A Challenge...

"Being more politically active, or watching ‘The West Wing?’ Helping your kid with his homework or taking a guess at ‘Final Jeopardy?’ Spending the evening with your family, or yelling at them because they're blocking your view of ‘The Family Guy?’ Every one of us should ask these questions to ourselves when we want to pick up the remote, turn on the television, and turn off our brains. While the T.V. might offer a momentary escape from the real world, the real world still goes on whether we like it or not. While marriages fall apart, while children are neglected, while heinous crimes are committed, the nation still has time to tune into ‘American Idol.’ Don’t we have ANYTHING better to do?"

Now that's something to think about. I challenge everyone who reads this to go a week without watching television. Instead, go on a walk. Look at the stars. Take in the beauty that's allready all around us. Go camping! Enjoy!

Onward to Utah!! The Frozen North

We left Wednesday after I got off work, and got three hours of the highway behind us. We camped at a little campground called Burro Creek. This was the first outing that we used our new, smaller tent, and it is awesome! It fits us just perfect, and it's super light so we can use it backpacking.

I kind of like pulling up to a campsite in the dark, because in the day light, I don't think that I would have made the pull-off. It just didn't look that pretty, but when the sun came up the next day, it was beautiful!!

Babs was even better than the last time we went camping. The weather was perfect and the company was great.

The next morning, we woke up and made our customary breakfast of oatmeal and cereal bars. We got back on the road at about 7:30 and drove all day until we arrived in the Salt Lake valley at 7:00 that evening Utah time. Babs was SUPER good!! We couldn't have asked her to be any better. She was very understanding of the cramped space, and she was even more cooperative when I let her drive...

j/k! Don't worry, all you baby lovers, the car was parked.

So we made it to Utah. The next couple days are going to be fun. We're going to go snowboarding and hang out and just have a good time. It's cold up here, and that's one thing that I don't miss when I come back here. I can do without the freezing temperatures.

Enjoy!

New blog for the trailer!

I've decided to start documenting my trailer antics, so check on my new blog every now and then to see what I've been up to lately. www.mctear.blogspot.com or, click the link under my favorite blogs.

Enjoy!

Camping Season!!!

About this time one year ago, we went camping at a little spot between Superior and Miami called Oak Flats. We thought that since the weather was getting nicer, we would try the first camp of the year at the same place. About an hour (give or take) out east of where we are, this beautiful spot is just far enough away from the city to give you a little respite.

It was a little chilly, but Esther bundled the bug up enough that she stayed warm. She reminded me of the little brother on A Christmas Story. "I can't put down my arms!!!"

It rained on us during the night, but we stayed dry in the tent. And in the morning, when the sun came out and burned off some of the cloud cover, the scenery was awesome, and made us glad that we braved the weather to come out here.

It gave us the break that we needed, (even though we were back in town before noon the next day) and cured my itchy feet for the moment. I made some progress on the teardrop trailer this weekend, as well, and I can't wait to get it finished so we can go camping in style!!! (I'll post some pics soon) but until then, Enjoy!

Superstitions and Suguaros

Okay, so I don't really have a good excuse for not writing for over a month, but I could make some up...

I started school at MCC. A few classes on campus, and two classes on the internet. I've started my new project of building a teardrop camping trailer. And, I've developed a rare skin disorder.Okay, that last one was a lie... I told you- no good excuses.

But I do have some pictures and thoughts on the hiking trip Esther, Barbara and I took. Most of you have allready seen all these pictures from my wife's blog, http://www.daybyday-loves.blogspot.com/, and I have to admit that she has been infinitely more thourough in her relating of current goings-on, but here goes.

It has been raining off and on here in the valley of the sun lately, and driving home from work one day, I was noticing how green some of the mountains were getting. I was up in the Paradise Valley part of Scottsdale, and the mountains just looked so majestic and beautiful with the vegetation and cacti. I know, I know, the thought of a cactus doesn't normaly get me going, but I've been so 'domestic' lately that when I saw the green and the rocks and the mountains, my feet got REALLY itchy. I called Esther up immediately and told her that it was perfect weather for hiking. So... the next day, Saturday, we packed up the Chevy for a day trip and headed out to the Superstition Mountains.

We drove out towards the Peralta Trailhead (out in Gold Canyon), but pulled off the dirt road a little early and parked in the Lost Gold Mine parking lot. We took the Mountain View trail and headed out in the suguaros. It was BEAUTIFUL!!! The air was crisp and clean, the sun was warm, the baby was giggling- it was perfect!

We took a trail that headed up one of the canyons, and enjoyed the scenery all the way. Barbara decided that she had enough hiking, and that it was time to start making a scene about 45 minutes into the hike, and cried for the rest of the way up. We finally decided to turn around a little later, and headed back to the car. Barbara fell asleep, and we ended back at the parking lot 3 hours after we left. Not a bad hike!

The weather got me so excited because it's campin weather!! I can't wait to start the season, and take the little toad on her first camping trip.

That's all for now, enjoy!

My Apologies...

O.K., so I haven't kept up on my weekly goal of posting to this blog. We moved last week to a bigger apartment, and than this week I've been pretty buisy at work - on Wednesday, I worked from 9:30 in the evening until 12:30 Thursday afternoon. That kind of work schedule doesn't promote healthy sleeping habbits, so I've been trying to recover lately.

Our 2007 Chevy Aveo has been an awesome car so far. I can't complain about it at all. It fits our needs quite nicely, it has awesome gas mileage, and Esther thinks it's "cute" (and that's really all that matters) :)

-Enjoy!

Alaska- The Return Trip

OK, so we hung out in Alaska for about two months- working on a tourist train, seeing the sights, and taking a couple road trips within Alaska. One to Seward, AK, and one to the Denali Princess Lodge. Beautiful scenery ALL OVER!!! But, we decided it was time to head home, so we packed up the trusty VW Fox, convinced Esther's brother, Joe, to make the trip with us, and hit the road. We wanted to take a little more time on the return trip than we did on the way up, so we planned several stops for the 14 day trip, and headed out. We didn't have much money, so what we did have we spent on camping gear rather than hotel rooms. We camped off the highway, next to some hot springs, on the beach, in some back-yards, and in the California Redwoods.

For the first leg of our trip, we just wanted to get through Canada as fast as we could. So we drove long hours and camped off the side of the highway. We did camp in a designated camp ground, though, when we got to Laird hot springs. We spent a day at the hot springs and got eaten alive by the mosquitoes. We finally made it out of Canada and entered the good old U.S.A. on the evening of July 4th- Independance Day.

We made it to our next checkpoint, Tacoma, WA, and camped in the back-yards of some families I knew from serving my mission up there. We spent a couple days there seeing the sights- Mt. Rainier, the Puget Sound, and all the Beauty of the Great Northwest.

Next stop was the Oregon Coast- one of my favorite places to visit because I had spent my childhood in the Portland area. We stopped in Troutdale, east of Portland to see Multnoma falls, then headed west to the Pacific Ocean. We camped on the beach for the first night, but for the second night, we decided it was time for a shower, and got a hotel room. We stayed on the Oregon coast for a couple days, saw some tide pools, visited the Tillamook cheese factory, and played on the beach. When the time came, we continued our trek down the 101 towards the California Redwoods.

Well, this was probably the highlight of our trip- the Redwoods! We stopped in at the local ranger station, got a permit to do some back-country camping, and drove the VW up several miles of dirt road to get to our jumping off spot. With all our gear on our backs, we hiked down to the river and followed it upstream for a couple miles until we found a spot that we decided we could use to pitch a tent. We spent one night upriver among those giant trees, the four of us, me, Esther, Joe, and Sasquatch.

After the Redwoods, we drove to Sacramento, visited Esther's aunt and uncle, then headed through Reno, NV to Salt Lake City, UT. We made it on time, on budget, and only one accident- VW fox vs. Chevy HHR- we won.

Looking back on the whole trip, I learned a lot about my shortcomings- my need for increased patience, my lack of understanding towards others, etc. but, I also learned a lot about my strengths- my ability to plan, my ability to compromise, and my greatest strength- Esther.

-Enjoy