The park has scheduled hikes each Wednesday and and Friday. I went on one (Terry had a bum knee so he didn't go.) It was only a 3 1/2 mile hike, but it was all uphill for almost two miles. Of course, then it was all downhill on the way back. It had been a while since I had been on a hike like that.
Here is part of the hiking group. It still amazes me what good shape some of these "old" people are in. I had a hard time keeping up with some of them!
The scenery was just awesome. There were a lot of cactus and in this spot it looked like someone just dumped a big load of rocks in the middle of the hill.
We hiked about 540 feet up. Looking down at this bridge is where one side of the freeway crosses over the other side and everyone drives on the wrong side of the road for a ways. This is the road that takes you to Payson where Travis and Ryan live. I can't believe we walked that far!
There were so many saguaro cactus. This one was just kind of on the hill by itself and is near to perfectly shaped.
Friends of ours and Bob and Lolita, from Emmett, Ken and Sandy, were also at the park for part of the time. We played shuffleboard one day and Bob and Lolita were the grand champions. We had fun sharing meals and playing cards with them.
The first week we were at the Golden Sun, we rented a car and drove the 900 miles to Idaho Falls for our granddaughter's baptism. Here is Shay and Emily just before she was baptized. Shay did a great job and then confirmed her a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and gave her a really nice blessing. We are proud of both of them.
We stayed at Shay's house and had such a nice time. After the baptism on Saturday, we went back there to change and eat lunch with everyone (over 30 people were at their house.) When we came up from the basement where we changed our clothes, all of our kids and grandkids were wearing these fun t-shirts. They had our engagement picture on them with either "Mom and Dad" or Grandma Susie & Grandpa Howie" above the picture and "40 years ago" below it. We were married on Valentine's Day, 40 years ago!! It was so fun and we were soooo surprised!Thanks, Shay, Sarah, and Jill!
We spent the night on our way to Idaho Falls with my Aunt and Uncle, Terry and Nancy, who live near Ogden. Then on the way back to Apache Junction, we spent the night with my good friend Ruth who lives in St. George. They both treated us to good food, good beds, and great company. Thanks so much to them.
I took a beading class at our last park and made bracelets for each of the granddaughters. It is so much fun. I didn't get pictures of their bracelets, but this is a picture of several of the ankle bracelets that I have made for myself. I did some of the same things for their bracelets. I think I would kind of like to get into this beading. It is really a fun activity. I told Terry I would teach him to do it!! He really needs a hobby!
This past weekend Ryan and Lori came down with their kids and Nic (Travis's son) and spent Saturday with us. We had a really full, fun day. After a breakfast of waffles and strawberries, we went to the Swap Meet, then to the movies, and then to Costco for a hot dog lunch. After dropping Lori off to go to the theater with Travis's wife, Shannon, we came home and went swimming at the park and had pizza for dinner. I am sure the kids slept all the way home. We wore them out, and Ryan said he would stop for a Mountain Dew to keep him awake while he drove home. It's great to be near enough to kid's families to get to spend time with them.
We tried to sign up for the Valentine's dinner dance at the park (which happens to also be our wedding anniversary,) it was all sold out. So, without Terry knowing about it, I booked us on a dinner cruise on the Dolly Steamboat at Canyon Lake. After Church on Sunday, I told Terry I would like to go for a ride. Even though he was in the middle of the Daytona 500 race, he agreed to go. I guided him up the mountain road and then convinced him that I was lost and told him to pull into the marina so I could find a map.
Well, he didn't have it figured out until we pulled into the parking lot and he saw the steamboat. We had a great meal and a fun ride.
We saw mountain sheep, although they were all up high and could only see their silhouette. We could even see some lambs right up on top jumping and playing. I hoped that their parents were watching them closely. They were a long ways up. We also saw a bald eagle and several other birds.
I had talked Terry into wearing our t-shirts that Jill and Sarah had made for us. We got smiles and "Happy Anniversary" from the boat Captain and the other people on the boat. It turned out to be a really fun Valentine's Day and 40th wedding anniversary.
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