Summer has a way of making time speed up . . .

Or maybe it is that I am trying to get a million things squeezed in that time only seems to be moving more quickly.

I have been out and going as often as possible and I will share just a couple of the adventures . . .

First off was the 50-mile bike ride up in Cache Valley (thank you Uncle Troy and Aunt Tracy for letting us crash at your house the night before).  It was a beautiful ride with amazing friends.  It was a bit stinky in places as we passed cows and even worse a pig farm, but overall it was enjoyable.  I was pretty dang proud of myself for finishing it in three hours and eighteen minutes.  Had there not been the straight uphill climb for about 3 miles near the end of the ride, I probably would have come in under the three hour mark.  I definitely wasn’t prepared for that uphill when my legs were already tired.  However, asthma and all, I made it up that hill without stopping once and even managed to not fall under six-miles an hour.  There was a super reward after the hill and it came in the form of straight downhill.  I am an adrenaline junky and so as everyone else freaked out a bit about the speeds we were catching, I was smiling from ear to ear all the way down! 

 

  

The more I ride my bike, the more I fall in love with the sport.  I’ve spent almost every Saturday morning on my bike since it has gotten warm.  While riding the stress of life just gets left behind and I’m able to clear my mind. 

The Saturday morning after our 50-miler, I decided that I would go hiking instead.  With a friend in tow we headed up the mountain up by Alta.  We had been hiking for about an hour and were of course talking and laughing (which means we were NOT being quiet in any sense of the word) when suddenly both of us stopped dead in our tracks and went absolutely silent at almost the exact same second.  We exchanged a glance, turned around and very quickly and just as quietly headed back down the trail.  When we had gotten a good distance away both of us started breathing again.  Then we, again quietly, discussed what had just occurred.  Yes, both of us had heard it . . . a bear.  Gratefully it had growled a warning at us rather than making an appearance. 

In all of my years of hiking the mountains in Utah, I have never had anything like this happen.  It scared me more than I could imagine.  We hadn’t seen any other hikers all day long until we hit the trailhead.  A father and his three children were just starting the trail.  We informed him what had just happened and he said, “That doesn’t surprise me, I was up here a week ago and we saw bear tracks.”  What the heck!  Why bring children up that same trail.  At least he did turn around on the trail and didn’t take them up any further. 

I’ve done so many more things including spending time with my family up at the cabin, Blaze game (these games are a ton of fun by the way) with my cute nephew, trips up to Park City, and general playing as often as possible.  I haven’t been camping yet though and that is definitely on the list of things that need to happen before this summer passes by . . . anyone want to go?