Snow brings Christmas

Christmas normally starts in about the first weekend in December in our home.

Decorations are located, dusted off and sifted through. 

We watch the Pageant and put up the tree, actually trees...my one and the kids one.

Lights....it doesn't matter how carefully we wrap them up at the end of last Christmas we generally spend many frustrating moments trying to untangle those suckers and then even more time trying to figure out which one light is blown out of the 350 lights that won't turn on!

But since we've been here in the USA Christmas is herald in in another way.......SNOW!!

I've been waiting patiently for snow.  Each morning the kids check the weather app searching for snowflakes.  We've had a few false alarms but not this weekend...it finally arrived yesterday in all it's winter white glory.

So with the appearance of snow we headed out early to the Christmas Tree farm yesterday.  We should of stayed in our nice warm beds for a bit longer because on arrival we were greeted with the sign that opening was at 10am!  Not wanting to waste time driving back home we passed the time with a few snowball fights.  Everyone was pretty much fair game, I even got a couple in the back!

Finally 10am came around and we were on a mission to find a not too big Christmas tree.

After a little search we found the perfect tree.  Thanks to everyones sawing efforts it wasn't too difficult to cut it down, unlike previous years.

Inside to warm up with a nice warm cup of Apple Cider and our morning was complete.

Today, with the fire on and the snow falling...truly sounds like story book and not my life...the kids decorated the tree.  And they did a great job.

So Christmas is officially underway in our house.  We're counting down the days, thanks to our cute mitten advent calendar.

Never in a million years could I have dreamed that Christmas would mean snow and hot chocolate for us, it really is a once in a life time experience that we truly are enjoying.  Now all those Christmas songs...White Christmas, Let it Snow etc...I totally get!

Obligatory first day of school pics

Sophisticated back to school look

Heart melting

Ready for action

Some natural wonders and one not so natural wonder

Utah really does have some spectacular natural wonders and what's also spectacular is that you can really get up close and personal with it all.  There are so many opportunities to walk around / in / on these sites which makes for a wonderful experience.

We arrived at Bryce Canyon just as a rain storm started approaching, good and bad......

Good, because our timing was great and we weren't going to get wet.

Bad, because we didn't want to get wet, we were only there for a very short time.

Fact file.....

• This landscape has been formed over millions of years.  

• The irregular spires and rock formations, known as Hoodoos, are as a result of frost-wedging and rainfall.  

• Technically it's not a canyon but a series of amphitheaters.

With our short window of time we took the opportunity to follow one of the paths and immersed ourselves in the red clay surroundings.

On surveying the paths from on top they looked pretty easy, the incline wasn't steep, and I thought the walk would be a pretty smooth sailing.  Well the walk was easy but let's face it, going down is always easier than going up, no matter what the incline!

Another great place we visited was Zion National Park.  A few years back, about 10 years I think, Ewan had the opportunity to drive through Zion and he was excited to show us the sites he had enjoyed.

Initially we enjoyed a drive through the park, from the North entrance to the East entrance.

Waiting our turn to go through the one way tunnel.

Majestic landscapes

Once back at the Visitors Centre, we caught one of the many buses that takes you to the other sites with in the park.  It's a free service (well after you've paid for your park entrance) and you just hop on and off at the different locations.  So this means you can see as many of the sites you choose and take as much, or as little, time as you want at each location.

In Zion we walked.

We walked to the lower waterfall and we walked the narrows.  We walked on paths, some paved and others just dirt, but the most fun walk was the walk through the river that runs through the narrows.

Ailish and I left the boys behind and started walking up stream.  The cool water was a welcome relief from the heat, and we were not the only ones with the idea, the river was a very busy place.

Wet and happy

Swimming downstream

Keeping my camera gear safe was my main priority.  This was challenging at times.  Trying to find my footing on the smooth river bed rocks was tricky and them having to "wade" through one part of the river that came to just below my armpits with my bag on my shoulders sure tested my balance and co-ordination skills!

Well we walked for about 1/2 hour and then decided to turn around as it was getting late and we still had to catch the bus back to the car then travel another hour or so back to St George, where we were staying for a few days.

Along with these natural wonders we also "popped" into Las Vegas for a few hours. 

 Enjoying frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity

Kids fulfilled there mission of visiting M&M world.....basically merchandising for 3 floors!

And I got to tick it off my....Places we've been....list.

Between a lake and a mountain

Salt Lake City....is quite literally squeezed between the Great Salt Lake and a mountain range.

It's quite  hot and dry, which was a welcome change from the humidity we have. Although SLC is hot and dry there doesn't seem to be any type of water shortage/restrictions as everything is green and lush.  It certainly was nice to have shady trees that you could temporarily escape from the midday sun.

View West

View East

The gorgeous buildings around Temple Square are a credit to the pioneers who had a vision and to the craftsmen that executed the vision.

From the old buildings to the newly constructed ones, the attention to detail is astounding.

My most favourite detail was in the Joseph Smith building, it had this amazing lead light ceiling with a stunning chandelier hanging from the centre of it.  

We toured the 2 visitor centres, the tabernacle and had a wonderful tour guide that took us through the conference centre.

Across the road from Temple Square is a fantastic shopping strip, it's fairly new.  It expands over 3 blocks and is pretty much all enclosed.  I guess it's like Burnside Village but with a couple of department stores at either end.  We enjoyed looking at the numerous water features and Ro unexpectedly saw one of the water fountains from within it!!

It's fun to see a place that you've heard about your whole life.  It certainly lived up to all expectations.  

Grand Tetons

Planning this trip goes back some months.  We knew the general direction we wanted to go...Yellowstone - Grand Canyon - home...but these destinations have many, many miles separating them, so the itinerary between these locations took a lot of planning...a lot of time on the computer...googling, trip advisor, travel websites, blogs...the internet is a wonderful thing.

While researching I started to read a lot of landscape photography websites/blogs....gorgeous images that just inspire you to get off the beaten path.  Now, getting off the beaten path with a family is at times impossible, some of these photographers are really hiking and camping in locations that a pair of 8 year old legs don't want to go!

Well, I found a location that satisfied the family friendly holiday location requirements but also satisfied my desire to try a little landscape photography.

Grand Tetons

Is this not breathtaking?.....Don't you just want to get on a plane and see it with you own eyes!

This place truly is a natural wonder, stunning.  Green & lush with snow capped mountains....remember it's summer, the middle of summer, and there's still snow around!

There were 2 shots I really wanted to get while in Jackson Hole.

One was the Tetons reflected in the Snake River.....check!

The other was the iconic Mormon Row barn, built by John Moulton, circa 1910...

Standing there, before sunrise, everything is still.  Even the few photographers around me who are waiting for the sun to peek over the mountain behind us and strike the barn, talk in quite, hushed tones.

It's a pretty special sight, those majestic Tetons looming over this wooden structure, that has stood the test of time over the past 100 years.  Imagine living and waking up to this view every day?

So that's what I did while the family enjoyed their slumber.  

The actual town of Jackson Hole is just as quaint as it's surrounding scenery.  It's a cowboy/ski town, but some very rich skiers & cowboys live here.  Great restaurants/cafes/eateries are interspersed with fabulous homewares stores.....very gorgeous & pricey homewares!  I think they need to print up t-shirts that read "I went to Jackson Hole and all I could afford was this t-shirt!"

We enjoyed amazing handmade chocolates, gelato & hot chocolates at Coco Love.

The town square, has on each corner, these huge antler covered arches.  A pretty unique feature.

We had done a lot of driving and walking up to this point in our holiday so we thought we'd have a bit of fun.

We booked a terrific whitewater rafting experience down the Snake River.  

It really was so much fun, and we all got a bit wet!

The boys took turns at the front of the raft and were bouncing and jumping through the rapids.  Not only did we raft but we were also able to jump overboard, clothes and all, and enjoy a little float/swim down the river.  

For different reasons we'll all remember our time in Jackson Hole fondly.

Yellowstone

Up at 4am and on the road by 5am

Destination Big Sky, Montana

Our first day of vacation was just a driving day.  I had packed snacks and lunch so apart from toilet breaks we really didn't stop.

Montana's scenery is gorgeous. Green rolling hills, grazing cattle and then you head into the Rocky Mountains and the scenery steps it up 1,000%.

Lush green pine trees and aspen birch flank the many rivers and creeks.  We saw many fly fishermen standing in the cold river patiently waiting to hook a fish.

Lone Mountain

For the next couple of nights we were kindly invited to stay with the H's at their family cabin.  It really worked out timing wise because not only were we and the H's in Montana at the same time, another family, the Bechtolds, were also travelling in the same direction as us (actually for a few days it seemed like we were following the Bechtold's, just a lucky coincident) so for a night we were all together.  Ailish was especially excited by this because that meant she and Kailey would unofficially get to have their first sleepover together.

Over the next 2 days we drove around Yellowstone.  The road in Yellowstone pretty much divides it into two parts...the North Loop and the South Loop.

We drove the South Loop on the first day and then worked our way around the North Loop the second day.

The South part of Yellowstone was my favourite.  It's greener and more lush which means there is more chance for animal sightings.....which also means the traffic pretty much comes to a stand still, but what a place to be stuck in traffic!

Yellowstone is a ginormous, inactive volcano, so throughout many areas of the park there are geysers that bubble to the earths surface.  There are a number of large geysers that you can walk around, but you'll also see many small geysers just steaming away throughout the park.

Fountain Paint Pot

Grand Prismatic Spring

These geysers are so vibrantly colourful.  Can you imagine seeing these from above, the aerial view must be even more spectacular.

Not much grows close to these geysers.  The volcanic gases and minerals just aren't the ideal nutrient source for any plants.

I guess the most famous of all the geysers is Old Faithful.  It erupts at regular intervals.  I don't know how the Park Rangers work it out but they're pretty correct, give or take a few minutes.  We arrived within half an hour of it's next eruption, so we sat and waited.....

And waited......

Until finally......

Quick, quick, get in the photo!

It's quite impossible to see everything in Yellowstone, and if you stopped every time you saw some nice scenery you just wouldn't get very far.  So often I just had to point my camera out of the car window and snap a few pics, hoping to capture the memory.

A big part of our Yellowstone experience was animal spotting, and animal spotting was the major cause of cars either stopped in the middle of the road or going at a snails pace to catch a glimpse of whatever it was.

It was a real treat to spot animals that we had never seen before and only read about or seen on TV.  And what made these sightings even more magical is that we spotted them all in the wild, going about their normal activities.  The park rangers were pretty good at keeping people at a safe distance, both for our protection and the animals.

Goodbye Yellowstone, it was a real treat.

Next stop..........