thou art, How great Thou art.

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,

How great Thou art, How great Thou art!

When through the woods, and forest glades I wander,

And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees.

When I look down, from lofty mountain grandeur

And see the brook, and feel the gentle breeze.

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,

How great Thou art, How great Thou art.

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,

How great Thou art, How great Thou art!

While the Rocky Mountains that sorround me here in Utah are beautiful, it's a different type of beauty and majesty. I love the Koolau mountain range ... these are the mountains I grew up watching ... I miss those water falls! God is GREAT!

Spring Squashed

Every spring, birds will come and build a nest on the eaves right outside of my front door.  I came home last night to see that the bird who built this nest is pretty much done building it. The bird was even sitting in the nest.  I rushed inside, grabbed the camera, but alas, the bird had flown away ...

The only down side to have nature so close to my front door is the mess the bird creates on the stairs right below it.

I thought about calling maintenance and having them knock down the nest. Even though my idea of communing with nature is staying at a luxury cabin with all the amenities, somehow knocking down an innocent bird's nest seemed cruel. I decided to wait a few weeks before I do anything about it.  I had mixed emotions when I came home tonight and found that someone else had probably reported the bird's nest and knocked it down. Poor bird ...

I Feel the Earth Move ...

There was apparently an earthquake earlier this evening.  I was just getting off work and didn't feel a thing ... so, I'm dedicating this song to all my friends who felt "the earth move under [their] feet."

DDD: 2009 Salts, Slots, AstroTurf Van and Hula Hoops Tour

Can you believe it? We've lived here for years and have never been to the famed Salt Flats. On Monday (Labor Day), Tracie, Angel, Janeen and I made the pilgrimage to go there so now we can say, "Been there! Done that!"

A google search on this hideous monument on I-80 near Wendover yielded the following on roadsideamerica.com:

We give some credit to the State of Utah for at least tolerating experiments with environmental comedy. "Metaphor: The Tree of Utah" can't be serious. Metaphor is an 87-foot tall sculpture poking up out of the white plains of the Bonneville Salt Flats.

The Tree was created in the early 1980s by European artist Karl Momen. It is also known as "Metaphor: The Tree of Life." It was dedicated in 1986 as "A hymn to our universe whose glory and dimension is beyond all myth and imagination." We guess the Mormons like this sort of thing, or it wouldn't be here (though it is pretty far from Salt Lake City...). Artist Momen doesn't have to look at it; he bought patch of land, built the thing, and went back to Sweden.

Near the base of the Tree, there are several fallen "leaves" -- large spherical segments intentionally scattered on the salty ground. It's where your traveling companions would pose if this were a tourist attraction instead of a work of art. As dumb as it is, Metaphor is the only thing for hours worth photographing.

Welcome to the Bonneville Salt Flats!

I love this picture for the bright blue sky contrasting the stark white salt flats ... not to mention the beautiful women and mountain range ...

Strike a pose!

Ta-da!

At the flats ...

Moving? Don't forget the hula hoops!

You too? Hula hoops and a tandem bike? What are you, circus people?

Got to the Saltair, just in time for closing. See ya next time ...

St. George Weekend Trip

It was such gorgeous weather in St. George. I swear we could see the smog descend on us like a veil when we entered Utah County. I wish I was back in Snow Canyon breathing that clean air and looking out at this gorgeous vista.

Autumn is here ...

Against the grey morning sky,

a bed of vibrant orange.

Autumn is here ...

This bites!

So I went for a walk at Bountiful Lake last Wednesday night. By Thursday afternoon, I'm starting to itch and finding bug bites all over my legs and arms and they hurt. Scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch! Ugh! The bite marks are so ugly that I'm digging out my long-sleeved tops to cover the ugly welts despite the near triple-digit temperature forecasted for today.