10 Mile Bike Ride, Sept 22,2011

Jim and I have been riding our bikes together several times a week, quite often after we get home from the mission. It helps to exercise to reduce any stress or fatigue whiah we have built up. After all it has been a long time since we worked 8 hrs a day and got up at 6 am! :-)

This is the start of our ride this day. We cross the Jordan River here near the fairgrounds and start riding on the north side of the river. The river is right behind our rv park.

This is Jim riding alongside the river, although you cannot see it. On the right are soccer fields behind a recreation center.

At this point we took this beautiful bridge back over to the south side of the river to join the Jordan River Bike Trail. This bridge is very wide and easy to ride across.

This is a very narrow bridge which I used to stop and walk my bike across the first couple of times I approached it. It did not take long until I was able to navigate it in both directions, however!

Soneone had some very pretty pyracantha growing on the other side of this bridge. It was too pretty to pass up!

This just shows some of the variety of scenes along this bike path. This is a large recreational complexwith soccer and baseball frields as well as a playground. It is very nice.

Along parts of the path are home on one side with the river on the other. This is just one example. Many homes here, even in the city, have vegetable gardens.

This part of the path has what we call the rapids in the river, maybe a minus one! :-) The river is just over the fence as we head north on the trail.

Close to the end of the existing trail, (There is more trail planned & under construction) is a golf course which we ride beside. It makes for pretty scenery!

When we hit the end of the trail we have to traverse a busy highway by the name of Redwood Road for about 1/3 of a mile and then turn east of 2300 North to go over to Warm Springs Road. This to me, is a little scary but we do have a wide berm to ride on.

Now we are on Warm Springs Road heading south to return to Salt Lake City. On the other side of I-15 there is some sort of construction there or a business which is tearing apart the mountain. See the different colors of the soil.

Jim saw this funny sign so we had to stop and take a photo of the 3 mph speed limit!

Now you can barelyy see the SLC skyline in the distance. See the railroad on the left. We hear engine whistles all night long in the KOA where we live. We call SLC the Railroad Whistle Capital of the world. This Warm Springs Road is not heavily traveled which made our ride more enjoyable.

Well, you can see we are getting closer all the time to the skyline.

At this point we have to ride across RR tracks. It was interesting and a little jarring!

And yet another scene showing the SLC skyline in the distance.

I really liked this business becauise of the patriotism with the large flag on the side of the building. However, I did not notice the graffiti of the smiling face until now!

Now the skyline is really coming into view! I believe you can see the tops of the temple spires here. It sure is pretty with the evening sun shining on those buildings downtown.

We are near the area where we traverse city streets to return to our home at 1424 W North Temple. We arrived home and had traveled 10 miles without resting! Phew, I am getting good! :-) This is especially true since I am riding the old beach cruiser we bought in Jax Beach in 1988! Maybe one day, I will get it tuned up! :-)

Jim, by the way, just recently, Oct. 1st, rode up City Creek Canyon with Elder Doug Haymore. It was a tough uphill ride, until he turned around to come back down! I think it was over 2 hrs. He said it was the toughest he had ever done! Elder Haymore rides 10 miles every morning before he comes to work! I know that when Jim rides with me he is frustrated but he does ride on his own every Saturday for longer distances and rides faster. One day this past week we rode our bikes up into downtown on "bike streets" and then back home for only about 5 miles. That was a little scary for me riding alongside all those cars, even though I had a bike lane!

Going to Work at the Mission

This photo of us, with our Mission President & his wife, Elder & Sister Peterson was taken about the first day or so of our training. They sure are great, humble people.

I digress...but I have to "show off". We had our first branch social on September 12th and we were asked to bring chili or a cobbler. I brought both (It's a long story.) but the cobbler, actually which was rhubarb crisp from my sister-in-law's recipe, won a prize and so I was awarded this scarecrow! Cute, huh? Thanks, Judy!

It is hard to believe I would ever win anything in the culinary arts department but here it is! :-)

This is a scene on our way to work, Monday, September 19th. We are starting toward downtown Salt Lake after crossing the bridge over the railroad tracks. We live out North Temple to the west toward the airport. It takes us about 10 minutes to drive to the parking garage.

Here we are turning the corner by the relatively new Conference Center to drive into the underground parking garage. The Family History Library is behind us as we turn.

This is the entrance to the parking garage. It covers the whole block under the Conference Center.

This is another shot as we are driving down into the parking area. Notice the cactus growing up on top. There are parts of the garage which are 5 stories down but we usually park on the 4th level down and take the elevator up.

This is a blurry scene of the parking garage! :-)

Jim is waiting at the elevator. This day we parked at level P3.

As we exit the elevator and walk outside, this is the scene which greets us! I love the lighting on the temple on the right. The building we work in, the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, formerly the Hotel Utah, is on the left.

Here is another shot of the temple.

This isn't the greatest shot of the JSMB, but it will do for now. We go to the Third floor for training. Our training is two weeks long.

On each Monday morning we all go to the chapel on the Mezannine floor for a devotional at 7:30 am. This lasts about an hour and then we go up to the third floor for training.

Before we enter the chapel, we have the chance to shake hands & speak with each person in the Mission Presidency. Sometimes this line gets too long and I choose to go inside rather than stand in a long line. I am bad, aren't I! (Don't answer that! :-) )

This is shot of the front of the chapel with the Men's Choir seated there. This building is celebrating it's 100th anniversary this year. It is very beautiful!

Early Cookout 9-10-2011

We had our first cook out Saturday, September 10, 2011 and invited the Vincents and the Haymores, both couples from Georgia and on a mission with us. We had the usual burgers & hot dogs & everyone brought something to add to the menu. By the way, Linda Vincent is the photographer here, so we have photos thanks to her!

Elder Speidel & Elder Vincent awaiting the refreshments.

Here they are again!

As an unexpected treat we had Adam Chevrier & his fiance, Jessie, come up from BYU to have dinner and have us meet Jessie. She is a delight! And of course, so is Adam! :-)

Elder Haymore & Elder Vincent are talking serious talk! Neither believes the other! Note the body language! (Ha, Ha!)

Here they are again organizing our food table.

Sister Haymore & Jim look on while I cook the burgers & dogs. Sister Haymore was cold so I lent her my jacket. By the way, this kis our new grill since our last one rusted through!

Jim is making Jessie laugh with all his stories! We had a great time!

Mission & Utah State Fair September 15, 2011

We are nearing the end of our second week on our mission. We are still in training, self-directed. We moved into the Salt Lake City KOA on 1400 W North Temple & received our same lot, Lot 53, that we had on our last mission. We love it here...close to a bike trail, next door to the Utah State Fairgrounds, close to the airport, and close to our mission.

We even have a storage building, supplied by the park in which we keep our chairs, bikes & gas grill. It is made of plastic & is very nice!

As a matter of fact, we had our first cook-out last Saturday and had the Haymores, the Vincents and our grandson, Adam with his fiance, Jessie here for a pot-luck.

Thursday night, September 8th was the first night of the Utah State Fair and Fisrt Night admission was only $5.00 so we decided to ride our bikes over & check it out. It was great fun, very diverting from some of our problems, and gave us renewed energy! After we came through one of the entrance gates, Jim locked up our bikes twice, first to the post and then locked each wheel onto each bike.

Here is a scene with the ferris wheel & one of those rides on which I have become very sick in the past. We did not ride any rides due to linited time.

Hats off to the 2010 Grand Champion Sheep! I am not sure why they put these garments on them.

This pig had 10 piglets! How cute they all are!

Here are some more "incognito sheep"!

These feeders were unusual..they were fabric and held hay, which the sheep could get, at the top sides and there was another opening in the middle, lower.

Jim is in front of the sheep barn. These barns are very nice, all brick with windows.

This is a pack goat with his "saddle" They use them for families to pack in their gear for back-packing trips when children cannot carry heavy back-packs! Alan, would you like one of these for the Appalacian Trail?

Here is a pack goat with a full pack.

Jim insisted on seeing the chickens. Look at this black & white one!

I call this one the "fashion-ista"! It is black with that tuft of white feathers. You cannot see it's eyes and barely it's beak! I guess it could even be called' "Einstein"!

This is a traditinal rooster, I guess, but is very pretty with iridescent colors!

I am sure glad that ostrich is in a cage!

There was a free rodeo that night and this is a cowboy on a bucking horse.

This cowboy is competing in the calf-roping contest.

The judge is watching as he wraps the ropes around the calf's legs so it cannot move.

This stadium was so nice! It was a perfect night, weather-wise and the mountains in the background made it so beautiful.

This is a closer look at the previous photo, showing the sunset lighting up the mountains. I love evening lighting!

These next few scenes were taken from the steps of the stadium of the fair. Note SLC skyline in distance.

Again, notice the SLC skyline in the distance.

Back at the mission, we pack our lunch most days and eat on a raised stone patio outside the Joseph Smith Memorial Building right next to the SLC Temple. After eating one day, I just looked up and shot this photo of the temple when the sky was beautiful.

We often eat with these new friends from near Macon, Georgia, Linda & Ron Vincent. This shows the patio and the JSMB building in the background. Linda & Ron came into the mission with our September group.

This is Jim, hard at work with the computer and his training. The apple you see is a squeeze toy which they ask us to use for our hands several times a day when we get up, stretch and do some exercises. Don't laugh! We are all old people! Ha, Ha!