Fall in Utah

Posted by Paulette

We're pretty lucky in Arizona. Our kids get a one week break from school in the fall. Maybe this is because we've been so miserable all summer long in the 100+ degree temps and we are given the opportunity to go somewhere else and experience fall. It does get cooler here. It's now in the 80s during the day. Not cold enough for the leaves to turn, but a welcome change, for sure!

This year we decided to go to Utah and visit some of Dave's family. luckily, I also have a few friends who live there too. It was such a whirlwind visit.

Here are some highlights of our vacation.

 The route to Page UT was closed and so we had a beautiful scenic detour through the Grand Canyon. This picture was taken South of Lee's Ferry. There's a foot bridge across the Grand Canyon that's about 1/4 of a mile long. 

Looking down over the side of the bridge, David spotted this Condor.

That's the best picture I could get with my phone. It was so far away that it looked more like a buzzard.

 

Our first three days were spent at a Hotel in Orem. The kids enjoyed the pool and the computer room. I tool a little time off to paint the girl's faces with my eye shadows. Sometimes it's good to have lots of colors!

 Aunt Amy, David's sister, just younger than him, had a beautiful pumpkin patch, which she invited us over to enjoy harvesting her bounty. 
This wasn't even the largest of the pumpkins. There was one that took  men to move to the porch.

 Christopher turned out to be the best pumpkin picker.

 That night I made pumpkin soup for dinner, and then I roasted the seeds and made a caramel sauce for ice cream topping. I've never cut open a pumpkin this fresh. The seeds popped and attacked me!

 This is the view from my mother in law's kitchen window. each day I watched the mist on the mountain burn off as the sun rose into the sky. On this morning we had some look outs.

 Pretty fat quail keeping watch.

 While the rest of the family stuffs themselves with fallen sunflower seeds from the bird feeders above.

 

Kanab is the last city in Utah before we cross over into Arizona. We have a tradition of stopping at the 3 Bears Creamery for ice cream before continuing on. The kids all had Superman ice cream in a sugar cone. They had a gluten free bread pudding, which I ordered with vanilla ice cream. I don't even know what Dave got. Mine was soooo good. Sophia was enchanted with all of the wood carved bears. Especially this one, who is catching a fish!

As soon as we crossed over the Grand Canyon the kids started noticing snow and begged for us to pull over so that they could play in it. As soon as we were able, we did so. It's not often that Valley of the Sun residents get to play in snow. They each brought home a snowball which we kept on ice in the cooler.

Our rear ends were sore, and our tempers short by the time we pulled into Mesa. We sure are glad to be home!