Another Trip to St.George After Christmas

Thursday, the day after Christmas, we packed up and left for a little winter getaway to sunny St. George in Southern Utah.  We were a little worried that we might encounter snowy roads, because we left home with a little snow on the lawns and sidewalks, but as we drove farther south, the weather got better and better.  Thursday turned into a great travel day with blue skies and clear roads.  

We had a very nice time in St. George.  We did quite a bit of hiking and visited a couple of historic sights, but the first place that Josh and I went, was our favorite Mexican Restaurant - Don Pedro's.  Charly doesn't like Mexican food (too spicy for him) so Josh and I have made a tradition of having a mother-son lunch at Don Pedro's every time we visit St. George.  The atmosphere is authentic and the food is excellent.

We visited and hiked at one of our favorite state parks which is literally ten minutes from the house we bought last summer.  Here are some pictures from the afternoon we hiked in Snow Canyon State Park.  

The next day, Josh and I left Charly back at the condo where we were staying and hiked another trail which is around a ridge in the middle of St. George with some awesome views of the city.  Here are some pictures of our Temple Quarry Trail hike.  

I'll post a few more pictures of our very nice post-Christmas getaway to St. George in a day or two.  Until then, thanks for visiting. 

😊Deb💖

"To walk in nature is to witness 

a thousand miracles."

~Mary Davis

August Happiness Challenge - Day 1 - Road Trip

This August, just for a change of pace in my blogging, I am going to join in with The Gal Herself over at One Gal's Musings and Stacy at A Mile in My Shoes.  I am going to try very hard to keep up and look for one good thing that made my life better and happier every day.  I hope you will consider joining in.

My positive for today comes from our recent end-of-summer-vacation trip, which we came home from today.  We went to one of the lesser known and visited National Parks, Great Basin National Park in the middle of nowhere Nevada (literally).  Nothing pushes my reset button better than a road trip and time spent out in nature, walking on a dirt trail.  This was a short trip, but I noticed my outlook was noticeably more upbeat and positive today, even though everything did  not go 100% as originally planned.  At this time last week, I wasn't looking forward to the long drive to get to Great Basin National Park, and I even thought of cancelling the trip.  Today however, I am just happy that we went ahead with our plan, that I had a good trip with my husband and son, and that I got to do some time hiking on a beautiful trail in the trees.  

What are you happy about today?

The End of May First June Weekend

 

The day after Memorial Day, we went to St. George again. We enjoyed a beginning of the summer getaway in one of our favorite places.  One of our favorite parts of our stay in St. George was worshipping at the St. George Temple.   It is a special and holy place for us. 

Another day, we went to nearby Kolob Canyons, which is the western portion of Zion National Park.  We hiked and enjoyed the beautiful canyon.  It was nice that it was not at all crowded when we were there.  The main part of Zion National Park is always crowded during the summer, but few people know about the Kolob Canyons portion of Zion, which is a true "hidden gem." Here are some pictures of this amazing place. 

We had a great time at Kolob Canyons. I really love this place!

We are still looking at houses in St. George, and we are hoping to buy a home that we will move to when I retire in 1-2 years.  (Can you tell that Charly really, really wants a 3-car garage?) We are working with a new realtor and went out to lots of home on this trip. The two in the picture were our favorites.  We made offers on both homes, but obviously, we are only buying one.  Our offer on the top home was rejected by the seller, but we are still negotiating with the seller of the bottom home.  

When I returned home on Sunday afternoon, I was so pleased to see that some of the seeds I planted in my garden are coming up!  These are green beans.  My pumpkin seeds have also sprouted. 

Sunday after church, I did some indexing of 1930s city directory records from Portland, Oregon.  The records that I, and other volunteers, index are then available on Familysearch.org for those who want to research their family history and genealogy.  

Sunday dinner was chicken, Pasta-a-Roni, corn, steamed carrots and spinach salad.  

Sunday evening after dinner, I went out for a walk around the neighborhood.  Sunday was a nice day - quite warm. 

I really enjoyed all of the flowers along my walking route.  

After I finish this post, I plant to read some more in this book, He Restoreth My Soul by Mary Sturlaugson Eyer.  This is the second book in the author's biographical memoir.  I read the first book last month (in May). 

Weekend Gratitude:

• Having a nice time in St. George.
• Traveling to and from St. George safely.
• Seeing friends in St. George. 
• Worshipping at the St. George temple. 
• Hiking at Kolob Canyons. 
• Finding some homes in St. George that we like and can afford. 

That's all for now.   Thanks for stopping by.  Have a good week!

Until next time, 

😊Deb💖

"To walk in nature 

is to witness a thousand miracles."

~Mary Davis

A Litte More About Our Trip to St. George

St. George, Utah and the surrounding area of Southern Utah, is an absolutely beautiful area.  I am grateful that we live a mere half-day drive from it's amazing desert wonder.   There are also some great hiking and recreation areas there.  You saw gorgeous Snow Canyon State Park with it's red cliffs in my last post.  Charly and I also went to Gunlock Falls, which is a waterfall of spring runoff from Gunlock Reservoir.  The water only falls when there has been enough snowpack runoff for the reservoir to overflow.   Here are some pictures of Gunlock Falls, it's surrounding area,  and Gunlock Reservoir. 

We had a lovely morning hiking around Gunlock Reservoir to the waterfall.   This area is literally down the road from the tiny town of Gunlock, Utah, which, I recently found out, is the birth place of my paternal grandfather (adopted).  

Later that same day, Charly and I hiked another trail which is actually quite near the house we found that we are in the process of buying.  The name of the trail is the Ranger Bart Anderson Trail - named to honor a ranger in the area.   Here are a few pictures from the Ranger Bart Trail. 

We had a very nice visit to St. George.  It was fun and productive.  Seeing our daughter and grandchildren was a plus and the highlight of our trip.

As I mentioned above, yes, we did find a house that we like a lot, and we are currently working toward purchasing it.  I'll give more details on that in the coming weeks and months. 

Until next time,

😊Deb💖

"Walking is the most perfect form of motion

for a person who wants to discover the true life."

~Henry David Thoreau

•