Snowboarding and Urban Geocaches

We are so close to catching up to current-day here! A quick little catch-up post and I think we have covered the last month's major adventures.

So.. Brad and I outfitted ourselves back in the fall with new snowboards, bindings, boots, goggles.. the works! Not "new"... but new to us. We practiced snowboarding in Sugarhouse Park during Salt Lake's first snow, and headed up the mountain to Park City Mountain Resort later in the season!

Basic recap: I am terrible. Brad is awesome. Well, I wouldn't call myself "terrible" anymore. I started out falling every 25 feet or so and I can get all the way down the baby hill now! Brad also taught me how to stop and every so often I can do some turns on the board without eating snow. So I guess I'm getting there. Brad's dad is coming to visit in March and will leave me in the dust if I don't learn quickly.

Most of the times I yell when I fall. Sometimes I cry. Occasionally I can laugh it off. I'm working on doing that more often. Brad is great at handling my ups and downs haha but hopefully I will get better at controlling them myself so I don't drive him crazy.

For some reason, every time Brad held the camera up I did this with my arms.. I guess I thought it made me look like I was snowboarding or something, but upon review I look dumb as hell. After this day-- I stopped the arm thing. 

This is a stop. It was successful, but looks silly.

Another stop, getting better :)

Brad always looks like a natural. 

My first time on the lift was terrifying. We went on the lift many times in Wintergreen, in Virginia, but snowboarding here is a whole different world from VA snowboarding! The smallest lift here is so huge and so long it's beautiful but freezing. When we got to the top, there are like three runs to choose from. Of course, the only run that I agreed to go on was called "First Time" and it was the only one that was CLOSED. So I had to go on the next harder one! Still a very easy run, but I made it down a turn- stopped, got coaching from Brad, made it down the next turn, stopped, etc, etc.

Don't worry Mr. DeFrank. I'll get there before March.

On another note, we are figuring out our new GPS from the DeFrank fam for Christmas :) We are trying out our geocaching skills, starting easy with some Urban caches. "Easy." Supposedly. Sometimes we find them. Sometimes we don't. We decided it probably wasn't the best idea to BEGIN a searching-based hobby when most everything is buried in a few feet of snow. But we still make it work- sometimes.

 Cache Name: MeadlowLark Mound

Cache Clue: Rusty Barrell

 Excited about finding the first one! Signed the log and returned it. 

We completed the search for several more in the area. I believe we found two more and failed on two more haha. Finding them is really fun, but we haven't got the system down enough to find them all yet. We will get there one day!!

Through in a date night picture. Just for fun. 

PS- I will keep asking for comments. I have no shame.

Lower Bells Canyon

This year is the first year all my siblings have been separated by various state lines. My parents and my sister, Kathryn, are still in Richmond, Virginia, my sister Becca is at U of F in Gainesville, Florida, and of course Brad's family is located down in Alabama. With us now in Salt Lake, it really does put a divide between everyone, especially for Christmas time.

To my youngest sister Kathryn, it was important to still send out a "family" Christmas card, even though miles seperates the family. She asked everyone to find a place in their town that really showed it off, take a picture with a sign with the name of the city, and we would compile them all for a Christmas card! The card turned out wonderfully :)

Anyways, Brad and I hiked off to Little Cottonwood Canyon to take our "Salt Lake City" image. I really like hiking in Little Cottonwood because it is only about 10 minutes from our house and there are a lot of short hikes that are varied in scenery! We took our image outside the canyon, and then went for a hike on the Lower Bells Canyon Resivour.

The hike was really nice. Not a hard hike, and just a fun place to walk around. There is a harder trail you can take to some waterfalls, but we heard some people talking about how brutal it was, so we took the easier one for that days hike.

It was really cool! There was some residual snow on the ground, but we were warm enough to hike in T shirts and light jackets. I love that UT phenomenon-- snow on the ground when you are in a Tshirt!

We eventually found a large boulder to climb up and enjoy our trail mix lunch! The pine trees in the area were awesome and smelled really strong! Overall, it was a great day and a fun, easy hike :)

Brad loved finding the big ice sheets!

Love this one! Such a pretty place

Bye bye ice!

The season's first snowman!!

Love this shot of the pine trees!

What a view!

Thanks for reading! 

Please, please, please, if you like something, hate something, somewhere in between... click the "Comment" button below and let us know. Then we won't feel like idiots typing to no one haha!

Rocky Mouth Falls

Brad and I have wanted to try geocaching for a long time now. But before we divulged into full-fledged geogaching, we decided to do a little research and start with a little letterboxing experiment. For those who don't know, letterboxing is similar to a treasure hunt. There are websites with online clues to get you to a hidden box, usually in a natural, scenic place. Once you have found the box, you carefully open it, sign the log book with your name and your customized rubber stamp, and replace the box for further hunters.

 Our first hunt, back in November, was an unsuccessful one. Although we didn't find the box, we went on such a beautiful hike with nice weather and found a new place! It was a short hike, but a rewarding one with beautiful colors, a small waterfall, and cool climbing structures.

 

 

So Yellow!

 

 Searching for the box!

 



The view from our walk back!

Pre-Blog Adventures

Since we moved to Salt Lake, we have worked hard to get back on our feet. We haven't had as much free time as we would have liked, but we take advantage of every day off we get!

 

We are eager to share our adventures, fun times, and explorations with you from this day forward. Although we began our travels in the summer, the images and stories will begin now, in the heart of the Utah winter!

 

We hope you enjoy reading about our new lives as we will enjoy sharing! Please become a "follower" of our blog to get regular updates. Comments on posts are encouraged and appriciated! It will keep us motivated and make us feel like somone might be reading our "writings to no one."

:)