Duchesne and Uintah County

Mike and I hadn't been to his parent's house since Thanksgiving! So, Mike decided that St. Patrick's Day was the perfect weekend to go. It always feels like the drive is going to be so long - but it isn't ever too bad (I sleep while Mike drives). We had a lot of fun visiting, playing games, and eating good food (we fried up the clams that we dug up in Washington - yummy)!

We went out to Kelsey & Sherry's favorite Mexican Restaurant: Don Pedro's and got a lot of yummy food. Mike and I shared a combination plate (Burrito, Chimichanga, Chalupa) it was a lot of food and sadly,  we left the Chimichanga completely untouched.

(isn't Mike so handsome!?)

(lol - caught Sherry mid sentence...)

I had never been to the Vernal Temple before so we were able to visit which I loved.

It was actually the Uintah Stake Tabernacle built in 1907, and was remodeled and
dedicated as a temple in 1997.

It was very unique and I absolutely loved visiting it.

I love Roosevelt's Main Street. It looked so classic. 

Mmmmmm. You have to look at this photo big and check out the colors on the sign for 

"The Alley Boutique" (far left of the pic) - I love it!!!!!

We drove past this man in a field, 

 and then Mike told me he's a metal cut out. Really, I think you have to look close to realize it,

but when you are driving by, he totally looks real!

On the drive home we hit a snow storm. No fun, especially since we have been having so much warm weather later, but I guess if nothing else, it made the mountains and the trees especially pretty that day.

As always, it was a great trip. It was a whirlwind of a weekend, felt very short, but was lots of fun!

Mule Deer in Southern Utah

The awesome thing about these photos of me with my favorite animal ever, is that they were in the wild, and I am not zoomed in. Can you believe the awesomeness!? We were walking along one of the trails and I saw them off into a pasture, so I started taking some pics and then decided, what the heck, let's see how close I can get. I have like a million pictures as I progressively got closer and closer, but these are when I was as close as I got.

One of my favorite memories is that on a number of occasions I tried to zoom out, but I couldn't because I was already on the way zoomed out!

(Dad) You should definitely click on the photos to make them larger to see the detail in the photos. I love how in the last couple pictures you can see the curly hair in the deer's ears.

The big buck wasn't moving so I walked away to get capture some more photos of the doe's.

But one of the buck's I was eyeing walked over towards the other, so I followed it over again.

And then I walked right on up to it again.

I asked Mike to come get a photo of me by the deer. I had spent probably 30 minutes with them and they were letting me get a few feet away from them, literally. But when Mike came with me, it kinda spooked them and they ran away before I got too close.

So Mike left and I attempted to get close to them again.

Then I walked a little closer:

I was literally like two to three feet away from these beautiful creatures:

Then it ran away, but stopped to look back at me (I think it was half hoping i would follow):

It was such an amazing day - the hiking was good but the deer - well... they were AMAZING!

Razor Clam Digging

I know that I can't even begin to describe the amazing times that happen from clam digging in Washington. It was incredible.

We planned this trip to Washington State strictly based on the dates for the razor clam dig. It was open February 18, 19 and 20. So we planned the trip and took off. We went to Roosevelt Beach near Ocean Shores, Washington to do the digging.

First, let me show you what we were digging:

the Pacific Razor Clam

Photo from: http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/shellfish/razorclams/recipes.html

And this is how they dig:


CLAM DIGGING DAY #1

Saturday was pretty stormy, it may have kept some of the locals away, but not us. We were too excited. I guess when it's stormy the clams dig themselves deeper into the sand so they are harder to find. That combined with our complete cluelessness on clam digging didn't make for the best first day, but don't worry, it was still worth every minute.

We met a couple of locals who were really nice. They let us follow them around and learn exactly what to look for and how to dig. My dad picked it up SO FAST, I was amazed. Honestly, he walked away with more clams than some of the folks we had met who do this multiple times a year.

My dad walked around, tapping the sand to find dimples, doughnuts and keyholes (signs of clams).

Photo from: http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/shellfish/razorclams/howto_dig.html

 His first find of the day!

 As the name "Razor Clam" would suggest, their shells are like razors and can slice your finger open. This happened to my dad. He cut it pretty good and was bleeding for quite a while after. We would see drops of blood on the sand and know he had been there ;0)

 Everyone walking around tapping the sand.

I found my first dimple and got down on my knees and started to dig when the waves came up and covered the sand to everyone's knees. Everyone on the beach stopped digging, except me. I stayed down in the water and kept digging. I  was down pretty deep, close to my shoulder, when I finally felt the clam. I started making a lot of noise (it happens when I am really excited) and it didn't stop until I had pulled the clam from the sand and all the water that was covering everything. I was so excited I jumped up and started cheering with the clam in my hand. It was about that time I noticed that everyone else on the beach had stopped digging and all eyes were watching me. LoL. They probably thought I was crazy, I had to announce, "I am from Utah and this is my first clam!!!" They all suddenly started nodding in unison like they finally understood why I would allow myself to get so dirty and wet and make such a big deal over one clam. One digger said, "Ya, I bet you don't see many of those down in Utah huh?" Haha. It was totally worth it and I was drenched from the rain anyway so I figured why not immerse myself to get my clam?!

 Alli was really good at finding the dimples, my dad was really good at digging. They made an excellent team.

 Near the end of the day we tried out this Clam Gun. When you find a dimple you can stick the clam gun into the sand, cover the air hole, and draw up the sand with the clam inside.

 This one didn't work too well so we resorted digging by hand still.

 My dad, trying not to get wet, but not wanting to lose his Razor Clam:

CLAM DIGGING DAY #2

Our second day of clam digging was absolutely beautiful. It was the perfect Washington State clam digging day.

There were a lot more fellow clam diggers out today:

We got "Clam Guns" for our adventure today. And let me tell you, they are AWESOME! They made digging so much easier and so much faster. 

My first Razor Clam of the day:

Alli's first Razor Clam - she did not like holding it:

 My mom with her first Razor Clam:

 Mike with his first Razor Clam:

 Austin with his first Razor Clam:

 LoL. This guy made me laugh. He was digging and the waves came in, he didn't want to get wet, but he didn't want to lose his clam - hence the stance.

 Me after digging by hand to get my clam. We didn't have enough clam guns for everyone to have their own and while everyone hated when the water came, I found it the perfect opportunity to keep digging. I didn't mind getting down and dirty so this was my stance most of the afternoon.

 My cute mom and dad.

 The smallest Razor Clam we found, slightly larger than my pinky nail:

We stayed well into the evening and it was fabulous digging, none of us wanted to leave.

About half of our finds for the day (the other bucket full was already in the sink being cleaned):

VIDEOS FROM THE DAY:

I also want to make a disclaimer that these videos make Razorclam digging look really easy.

It took some time finding the dimples/doughnuts/keyholes so when we found them, we needed to dig like crazy to get those clams! These videos are of the digging - not of the scouting :0)

Austin, Whitney, Mike, Dad and Me Razorclam digging:

Dad digging a Razorclam (even though I don't have many still pictures of him with the Razorclam's - he found and dug more than any of us!):

Dad, Mom, and Alli - Pulling out 2 clams - one even once the water came in:

Mom found a dimple, Dad dug it up:


Me Razorclam digging (this was at the end of the second day so although I was excited, it didn't show near as much as those first few clams we dug):

Mike and Dad Razorclam Digging:

Alli and Dad Razorclam digging: