Jacob's Ladder (the long way)

In October Marcus and I went walking through hills that separate Alpine from Draper. After looking at Google Earth we realized that the trail we were on would lead us to another hike called Jacob's Ladder which is below Lone Peak and that Trail leads you to the Lone Rock which either looks like a thumb or Jaba the Hut. I renamed the rock Jaba the Rock. I got a laugh from Marcus on that. 

Here you can see me coming up this incline. I believe I had to stop and catch my breath for a moment. The crazy thing was we were level with the mountain you can drive up and over to get into the Salt Lake Valley. We were kind of proud that we had walked all the way up that distance in the space of a few hours.

A view of Highland and Utah Lake.

Here is Marcus practicing his sexy look. Apparently he got bored waiting for me. 

A view of Jacob's Ladder I believe.

Panoramic's we took of the surrounding areas.

 The wind was pretty chilly. Glad I had this wind breaker with me. Too bad I didn't bring a beanie like Marcus did.

One last photo before we decided to turn around. We didn't have much food or water with us so we decided to head back. 

Beautiful views of Timp. and the mountains that surround Alpine.

It was a nice hike. It was really cool to see the different views of Lone Peak and all the hills that you would never know were there. We also got a great view of the Salt Lake Valley.

Return to Horsetail Falls

Marcus and I returned to Horsetail falls sometime in mid-September. It was a lot easier to hike this time around. We think it was because it was cooler--and we started hiking before the sun started to hit--and we hope it is because we were getting stronger. I wasn't that specific about the hike in my last post so I am going to give a few more details. At the start of the hike you encounter the wreckage that has occurred from a bunch of rain and having dry conditions. The trail is pretty exposed for about 15 to 30 minutes. All the sudden the landscape changes from scrub oak and desert plants into a pine forest. The trees and the views of the canyon and sounds of the river are beautiful. After a lot of hiking you come to your first landmark.

This lets you know that you are probably about a 1/4 of the way there. 

Marcus was brave enough to climb up the rock. I didn't want to because we actually had taken this pictures on the way back down (because on the way up other people had claimed the spot for rest and photos) and my legs and feet were rather tired especially after getting a bit lost (will tell more on this later).

 This is the next big landmark to let you know that indeed the light at the end of the tunnel is near. This is the meadow area. We actually ended up encountering a bunch of scouts up here with horses.

A breathtaking view of the corner canyon and alpine. Funny enough you can see Marcus's parent's house all the way where we were.

As much as you feel you have come a long ways there is still so much of the mountain we have not conquered. So now to tell the story of us getting lost. Marcus and I have gone past the point of where we got on the last hike. The turn off point to go down below Horsetail falls was not obvious and so we went up above horsetail falls. This wasn't a big deal until we tried to leave and get back to the trail to go down the corner canyon.

Here is a view of the river that goes down Horsetail Falls. 

And we finally came to where the falls is. 

 Now the problem was we were on top of the waterfall. We found a way to come down and see the waterfall from below however this was not where the other trail would have taken us. So we climbed up and down several times looking for a way back to the main trail. I was so exhausted by all the back tracking that I finally broke down and cried. Marcus was wondering what the heck was wrong with me. I finally realized that all the stress I was carrying was completely released because I had no barriers to hold it back with how tired I felt. I can laugh about how emotionally I was now, but at the time I was distraught. Below are more pictures of the water fall.

This is not very much water. Marcus has a picture of him by this waterfall and it looks so different.

One last view of Utah County before we make our descent. 

Overall this was a fun hike and I am glad we made it all the way there. I just hope the next time we do this we don't go on the extra adventure ugh :)

Three Mines Hike

 We did this hike probably back in September or so. I am really behind in my posts. I'm going to give a little background on this hike which you can see from everywhere in Alpine. I am probably going to butcher the story so forgive me. Apparently there is a local legend that Brigham Young said that the mountains of Alpine held precious metals. He basically placed a curse or blessing or whatever you want to call it on Alpine that any one who tried to mine would fail. He did not want Alpine turning into a Park City. Some people eventually tried to mine the mountain. They ended up finding formations that indicated they were close to finding precious metals. The next day the mine collapsed. They then tried this three to five times. Each time the mine would always collapse (Note) You can only really see three mines but I have been told there are five.

 About a couple of years ago Alpine had a fire. We had to walk through that area to get to the three mine trail. 

 We have made it to the three mine trail. 

 The first mine's slag deposit. This is the biggest slag deposit of the three mines. You can easily see this from Marcus's parent's house. It is amazing how all the rain has begun to wash the slag deposits away now that the vegetation is sparse because of the fire.

Inside the first mine. After a bunch of rain I am not sure you can see inside the mine anymore due to a lack of vegetation.

Up at the third mine overlooking Alpine.

At the third mine you have the option of taking a much smaller trail that takes you to the fourth and fifth mine. We walked this for a bit and we may have found the fourth mine, but we aren't really sure. 

 Picture of a cool looking tree

 Evidence of life coming back.

 This is the picture of the Three mines from the bottom of the trail. The zig zag is the trail. 

Horsetail Falls

In Alpine there is a canyon called "The Corner Canyon." As you begin to hike the dry creek trail a long ways up you will come to a waterfall called Horsetail Falls. Sadly I only had my crappy phone camera so you probably can't even see the waterfall in this picture. If you look where it is fairly rocky alongside the pine trees that is where the waterfall is. If you hike a bit further up and over you can go right up to the falls. Sadly we had to turn around because we had finished all our water and Marcus's leg was beginning to cramp. Nevertheless it was a beautiful hike and the final view was worth the work. I look forward to going back there again before we leave Alpine. We will take a better camera to capture the landmarks. The giant boulder, meadow, and look off and hopefully get to the waterfall.

For those of you who haven't seen, here is Marcus's beard. I guess almost every guy needs to go through the phase. I do have to admit it makes him look more mature. At least I think. 

Good Bye Logan!

A few days before I had to leave for my job training, Marcus and I set off for a hike. Marcus and I found this little trail off the Bonneville Shoreline trail that takes you straight up the mountain side. I felt this was a great hike to end on because I got to see all of Cache Valley and was able to say goodbye. 

We felt like we made pretty good progress up the steep mountain side. We thought we almost hit the top. When we got back to the car and started to drive away we began to realize we hadn't even made it a 1/4 of the way up the whole mountain haha. Stupid mountains. It is so hard to tell how big it really is. Hopefully someday I will have the strength to climb all sorts of mountains.

Embarking On a New Chapter

On June 12th I went down to Salt Lake to interview for a job at Valley Mental Health specifically for their substance abuse program. I didn't have much hope to get the job, but after talking to my sister Kristine, who worked in substance abuse for a few years, I felt more confident. Of course I still wasn't really thrilled about the job because it is only part time. Marcus and I wouldn't be able to move without someone securing a full time job. Even so I decided to give it a try anyways.

The interview went surprisingly well. I felt pretty calm--for an interview--and I felt a good connection with the interviewers. I left feeling I had a decent chance at getting the job. Interestingly enough they called me within 30 min. of me getting to my parents home and offered me the job. I of course took it!

I will be starting my new job July 1st. My training will be the last week of June. I can barely believe that all of this is happening. I feel a lot of different emotions: excitement, fear, nervousness, and happiness. Of course one thing that wasn't sitting right was the idea that I would be living in two different locations. My parents were kind enough to allow me to live with them while I worked and then I could go home to Logan to be with Marcus when I was done with my work for the week. In all reality this situation isn't too bad, but I hated the idea. Marcus is my anchor. He is a person I always go to with my thoughts and feelings. I was terrified to say the least that my number one emotional support was going to be 70+ miles away and would be working an opposite schedule from me. When I imagined starting my career I always imagined Marcus being there to support me through the stress, anxiety, and doubt that would inevitably come up. Now I was faced with the reality that I would be doing this by myself.

Thankfully I will not have to face the reality of doing this life change without Marcus being with me. Thanks to wonderful family who are willing to help us out Marcus can come with me and continue his job search in Salt Lake while he earns some money helping his dad at his business. We are hoping that very soon Marcus will be able to secure a job and be able to start his career soon. I certainly hope he doesn't have a dry spell like I did. Of course if that is the case my job has the potential of turning into a full time job within 4 to 6 months and maybe even sooner.

So by June 29th we will be leaving Logan. I have very mixed emotions about this. When I look around at the mountain ranges, the stores, the suburbs, and my apartment I feel sad to leave behind a place that has so many great memories. Logan has been good to us. We both received a fine education, we always had enough money to put food on our table, keep shelter over our heads, and pay for little luxuries. I also found a lot of healing here in Logan. I am a very different person from the young woman who came here. I have discovered so much of myself here and discovered how to enjoy life more than I ever have.

Of course Logan hasn't been perfect. There are lots of things I dislike about Logan that cause me to jump in the air clicking my heels knowing I get to leave them behind. For instance I think Logan is a poorly planned city. I mean seriously was the city planner drunk when he/she designed some of parts of town (I know that isn't the case, but I like to joke about it)??? I hate the winter inversions (which by the way I think are far worse than SLC or Utah County). It is a lot colder here in the winter than in SLC. The drivers here could give Utah County drivers a run for their money. People are constantly cutting me off, turning in front of me, and driving under the speed limit. I swear every time I drive anywhere I come back with a great story. Two Walmarts no Target 'nough said. Those are probably my top annoyances, and I know that SLC is not a perfect area either and I will find tons of things to complain about.

So there ya have it. Life all the sudden has drastically changed for us. Marcus has put in his two week notice, we are starting to cancel services, talked to our landlady, and I am beginning to deep clean and pack things away. I am very nervous about starting my new job. I hope that I will be able to find my place at Valley Mental Health and feel like I am a worthwhile contributing employee. Please send us along prayers, good vibes, or thoughts as we embark on a new adventure.

Third Anniversary

Yesterday Marcus and I celebrated our third anniversary. So much has happened to us in these short/long three years. We decided to start our day by going to different parts of Logan to think back to what it was like to start our life together here. I will never forget the week or two before we got married coming here to interview for my first internship, look for potential jobs, and find an apartment. We drove our same route (at least we tried, memory can be a fickle thing) when we came here our very first time.

We stopped at LDS Family Services and a local elementary school. It seems so long ago when I went to those places to interview. I felt so unsure of myself--well I still do in some ways--and I love seeing the growth that has taken place. We then parked our car at Adam's Park (a park we visited often at our old apartment) and walked to our old apartment. We laughed about our neighbors (the Mcbanger's and the Tijuana Prostitute/Have to watch The Office with the subwoofer going full blast), the raccoons  the time we realized a bunch of water collected in the trunk of our car where the spare tire is and we had to drain it, the crap shack, the boat house, and the hill of doom.

We then decided to walk up to campus. We talked about the fears we had, the insecurities, the hopes, and the dreams we had. We visited classrooms we were in and what the first day was like when we attended USU. I couldn't help but think while we did this how much I will miss Logan when we leave. I loved that we did this. Everything felt surreal. It felt like all this happened in another life.

Afterwards we decided to use some gift cards we had to get some lunch and then we checked in to the Anniversary Inn. It was fun to be able to do something like this for our anniversary. Our first two years of marriage we were too poor to do much of anything. I know incredibly well that you don't have to spend money to have a great time, believe me because that is what we have to do a lot of the time. Even so I thoroughly enjoyed doing something out of the ordinary. It was fun to mark this anniversary with something very different because we are entering into a new phase of our own lives' and in our marriage. We are both done with school. We hope that sometime soon we will be able to start our careers and experience all the neat things that come with that phase of life.

For those who may not know what is going on for us we are presently applying to any job that we can and trying to enjoy life as much as possible. There are days we feel down because we have no prospects so far and we feel frustrated that everything we try is not giving us any results; however, this anniversary showed me to not take for granted the time we have been given because I will miss what we have and where we are.