Memorial Bike Rally

Happy Memorial Day!

The first warm-ish weather Holiday in the intermountain west brings leather clad riders, their motorcycles and beer tents into my home town; Evanston, Wyoming. It's called the 'Freedom Rally' and this year hits its 12th year running. Ryan, Dingo and I decided to enjoy part of the long weekend amongst it.

Parley's Canyon

Salt Lake City is a fun place to explore, and has alot of easily accessable areas. After work one early spring day, Ryan and I drove up above the mouth of Parley's Canyon and took a short hike.



Dingo, enjoying the local vegetation, with a view of the canyon behind him.



A local climber enjoying the warm weather.



The view from the canyon, looking west over the valley!!

Hiking

Many of the major moves that I have done in my life have happened in January. An interesting time to land in a new place. My move home was one of these moves. I was so excited to get outside that Ryan and I started hiking the local canyons in the snow. Now that the weather is getting better and land is getting green, we are not the only people on the trail.

A few weeks ago, I decided to introduce Ryan to Logan, Utah and one of my favorite hikes in Logan Canyon; Spring Creek Trail.



This short, steep hike wanders up the canyon wall and curves through a large, fossil filled rockslide before shooting straight back down into Stillwater Campground.



This Cairn was waiting for us when we arrived.



This is the type of fossils that can be found in the rockslide. Unfortunately, this rock was too big to carry out with us.



This rock was much smaller and easier to pack out, we gave it to my mom for Mother's Day.

It was a beautiful day to be introduced to Logan, and Ryan enjoyed the hike, the moose we ran into near the rockslide, and the tiny camo hat we found at the campground.



"Winner, Winner, Turkey Dinner!"

Wagons West

So aside from the photo of the Great Salt Lake, it may not be apparent that I have moved out of New York and back out west. Well, I did (smile) and I love it! Being in New York was a mixed experience for me. For a while I was overjoyed to be there, loving the sights, shopping, and easy transportation. I relished the freedom and opportunity that the city had to offer. Then, as money got tight and my dream job was unreachable due to the climate of the economy, I grew to see it for what it really was. And then I started to feel stuck and unhappy. The realizations that I came to are as follows:

1.) I am not a city girl. I thought that I was, but no, I am a country girl and I am proud of it.

2.) New York is too far away from my family. Yes, my sister is still in St. Louis, but that is still accessable, and 2 out of 4 is far better than none. We have more opportunity to all be together.

3.) My mental happiness can be gaged by how much outside time I get. Winter is low. Summer is high:)

4.) I'm a much simpler person that the people of New York.

5.) Quiet is wonderful!!!

6.) Driving, also wonderful.

That isn't the whole list, but for now it will do to get me back connected with this blog and you who read it.

Scanner Sweetly

It's amazing what a small bit of knowledge can bring to a person. Thank you Mikey G. for introducing me (monkey-see, monkey-do) to the simplicities of owning, and using, your very own photo scanner. You see, I picked a nice HP scanner up at a yard sale today (for 4$) that scans things!! ..amazing. ..now I can reintroduce my non-digital images to the digital world. Here is my favorite image of the last few weeks, and my tester run with my new scanner!!! Thanks, Mikey!!