Mossy Cave Trail – Bryce Canyon National Park ~ Part 3 – We Arrived at Mossy Cave

Here we are! We arrived at Mossy Cave! Yes, ukuleles are allowed on the trail. Haha! That's one of our sons there with a ukulele.  This photo shows us arriving at Mossy Cave.


There was a helpful informational sign that told us about Mossy Cave.


Here's a closer look at the writing on the sign.


To make it easier to read, I've transcribed the information on the sign.

"This grotto forms as an underground spring permeates the bedrock and water slowly dissolves the calcite that bonds the silts and muds of the Claron Formation. During the short spring and summer season, in this otherwise arid landscape, a cool, moist environment becomes a perfect place for mosses to grow. By late fall, icicles begin to form as water continues to seep through the rock. Sheltered from the sun, even as the days are growing warmer and longer, these icicles sometimes last until June!"

It's interesting that icicles can sometimes last until June. We visited Mossy Cave in June, but as you can see from my photos, there were no icicles when we visited. I guess they didn't last until June in 2013.


Instead of icicles, there was moss on the walls of the cave.


See the trees growing on top of the cave?


Our adventures along Mossy Cave Trail were not done once we arrived at Mossy Cave. I'll be sharing more photos from our trip to Mossy Cave Trail in a future post.

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© 2014 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Mossy Cave Trail – Bryce Canyon National Park ~ Part 2

In June of 2013, our family visited Bryce Canyon National Park. We had such a wonderful time! After our visit to Bryce Canyon, we went to Mossy Cave Trail.

Last year, I shared photos from our visit to Mossy Cave Trail. It's time to share more photos of this beautiful place.

Along this trail there was stunning scenery to enjoy.



Aren't these rock formations amazing?



Here's a look at the creek along the trail.



I love this photo with the bridge in the foreground. Isn't it beautiful there?



Overcast skies.



More photos from our trip to Mossy Cave Trail in a future post.

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© 2014 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Turning Grapes Into Raisins: A Labor of Love at the LDS Vineyard in Madera, California

On a bright, sunny Saturday morning at the end of August in 2013, my husband and I, along with hundreds of other volunteers from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints converged on an 80-acre grape vineyard in Madera, California.

The purpose? To pick the sweet, plump, juicy Thompson Seedless grapes and lay them out on large paper trays. Why did we place these grapes onto paper trays? So that they would dry in the sun and turn into raisins.

The grapes were left to dry in the sun for about two weeks. Then, volunteers returned to the vineyard to roll the grapes, or should I say raisins, inside the paper trays. The raisins were processed and made available to people around the world as part of the LDS Church's welfare and worldwide humanitarian aid programs. If you'd like to learn about the LDS Humanitarian Aid program, please click HERE.

This vineyard is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Members of the Church in eight stakes volunteer to work in the vineyard throughout the year. For my non-LDS readers, you may be wondering what a "stake" is. A stake is a geographical unit that is made up of a group of wards. And a ward is a local congregation that is organized geographically. Members of the Church attend a ward near their home. Each ward is assigned a certain number of rows in this vineyard.

I took these photos after my husband and I had finished working in the vineyard.

Newly picked grapes. Isn't that a beautiful sight?



A row of grapes in the vineyard. See how they are changing color? These were picked several days before we arrived. They were already on their way to becoming raisins.



Grapes beginning to dry in the sun.



Grape vines.



Grape picking tools – grape pan, grape knives, garden pruner, and water. My husband uses a grape knife. I prefer my garden pruner.



To learn more about the LDS Vineyard in Madera, please click the following link. There's a great video that accompanies this brief article. The video shows volunteers working in the vineyard.

Raisins: Part of the Lord’s Work

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© 2014 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Christmas Lights on Temple Square ~ Part 2

In a previous post, I shared some photos I took while our family visited Temple Square in Salt Lake City on November 29, 2013. That was the night the Christmas lights were turned on for the first time this Christmas season. What a beautiful sight!

Today, I'm sharing more pictures from our visit. I hope you enjoy them.

A photo of the Salt Lake Temple through the trees.



Lovely luminaries.



A beautiful nativity scene in the center of the reflecting pool.



Here's a different viewing angle of the nativity scene in the photo above. The magnificent building behind the nativity scene is the The Salt Lake Temple.



A close-up view of the nativity scene.



The Salt Lake Temple.



Merry Christmas everyone!

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© 2012 - 2013 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Christmas Lights on Temple Square ~ Part 1

Last week, our family spent the Thanksgiving holiday together in Utah. We had a wonderful time.

On Friday, November 29, we all traveled to Salt Lake City to see the Christmas lights on Temple Square.

For those who've never been to Temple Square, the magnificent building in these pictures is the Salt Lake Temple. Construction of this temple took 40 years to complete. The groundbreaking took place on February 14, 1853 and the dedication was held in April of 1893.

The Salt Lake Temple is the largest temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.



My husband and I had been to Temple Square before, but never at Christmas time.



These pictures will hopefully give you an idea of just how beautiful Temple Square is during the Christmas season.



But, being there is so much better. These photos simply can't compare with the experience of seeing the amazing beauty of Temple Square at Christmas time in person.



I'll be sharing more photos from our visit to Tempe Square in a future post.

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© 2013 Copyright by Jana Last

Our Visit to Avila Beach, California ~ Part 5

In my previous post about our trip to Avila Beach, I shared some photos from our walk along Avila Beach Pier. Today, I'm sharing a few more photos from the pier.

The Avila Beach Pier is 1,685 feet long. To give you a sense of just how long that is, an American football field is 360 feet long when you include the end zones. So this pier is about the length of four and a half football fields.



Okay, I won't dive off the pier. Seriously though, what is this ladder for?



Looking down from the pier at the ladder.



Another view from the pier. Looking down through the ladder.



I'm not sure what kind of bird this is. Any ideas?



In my next post, I'll share photos from underneath the pier. Yep, underneath. My husband and I climbed down the stairs to the Avila Landing.

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© 2013 Copyright by Jana Last

Our Visit to Avila Beach, California ~ Part 4

In my previous post about our family's visit to Avila Beach, I shared photos of the area around the Avila Beach Promenade. Today I'm sharing photos I took while my husband and I walked along the Avila Beach Pier.

Views From The Pier

Looking north -

See that large structure in the distance? My husband and I didn't know what that was at the time of our visit. I looked on Googlemaps and found out that it's the San Luis Bay Inn.



Here's a zoomed in view of the Inn.



Looking south -



Lots of seaweed under the pier.



I thought this looked interesting. See how the seaweed attached itself to the buoy?



More buoys…more seaweed.



Our virtual visit to Avila Beach isn't over yet. I'll be sharing more photos from our visit in future posts.

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© 2013 Copyright by Jana Last

Gibson Beach ~ Point Lobos, California

My husband and I recently visited beautiful Point Lobos State Natural Reserve. We were only there for a few hours on a Saturday afternoon. We were in the area and had never been there before. It's an absolutely gorgeous place, and a photographer's paradise.

Point Lobos is located along Highway 1 on the California Coast. It's just south of Carmel.

Here's a map of Point Lobos (thank you Googlemaps).



There are lots of walking trails to enjoy. Because we were only there for a few hours, we weren't able to see all of Point Lobos. We'll definitely need to go back some day.

I took lots and lots of pictures while we were there. I thought I'd share one of them with you today.

This is Gibson Beach. I absolutely love the color of the water near the shore. I took this photo while we were walking along the Bird Island Trail.



I will be sharing more photos from our visit to Point Lobos in future posts.

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© 2013 Copyright by Jana Last

Our Visit to Avila Beach, California ~ Part 3

While our sons and their friends had fun boogie boarding (I shared photos of them in my previous post), my hubby and I walked around. Here are some photos of the quaint area around the shops at Avila Beach, located along the Avila Beach Promenade.

I just love the name of this bookstore!



Here's a view of the paved walkway leading to more shops.



Here's another view of the same walkway. Oh, look at that super cute gate on the right!



Of course, I had to get a photo of that gate. Don't you just love the goose perched on top?



We decided to follow the paved walkway to see where it would take us.



Down the stairs we went. We then continued along the walkway and ended up on 1st Street. We walked along this street and turned right on San Miguel. Walking along San Miguel took us right back to Front Street, which faces Avila Beach. It's really quite a short walk around the block.



A view of Avila Beach along Front Street.



More to come from our visit to Avila Beach in an upcoming post, including our visit to the Avila Beach Pier.

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© 2013 Copyright by Jana Last