Schoolhouse Springs

Ed and I walked up the Mountain north of our house on the Schoolhouse Springs trail this morning. Can you see the sweat beading down my face?

The path started with a slight grade and got gradually steeper the further you went.

We got so high up the mountain, that we were at the same level as Suncrest at the top of the hill on the next mountain over!

After a mile and a half we reached the gateway to the Lone Peak Wilderness area. We were happy to turn back at that point!

This was the only water we passed, so we figured it must be Schoolhouse Springs. There was just enough water to splash on our necks to cool us down on the trip back.

The city of Lehi gets their culinary water from this watershed, so it is blocked off to vehicular traffic. We were surprised to not run into any other hikers, as there were several cars parked at the trailhead. Maybe those hikers knew which trails to take that weren't so hot and steep!

Sister Shower for Bobo

Last night we had a "Sister Shower" for my niece, Bobo (third from the right). She is going on a mission in August to Salem Oregon, and the family all chipped in to get her outfitted for her adventure!

My sister, Annette, hosted the shower at her house in Springville. She shared some pictures with Mom and me of the first place she and Kent lived. One of the younger sisters from her recent mission to North Dakota had her revisit that same basement apartment last week, as her grandparents own it!

All of Bobo's Siblings were there, except Sam, who lives in Montana now. Half of Joan's family now lives in Utah County, so the St. George contingent drove up for the day!

My sisters and one sister-in-law were all there except Verlene, in Colorado, who sent this nice watch to Bobo!

We had fun playing some missionary oriented party games. I tried really hard to win, as the winners were supposed to get some of Bobo's handmade pottery.

Sadly, the pottery is all wrapped up and sitting on a table in St. George! They promised to bring it up for our 24th of July extravaganza!

There was also some very good food to eat while we visited. It was a fun way to wish Bobo well as she gets ready to enter the Mission Training Center!

Penguin Brothers Ice Cream Sandwiches

In our continuing search for the best ice cream sandwiches around, we stopped at the Penguin Brothers in Provo yesterday afternoon with Brittany, Mabel and Clementine.

They do make a very fine ice cream sandwich. I liked it because the ice cream was hard enough to hold together when you bit into the cookie. The cookies were also soft and delicious.

Clementine didn't get any ice cream, but seemed to enjoy herself immensely!

Mabel liked trying out the cute armchairs with Grandpa. I asked her to smile, and this is the look I got from her. It's entertaining, but not quite what I had in mind!

We capped off our big day on the town with a trip to Smith's for some groceries. Mabel and Clementine seemed to enjoy that as much as the ice cream shop!

Ogden Nature Center

Ed and I drove up to Ogden yesterday to check out the Ogden Nature Center. We've been interested in it since we started working on the Alpine Nature Center. They started in 1975, so had a pretty big head start on us!

Their entry path was lined with lots of fanciful birdhouses.

The visitor's center had a gift shop and a big gathering room with a few exhibits.

I especially liked the bees in the beehive.

They also had an education center with a large classroom and some offices.

And, what nature center would be complete without a yurt?

They had several different habitats on the 155 acres of former farmland, including this lily pad stream at the entrance.

They had a mews filled with about a dozen birds of prey that are under rehabilitation.

We walked the 1.5 mile interpretive trail that took us through the different habitats.

The bird blind had pictures of the types of birds you might see.

Unfortunately, the birds were trying to stay out of the heat, and we didn't see any of them. The pond was interesting, though!

The observation tower gave a view of the meadows as well as the mountains behind. The crooked railing was much sturdier than it looks in the picture!

We enjoyed resting in the shade at the picnic area.

I kept resting while Ed explored the tree-house. It had a handicapped ramp to the first level!

My favorite plant was teasel, which the pioneers dried and used as a comb to card their wool.

We had a great lunch at Jeremiah's, just down the street from the Nature Center.

If you want to visit the Nature Center online, they have a very nice Website, http://www.ogdennaturecenter.org/.

If you want to visit the Alpine Nature Center, they also have a very nice website at  http://alpinenaturecenter.org/.

Maybe some day they'll have some classes and displays, as well..

Coda's Findster Tracker

Coda put the Findster Tracker and App through it's paces this morning. She was off leash and took off after a deer. You can see she picked up hundreds of burrs in the process!

We lost her briefly when she went over a little ridge. We established a line of sight by going to a higher location. We waited on the road, and when she gave up the chase she followed a path back to us.

We thought the app was a success, but don't know if we want to pick out burrs every day! Ed is the blue dot on the app. This screen shot let us know she was on our way back to us!

Walking with Coda in Lambert Park

Ed and I took a rest on our walk at the top of Spring this morning. It was hot enough that we wanted to jump into the spring water!

Our fleur du jour was Wand Mullein. I was surprised it was a mullein, as it looks so different!

We went out to a late breakfast at the Black Bear Diner, as we had no milk or eggs in the house. It was delicious and big enough that we had enough leftovers for dinner, too!

In the early evening we took a secondary walk to try out our new Findster dog tracker (the yellow tag on Coda's collar). We had ordered it several months ago, but as it is a new product we had to wait till it was in production!

It works with a second tracker in Ed's pocket. They link to each other and you read them in your cell phone App. Unlike other trackers on the market there is no monthly fee for this one.  I'm pleased to say, it worked great! Ed is the blue dot, and the dog picture is Coda sticking right with us.

It doesn't make her stay by us, but if she chases a deer we'll know where she is! Needless to say, as there were no deer out tonight, it hasn't truly been tested. In the absences of deer, squirrels and bunnies, Coda is the perfect dog!

Tibble Fork Look Trail

We thought we'd escape the heat today by hiking the Tibble Fork Loop Trail in American Fork canyon. It had some lovely views.

The 4.2 mile trail was rated as "moderate" which meant it was hard! It was very steep for the first half, and then with a steep downhill on the other side. It may have been cooler in the mountains, but we were feeling the burn!

We stopped for lunch at the mid-way point. Clementine is now 5 months and appears ready to grab her mom's PB&J sandwich! It may be time to introduce her to the joys of solid foods!

The trail was mostly in the woods, but we passed through a beautiful meadow. We didn't linger long there, as the mosquitoes had also discovered it!

The communing with nature was somewhat spoiled by the motorbikes. We had no idea they were not only allowed but prevalent on the trail. That meant we ate a lot of dirt and walked in a lot of deep ruts!

We saw tons of beautiful wildflowers. One of my favorites was this checkered mallow. John's knowledge of plant families was very helpful in identifying this flower when I got home! Thanks, John!