La Jolla California

California

Sunset at La Jolla Shores

A bucket full of Sand Crabs

A day at the Mormon Battalion Historical Site

Panning for gold at the Mormon Battalion Historical Site

The waves at La Jolla Cove

Playing in the sand until dark at La Jolla Cove

West coast sunsets are always spectacular.  La Jolla Cove overlook

This park above La Jolla Cove is great for playing and picnicking

 

Jumping Off of Things in Utah's Dixie - St. George

St. George, Utah is only a couple of hours drive northeast of Las Vegas and about 3 hours drive from our house in Provo.  We have family who have lived there for many years, so we have visited many times, but there is always something new to experience when you ask for direction from the locals.  My sister and Callie's brothers pointed us to some fun new things during our family reunion a couple of years ago, and this post will show you a couple of them.

There are a lot of awesome hikes in southern Utah, but this was the first time we had hiked the Red Cliffs Nature trail.  It was the perfect easy hike for young, old, and everyone in between.

The trail is located a few miles north of Washington, Utah and can be found just off of I 15.  We were there in August which is usually very hot and dry, but as you can see from the pictures, there was enough water that year to make for some great contrasting greenery to go with the famous red cliffs.

The trail is a nice easy slope, but to either side there are plenty of things to explore, plus lots of good lizard, tadpole, and frog hunting so my boys were in heaven.

The trail follows the stream--narowing as you go--until you reach some red rock pools and a small waterfall.  That is where the trail officially ends, but you can explore further up--and the exuberant youth in our party had already done that long before the rest of us old folks even got there.

There are steps carved right into the rock at the waterfall with a rope to hold onto so that anyone who wants to can get to the top fairly easily.

Of course, the purpose for climbing the steps to the top is to jump off!  The pool is quite deep, clear, and refreshingly cool (that translates to cold for some in our party...).  It seems that finding ways to jump off of rocks was the theme of this trip, and I have to admit that once I worried, fussed, and spent time checking things out, I really had a lot of fun joining in with the kids.

Why would you picnic at the lake when you can picnic in the lake!  Sand Hollow is a reservoir not far from St. George that has tons of beachfront, cool water, and gorgeous views all around.  On a hot day in August, this is one of the best spots around to spend your day.

And... of course we found things to jump off of at the lake too!  Cliff Jumping is scary and fun.  One of the best parts about this particular spot is that you can find heights from 1 foot to 30 feet high depending on your courage level.  The water is deep all around this cliff and so landing on rocks is not much of a concern.  Even the littlest among us found a spot where they not only felt comfortable jumping, but absolutely loved it.

What would be more fitting than a 30 foot leap to end this post?  The teenagers couldn't leave well enough alone until they had jumped multiple times from the highest point (and convinced some of the pre-teens, and way-post-teens to do it too).  In the end, both Callie and I were among those to "go for it" and it was awesome!

If you want to get away to the red rocks and warm weather from either northern Utah or the endless casino mazes of Las Vegas, head on over to St. George and jump off something!  We highly recommend it.

Location, Location, Location! The Ancient Mayans Got their Real Estate Right in Tulum, Mexico.

Temple of the Descending God in Tulum

I promised to finish our Tulum, Mexico trip in my last post since I hadn't gotten to the amazing ruins, so here you go.

The ruins at Tulum are perched on cliffs that overlook the beautiful Caribbean.  I have never experienced a more dramatic and beautiful location for ruins anywhere else in the world.  I know I haven't seen all the ruins in the world yet, but I am pretty sure Tulum is going to be hard to beat in terms of location.  

Years ago Callie and our friends the Frogleys took a tour here with a local guide named Mosiah.  He was really great--he helped us feed Iguanas, showed us parts of the complex that were still being excavated, and explained all of the rich symbolism found carved throughout the complex--so we were very excited when we found him again on this trip.  He was equally great with our kids as he was with us years ago.  It is definitely worthwhile to find a guide that knows these ruins well.  I am usually one who doesn't like to be "guided", but in this particular case there is no way I could have gotten as much out of this treasure on my own.  You will definitely miss a ton trying to figure things out on your own at these ruins, so splurge and get a good guide to unlock the magic of this place for you.

The back of the Temple of the Descending God overlooking the Caribbean

In the picture above, you can see that the back of the Temple of the Descending God is right on the edge of the cliff overlooking the turquoise Caribbean.  Our guide explained that it wasn't simply because of the view that this temple was placed here--it points directly to where the "great white god" (perhaps the Spanish??) came from the sky, through the only passage in the reef (directly out from this temple) and to the land where he visited the people.  I'm not doing the story justice, but there is a lot of symbolism surrounding everything about these ruins, and a purpose for every building placement, carving, and even alignment with the sun, moon, and stars.

Temple of the God of Winds

The temple of the God of Winds also has a striking perch as it sits on a solitary outcropping with powdery sand beach (which is protected as a sea turtle nesting site) leading up to it.

Gorgeous public beach directly below the ruins

Believe it or not, there is a public beach right below the main temple.  It is incredibly beautiful, and quite popular.  You won't find many places where you can play on the beach right below ancient ruins, but this is one of them.

La Iglesia with its rounded corners at Coba

The most famous ruins in the Yucatan are those at Chichen Itza, and they are truly amazing, and very much a must-see.  We have visited them in previous trips and absolutely loved them.  They are also a long drive from Tulum (2 1/2 hours), very crowded, and more developed than other ruin sites, so we decided to visit Coba on this trip.  Coba is a sprawling (mostly still unexcavated) site only about an hour drive from Tulum. 

The ancient ceremonial ball court

The picture above is of the ceremonial ball court.  There are ball courts at many of the ruin sites throughout Central America, so they were obviously an important part of the culture in the ancient world.  We have heard various explanations about what the ball court was used for, and though not all of them agree with each other it is pretty likely that it was a symbolic game relating to the battle between good and evil, the heavens (high on the wall) and the underworld (below ground).  Either way, it is a very interesting structure.

The ruins at Coba are spread out and there is a lot of walking involved at discovering all of its hidden gems.  The walk--along the Sacbe (white road)--is one of the great parts of the visit. These roads have been in place as long as the ruins and they connect the major cultural and spiritual centers of the ancient Mayan world.  In fact, at least one of these roads continues through the jungle all the way to Chichen Itza almost 70 miles away. 

Approaching the temple of Nohoch Mul on the Sacbe--White Road

The pyramid temple of Nohoch Mul is the largest structure in Coba.  At 197 feet, it is actually the tallest accessible structure in the Yucatan (even taller than the great pyramid at Chichen Itza we were told--and that one has been closed to hiking now too).  It was raining quite hard the day we were here, and that was actually a really good thing--it was cooler, there were fewer mosquitoes, and fewer people, and it replaced my mandatory monthly bath ;-) 

Steeper than it looks from a distance

The climb to the top is much steeper than it looks from a distance.  The view from the top is incredible though.  There are no mountains in the Yucatan so most of the mounds you see in the jungle are actually ruins that just haven't been excavated yet.  We were told that the last hurricane uncovered at least 5,000 new sites!

Good thing there was a No Diving sign on the top of the pyramid ;-)

 Behind us in the picture above you can see how far the view goes from the top.

I can't turn my back on my boys for fear of being sacrificed!

 So, I'll end this post with a picture of my boys being boys on the top of the Nohoch Mul temple.  As this picture suggests, there is something interesting for every member of the family at the ruins we visit.  We swung from vines, looked for paint on the ancient stone tablets, caught frogs and lizards, jumped in puddles, and found something fun around every bend in the White Road.  

As is the case with every one of my posts, I really only just scratched the surface on all the things we did on this trip.  If you would like any information on this great destination, resources we used, or suggestions on what to do when you go, please just let me know.  Now... get out there.  What are you waiting for!