Took a short trip up to see Mom for a few days. The weather was beautiful, by Western WA Spring standards! We ran some errands, went to appointments and generally kept busy around the apartment. I didn’t take too many photos this trip!

One of the first orders of business was to “Springify” the wreath.

Went up to the church on Sunday and “delivered” flowers to Dad before the service.

I stayed at one of the guest suites at the Gardens and had to play by the rules … push the red button every morning, no showers until 7am, wear your visitor sticker so you don’t get mistaken for a new resident …

We even ate in the Gardens’ dining room one night. Not bad but it will be interesting how they manage the meals once the remodeling starts.

In the process of catching up on the blog – this one is sort of out of order as it happened in March!

One of the annual events that the Women’s Wine Hiking Society hosts is the Moab Wine Camp. It is a 3-day event outside of Moab in the Big Bend Campground, Group site. This was probably the first “car camping” I had done in 40 years. Every trip that I have gone since childhood was self supported and the goal was to camp as far away from the car as possible! It was fun seeing all the different interpretations of car camping – from those that brought their trailers, camper vans, conversion units where they slept basically in the back of their cars, all the way down to the few of us that just brought tents. It was also interesting to see all the iterations of car camping supplies – a far cry from the old, big clunky green Coleman stoves we used to have!

The first day we hiked the Dinosaur Stomping Ground Trail.

The second hike we took, after a quick trailside lunch, was to the Hunter Canyon Trail (3.7 miles RT, 387ft gain.)

The second day we headed into Moab and found a trail that is not too far from the main part of town – The Cowboy Jacuzzis via the Mill Creek Rim Trail (3.8 mile RT, 456 ft gain.)

I took a hike the last evening up above our campsite and there was a great view, as well as a few flowers just starting to bloom.

All and all a fun weekend. The leaders did a great job finding hikes in the area that none of us had been on. They weren’t super challenging but all were unique and beautiful. Nice gals and even a few that would seem to be good hiking partners as Joel has hung up his hiking poles! Too bad most of them live pretty far away – we might need to plan some hikes this summer in between Salt Lake City and North Ogden!

We didn’t make it to New Ulm for the holidays – mostly didn’t want to deal with bad weather and treacherous roads. So we decided to travel in early April to see Joel’s family. The roads would surely be safe by then, what could possibly go wrong …?

This was the view as we headed up into Evanston, WY., about 90 minutes from our house – unfortunately, this same storm followed us for the two day trip to New Ulm!

Once we got to town, Joel was able to spend time with his Dad looking at stamps, we brought a Walleye platter meal for everyone from Turner Hall and had a nice dinner. Things sort of fell apart from there but we were flexible!

Joel got to see lots of family, friends, and we even snuck in a little birthday party for him at Janelle and Dave’s house.

The visit was pretty short but we were thankful to be able to see everyone. Ross, Joanne, Whitney, Dan and family visited the next day but I don’t think anyone got any photos – Next Time!

At least until the Fall when all the crops are harvested and the weather turns foul and we need an excuse to sit inside.

Miya turned out to be a much better helper than I was, at least in the moral support department!

A mix of snow, sun and a little rain has set the flowers and blossoms in the yard blooming. And, for the first time, my nose was running so bad I had to buy a box of Benadryl!

And Joel was in the garden today planting his snap pea starts. He has already harvested spring onions and green/purple asparagus, which we had for dinner last night.

As a Board Member of the Trails Foundation now, I was excited to see the author that they chose for their 2025 Author Dinner. I had picked up the book last year so was pleasantly surprised to find out he was the chosen speaker!

Kevin Fedarko gave an amazing presentation about the journey that he and Pete McBride made as they traveled the length of the Grand Canyon, on foot, from East to West – 750 miles!

The book was a great read and I highly recommend it – it blends the right amount of drama, humor and a lot of insights into what is going on (good and bad) in the Grand Canyon today.

At the end of this post there is a link to the first of a three-part series on the journey that was put together by National Geographic. Again, if you have time, I highly recommend watching the series!

Here is Part 1 of the story behind A Walk in the Park;

A couple of days after I returned from Ecuador,  Joel took off to AZ for a stamp show. A little different type of action shots, but if you look closely,  you can see the money flying out of his wallet!

Aside from getting his guns ready for the range opening later this month, buying seeds for the garden, working out at our new gym (VASA) and cataloging his new stamps, Joel has been busy with many puzzles. He recently enlisted the services of a new helper as I prove to again lack the attention necessary.

We had two days at Banos and lower altitude before attempting our third peak in six days – Chimborazo, the tallest mountain in Ecuador. We made our way through the Chimborazo National Park to an upper parking area. Once unloaded we headed up two hours and 2,000′ to high camp. Yes – high camp is aptly named as it sits at 17,338′. This was the most primitive of camps – everything including a commercial size stove, wood for the outhouses, giant sleeping tents, fuel, etc., had to be carried up by porters.

We dumped all our gear and headed into the kitchen tent for dinner. Then back to the sleeping tent where we were stacked up like cordwood!

After no sleep and listening to the winds howl for hours, we were woken up at midnight for our summit attempt. I was feeling extremely tired, slightly upset stomach (several days of runny, local yogurt to blame?) but ate breakfast and decided to make as much of an effort as I could. Unfortunately, after an hour of basically vertical ascent 1,000′ through rock and rubble fields (on crampons – which is not fun,) I decided that it was just not my day and turned around.

It was to be another 5 hours climbing to the summit once the team finally reached the glacier, but everyone made it! Yay Team! They showed me photos of the ice and rime on their faces and said it was windy and cold almost the entire time. I was so happy for everyone – they obviously should be proud of their summits and hard work!

There are really two summits to Chimborazo: Ventimilla and the Whymper summit. Most people only climb the Ventimilla because although the two summits are only a few hundred feet apart, altitude sickness and/or bad snows conditions between the two summits can make that additional very short trip take several extra hours. Brandi chose to stop at the first summit while the other three headed to the true summit.

As I was heading down the mountain, I looked up and saw two teams descending. I waited at the parking area with Jacob (we switched guides when I turned back) for our bus to arrive. Once everyone was down safely we headed to our hotel and a well deserved nap!

The trip had started on my birthday but everyone arrived in the evening on the 25th and we didn’t actually meet until the next morning so I never mentioned anything. After the Chimborazo climb I mentioned that I had my birthday on the trip and it was agreed that I could have a glass of champagne at the hotel. HAHA Unfortunately it was the weekend of their presidential election. In Ecuador it is mandatory to vote and there was no alcohol service on Saturday or Sunday, even for tourists. I made do with a giant chocolate covered chocolate mousse bomb, though so all was not lost!

The next day, we parted ways – some had early morning flights while Alex and I had the same late evening flight out of Quito to Atlanta. We just lounged around for the day – I managed a short horseback ride and she had a test to take for her MBA. We met for lunch, dinner and then rode to the airport together – once we got to Atlanta, she headed to Seattle and I made it back to Salt Lake City.

And then home it was after a grand adventure!

After a rest day we headed up to our second objective, Cotopaxi. It was basically the same – wash, rinse, repeat cycle! We arrived late morning at the parking lot (they call it Cotopaxi Parking Land – not sure why so formal) where we assembled all our gear and then had about an hour hike up to the Jose Rivas Refuge.

Once inside the refuge, we threw out our sleeping bags and got organized, then had dinner and tried to sleep for about five hours before we were woken up for our summit bid at midnight. It was to be another 3,000’+ climb – not overly technical but physically demanding on moderate (35 – 40 degree) glaciated slopes.

Again, not a lot of photos on the way up – but a lot at the summit!

Finally got to the part of the trip that we all signed up for – climbing the three highest volcanoes in Ecuador. Prior to climbing our first volcano, we went up to the flanks of Cayambe and spent a couple hours reviewing glacier travel/skills and to see how we worked as a team. It was one of those situations that I should not have listened to the advice of the guide – he said the weather probably would break and we shouldn’t have to worry about getting wet. I left my rain paints back at the hotel and regretted it almost immediately – it was a cold and wet ride back in the bus!

The next day we moved up to the Cayambe Hut at 15,282′. From that point we would launch our midnight assault on the mountain, weather permitting. The goal of getting an early start is to ensure that the snow conditions are stable – it is much easier to walk across the glaciers and snowfields in crampons when they are still frozen. Unfortunately it is not easy to get a lot of photos as you are climbing up in the dark.

Manual and I had left an hour earlier than the rest of the group. I was slower than the rest of the group but it was unclear how much slower. I was glad that I didn’t impede the progress of the rest of the group. Once I got to the summit, they soon arrived. We all sat on the summit as the sun rose and had a few snacks before heading back down.

Once we started heading down it was easier to take photos of the dramatic features of the upper mountain that we really couldn’t see on the way up.

We regrouped for a quick snack stop near the base.

Then back down about 1,000′ over the rock and sand once we got off the glacier.

Fun drawings at the hut on what to wear for each elevation – hiking vs mountaineering.

Interspersed between the travel and climbing we toured many historic sites. As I mentioned before, our Ecuadorian climbing guide Camilo also has a degree in eco-tourism so he was an incredible source of history, customs and culture as we visited many of these sites. I apologize if you sense that I may not have written all the descriptions below – it was easy to cut and paste a lot of the verbiage from the internet – the photos are mine, however!

Before we began our tour of the city, we took part in a “cleansing” ceremony. Individually, we stripped down to our underwear, stood behind a curtain and were whipped with an assortment of herbs, slathered head to toe with oil and had an egg broken on us. The fortune was told based on what the egg looked like inside. I think that maybe mine just said I was old – HAHA.

We then visited a local fruit vendor and got to taste a variety of fruits that you would probably never see in the US. They were delicious, unfortunately I did not write down the names!

The first site we visited in old town Quito was the Basílica del Voto Nacional. The Basilica of the National Vow (Spanish: Basílica del Voto Nacional) is a Roman Catholic church located in the historic center of Quito, Ecuador. It is the largest neo-Gothic basilica in the Americas. The basilica arose from the idea, proposed by Father Julio Matovelle in 1883, of building a monument as a perpetual reminder of the consecration of Ecuador to the Sacred Heart. The basilica remains technically “unfinished.” Local legend says that when the Basílica is completed, the end of the world will come. I vote to not finish it!

The second site we visited was the La Compañia Church – also known locally as the “Gold Church.” The Church and Convent of San Ignacio de Loyola de la Compañía de Jesús de Quito, also known in the Ecuadorian people simply as La Compañía, is a Catholic clerical complex located in the Historic Center of the city of Quito. The façade of its main temple is entirely carved in volcanic stone. The church, and its rich internal ornamentation, completely covered with gold sheets, is one of the main tourist attractions in the city and an invaluable heritage, both artistic and economic, for the country.

We then walked around one of the town squares that had the government and parliament offices on the periphery.

A couple of days later we headed about two hours outside of Quito to the town of Otavalo to tour the famous market. This is the largest and most famous indigenous market in Ecuador and South America. It was full of colorful textiles, clothing, food and knick-knacks.

Outside of the town of Banos was a great hike to a famous waterfall – the Cascada el Pailón del Diablo lies on the edge of the cloud forest. It is 265 feet tall and the last part of the trail goes behind the actual waterfall. I chose not to test my raingear at that point!

Another stop we made was in the town of Cayambe to try the local bizcocho cookies. The town of Cayambe, in the highlands of Ecuador is famous for its Bizcocho cookies. They have been baked there since the Spaniards conquered the area and brought their wheat and recipes for bread and biscuits from Europe. In 1928 a railway station opened in Cayambe and the villagers started to sell the bizcocho cookies from the platform to the travelers on the train. The buttery cookies became very popular and now it seems that the whole town is made up of bizcocherias.

Bizcocho means cookie in Spanish, but these cookies are special. They are made of yeast dough that must rise first and they hardly taste sweet at all. They are twice baked – first at a high heat and then at a low heat for several hours. You eat them with a stringy, local cheese and/or with dulce de leche caramel on top.

The last of the “official” tours was to the Solar Museum. This is located on the equator and you could get your phone gps to read:

They had a beautiful garden plus a tour that talked about how the Incas determined the middle of the earth.