Merry Christmas

We were able to spend time in Albuquerque with Harold's brother Arlo and his family. Harold and Arlo spent many an afternoon in the garage, including welding the towbar to better accommodate bicycle carriage between the Jeep and the bus. Then there were important projects like Legos to complete and the lighting of the luminarias on Christmas Eve.

Luminarias are an Albuquerque tradition and a beautiful one at that. If you'd like a little more information about luminarias, you can read it here. 

May the hope, joy, and peace that Christ brings, be yours. Blessings to you this Christmas season. 

Never could decide if they were working or playing

Building Legos - 123 Sesame Street for the Christmas village

Another Albuquerque tradition - with a 2020 twist

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Luminaria glow

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

With limited storage, we purged the Christmas decorations last year.  I hadn't really planned on decorating the RV, but I confess that as I browsed the seasonal decor, I was thinking about it more. I was still hesitant though. Anything we bought would be tossed after Christmas. 

My sister-in-law Linda decided that we should have a tree. They picked up a little tabletop tree and some tiny ornaments for us. So thank you Linda!  We added some tiny ribbons and Harold made a star for the top.

The Swell, The Wedge, Slots and Goblins

Our niece's husband suggested that we visit Goblin Valley State Park in Utah. We opted to stay in Green River at the Green River KOA, about an hour away. We had thought that we'd slip in a visit to the Moab area, which was about an hour away in the other direction, as well. We never made it to the Moab area. There was just too much to see.

The San Rafael Swell is just west of Green River and rises spectacularly from the ground. Locally, the area is known as The Swell and is a destination for off-roaders, hikers, and dark sky viewers.

Our first day in Green River had us taking a loop trip to backtrack to Helper, Utah, for a photo with a Big John, a Muffler Man.  We opted for the scenic drive along the Buckhorn Draw that took us to the The Wedge. The Wedge Overlook is called the Little Grand Canyon. The light snow just added to the beauty. Along the way we stopped to look at a dinosaur track, an old suspension bridge, and some petroglyphs. 

Can you spot the semitruck?

Dinosaur track

The Wedge Overlook area

Harold and Big John

The next day we headed to Little Wild Horse Canyon. The idea was to take a quick hike to see the slotted canyon and then head next door to Goblin Valley. Ha! Little Wild Horse Canyon was amazing. No wonder it's one of the most popular day hikes in the state. We lost count of how many times we said, "Wow!" The slick rocks, the serpentine path through them, were novel to us and a great introduction to canyoneering. We soon opted to take the eight mile loop trail that would circle us through Bell Canyon before returning to the trailhead. Goblin Valley would have to wait another day.

Little Wild Horse Canyon

Deep and narrow

Lots of rain paths

Finally, we made it to Goblin Valley State Park. Wow! No wonder Jerry suggested we visit. The valley was filled with reddish-orange mushroom-shaped rock formations with little vegetation. We were a bit surprised, pleasantly so, that you were allowed to walk among them, that they weren't cordoned off.

Goblin Valley from a distance

Hoodoos or goblins?

We say mushrooms!

An inkling of the size of the formations

Trivia Question: What science fiction movie starring Tim Allen featured scenes from Goblin Valley State Park?

We wished we could have explored the area more and will likely include more time when we visit family in the future. 

Love the neon

Green River is famous for melons

Heber Valley

We have spent a relaxing month at Mountain Valley RV Resort in Heber City, Utah. We have nieces within an hour drive and wanted to spend some time with them. We had originally planned a week, but upon realizing that the resort weekly rate was half the off-season monthly rate, we decided to enjoy an entire month. We do have to pay electric though, and I'm sure that's going to be a doozie with the two cold snaps we've had.

We took a couple of scenic drives in the area. We drove the Mirror Lake Scenic Byway through the Uinta Mountains and walked around the lake. We spotted several dispersed camping areas. Hunters were claiming their spots. Later, we took the Daniels Canyon road (US Route 40) east to Strawberry Reservoir, Duchesne, and looped back on Wolf Creek Highway. Wolf Creek is beautiful - and closed in winter. 

Bald Mountain Pass

Mirror Lake

We hiked in Wasatch Mountain State Park with Daryl and Patti. Daryl is a friend of Harold's from high school days. We drove past Sundance, the ski resort owned by Robert Redford, on our way to hike Stewart Falls. We saw glimpses of the Olympic ski jumps in Park City. We drove through Provo Canyon several times, stopping at Bridal Veil Falls more than once. 

Along the trail - Wasatch State Park

Bridal Veil Falls

We enjoyed Halloween with our nieces, watching their kids go on a scavenger hunt in lieu of the traditional trick or treating.  Then, while the escape room style puzzle was in its final preparation, we had some bubble fun. 

We then came back to the camp site and participated in the trick or treating at the campground. We probably had around 15 or so kids participating. It still took over a 200 pieces of candy.  I blame it on Cousin Eddie. 😜

I had to laugh!

We rented the red caboose on the Heber Creeper for an afternoon train ride along the Deer Creek Reservoir. The kids, big and little, enjoyed the benches in the cupola. I imagine the caboose is very popular for kids' birthday parties. 

Brothers, still kids at heart

Perhaps one of the more unique things we did was go for a soak in the Crater. It's a geothermal hot spring enclosed in a beehive shaped crater that opens at the top. The water is a perfect 90 - 96 degrees. It's 65 feet deep, and one of our nieces got her scuba certification there. How cool is that?

While the resort is open year round since there are plenty of ski resort employees and enthusiasts in the area, we're ready to move on. Those snow capped mountains are beautiful, but we're ready for warmer weather.