June Jauntings

First, I slipped away from home on Wednesday, June 13 to drive by myself to Lana's in Mesa to spend a few days.  I got to see Tatum and Dane swim in their city league swim teams on Thursday, got my hair cut and colored by the best hair stylist, read a good book and relaxed and played with the kids.  I drove home on Saturday afternoon to find Steve home from his high adventure with the varsity scouts.  That evening we went on another adventure.

Since moving to Las Vegas, NV in December 2009 we have wanted to go to the strip and see Donny and Marie perform.  About two months ago on the radio I heard an ad for public radio, PBS, fund raiser, enabling me to buy tickets for Donny and Marie at a discount and benefit PBS, the classical music station.  Parking was horrible and we ended up parking in a nearby casino parking lot and walking along the strip for 15 minutes.  We got to our seats right on time, fifteen minutes before show time.  We took a photo while we were sitting in our booth. It was our anniversary evening, early.

My recent jaunt was Monday, June 25 when I met the four girls from our ward at the church to drive them 175 miles to Kolob Stake Girl's Camp.  I loaded up their stuff in the back of Steve's truck, covered it with a tarp and headed out at 8:10 a.m.  No sooner was I past the raceway when the "check tire pressure" light came on.  I managed to contact the lead driver, Dave, via his cell phone, and we exited the freeway at the 93 junction.  The Love's gas station had a special tire pressure building and when I pulled in, the guy put air in both front tires that were low, then we were back on the freeway.  We exited I-15 at Hurricane and drove east to LaVerkin, where we stopped for potty, Subway, and gas before turning north on Kolob Road.

Once we turned off the paved road, we had 45 minutes of rough, dusty roads into camp, arriving at 12:20 a.m.  The girls unloaded their gear, bid me goodbye and I followed Dave's van back out of the camp area.  I took pictures now that the girls weren't in the van and I knew how the lay of the road was.  My dusty road trip home, in "Blogger" order, instead of the order I took them:

Leaving camp, following Dave's van.  See the dusty road

A view of Zion's National Park to the east of the road.  We were IN the park.

I called this the "Blond" Mountain, getting closer.

After driving for 30 minutes on dusty rough road, the "red" road was so nice.

I love the ruggedness of the white rock!

One of the first photos of the dusty road.  I tried to stay out of his dust but I could go much faster in the truck than his van.

On the smooth road, enjoying the trees and view

At several points in the dirt road, the dust was so deep his tires disappeared.  I was sliding around in it in the truck.

My dirty windshield!

Nearing the majestic rocks.

It was a cool 74 degrees here.  Unlike Las Vegas at 105 when I got home.

Bumpy and twisty, the truck was not level on this photo.

The closest I got to Zion's Park with a view of the sagebrush.

Even though the Rock looks close, I was probably a mile or so away.

I tried to get a photo of the fire trucks and guys cutting down dead trees and piling them as a fire block.  There was a very high fire danger.

God's beautiful creations.  I saw it firsthand.

I left the house at 7:30 a.m. and got home about 5:15 p.m.  Sitting that long did not help my sore back!

Council:  driving to camp with four girls in your vehicle can be very revealing to their fun ways and characters.  I was impressed with them and like them even more.