Tyler was assigned Juab County for his Fourth Grade report this year so we decided to go see what all the fuss was about. We found a great camping site near the Topaz Mountain and unhooked the trailer. Byron instantly spotted this little horney toad couple and the kids went to work catching the little guys. They had more fun chasing lizards this weekend than anything else we could have done.
When we got out of the Pilot we noticed the dirt was sparkling. Sure enough there were topaz crystals littering the place. The sun would shine off them and it was like you were walking through a diamond mine. Topaz looks just like a diamond and is a 9 out of 10 on the hardness scale for crystals.
We unhooked and drove down the road to explore a bit more and of course came across an even cooler camp site. So we went back, hooked the pop-up back on and towed it down to the new and improved camp site. Somehow during our transition the horney toad got into the car and placed itself right by the door where I climb into the car. When I swung my door open to jump in I had a fright and yes screamed like a little girl. The kids laughed their heads off when they figured out what had happened. Nobody ever would admit to loading the creepy lizard into the car.
I got a chance to play with my camera on our trip and had fun using the slowest shutter speed to get this cool fireside picture. That fire was actually pretty tiny but with all the developing time it looks pretty bonfireish. Ali was unable to hold still long enough to be a blur in my photo. She is not in the one I posted here due to blur issues.
I have to admit I had as much fun as the kids chasing lizards but I was chasing them with my camera. I got some pretty cool shots of these big guys. Byron was our best lizard spotter and would often point them out way before any of us saw them while we were hiking around. I am impressed with this guys nails. Pretty vicious looking.
Here is out little happy home away from home. Byron has things pretty much up and running now. We both even took showers on this trip. Yes, with warm water. The heater didn't work again which was frustrating since B had spent so much time trying to fix it at the house. As luck would have it we got home and he went out to work on it again and the dang thing started right up. Still trying to figure out what that all means.
We were seriously impressed with the variety of lizards we saw. There were two other kinds I didn't get awesome shots of so I didn't post them here. There were like six different species of lizards we ran across. The kids were amazed.
"I am as scary as I look."
This was one of the first photos Byron has taken with the new camera. I love my new camera.
Ali is a serious camera poser. She doesn't want to miss being in a shot. You can find her leaping into the scene at the last minute so she will be in the photo. Cute thing!!
This was on a day hike around the Topaz Mountain base. We found these awesome lava flow rocks and the kids chased a poor black lizard around and around one of the huge lava rocks for at least thirty minutes.
Here they are chasing the black lizard. They had him under their hands but he always managed to wiggle free. When Ali finally did get him he wiggled so much she screamed and he leapt/she threw him out of her hand. Poor guy, we did see him scramble off. Luckily he had a sturdy disposition.
The dogs ran themselves until they could barely wobble around, again. Jessie doesn't know how to take it slow and easy. Her paws were bleeding and she could barely walk by the end of our campout. The dogs just love to be out in the great outdoors. Jessie spent her first night out of her kennel on a campout and did great. She only barked once, I think she was so tired from her day of running she was to wiped out to guard the camp very well.
We found a bit of shade to take a break in. The desert in Utah can get HOT.
Slivers! We all had slivers, lots of weedy, thorny, spikey things to get caught in. Ali tripped and came up with both palms covered in spikey weeds. We got her all cleaned up. Luckily she has learned how to dig out a sliver by herself. Much easier than me trying to do it for her.
Carter got this awesome kite from the OBX for his birthday from Papa and Grandma Livsey. They had fun trying to get it to fly in the gusty wind. We had some seriously high winds during out trip. In the end we had little success but it was fun to try.
This was a stinky highlight of our trip. Baker Hot Springs was a really cool experience. They have poured three of these "hot tubs" that collect the hot springs water. They have jerryriged a cool spring that you can add cool water with a PVC pipe or block it off and let the tub get really hot. Stinky, muddy and fun. We were glad our shower worked when we got back to camp so we could rinse off the hot springs water.
Carter holding his best topaz find. The topaz is jutting out of the rock like the crystals in supermans cavern. There were literally thousands of these topaz crystals in the rocks and all around. We are inexperienced topaz hunters but we had fun chipping away with our hammers and chisels.
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