Our first big event to welcome Tom back to the extended family was a picnic in the park on Saturday. For many this would mean a drive to a nearby patch of city grass or a faraway lake, but in Orem it means a 15-minute ride into Provo Canyon and some of the most spectacular scenery this country has to offer. Just ask Robert Redford. His Sundance Ski Resort sits only a few miles up the road.
The canyon was carved by the Provo River, which alternately babbles and rages from the craggy peaks of the Wasatch Mountains down to the floor of the desert valley below. This erosion was no small feat of nature since the granite rock range averages between 9,000 and 10,000 feet in elevation. The second highest peak is Mount Timpanogas at 11,752 feet, almost every foot of which Dax scaled on an overnight Boy Scout hike last month. (He won’t admit it, but he’s buff.)
Amidst a grove of conifers and their more delicate deciduous cousins, the quaking aspens and cottonwoods, we plopped our group down on the meadow of Canyon Glen Park to soak up the fresh mountain air and unadulterated sunshine. Some reclined on blankets with babies while others chased preschoolers, but the majority engaged in a cutthroat game of the family’s current passion, bocce ball.
Per usual, Uncle Scott and his partner, Grandpa Lou, Read the rest of this entry »
