Summer News

Summer is nearly over and that is so hard to believe! We started out in April going to Crystal Hot Springs and camping there with Jay and Monica. Next, we camped at Palisades in Sanpete County. Then we went to Arizona to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. We rode the train and it was very neat experience. We stayed in our trailer in Williams Arizona which is the gateway to the south rim. It is on Route 66 there and it's like an old 50's town with a 50's theme, malts, ice cream sodas and juke boxes in all the eating establishments. Then we went down to the hot part of Arizona in Mesa, (we left the trailer at the campsite) and visited with Randy's friends, Starr, Lisa and Marc.

Then we went camping up Timpangos area at Timpanooke then Little Mill and Granite Flat. Tina and her family were camped in that area for a couple of days with Jesse and Raia so we visited with them. Then we went back to Little Mill and to a very lovely spot right by the river. Then we went camping at Lakeside Campground near Utah Lake. Monica and Jay joined us there. I had a good time swimming there and Matt and Kelly came up for Matt's birthday. After doing all that camping, we are a little tired and so we are done camping for the year. In all, we camped over 30 days this summer. In May, two little babies arrived: Kelby from Matt and Kelly, Kennedy from Contessa and Lorin. In August another little one arrived: Keira from Felicia and Brandon.

Tammy moved to Wisconsin so we had a farewell party for her. We also had a baby shower for Michael and Brooke who are expecting a baby boy in December. Then Jennifer and Rob and the kids were in town and they stayed at Kipp's canyon house and we went there for a BBQ until Jennifer had to head back home. They had been on very long road trip for two weeks.

Our next adventure is that we are going to travel over 1500 miles to Wisconsin to visit Tammy and see her new place. We want to visit before winter because winters are bad in the midwest. We will travel through Wyoming, Nebraska and Iowa to get there. I have been to Wyoming, Nebraska and Iowa but never to Wisconsin. I wish to see the Great Lakes as I have always wanted to. On the way home, we may head back through South Dakota and see MT Rushmore and then on to northeast Wyoming to see Devil's tower. After that, I guess we will just be stuck at home for a long and dreary winter. I hope we can camp again next year. It is a lot of work but something we both love. It is getting harder for Randy because of his arthritis but it keeps us both active at least.

Hope all of you enjoyed the summer. All our love. Rita and Randy

Crystal Hot Springs

Last Friday we went to Crystal Hot Springs and spent the weekend with Monica and her family and also with Tammy and Savannah and dogs. John and Kathy also came. I couldn't get Randy in the water but Tammy, Monica and I and Savannah and Lacey enjoyed the pools. We had a good time visiting and the weather was very nice. We surely don't have the energy we used to though. I did not get very good photos. We are looking forward to camping at Palisades next.

Zion's Park

The Great White Throne

We enjoyed a week at Zion's National Park. The park is so beautiful. We took a ride on the shuttle and also ate at the restaurant at the Zion Lodge. We saw a 3-D movie and also went to a movie in Hurricane Utah. We also went to a Chinese buffet with Tammy and Charlie who were in St. George to see a production at the Tuachan Theater. The weather was beautiful at first but a cold front came in later in the week and the wind was miserable.

We really enjoyed our trailer and nice and warm furnace we have in it. We had electricity in the park but no water or sewer. We had to fill up with water at the entrance and we ran out because I needed to wash my hair and take a shower. (I don't like to go out with flat hair) So we had to unhook everything and go fill up again. We were right by a water faucet but the park manager would not even let us hook up a hose and fill up even though it would have taken only 10 minutes or less. Because Randy has a lot of arthritis pain, I think we had better find a park in the future with full hookups because of the work he has to go to. In the government parks in Timpanogos we can come home a couple of times a week so that we can shower at home so this is OK when we camp that way. But when we can't come home for a long time, we really need full hookups. I guess we should have gotten a motorhome to make it easier on Randy. But motorhomes are so expensive unless you get a really old one or buy a really small one.

We would like to winter in a warm place but we would have to leave before the snow flies because if we leave later, the weather is too unpredictable and we might get caught in a bad storm and that would not be good with a trailer. Anyway, it is better just camp close by as it is cheaper as the gas mileage is really bad with the Suburban and trailer. The Suburban isn't too bad when not pulling the trailer.

We met some nice folks in Zion. One couple from Canada who were originally from New Zealand. They were very friendly. It seems folks from other countries are much friendlier than our fellow Americans. We did have a good time despite a few setbacks.

Days of Summer Coming to an End

Summer camping has come to a close. For Labor Day, we drove to the High Uintah's and all the way up to Mirror Lake. Unfortunately, a lot of the campgrounds were closed in the Uintah's and so we just had to drive around the Day Use areas. Mirror Lake was so crowded that we could not even find a place to park. We did, however, get to look down on the lake from a viewpoint and take a few photos.

Then later in the week, we camped for three days at Deer Creek. They had full hookups there so we got a few more comforts of home. We mainly went there because we had promised John and Kathy we would let them camp one more time for caring for our cats. We had to camp close to home so we could go back to care fr the cats. Usually John and Kathy do that for us but they were with us so we lost our pet sitters.

We went to Heber and ate at Don Pedro's Mexican restaurant. Boy, they give you so much food. Be aware that if you order more than one item, you may find it hard to eat all your meal. The food was good though. Better than Mi Ranchito. So we are done camping for this year. We have a family BBQ planned for the 20th and no other plans for the rest of the year. We thought of going to Zion's Park to camp next month but decided we were just too tired to make another camping trip. We may have to plan something else. We do have a free 2 night hotel stay at several hotel choices throughout the country. We got this from RC Willey when we bought our appliances. As far as Thanksgiving and Christmas, we have no plans as yet. Maybe somebody will invite us. We are going tomorrow to the RV show in Sandy. Randy really wants a new RV but that will have to wait if it even happens at all. We have just put new tires, and bought a new generator for the one we have now. The only problem with the one we have now it that the bed is too small and it is so hard to get in and out of. It's OK for one person, but when we camp, we have no cats and so we like to sleep together.

Other news is that we got a new microwave (our old one quit.) and washer and dryer. They all work so much better than the old ones. We might have to get a new furnace. So there is always so much money that we have to spend. I wish we could stop spending for a while. I have also had some problems with somebody using my MasterCard number and so I had to deal with that. Other than that, we are just enjoying the cooler days of Fall. We wish all our family a wonderful Fall season.

Provo Canyon Camping

See the little racoons eyes in the dark?

This past week we spent 5 days in Provo Canyon at Nunn's Park. It is really close (just before you get to Bridal Veil Falls.) It's right by the Provo River.Although it is not as private as campgrounds in more rustic areas, it was really nice. Somebody stole our original camping spot so we had to take another which was not quite as nice, but it was really close to the restrooms. That made it nice for those who visited us there. We had John and Kathy there for the full 5 days as they were off work for vacation. Tammy and Charlie and Savannah visited as well as Contessa and Lorin. We had a BBQ with chef Randy as the hot dog and hamburger chef. We had a wonderful time.

There are lots of biking and hiking trails there and lots of skateboarders so you have to watch out for them. This would be a good place for a family reunion. But the campsites cannot be reserved. They are first come, first served. You can however, reserve the pavillions there. It's a good place for kids since there is lots to do and the ice cream truck even comes by. It's a county park and is only $10 a night to camp there.

At night when we roasted marshmallows, we had a visitor. A cute little racoon. He just loved marshmallows and potato chips. He didn't like the Cheerios we gave him. I guess he is a junk food racoon. I have photos of him in this blog and all you see is his eyes shining in the dark. We also had a bird that dived in the river and a squirrel and a little black otter. We saw lots of people riding kayaks down the river. You can rent kayaks and rafts for that activity as well. It was a great time.

Camping Experience

While camping we had lots of cool experiences with little critters and some not so little. We had gray squirrels and a chipmunk and humming birds. The little critters came right up to us and ate unsalted peanuts from the ground near us. A doe came down and ate peanuts too. She was not afraid of us. After she ate, she laid down in the grass and cooled herself in the shade. She stayed there for some time. We had a wonderful experience during our camping stay.

Corn, Tomatoes and Cucumbers

While camping, we dined on corn, tomatoes and cucumbers. What a treat. I wish I could say they were from our garden but they weren't. They were sure good though. Bought from a stand not a store.

Happy Campers

We had a good time camping. There were lots of chipmunks and squirrels at our campsite. Randy fed them nuts. He also put up a humming bird feeder and lots of beautiful humming birds came by to drink from it.











Randy and I went camping up at Granite Flats in AF Canyon. It was very beautiful there. We had a good time but the mosquitoes were bad. We have found a new way to take care of them in the future. John and Kathy spent two days with us camping. AF Canyon is close enough for us to go home and care for our kitties too. We went to Silver Lake Flat as well and it was a bumpy rocky dirt road that was 3 miles line but seemed like 30. It was very beautiful there so it was worth it. Kelly came up one night for while to visit us as well.