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!

Bon Jovi Concert

After 8 yrs, Bon Jovi FINALLY made it back to SLC to do a concert! When each new album came out I had to be disappointed that SLC was not included in the tour! But I was not disappointed with this concert---it was like a greatest hits of all time concert!! I was about at center court with a step up from the floor(with stage to south end of b-ball court)---so I had pretty good seats. Marilyn and Rod had front row seats with backstage passes which was pretty cool(can't wait to see their pics)! But I couldn't afford those seats. So I had dinner beforehand with Marilyn & Rod's 3 girls and Carol, Marilyn's sister. Their seats were in the upper bowl. I danced and sang the whole time(2 hrs worth) so I'm thinking I got my exercise in! All I can say is that I LOVED IT!!! And Jon Bon Jovi is still hot, hot hot!!! As long as they keep coming to SLC on tour, I'll keep going, since I've been an avid fan for 27 yrs!

Weekend in SLC

Every year my best friends from highschool and I get together(there's 4 of us) for a weekend get-away. It seems like it's becoming a yearly Salt Lake trip which is okay because the important part is that we are getting together not where. We can have fun anywhere! SaRene picked me up and we met up with Carol in Layton to shop at Kohls. And I actually found some cute stuff! Usually I never find anything(because what I want is never in my size)! And for once I found something my friend wanted but it was in my size, not hers(she's very thin)! So she couldn't buy it and I could! That never happens! Since everything was 50% or more off at the store I saved a couple hundred bucks! Gotta love that! Then we met up with Marilyn at the Marriott Hotel downtown. We headed to the Gateway Mall to eat at Z-Teja's(yummy crab tamales) and see a movie(The Adjustment Bureau---loved it!)--and enjoyed movie theater popcorn. And my friends laughed at me because I knew I would have left overs from the restaurant, so I brought little tupperware dishes to put my food in so those huge styrofoam boxes would not take up so much room in the hotel fridge(and it worked wonderfully). There are 2 double beds in the room so we have to share beds, but the room always has a couch hide-away. So I volunteered to sleep on it the 1st night which turned out to be good since I tossed and turned all night. Not even my relaxing music on my iPod got me to sleep! But the next night when I did share, I was so exhausted I fell immediately to sleep and didn't move from my spot(which you can't do anyway when sharing a bed). Anyway, the next morning we got 50-minute massages at one of the massage schools. It felt wonderful! But afterwards we couldn't stop laughing because we all had a "sheet"-face from laying on the tables. Then we showered and got ready for lunch and another movie(more popcorn)! For lunch we ate at Macaroni Grill---Carol and I split a mushroom ravioli dish--mmm! While waiting for our meal we played "spin the crayon"(their tables are covered with drawing paper and 2 crayons). So whoever the crayon "landed" on, had to draw something on the table! It was fun for the 5 minutes it lasted! Then we caught an early showing of The King's Speech---awesome movie!! Not only did I love the storyline of the movie, but there were lots of characters from Harry Potter movies(Dumbledore, Peter Pettigrew, Bellatrix) and Pride and Prejudice(the wife of the king's[Colin Firth aka P&P Mr. Darcy] speech teacher was none other than Jennifer Ehl[Elizabeth of P&P]) and Pirates of Caribbean(Barbossa). So I had fun seeing them in different roles! After the movie, we headed down to Desert Star to see Beverly Hillbillies 90210---it was funny& we got more popcorn, but I was getting so tired by that time(it started at 8:30pm) I could hardly keep my eyes open! Loved getting away from reality for a weekend!