Utah in October

I have declared this week to be dedicated to blog catch-up. A new post every day ought to bring my record-keeping up to date, in broad brush strokes at the least.

Let's start with Maya's first airplane voyage, which took place at the beginning of October, right around her seven-month mark. That was about the same time that we discovered she loved slurping on whole apples. Here she is between us on the plane, apple-slurping away.

We flew to Salt Lake City and spent a week adventuring under the big Utah sky.

The first part of the trip took us to Richfield, in the center of the state. Nick donned his paraglider for the Red Rocks Fly-In and had a great time gliding in the mountains with a group of other pilots.

Gliders approaching the landing zone after taking off from the mountain in the distance.

While Nick flew, Maya and I explored the surrounding area. Our first hike took us to Fremont Indian State Park. I enjoyed the sweeping views and rock cliffs studded with petroglyphs. Maya, meanwhile, took up an intense study of pine cones and lichen.

Another day, we drove a few hours south to Capitol Reef National Park. The views were otherworldly, and the contrast of the red rocks against the blue sky very striking.

My hiking companion was a little trooper (and my water bottle was extremely entertaining).

For the second part of the trip, we drove north to Logan. On our way, we made a sunset side trip to Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake.

The light was magical at the end of the day.

Maya was very happy to get out of the car and stroll to the water's edge.

We set her down in the salty sand and let her explore.

She got the full sensory experience, complete with a taste!

In Logan, we visited my friends Karin and Mike. I made a visit here in March of 2009, shortly after they and I had both moved from Washington, DC. How fun to see how we've each settled into our new places since then, and for our daughters to have a grand time getting to know each other!

Maya thought four-year-old Linna was terrific and gave her the biggest grins.

We enjoyed soaking up the Utah sunshine and gorgeous fall scenery, and we should have bought these stylish sun hats at the beginning of the trip instead of nearly the end!

Complete Utah photo album here.