Timpanogos Caves

I know I went to college along this same mountain front because I have pictures and a diploma.  And I remember thinking they were beautiful and novel (after being raised in the mid-west), but I guess I was so lost in my little world of 5 Buck Pizza and dancing at the Ivy Tower that I just couldn't really appreciate the natural beauty of this place back then. Even when I was a little older and Brandon and I used to drive through this same canyon, I was probably thinking more about how gorgeous he was than the mountains, so I missed out then too.  

I'm bowled over on a daily basis by the beauty of these mountains.  And with fall at it's peak? It just doesn't get much prettier than a trip up the canyon to take a family hike to Timpanogos Caves.  (My picture taking shenanigans are getting out of control. The views just driving around town are so amazing at times - especially sunrise and set - that I insist on pulling over and taking pictures at the most random times and places. Today I pulled into a parking lot near the junior high with all my kids in the car on the way to pick up Kate, and the next thing I knew the car was rolling away. I got out of the car so quick that I forgot to put the car in park! Luckily, the door was still open, so I quickly jumped back in and hightailed it out of there before anyone called the police on me.  

Just a fifteen minute drive.  Maybe.  And I know people who have lived here for years who haven't done this yet!  It should be a school requirement or something.  

Anyway, here are a slewy of pictures from the 1.5 mile hike up the mountain with our little family last Saturday to Timpanogos Caves National Monument. These pictures were taken on my little purse camera which died in the cave, and then Brandon's iphone.  Not the greatest quality, but you still get a feel for the gorgeousness of it all.  I whittled away all my blogging time watching re-runs of The Office (mid-week burnout) so I'm not going to bother arranging the pics into a better order or putting in many captions.  I need to go to bed! 

I can't resist a few captions.  They call this "cave bacon":

 And cave popcorn:

 That's the "heart of the mountain" in the backdrop:

 This was by far the coolest room:

I was always lagging behind from taking too many pictures:

 
 
 
This shot could have used something other than an iphone, but she did pretty good.

Switchbacks:

Can you see the baby rattler?

Mother and Daughter (or is it Father and Son?):

At the bottom of the trail near the car:

I just had to take this picture, because there is another one of me taken on a riverbed just like this one, in an equally sad red sweatshirt, but it was 17 years ago in Japan!

Hey, hot stuff . . . (I wish he'd throw out that t-shirt, but he LOVES it!)

G'night.