Category: excursions

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Pine Nut Road

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Pine Nut Road is north of Las Vegas, inside the Desert National Wildlife Refuge. I gave mommy a break on Sunday afternoon and took the niños out for a drive with Jeremy. We have been wanting to explore this area because there are a few areas we have heard are good for camping in this area. I explored the other side of the mountain the week before with Dave, but we didn’t have any great success. The Refuge is a pretty lonely area – not a lot of traffic on these roads!

Though we didn’t make it all the way to the campground, we did make it almost all the way to the end of Pine Nut Road. From the end of the road, one can hike to Hayford Peak, the highest point in the Sheep Range. We hit snow at about the 6,500 foot level. We decided to have a little snow ball fight and head back for home since we were quickly losing the light.

Once the snow is gone, this will be a great place to head for cooler temps and camping in the trees (there ARE more than Joshua trees up there!). It’s a good thing that the kids like driving out on “la tierra” because they’re going to be doing it more. :)

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planning meeting 2009

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One of our favorite friend traditions is our annual planning meeting. Aside from our monthly family night rotation, we have monthly car camping trips on the books. Our other excursions include:

April–four days in the Grand Gulch area, UT. This is the backpacking trip Adam and I did last March, but were unable to finish. This year we will be more prepared, and we will finish! 

May–5th annual Zion Nat’l Park Adventure, UT. We are camping this year to save money. Bye bye, Spa. Hello, kids. :)

August–Baker Lake/Johnson Lake Loop, Great Basin Nat’l Park, NV.This is a four day backpacking trip up in Northern Nevada. We will actually be hiking in trees and near a creek, yipee!

2009 will be a great year!!!

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the wimps of rocky gap road

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Adam took the ninos, Kavika, and Jordan up to the top of Rocky Gap road. It was super windy and super cold. You can’t tell that from their faces, can you? In fact, it was “so cold” that the teenagers wussed out and turned back from the hike to hide in the truck most of the time.

Whenever Rocky Gap road is involved, I stay behind!!! I hate driving it with a passion. My Sisters in Canyoneering who have driven up it understand what I mean. One time, one of the trucks got stuck and there were giant boulders flinging everywhere as the tires spun to gain traction. (Yeah, you can stop laughing now husband) I feared for my life, and have not returned since. To sum it up–the Four-Wheeling Club of Las Vegas maintains the road. They have to. Noone else has the equipment to do it.

Anyway, here’s a little video of the windiness at the top of the pass. And if you think they look cold here, wait until you see the pictures from our latest hike….

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm7IvL9a3d8

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first nieve, vegas style

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Okay, we’re playing a little catch up. And yes, the rumors are true–we did have snow here in Vegas. The last time we saw snow in the valley was Christmas Day 2003–but it was only a skiff and it did not last through the day. This time Las Vegans enjoyed a few days of it. Our home is located in one of the lower points of the valley so we did not get any actual snow on our street. But we did get lots of rain and slush. It tried snowing a few time, but turned quickly to rain. Adam’s parents and our friends, the Brummetts, had a lot of snow though. I am just happy that it rained for so many days in a row. We didn’t see blue skies for three or four days–and it was Glorious! I woke up every morning hoping for gray skies. I know, I know–I’m weird. But there are a lot of us transplants here in the desert that are happy to call ourselves precipitation loving weirdos.
Our own Mt. Charleston got pounded with snow so we decided to take advantage of it. We piled the four ninos in the truck, and took off. It wasn’t so bad going up, but by the time we reached the top we were in the middle of an actual snow storm…the kind of snow storm we usually only partake of in places like Utah and Washington. Anyway, by the time we were able to get down off the mountain conditions had worsened, and there were many many people driving who had no business being on the road.

5834583858445850As you can see, the poor little children had a mish-mash of our clothes and theirs to try and keep them warm. There were a couple of babies–big big babies–in the group. Oh yeah, they were all wimps except Danny!!! Even Ezzy melted down a couple of times. And only Danny would climb the “big” sledding hill with Adam. It was really funny. Here’s my hottie of a husband:
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Daddy and the kids ended the day by having a snowball fight with the neighbor kids when we got home. Yummy hot chocolate and soggy shoes were welcomed additions to our desert oasis.

58565859We were so happy that out of all the years we have lived here snow graced us in 2008. Our children have never seen snow, never experienced it. Snow was one of the things they were most excited about when moving to the States. They had a total blast freezing their tooshies off in our short-lived winter wonderland.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElxqeYvTHU0
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hesOeoFhRE
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fu105pgrr_w
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hIuEhj27kY
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afraid of heights…yeah, right!

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We spent last Saturday out at Red Rock exposing our children to the elements. It was awesome. The Brummett and DeMarco families both joined us. We also had our little buddy, Kavika, up from Arizona. Oh yeah, and we brought a friend’s grandson from Adam’s work. Needless to say, our car was packed with kids and gear. The picture to the left is of our little band. Even our prissy one loves to hike, so the climb was no problems. Dave bought a few pair of kid’s climbing shoes a few months back since they regularly take friends out climbing. Jena has been anxious to let our kids use them for months now. :) Adam also took the kids a few weeks back to buy a couple of children-sized harnesses. Note, Wompy looking like a little utilities worker in his shoulder harness…too cute. At least I don’t have to worry about him or Nikky flipping upside down on the wall. We knew the kids would do great, but it was rewarding to see them all reach the top of the route. Well, all except Wompy. I think he could have done it with another try, and a little help, but we ran out of time.

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Nicole was the only one who didn’t want to try in the beginning. Of course, Adam and I basically threw her onto the wall and made her start. She was crying for a few minutes, but then papi helped her realize that she was perfectly safe by letting her hang on the rope off of the ground. After that, she started, and never looked back until she was 50 feet off the ground at the top of the route. She rappelled down without any help or direction. Actually, both of the girls were better on their first tries than the boys. Ezzy scurried on up without a thought. It took Danny two tries to do the whole thing. His first try saw him only 15 feet up. After seeing Ezzy do it, he wanted to try again. Classic Danny!!!!

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Above is a picture of each kid on the wall, but there are a ton of picture in our gallery! We may endure blazing hot summers here in the desert, but the benefits are days like this from October to April. The kids are begging to go back to the Mountains. I guess Adam is pretty proud. I think that Danny and Ezzy will be able to do Keyhole on our annual Zion trip in May, if they learn to really swim by then. (I guess I’ll be calling the Y soon for swim lessons.) That also makes daddy very happy. I can’t resist…here are a few more pics:

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brian’s birthday at the lake

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Brian turned 34 on May 29th, but he was kind enough to defer his celebration because my adoption shower in Logan was planned for the same evening. Thanks, Brian! Since it was our last weekend in Utah, we all went up to the Lake and stayed in one of the Hirschi’s cabins. Brian had brownies for his cake and we had a camp fire. The kids had a ball playing in the sand volleyball court and running around with Uncle Adam playing frisbee. The weather was perfect for outdoor play. Thanks Hirschi family for inviting us to tag along.

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a night under the stars

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Spring Mountain Ranch–One of Las Vegas’s semi-hidden treasures.

I have been wanting to go out to the ranch to see a play since I moved to Las Vegas in 2003. Adam and I had talked about going many times…and finally, we made it happen. Thanks, Dave and Jena, for inviting all of us along. Jaime and I sat in line starting at 4:45 until the gates opened at 6:00 so we could reserve the best blanket seats possible for our little band of comrades. We definitely took one for the team considering the summer temperatures, but it was sooooo worth it…and I would do it all again tomorrow!!!

Spring Mountain Ranch is past Red Rock and higher in elevation than LV so the temperature is about 10 degrees cooler than in the city…a much welcomed respite after the heat we’ve been having. I actually had my sweatshirt on and was snuggled between Adam and Jaime under a thick blanket. If I had a pillow and socks, I could have comfortably spent the night out on the cool grass.

This month we saw Beauty and the Beast. The costumes were amazing!!! And the Ranch has some new lighting and sound equipment…Wow, what is better than a night under the stars watching a show with good food, good friends, and cool air?

The picture of Adona is of her eating a sour gummy worm–her look says it all. We’re training her at an early age so she’ll be canyon-ready in no time. The picture of Adam and Jeremy HAD to be taken. They were so engrossed in their new business scheme that they didn’t even notice Val and I cracking up and taking pictures of them….super cute. And the picture of me with my little “nothing bundt cake” bundtlette proves that I am no longer an nbc virgin. The cake was so deliciously moist. It was definitely worth the wait! Thank you sweet friend for thinking of me at the perfect time.

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is it really here?

To all my fellow Zioneers–Two More Days!!! I’m sure tonight will be filled with dreams of spa treatments, scrapbooking, hiking, and great conversations. Maybe I’ll actually sleep a little too. I need the energy to be able to pack tomorrow! C ya on the South Side.

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rachie day, take 4

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The last two years, we’ve celebrated Rachie Day. Adam is so great on this particular day. He does whatever I want (I know, that’s most days) and he is extra-loving. This past Sunday we went on a hike to the Logan Wind Caves. It was the perfect hiking day. There weren’t too many people on the trail. The weather was overcast, but not windy or cold. And it was a good warm-up for Angel’s Landing in Zion. Since it was Rachie Day, however, we didn’t go to the top. I was done about three quarters of the way up, and my sweet husband said he would turn around with me. I told him to go ahead and I would wait at the truck, but he said, “no this is Rachie’s Day so we do what Rachie wants to do.” That was sweet music to my ears. We had an enjoyable descent.

During the rest of the day we made a pizza and had hot-fudge browning sundaes. Yeah, it was definitely a non-diet day, but I did skip dinner to make up for a few of the extra calories. We watched two or three movies in bed while surfing Colombian adoption blogs and homeschooling materials. Adam finished our Zion t-shirts for our upcoming excursion. It was perfect.

Thanks Adi for always knowing what this time of year means to me…you always handle it with perfect sensitivity and love. 

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Umm, maybe the snow IS too deep…

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The plan was to explore Falls Creek Falls, a (we have read & heard) beautiful waterfall not too far from Stevenson, Washington. It is also not too far from Panther Creek Falls (aka Davenport Falls), which we visited last fall.

As we drove further up the road, there were patches of snow in the forest, but overall it didn’t look too bad. One guidebook claimed year-round access, so I wasn’t too worried. Imagine our surprise when we found the last two miles to the trailhead covered in 2-3 feet of snow. I guess we won’t be making that hike today.

We did have an enjoyable drive back to Dan and Jessica’s though and were able to catch a great view from the aptly named “High Bridge,” where the road crosses over the Wind River. The high snowpack is feeding a strong river that is running a bit higher than in the past. Looks like an awesome place for a bungee jump!

Coming back into Stevenson, we came to the Davenport’s home. They have an unbeatable view from the front yard, with the Gorge and the Columbia River spread out before them. This is a beautiful place! Now, if they could just do something about the rain…

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