Trip to Arches with Scott & Family

Scott and his family came down this past weekend and spent a few days with us. We certainly enjoyed having them. On Sunday, we went into Arches. Cara and Allison had never been there. Here are Allison and Madison in front a fallen rock. As you can tell, it was really bright and sunny, but cold!
We all hiked up the windows area and this is the view looking back from Turret Arch. This formation is known as The Spectacles.
We only saw Delicate Arch from this viewpoint. None of us were up to the hike up to it. Maybe this summer we'll make it. Rick has been up several times.
Skyline Arch is just off the road so you don't have to go far to see it. The girls were pretty worn out by the time we got there. They didn't even get out of the car to view it.

Going home, we drove on past the turn off to Castle Valley to show them this view of Fisher Tower. You can see the frozen Colorado River in the foreground. In some places the ice is a foot thick! and all bunched up. It is really something to see. I haven't downloaded my pictures yet but when I do, I'll post some of it that I took, if they turn out. We really had a great time with Scott, Cara, Allison and Madison. Thanks for the visit.

After The Storm

It snowed last night and most of the day today. Just before sunset the clouds started to part and colors were just beautiful.

Again these pictures were taken from our front porch.

New Year's Day Trip

New Year's Day was just beautiful (sunny but cold) so we got up early and decided a drive was in order. We decided to up the Potash Road just outside of Moab and go to Chicken Flats which is supposed to be a fairly easy to moderate four wheel drive. Since the roads are still snow packed and icy in the areas where the sun doesn't hit and we haven't made it above freezing but a day or two we thought this would be OK. Along the Potash Road we say a sign that said Jug Handle Arch and this is what we saw. We had never heard of this one before so were excited to see it. There was a sign for parking so we pulled in and took several shots. Then we noticed another sign further in and it read Longs Canyon so we looked it up in our book and it said it was an easy drive and most 2-wheel drives could make it. So we decided to go there instead.
Along the canyon we came to several icy and snow packed places and several places we would NOT take a car. The views were just awesome. We were really glad we decided to come here. The rock balanced in the center really caught our attention. Then...
as we drove further down the canyon we discovered the rock from another angle and were really surprised!
We came to this rock tunnel and I got out to take the picture and almost fell. The road leading up to the tunnel was nothing but ice. Even Rick admitted in some of the really narrow places the ruts were pretty bad and slick. With the canyon drop off on my side of the FJ, yes, I was a bit nervous at times when we slid a little.

Rick got out and took this shot of the tunnel after we had been thru. You can see all the snow and ruts in the road. And this was a nice wide place and not too bad of a drop off. When this road ended we were at Utah 313 which goes to Dead Horse Point State Park and so we went there. It had really changed since the last time we had been there. It is much improved. However, the sun was at the wrong angle for good photos (although we took some anyway). I'm just not posting them. All in all, we had a lovely morning and then went back to Moab for lunch. Those of you who know us know we love to eat at a place on the Oregon Coast called LeRoy's Blue Whale. I love their finger steaks there. Well, the Golden Stake Restaurant here in Moab also does finger steaks! Not quite as good as LeRoy's, but at least I can get them here and I really enjoyed them. You know we'll be eating there again.

Ready for the Holidays

We finally got our tree up in the living room. Only found one box of decorations and it wasn't the "best" ornaments. Nor was the treetop in it or our stockings. So Rick got a new topper on his way home from Grand Junction and we did our best.

But it came out beautiful anyway. Can't wait for the garage to be finished so we can unload the storage units and find all the "missing" things.

This is a small ceramic tree that belonged to Eileen's parents. We never saw it at their place but were lucky enough to receive it after they were gone. It really adds to our holiday to have this small rememberance of them. We know Mom Tenney really treasured it as she took it with her after Dad died. The small pots were also Mom and Dad Tenney's. They had been a gift to them from Scott and Cara. They were then given to us from Scott and Cara has a house warming gift when they came to see us. We doubly treasure them.

This is a pot Rick bought Eileen for her birthday (Dec 22). It proudly sits on top of the linen closet in the hallway.

This is our newest and most prized possession. Reid and Melissa sent Eileen a gift certificate for her birthday/Christmas gift to her favorite store here in Moab. We have been admiring this piece of art ever since we moved here but felt we just couldn't afford it. But with the gift from Reid and Melissa and a gift card from Rick's work, we treated ourselves to this for our Christmas (plus it was 20% off). It now hangs in our family room where we spend most of our time. We can not thank Reid and Melissa enough for starting the process of our getting this!

More Snow in Castle Valley This Morning

This morning (Friday) Rocky and I woke up to a couple more inches of snow here in lovely Castle Valley. Rick had to fly to New Orleans yesterday for work, but at least he got to fly out of Grand Junction, Co. this time. He'll be back Sunday evening. The valley looks like a winter wonderland right now. Not a lot of sun coming through, but a little and it is just beautiful.
Castle Rock has the most snow on it so far this year! It is so picturesque.
As you can see, the garage is still not finished, but Porcupine Rim behind us looks wonderful anyway.
At the end of the valley, the clouds are still hanging around. That's why not much sun. Don't know if we will see much of it today or not. We are suppose to get to about 34 degrees today. (Or at least Moab is.)
And yes Ashley, as you can see, Rocky does like to eat the snow!

I was sweeping the steps and porch and he stood there and tried to catch the snow I swept. So he just got covered with it. Of course, he also likes to chase the broom.

Pictures From Our Front Porch

Here are some pictures I took today from our front porch. It snowed yesterday and today there were some nice clouds hanging around.

This is a picture of the La Sal Mountains with Round Mountain in the foreground.
These are the cliffs just to the right of Castle Rock bathed in the late afternoon sun light.
From left to right the Priest and Nuns and the Rectory and Castle Rock. I liked the clouds hanging around to rocks.

Snow in Castle Valley

Sunday morning we woke up to our second skiff of snow here in Castle Valley. But this time, we got in the FJ and drove up the LaSal Loop Road to an overlook and took some more pictures. As we drove, we saw more and more snow. Soon the the road was covered and we made fresh tracks in it. It was really beautiful.
Here is the FJ parked at the overlook we stopped at. This was as far as we went.
Looking down into Castle Valley from the overlook.

As you can see, there was a lot more snow there (2-3 inches) compared to our skiff at home.

However, it started snowing Tues. morning and we ended up with a couple of inches at our home. Wed. we had a neighbor show up with a little plow and he plowed our driveway and a path to the front door. He was driving out before we knew he was there so don't even know who it was. But what a pleasant surprise!