9-30 Some minor disappointments: Alpine Pond Hike, the Utes

After long internal deliberation, I decided that I really have to continue my blog coverage of the Utes, even if they lose. At first, I thought I might try to hide the post amid my vacation blogging, in the hopes that my BYU friends might miss the post. Well, here it is-- the Utes lost big time to very worth rivals, Boise State. The Broncos destroyed the Utes and Chris was not happy about it. Like any good fan on vacation without the cable channel carrying the game, he listened to the radio in our car in the parking lot of the condo. At halftime, though, when it was quite obvious that the Utes could not dig themselves out, he agreed that we should go on a hike.

The hike (called Alpine Pond), as it turned out, was also a bit of a disappointment. The pond was tiny and filled with kind of an icky moss. The trees surrounding it were dead and we didn't even get a view of Cedar Breaks from the trail. Bummer! But, walking around with our cute boys did put Chris in a much better mood! 

After the hike, we visited the Visitors Center at Cedar Breaks then went to St. George for dinner.

I love this picture of Thomas-- we've started thinking of new and clever ways to get him to smile when we take his picture. Obviously, this joke wasn't very funny!
 
  

9-30 At the top of the World... or Utah, at least

At 9600 ft, Brian Head is the highest town in Utah. We decided to go even higher (up to 11000!) on Saturday morning by taking the "Giant Steps" chairlift to the top of Brian Head peak. It was a little bit windy, but nothing we couldn't handle. We were very happy that Gordon was strapped in a carseat!

During the spring and summer seasons, the chairlift takes mountain bikers to the top of the mountain, then they ride down. We saw a few of them and it looks so scary, but we did enjoy watching them speed down the dirt paths on the mountain.
Once at the top, we decided to hike around for a little while and take some pictures. The views of the surrounding wilderness were amazing! Thomas found some rocks and sticks and we all enjoyed admiring the fall colors. We picked the perfect day to take a chairlift ride!

9-29 Cedar Breaks National Monument

After checking in to our condo, we drove the 3 short miles to the first viewpoint (called Sunset Point, appropriately) at Cedar Breaks National Monument. This was my first view of the beautiful red and pink canyon with its sandy rock spiers and it really took my breath away. This was our first of several canyons, and the viewpoint was very high. We were glad to have our kid carrier backpack for our mischeivous Gord! The boys did have a fun time hiking around a bit and I had a blast taking probably too many pictures. Thank goodness for a digital camera! It was just so beautiful!



After Cedar Breaks, we drove down to Cedar City for dinner and some shopping. Cedar City is such a nice little city and we really enjoyed walking around downtown. For the rest of our trip, Thomas kept talking about how much he loved Cedar City! We finally figured out that he really loved the video arcade games at the dinky little fast food place where we grabbed dinner. He's a funny kid!

9-29 Old Cove Fort

On our way to Brian Head, we stopped off at Old Cove Fort, settled by the Ira Hinckley family in the late 1800's. The Fort is one of the early Mormon settlements in Southern Utah and served as a stopping place for early settlers on their way to St. George and other areas. We took a nice tour of the fort and enjoyed learning a bit of LDS history.

 
Gordon climbing some steps to a lookout point.
The boys checking out one of the several small windows from inside the fort.
Gordon in the grass.
Thomas practicing with his new pioneer spinning toy.

 You can see how much the boys liked being put on this old covered wagon!

 The boys and Mom outside Old Cove Fort

  

Family Vacation 2006

Hello!! I hope those of you who visit our blog regularly missed us while we were on vacation this week! :) We're actually still out (but just in Salt Lake) and I've been dying to get on the computer. Pathetic, isn't it?

Well, the four of us spend a wonderful week in Southern Utah for our first nuclear family vacation. Chris and I have been on a couple of trips just the two of us, then we've been on several family trips either with extended family or to visit them, but this is the first time the Chris Hansen family has gone on vacation with just the four of us. We had a great time!

We stayed at a condo at the Brian Head ski resort, just three miles West of Cedar Breaks National Monument. Our condo was the perfect "home base"-- within a couple of hours of all of our adventures! We were also able to stay near the condo and explore Brian Head a little bit-- what a cool place!

So, without further ado, here's the Hansen Family Vacation 2006!

On our way out, I took this picture of Southern Wellsville. Don't we live in a pretty area?