Fall in Utah...

Fall in Utah... a trip up Diamond Fork Canyon for a soak in Fifth Water Hot Springs..... One of 3 trips we took there this fall...

On the trail again...

Lake Catherine

Happy dance for me! I finally tool my first post surgery hike... Hiked up the Brighton lakes, Mary, Martha and Catherine... 2 miles up to Lake Catherine, a 1200 foot elevation gain, an honest to goodness trail with rocks and roots and obstacles.. By local and my hiking buddies standards, an easy-ish hike... but a small milestone for me. Not sure I'm ready for epic adventures, as my knee certainly isn't quite "right" yet, but it sure felt good to be out there.. I had good company too, Matt's girlfriend Alicia came along with me.

Lake Martha

Lake Mary

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Adventures in Rehab... The Salty West

Last weekends adventure... headed out west to salt flats with a friend and her 16 year old son who wanted to take pictures for some some video game graphics. First stop, the tree sculpture along I-80... It's an odd landmark out in the middle of nowhere in barren west desert. I've driven by it many times but never stopped to get a good look before. There is no turn off and I don't think you are supposed to stop but am glad we did. Whizzing by at 70 miles an hour I've never really appreciated the detail of all the mosaics up on the balls Metaphor: The Tree of Utah

Next stop the Bonneville Salt Flats, am expanse of salt crust that is famous for being the place the land speed records are set... though not this time of year as the flats were mostly under water. I guess that is why 'Speed Week' happens in the fall!

I also got a reminder on why I need to work on my photography... all the "whiteness" messed with my exposure... I really need learn to use the manual features of my camera better... and actually used them.

Since we were way out west anyhow, we headed in to Wendover to check out the the Historic Wendover Airfield, a World War II era bomber base. We got there to late to visit the museum, but did climb around inside the old aircraft and walked around all the old ramshackle buildings.

Castles on the hill...

I'm a single gal. Been that way for quite some time. A few years ago my next door neighbor Mabel lost her her boyfriend of 20+ years, and since we found ourselves to be the two single chicks on the street we started doing a weekly girls night out. Dinner, cocktails, other adventures. Mabel is 86, and last fall, after having a few heart issues, moved out of the neighborhood and into a retirement home, a tough thing for a vibrant, active woman. We have continued our girls night, and after dinner often take a ride, which Mabel really enjoys since she doesn't get out as much as she'd like.

This weeks Tuesday night adventure took us south for dinner, and decided to explore the south mountain area a bit... Being from the north end of town the south mountain area is all unknown territory for us. There is huge LDS temple that looms high on the mountainside in the south east corner of the valley, and thinking the gardens there may be nice we headed up there. Turns out there was not much to see at the temple, but as things work here in Salt Lake the higher up the hill you climb the bigger, fancier and more affluent the housing becomes so we decided to do a little real estate tour and see how the other half live. As we drove up to the highest point in the neighborhood, a street that ran up hill behind the temple, we were quite surprised to find a whole street of castles.

Yes, castles. Brand new,(many still for sale), modern day castles. Whoda thunk? A neighborhood full of castles. Brand new medieval Utah. Stone exteriors, turrets, spires. Honestly, I was surprised that nobody had a draw bridge. I wonder if they joust at their block parties? I've seen the occasional castle around town but never a whole street of them. Which got me thinking.... I'm single, and since becoming single have made a lot of single girlfriends. Lets face it, single gals are always on a quest to meet Prince Charming. As quests seem to go, they seem to be long journeys full of strange adventures and pitfalls and only a few lucky ones have success at ferreting out and enrapturing that prince. But now I realize the problem. We must be looking in all the wrong places... clubs, pubs, online dating sites... all in hopes that Prince Charming may find us. Clearly we should be looking in the places where Prince Charming must be... the castle kingdoms of Salt Lake.

Adventures in Rehab 5/4/13... Eureka, Utah 4

One of the few places in downtown Euraks that wasn't part of 'ghost town' Eureka; the Tintic Mining Museum. It was actually a great little museum.

Adventures in Rehab 5/4/13... Eureka, Utah 3

One of the cool places my friend took me was to the private cemetery of the mine owner. I certainly never would have found that on my own... A short drive out of town, up a quiet road, climb over a cable fence, walk through the woods and there it was, the Fitch cemetery. It's a good thing I had a tour guide!!!

I have to wonder about this grave. Unlike the others there was no headstone, just a tiny metal marker. At first I thought maybe it was a baby who died but the plaque said Aubrey Fitch 1852-1927... I have to wonder it he was the blacksheep of the family or something and that is why his marker was so tiny.

The Tintic Mine

The uppermost building is the Tintic Goldminers Inn