Trip Outline Part I

Well...so here is the deal. First I'll outline the trip, then comment on specific details and some fun quotes. We first flew to SLC on Saturday (July 11). Our plane was delayed and it was a hassle, but I won't bore you with the details. My brother Brent met us at the airport and took us to his home. As they say in Utah, church was attended, cousins reunited, good food eaten, and a wonderful time enjoyed by all. The following Monday we headed down to Gooseberry Creek for Jamie's extended family reunion. It is just past Salina, Utah, for those of you who know what that means. About a half hour before we arrived, I was looking at the scrubby flora and was beginning to have evil thoughts about Jamie's aunt Mary, but it turned out nice (and I apologized). Up in the canyon there were a lot of quacking aspen and cedar. It was nice. There will be a story about the cabin later, but after a short moment of wondering if the kids and I were going to be comfortable and have fun, it turned out to be a lot of fun.

Gooseberry Memorable Events:
* Haunted cabin - pictures to follow...
* (Re)building a raft for fun - " " "
* Amazing stars...You could see ripples in the milky way. I guess 8,000 feet of altitude and little pollution filled atmosphere does that. I stared in wonder each night.
This picture is the closest I could find to what we saw, but it is only a sliver of it, and it does not capture the majesty of the sight.
http://www.atu.edu/msi/STARLAB/SL%20Cylinders/Astronomy/Milky%20Way%20Galaxy%20Starfield.jpg
* Lots of stories and fun games

Bran was a little bored at first, but then when we were talking his attention perked up when he realized that around the table there were 4 or 5 people who had lived in Japan. We had some great talks with everyone.

Finally blogging again - tennis now, trip later...

Well, we had an eventful trip, and have many wonderful memories. Thanks to those of you who had a hand in supplying them. There are fragments of our tale on Facebook, but more details coming here later. In the meantime, it is tennis season, and Michelle is enjoying her high school sport experience so far. She has been working hard, and made the JV team. She had her first doubles match yesterday, and they won in two sets, although the second set went 7-5. She made some good shots, got very hot and tired (it was over 90 here yesterday for a change), and outlasted the Midpark doubles girls. We'll put up a picture later...