Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Camping in the Uintas

We were excited for the opportunity to go camping with our friends from Connecticut, Todd and Becca (who are also living in Utah for the summer).  We stuffed the car with gear and food and headed for the Mirror Lake Highway in the Uintas for the weekend.

The wildflowers were amazing!

Oh how I had missed the mountains

Our first destination: Fehr Lake

Fehr Lake

Todd is just so irresistible

Love these guys

Dominic continues to enjoy throwing rocks into lakes



trekking

More amazing wildflowers

Another beautiful lake we saw on our hike
Bald Mountain (This is the view from our camp)

Our beautiful camp

My skillz.  No matches necessary to start that fire

It was colder then we expected.
Cuddling by the fire

We were joined by more friends: Rachel, Kimi, Reo, Liz and baby Elliot and made amazing food in the crock pot.  Reo and Michael serenaded us around the campfire on the guitar.  It was a great evening.


The next day we hiked to Ruth Lake:

Todd and Becca
Ruth Lake
Enjoying the lake
L-R: Rachel, Kimi, the Escalantes, Todd and Becca
(sadly Reo, Liz, and Elliot had to leave first thing this morning, so they didn't get to come hiking with us)

Saying goodbye to our campsite


We saw a moose by our campground just before heading home.  Todd was super stoked since it was his first moose sighting!



Perfect ending to a great weekend.

Monday, July 22, 2013

18 months ago

18 months ago this little cutie was born.  I haven't been bored since.


his fish face

Roarrrr!







Monday, July 15, 2013

Flashback to Yale

I finally got my hands on these pictures that were taken at Yale's Business School's Spring Formal this April.  The theme was the Kentucky Derby.  How do you like our costumes?!




Thanks to Brandon and Katelyn for watching Dominic so we could have a fun night of dancing with Michael's classmates as a last hurrah before graduation.

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Utah Adventures part II

We took a wonderful mountain biking trip to Colorado where we spent 3 spectacular days riding at Winter Park bike resort. (If you've been there, you know what I'm talking about). 

Dominic hung out at the bottom of the lift and threw lots and lots of rocks into the pond

He also enjoyed some time at the playground, but he mostly liked throwing rocks.

Here is just a small sample of some of the awesomeness: (Michael is wearing the helmet camera following me)


Disclaimer: due to the extremely wide, wide-angle camera, jumps may appear smaller then reality


Upon returning from Colorado, Michael and I took our friend (Todd) Mountain biking up in Park City at the Canyon's resort.  Unfortunately, on the last run of the day, I had a bit of an accident and broke my left collarbone.  I went off a sick jump, landed it, then crashed on a turn immediately following the jump.  So, I think I will be spending the rest of the summer with Dominic at the pool.  Sadly, this means we don't get to take our biking trip to British Columbia, Canada that we had planned. :(



For those of you who enjoy this kind of thing:
Broken left collarbone (while looking at this picture it's the one on the right).  Not to be confused with the right collarbone that was broken at a different time in my life.
No surgery or anything.  Doctors just say that it needs time to heal.  Rx: at least 3 weeks in a sling and then reevaluate.

We did get to go camping at Flaming Gorge with my mom and dad and brother's family.  Michael had a great time water skiing and he and Dominic enjoyed riding behind the boat on a tube.  I just enjoyed the beach and cheered them on.

 Grandpa and Grandma took us fishing:
Dominic's fish face

Tuckered out

Dominic and Michael tubing with my brother, Chad and his daughter Mylie (who is only a few weeks younger then Dominic)

Mylie loved it. Dominic was so exhausted from all the playing, it put him right to sleep.  hmm.  How can I make this a part of his nightly routine? Easiest nap time ever.

Ok, so even though only 1 week had passed since my wreck, I hopped on a bike momentarily so Michael and I could enjoy a ride at sunset. (and we happened upon this amazing bear)
We returned from our camping trip on the afternoon of July 4th just in time to hear Michael's mom presenting at a local colonial days celebration.  She did a wonderful job! Sadly, with a broken collarbone, I don't find myself toting around a camera very often these days. 

Later that night we celebrated by eating some sushi and watching the Stadium of Fire (a huge production in Utah in which a spectacular array of fireworks are shot off at a nearby University.  We played with sparklers while waiting for the show to start.

Dominic was mesmerized with his first sparkler

and continued to be mesmerized for all the rest of the sparklers

mimicking the explosions

We also got to celebrate Michael's grandmother's 80th birthday a few days ago.  She looked lovely and the party turned out very nice.  I was glad we were able to attend.  Michael's little sister and brother were able to come in from California, and it has been great to spend time with them.

Following the birthday party, we stopped in at the new-ish City Creek Shopping Center in Salt Lake to see if it's was really deserving of all the hype.  We had a good time shopping around.  Dominic rocking this fedora was definitely one of the highlights.  He used to like hats when he was younger (6 months-ish) but I haven't been able to get him to wear a hat for months...until this fedora.  He was quite pleased with it and kept laughing and smiling when he's catch a glimpse of himself wearing it in the mirrors.  I was really amused at his delight in the fedora.

Shopping with his Uncle Chris, rocking a fedora. 
Well, that brings us to today.  We are excited for some fun upcoming trips so I will keep you posted!


Hugs,
The Escalantes

Monday, July 8, 2013

Utah Adventures

We have really been enjoying our summer in Utah.  Here are some highlights so far.
3 generations of Escalante men

We discovered that Dominic loves water slides!

Dominic driving the RZR with Grandma and Grandpa Harper

Michael and I on a beautiful ride up American Fork Canyon

The view from our destination

Dominic loves driving everything from off-road vehicles to....

...Ducati's with steez

Dominic giving Papa a massage...

followed by Cuddles

We have all been loving time at the swimming pool

We had the opportunity to go backpacking in Escalante with some old friends and had an absolutely wonderful trip!  Dominic enjoyed his first trip to the desert.




Tunnel Canyon

Tunnel Canyon

Tunnel Canyon

Tunnel Canyon

Tunnel Canyon

Next we headed to Zebra Canyon.  I was super psyched to see this canyon because I had heard that it is one of the most picturesque (non-technical) canyons in all of Escalante.

Zebra Canyon

Zebra Canyon

Zebra Canyon

Zebra Canyon

Zebra Canyon

Zebra Canyon

Zebra Canyon lookin' like a Zebra



Zebra Canyon

Zebra Canyon

The gang in Zebra Canyon (minus Michael who took the photo)

After finishing Tunnel and Zebra Canyons, we hopped in the cars and headed to our next destination: Peek-a-boo and Spooky Canyons.  We ended up getting a little side tracked and did an additional canyon on our way.

Dry Fork Canyon


Above Dry Fork Canyon

Peek-a-boo Canyon

I heart you. (Peek-a-boo Canyon.)

Spooky Canyon

Spooky Canyon is very narrow so we had to take Dominic out of his backpack so I could carry him on my shoulders.  Even then, we barely fit.

Spooky Canyon

Spooky Canyon

Spooky Canyon

After a full day of hiking, 5 slot canyons and about 10 miles later, we set up camp for the night.  The next morning we started into Coyote Gulch.

Overlooking Coyote Gulch from Crack in the Wall (anyone who has hiked up and out of Crack in the Wall will understand why we decided to go down and use this as our entrance)


At the top of Crack in the Wall

Lovely flowers growing in the middle of the scorching hot sand where it seemed nothing could thrive.
Steven's arch in the distance

Coyote Gulch

Coyote Gulch

Coyote Gulch: Beautiful painted cliffs

Coyote Gulch (we all jumped off that big cliff on the right into the pond)

Coyote Gulch: the approach to the top of the cliff was quite difficult, the rock was very steep and slick.   Pictured here is me reinforcing Jeff's feet, who was reinforcing the Annalisa's feet as she climbed to the top.

Coyote Gulch: Coyote Natural Bridge

Coyote Gulch: tuckered

Coyote Gulch: serenading us all under the beautiful arch

Coyote Gulch: We exited the canyon at Jacob Hamblin Arch.  Again, it was a very steep climb out: this time with our backpacks on.

We had such a great trip to Escalante!  We are so grateful for good friends and good health that allowed us to embark on this amazing adventure.  There are more great pics to come, but I'll get those posted soon!