Photo Problems

Why can't I get photos to post right the first time?

Anyways, 2nd try.

Tuacahn and Zion's National Park

We took a weekend trip down to St George and stayed with some old friends. When I say old, I've known them since I was 9 years old. I was even at their house when my little sister was born. We stayed with Allen and Tammy (the parents) but most of the kids live down there now as well.

Friday night we went to the Tuacahn Theater and saw Tarzan the Musical. It was amazing, fantastic, exciting, phenomenal....you get the idea. Just imagine an outdoor amphitheater surrounded by beautiful red rock cliffs with a natural river that can be diverted to flood the stage. Apes swinging all over the place, people singing, dancing, fun for everyone. I think I was most impressed with Turk. Imagine swinging upside down, while spinning, and STILL SINGING ON KEY. It truly was impressive.

Saturday was a free pass day at all National Parks. We drove up to Zion's with my friend Brad and we (Adrienne, Brad, and I) all hiked Angel's Landing together. The guy who named the peak said that to get to the top someone would need "angel's wings". Here's a couple shots from the hike.

This first shot makes it look much worse than it is. This shows approximately the last fourth of the hike (time wise). You have posts and chains to hold onto and the footing is very solid.

This is one of the views from the top. Absolutely gorgeous. If you look closely you can see the buildings at the start of the hike waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down below.

Here's one with Ade immitating the warning sign. I've even got Brad looking on behind her to the left.

Last, but not least, here is Brad on a part of the trail that is called "Walt's Wiggle". It's a series of small, but extremely steep switchbacks at about the halfway point. I've seen pictures of it from above and it looks kind of like a zipper. I had to include it in honor of my dear Grandpa (who's first name was Walt).

Lake Powell Photos - Click for bigger images

I realized a little late that I didn't upload the images at the size I normally do. You can click on them now to see them full screen.

Lake Powell 2010

We had another great vacation with our cousins at Lake Powell this year. A couple more storms than usual, but they didn't stick around. Beautiful skies, smooth water, and an overall good time was had by all. We were there from the 11th through the 20th of August. Joining us on our "cruise" this year with Eric and Machelle and their three kids were some other cousins, Marci and Evan with three of their kids. We hadn't seen them since the last time they came out to Lake Powell 8-10 years ago.

I've got a bunch of pictures I would like to share. I'll see how many I can get in this post.

It will be tough to narrow down the choices. The first shows off the latest thing in boating...it's called wake surfing. You can actually surf the wake behind a boat if it is going the right speed (8-10 MPH) and you have it weighted right (all on the side you are trying to surf. It's a blast and falls don't hurt at all because the speed is so much slower than other activities.

Picture #2 shows off just how beautiful the sky can be at Lake Powell.

Ade and I went on a hike with Machelle, Matt, and Robbi (Kayla). Here's a shot from the top of the ridge we climbed.

And here's another shot from almost the same vantage point. You can see our ski boat (Wipeout) way down below on the lake.

It has been a few years since I tried slalom skiing. They have a beginner ski and Eric's ski. The beginner ski hurts my back foot and Eric's ski is pro level (very very difficult). I had never tried Eric's since everyone basically said it would be virtually impossible for me to control it coming out of the water...well after 3 tries I proved I could. By the way, I was being pulled at 34 MPH at this point. I didn't wreck, I just got too tired and let go. This really works your core muscles.

And here is Eric showing how slalom skiing is really done on his own ski. He is usually being pulled between 38 and 40 MPH depending on how smooth the water is.