Birthday Vacation

Echo, Utah, Cemetery

Carma and I recently returned from our annual birthday vacation. And, because Amanda is getting a little testy about my starting on her blog challenge, here is my recent vacation blog. Happy, Amanda?

Muddy Shoes in Ogden

Any of you who have read Carma's blog know that we went to St. George for our birthday this year. Mostly because neither of us could afford much of a vacation, and we could stay in my time share in St. George for nothing more than what I am already paying. So all it cost us was gas and food.

We letterboxed all along the way.  I love this picture at Echo cemetery because I angled it just right to catch the sun coming through a hole in the rock.


We did most of our letterboxing the first two days in the Ogden area. It was wet and rainy, and we hoped for better weather in St. George.

Square Goats

The next four clues are in this picture.

Little Lizard

Dinosaur?

On our first long hike (the clue said 4 miles round trip, but they had changed the trail so it ended up being 7 miles + what we added on looking for the boxes) we only got one box out of the three that were supposed to be there. And, this was not one of my long adds--just for the record. I did misread the clue, so we probably added another mile that we shouldn't have. We spent a lot of time looking for a man with his hands hanging down with a lobster to the left and a 13 above him. There were plenty of men with their hands hanging down. But the clue just before that was to look for square goats. Then we would have been on the right path. On this same hike, we saw a rock that someone had stuck smaller rocks in that made it look like a dinosaur head. And, I managed to catch a couple of shots of a cute little lizard. One of the many we saw.

Angel's Landing towers above Carma

Walter's Wiggles

Angel's Landing from Scout's Landing

Before we left, I made a goal to climb Angel's Landing in Zion National Park. Two years ago I would never have attempted this. I am afraid of heights, but not extremely terrified. I did make it to the top, but I can tell you that coming back down was the hard part. When you are climbing up, you don't constantly see how far it is to the bottom of the canyon. On the way down, however, it is always in front of you. I made it by concentrating on where I was going to put my foot next. I will admit that even though the top of Angel's Landing is relatively flat, every time I put my camera up to my eye to take a picture I was overcome by vertigo. My knees would start shaking and I got sick to my stomach. I put my camera into my backpack to go down. I carried it on my neck strap on the way up, but I didn't want to have to worry about it on the way down. It was a good decision, but I wished I had turned around and taken 360 degree visuals on the way up because I really missed some awesome photos.

See the chains?

Sister's Landing

One of the tough parts

The top is in sight!

That hike, and the hike in Red Canyon, were highlights of our vacation. But, we letterboxed every day, also. I loved the box that was placed in a major bookstore. The most amazing thing about letterboxing is the places you see. We never would have hiked Red Canyon if there hadn't been three letterboxes placed there. Even everyday places become exciting when you are looking for treasure. I do agree with Carma that the Farmington letterboxes were amazing. Not only were they excellent carves, but the clues were great. We even met the letterboxer who placed the first box we found on our trip to Tennessee last year. CW Sunseeker was out with her niece, Flowergirl, checking on one of her plants and picking up a few others. We actually met twice, and had been to three of the same places that day.

Looking as straight down as I could get.

 

Youngest niece and youngest nephew

After we returned to Idaho City, we had an Easter dinner at my parent's house in Boise. Most of the family was able to attend. I'll be back for G's first birthday party on May 21, 2011.