Apple Picking | 2016

One of the most quintessential fall activities: Apple Picking. Right behind engaging in pumpkin spice flavored everything, purchasing mums for the front porch, & searching for the perfect pumpkin in the patch.

Nonetheless, apple picking is one of my favorite fall activities.  Something about dressing up for the cooler weather, hopping on a horse drawn wagon, & getting dropped off in the middle of the apple orchard, just soothes my soul.  And doing it with kiddos, even better.

We took Elena & Kane to the apple orchard, and they had a ball.  They each picked a bag full of apples – we thought we were picking honey crisp, but turns out we got cortland’s, which are good, too.

The kids rummaged the rows for “the good apples” without any “yuckies”, and quickly filled their bags.

Kane ate 2 ½ apples during our time at the orchard, and Elena constructed a bouquet of wild flowers.

Once we got back to our house, Kane napped while Elena & I made apple crisp.  She is SUCH a helper right now and wants to do all the things.  She washed all the apples while I cut & peeled them.  I did all the measuring of the ingredients, but she did all the stirring.  Together we popped the crisp in the oven, and waited as the aroma of apple & cinnamon filled the house.  It was the perfect ending to the perfect fall day!

P.S.  Let all the fall baking begin! 

Travel: The Hoover Dam

It occurred to me the other day, that I never posted about our trip to the Hoover Dam while we were in Las Vegas this spring.

The dam is quite impressive, and one of the those things that you need to see in person to truly appreciate & understand the sheer volume of this massive structure.

We did the dam tour, and it was neat & very informative.  Not the most exciting thing in the whole world, but a good experience none-the-less.  I think we spent about 3 hours total at the dam, and we made sure to get there right away in the morning when it opened to avoid large crowds & the daytime heat.

Damn... that's a long ways down! ;)

Arizona side...

Nevada side...

Mike O'Callaghan - Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge

I'm not sure how much you remember learning about the Hoover Dam in school, but what's fascinating to me is the engineering feat that went into constructing the dam, and how they were able to divert the flow of the Colorado River while it was being built.  I mean, this was back in 1931 -- before computers and all the fancy gadgets we have today.

The dam was built to control the flow of the Colorado River, provide irrigation water to farmlands, and provide a dependable water supply for southern California.  It's self-supporting, too; the operation & maintenance is solely supported with the revenue from it's power sales.  To this day, the Hoover Dam is a world-renowned structure.

A look inside the dam:

If you're claustrophobic, avoid this part of the tour...

Here's the view at the end of that long narrow tunnel

Lake Mead -- America's largest man-made reservoir that can store 9.2 trillion gallons of water.  It also serves as a means of recreation. And, it's beautiful!

Zac pointing out some fish...

The view from the Mike O'Callaghan - Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge (it was sooo windy on top the bridge!)

 

If you're in the area or passing through, make sure to stop by the Hoover Dam... even just to snap a pic.  You'll be amazed at it's sheer volume!  Plus, you can literally be in two places at once... Nevada & Arizona!

P.S.  You'll drive through Boulder City to get to the Hoover Dam.  On our way back to Vegas, we ate a super classy lunch at the local Taco Bell, and across the street was this fun mural.  Had we not stopped for a cheap lunch, I would have never gotten this photo :)

Travel: Red Rock Canyon (Part two: the hike)

Click here for part 1 of Red Rock Canyon.

Later in the week, we returned to Red Rock Canyon to hike.  The weather that particular day was kind of crazy; it had rained earlier in the morning at our condo (which was about 30 minutes from Red Rock), but the skies had cleared and it seemed like it was going to be a beautiful day for a hike!

We had gotten to Red Rock at about 11, and by 12:30 it was sleeting.  SLEETING -- in Nevada!!

Before the sleet though, came wind, rain, thunder & lightening -- basically, a full blown storm that threatened us about half way through our hike.  So, we high-tailed it back to the car to grab a snack & wait out the storm.

After we had eaten all of the snacks we had packed in the car, the rain had passed & we ventured out a second time.  I was a little timid this time around though, because the skies still looked a little erie.  Plus, I took a bit of a tumble earlier in the day & was afraid to slip upon the wet rocks (word to the wise, wear actual hiking boots if you plan to hike on the rocks... worn out tennis shoes won't cut it...)

  

Even though our hike got cut short by the storm, we both agree that Red Rock Canyon was probably the highlight of our Vegas trip.   We hope to get back there in the future!