Planned Power Outage Adventure

Remember that power outage we had a couple years ago where we all headed out in the van and had some fun throwing rocks in the river and stuff? I do.

Recently we were told of a planned power outage. It could last up to all morning and afternoon (or less). The kids would be gone to school most of the time and Jeremy would be at work the whole time. So that left Jet and me to make plans. He had an appointment at the pediatrician's office that morning so after he played Peek-a-boo with another toddler in the waiting room (it was so cute), we went to the Orem Library for a little while and read several books.

After our library trip, I figured a drive to Bridal Veil Falls would be good. You know I love Bridal Veil Falls. As we were driving in Provo Canyon, we found there was an accident on the other side of the road. I hope everyone was okay. Since the traffic was getting backed up on that side, I didn't want to contend with that so Jet and I stopped briefly at the viewpoint for Bridal Veil Falls then continued up the canyon. 

We turned on the road that goes up to Sundance then just continued on and drove Alpine Loop coming out of American Fork Canyon. I like driving up in the hills. As I drove, Jet and I sang, "I love the mountains. I love the rolling hills. I love the flowers. I love the daffodils..." It's fun to sing with Jet. We sang a few songs, saw some turkeys cross the road in front of us, looked at the trees with their green leaves, enjoyed that the air was cleaner up there than in some places down in the valley, and eventually Jet fell asleep after I continued driving around a little more. The power was back on by the time we got home so it was on when the kids got home.

That day was September 12, Hug and High 5 Day. There was a lot of hugging and high five-ing going on in our family that day.

That day was also Boss/Employee Exchange Day so Jr. suggested he and I trade jobs that evening. So I did his chore while he made dinner.

Really Seeing the Fall Colors

A week after the Women's Broadcast we went for a drive during the second session of General Conference.  It was National Public Lands Day (free entrance to National Parks and lands) so we went up American Fork Canyon for free.  We listened to Conference on the radio and looked at the Fall colors.  There were Fall colors, lots of Fall colors.  Gorgeous.

We drove the Alpine Loop with a detour to Cascade Springs.  I wanted to get some close-ups of the colors so I got out to walk down the trail a bit.  I made it all the way to the Springs before finding any decent vegetation for close-ups.  Sigh.  But I was able to get my pictures.

 

It was a beautiful drive and again Conference was great.

Cascade Springs

We've been wanting to visit Cascade Springs for years but have never gotten around to it.  Jeremy had a day off from the Wonders build, so he suggested we go up there for some family time today.  So off we went up American Fork Canyon, enjoying the beautiful scenery on the way.  It was fun to hear the kids in the back of the van saying, "Wow, it's so beautiful."

It was a nice drive up and after we were done walking around, we decided to drive down the other side toward Heber.  On the way down it was fun to see Deer Creek Reservoir from the other side.  I commented that we're in the hills I always look at from the other side of the reservoir.  That was fun.

Cascade Springs is a nice area.  

We got to see the water, several different types of vegetation, and some animals.  We heard and saw birds, someone walking along near us pointed out a snake, and Jr. Jr. even spotted a caterpillar.

It was nice family time.