Back to St. George for Spring Break

 

We decided to come down to St. George for Spring Break. We like St. George.  While it is about four hours away from where we live, the drive is usually an easy one straight down the 1-15, and St. George is considerably warmer and sunnier than our area, especially during the winter and spring months.  We have access to a timeshare condo where we like to stay. This time, our condo was on the top (3rd floor) and we had some amazing views of the beautiful St. George area. 

One of the places we really wanted to go during spring break was Gunlock State Park which is about 15 miles from St. George. Gunlock State Park has a 266-acre reservoir which holds irrigation water.  During years when there is plenty of rain in normally dry Southern Utah, water from the reservoir overflows and creates beautiful waterfalls down the surrounding red rocks and cliffs.  This doesn't happen every year, but because of the record breaking rain and snow our state has had this year, the Gunlock Waterfalls are flowing and they are truly something to see.  We went to Gunlock State Park over spring break and hiked and scrambled up the big red boulders to get these pictures of the renowned waterfalls. 

This is Charly hiking down the trail that went over to falls. 

After seeing the waterfalls from below, we hiked another trail that went around Gunlock Lake and to the upper source of the waterfalls.  Here are some pictures of the Lake/Reservoir and waterfalls from above, where the lake is overflowing. 

One evening, we hiked at the Virgin River Trail in St. George. This is the portion of the trail we were on (the entire trail is over 11 miles long), but we hiked two out and back miles.  It was very pleasant.  Here are some pictures of what we saw.  Just like Gunlock Lake, the Virgin River is running much deeper and swifter than usual because of all the rain and snow we have had.  Last week, the river flooded in some places causing this trail to be closed in places. 

While we had beautiful blue skies during our entire stay, we had to cut our spring break trip short due to yet another snow storm forecast for northern Utah and along our route home up the I-15.  We are grateful that we were able to make the trip. We had an enjoyable spring getaway in St. George. 

Until next time,

😊Deb💖

"In spring break, 

we play,

we laugh,

we cherish."

~anon.

Welcome Spring?

 

I am taking a quick break from my blog break to share what our first weekend of spring looked like here in the Salt Lake Valley.  This was the scene on my drive to work on Friday morning.  It was the snowiest and most slippery commute of the entire season.  Driving to school was definitely not fun Friday morning.   

This is the school parking lot when I got there.  It was a teacher training and grading day, so no students were there, and the parking lot was all but empty, except for the snow.  

Here are some more pictures of the school campus during the heavy snow storm we had this morning.  All time snow records have been broken and Friday afternoon some of the ski resorts in the mountains not far from here are actually closed, and skiers are confined to lodges because of heavy snowfall and avalanche danger. 

After our teacher meeting on Friday morning, our principal told us we could go home as soon as our grades were posted.  Because my grades were finished and posted Thursday afternoon, I was home before 10 a.m. Friday to begin spring break. Charly suggested that we go out for a lunch date to celebrate. We went to our favorite Chinese food place in the area, and enjoyed Mongolian Beef and rice. 

Back home after lunch, I decided a little nap would be nice so I curled up on the couch with a blanket and a book, just like on any snowy winter afternoon, even though it was technically spring. 

Saturday morning we are headed to our daughter's house to see the entire family and take our beautiful 15-year-old granddaughter out to breakfast for her birthday. 

Our granddaughter's birthday gift is ready, along with fun Easter surprises for the entire family.   We are also looking forward to more spring break fun over the next few days. 

I may check in again in a day or two with an update about our spring break.  Hopefully, we will have some spring weather to enjoy, but even more rain and snow is in the forecast for at least a few days next week, so no guarantees.

Until next time,

😊Deb💖

• "No winter lasts forever, no spring skips its turn."
•  ~Hal Borland

Spring Break in the Desert - Part II - Southern California

After leaving Las Vegas, on our spring break getaway, we drove on the I-15 to Baker, California.  The I-15 goes right down into Los Angeles, and we didn't want to go there, so we cut across the desert on a lonely, two-lane road.  

You can see the road stretching for over a hundred miles across the desert in this picture. The good thing about taking this road was that there was very little traffic, and we made great time.  

There was one place to stop and get gas on the lonely desert highway.  We stopped to use the restroom facilities and buy some peanut M&Ms which is my snack of choice on road trips. 

There is also a motel, which is a lot of little bunglows that are empty. The cafe was closed too, but we were very grateful for a place to get out stretch out legs and take a potty break on a very desolate road. 

We had enough gas to get to our destination, so we didn't get any at Roy's in the desert because it was almost $8 a gallon!  That was the highest we saw gas in California.  Most places, it was between $5 and $6 a gallon.  

Our next stop was Redlands, in California's Inland Empire. We used to live in Corona, California (near Riverside) over 20 years ago and Charly worked in Redlands. We always loved Redlands so decided to put it on our list of potential retirement spots.  When we got to Redlands, our first stop was the Redlands Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the church we belong to).  The temple was closed, so we just sat in the parking lot and regrouped a bit after our long drive.  We then drove around Redlands looking at some homes that were for sale on my Zillow app.  Our conclusion was that while there are some very nice homes in Redlands that we could afford, we don't want to pay as much as we would have to get the size of house we want.  Because of the housing affordability factor, Redlands has fallen to the bottom of our retirement list for now, but things could certainly change in the next 4-5 years. 

Here is a little friend who was sunning himself on the sidewalk outside of the Redlands temple. 

We finally got to Indio, California, which is farther out in the desert, past Palm Springs.  We stayed in the Worldmark Indio timeshare condos.

The condo was so convenient and comfortable. 

It was also roomy and had a washer and dryer (as most of the condos do) so we could wash our dirty clothes. 

It was a very nice place to come to at the end of our busy days in the California desert. 

We were so excited to be able to go to Joshua Tree National Park when we were in the California desert. 

We used to camp and hike at Joshua Tree with our children when we lived in Southern California over twenty years ago, so we have great family memories of this national park. Here are some pictures from the morning we spent hiking at Joshua Tree last week.  Our kids loved to hike climb on the huge rocks as you can see children doing in the picture of Arch Rock below.   

This is the Joshua Tree that gives this beautiful and unique national park it's name.  If you look closely, you can see a Raven sitting at the top of the tree.  We had such a good morning in the park and made even more great memories of this amazing place. 

When we camped at Joshua Tree with our children all those years ago, we liked to stop at this place, Ciro's Ristorante and Pizzeria,  for pizza on the way home.  We had no idea that this restaurant would still be in the very same location, but it was.  We were very pleased to see that it was still open.  (For anyone who might be in Indio and wants to stop by for the best pizza you have ever eaten, Ciro's address is: 81963 Highway 111, Indio, California.  760-347-6503).

We were even more pleased to know that the pizza is still as delicious as we remembered.   Charly and I enjoyed this scrumptious pizza and yes, the two of us ate the entire thing ourselves.  We ate half the pizza the first night, then had leftovers the next day. 

We left Indio on Thursday morning and had a long drive back through Nevada, including a two-hour traffic jam for road construction.  We got to St. George, Utah Thursday night. We were going to spend all of Friday in St. George, but decided to drive home on Friday since we will be returning to St. George for a couple of days in May. 

We are so grateful that we were able to make this trip and spend some delightful days as a couple making new memories in a part of the country that we love and that feels like home to us. 

Thanks for stopping by to share in our adventures.  Have a good week.  

🙏Please keep praying for the brave people of Ukraine.🙏

💙Deb💛

"Life brings simple pleasures to us every day. 

It is up to us to make them wonderful memories."

~Cathy Allen