Birthday trip to Moab

A few days before Christmas, we loaded up the cats and took off for Moab to celebrate Drew's birthday.

The Book Cliffs and Moab had just been dumped on.  This is the whitest I've seen the desert along Highway 6 and I-70.

The snow made for a gorgeous backdrop to our hike to Corona Arch.

Along the way there is a cool contact spring.

I think this is technically an arch. It is formed when the tool rocks in a large pothole finally erode the pothole deep enough to break through an overhanging ledge.  Pretty cool.

And I think these are volcanic pebbles littered on top of the slickrock.

Drew chose his birthday dinner as sushi in the desert, so we tried the one and only sushi place in town.

The next night, our friend Cathy treated us to dinner at her house. It was yummy and we had a nice visit.

But we headed back a day early to avoid an incoming storm. We planned it so that we were coming through Spanish Fork after dark so we could drive through the park and see all the crazy lights and Christmas decorations in the park.

Frog

 It takes about 15 minutes to drive all the way around the park.

The park broadcasts Christmas carols over loud speakers; you can tune your radio to a certain channel and get the tunes piped into your car.

 Many of the displays are animated.  This one is bears fishing.

 So cheesy. So fun.

Pre-holiday outings

Here are a few photos from some early December 2012 outings.

We went down to see the lights on Temple Square and check out the new City Creek Center mall. It has been open for almost a year, but we just don't get to malls that often!

 

 And we did a nice snowshoe up to Doughnut Falls while the snow was still coming down.  We are hoping to do more snowshoeing this winter.

And just a couple of cute pictures of our friends at a holiday get together we went to.  The hats were a White Elephant gift.

Recycled table made from cut boards

They are back - home improvement posts!  Well, one anyway.  Just some pictures to show how I made a cool patio table for our back deck using recycled materials.

Here was my inspiration.  

Those are 2x6 boards that the tradesman who installed our cultured marble shower surround used as a backer when cutting the pieces of cultured marble.  I thought they looked so used, organic, and artsy that I couldn't throw them away.  It just took a while before I figured out what I wanted to do with them.

There were more cut boards, not quite so deeply incised, from the siding installation. I gathered them all up and decided to build us a table.  I went to work with my trusty helper in the garage.

Here is the basic construction photo.  I used some extra pieces of cedar 4x4 posts leftover from the pergola project (I had been hording them) for the legs.  I used the super incised inspirational cut boards for the table skirt, and the not quite as incised siding cut boards for the table top. I used several power tools. Fun.

With $12 worth of hardware and some very basic carpentry, I had me a patio table.  I found the chairs at World Market.

Friends helped us christen it with wine and rhubarb crumble.

But I thought it looked too bland.  How about some leftover orange paint to jazz things up?

Overall, I love it.  It is a conversation piece for sure.  Carpentry is not my forte, and after a summer's worth of patio dining, the table is beginning to wobble a bit. 

We will have to keep from dancing on it too much until Drew can reinforce the hardware.

Bad kitties. Very bad kitties.

NWGA expo and WFA

In early December I linked up a couple of trips south.

NGWA

First, the National Groundwater Association Expo in Las Vegas.

I like this convention because it is full of practical and useful information for the times I interact with well drillers and well owners, and in my capacity as our workgroups "well drilling specialist". (Did I ever think that "well drilling specialist" would be part of my job title when I was 16?)  Plus, the exhibit hall showcases some rad well equipment.

A cut-away view of a line-shaft pump.

Drew joined me for the last couple of days, so I was wined and dined after long hours listening to seminars on injection wells, well-cleaning techniques, and new software tools for my industry.

WFA (I pronounce it "wuff-a", 'cause I like the sound of that)

From Vegas, we loaded the bikes on the roof rack and made the short drive to coastal southern California where we got in a quick ride on one of Drew's old favorite trails from his Navy days.

My tour guide on Big Sycamore Canyon trails.

Ending the ride on the beach at Point Mugu State Park.

The next two days were jam packed with learning Wilderness First Aid at a certification class near Oxnard.  We are required to become WFA certified to be coaches in the National Interscholastic Cycling Association, but we are unable to take the course offered in Salt Lake before the start of next season.  So we attended this class hosted by the Southern California High School Cycling League. 

Luckily, it wasn't all classroom time.  We got to run practice scenarios such as how to treat for hypothermia and how to bandage your spouse when she is pretending to be incapacitated.

There was time for some great Mexican food and a short walk on the beach.

But that was the end of my dual-state, dual-purpose December trip.

Moab squared

I was lucky enough to get two trips to Moab in November.

Why condo owners camp

Trip #1 was for our annual home owners association (HOA) meeting for the condo.  In the off season, we are slaves to any potential rentals to offset monthly expenses, so when someone wanted to book a few months in advance for this particular weekend, we did it.  That meant we were camping!

Since we bought the condo in 2007, we have hardly camped.  I miss it.  We were lucky that on this particular weekend the weather forecast for Moab was for clear and sunny, 65 to 70 degrees for the highs and 40 to 45 for the lows.  Excellent.  

We staked out a spot in one of the campgrounds in Sand Flats Rec Area.

Doesn't this look like a Toyota commercial?

And commenced tent set up.  I scored a used cabin tent on our local classifieds for $40. This was its maiden voyage. See the 13 second video of its set up.

Tent builder supreme.

A room with a view

Bird's eye view of our camp.

Panorama of our camp

We spent most of the weekend either at the meeting, or, once the renters left, fixing on the condo, but we enjoy a superb ride on the Magnificent Seven trail system.

Moab squared

Trip #2 for me was to do a bunch of little maintenance items and enjoy some time with my old friends Jeff and Lisa, who moved out of state when their youngest was just a babe; that was almost five years ago.  We enjoyed some of the amenities of the condo...

and a long but special hike to...

Delicate Arch.

The resident chipmunk was quite entertaining.

and tame.

Delicate Arch really is spectacular. No wonder it is on half of Utah's license plates.

It was fabulous to catch up with my old friends and get to know their two cute boys better.