Carson & Cole in Red Canyon

Cole and I checked the weather, and it was supposed to be really nice up until 2 pm that day, so we decided to go on a hike near Bryce Canyon.  My co-worker and friend, Trecia, along with her youngest son, went with us on this hike.  We stopped by at Red Canyon along the way, and the boys had fun climbing on all the rocks here.  It was really entertaining watching the 8 and 10 year-old boys trying to take pictures of Trecia and I, but after seeing the results, I must say, they did pretty good!

Cole & I in Red Canyon

The Mossy Cave Trail is in the northern section of the park, but the really great part is that there is no park fees for this trail!  It’s on Highway 12, about 4 miles past the junction of Highways 12 and 63.  Look for a small parking area on the right-hand side immediately after crossing a little bridge. The Mossy Cave itself is at the end of a short trail. Here you can see hoodoos and windows without having to hike a steep trail.  The left fork takes you to Mossy Cave, while the right fork takes you to the waterfall.  The trail is only .9 miles round trip.

Along the Mossy Cave Trail

The Mossy Cave Trail is easy and mostly level, following beside the fast-flowing, sediment-laden stream, across two footbridges to a junction. The left fork has a short but steep climb through a patch of pine woodland to the cave, actually just a wide, mossy overhang in the limestone, kept moist by water dripping from the ceiling. This freezes in winter, and the large ice pillars beneath do not fully melt until midsummer, partly as the cave faces northeast and hence receives no direct sunlight. The soil at the base of the grotto is often soft and muddy so the path ends at the edge, so there isn’t much to do apart from taking photographs but the cave is interesting enough.

All of us in front of Mossy Cave

The right branch of the trail leads a little further upstream to the waterfall, where the stream tumbles 15 feet over a ledge into a circular pool; above is a swirling channel and several quite deep potholes, formed by the water eroding into the soft, orange-colored limestone.  There was an optional trail on the opposite side of the waterfall and stream leading up to a window, that we climbed, and had a wonderful view of the canyon below.  As we were heading back down this steep trail, it started raining on us, lightly at first, then it just drowned us.  With no shelter around, we just got drenched, and Trecia and I could do nothing but laugh, as it was supposed to be still sunny for a few more hours!  Just gotta love Utah weather!   After heading back to the car as wet rats, we ate our picnic lunch in the car, and then headed home for the day.

Mossy Cave Waterfall Trail after we got rained on!

Other things Cole and I did on our mini-vacation was go to Pirate Island Pizza in Saint George, one of his favorite places, I swear!  We also went school clothing shopping, played lots of board games, Wii games, and went to The Lake at the Hills Reservoir several times.

Building Sand Castles

The Lake at the Hills is an 11-acre reservoir on Leigh Hill built to hold pressurized irrigation water that is now open to the public for swimming, fishing and even floating in small, non-motorized boats.  The reservoir is stocked with rainbow trout, catfish, large-mouth and small-mouth bass and blue gill.  Cole had so much fun swimming, floating, and building sand castles.  We are so lucky to have this close to where we live.

Floating at the Reservoir

To see all pictures from Mossy Cave & Waterfall, click here!

To see all pictures from The Lake at the Hills Reservoir, click here!

According to the ultrasound, the delivery date is November 19th which is right in line with what we predicted of November 24th. Tammy has only gained 13 pounds so far which is really good. All of the hiking and added activity has attributed to normal weight gain. The doctor even encouraged her to continue the activity!

The only thing we were lagging behind on was getting ready for Baby Girl Buehler. Up until 2 weeks ago, we had absolutely nothing purchased, no baby necessities, no crib, not even a diaper. Just before the vacation, we were able to find lots of baby specials and purchase most of the baby items we needed.

So far, we have:

• A crib (no mattress) on sale at WalMart.com. The crib can be turned into a daybed, toddler bed, and a even a full size headboard. The crib is beautiful and has wainscoting detailing on the headboard. Similar cribs were found at babies r us for $350 and we paid $150 with free shipping.
• Crib bedding
• Mattress pad
• Bassinet for our master bedroom on sale, $41. Baby rocker and bassinet combo.
• Clothes  – all on sale at various stores
• Baby bottles, bibs, receiving blankets, pacifiers, etc.
• Diaper bag
• Baby monitor (required for our multi-floor house)
• Baby health care kit (on sale)
• Grooming kit (on sale)
• 1,000 wipes
• Huggies size 1-2 192 quantity, 3 boxes (so far) on sale at amazon.com – NEED MORE

There’s several things we still need. Our biggest struggle is finding a good stroller, car seat travel system combo that is safe, reliable, and fits in the car. We’ve found two but WOW do these travel systems cost a fortune, even on eBay.

Our favorite travel systems are:

• Chicco Cortina Keyfit 30 Travel System (Rated the best and safest)
• Graco Quattro Tour Hamilton Travel System (not on Amazon, saw at babies r us, $250)

Anyway, we put together a small list of things we still need on amazon.com. The diapers can be purchased cheaper than list price if you subscribe to their 30% off subscription offer and then cancel it after the diapers are shipped. We paid $72 for 3 huge boxes of size 1-2 diapers, 576 diapers, or $0.13 a diaper, an AWESOME deal.

Our Amazon baby registry link:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/baby/1HJ5I3100HKKA

Thanks everyone!

So I was awoken last night to the sounds of wolves howling.  Just in case you forgot you were in a National Park, that sure brought it home.  Before setting out for our hikes for the day, we made some pancakes on the griddle plates we bought to go with the grill.  The kids just loved being in the cabin, and having “home cooked” meals.

Today, we were going to tackle Mt. Washburn.  It’s a 6 mile round trip hike with 1400 feet elevation gain.  I really wanted to do this hike, but then I talked myself out of it being pregnant.  Scott was sure we could do it, if we just went slow.  So, we decided to go for it.  Nothing like dying on my birthday I thought to myself.  They say, if you can only do one hike in Yellowstone, this is the hike to do.

Bison Jam

We started driving to the trail head when traffic just stopped.  We thought it was construction, but after zooming in with the camera, we found that we were victims of a bison jam.  Two bison decided that they would block traffic on each side of the road.  Cars had to carefully try to maneuver around these huge beasts.  It took quite some time, before it was finally our turn.  I’d just like to say, that I don’t prefer to be that close to wild bison again, where they are just staring at you with their huge eyes, and you don’t know if they are just going to walk on by, or if they will gore your car.  Thankfully, they both just walked by our car, so we could pass.  We finally arrived at Dunraven Pass, where the parking is limited, but was lucky enough to find a spot.  (You can continue on to Chittenden Road Parking area, and take a trail that leads you to the same summit.)

Bison Jam

We loaded up our backpacks with water and munchies, and we set out on the trail.  The book we bought says for this hike, “the hiking isn’t steep, but it is steady, and not difficult if taken at a slow pace.”  Well, I’d like to beg to differ.  The first part of the hike really tested my desire to do this hike, as I found it pretty steep, and found myself huffing and puffing.  Now it could be, because I am 5 months pregnant, and lugging a bit more weight than I’m used to.  It did eventually level out for a bit, so I could catch my breath.

Mt. Washburn Trail

It was a steady up, that’s for sure, and lots of switchbacks to get to the lookout tower.  It was an amazing hike, though, with gorgeous views the whole way up.  Some of the hikers before us found some bighorn sheep on one of the ridges, but by the time we had gotten there, they had moved on, and couldn’t spot them.

Us at the top of Mt. Washburn

At the top, we enjoyed the view for awhile, had some snacks, checked out the lookout tower which is really a fire tower, and then headed back down.  Shortly after going down, a coyote came down the hillside right in front of us, and became our trail guide down the mountain.  He paid no mind to people as they were coming up, and just continued down the trail for quite some time before finally branching off the trail.

Our coyote trail guide

Once reaching the bottom, we headed over to another trail that we missed out doing 2 years ago, Uncle Tom’s Trail.  It’s a 1 mile hike downhill to the base of the Lower Falls.  The trail descends using switchbacks to get to the 328 metal stairs leading into the canyon.  Going down was definitely easy…coming back up was not.  Thankfully there are metal benches along the way for those much-needed rests.  The view of the falls was gorgeous at the bottom, and I was thankful we had done the 6 mile hike first.

Lower Falls from Uncle Tom's Trail

On our way back to the cabin, we decided to stop by the Mud Volcano area.  The Mud Volcano Area  is very acidic.  Iron sulfide is responsible for the dark-gray, blacker brown-colored water, while hydrogen sulfide produces the “rotten egg” smell common to the area.  The kids really liked the Dragon’s Mouth Spring as it produced this noise that sounded like a dragon breathing fire.  We learned that as the hot water rises to the surface, hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, and water vapor gases expand, creating a pressure explosion in the cavern. The resulting activity is sloshing, belching, and steaming.

Dragon's Mouth Spring

The Fishing Bridge was on our way back to the cabin, so Scott and Brittany stopped to check it out.  Cole and I chose to stay in the car, as my feet were just dying from the blister I had received the day before, and all the hiking we had done today.  Historically, it was a favorite spot for fisherman to come and get a great catch. It was a major spawning location for cutthroat trout. The bridge was rebuilt in 1937 with a little different alignment than the first log bridge. Currently the bridge is closed to fishing but is used as a place to observe the fish swimming below.

Fishing Bridge

Once back at our cabin, we grilled up some hot dogs, and then went to the General Store for some really good ice cream cones.  We ended the evening with a board game of Monopoly back at the cabin.

July 9th – Heading Home

We were supposed to be heading to Spokane today, but with the car trouble we have had on the trip, we decided not to go the extra 7 hours north to visit Scott’s friend, and possibly get stuck up there.  We took the southern exit out of the park, so we could go through Jackson, WY again.  When we visited Yellowstone, 2 years ago, we stayed in Jackson, and really loved it there.  We were able to find a restaurant we loved, Teton Steakhouse, a local favorite, and had lunch there.  We stopped in Ogden to visit the Babies R Us store, and bought a few baby items, small things we could fit, in the already full trunk.  We made it home about midnight, all of us dead tired, but thankful the car made it, and happy to be sleeping in our own beds.

To see more pictures from our Yellowstone adventures, there are 2 albums.
July 7th Album and July 8th Album.  Enjoy!

From the top of Mt. Washburn

Today was 7 hours of driving that took us to Rexburg, where we had planned to stay the night.  Along the way, we had some car trouble, as our “Check Engine” light came on.  This really freaked us out, and after a few calls later, we decided to stop in at a Auto Zone we found along the way thanks to our GPS.  It was some sort of oxygen leak, so we bought a new gas cap, and he reset the sensor, and we continued along our way, though a little more gingerly.

Once we arrived in Rexburg, about 45 minutes later, on our way to food, we decided to drive through Main Street, and was surprised to find that Brittany had a boutique in this city!  We had to find parking and take a picture in front of the store.  I think the person inside, probably thought we were nuts taking pictures, but Brittany loved that she found a store with her same name!  The kids spent the evening swimming, before heading to bed, for a day of hiking in Yellowstone the next day.

Brittany found a store with her same name!

July 7th – Yellowstone Hiking – Day 1

Our “Check Engine” light hadn’t come back on since it had been reset, so we decided to drive the hour and a half to Yellowstone, since that is where we had a cabin for the next 2 nights.  We made these reservations back in January, since I wanted to spend my birthday in a Yellowstone cabin with the family.   We ran into tons of road construction being on Highway 20, with lots of 30 minute delays, so it took much longer to get to Yellowstone than we had anticipated.  We finally arrived in Yellowstone, and was greeted with more construction in the park.  They had road construction and pavement projects going on all over the park, and of course, we just had to hit them.

The last time we were in Yellowstone, June 2 years ago, some of the trails we wanted to do were closed because of snow, so we were really wanting to do those hikes this time, since it was later in the summer.  The first hike we wanted to do was the Artists Paintpots trail, which, of course, meant going through construction delays, twice.  But we did it anyway.  It was a short 1.2 mile hike, with a variety of colored hot pools and pots.  Climbing to the top of Paintpot hill, gave you a nice overlook of all the paintpots below, and watching the large boiling mud pot at the top was very cool, although a few times, we almost got hit with mud!

Artists Paintpots Overlook

Next we headed to the Fountain Paint Pot area.  Silex spring was really pretty to see, and we saw a few fumaroles as well.  The hiss and roar of a fumarole comes from gases – steam, carbon dioxide, and a little hydrogen sulfide – rushing from the earth through the vent with very little water.  The kids love watching the steam come rushing out of these vents.  We also witnessed the Spasm Geyser going off, which was completely unplanned.  It was a small geyser only reaching about 3 feet, but we happened to be walking by when it erupted.

Silex Spring

No trip to Yellowstone is complete without visiting Old Faithful.  The kids wanted to watch it erupt again, so we decided to do some hiking in the area while we waited for it erupt.  As we were walking up to the area, Old Faithful was erupting, which was pretty neat, since it erupts about every 92 minutes now.  We still decided to do some hiking in the area, and check out the Upper Geyser Basin.  We did a small hike to Solitary Geyser, where we found a sign that says it erupts about 4 feet every 5 to 7 minutes.  As we waited for more than that time, we got excited when we saw a rush of steam coming out of the hole, and then a very small spurt of water..not even long enough to catch on camera.  It was definitely a bit disappointing.

Old Faithful Observation Point

So we headed back to the Upper Geyser area, and to the trailhead of  Old Faithful Observation Point.  Climbing the hill to the Observation Point allows you to take in one of the best views of the Upper Geyser Basin. From this vantage point 250 ft above Old Faithful, the panorama was spectacular.  It was still another 40 minutes until Old Faithful was going to erupt, and we were getting eaten alive by bugs, we decided to head down from the Observation Point to watch Old Faithful from below.  The kids enjoyed watching this geyser erupt again.

Kids watching Old Faithful erupt

We decided to try to find where our cabin was, somewhere by Yellowstone Lake.  After mistakenly thinking we were in the Lake Yellowstone Hotel Cabins, we headed over to the Lake Lodge Cabins which is where our reservations were at.  We had a Western Cabin (G-10) which was basically a rustic motel room in a building with 3 other rooms. Section G was located furthest up the hill from the Lodge and was nice and quiet and still a short walk to the Lodge. The exterior is nothing to look at, but inside was perfectly fine. Our room had 2 queen beds, table, desk fan, a nice new bathroom and a heater that worked like a charm, not that we needed it.  There is no TV, internet or phone (or cell signal) which adds to the whole outdoor experience.  After seeing what the Lake Yellowstone Hotel was like, very fancy and upper class, I was glad we were at the comfortable, laid-back Lake Lodge, which is in a truly serene and beautiful spot.  The main Lodge faces the lake with a stunning mountain backdrop.  The lodge had a gift shop, an overpriced cafeteria and a little bar in the lobby with beers on tap and the cozy fires lit each night made it very warm and cozy while you watched the sunset over the lake.

Lake Lodge Western Cabin

I was very surprised to find that I had a Birthday gift left in our room for me.  Some Huckleberry BonBons in a nice wood box.  I had told them we were staying here for my birthday when I made reservations, but did not expect anything, since it was just mere conversation.  That was a nice surprise, for sure.  Scott barbecued hamburgers on our new Paul Jr. Designs Coleman RoadTrip Grill.  We decided to bring our own food, instead of eating out in the park which can be very expensive.   After eating, we took a walk down to the Lake, and saw 3 bison in the field grazing.  The kids had fun skipping rocks at the lake, and watching the sunset.  It was truly beautiful.

To see more pictures from our Yellowstone adventures, there are 2 albums.
July 7th Album and July 8th Album.  Enjoy!

Lake Yellowstone at twilight

The 3D pictures didn’t come out really great, because she kept burying herself against other stuff in the womb, but you can make out the lips pretty clearly, nose, and eyes!  The other 3D picture is the arms   Her heartbeat was nice and strong at 152 beats per minute!

We can’t wait to meet her for real, sometime around Thanksgiving!

Family Thanksgiving 2008

Christmas 2008

Our Trip To Disneyland

March 2009 – Brittany’s Birthday & Chill on the Hill

April 1-15th, 2009: Hiking & Easter

April 22-24th, 2009: I Found Billy

May 2009 – Quail Creek Dam, Wax Museum & 1st Grade Fun

June 11th, 2009 – Universal Studios

July 7-8th, 2009 – Alien Fresh Jerky & Legoland

July 9-24th, 2009 – Aquarium, Oceanside & River Trip

August 8-11th, 2009 – Spokane & Seattle, WA

Port Angeles, Forks & LaPush Twilight Tour

Twilight Movie Tour of “Forks”

August 12-15th, 2009 – Twilight, Hikes & Waterfalls

September & October 2009 – Football, School and Halloween

November & December 2009 – New Moon & Christmas

March & April, 2010 – Birthday, Easter & Other Stuff

May – June 7th, 2009 – Baby, Mother’s Day, Birthday, etc.

June 9th, 2010 – Yosemite National Park – East

June 10th, 2010 – Yosemite National Park – North and Valley

June 11th, 2010 – Yosemite National Park – Valley & Grove

Yosemite Falls from the Valley

We parked in Yosemite Village, and was going to take a free shuttle bus to the Lower Yosemite Falls trail head, but after getting on one, and it dropping us off somewhere way far away, and then getting on another one that ended up dropping us off back where we started from, we just decided to walk to the trail head.  It only ended up being 1 1/2 miles round-trip from the village.  It was a nice walk through the valley, where you could see the falls at the beginning and the end, with nothing too spectacular in the middle.  When we got to the footbridge, Scott had to hold on to his hat, as the spray was so forceful, it would have blown it off!

Kids in front of Lower Yosemite Falls

Next we drove on Glacier Point Road, which had only opened a week prior to our visit, because of being covered in snow.  One of the hikes I really wanted to do at Taft Point, was still so snow-covered that we ended up turning back, and just going to Glacier Point.  The views there were awesome.  Seeing Half Dome from the other side, and Vernal and Nevada Falls all in one shot was just gorgeous.  It was a crowded place, but we still spent a bit of time here, just soaking in the view, before heading back down the 16 mile Glacier Point Road to head to Mariposa Grove.

Half Dome, Nevada & Vernal Falls from Glacier Point

Mariposa Grove was what the kids had been waiting for, for days.  Scott had told them about the huge sequoia trees that he remembered seeing when he was a kid, and the kids were excited to see them for themselves.  Mariposa Grove is the park’s largest stand of giant sequoias, with about 500 large mature sequoias.   We visited the lower grove, and some of the upper grove before heading back to the car.

Some of the highlights of this trail:
The Fallen Monarch, was the first mind-blowing giant we passed on the trail, it is massive and dead.  The Monarch remains available for viewing on the spot where it fell, and hundreds of people each day are photographed in front of its upturned base, which reaches some 15 feet across.

Fallen Monarch

The Bachelor and Three Graces are a quartet of sequoias you’ll pass just after crossing the tram road. The roots of giant sequoias are shallow, usually less than six feet deep, but spread over a large area – half an acre or more for a mature tree.

The Grizzly Giant is the grand patriarch of Yosemite sequoias and the clear star of the Mariposa Grove. It’s 30 feet in diameter at the base, more than 90 feet in circumference, and has a single limb a hundred feet up that’s bigger around by itself than the trunk of nearly any other species of tree.  The Grizzly Giant, at an age of 2,700 years, was first casting its shadow at about the same time the ancient Greek and Roman states were founded. It was already hundreds of years old when, among others, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and Plato were born.

Grizzly Giant

The California Tunnel Tree is about a hundred meters past the Grizzly Giant. It’s the only living sequoia in Yosemite with a man-made tunnel drilled through it. The tunnel is 6 feet wide, and 8 feet high, which was carved out for the benefit of tourist-bearing stagecoaches in 1895.  The kids had fun walking through the tunnel.

California Tunnel Tree

The Faithful Couple are two large trees have fused together at their bases, but remain clearly separated above.

The last tree we visited was the Clothespin Tree.  Numerous fires have excavated a natural tunnel wider than a car through this tree.  Our kids looked itty-bitty standing in front of the opening.

Can you see the kids standing in front of Clothespin Tree?

This concluded our trip to Yosemite.  In the 3 days, we spent at Yosemite, we hiked about 20 miles of trails in the park, and had a most wonderful time seeing all the waterfalls at their peak flow, and seeing all that Yosemite has to offer.

We have 3 albums in the gallery from Yosemite, split up into each day we hiked.  There are also 3 blog posts, one for each day we spent in Yosemite National Park.

June 9th blog post – Yosemite East
June 10th blog post – Yosemite North & Valley
Yosemite National Park – East album
Yosemite National Park – North & Valley album
Yosemite National Park – Valley & Mariposa Grove album