Dear inhabitants of planet 234,586,981,458,900.3 V2

Dear inhabitants of planet 234,586,981,458,900.3 V2 (you have named your planet Earth),

      I am writing you this letter that I will place onto your internet so that it can propagate my apology to you. Let me first start with explaining how all of this happened, when I was in primary school in my elementary physics class we were assigned to create a miniaturized life support unit mine was designated by my instructor as planet 234,586,981,458,900.3 V2 (V2 due to the fact that I dropped it killing all of the lizard creatures that had grown from the primordial ooze that all creatures grow from) I will call it Earth henceforth as that is easier for you to refer to. I was supposed to terminate the project as soon as self aware life had formed VIA the evolutionary process but I had put the planet at the top of my closet and just plain forgot about it until a few hundred years ago your time.

      When I found Earth again while I was cleaning my room I was amazed that you humans had created cities and even language (I was a little disappointed that some of the people had decided that everything that happened was due to some imaginary creature instead of the laws of physics and the cosmos but as it was only a primary school project I figured I shouldn’t expect much). I did something at this point that seems to have caused a lot of problems inadvertently but I guess that can’t be helped. I decided to communicate with one of you so I brought a carpenter out and tried to explain things to him but I think he was a little unstable and when I put him back in I guess he started a cult causing all sorts of problems in the years hence (I would suggest that you get over this stuff and focus on reality).

      Now that you are all considered sentient beings it is illegal for me to dispose of you in the incinerator so I will place you in the attic where no-one will find you. At some point your sun will burn out and natural courses will take care of my little problem for me (I can’t stop it this is just how things go once you figure out elementary physics and not the basic math you all think of as hard core science you will understand.).

      Anyhow I am sorry for the trouble that has been caused by my forgetfulness in the first place and then my interference in the later years that has caused you so much trouble (though in truth it all started with the imaginary creature so I don’t think that I am totally responsible for your day to day pains you cause yourselves.) I hope that you can enjoy the rest of your existence. And I will do everything I can to stay out of the way henceforth.


Sincerely
Tad

      P.S. I have tried to correct the problem with the automated probes that check your vital statistics randomly (it was a requirement to put them in place) I hope to have corrected their invasive-ness (or to make it so you don’t remember them so you don’t have to keep saying you have been abducted by aliens either way takes care of the problem I think).

lagoon & Flaming Gorge with the Fam-Damnly July 18-20th

     So the original intent was to come down Kings peak on the 18th and make my way over to Flaming Gorge for some boating with my Brother his wife and new little person, my wife and girls and my Mom and Dad but as we came down all the way on the 17th I invariably decided to make the drive back to Tooele so I could go with my wife and her whole Fam-Damnly creating a very long day from 4AM until 11PM but it was worth it.

     On Saturday morning we woke up and had breakfast packed the car and waited for my wife's mother and father to call and say that they were already on the road (This is a change from normal as usually they tell us they will be driving at X time and we come to find out that they left quite some time later and that we will be sitting around twiddling our thumbs while waiting for them to get there). Once we got the call we loaded up the girls and went to Lagoon. First thing when we get there is the family picture in the old west garb (how do I get drug into these things). While there we noticed that they had a guy in a Captain Jack Sparrow outfit and it reminded me that I had never been to lagoon with my wife without seeing a Pirate, the first one being my sister in laws ex who I referred to Cap'n Hook due to his missing hand and now this one. After the picture was done we went over to the water park and played around.. the girls had a blast playing in the water and it was very relaxing other than the ground in the pools tore up my already sore feet.






     When we got done at the water park we headed over to some of the kids rides that Kahlan wouldn't ride alone until her cousin or Michelle went with her but she had a great time in the end, even Danneke went on a few rides :) it was about 5:30 at night by now so time to hit the road for 3 hours to Flaming Gorge.



     The drive was uneventful and we arrived to camp (well my parents trailer where we would spend the next nights with my brother and his wife). We set up the beds and crashed relatively quick after such a long day.

     Sunday morning rolls in and my brother and I cook up breakfast for everyone, hash browns eggs and bacon and something that resembled coffee. then we headed down with my parents to the boat. From there we headed south towards the Dam. on the way down we stopped and played around in the water being towed on a tube thing. My brother gave Kahlan a ride on the tube and she loved it then I got on with Danneke to give her a ride. Somewhere along halfway through she fell asleep so when we got back on the boat she was down for the count. Michelle got on with me at this point and proceeded to fall off a couple of times.






     A storm rolled in so we loaded back on and headed south again. Along the way I decided to fish a bit so we hooked up the trolling motor and my dad handed Michelle the controls that she ended up sending us in circles and decided she wasn't driving anymore. Fishing didn't pan out well so we kicked back up the speed and headed south again at speed. 3:30 rolled around and dad decided it would be best to head back so that we could eat at some point. I took over driving as we headed north and began watching the gas gauge drop and drop finally hitting empty and leaving us stranded and laughing at our misfortune. The radio couldn't get out of the Gorge we were in to call the marina so my dad decided yelling at people would do the trick (this added to more laughter). Finally we were able to flag someone down and they gave us a tow back to the marina for fuel.

     Calling it a night we headed back to the trailer to cook some tandoori chicken on the grill and rice. While I was cooking my sister in law and wife figured out that we were out of water in the trailer. Instead of hooking up the trailer to my dads truck and towing it to water we decided to haul water 6 gallons at a time by hand from the spigot to fill up the tank. a few trips later thanks to my wife helping out with a couple trips the tank was filled back up so we could give the girls a bath before bed.




     After the girls were down for bed and my mom and dad had headed back down to the boat where they were sleeping my brother his wife and Michelle and I sat around the fire eating smores and recounting stupid things my bother and I did in our youth.

     Monday started out good with my brother driving to the marina store for some good coffee and then we cooked up some sausage and eggs. The plan was to go out on the boat and try our hands at wake boarding but as soon as my brother dropped in the water the first time the motor died on the boat. After playing with the engine for a bit I figured out it was getting no spark and without any tools or parts there wasn't a thing I could do (later it was found that the shift stumble switch as gotten stuck causing the issue). So we fired up the trolling motor and headed back to the boat ramp so my dad could take the boat to Manila for service (cheaper than at the marina by about $100/hour).

     We decided that with the boat down for the count we would head over to the beach for a few with the girls, do some swimming and then head home. The girls had a blast playing in the mud and water (as did my wife rubbing mud all over her legs saying that it was a good mud for mud bathing or some such craziness).

     Then we loaded up and headed home. We stopped for lunch on the way home at a small town drive through that had some good burgers but oddly enough said they couldn't give us water only carbonated water.. odd

Long weekend... Fun weekend...

Kings Peak 2009 - Highest Point in Utah

     This trip has been in the planning since early May when we (S&S Adventures) were contacted by a gentleman from New York by the name of Marty who wanted to be guided up Kings Peak as it was his goal to reach all 50 of the US high points Utah is the 7th highest. We began looking into permits and found that a company based out of Ft Bridger WY has the only permit available and will have for the next 5 years. We decided we wanted to go up anyhow and told Marty that he could join us as a guest but not as a client as we were at this point interested in going anyhow. Based on the information Marty had given us on what he had already done and his skill-sets he should be able to go up without any assistance and that would make it a no work issue for us.

     Fast forward to July 15th, after many phone calls to the company that owns the permit and failure to contact them we decided that I would go up early and try to track them down. This turned out to be a slightly futile effort though I did learn from 2 hours of runaround trying to find the guy in charge that the best time to contact him would be after 9:30 at night (not what I would call normal business hours).

     We all met at the Henrys Fork Trail-head near 6PM (Marty hitched a ride with Sam from Salt Lake) where we set up camp ate some dinner and sat around the campfire talking about previous trips and the hike up the next day.





     July 16 the start up the trail came at 7AM after taking down camp and application of liberal amounts of bug spray. The trek up was beautiful as we went from 9364 feet to 11067 Feet in elevation in 9 miles. Much of the way we were walking in the shade of the trees and just enjoying ourselves. We reached camp around 1PM just below Gunsight pass in an open meadow. We lounged for the rest of the day in the sun playing cards or just looking at the mountains that surrounded us going to be early so we could get an early start the next day. Both Sam and I were testing out some new gear on the mountain. Both of us had new stoves to play with, I tested out a Mil Spec Bivy and my boots and Sam a new lightweight backpacking tent (Detailed reviews of these will come out soon).














     July 17 Summit Day. We started hiking up Gunsite pass at 4 AM by the light of the moon and then hiking back down into painters flats on the other side by the rising sun. Soon to be hiking up the west side of the mountain until we reached the last major rise and the beginnings of the boulder field. We ended up going up the West face instead of the long northern slope while more climbing up is needed the footing is about the same and you cut off a lot of distance going up this way. After the long scramble we made it to the top of Kings peak for a short rest and then to head back down. Marty pounded his head good on a rock coming up and the altitude had some effect on him as he is a lowlander but made it to the top. Sam summit ed a little before us as we decided Sam would rush down to get Marty's pack and move it to Anderson pass where we would go down the Chute to cut 6 miles off the return trip.












Looking down Anderson Pass and the Chute our way down to Henrys fork Basin and back to camp. Dropping 1200 feet in a little under 1/4 mile. Great fun sliding down the scree field.

Once back at camp we decided to push for the trail head and drive back to Salt Lake for the night. We averaged 2.2 MPH going out even after the long trek to the top and with our packs ending the day by saying bye at the trail head as we drove back to civilization.




          Great Trip!