Porter Pics (By Mara)

Riri couldn't think of what to write, so she put "by Mara" in parentheses and gave me the computer.

This weekends camping experience: Wet, cold, dirty and full of hikes. Dad decided it would be great if we hiked down the valley/canyon, and it took forever. cherry on top, at the end of the hike it rained so everything was slippery and wet while we were hiking back out. Just for emphasis, wet, cold, dirty. That pretty much sums it all up. One of the few really fun things was the rock garden. People when they come through, they stack rocks. It was really cool. Near the end of the rock garden, there was a rock statue that looked like a person in a top hat. It had legs, arms , and a flat rock with a square rock on top of it to make it look like a top hat. The coolest part was a rock that was the shape of a head, and had marks on it that made it look like a face.

Last week Riri took us to take pictures and it was the worst trying to get the pictures taken. There was some sort of a convention going on and they had rock music playing in the background, and I could not look at the camera. (Riri posted the pics and comments)

Can't you tell they are not having any fun and Riri is torturing them?

(actually Kristen told them to picture her naked to make them laugh. You can see Mara almost throw-up in her mouth :)

Porters looking so cute it's almost deceiving.

Mara -12

Taylor-12

Joanna-10

Rebecca-8

Jeremy-4

Kate-3

By Kristen

OK, so mother nature didn't cooperate while we were camping. The first night the low was 34 degrees and it poured rain. The second night was warmer, no rain either, but the wind made up for that and it was even more uncomfortable than the first night.

We had great food (planned by moi), but the hamburger/hot dog cookout for the second night was replaced with a local restaurant because it was....wait for it....raining cats and dogs.

Thanks to Mike's wonderful planning and two sleeping bags each, everyone came home in one piece and no one got frost bite or swept away in a flash flood.

None of us had ever been to Bryce Canyon. It was absolutely remarkable. The rock formations are called Hoodoos. They are created by erosion. Bryce canyon is one of the most rapidly changing landscapes on Earth. The ridge is being eroded at the rate of 1 foot per 50 years. We went on a hike 350 feet down into the canyon and back up again on a path from Sunset Point to Sunrise Point. It was about 3 miles all together. We walked through some narrow canyon paths, and some natural (and less than natural) bridges. It was great to be above, at eye level, and then below these huge hoodoo's that looked like sculptures by Picasso.

At the bottom of the canyon about half way through the hike we came across a rock garden. Hikers throughout the years had made piles of rocks everywhere. On the ground, in the dry wash, in the trees. Some of them were really intricate and complicated with balanced rocks defying gravity. Others were just small piles. It was fun to make our own piles before we left to continue the hike.

Andy came on the trip with us - he's always been a glutton for punishment. We invited Riann, but she is not a glutton for punishment and made her apologies while waving goodbye to us as we drove away pulling our gear behind our minivan.

Thanks for reading my comments on RiRi's blog.