Three Day Weekend!

We filled our Labor Day weekend up to the brim with events!
Just Sunday alone included church, then a trip up to Snowbird for Oktoberfest (yes, it was still September, but they like to spread the fest out over a few weekends.)

We got there before the crowds, believe it or not! 

German music, German dancing, and German food.

German food packs a good amount of calories and since we didn't dance, we needed to do something else to burn the calories off.
A hike...

Up to Cecret Lake (that is the correct spelling, with two "C" instead of a "S".)
The one mile hike there would be a piece of cake if it wasn't up to nearly 10,000 ft above sea level.

I looked up my blog post about my first hike up there four years ago which happened at the same time of year.  There was snow on the ground nearby that day!

Totally worth the effort and I didn't hesitate to sit for a bit to catch my breath along the way.

Several families were having family portraits taken up there.
Bernie took my picture, I took his.
Our empty nest family photo session: Done and done in two shots.

As I sat at the water's edge I was struck by the artful designs reflected in the water. 

I have been very non-camera oriented this summer.  Once the weather cools off I hope to get back into doing more photography, including some more abstract kind of shots.

 

Bleached out roots on an overblown tree have such an interesting beauty.

The Cecret Lake area is pretty in every direction.
The towering wall like mountain face looks so powerful and fragile at the same time.

Chip and Dale...aren't all chipmunks named Chip and Dale?

After we hiked back down the mountain and cleaned up we went over to our son's house for grilled salmon and his mother-in-law made her famous Maryland crab cakes.
(She was raised in Maryland and so this was an authentically made dish. Oh was it delicious!)

Debra makes her crab cakes heavy on the crab, light on the cake...
She explained that where she came from in Maryland crab cakes are consumed sandwiched between two saltine crackers with a dash of worcester sauce.
Her equally Maryland raised husband touted his family's method: Just eat the crab cake.
I'm with him.
Saves tummy room for more crab cake! 

Luke enjoyed time with his Northern California Grandparent fan base.
We enjoyed them too.
Wish they lived closer!

So that was Sunday.
Monday we went to another lake. 

Bernie and I went for a dip in the Great Salt Lake the first Labor Day that we live in Utah.
We decided that day that going for a dip in the Great Salt Lake would become our Labor Day tradition.
This year we invited our son and daughter-in-law and her parents to come along for a float session.
And of course Luke came along too..

Each year it has been just a little bit different.
For example, the first year there were lots of brine shrimp tickling us as we floated like corks in the salty water.
This year I only saw one!

I was so intent to get into the warm water and float I didn't wait with my camera to get a shot of Luke getting his feet dipped in this body of water too.
Seems fitting that a Utah born boy would get his toes in the Great Salt Lake during  his first months of life, doesn't it?

This made year 4 in Utah for us.
 It has been a very good four years.