Rock Haus

I went with my nephew and his wife to the Rock Haus---a rock climbing wall venue. Our instructor was the same cool guy who taught me to rappel about a year ago! Anyway, we learned how to tie the knots and hook up as the belayer and we were on our own to choose whatever wall we wanted! I stuck with the simpler ones because I could at least be successful on those! My nephew and his wife did great on more difficult climbs(they would actually reach the top)! It was great fun learning and doing(and I had a great object lesson of why you do not let go of the rope end---sorry Mandy)! It was definitely a great work out!! Afterwards we rewarded ourselves with dinner from Olive Garden

Transformers 3

My nephew and I went to see Transformers 3 on IMAX 3D screen for his activity with me. Right now the closest IMAX theater is 40 minutes away---this year another one is being built closer to where I live(only 20 min). So before the movie we ate at a restaurant called 'Spaghetti Mamas'---I'd never eaten there before, but I loved the atmosphere it portrayed of an Italian Villa at night(food was good too). We had perfect seats for the movie(and I love the Megaplexes around Utah because they have reserved seating so you don't have to show up extra early for good seats). The 3D glasses seemed a bit too snug on the bridge of my nose and I was wishing I could take them off many times during the movie(and gave me a bit of headache). The movie was what you would expect from Transformers(my nephew loved it and I thought it was okay). But more importantly, I got to spend some time with my nephew(who I don't see very often)!

Hell's Canyon????

This past weekend, my friend and I went jet-boating down Hell's Canyon(near White Bird, ID and on ID & OR border). So I was expecting lots of steep red shades of rock and HOT weather. The first thing I was surprised at was that we went into Pacific time zone in Idaho(UT is Mountain Time Zone like I thought all of Idaho was too---Hell's Canyon is right on border of time zones)! Secondly, I was surprised at all the shades of green steep mountain sides and 70 degree weather(but it has been a very cool Spring and Summer out West). It was so green, it reminded me of mountain sides(or hillsides) of Europe, not of someplace in Idaho! And the water was extra high because of all the snow and rain we've had this year so the rapids were even more rapid! In fact we couldn't even go all the way to the dam because the rapids near there were too dangerous to go through. But we had some sweet level 3 and 4 rapids to go through upstream and downstream. The jet-boat careened through those waves so speedily! It was the best part of the ride! And going upstream sometimes gave the illusion that the land/mountains were moving instead of the boat moving---very strange perception! It was an all day tour so we stopped at different areas along the way to walk around and enjoy the beauty in those areas! Hell's Canyon is on the Snake River(I swear that's an unbelievably long river--it's all over WY and ID)! But I definitely think this canyon has the wrong name! It was so green and beautiful!

Meet the Authors

Last weekend Whit & I had an opportunity to meet 5 popular young adult book authors- Shannon Hale, Brandon Mull, James Dashner, Jessica Day George and Ally Condie(who all happen to live in Salt Lake area). The first hour to hour & a half, they were all up on a stage to answer questions. I enjoyed this part of the night the most because they were so funny together, bantering with each other, and having some great answers to questions!! And then it was to the book signing. I had 3 of the authors books already from home, but bought one of each of the other 2 I didn't have. I had to control myself not to buy more---much more! This year I've been trying not to buy books, but be a library user instead(which I have become--I don't even have to look for the books---I just put the books I want on hold on-line and I can go pick them up the next day at the front desk!). My total now comes to 5 new books I've bought this year which is a huge leap down from other years!! But I had to at least have one book from each author! We went to the 3 shortest lines first---leaving Shannon Hale and Brandon Mull to the last since they had the longest lines. By the time we finally got to Brandon Mull, it was midnight(and there were only like 2 people left in the whole place to get books signed)! So we arrived about 5:45pm and were one of the last to leave! It was fun to watch the authors be so personable with those who came to have their books signed(and it almost made me buy more books), especially with the kids who came! One girl had her dad fly her out from Los Angeles(because she found out about it on Shannon Hale's blog) and all these authors were favorites of hers---she had a whole book bag full of books! It was a long night of waiting, but that's what you do when you go book-signing! Glad I went! Now if they could just bring JK Rowling to town!

Las Vegas: Unstripped

My friend and I headed to Las Vegas for Spring Break(leaving winter temps behind)! We decided to explore a different side of Vegas---the regions around it. First we went to Mt. Charleston(35 miles NW)---it was too early in the Spring for trails to be open(except 1) so while we were looking in a Christmas store located there, I bought a disc sled and we found snowpacked areas to sled down! Very fun but very cold on toes, legs, fingers and butt! The token trail that was open---Fletcher Canyon---still had major snow patches on the trail so we didn't get to the end of the trail, but most of it. It was frightful to me to hike and think of not slipping down those snowy/icy areas--especially when the snow melt formed into a creek below---really didn't want to fall into that. But I survived--only had a few cuts and scrapes from it! The next day we explored Valley of Fire(50 miles N). It had tons of fun rock formations to climb on. The trail was mostly soft, red sand---so for the first time ever, I hiked barefoot! I had to watch where I was going though, so I didn't step on anything too sharp. My friend was not as lucky---she stubbed her big toe on a rock which took off some layers of skin--but she survived. Another place we visited was Red Rock Canyon(20 miles W). The wind conditions were extreme that day so we didn't do a lot of hiking(30+ mph---on news that night it reported that it got to 70mph in Red Rock Canyon). We stuck pretty close to the driving loop. But it was beautiful at all the look-out points too! Just a few miles south of Red Rock Canyon was a place called Bonnie Spring Ranch--it was a replica of an old mining town. It had fun photo ops and a petting zoo. Lastly, we visited Primm, NV(40 miles S). This place was chosen because of it's colossal Desperado Rollercoaster--the special feature on it was a high-speed dive down a 55 degree hill into a tunnel followed by a 155 ft second hill(higher that most coasters)! I loved the thrill of it! There were other "rides" there too---so we did the log ride and a 3-D glacier ride while we were there. Besides our "out of the box" LV adventures, we did see a couple of shows in Vegas: Blue Man Group and David Copperfield. The shows were unlike what I had seen before in that most "shows" you see, you just watch and leave. These shows are very casual and interactive with the audience! With Copperfield, I had only seen him on tv as a pretty boy who dressed nice and never said much---but at the show, he was making jokes and dressed casually---along with the magic tricks using the audience in every aspect of show! With the Blue Man Group, I was expecting more just muscial stuff, but they were very humorous too! And they used audience members a lot---it was amazing how much they could communicate without saying a word! And then we came back to winter-like conditons in Utah---roads were kinda scary at times! But I'm glad I got a break from the freezing weather---even if it was only 5 days of it!