Wordless Wednesday

Strange and Unusual

This clip from Beetlejuice was running through my head all day. 

Here are some of today's sightings that brought it to mind . . .

A display of rockets through the ages outside of the ATK plant.  I was amazed at how huge they were!  The picture doesn't really do justice to their immensity.

The Golden Spike isn't especially strange or unusual, but I think it's a little strange that I have lived in Utah for my whole life and never gone there.  Also interesting to learn that when building the tracks, the two companies actually passed each other and went a couple hundred miles before backtracking and making the tracks meet.

Spiral Jetty . . . Robert Smithson's 1970 art project out in the desert.  Apparently, sometimes it is under water and not visible.  Right now, the water is quite a ways out so we had a great view and could walk right out to it. 

How often can you walk around on salt?  (Sometimes you just have to take a foot picture.  Right, Danielle?)

The red color in this part of the Great Salt Lake is caused by some kind of algae.  I think the whole scene looks other-worldy.

This is the remains of an old oil well near the Great Salt Lake.  Although it has been capped, it is still seeping.  There were many puddles of fresh oil around.  I stood in the same place too long and had to pull my foot out of the oily mess it fell into.  Yuck!

The canal that brings this water suddenly drops 50 feet in elevation, creating this really cool waterfall.  Standing next to its spray was a perfect place to be in the heat of the day!

The owner of this place collects antique tractors.  There were a bunch of them, representing many years of tractor history.

Guarding the church doors?

 

Always Expect the Unexpected . . .

I spent a lot of time in high school at the "U" on the mountain, but never made it to the "H," even though I went to Highland.  So when Chris suggested we go find a cache there tonight, I thought it was about time I made it up there.  Better late than never, right?  I did my research . . . if you count asking "What am I agreeing to?" as research.  A 0.2 mile walk with one little steep part on the way to the H sounded like a perfect evening walk.  0.2 miles is a lot farther than it used to be, and it seems, one little steep part= a mountain.  I should have expected this . . . Things are never quite as expected when geocaching.  We ended up finding several unexpected caches, and catching some great views along the way.  No ankles were broken in the dark, and I climbed a mountain.  That's right, a real mountain (not to be confused with the hill now known as Daphne's Mountain in some circles). 

The view from the top

The view from the top looking the other way.  Brian showed his mountain goat genes as he jogged, yes that's right, jogged up the mountain to this one.  There was much talk here about  Peaks Above, Peaks Below, Peaks Below Peaks Above, and Beany Babies.  Strange. . .  

I love a good sunset.  Note to self. . . Always carry headlamp, even for .2 miles at 6 pm.  You just never know.

We eventually made it to the H Rock.  You can almost see it in the background.  Turns out the cache wasn't really at the rock anyway.  Good thing we went the other way.

Because we don't learn lessons very quickly, we stopped on the way home for "a quick cache in the rocks."  We knew what we were looking for.  I'm pretty sure we turned over every rock in the place at least twice before Chris started moving them to the side.  We knew if we gave up, we would find ourselves back there moving all of those same rocks again so we kept going.  Eventually, the darn thing turned up. . . It wasn't anything like what we were looking for.  Imagine that.  Good thing there were three of us to work on the putting all the rocks back where they came from project.

Can't wait to see what the next adventure is!

Summer's Last Hurrah

The days are getting shorter, the air is getting colder, school has started. . . Fall is upon us once again.  Labor Day always feels like the last moment of summer to me.  I decided to make the most of it by getting out of the city and going camping at Strawberry Reservoir.  As I lay shivering in my sleeping bag the first night, I resolved any doubt that summer was definitely behind me (and, now that I think about it, ahead of me, in just a mere 172 school days).  It's time to break out the long sleeves and the serious sleeping bag.  Sigh . . .
Other than the chilly first night, the trip was perfect.  Much fun was had, many crayfish were caught. . .

Here's the part where I said, "You catch the fish, I'll take pictures."

Here's the part a couple of minutes later where I realized everyone else was having all the fun and got in on the action.  That's right. . . I caught crayfish, with my hands, and we ate them for dinner!

many geocaches were found, and much scenery was viewed (most of it made possible only by Chris's 4-wheeling Saturn).

That kind of four-wheeling comes with consequences.  Fortunately, they were minor and mostly involved a lot of dust.  Chris suggested having a car-cleaning event for Labor Day.  I thought it was a great idea as my car was in dire need of some attention and hers was covered in the dirt of many mountain paths.  As the day went on, I learned that we have very different ideas of what cleaning the car means.

Daphne's usual version of cleaning the car:
1. Drive into self-propelled car wash.  Read a book while the machines do their thing.  Remind self to remove antenna next time, if it's still there.
2. Vacuum floors and throw out trash.
3. Remind self to wipe down interior surfaces later.  Promptly forget.
Time required: 10 minutes

Daphne's rarely used, more intense version of cleaning the car:
1. Wipe off all inside surfaces unless they are hard to get to.
2. Wash all windows inside and out.  (Baloney, did you have anything to do with the shoe print on my back window?)  Hope there are no streaks.
3. Vacuum floors and throw out trash.
4.  Hose down the car.  Use soap.  Rinse.  Debate about whether to bother with wax or not.   (usually done while feeding quarters into the machine at the car washing place)
5. Completely ignore dings and scratches.
6. Smile and feel proud of self.
Time required:  35 minutes

Daphne's super-intense version of cleaning the car used only today:
1. #1-#3 above (Use Q-Tips for cleaning hard to reach places)
2.  Hose down the car.  Scrub with sponge.  Rinse.
3. Wax on, wax off.  Try not to miss too many spots.
4. Rinse dirt from floor mats.  Marvel at mud flowing off of them.
5. Clean carpets in the front, and try to remove Diet Coke stains from seats.  Decide back carpets are fine since they are covered with floor mats and nobody ever sits back there anyway.
6. Armor-All all plastic and vinyl surfaces, inside and out.  (yes, Armor-All is a verb)
7. Frown at dings and scratches.  Wonder what ever happened to that bottle of touch up paint and consider getting another one someday.
8. Smile and feel really proud of self.
9. Tell car not to get used to it.
Time required:  2 hours


Chris's version of cleaning the car:
1.  Wipe off all inside surfaces especially if they are hard to get to. 
2.  Wash all windows inside and out.  Don't leave any streaks.  I mean it!
3.  Hose down the car and scrub it a lot, until it has completely forgotten all dust it once had.  Rinse with a filtered low pressure sprayer to prevent water spots.
4. Wash all floor mats.  Spray with hose first, use carpet cleaner later.
5. Clean all carpet and upholstery.  Roll eyes at the Super-Sonic guys who didn't get it nearly as clean as they should have.  Losers.
6. Buff out all scratches caused by branches on 4-wheeling adventures.
7. Wax on, wax off.
8. Armor-All all surfaces, including tires so they shine.
9. I lost track of the rest of the steps here but I know there were a bunch more.
10. Decide it could look better but is good enough for today.
Time required: 6.5 hours 

Look at those shiny Saturns!