Oquirrh Mountain Temple Tour

Today I took the tour of the Oquirrh Mtn temple with my friends Clarinda and Heidi.

I have been wanting to see the inside of a temple since they refurbished the Manti Temple way back. I never got around to it until today.

The crystal chandeliers inside this temple are absolutely gorgeous.

I would add a picture of it, but they don't allow any photos inside. But you can see some pics of the inside and the chandeliers here.

Scorched Maroni

Apparently they didn't get the lightning rod in working condition in time to avoid a strike. Maroni is still a little tarnished on the arm.

But not as much tarnish as right after it happened June 15th 2009

Thanks Clarinda and Heidi for going with me. I really enjoyed it.

July Scrapbooking Night

July 17th was our 2nd scrapbooking night. We had a shrimp bawl (shrimp boil) with corn bread and coleslaw. Cheryl, Katy and Tawnicia

Really Intense stuff going on that night. Lot's of concentration.
We watched "Twilight" while we worked.
I really enjoy our scrapbooking night. It gets me motivated to get my pictures in albums.

Hell's Backbone and Posey Lake

July 11th, Dave and I went for a drive. Our first destination was Boulder for Rueben sandwiches at the Burr Trail Grill. Yum!

After lunch we drove up to Hell's Backbone on our way to Posey Lake.

Dave out on a ledge

Posey Lake
I forgot what a nice little lake it is.

We found signs of beaver all around the lake.

They didn't quite finish the one behind me.

Smokey Bear Balloon in Provo, UT

Today was a day to remember.

I got to ride in the Smokey Bear Hot Air Balloon!!!!
I have wanted to do this since I moved to the area in 2000.

The weather was a little unsure when I got there, so I wasn't sure that the balloon would even go up today.

The Smokey Bear Balloon is a very big balloon and they take very good care of it. See the pic below with the tarp out. They set up and take down the balloon on a tarp to keep it clean. That helps make the balloon last longer.

After it gets spread out on the tarp they begin to fill it with air from a fan to start inflating it.




Reid is our Prevention Officer for the forest. He makes arrangements for hosting the balloon every year. My job is to make sure the money is budgeted for the balloon.







Once the balloon is inflated enough, they turn on the propane burners and get it headed up.

Smokey is unique because of his nose. Reid says you can always tell which way the wind is blowing by the direction that Smokey's nose is pointed.

Yep, I'm in the basket getting ready to launch.

You can't tell, but I am so excited that I can hardly contain myself.

This is about how high we got when I started to think that the heights were going to be an issue for me. But I took a deep breath and up we went.

The ride was a lot different then I expected. It was almost sureal. Very relaxing if you can believe that. When you are up in the air, you don't really feel like you are way up. The breeze takes you in the direction it blows and you are just up there part of it.

The other thing I didn't realize is that you can talk to people on the ground. I had people that were waving and yelling. It was fun to talk to them.

Looking for a place to land can get interesting in the urban area. You try to find a park, but you have to make sure that there is access for the chase truck to get there to load all the equipment up after you get it packed.

Bill is the pilot, he has been doing this for years. He used to be a former Forest Service Employee before he retired. I told him that he has the best job!

We were hovering over the country club golf course for quite awhile because of the lack of wind.

We didn't make it to a park, so we settled for the Shopko parking lot.

We flew for about 2 hours. I couldn't have asked for a better ride.

I am so glad that I had the opportunity to fly. It was the best!

Update: My brother sends me this video.

Very funny Kent Glad I didn't tell you before I went.

Smokey balloon video