Made in the Shade: Pioneer Day- Jacob Lake, Arizona

We celebrated Utah's Pioneer Day (July 24th) by driving the two hours to Jacob Lake, Arizona to fourwheel around all of the old Kaibab logging roads to the north rim of the Grand Canyon. It was a fabulous day- the peace of nature, the cool, fresh air of the mountains, a few refreshing rain drops, 60 miles of four wheeling and beautiful scenery with people you love.

We left our house at 7:40 A.M. and returned at 11:15 P.M. so it was a full, fun day! We went with my mom and dad, family friends-Bob and Bev Bulloch, and Kent and I. We had three four wheelers, lot of lunch, and tired spirits yearning for an adventure in nature. It was a totally refreshing day!

We ate wild strawberries and saw lots of wildflowers and grasses.

I didn't even see the ant on this flower when I took the picture- it wasn't until I uploaded it that I saw the little passenger.

I have been to this point before, but it always looks different depending on how the sun hits the canyons, time of day, season, etc. Today, it changed dramatically just in the time we visited, as a storm came in, the wildflowers along the rim, the mist from the rain clouds- it is exciting to see the differences.

Kent was fascinated with the moss that was hanging on the trees in this dense forest in the middle of the desert! (He brought some home and is going to get it to grow in our 110 temps- yeah right!-but... if anyone can- he could.

Another highlight of Kent's day was finding the forest service weather station.

This fire tower (Dry Park Lookout) is on the national registry and is very very tall-( 125 feet) and very very scary to climb- the stairs are a little rickety- and my legs hurt today!! It's also a little unnerving being the tallest thing around at the top of a fire tower and watching huge storms develop over you. You are already at elevation 8710 feet when you even start climbing!

To give you the perspective of how high we are, note the fourwheelers and the power line- they all look like tiny models.

Mom and Dad, Bob and Bev in a pretty little meadow.

Kent loved watching the storms develop over the canyon.

Sitting and watching the storm, lightning, and birds soaring over the canyon.

We found this huge sink hole area. The guys thought that it would be great fun to drive down into it. The women were convinced that they would never get out. Once we got down into it, we found lots of shells and other fossils that shows that this 8,000+ elevation was once covered in water. The fourwheelers were able to make it out, but we, women had to walk out of it- (actually our choice- the steep ride up scared us more)

Kent getting ready to eat lunch.

Kent doesn't like the dust in his nose- so he wore this attractive face mask for the first little while, but since we had some little rain showers go through, the dust was very minimal and he didn't need this.