Utah's Arch » Fun

Happy Birthday, Dear

Travis Grant — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 22:47:08 +0000

Today is my dear wife’s birthday. And I am so impressed with the wonderful gift that I got for her, that I want to toot my own horn for a minute on this site.

Having made the decision to have a fairly large family. At least, large by today’s standards. We have to cut costs where ever possible.

As part of this cost cutting venture, we don’t hire people to do any automobile repairs, unless we have to. Well, the last time that my dear wife was out rotating the tires, I was so moved by the efforts she made. Trying to remove those lug nuts with nothing more than a box wrench was tough for her.

After the first tire was removed her dear knuckles were already bloody, and she still had three more to do. It was all I could do watching her as she struggled with each nut.

I was so moved by her diligent efforts, I knew that there was something to do to help her. So, this year, I purchase for her a tire iron. Not just any old tire iron. Nope. I bought the cheapest one that money can buy. After all, we have a big family and can’t afford more.

It will be so nice to watch her remove those lug nuts with this new tool. No longer will I have to endure the pains of her screams and grunts. It will be sure pleasure to watch her rotate the tires in just over an hour compared to half a day as in years past.

I love you dear. Happy Birthday.

Oh, by the way. I think it’s time to rotate the tires on my car.

The above is with respect to Walter E. Williams and his dear, departed wife, Connie, and his past Christmas presents he has shared with us on the Rush Limbaugh Show.

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Coyote Gulch

Travis Grant — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 05:29:37 +0000

A year ago you might remember my post about a trip that I made to Paranuweap Canyon. Well, I made a similar trip again this year, but this time to Coyote Gulch. We also added one more person to our group.

On May 15th, I headed down to the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument with the same friend as last year. Since we left as soon as I finished work, and because of a brief detour to Fish Lake on the trip down, we arrived after night fall, and slept out under the stars about 3 miles west of the Jacob Hamblin Arch Entrance. the best part of the trip down was the chance to find a few quick and easy geocaches. Sure it extended the trip, but for me it was well worth it. My friend seemed to agree.

After breakfast the next morning we headed east to the entrance. This was perhaps the worst part of the trip. It involved a 25 foot downward climb into the mouth of the canyon. The drop was very steep, and there was time where I almost fell, but I managed to keep my balance and the descent was successful.

When we arrived at the base we felt like we had landed in the Garden of Eden. It was still very early and the air was very crisp and fresh. With the cool air and beautiful lighting no picture can capture what we experienced.

After a short drip upstream to check out the awe inspiring Jacob Hamblin Arch, we headed down stream to Coyote Natural bridge. While We enjoyed a couple of nice stops on the way, including some great formation in the water, to a “hanging rock formation. But Coyote Natural Bridge was the best stop along the way.

After Coyote Natural Bridge, only two of us were able to continue on because of family obligations by the other half of the party. So, we continued on to see some petroglyphs and then a small waterfall, and Cliff Arch. While at Cliff Arch I had the distinct pleasure of watching a hawk circle above me and look for pray. I hope he wasn’t mistaking me for pray.

After a brief rest, we returned back to the entrance. While there were other options for entering and exiting the canyon, we decided that the Jacob Hamblin entrance would be the best. But before we ascended to our camp, we first went back to the see the other side of Jacob Hamblin arch, it is was well worth it. You can see the arch in it’s magnitude. It just seems to strech on forever.

After our ascent, and seeing that we had a few minutes to spend, we went to find the geocache located at Dance Hall Rock, and to enjoy a little bit of history. Interesting to know that even in trying times the early pioneers of Utah found time to dance and entertain themselves in this hot arid desert.

After finding the cache we drove to the trail head the lead to Peek-a-boo canyon and Spooky canyon. These were two great canyons, but both for different reasons. We camped at the trail head over night, and we thought for sure that the wind was going to blow us down to the base, but sleeping in the bed of the truck kept us safe.

Peek-a-boo was a more technical climb. We didn’t need any ropes, but it did involve some climbing, and supporting of each other to get through some parts of the climb. It was also fun to see the small arches that dotted the slot canyon.

After completing Peek-a-boo, which we measured as being as narrow as 9.5 inches at one point, we hiked over the the beginning of Spooky. This was awe inspiring because you got to see the wash that lead into Spooky. It was very wide, and a ton of water must have flowed through here at one point.

After a few minutes in Spooky, I soon learned why it had earn the name. If you have the slightest case of claustrophobia, then I would suggest that you not try this canyon. If I had been a lone, I think that I would have just freaked out, and turned around when we were only a few hundred feet from the end.

After finishing Spooky, and taking a short break, my friend talked me into hiking up Dry Fork Gulch with him. While the hike up the fork wasn’t anything too fantastic, the route that we took back to camp was great. The worst part of the trip was this is where I dropped my GPS and the screen smacked against a rock and cracked. It was rendered useless.

We decided after the hike up the gulch that we would take the “high road” back to camp. So we followed unmarked paths back. It was neat because we got to see some great rock formations and some beautifully blooming cactii.

At this point I was ready to go home. But my friend was determined to do one more slot canyon. He had had his heart set on hiking Zebra Canyon for several years, and he didn’t want to miss this oppertunity. So after helping a stranded truck fix their car and get headed back out of the canyon, we stopped a the trail head to Zebra Canyon.

The trip in was long, hot, and boring. The most intresting thing we saw was a slight coloration of the rocks that made it look a litte (okay very little) like Jesus Christ. It must have been the hot sun getting to me, I know.

Eventually, we made it to the mouth of Zebra and it was very nice. As you might well imagine, it is named Zebra Canyon, because it is striped in white and orange. There were a couple of technical (just a hand up) point, and it ended in a couple of keeper pots.

The trip back to the car seemed shorter than the trip to the canyon, and the ride home was nice. I wasn’t as exhausted as last years trip, and I really enjoyed this camp out. I hope you enjoyed the ride along with me.

Just as a note, you might notice that many of these pictures were used in the title splash of this site. I hope to take a some time to use other pictures I have taked these past couple of years, especially those from my Paranuweap trip.

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Another Move

Travis Grant — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 04:54:29 +0000

Okay, in the time that I have been blogging, I have had four different sites. First, I started at Writers on the Loose (WOTL). WOTL is a great group of people, and there are several writers there who are worth reading. While my stay was only short at WOTL, it helped me to learn that I have a passion for writing. Even if my editing ability is lacking.

Then I spent a long time at Blog-City and for the most part I was happy with their free service. I really had no intention of leaving. However, they started to charge, and I decided that what they offered wasn’t worth the fee. So, I moved on.

Most of my reader’s will know my from my WordPress account called Gazelem. I really enjoyed my stay. However, for a long time, I have seriously contemplated moving away from the name Gazelem. While I think it is a great name, it is a rather loaded name. So, I finally decided to move on.

I have been debating what to call my new blog. I thought of Grantastic, Grantabulous, Grantilicious, Grantemonium, and a few others that played off of my last name, but most of them just didn’t work for me. So, I thought that I would use the word Utah in the name, because accept for my personal life, I talk mostly about Utah Politics.

I considered Utah We Love Thee, because when I was at WOTL, that is what I used and it is the State Hymn for Utah (it used to be the state song, but that was change a few years back to Utah, This is the Place). And honestly, I love Utah. But Utah We Love Thee just seemed a little old fashioned.

I was really excited when I finally thought of The Utah Arrow. I was almost ready to go with that, but then I thought I might get entangled in a lawsuit with a local radio station, and I just didn’t want to have that as a possible mess. Besides, what do arrows have to dow with Utah besides the plethora of arrowheads you can find in this state.

Then it came to me. Utah’s Arch seems to captivate some of the things that I want this blog to be. First, it is about Utah. Second, I love arches, and Utah’s scenic red rock country has many of them. Also, the word Arch combined with Utah almost has a news-like feel to the name.

Arch can also serve as a great acronym for the block. A is for Analysis, where I hope to provide a critical assessment on the local news and events. R is for Rhetoric, since a lot of what you see here will hopefully be persuasive. C is for Colloquy, because I want you to get involved and comment and discuss the issues. And H is for Heuristics, where I would like to look at the past as our trial and error test, that we might learn for the future. Okay, I admit that last one is a bit of a stretch, but it works.

Another couple of acronyms could be America, Republican, Church, and Home which is a pretty good description of myself. But I hope that I also fit the acronym of Amicable, Relevant, Common Sense, and Humorous. There are probably others, but I think you get the idea. I love the Arch.

Anyway, welcome to my new home on the net. I hope you enjoy it, because I plan on staying here for a while.

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Sandy's Blog

Travis Grant — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 03:38:43 +0000

Well, after following my blog for years, my dear wife has finally given into the addiction called blogging. She followed my ill-advised advice, and used WordPress. After a brief training session, she finally has a new post. It is the talk she offered at her grand father’s funeral.

So, please take a minute to check it out.

Oh, and don’t expect much politics over there. She doesn’t find it as interesting as I do. But you will probably learn more about us through her blog, then you will through mine.

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World Net Daily and Sarah Palin Read My Blog

Travis Grant — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 16:39:55 +0000

World Net Daily and Sarah Palin stole my idea. While I probably should be angered at the plagiarism. I am more honored. I can’t believe that such a small little blog has such big influence.

World Net Dailey is reporting the same thing I did on Monday. That Sarah Palin is helping out NBC, SNL, and Tina Fey. I am impressed that my news has such a far reach.

So, now we know that this is important that we help out the struggling network, this struggling show, and this struggling comedian. Americans everywhere do you duty. We must help McCain and Palin to win.

Just another reminder, I won’t be voting for McCain. I can’t do it after the bailout. It was the wrong thing to do, so voting for anyone who voted for the bill is the wrong thing to do.

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Why McCain Palin Must Win

Travis Grant — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 17:28:12 +0000

I won’t ask you to vote for someone I wont’ vote for. But I feel that it is imperitive that this pair must win this election. It is for our country’s health that I believe this is true.

There are $700 billion reasons I will not be voting for McCain next month. I can’t support anyone who wants to turn this country into a socialist state. I am so serious about this non-McCain vote that I have sign the 110Amen Pledge. And I hope that you will to.

That said, I must state that I feel it is an imperative that John McCain and Sarah Palin with the election. And it is for one simple reason. We need comedy in hard times. We need to laugh as times get rough. And since we can’t seem to control congress, we need something to keep our minds off of the demise of our constitutional freedoms.

Think about it. How many Barack Obama jokes can Dave Letterman and Jay Leno do. Honestly, I think that they are done. Joe Biden just isn’t funny. There really isn’t anything about him that makes you want to laugh.

However, Sarah Palin is great fodder for the comedians. People we need to do this for Tina Fey. She is a struggling comedian whose fame has be greatly increased thanks to Palin’s nomination.

McCain won’t provide as much fodder, but we can have more fun with him than we can have with Obama.

We need to do this for America. I know that I am encouraging you to do that which I won’t but people, this is important for America. We need this.

Vote for good Comedy. Vote for laughs. Don’t vote for Obama/Biden.

America needs a good laugh.

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SODO: Cheesy Chicken and Rice

Travis Grant — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:58:18 +0000

Well, as thouse who follow my twitter account already know, I have put the dutcho ovens away for the year. However, shortly after I put them away, I pulled them out again. Last Wednesday my daughter’s school held Parent Teacher Conference. And to show our teacher appreciation for the extra long hours, our School Parent’s Organization provide dinner for the teachers on that day.

Last year my wife made a delicious Chicken Corn Chowder. And this year, I thought that it would be a good excuse to use the Dutch Ovens one last time. So, I pulled them out of storage.

For this recipe, I decided that we would try one of our families favorite oven recipes in the oven. It’s pretty simple.

4 chicken breast halves
4 Tbsp of butter
1 Tbsp of basil
1 Package of Chicken Flavor Rice and Past Mix
2 Cups water
1 Medium Tomato (sliced)
1 Cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Brown the chicken with in the butter. Coat the chicken with Basil.

Saute the rice pasta mix in the the remaining fat until the pasta is brown. Then add chicken and water.

Cook in 350 degree dutch oven until rice is tender (approx. 1 hour). I recommend that more heat is on the bottom for this recipe. Then add sliced tomatoes and shredded cheese to the top of mix until cheese is melted (approx. 5 minutes).

For this time cooking it we used Zatarans Chick Flavored rice for this recipe, and it tasted different than usual. I think it was because the rice is different than the brand that we usually use (store brand).

Also, the chicken started out partly frozen, so it ended up being very dry. However, it was delicious, and I can’t wait to try it in a dutch oven again, when I have a little more time.

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100 Push Ups: Week 2 Exhaustion Test

Travis Grant — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 21:06:33 +0000

After the Conferences on Saturday, I put my kids to bed, then did some last minute Internet time wasting, before I remembered that I needed to do my exhausion test.

After the 2nd week of the One Hundred Push Ups program, you are supposed to test yourself. While it is priimarily to see where you belong during week three, I used it to psyche myself up and help me to see that I am improving.

I didn’t want to psyche myself out by counting them. So, I had my wife count for me. I was afraid that by knowing that I was past my 15 mark, that I would just give up too early.

25.

I did 25 pushups. That is 10 more than I idid two weeks ago. While it isn’t the improvement that I would like to see so that I can complete this program in six weeks. It is an improvement. I am excited to see more improvement as I go through the program.

I think that part of my problem was that I didn’t (couldn’t) complete the final set of all but one of the days’ workouts. Usually, I would fall on my knees with one to three more pushups to do. I would rest for a few seconds, then complete the set.

Perhaps, I should repeat week 2, but twenty-five push ups are enough for me to go to week 3 if I move to the second column. So, that’s what I am going to do. I have been thinking through these past two weeks that it would probably be a better fit for me.

So, tonight, I will be doing 83 or more pushups. Wow, that sounds crazy. But I know that I can do it.

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SODO: Orange Knot Rolls

Travis Grant — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 23:02:15 +0000

I promised to post this two days ago, and yesterday, so I better get it posted, or you will all have me on a stake. Right now you might think I am just talking silly, but when you eat these, you will change your mind.

While on our Camp last week, we tried something that we haven’t ever had. We haven’t even had this done in a modern oven. But they sounded good.

Before I share the recipe, I should let you know that we got the recipe from Rhodes Bake-N-Serv. They offer great recipes for those who buy their product. But my wife and I are too cheap to pay their price, so we just use her Fridge Dough recipe that I shared with you earlier.

Then we followed the recipe modified for the dutch oven:

12 Dinner Rolls, thawed by still cold (we divided 1 loaf worth of fridge dough)
1 Orange rind, grated
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted

Citrus glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon butter, melted
3 tablespoons orange juice (we just used the juice from the orange that we rinded).
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix grated orange rind with sugar. Roll each roll into a 9-inch rope. Tie in a loose knot. Roll each knot in melted butter (was melted in the dutch oven) and then in rind/sugar mixture. Place in dutch oven with remaining melted butter. Cover and let rise until double in size. Bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes. Poor citrus glaze on rolls before serving.

They were good. The only reason we had any left over was because I was full already, and I could imagine stuffing myself any more. But there were gone early the next day.

I am still trying to figure out how to keep breads from getting over done on the bottom, and how to brown the tops. This time we tried flipping th rolls. This worked, but it was difficult and messy. I think that I am going to try putting more coals on top, and less on the bottom next time.

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The Camp of Hikes

Travis Grant — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:54:18 +0000

Last week our family took our new-to-us tent trailer camping at Spruces Campground. While it wasn’t my first choice for campsites, it really was a good trip.

We ended up leaving on Monday afternoon about 3:30pm. That was a lot later than I had originally planned, but I could get myself moving on Saturday to get the trailer packed and ready. So, we did most of the packing on Monday.

After we got to camp, we decided to do tinfoil dinners first, because the dutch oven meals were still frozen. It was nice. We then settle in earlier than usual for camping, because we had worked hard that morning.

In the morning, I woke up before everyone else (which is typical). So, I decided that I would start the day in searching for a geocache. The is called New Name New Cache and it is located up the Days Fork Trail. It is accessible only through the Spruces campground, but you can park just outside the campground if you don’t want to pay the fee.

It was a rough hike at first, but it levels off near the end and is very pleasant. I was tempted to place another cache to attract people up there, but I really didn’t have a good container. So, I will put one up next year. Spruces seems to be an annual tradition in our family.

When I got home we had a big breakfast of biscuits, sausages, and eggs. The biscuits were done in the dutch oven, and as you would expect from the dutch oven, there were better than from a regular oven.

After breakfast, I got the geocaching but again. So, I offered to take my kids on a hike to find a geocache. We headed out in search of Health Come to Dog Lake. When I got to the trail head and saw that the trail was 2.6 miles, I should have known it was too much for my 4- and 2-year-old to handle, but when I am caching such common sense departs.

After getting about 1.5 miles into the hike, I contemplated turning around. It was a beautiful enough of a spot to call our final destination. There were hundreds of butterflies, a few bees, and thousands of beautiful flowers by the stream. It made a great resting place.

However, after eating the snacks that we had brought, I was renewed. So, we pushed on. I told my children that we would decide about turning back once we got the the fork in the trail. At the fork, it was only a half a mile left to Dog Lake, so we decided to do it. It was a lot rougher, but no more difficult than the first half of the trail. It was at this point I started to carry Capt. Z.

We finally made it to Dog Lake. It wasn’t much to see, but it was a good hike. We thought about pushing on the the cache. But realized that it was 2:30pm and that Mom would be expecting us home soon. So, we gave up on that cache, and decided to find the two that I had already found before. We found the first, but not the last.

We ended up not getting home until 5:30pm. So late, that my wife had called my dad, and was ready to send out the search teams. But my dad assured her, that I was just following in his foot steps and turning a short hike into a forever hike.

Sandy had dinner all ready to go by the time we got home, so I helped her get dessert ready. We had the Great Chicken Dinner that I have told you about again. But we finished it off with some very delicious Orange Knot Rolls. I will share the recipe with you tomorrow. After a long hike, it was very delicious and satisfying. I don’t remember ever eating that well while camping.

We started a game of cards that evening, but the younger kids were acting up, and we decided that we should call it a night.

Wednesday morning, I decided to stick around for two reasons. The first was because we were having German Pancakes in the dutch oven. The second was that I was tired from the 8 miles of hiking that I did the day before.

After breakfast, the kids relaxed and played in the nearby stream, and I didn’t do much. I did take a short nap, and played a little catch with the kids, but for the most part, I watched the trees grow.

After lunch, which was hot dogs and mac’n'cheese, we play a game of ‘May I’ (that’s pronounced like the request “may eye?”). One of these days I hope to explain it to you, because I believe that it is a Gazelem Family phenomenon.

Then for dinner we had barbecue country style pork ribs (if you need the recipe then you have never dutch oven cooked) and baked potatoes. The potatoes were done by wrapping them in tinfoil and then cooking them in the dutch oven. They were amazingly good.

I couldn’t let the day go by without some geocaching, so we decided to do some drive-by caches in the canyon. We started out with a no find, then we had a couple of easy finds by a restaurant and a trail head.

The cache by the trail head gave me an idea of where I wanted to go in the morning. So after an okay night’s rest, I started by going after perhaps the lamest virtual cache in Utah, and perhaps the reason GC.com doesn’t list virtual caches. Then, I headed back to the trail head, and head up the canyon to grab several different caches.

But the main goal to to get a possible First To Find. I knew from the description, and looking at my TOPO maps on my GPS that this wasn’t going to be a pretty hike. But I had to go for it. Because my database was a month old and it looked like a possible First Find experience. The hike up was rough. There was a couple of times that I thought about giving up. But I perservered, and I was the second to find the cache.

My only regret is that my camera batteries were dead and so there were no pictures taken of this beautiful site. I might just have to do this again for the great pictures. But I think that I saw an easier approach while I was up there, so I might try a different route next time.

Coming down was an adventure itself. I decided to follow in the steps of the person before me (not that I saw his tracks, just had the same mind set). And I headed straight down the hill. There were several times that I felt like I was going to fall and break something, but after slowing down just a hair, and keeping my eyes wide open, I managed to get to Willow Heights safely.

When I got home, we started packing up the trailer and started heading home. It was a fun week, and I am glad that despite my misgivings, that we went camping at Spruces. Next year, I will definitely place a couple of caches in the area. Because I know that I will be going often enough.

See More Pictures

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