Utah, Day Three

My last day in Salt Lake City dawned blue, cloudless and bright.  I had to be at the airport by 3:00, so we got an early start with a delicious breakfast of Swedish pancakes with sour cream and lingonberry sauce...(I will be doing a bit of grocery shopping at IKEA soon....love the pancakes and the meatballs, and the lingonberry sauce too!)

 I can't tell you which direction we went first or how we got there,

but after traveling about 20 minutes, we were almost in Wyoming!
When we stopped at the red cliffs,

there was this sign welcoming people to Utah
from over the border in Wyoming.

As we drove to this location through farmlands,

Bernie pointed out all the fishing spots along the way

...and the special locations

where fisherman are granted access to the streams

that were on private lands.  

The stair-steps over property fences

at these locations reminded me of English stiles.

There were also hoodoos!

And lots of cattle and sheep grazing the meadows.

I didn't get a photo of any of this....you'll have to imagine it for yourselves.

 At the information center where the red rock cliffs are,
there is a cross atop a hill....Jill tells you about this on her post HERE.

It's great to tour with a research librarian; she knows all the interesting facts!

 The pathway to get up the hill was steep....
 (imagine some huffing and puffing here....)

....as was the path back down the other side!
I love the round roof on the information center below...

 The same hill from below....somehow this photo reminds me of Tuscany.

I've never been to Tuscany, but I've seen films and photos....
and yet this is another wonderful variety of Utah landscape.

From up on the hill we noticed the railroad tracks and an old 2-lane road down in the canyon

below, both of them ribboning away into the distance toward Wyoming.

Here's a wider shot of the same view, 

with the freeway seeming to join the other two,

somewhere out there....

 

But our main reason for stopping here was to view the red rock cliffs.

They appeared seemingly out of nowhere as we were driving 

through valleys of farms and rolling hills

with just the occasional hoodoo cropping up

to hint at what we were about to discover.

Some brave and adventurous soul has planted a white flag on this outcropping

high above the foot of the cliffs.

We were on a hill looking across at these red cliffs; 

can you imagine looking up at them

from that road down below? 

They are massive!

But time is moving on and so must we....

So....off we drove in another direction through other landscapes, past mirrored lakes....

....and back through some aspen groves; this one near the head of the Mormon Trail...

...where I had my last chance, and I took it, to stand at the base of 

a tall white aspen and look straight up....wow!

After more winding mountain roads we came to....Snowbird!

Octoberfest was still in full swing, and as I ate a delicious bratworst,

I took a quick time out to record the entertainment....

a little too quick, as you can see by the blurry photo....

but you get the idea....

After a hair-raising steep ride on the skytram (photo below)

we emerge atop Hidden Peak....

Don't fail to notice the temperature!

A dirt road leads from the disemparking platform up there, down and around the mountain.

Bernie informed me this very road is also the easiest level ski run in winter....

....there were dangerously steep drop-offs on one side of this "easy" ski run,

and rock-and-snow-strewn hillsides on the other!

No where to go but down....hopefully not over the edge!

So....we walked through a tunnel in the mountain and emerged at the ski lift....

Gotta love the name!  Here I had another new experience....sitting down

on the bench as it comes around the turn.

I'm so glad I didn't have any skiis to contend with too....

I don't know how to snow ski,

and I never will

but I can imagine how thrilling it must be

to slide down a very steep snow-covered hill!

I'd be screaming all the way...

So, riding the ski lift down instead seemed tame in comparison.

It was awesomely quiet!

We could smell the marvelous scent of the pine trees.

I've never felt anything quite so peaceful.

On our way back to the car, 

one last look at sunny mountain meadows,

mirrored ponds,

golden aspens

tall, elegant firs....

ahhhh!

And all this glory is only a short plane ride away.

Utah, Day Two - Cascade Springs

Traversing the mountains and valleys of northeast Utah with Jill and Bernie, I saw many different geological areas.  I know next to nothing about geology, but it is a simple thing to observe the variety....sharp, craggy, snowy mountain peaks, their slopes clothed in pine and aspen, or red rock cliffs jutting out of desert flatlands,  and softly rounded hills framing long, low valleys of river bottom farmland....each so different from the other.

For this post, I want to share Cascade Springs with you....

 But first, I have to say, the acorns were little works of art!

I don't see acorns very often, living where I do,

and I have never seen them looking like this!

Oak leaves and oak nuts perfectly color coordinated...

Wonderful!

 After driving through high peaks and groves of pine and aspen

for most of the morning, Jill and I looped around to the other side

of the mountains and began descending into an altogether new landscape....

 Wide-open vistas across softly mounded hills,

at first glance looking rather barren compared to where we had just been....

 ....but upon closer inspection, ablaze with color...

 Looking through a screen of bare branches just before us,

the trees on the distant hillside glow in multicolored splendor.

 We were drawn ever onward by the glimpse of a beautifully colorful seam of flora

on the rocky hillside far below.....

 And when we descended to the bottom, 

just across the road from all that glory 

was Cascade Springs.   

 A series of terraced pools with a boardwalk traversing across the top,

this was completely different from anything we had seen so far.

 The water gurgled pleasantly as it descended from pool to pool

in a series of shallow cascading falls....

 Lovely shades of autumn color painted the scene

with splashes of brilliance, softening the harshness of the landscape...

No words are needed....

...but I can't help offering just one...

...stunning!

 Meadows of golden grasses whispered softly,

their song barely discernible above the babble of the water

and the occasional bursts of bird song.

Another wordless moment....

And a closer look at that beautiful rainbow of color

that had beckoned us here.

 Even the seed pods of this tree,

with their pale gold bee-wings,

 were creating beautiful visual poetry.

Burgundy, orange, brown, red, green....

it never seems to end.

But our visit must end.

Good bye, Cascade springs.

I hope to visit again someday...

Utah, Day Two

Day Two of my visit to Jill and Bernie's in Salt Lake City was a photo extravaganza expedition....it was just us girls, but that didn't stop us from some far-ranging exploration! 

Here is what we saw:

(Don't forget to visit Jill HERE to see her version of Day Two)

Timpanogos Cave National Park

via the Alpine Loop

Cascade Springs

Sundance

Provo Canyon

Bridal Veil Falls

IKEA!!!

My first photo of the day, however, 

was a truly enormous apple tree across the street.

We grabbed a few (no one lives there at the moment) to take with us.

(I must confess when I looked out the window and first saw this tree,

because of the brilliant red globes hanging from its branches,

I thought it was a pomegranate tree!  This is what comes from

spending one's entire life in Southern California,

where pomegranates are much more common than apples...)

But on to our adventure...

 The car gives you some idea of perspective....

it's impossible to capture the grand majesty of these mountains

within the parameters of a camera's lens
(unless, perhaps, you are Ansel Adams...
...and I am not).

 We saw cheerful little streams wandering through

curtains of leaves....

 Carpets of gold below canopies of orange, green and yellow....

The folds of the hills awash with texture and the tints of autumn...

 A lonely road winding among the trees,

dark clouds glowering above....

 The always graceful stands of aspen.....

 Craggy mountain peaks, some dusted with snow,

framed by colorful meadows and golden aspens...

...fantastical geological features angling up so steeply;

I can only wonder what violent force it must have taken to form something like this...

....and be grateful I was not there!

 ...around every bend, it seemed, more delights to behold....

Bridal Veil Falls, with tiny toy people milling about far below us....

I have left out my photos from Cascade Falls because I want to give that a post of its own.

Sundance was a drive-by....we could see it below us from the road, and it was packed with cars...

As we were tooling our way along the freeway nearing home, I saw an IKEA in the distance and mentioned to Jill that I had never visited one.  Well, let me tell you, we zipped across four lanes without hesitation to the exit ramp and were soon wandering the aisles of this wonderful place.  I'm so glad we did.  It was another feast of color and design, man-made this time.

After sharing a plate of those famous (and with good reason) Swedish meatballs

and enjoying a glass of lingonberry soda (yum!)

we picked up some boxes of Anna's Almond Cinnamon Thins

(I'm enjoying one right now with my tea)

and a package of frozen Swedish pancakes
on the way out

and took our tired feet home to relax for a bit.

 The clouds finally began to clear late in the day,
and there was a brilliant, gorgeous sunset
to make the perfect end to a perfect day.

No doubt the neighbors wondered
why there was a crazy woman in the middle of the street
snapping away like she'd never seen a sunset before!

Robed with joy....

Anyone else out there follow the Psalms reading schedule in the Book of Common Prayer?  I have found it to be a marvelous exercise reading through all 150 Psalms each month.  Some days I stumble through half asleep; other times I'm struck with wonder at the inspiration and wisdom there.

This morning, for instance....

...reading in Psalm 65, 

I came to verses 11-13....

You crown the year with Your goodness.

Your ways overflow with plenty.

 The wilderness pastures overflow,

 and the hills are robed with joy.

The pastures are clothed with flocks,

and the valleys covered with grain.

They shout in triumph;

indeed, they sing.

When surrounded with the Autumn beauty this weekend,

I saw the joy,

and I heard the singing....

...and my heart was full of joy and song too...

Why else do you think He designed all that color and magnificence?

He is ablaze in beauty!

A Whirlwind Weekend

365 photos later, 

I am back home from a whirlwind weekend:

50 hours spent gallivanting all over northeast Utah.

Autumn is beautiful there....

And my hosts were good friends....

....and marvelous tour guides too....

Here are a few highlights of what we saw:

 

 

 

I am stunned by all the beauty

and also by the fact that all this incredible variety

is an easy drive away from Salt Lake City.

I think I want to leave the beach behind

and move to this place where

the air is always clean!

I am still processing my whirlwind visit

in my heart and mind

and hope to blog more about it soon.