Super Summer Saturday

We had the all-time best Saturday yesterday! This is what Saturdays should always be like, right?

First, we both ran in the Nestle 5K, kind of the kick-off event for Springville's annual Art City Days. We're looking forward to lots of fun activities this coming week, such as a carnival, parade, quilt show, pancake breakfast, concerts, and hot air balloon festival!

The run had more than 2100 entrants, and it seemed like most of them showed up! I am just working myself back up to the 5K length, and Taylor hadn't trained at all. But he still finished strong, pushing David in the stroller the whole way! I have not a single fast-twitch muscle in my body, but felt good for completing the event.

Then we rushed home to shower, and returned to the event for the prizes. They probably called our number in the first 3 minutes, before we returned! <: Oh well. We'll win big next time, right? We left directly from the run to drive the Nebo Scenic Loop. We had worried that they day might be gray -- Friday and today were. But we had beautiful sunshine all day long.

First we hiked around Maple Lake:






After driving a bit further, we hiked up the Grotto Trail:

I hate heights when I have to balance!
And here I was often unbalanced
by 25 pounds of wiggling boy on my back!

The waterfall in the Grotto at the end.

David loved throwing rocks into the water.
Taylor says this is a Halverson Boy Thing!

We drove further, stopping at lovely overlooks:

Mt. Nebo, North Peak, and Bald Mountain

The Devil's Kitchen was created by an ancient mountain range which existed more than 60 million years ago. The Wasatch Front is a newer range which lifted up. The ancient streambed from millions of years ago were eroded, and you can now see the iron deposits left behind. The erosion has caused columns and hoodoos similar to those at Bryce:




We live in such a lovely area! It's not nearly as green as this Oregonian prefers, but I can't deny how breath-taking the mountains can be.

PS: We ended the day at a Himalayan Festival down in Spanish Fork, but I won't get to blogging on that for another day or so!