Vacation After the Vacation

I had such a great time in New Mexico. I sometimes wonder how much other people spend on holidays in order to get away the way we do. We are all so fortunate to have Mommer and Popper and their ridiculous industriousness.

After the trip, I took a day and a night to visit some parts of Utah I had never been to, or at least some parts I don't remember. I drove from Coral Pink up through the San Raphael Swell to get over to Goblin Valley. I had a vague sense of what it would be like, but it has been so long since my first trip there, I had no idea what to expect. Most of these pictures are for you Dad, so you can see how much it has changed.

After camp, I took a quick side hike over to Little Wild Horse Canyon in the swell. It was late and I was going it alone, so I wasn't able to see as much as I wanted, but the slot canyons in there are out of control. There are a few spots where you literally have to suck in your tummy to squeeze through.

Make sure the volume is on.

Anyhow, it was just me so there wasn't a whole lot of craziness to take pictures of, but it was really wonderful to see some of those places. Goblin Valley turned out to be worth the drive. On the way back I drove through Capital Reef, which is a really under rated park. Its not too far out of the way if you are headed in the southern direction it is definitely worth the stop. Next time I post, I promise it will be something more interesting.

Mi Casa es Su Casa

It has been a busy July for us so far! We enjoyed having Sarah, Aaron, Pyper, Hakan and Finnley visit us for the 4th of July weekend. We made two trips into Kanab that day--once in the morning to watch the parade down the center of town (while Dean and Aaron golfed) and again in the evening to watch the 10 minute fireworks display (maybe a waste of a 30 minute one-way trip...) Pyper and Hakan thought it was awesome that the people in the parade threw candy to the spectators (we had to keep an eye on them that they didn't get run over when the parade made a u-turn at the end of Center Street and came back again). Hakan was thrilled to see Spiderman in the hometown parade and later, when the fire engines came by, Pyper was waving for them spray her with water while Hakan cowered behind me (Sarah had the presence of mind to duck into the nearby cafe with Finn when she saw what was coming). I made a pitiful campfire in the evening to let the kids roast hotdogs for dinner (which we ate inside since it was too hot to stay outside) and then we went back out to roast marshmallows for 'smores. It wasn't a fancy feast, I'm ashamed to say, but my intent was for the kids to get a kick out of it.

Pyper and Hakan got to experience some new things while at Casa de Campo. On Friday, while nearly everyone else was in Las Vegas helping move household items for a couple in the branch, Mom, Jennifer, Pyper & Hakan got to go to the 'farm' with Mommer to feed and water her horses, water the garden and also pick fresh spinach for dinner!

Dad and the other men helped Popper with the new terrace project that looks like will take more work than originally anticipated, but on our last evening there, Keith talked Popper into building a campfire for old times sake. So, using the firepan that the Cox's had given them, Popper inagurated the upper level of the new outdoor living area with a Montoya campfire! This will be a new favorite spot to congregate once the project is complete--and it will be awesome no doubt!

This years visit to Mommer & Popper's was brief but it was fun to get to see Terry & Ferrell, Tricia, Chris, Jordan (and Pico), Ashton & Wesley.
Mommer enjoyed having Finn all to herself for a while as well. Sarah's post about their trip will likely be more fascinating reading, but I had some pictures that I knew she didn't have and wanted to share them.
We missed having Aaron, Rachelle, Bryce, Dena, Todd & Kristen with us in New Mexico, but we are looking forward to the wedding in October and another chance for us all to get together again.

Our vacation

I hope everybody had a good time in New Mexico. I just couldn't come up with a plan for us to go out there that allowed us to use our time off efficiently and still get to see you guys as much as I wanted to. I just would have been all travel and not much fun.

Instead we decided to stay a little closer to home. We rented a cabin for a few days in north Georgia near a town called Ellijay. We've stayed there before (although in different cabins) and it's always a lot of fun. There is lots to do in the area and the place we rented is pet friendly so Zoey got to come with us. There was a small lake just a short walk from the cabin that Zoey got to go swimming in, although it was a little scummier than anything Dena and I felt like getting into. I thought that Zoey could swim pretty well from here trips to a creek by our house, but I think she was just walking on her hind legs under water. When I put her into the lake, she sunk like a rock and was barely able to tread water. I think her buoyancy is just too far forward because of her deep chest, so her back end just sinks and she can't go anywhere.




Thankfully, we thought that might be the case and brought a lifejacket with us just in case. She's a much better swimmer with that on and actually really enjoys swimming out to get her ball.




The next day we dropped Zoey off at a cool doggie daycare in Blue Ridge Georgia so she could play all day while we went up to the Nantahala River near Bryson City, NC to do some rafting. We have done this once before a few years back and had a lot of fun. We rented a two person inflatable kayak (called a "duckie") and took a self-guided trip down the river. It is a spring fed river so even in the middle of July the water is a chilly 52 degrees. We made it most of the way down the river without much drama until the very end when we got to the roughest part. We got a little sideways going into a nasty little hydraulic. We were both leaning back to try and prevent tipping over forward, but perhaps we should have been leaning forward instead because the boat just slid right out from under us and we ended up swimming. Dena thinks it was payback for chucking the dog in the lake.



If the animated GIF above isn't working, you can view the full carnage album on our facebook pages or click the link below.

LINK

They had to throw a rope to get me out and a dude in a raft had to paddle out to rescue Dena. It's a good thing they got us too, because just a few yards past the takeout is the "Lower Nantahala Falls", a class v rapid that could have really caused us some damage. As it was we still got pretty beat up on the rocks before we made it to shore.

On Wednesday we decided to go for a hike to enjoy the beautiful area a bit more. We had visited a local shop to get advice on a good day hike and they recommended the Conasauga River Trail in the Cohutta Wilderness. It was absolutely gorgeous and we will definitely have to do it again some time. There were lots of spots with cool little falls and river crossings. There were several times when I thought one of us would slip on a rock and end up swimming again, but we made it without any drama. Zoey is a good little mountain dog and even got to carry her new pack with all her own food and water in it.

We had to leave on Thursday at lunch time, so we got back to our house in the early afternoon. Dena and Zoey promptly passed out while I unloaded the car and went to play a game of Ultimate in the evening. We've spent the day today recovering from our wounds. Dena and I went to see "Up" and we're going to the dog park in a bit to let Z get some exercise.

We had a lot of fun, but of course wish we could have seen everybody also. I guess we'll have to wait until October and we'll see you all then.

Anyone have a sock?

Gone Fish'n

Last Saturday, Rachelle and I were invited to go sailing on her boss's boat at a place called Strawberry Reservoir. I hadn't really thought about it before then, but I've never been sailing before so I was really excited about the trip. It turned out to be such a blast. We got to fish while we were out and had some luck. I caught two good sized trout but had to release them because they were too big ( this is the truth, although I admit I phrased it just so to make the fish sound impressive - they were only about 18 in.) Anyway, I highly recommend this particular brand of recreation to anyone if they have the opportunity because it was such a nice time - an easy and natural kind of relaxation. Not to mention, the whole thing feels like the last 5 happy minutes of a movie you once watched. Good times.

I can't wait to see everyone in NM soon. It is pretty much all I want to talk about.