Dog Lake and more

This weekend brought many hiking adventures.  The first was Dog Lake via Millcreek Canyon.  This destination has been a source of confusion for me for a while now because I had been to Dog Lake before but none of the descriptions about how people have been getting there lately matched where I had been.  Turns out there are 2 of them. . . One that is more of a Dog Pond, on the way to Lake Mary:

And one that is more of a destination kind of place:

Glad I got that one figured out, and glad I found a great new hike. 

The other adventure that was captured on film was the route to a geocache in Big Cottonwood Canyon via an old rail line. 

 I can't really describe how complicated it was to get there, but it involved more stickers than I have ever seen in one place before,

climbing through scrub oak, fighting off man eating vines, scrambling up rocks, and climbing up this big woodpile:

This is me on the nice flat, open path we took on the way out, with my best, "In an hour I will think this was an adventure but don't ask me now" scowl.  (I'm sure there is some life lesson to be had in the always taking the hard way there and the easy way out plan.)

It was very cool to see the ruins of the old rail line and interesting to think about how much easier it was for me to get there than the pioneers.  They were some seriously tough folks.  I'm happy to report that I now think it was an adventure, and am almost ready to go tackle another one. . . Maybe. 

Brigham Mine

The last Deli-Sub outing before they headed back home was to the Brigham Mine in Emigration Canyon.   We brought S-Dog along to introduce him to geocaching.  I think he's a fan. 

Finding the cache:

Wading through really cold water to explore the rest of the mine.  Cheese wins the tough kid award on this one.  She did it twice, in flip-flops.

Photo Scavenger Hunting

Baloney, Cheese, and I teamed up with Tracie and John for a photo scavenger hunt.  We took second place and had a lot of fun.  Here are some highlights:

Baloney doing a cartwheel, with our "travel buddy" eagle and Cheese cheering him on.

Doing the Hokey Pokey

We chased this mailman down for a 10 point photo.  He was very nice and let us take his picture.  Apparently a different mailman (after being chased and cut off by another team) said it was against the law to photograph him so that team didn't get their 10 points.

Finding a "Don't Do That" sign.  

Mimicking a statue

Doing the Chicken Dance at a chicken place.

I think this officer was a little worried when we all went running up to him shouting "Police Officer!"  but he was a good sport and let us take another 10 point picture.

 Baloney got a little bored while we were waiting for everyone's scores to be tallied.  Here are 2 of 100+ examples of what happens when you let a bored Baloney hold your camera.

Silver Lake, High School Musical and Karaoke Night

There's always something going on with the Deli-Subs around. Saturday we went to Silver Lake to commune with nature . . . and sign our names on pieces of paper in hidden boxes (of course).

 At this one, we had to pretend to be REALLY interested in the rock formation while another family played a game of hide and seek.

"Take a picture of me Daphne.  Like this.  NOW!!!"

A little climbing, I mean geocaching, close to home too.  They educated the neighbor in the doorway with this one.  She knew there was a cache there, but didn't know what that meant.

This morning, Tomato and I went to the site of her FAVORITE show.  It worked out nicely that East High is close to home. 

This is where they played the instruments! 

Making a basketball shot, just like Troy!!!

Tonight we hung out with the cousins at Studio 600 for karaoke.  A fun time was had by all and it was good to see everyone!  The quote of the evening comes from Baloney.  "Mom, you've isolated me.  I don't know any of these songs."  I have been trying to tell her this for years!   I can only do so much.  Fortunately, the only one taking video of the event was me, which means I do not appear in said video.  Here are the Deli-Subs impressing the crowd.  Notice how Baloney passes the time between verses.

Sharks in the Desert, Ants and Kittens at the Temple

I recently became aware of a place where they have geothermal, salt water springs in the middle of the desert west of Salt Lake. (Thanks Chris!) Who knew that was even possible? They have lots of sea life usually found only in the ocean, and they let you go there and help feed them. So, when looking for an idea for an outing with Pickle (visiting nephew) who adores all things animal, the choice was obvious.
Feeding and petting the shark . . .

The rays (Steve and Irwin) eating squid (which intrigued Pickle just as much as the animals they were feeding them to) . . .


The big fish splashed us as they were grabbing their breakfast . . .


The nearby geocache where Pickle informed me that it was way too easy to find this one and they should really should have hidden it better for him . . .


Later, we picked up the rest of the Deli-Subs and headed for Temple Square.
Here is Sprout taking a rest while the big kids looked for some geocaching info.


Right before this picture (I was too slow with the camera to get the actual moment), Cristine and I looked up and saw Baloney watching the GPS, with a perfect line of all the other kids following carefully behind him. They looked just like a line of ants.


Trying to get 8 kids headed in the same direction at the same time after they lost interest in geocaching was much like herding kittens. We finally stumbled upon a good strategy . . . Tell them you're going to take a picture of the 3 adults in the group. Suddenly they were all there crowding into the picture. Do not confuse this event with the time we tried to get all of them into a kid picture. That one worked very differently.


While waiting outside for Mom-Bread and some of the kids to come back from the bathroom, Cristine and I witnessed this conversation that had us laughing for quite some time. (Sadly I was just a little too slow with the camera for this one as well. This photo was taken right after the actual Kodak moment.)
Photographer to groom: OK, stand behind her.
Groom: Here?
Photographer: Yes. Now nuzzle her.


The day ended with a pre-bedtime geocache search. I hoped that lots of eyes and climbing kids would help in this one that has been eluding me for months. I was wrong. Guess who hid it, cacher friends. At least it wasn't a pine tree.

Cecret Lake

Several years ago, I headed up Little Cottonwood Canyon expecting to do this hike. Much to my surprise, even though it was mid-summer, there were people skiing near the side of the road. Since I was unprepared for snow-hiking conditions, I turned around and hiked closer to the bottom of the canyon that day with intentions of going back another day. I finally got around to going back today with Tracie. The trail was clear and the hike was beautiful!

Why It Took 11 Hours to Get Home from Bear Lake

It's so hard to leave!


We had to pack the car. Who knew you could cram that much stuff into a Saturn?

We took the . . . um . . . scenic route . . .