ROY X CONE contest, 1.1.11 - 2.1.12

[entertainment!]

Laughing Gnome would be my guess.

Correct!!!

[cash]

Summertime in the mountains

The mercury is rising so I took the family up one of the canyons that surround SLC. This trial is roughly 20 minutes from my home in the city.

Shorty has taken to walking like a fish to water. I now spend a lot of time taking fragile/dangerous things out of his hands.

Summer in full swing.

Let me introduce you to one of the twins. She is sick of the heat too.

This week I spent a little time working on the opposite side of the valley than I normally do. This is the Bingham Canyon Mine. It is a big, big damn hole.

My wife's godfather is a retired colonel, so he likes taking us up to an old army base. The base has been incorporated into the University of Utah, but there is still some military operations at the locations. There was also a high school cheerleading camp using the parade grounds. No photos, but the chitlin noticed the girls and spent a bit of time watching them excitedly.

[robbie]

clouds were moving, messing stuff up.

[roy6]

Very nice cash. I owe you an over-heated pug rep. Pugs. Even their suffering is cute.

Paul- a really lovely batch of photos. And nice to know that, although you move in rarified circles, you still do your own floors.

[zissou]

cash- which canyon?? I was up Little Cottonwood with my class the past couple of days. Photos coming tomorrow, too tired now...

[riff]

Paul, looks like a real fun evening. Funny, my wife is crazy about Fiennes too. I don't get it

But those floors - beautiful, that's a work of art. Super difficult to find anything like that here sadly. Lovely work you did there.

Cash - stunning scenery! Robbie - looking good! How many washes now?

[robbie]

a machine wash and 2 hand washes. a ton of soaks for dishroom grime as well.

[Dr_Heech]

Great stuff Paul, Robbie and Cash.

Must spread atm.

.

[roy6]

The usual Friday night:

[Dr_Heech]

The usual Friday night:

Is that before and after?

.

[Dr_Heech]

Roy's went in for their second proper 40 degree wash.

These pix taken when they were still wet.

.

[cash]

cash- which canyon?? I was up Little Cottonwood with my class the past couple of days. Photos coming tomorrow, too tired now...

Parley's Canyon. These trails are up in the coniferous forest on the southwest end of Summit Park. Great trails for kids -- not too steep or too long. Nothing longer than 3 miles.

[Paul T]

[zissou]

Like I mentioned, I spent the past two days exploring Little Cottonwood Canyon outside of Slat Lake City with my class. We started at the mouth of the canyon, learning about the geologic features. The steep-walled U-shaped canyon is indicative of the glacial history during the last ice age. At that time, much of northern Utah was covered by an enormous freshwater lake called Lake Bonneville. The glacier from the canyon reached the lake and would calve icebergs into it. The large boulders on the sides of the canyon were deposited by the glacier. You might not be able to tell from the photo, but the house in the foreground is sitting right on top of a fault in the Earth. The spot where I am standing is continually dropping, and the mountains are continually rising. We're overdue for a large earthquake...

We made our way up the canyon to Alta Ski Resort, where we were going to learn about the montane plant communities. On the second day, my van died half way up the canyon, and the other van blew its water pump at the top! Amazingly, it didn't hamper our hikes, and both vans were replaced by the end of the day.

Alta is well known in Utah for receiving tons of snow each winter- on average 500 inches! They stopped counting in May of this year when they hit around 700 inches. Despite being early July, there was plenty of snow still hanging around!

Roys on snow!

We had to be careful traversing the snow, because there were streams flowing beneath it. What a rude awakening to fall through the snow and land in an icy stream!

I tried to talk them into loaning me a snowcat since both of our vans were dead. No luck.

Plants were just starting to poke through the soil in the sunnier spots.

And the tiger swallowtails had stopped for a drink.

The 'pistol-butted trunks' (curved downhill at the base) of the aspen trees were due to the heavy snow load in winter.

The large basin just below the ridge is called Albion Basin. In the summer, it's a mecca for wildflower viewing. We were supposed to go there next week, but everything is still under snow! The bowl-shaped form is called a cirque, which is where the glacier formed and began carving downhill due to the sheer weight of the ice.

Despite the vehicle mishaps and my not getting any sleep one of the nights, everyone had a fantastic time. Not a bad classroom to work in, eh?

[erk]

My friend Derek and I went on a bike trip up the outer banks of North Carolina. Our goal was to make it to Nag's Head by dark, which is around 70 miles north of Ocracoke and one 30 minute ferry ride from ocracoke to hatteras.

When we arrived in Swan Quarter we boarded a ferry that would take us across the sound to Ocracoke Island

sea gulls follow these ferries because people are stupid enough to feed them snack food and bread. they end up shitting on everything.

here's this joker caught in the act.

I didn't have the actual jeans on, but I had my bandana and boxers. the wind on the front of the ferry gave me an incredible pomp.

here we are arriving at ocracoke island. after the 3hr ferry ride, I couldn't wait to get off.

We road across 14 miles of Ocracoke Island in 25mins. We were making some great time. I was hoping to get some more pictures on ocracoke but kinda forgot.

we hopped onto the 30min ferry to hatteras island. We used the time to rehydrate and apply some gold bond powder in the bathroom.

my bike on the ferry to hatteras. I thought it was a cool shot.

While on Hatteras Island I figured we HAD to stop by the Cape Hatteras light house. so we did.

This is probably the most famous light house in NC. It was actually moved to this location a few years ago. the beach was receding and the light house was about to sink into the ocean. I remember watching them move it on television. It was quite the sight.

Now, I wanted to take a lot more photos of stuff along the way and all, but after the light house I was too focused on riding to take anymore. In fact I didn't take any until we were both stuffed full of tuna steak sandwiches. I dont think I'd ever been that hungry.

this shows a map of our trip. we didn't quite make it to Nag's Head, but it was a good 58 Mile bike ride done in 4hrs. Not bad for our first tour.

we made it all the way to Rodanthe where our loving lady friends picked us up and drove us the rest of the way to Nag's head. We spent the rest of the weekend body surfing, eating seafood and some special brownies we made that were a little too special for everyone involved. had a blast though.

[robbie]

zissou,erk,paul - great posts! You've all got me craving some time out in nature or on the water.

[Joseph Hill]

A couple of months ago my co-worker wrecked his back and had to get some saw-bones treatment. I've been filling in most of his shifts so I haven't had much time for groovy things. I have managed some here and there, though, but I haven't fiddled with the pictures yet. I did want to slip these in. The gf and I went into a little French joint behind Pike Place Market .

And came out engaged...

The ROYs were along for the ride when I put my lo-o-ong standing bachelorhood officially on notice.

[mikecch]

^ Congratulations mate!!!

[ThisSunday]

Congratulations

[robbie]

Congratulations! Being married is the absolute best.

[ranonranonarat]

congrats! always good news to hear on this thread. now you have to put your wild days behind you like all the married men on this thread. HA!

[Paul T]

The ROYs were along for the ride when I put my lo-o-ong standing bachelorhood officially on notice.

Yeah! THis is now officially the most happening thread on SuFu. Congratulations!

Hmm, all we need now is a RxC baby. rnrswitch, how are you getting on in that department, not shirking I hope?

[Maynard Friedman]

Yeah! THis is now officially the most happening thread on SuFu. Congratulations!

Hmm, all we need now is a RxC baby. rnrswitch, how are you getting on in that department, not shirking I hope?

...and a RxC civil partnership - who are the candidates?

[dkatz]

Wow this thread never ceases to amaze...

Joseph- gigantic CONGRATULATIONS from Uganda!

erk- awesome ride. My grandma used to live in Nag's Head, and I loved visiting her there. Too bad she moved a couple hours inland to shitsville, NC.

Paul- lovely touring around with you as always, and the nipper is a lucky man for that print!

zissou- not a bad classroom at all. Gorgeous...

mikecch- thanks dude! I'm excited to get my hands on the stuff in a couple months

farhad- finally got a chance to have a look through your blog and love it!

TG- sorry for offending, but the kayaks do look gorgeous in the water. You must be very proud!

Well I'm back in Kampala, after some interesting visits to Nairobi and Kigali. And now I have four (!!!) days until I leave for a month and a half in India, [a 2-day pass back through Uganda to pick up my shit] a few weeks in Germany, a few days in Istanbul and, finally, homeward bound. I'm a little bit panicky about getting everything done that I need to, but still want to play catch up here from my last couple weeks. Let me get some photos in order, and then the deluge will begin!

[dkatz]

To celebrate our new freedom (some people call it "unemployment"), Homegirl and I decided on a five day camping adventure in the Crater lakes region of Southwestern Uganda

Traffic

Shipping

Public transportation

In Fort Portal, the main town in this region. I like this map.

Rented incredibly janky bikes to head out to Ambeere caves. In hindsight it was a less-scenic ride than I'd hoped for

All sorts of fun roads

The caves are on a guy's private property, as is this gorgeous guesthouse

[dkatz]

Through pastures, to a little gate

And, like Alice in Wonderland, through the little gate was a different world: the jungle!

We went through,

down,

over,

and all sorts of other prepositions in the jungle

to a beautiful little waterfall

Learned why they're called "jungle gyms"

ROYxCones got their Tarzan action on

[dkatz]

Out into pastureland, around crater lakes

At least someone was hard at work

Photographing poop is serious business

Up, up, up

C'mon, Homegirl!

And, for those of you who have seen a fair few of my posts, this photo will be unsurprising

Nice view, eh?

Ahhhh

A "flame tree". Prevalent in Western Uganda, and gorgeous.

Our guide showed us how, as children, they would harvest the flowers of the flame tree and, with the addition of a twig to each flower, make themselves great make-believe poultry farm magnates

As well as how another type of local leaf could be used as velcro - ideal for building leafy sun hats

[dkatz]

Having finished our trek, back to Fort Portal town we went

To reward ourselves with a shockingly good dinner of pizza and delicious Italian wine at Pier's Italian restaurant in Fort Portal

The next morning, up and at 'em, out of Fort Portal town southward toward more Crater lakes and Kibale National Forest.

On their way to school...

at Nkuruba Lake to check out some campgrounds and, straight off, MONKEYS!

This summed up our shared sentiment well

We wound up staying at a different campgrounds, though, because they were quite nice. Homegirl did the heavy lifting in the tent set-up

Not a bad spot...

The next morning we decided to walk back, through village roads, to Lake Nkuruba to have a look around.

Tea plantations are all over this region

Stopped at Rwehambra (?) trading center for some breakfast

[dkatz]

Not bad for about $1

And the nice lady through in some chillis for free

Market

Working the tea fields

Coming upon this scene made me happy. A grip of ladies and gentlemen out digging their fields, chatting away and laughing, laughing, laughing

Oh how far we've come

Back to the Lake Nkuruba campsite, where our friends also returned.

The run between stands of trees

With a passenger!

One by one, they all made the risky trek

[dkatz]

And, once safely there, the fun began. Fly monkey, fly!

We wandered down through the dense vegetation toward the lakeside

And found a nice little path going around the lake

Hark, what be that in the tree?

Another monkey!

Go monkey, go! Flyyy!

Through the jungle

To a nice little rock in the lake