Random crap with Uno.

[Geo]

You must have quite the reputation if no-one dares challenging you.

[Unorthodox]

The dOx family social distance vacation...

The original plan was a vegas trip.  That swiftly cancelled itself, but with hEt and Kyle already having their vacation requests in and approved, it was time for plan B. 

Most of this was side trips I'd had penciled in for other vacations. 

First up was devil's playground. 

https://geology.utah.gov/map-pub/survey-notes/geosights/devils-playground/

This is out of the way, relatively little known I'd initially planned as a side trip for a southern Idaho vacation.  But, it was within reason to hit from our house for a day trip.

It was memorial day weekend, and it was certainly not completely EMPTY, but we also had no trouble staying away from people.  Probably more suited to ATV exploration than our big SUV, but we managed just fine.   

Really funky weathering on the rocks out here make little caves all over. 



So we spent a day climbing up and in and around the formations. 








Found an old gold mine with lots of quartz based off a mineral survey map I managed to find as well.

The next stop was perhaps even lesser known, planned as a side trip to dinosaur national monument.  It's been rather high on my list for years to visit, but we're so rarely in the area.  The ORIGINAL idea was to spend a couple days there, let the kids swim, and head to our next stop from this area...but that all pretty much went to hell. 

https://geology.utah.gov/map-pub/survey-notes/geosights/fantasy-canyon/

Fantasy canyon itself has had a lot of it's formations toppled recently as well.  Sixes whether this is natural or people being idiots with the recent events in Goblin Valley relatively close making it a 'thing' to topple rock formations. 

Even so I wouldn't say it was disappointing. 

(social distancing enough?)







On the way out, we even found a most magnificent item I'm very excited to work with soon...more later on that. 

[Geo]

Looks like you had a nice trip.
Now, on the fourth pic, at first glance I couldn't tell if was a UnO-daughter moment, or a hEt-UnO moment.
The outfit looks similar, but on second look, the pants look a shade lighter, so hEt-UnO?

[E_T]

I love the way the rocks look on that last picture.

[Unorthodox]

Looks like you had a nice trip.
Now, on the fourth pic, at first glance I couldn't tell if was a UnO-daughter moment, or a hEt-UnO moment.
The outfit looks similar, but on second look, the pants look a shade lighter, so hEt-UnO?

That's Het.  One of the first of the 'there is no way in hell I could have managed to climb this a year ago' moments as I managed to get into that cave. 


Part of our initial planned trip to Vegas was a visit to St George.    Since we were renting a house anyway, and it's covid levels werent any worse than homes, and I could just cook down there to avoid public, we just kept it on the schedule. 

What we weren't planning on was freakishly record heat for end of May.  110 degrees.  So, snow canyon didn't get quite as much time as we'd have necessarily liked with the heat.  Definitely the most famous and crowded location, we still only ran into about 3 families on the trails. 







For reference, we hiked down this hill over near those cliffs, to the right where it starts to turn white, and back up. 



If you can't tell by my eyes, something here REALLY set off my allergies too. 



And finally, something I'd really been pushing for, was originally planned to hit it out of Vegas, but it wasn't a terrible drive from St George.  Ended up being the highlight.  If you're EVER in the area, I strongly recommend Cathedral Gorge State Park of Nevada.  We essentially had the place to ourselves, though a few people started pulling in around the time we started heading out. 



The climb to the top of this overlook being another one of the I couldn't have done this a year ago moments. 



We did that hike first figuring on exploring the canyon as we went back...

[Unorthodox]

Now...

What am I going to do with a completely intact ribcage?   (think it's an Antelope)  Because OF COURSE we brought it home.  Think we go anywhere without bone collecting supplies? 

[Geo]

Groovy.
(the outdoor landscapes, not the ribcage )

[E_T]

Chest burster!!

[E_T]

Small skulls IN the Ribcage

[Unorthodox]

Long and short of it, I'm going in for surgery...which is about my worst nightmare come true.  I DO NOT like conscious altering drugs, and general anesthesia is the worst.  I've woken up early during surgery both times I went under.  It's rather terrifying really. 

To add to the fun I get mandatory covid test and quarantine from time of test to surgery. 

Anyhow, I don't know that I mentioned the ER visit in Novemberish.  They confirmed gall stones at that time, told me I needed surgery consult, but we kinda figured it could wait til me normal checkup to talk to my doctor about it with the holidays, and it being more than a year since the previous attack. 

Then covid hit, so avoid hospital. 

Anyhow, Mothers day, I wind up with another attack.  Worse.  Different.  They load me up with super pain meds and some other meds both of which alter my consciousness alone, together I didn't have much of a chance, and I went in for a test a few days later.  Need to see my doctor to get results.  Go to schedule to find my Dr has moved on.  So, we schedule with random guy.  Never really disliked a doctor more.  Pretty much just wanted to get me out of his hair. 

Met with the surgeon this week, and the test showed my gallbladder is working at a whopping 0% efficacy. Hence heading for surgery. 

[E_T]

So, when will you be unable to post and please ash hEt to keep us updated!
Good Luck dude!

[Spacy]

Super cool trip, and sorry to hear about the surgery!

[Bearu]

I hope your surgery proceeds well and you recover well post operation.

[conmcb25]

Good luck with surgery.

I love wandering the desert. I do that any time I get a chance.

[Geo]

I still remember the first time I wandered a desert (back in 2002). It was full of truck -and armor wrecks.
It was in the southeastern Sinai peninsula. All those wrecks were remnants of the series of Arab-Israeli wars, up until the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty.
After all that time, the locals wouldn't touch anything that had to do with the Israeli. Not even structures build during their occupation of the peninsula.