Weather the storms....

....and sometimes life gives you rainbows!

Touring the northlands...

Took a late afternoon jaunt north to the hot springs today. Enjoyed my 1/2 mile bikram swim (my name for lap swimming in 100 degree water). Enjoyed my soak and had few nice conversations. Thunder and lightning forced an early departure and as I was driving home a crazy storm dumped hail and sleet and snow. Who expects snow covered roads in April? As I approached the exit to the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge a bright spot opened in the sky to the west and beckoned me off of the highway... where I was greeted by a rainbow and beautiful skies for an impromptu photo safari!

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Crossing Nevada...

Last night I chased a rainbow across the Nevada desert....
I'm sure most people would think I'm crazy for saying this, but I actually really like driving across Nevada. I find the desert beautiful, and I love the wide open skys and far off mountain vistas that are rarely marred with man made structures.

Driving east across Nevada last night we spied a rainbow, or should I say half a rainbow, the left half, colorful, broad and bright and stretching up to the sky. I would have loved to snap a picture but one thing about driving through Nevada is that that exits and highway pull offs are few and far between. As we drove east the rainbow faded and and brightened several times as we chased it across the state. It made for a most pleasurable drive. It was evening and as the sun began to set the low hanging clouds of the weather system that caused the rainbow also caused the the sun to refract and bask the the landscape in an almost eerie golden glow. With the rainbow still ahead of us I finally spied an exit... one of those random exits that appears to go no where, so we stopped for a photo op. From this vantage we could take in the full arc of the rainbow, now double, in the this crazy golden light. The pictures don't begin to capture the beauty...




But then the thunder clapped and raindrops started falling and we thought better of standing outside in the open, so we hopped back in the car and continued east. In not many miles there was another ranch exit and we braved the weather for a few moments to get a few more pictures of the spectacular sunset storm.


And no, we never did find that pot of gold... but our stop for the night was at Winnemucca, Nevada where we got a cheap room at a casino.... and 2 coupons for free drinks in the bar. That's as close to pot of gold we could get. Since as of Monday Matt is officially an adult we went to the lounge for gin and tonics and to listen to the band. As we sat a guy walked up to us... a guy I'm acquainted with from the singles group in Salt Lake City.... so what's the probability of running into someone you know when your hanging out in one of several town casinos in a town more than 5 hours from home? (You should always know your probabilities when playing at a casino) 100% I guess! Wanna bet?

Rain, rain...

Go away. Come again some other day.....

I really don't mind rain, in fact, we really need it here, as Salt Lake only gets 16 inches a year. So in some ways a nice rainstorm is really a treat... but... NOT on the weekends. We have 5 out of 7 days to enjoy the rain, I'd much rather have it when I'm at work, not when I'd like to be working in my garden.

I ran to the store yesterday. When I went in, the sun had finally come out, when I came out, the sun was still out, but it was pouring rain again. I looked to the mountains for the rainbow and sure enough there was one. So rather than heading right home I thought I'd swing by Canyon Rim park in hopes of a photo op, and this is what I found. A rainbow always makes day.

Rain on my Parade..

It seems Saturday was my day to be rained upon. I always find it amusing how for as little as it rains here, it always manages to do so on days where I have plans. Saturday morning I had early morning plans to hike to Devils Castle up at Alta. Rain was predicted for much later in the day, and as we drove up the canyon there was only one black cloud in the sky, so I wasn't too worried about rain. But shortly after beginning our hike that black cloud grew and began to rumble. Rain doesn't bother me too much, but the rumble of thunder when I'm hiking at 9500 ft sure makes me nervous. So do we continue or turn around? As we came to a spot were we were about to begin a long traverse across a wide open bowl the rain started falling and thunder clapped loudly. An easy answer the the question... it was time to turn around. So my hike was cut short, but still well worth it as we saw this beautiful rainbow. My second rainbow this week.

And the real reason it rained on Saturday. 4 pm was the scheduled time for our annual block party. I swear every year we have weather issues on out party day. Last year I think we rescheduled 3 times and ended up having it in October. At 3 pm four of us stood in the street, watching the big black cloud in the distance pour rain upon the valley. The storm looked like it was moving pretty quickly so we decided to regroup and 4 pm and see what the weather would like. At 4pm the sun was shining, so we decided to "go for it". It wasn't long until the storm band came and rained upon our parade. But you have to love my neighbors. Everyone pulled up their hoods and huddled under the umbrellas and partied on. Newborns and 80 year olds included. The rain showers came and went and came again, but a good time was had by all!

Bad trippin...

No I didn't have a bad trip, you can look at this pretty rainbow and see that! It's just that last 50 miles that stink. I think that it is universal truth that if you don't live in Utah county, which I don't, you hate driving through Provo. The traffic is always bad there. I drove home the long way yesterday so I didn't get home until 8:30, and I was suprised how much traffic was on the highway. Maybe the real problem is that after spending a weekend in desolate southern Utah the sudden congestion seems like a real shocker. After a nice relaxing weekend it would be so nice if you could teleport yourself home and skip the traffic and keep that good vacation feeling!