Monday, April 9, 2012

Fall Road Trip 2011 - Camping at Muley Point, Utah

Muley Point at Sunrise
Santa Clara, CA - If you happen to be wandering through the desert in the four corners region, maybe you just gassed up in Mexican Hat or maybe you just finished driving a bumpy loop through the Valley of the Gods or Monument Valley or maybe you're just passing through the area looking forward to higher elevations or warmer climates somewhere else... in any case if you're there and you need a place to stay for the night, I highly, highly recommend going a little out of your way and camping out at Muley Point in Southern Utah.

Muley Point is a remote scenic overlook atop Cedar Mesa offering jaw dropping vistas of Southern Utah and Northern Arizona. It's legal to camp up there for free, however, there are no facilities, no water, no picnic tables and no shade. Just quite, majestic views of Monument Valley, the San Juan River, and Cedar Mesa. To get there, just turn west on Muley Point Road (not sign posted) off of Highway 261 right at the top of the Moki Dugway.  The point is about 5 miles out on a bumpy, but easily navigated gravel road.  You know you have arrived when the ground drops steeply away.

Suwei and I got out there just as the sun was setting.  There was one other person there shooting a few photos, but by the time we got Keira out of the car he had already packed up his stuff and headed back down the road.  It would have been nice to get there a little earlier to set up the tent and maybe have a beer, but as it was I went straight for the camera and tripod to see what I could capture.

The next morning the sunrise was equally as impressive as the sunset.  Even better since I got up nice and early to watch the entire show unfold.

I've done a bit of research to see where the name, "Muley Point" came from, but have failed to come up with anything conclusive.  I did learn that muley means, "hornless".  It can also be a hornless cow.  I'm guessing the point is named after some guy named Muley.  Here are some of the Photos:

Muley Point at Sunset
View of Monument Valley from Muley Point, Utah
Last remnants of the sun at Muley Point, Southern Utah.
The San Juan River from Muley Point

Our Campsite at Muley Point, Utah
Time to go!  Where to next Dad?

Check out these earlier posts from our 2011 Fall Road Trip:

Fall Road Trip 2011 - California to Colorado
Fall Road Trip 2011 - Part II - Misc. Colorado Including Grand Mesa
Fall Road Trip 2011 - Part III - Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
Telluride & The Canyons of the Ancients National Monument
Hovenweep National Monument
Valley of the Gods & The Moki Dugway

Click below for the slideshow.  There are 22 photos in there.

Fall Road Trip 2011 - Camping at Muley Point, Utah

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

A Spring Roundup of Keira Photos


Santa Clara, CA - It's been just about 4 months since I last did a Keira update.  I guess I'm finding it a little less necessary to do specific Keira posts all that often now that she figures quite prominently in most of my posts anyway.  However, it is nice to have a spot to put all those photos I take while we're just hanging out in the living room or over at great grandma's house.  So here it is... Keira's Spring Roundup.

As usual, we continue to be blown away by every little milestone.  It's just incredible how each day can bring a new surprise.  One major change this time around, is that Keira is now officially walking! And boy did she take to it quickly, once she got going.  She took her first steps just before Christmas and now she's running, walking up small steps and climbing just about anything she can heal hook.  One of her more recent favorite activities is to use our kitchen step stool to chuck herself head first over the arm of the couch.  She does a little spin, drops back the floor feet first, then climbs back up onto the step stool to do it again, and again and again.  At the playground not only will she do the slides by herself, but if you take off her shoes and expose her gripy toes, she'll turn around and climb all the way back up and slide down again.  Awesome.  I'm thinking climbing may be in her genes.  Although, we may be hard pressed to match this performance... (see video below).

We'll have to get her down to the climbing gym pretty soon.

Another big change... Keira is starting to use words.  Right now her favorite word is, "this".  Wherever we go, she points at things and says "this?"  We'll say, "tree".  She'll point again, "this?". "Rock!"  and on it goes.  Again, very cool to see her learning so fast. It's easy to see that she is understanding much more than she's saying.

Another favorite word is "Ba ba."  I know, that's not a word.  But, for her it means bottle and she asks for it quite often.
  

She is also getting much better at sharing her opinions on food, sleep, and where we're going.  I'm guessing this is mostly due to her having more opinions particularly regarding those subjects.  We may not always see eye to eye, but at least I'm kept up to date on her likes and dislikes.  Currently she likes anything sweet and dislikes bed time, naps, and resting.  Pretty simple really. 

Other news:  This month she is weighing in at about 18.5 lbs.  She loves opening and closing doors.  She has learned to knock.  She know the word tickle and is strangely drawn to exposed bellies.  She can put hats on all by herself, although she doesn't tolerate them for very long.  She's becoming an adept hiker as long as the distances are kept well within toddler range.  Books are becoming more interesting, although she still can't quite sit through a whole story.  She loves shoes, especially a pair of handmade wooden shoes Suwei's Aunt bought her in Taiwan. Favorite food is anything you're eating. Her dad is totally and utterly wrapped around her finger and is incredibly proud of every tiny piece of her. 

Here are the photos... There are a ton more in the slideshow. Just click the link at the bottom.


"I'm calling you all to this meeting so that you can watch me eat post-it notes."  Keira at Google.
Bath Time


Totopolis


Keira vs Avocado





Lake Tahoe, CA

There are 62 photos in the slideshow. Check it out here:

A Keira Spring Roundup