Adventures in Hiking and Eating

Warning: This is going to be like a slide show of someone else's vacation pictures.   I'm one of those people who actually enjoy looking at other people's pictures, complete with narrative (ok, maybe not a thousand of them), but I do enjoy it.  If you're not- well you might want to skip my next couple of posts.

After days of sitting at Education Week, it was time to put on my hiking shoes and head outdoors.  I absolutely love hiking in Utah.  The sky is big and blue and I've yet to be rained on.  That is so nice, because here at home, I have to carry a rain poncho with me every time I hit the trail and I've had to use it often.  When I forget, well, I almost always get wet and if it's not from rain, it's from the humidity. Utah is dry and I enjoy that.

I was able to take two hikes over the weekend and I loved them both.  The first was extra special 'cause I met up with a sweet friend who lives in the area and we spent the day together.  It was Whitney's idea to hike in the American Fork Canyon to the Mt. Timpanogos Caves.  

The tours through the cave were guided and required a ticket.  We had our tickets, but were running a little behind so we had to hike fast to get to the top in order to make it in at our designated time slot.  The trail was great, but steep, and we climbed 1,092 feet in 45 minutes!   I was darn proud of myself that I could keep up with that Whitney girl.  She's a lot younger than me!

Even though we were moving right along, I did notice some interesting signs along the way.

Yikes!

 The smoke from wildfires that were burning not too far away, limited our long range views, but I still thought it was breathtakingly beautiful.

I carried a light jacket to wear in the caves, because it was supposed to be cool, but after that sprint up the mountain, the cave felt great to me!  We went through three different caves and there were places you had to crouch and bend, but mostly it was a fairly level route.  The ceilings, walls and floors are covered with stalactites, stalagmites and other interesting formations.

The calcite formations below are called helictites and are one of the hallmark features of this cave.  They twist and turn in all directions and are very delicate and fragile.  

This is called the Great Heart of Timpanogos in Timpanogos Cave and is 5 1/2 feet long and 3 feet wide,

weighing 4000 pounds.  It's made up of at least three tremendous stalactites that have grown together.

Besides the excitement of being in a really neat place, we had an incident where a little girl fell below the guard rails, down into the cave formations.  That was one of the scariest things I've seen in a long time.   Her dad dropped his camera beside me on the ground, and scrambled down after her.  Physically she was fine, emotionally I'm not so sure.  She screamed non stop until her parents could get her out of the cave.  I felt sorry for her and her mom and dad, but can you imagine the family stories that will come from that experience?

We had a great morning and after all that exercise we went straight to Cafe Rio and had lunch.  If you've never eaten at a Cafe Rio, well, I 'm sure I can't possibly describe it's awesomeness in a way that you could really understand how delicious it is, but just know it's sooooo good, I'd been thinking about eating there since I got on the plane.  And it did not disappoint.  Sorry I have no food pictures to tempt you with.  All I was thinking about was eating!  If you ever get the chance to eat there, Pork Barbacoa salad is all you need to know.  And go hungry.  Thanks Whit, for a great time.  I sure do love you!

Hike number two took me into Provo Canyon, past this beautiful river

and Bridal Veil Falls.

I was headed for Sundance, because it's one of my most favorite places ever! 

Whenever I come to Education Week, I plan time to come and do this hike.  The ride up the ski lift to the top of the mountain gives you a hint of what you will see as you hike back down.

 And this is what you see...

Love, love, love!

until you end up here.

Thirty minutes later, you're back at the resort and ready to have lunch at the Foundry Grill, which is, oh so good.  This time I did think to take a picture of my lunch.  Fish tacos with sweet potato fries.  So very yummy in my tummy! 

Utah, I love hiking your mountains and eating your food!