The Subway - Zion National Park

While Dental Student was on a break from school we decided to hike the Left Fork of North Creek (The Subway) in Zion National Park. This is one of my favorite places to hike. Four members of my BYU ward (201st) were also able to go with us. Truth be told, I figured the more young people in the group, the better chance I have of getting someone to pack my sorry butt out of the bottom of the canyon. My son and I take the famous "Log" photo op.
Alta and Thomas Bills show us the colorful scenery along Russell Gulch on the way to the Subway.
Are we lost?!?!? Dental Student, Thomas and Jason Ewell look like they are trying to find a vantage point to see if we know where we're going.

We decided to stop and eat our lunch on the ridge before the descent into to Left Fork while our food was still dry. In the back is Hiram Conley, our trusty guild. As much as I have hiked Zion, Hiram has more. I do have him on longevity, I started Zion slot canyons before he was in kindergarten. Thanks for you expertise Hiram! We'll do Das Boot next time. ;)
I love this descent path into the canyon. Dental Student found that sliding down that tree was a bit painful. Ouch!
This was our first rope climb down a chimney. Jason "sticks" his landing while Hiram acts as a spotter.
So, this looks like a great picture for our first CD, we just need to come up with a name for the band.

If you get nervous in tight spots, this is not the hike for you. Dental Student by now was soaked from head to toe. Probably because he dived through that submerged archway. Burrrrr! Most of us did have goose bumps and the shivers at one point or another.
Ah, the vastness of it all!
Do we look like posers, or what?
This is were you need that 75 foot rope (note the rappeller in the background). Jason actually found a place where you could slide, crash and burn into the bottom. Go Jason! I prized my ankles too much and used the rope.
The end of The Subway.

Who needs a water park, we found our own water slide.

The "boys" discovered fish in the stream. No one would be happy until they caught one. Jason is giving his expert advice from the sideline.
Augh, another beautiful waterfall. Okay, I take a picture of this one too!
Victory! We made it up the grueling ascent out of the canyon. No, really, grueling. After a taxing hike I'm thinking......Arby's. That was our first stop on the way home. Btw, we gave the tee shirt to him so he could remember which state we were in. The North Carolina hat did confuse him once in a while.

Radmall Vacation - Days Five Through Eight (New York)

NEW YORK! We are such tourists. We made the ferry ride over to the Statue of Liberty. Guitar Man was not impressed with this part of our sight seeing. I have the pictures to prove that he was on the island with us, but he would not be happy with me if I shared them.
Wednesday morning we woke up in Boston very early (5:30am I think), got ready and left for New York City. We had 2:00pm matinee tickets to Wicked. We left Boston around 7:00am and headed south. We experienced a little traffic congestion going through the lower part of Connecticut. We did get to our hotel room just after noon, got ready, jumped on the subway, and made it to the theater 10 minutes before curtain. Everyone loved the production. We had such a great time. The theater was wonderful, the set and scenery were excellent, and the singing and acting were superb.
Here we are on the subways of New York. We did most of our traveling to our various destinations below the city streets. Please note the shameless plug for Zabars. Cheryl is guarding the contents of one of our many shopping excursions to this famous uptown market. Little Wizard had never been exposed to store that had open meat counters and thousands of smells. It turned his stomach and made him a bit green the first time that we went into the store. On subsequent trips, he would stand out on the street and wait while we made our purchases. We especially loved their cherry cream cheese strudel. Right across the street was one of his favorite food stops, H and H bagels. Yum!

The Little Wizard is hanging out with one of his favorite idols, Blue. We had great fun in the M&M store and the Hershey's store on Time Square.
On one of our many subway rides, we were serenaded by this Mariachi duet.
You can see American Idol and Little Wizard, but Guitar Man is obscured by the bass fiddle. As you probably realized, they are trying to avoid eye contact. The first rule of subway riding! We did not grace their hats with any pesos. We made a pilgrimage to the house that Ruth built. The nose bleed bleacher tickets were going for $200. And this for a team that is not even going to make it to the playoffs. We did want to see the old Yankee Stadium before they demolish it at the end of this season. We also got to see the new stadium. It looks very nice. Guitar Man was particularly impressed when we saw the cops bust a scalper for selling counterfeit tickets. He had a wad of cash that would have choked a horse!
It's the Late Show with David Letterman. We had to take this photo op!
We got this shot in front of the Hello Deli (a main stay of the Letterman Show). Many a meat platter has be awarded in this venue. We took this picture just an hour before we headed for the airport to return home. The kids were particularly impressed that we got to see Rupert, the proprietor of this establishment. If you look really hard, you can see him driving away in the silver Toyota pickup truck. We had a great trip and enjoyed the opportunity to see and do so many wonderful things.

Radmall Vacation - Days Three and Four (Boston)

Here is the beautiful City of Boston from the harbour. This picture was taken during our harbour cruise. My question is this, because of the tea party, if you go swimming in the harbour and swallow some of the water, are you breaking the Word of Wisdom??? Here are the American Idol and Guitar Man in the Old North Church. Guitar Man is getting a little religion in the old fashion pews.
This is the U.S.S. Constitution (Old Ironsides). Little Wizard is waiting for permission to come aboard.
We are leaving topside to go to destinations down below (Watch your head!).
Guitar Man and Little Wizard waiting for the command to fire. They can't wait to pown some nautical newbs!

Does this photo scream "Anchors Away" or what?
This is the monument that stands on top of Bunker Hill. If we look just a little less than fresh, it is because we climbed the 294 steps to the top.
"Just sit right back and we'll tale a tell, the tale of a fateful trip......" Here we are starting our slightly less than a three hour tour in the Boston Harbour. I believe that Cheryl is on the phone with the Dental Student at UNLV.
We are wrapping up our last day at the home of Paul Revere. We had a lot of fun on the Freedom (Red Line) Trail.

No trip to Boston would be complete without a bowl of clam chowder (chowdah). While most of us opted for the more traditional bread bowl of chowder, Little Wizard wanted some orange chicken from a Chinese vendor. Here we are upstairs at Faneuil Hall.

Radmall Vacation - Day Two (Western New York)

Sunday morning we got up and attended the 9:00am Sacrament Meeting in Palmyra. Afterwards we went up to the temple grounds and walked around and looked out on the Smith farm and over to the Sacred Grove. It was a beautiful morning.

There are in the middle of Palmyra four churches, one on each corner of an intersection on the main highway. They are wonderful examples of the beautiful churches in the area. They were all established in the early 1800's. Most of the congregations that started these churches were Joseph Smith's contemporaries. I couldn't help but thing of Joseph saying, 'there was in the place where we lived an unusual excitement on the subject of religion. It commenced with the Methodists, but soon became general among all the sects in that region of country. Indeed, the whole district of country seemed affected by it, and great multitudes united themselves to the different religious parties, which created no small stir and division amongst the people, some crying, “Lo, here!” and others, “Lo, there!” Some were contending for the Methodist faith, some for the Presbyterian, and some for the Baptist.' It is interesting that these four churches represent three that were noted by Joseph Smith as well as the Episcopalians.

Here we are at Niagara Falls. There was very heavy rain that day. We weren't sure if more water was coming out of the sky or over the falls.
Here Cheryl and I are at the top of the Hill Cumorah. By the time we had returned from Niagara, the weather had cleared and we had blue sky.

The last sight that we saw that day was the Peter Whitmer farm. It is hard to believe that the church that we now belong to started in this humble home with just six member. We got there after the tours were over, but we did have a good look. We then hightailed it for Boston. It was raining hard that night and we didn't get to the hotel until 2:00am Monday morning. It was a very long day.