Let Freedom Ring !!

I know a lot of people think July 4^th has become just another day off of work and barbeque-time for people. I don’t think that is true. Although those activities are part of the day, I think most people are mindful of the reasons for the celebration and are grateful for the sacrifices that have gone before. At least, that’s my experience. So, on July 4^th we had some swim time with kids and grandkids,

ate a wonderful barbeque cooked by our son-in-law Jeff,

had homemade cherry pie and chocolate chip mint ice cream pie for dessert,

and spent a lot of time visiting while watching the fireworks go off all around us from our back yard.

The next morning Randy and I started off our stay-cation by meeting our daughter, Ingrid, and her two kids at the zoo. Our other daughter, Heidi, works security there, but she was not there that day. She was able to get us in for free though – SCORE!!

The bird show was fun, although we had to sit in the hot sun.

Ingrid tried a few hats on Kalvin, but none of them fit very well!

There’s a lot of construction since they are re-doing roughly ¼ of the park

. Anyway, it was fun to walk around and enjoy the time with our daughter and grandkids.

Friday afternoon we saw the movie “The Lone Ranger.” It was just OK.

Then we ate dinner at Tepanyaki – it was yummy as usual, but a slow night for the restaurant.

After dinner we drove to Magna where a friend, Carrie Johnson, was in the play “9 to 5” and we watched that. Then we found a hotel for the night.

The next morning we ate breakfast at IHOP and then drove over to Antelope Island. This is an island in the Great Salt Lake. The website for state parks says: “Hike, mountain bike or horseback ride the park's backcountry trails for spectacular views of lake and island scenery; spend a star-filled night in one of several primitive campsites; stroll along sandy beaches and take a dip in the lake's salty waters or step back in time with a visit to the Historic Fielding Garr Ranch. Antelope Island is home to free-ranging bison, mule deer, bighorn sheep, pronghorn antelope, and many other desert animals. Millions of birds congregate along the shores surrounding the island, offering unparalleled opportunities for birding.”

This makes it sound quite exotic! We did enjoy it, but we didn’t hike, or mountain bike or ride the horses ($50 an hour!). We didn’t spend the night in one of the campsites (I don’t do camping anymore) and we merely looked at the beach from the roadway.

We did, however see some of the views which are, indeed, spectacular, and we went through the visitor’s center that is there.

(he's not real - just a statue!!)

We also walked though some of the buildings at the ranch, which were pretty cool.

I saw one deer or antelope (we weren’t close enough to tell which it was and I'm not sure that I would know anyway!) and a lot of bison from far away – with one up real close that Randy captured on his movie camera. And we saw a lot of birds. We had never been there before and it was nice to get away and walk around a bit.

Then, we headed back home through rocks and rills (the dictionary says this is a small stream!), woods and templed hills.