vacations – Better Living Through Literature

SUP Bros

July 12, 2022 Karen

or, “Messing About In Boats/Stand-Up Paddleboards”:

I’ve decided it’s “fake summer vacation week” for me, by which I mean I took Monday and Friday off and we’re doing things with our nephew. (Matt has the whole week off; we were going to go on an actual summer vacation but that was before Toby needed insulin every 12 hours.)

Yesterday’s vacation adventure included a rented inflatable stand-up paddleboard and a trip to Lily Lake in the Uintas. I’ve wanted to go see the lilies at close range for about forever, and this time we DID–along with big fish, schools of tiny fish, and a bald eagle looking for fish (!). The SUP was a lot of fun to try out and Skyler was a natural at it–highly recommend it as a water craft in which to mess about.

Now I just have to get through three days of work until Friday’s adventure: The amusement park!

Lake Trip!

August 19, 2021 Karen

We were able to take our rescheduled overnight to Bear Lake this week. Doc was feeling 100%, the water was warm, and my teenage Merchant-Ivory/J. Peterman dreams were realized by staying in a fancy tent (!).

We only stayed one night, which worked out because a storm moved in (yet the smoke didn’t move out), but wow I’d love to go back and spend a few more days on the beach.

A Day Out

October 21, 2020 Karen

I’ve missed pools and hot tubs and steam rooms and massages a lot this year…almost as much as wearing An Outfit somewhere outside of the house. So I feel pretty clever to have realized hot springs can mimic a lot of the spa experience and can be safely enjoyed outside.

Doc and I both had yesterday off so we drove north for a couple hours to spend the afternoon at Maple Grove Hot Springs. It had been over a year since we were there last but it’s still great, with river views and lots of magnesium and lithium in the water.

They’re doing reservations for soaking to make sure there aren’t crowds, and we had this pool to ourselves all afternoon. It was just what I needed–sun, hot water, no cell service.

PLUS, on the drive up we stopped at a fabric store in Preston, Suppose. I’d ordered some Ruby Star toweling from their website earlier this year (which looks like it’s down at the moment) and was impressed by their online selection. Reader, the actual shop was like Aladdin’s Cave of Wonders: They had the mushroom rayon I’ve been looking for for six months! They had a bolt of Anna Maria Horner pegasus rayon, which hasn’t been in stock anywhere in 7 years! They had voile and flannel and knits and even yarn!

Fabric is the best souvenir, even if it’s just a one-day vacation.

Not Hawaii (But Still Nice)

February 24, 2020 Karen

We’d been talking about going to Hawaii early in 2020 for my 40th and Doc’s 50th but literally the day before we booked, my work lost a huge client. Layoffs ensued (I’m still employed) (for now) and we both thought it might be wiser to hold on to that trip cash for an uncertain future.

But we wanted to go somewhere in February that had color, so we took a long weekend and headed to Moab. We only got one sunny day but the desert never disappoints:

Plus, I found the local quilt shop and got some souvenirs–which is also the plan for when we make Hawaii happen.

Better Than Camping

June 24, 2019 Karen

Doc and I had planned a camping trip to Great Basin National Park with my friend who lives in St. George*, but then a cold front came through and we realized the high at the park was going to be 56 degrees–so we punted and went to stay with her instead.

She works at a resort there so we spent most of Saturday by the pool and getting spa treatments, then walked a labyrinth (!) and had dinner we did not have to cook over a campfire. Sunday morning we saw some petroglyphs, had a civilized brunch, and then drove home, not smelling like wood smoke.

I can get used to this kind of “camping.”

*This was my first time doing anything more than passing through St. George–we usually go to Moab in the eastern corner of the state instead of heading west.

I surprised myself by really loving it: the desert was in bloom from the wet spring we had, there were exotic plantings of mimosas and palms and oleanders all through town, and I fell in love with a retirement community that was built to blend in with the landscape.

Moab, Finally

April 8, 2019 Karen

Doc and I drove down to Moab for the weekend and it was exactly what I needed. For a while there, we’d been going twice a year but last year we didn’t make it down at all and at points in 2018 all I wanted was to either punch some redrock or just sit on some sandstone like a lizard.

I’m happy to report that lizard-ing was done (no punching needed) along with hiking and eating at Pasta Jay’s and exploring the river trail in town.

The Big Yellowstone Trip

August 27, 2018August 27, 2018 Karen1 Comment

We are back from a weeklong hiking vacation to Yellowstone to celebrate Doc’s 15th anniversary (and congratulatory sabbatical month) with REI. We took a guided REI Adventures trip and got a thorough view of the park, ate at all the different lodges, saw lots of wildlife (not shown: moose, marmot, elk, pronghorn, and fresh bear scat!), and hiked at least 5 miles a day. Hang on, there are lots of pictures:

Sagebrush highlands on the way to Trout Lake

Jackson Lake from Signal Mountain Lodge and a new word (?)

Bison doing their thing. The rut was already on and it felt like fall up there.

Wolf sighting! We saw three from maybe 50 yards away! Definitely the highlight of the trip.

Glacier!

August 7, 2018 Karen

August is Vacation Month over here and we kicked it off with a lightning trip up to Glacier National Park for our friend’s 40th birthday. Yes, we spent two out of four vacation days driving there and back, but it was worth it to get a taste of the park. This place is ridiculous, it’s so beautiful. We’ll be back.

Looking For Sun

February 2, 2016February 2, 2016 Karen

Doc and I took a long weekend to head south, to Zion National Park at the bottom of the state. That area’s closer to Arizona than anything else, so it was 60 degrees and sunny for most of the trip. We saw the sights in the park and then went looking for “secret” petroglyphs.

Of course, we hit the storm that had come through northern Utah on the drive back (which took two extra hours due to terrible road conditions), but we saw sunshine and blue skies. We’ll be able to keep going through the last bit of winer.

Arches!

March 9, 2015 Karen

We went to Moab for the weekend to celebrate my friend’s birthday, just like last year. The light and clouds weren’t quite as incredible this year, but that’s really splitting hairs in a place like this. It was a grand time in a grand place that continues to fascinate, as Ed Abbey puts it so well:

“Even after years of years of intimate contact and search this quality of strangeness in the desert remains undiminished. Transparent and intangible as sunlight, yet always and everywhere present, it lures a man on and on, from the red-walled canyons to the smoke-blue ranges beyond, in a futile but fascinating quest for the great, unimaginable treasure which the desert seems to promise.”