1-3 May 2018
Spent my dad’s birthday taking pictures and laughing on all of his favorite rides.
Then I spent my birthday doing all of my favorites. I had lunch at the blue bayou and dinner at Café Orleans, bought myself some Pixar birthday cake and got sung to by the Dapper Dans. 🙂
See if you can guess the 19 rides I went on (hint: some of them are duplicates) 
19-21 August 2017
I arranged for a condo rental in the path of totality like a year ago. Super place. We spent 2 nights there swimming, playing games, watching movies, building a puzzle, and eating lots of good food.
20-23 July 2017
We spent 2 days in Logan on our way. Saw Pirates of Penzance, Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Madama Butterfly. Great restaurants…bluebird cafe (trout and very authentic English chips) and tandoori oven. Â 
On the way to the campground, we stopped at Gibbon Falls and then at Norris Geyser basin. Steve was amazed by the different thermal features. This was his first time seeing Yellowstone which was really fun for me too. 
We camped at Canyon campground Saturday night which is a very cool forestry place and we enjoyed except for the prolific Satan flies (mosquitos). It was also very cold. 
We opted not to stay a second night and do a whirlwind tour of the park on Sunday.  First a very steep hike down to the brink of Lower Falls and then overlook views of Upper and the whole canyon. It’s one of my favorite places. 
Next was Firehole Lake loop with a great cool boiling pool and the lake that was fed by a geyser.  Cool enough to put your foot in but too hot for a full-on submerging. 🙂
The parking was full at Midway Geyser basin so we parked way down the road and walked in. Grand prismatic spring has the most beautiful colors of all but was hard to see well without hiking up the mountain which we didn’t do. Excelsior Geyser is a really big spring that had huge explosive events in the past but is currently inactive. 
Old faithful required a long wait in the sun. I went to check out the Old Faithful Inn which is really cool. Cool geyser but too far away to really fully enjoy. There was a crazy guy who went down off the boardwalk and was drinking out of the runoff from it.  A ranger came and shooed him off. 
Our last stop in Yellowstone was a picnic area next to the West Thumb of Yellowstone Lake where we took our tuna sandwiches and ate on the cool black sand beach. Had the place to ourselves. 🙂
We drove out of the park past the regrowth from the big fires that I experienced as a teenager. You could see the old tall dead trees with all the newer growth below. 
Steve was blown away by the Tetons. So incredible, especially with Jenny Lake in the foreground. 🙂
Drove home through Jackson and Soda Springs, a really interesting little place with a natural source of carbonated water and the coolest geyser. It goes off every hour on the hour and it’s not scalding hot so you can just walk right up to it. We caught it at sunset so that was extra cool. 
11-14 July 2017
Made this trip on my own. It was awesome. Loved these Colorado parks. 
Such a cool canyon. I hiked the oak flat loop and then hit the viewpoints. I slept in the car because it rained. Good breakfast and then off to get an oil change and more power steering fluid (it was very loud around turns) which is why I didn’t stay to see more of the overlooks and listen to the geology talk. Got a new cap in Montrose and then off to the dunes.
They are huge! I hiked and hiked but didn’t reach the top. It was so windy up there. Major exfoliation event all over my body. When I took my hair down and shook it out a couple of days later, I coated the seat of my car. But at least then I had some sand for my collection. :). I slept in the car again because of rain but this time I put the cot in there. 
Surprisingly comfortable. 🙂
I stopped in Denver to have lunch with Dave (great to see him again even briefly) and then on to Rocky Mountain. First hike was up to The Pool and Fern Falls. Finished right as the sun was setting. 🙂
Here’s my beautiful campsite (Morraine Park). Never did see the bear that frequents the area. 🙂
Next morning I hiked up to Nymph, Dream, and Emerald Lakes and then stopped at Bear Lake at the bottom. It was early morning and some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. 
See?
Then I drove the road through the park over the continental divide to the west side of the park. 
I ended the visit with a nice dip in Grand Lake which was very cold but felt amazing especially after no shower since Tuesday morning. 🙂
8 July 2017
It was our turn for the reunion this year. We did an 80s theme. Ada made a great 80s playlist, people dressed up, we put up neon balloons and streamers, Jul did the invitations and put together a famous people name guessing game and a family feud game that we didn’t get to, Gary and Alicia put together a great taco meal, Emily took care of the guessing jars, and I arranged a bunch of 80s quizzes and games (Simon, pogo ball, 80s trivial pursuit, Rubik’s cubes, clackers, Chinese jump rope) all for prizes (retro candy, Care Bears, strawberry shortcake dolls, and little Rubik’s cubes). We had a great turnout and had a wonderful time.
Steve sports jelly bracelets and neon name tag (and a delighted countenance). 🙂
It was Jul’s birthday. We did a very quiet birthday song with candles in a Rice Krispie treat. 🙂
So cute! Alicia, Ellie (who fell and hit her head hard and was pretty out of it most of the time) and Claire with her guessing jar.
Gary made the coolest slip n slide out of PVC. Huge hit. 🙂
My fam was really done by the end. 🙂
2-6 July 2017
Steve and I celebrated our 25th anniversary at Disneyland (even though our actual anniversary was in march). Flew into Long Beach airport (small but closer to Disneyland), got our rental car (first time starting a car with a button!), and went to the beach to play in the ocean. :). Thai for dinner. Mmmm
Monday. Disneyland first thing. The rope drop at opening was cool.
Pirates…so awesome! The pirate band also cool.
We did a bunch of fantasyland, including Peter Pan and Mr Toad. Also saw Mary Poppins and Bert on the carousel.
We love splash mountain!
We did go back to the hotel each afternoon for a few hours but Steve still felt the need to commandeer a bench. 🙂
Tuesday we mostly spent at California Adventure. They had some neat stuff for the 4th of July, like a cool flag ceremony and a special segment before world of color. 
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The new guardians of the galaxy ride is cool. We went on it 4 times. 
Steve’s first time on Racers. He loved Cars Land and the backdrop of Radiator Springs
We did grizzly peak river run a couple of times. Got pretty soaked the second time. 
We had dinner at the Wine Country Trattoria. Yummy food. I got an iPhone 7 a few days before the trip and had a lot of fun with the live photo trick. 
Steve really liked World of Color. 
Wednesday was also not very crowded. We got fast passes for racers first and met a guy named Teo. Had to take a picture for my Teo. 
Finally got my Dole Whip complete with the complementary hair umbrella. 🙂
Haunted mansion with its predictable hitchhiking ghost. 
We had a small world boat to ourselves during the electrical parade. 
Dinner at Cafe Orleans. Great pommes frites and salmon. 
Had a delicious raspberry macaron shaped like Mickey while watching the electrical parade at the Jolly Holiday bakery. 
We saved fireworks for the last night and then they got cancelled. Sad face. But we did cram the last few hours with many rides including the teacups. 
Flew home on Thursday. What a great vacation. 🙂
25-30 June 2017
Long drive to Glacier National Park so we stayed in Butte on Sunday night. Then we drove the 4 hours to Glacier. We stayed at fish creek next to Lake McDonald on the west side of the park. We set up camp and then went for a brisk swim in the glacier-fed lake. :). Then we took a nice long nap. Short hike around the Trail of the Cedars, to the McDonald falls overlook, to the edge of the sunset-ridged lake, and then back to camp.
It rained like mad that night but we packed up our wet stuff and drove around the south end of the park since the Going-to-the-Sun Road (the only room as through the park) was still closed. We set up camp at St Mary in the windiest campsite I have ever experienced (nice for drying out a wet tent but not so nice for sleeping!)
We drove to the Many Glacier area where we walked the nature trail around Swiftcurrent Lake and then hiked to Redrock Falls (we ran into a bear last time we hiked this 6 years ago, but had better luck this time). My phone died and Alex didn’t have his with him, so, alas, no pics. 😦 Then we had apple huckleberry pie at the cafe there. Mmmm. 
Wednesday we spent at Waterton Lakes. Border crossing…short line 🙂 had to ditch all our firewood. 😦
Our hike to The Bear’s Rump was a killer but breathtaking at the top!
We drove out to Cameron Lake (so cold!) and then out to Redrock Canyon (small but super cool striped red and green shale with a river running through the bottom). Alex took a short nap in the car while I hiked out to Blakiston Falls. Then I had him hike it while I chilled in the car. 
Stopped for chocolate in the village and then headed back to camp. 
By Thursday, the road has opened so we headed into the center of the park. Did a very long hike through the fire aftermath to St Mary Falls and Virginia Falls. 
I fell on the slippery rocks at the base of the falls and hurt my arm. 😦 Next we drove up to Logan pass and walked out on the glacier and then drove the scary road to Weeping Wall and Bird Woman Falls. Then back to camp where I had a glorious shower. 🙂
Friday we did the 11 hour drive home and slept in our windless, rainless, and bird-noiseless beds. 🙂
Awesome trip!
18-21 June 2017
Julie and I attended an astronomy class at the UVU field station at Capitol Reef. Great food, super cool surroundings, and amazing dark skies. 🙂
This place is totally off the grid. Solar for all their electricity, cool building design using the buoyancy of hot air to facilitate heating and cooling, their own water treatment plant. They measure water usage and trash of each group that comes through. 
I finally figured out how to use my telescope. These not-so-impressive photos don’t adequately show how neat it was to see Venus in phase and the sun with clouds moving past it using my new solar filter. 
It was so great to be there with my sister. I’m so proud of how well she withstood the rigors of the class given her current medical issues. She did take breaks on the couch. The best ones were with liquid nitrogen ice cream. 🙂
13-15 June
We drove to Vegas to get Ky, Ada’s girlfriend. Ada stayed there for the night and I went to a Hampton where I had some good quality solo time with my book. 🙂
The next morning we drove to the Grand Canyon, via Kingman, AZ
and the inexplicable West Coast Chevron. Had a great time at the beach. 🙂
We set up camp first 
Then drove out to the rim for a look-see. 🙂
Then back to camp for a fire for campfire pizzas and smores. 
I got up really early the next morning to see the canyon at sunrise. 
After breakfast and packing up camp we started the long drive back to Utah. We stopped at a few overlooks on the way and also for a short look at Glen Canyon dam. 
We didn’t get to Bryce early enough for a campsite so we spent the afternoon there driving to the overlooks
And then a short hike down into the canyon on the Queen’s Garden trail
before we drove back home. We were way sick of the car by the end. 🙂
1-2 June 2017. Hiked to double arch. Nice photo Teo. 🙂
Slick rock is so fun to climb around on. 🙂
Canyonlands turned out to be breathtaking and scary.
Arches was closed early so we couldn’t hike out to delicate arch at sunset. The ranger suggested instead hiking to Corona Arch outside of the park. What a great hike! Definitely want to explore this area more on a future trip. Great camping sites right along the river.
There were some crazy guys who climbed on top of the arch. 
We stayed at Slick rock campground in a little cabin. My stove died so dinner was entertaining. On Saturday we went on a river trip with Moab adventure center. We were in a raft with groups from Belgium, Sweden, and Austria. It was way fun. Lunch was great too, catered BBQ at a resort along the way. 
We got gelato and then drove home. National donut day at Krispy Kreme capped off a great trip with my son. 🙂
TaylorHaps 
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