We kicked off the summer with a visit from my aunt, uncle and cousins from Minnesota. They met us a midst our camping trip at Camelot. It was sure fun to have them out there as it has been many years since we've all been together and since they've got to go camping with us. We took many four wheeler/jeep rides together and had a blast on a swing that went over the river. It was a great trip and we took many great pictures and videos.
Next, we headed down to St. George for our adventure of the summer. We were lucky enough to be invited to hike Subway canyon in Zion's National Park. A family friend was lucky enough to get a permit to hike it and gave our family 6 of the 12 available slots. So, this added up to my dad, Morgan, and me plus my uncle Gary and his two girls. At the last minute we found out that there would be two more slots available which made it possible from my mom and aunt to join us on the hike. My mom was a little apprehensive but we are so glad that she and my aunt decided to go because it was so neat to have our whole family there. (plus they added some comic relief)
The hike was beautiful. It was about 9 miles long and included hiking on slick rock, repelling down rocks, swimming in cold water through narrow chasms of the canyon, etc. Most of the hike was downhill until the very end which was a fairly steep uphill climb. Lucky for us, the weather was nearly perfect. It was overcast and only in the 80s which made the parts where we were wet a little chilly but also we were never dying of heat either. Just a few days later the temperature got into the 100s. We were sure glad to have our guide, Chad who has hiked the Subway more than 30 times.Check out some of the pictures below.
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| Hiking down into the Subway canyon |
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| We had to swim under this stone ball and log as part of the hike. This swim was probably the longest one. |
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| Why the canyon is called The Subway -at times it resembles of subway tunnel |
I was unsuccessful in acquiring a job this summer but that has turned out to be okay for the most part as I have been able to do some other things that I might not have done other wise. Some other highlights of my summer include: Cat trapping with grandma, listening to everyone's memories of great grandma Murray at the family reunion, doing melted crayon art with Morgan, helping my dad and grandpa build our deck, and just spending time with my family.
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| Working on the deck |
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| Crayon art project - picking the crayons was easy, taking the paper off the crayons was not! |
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| Putting the crayons on with hot glue |
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| Silhouettes were put on with Mod Podge. This is Morgans |
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| This is mine |
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| Melted the crayons with a hair dryer. The sun helped speed up the process. |
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| Finished projects. |
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| At the family reunion |
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| Mom with the cousins at the family reunion |
