Last Wednesday through Sunday we took our family Summer "intra-state" vacation. With gas prices such as they are we opted for a local vacation to keep our travel within one gas tank's distance, allowing for a more flexible budget. Over the four days we took in a number of places and activities which brought back some old memories for Keri and myself, and allowed us to make some great new memories with the whole family!
On Pioneer Day we went to Lagoon Amusement Park. Although it was a busy Utah Holiday, it wasn't too crowded, and we never had to wait more than about 20 minutes in line. It was a sunny, hot day in the 90's, but we stayed hydrated and made the most of our time. My favorite ride was the "Wicked" roller coaster:
You start by coming out of a dark tunnel being "shot" from 0-60 mph in about one second, heading straight for the sky. At over 100' up you go over the top 180 degrees and find yourself heading straight down! You then abruptly level out before the next climb, pulling nearly 5 G's!
You then go through a series of inverted twists and corkscrew turns, dips, and dives for a total ride time of just over one minute! I love this ride because we pull some serious G's, but it is all so smooth, due to the modern track and alternating positive/negative reversing electro-magnetic drive, that it doesn't leave you with a sore neck or headache (like the Wild Mouse!)
I also liked the Colossus Fire Dragon roller coaster, which to me, is more like "flying", with its trademark back to back large, sweeping loops! We also rode the classic "ol' rickety white wooden roller coaster" AKA "The Roller Coaster" -
which was originally built in 1921. I think it is still kept around mostly for nostalgic reasons. It seems to be Keri's favorite, as she remembers riding it over and over (and over) when she was a teenager. We also reflected back on when we came to Lagoon as newlyweds (many) years ago. (Now isn't that Special?!) We rode the Wicked four times, Colossus three times, "the Roller Coaster" twice, the Space Shot twice, Flying Aces twice, the Bat twice, Re-entry once, the Samurai once, and the boys rode the Cliffhanger twice, along with a few other miscellaneous rides.
Everyone but Dad rode the Wild Mouse too - although about halfway through Mom wished that she hadn't! At 10 pm they had a great fireworks show over the park, during which they temporarily shut down the higher altitude rides. Our fourth time on Wicked we got in line just two people before the last ride of the day! It was almost eerie as we shot straight up toward the star-filled sky at 11 pm, and then flew through the rest of the ride over a now quiet, closed down park. By then we were totally spent, as we walked to the campground area and fell asleep just as our heads hit the pillow. It's a good thing that we were all exhausted, otherwise the trains and freeway traffic would have kept us up all night!
The next day we went to Salt Lake City for some service as a family at the Salt Lake Temple.
Due to the personal nature of this great experience, I won't go into detail about our time there here in my 'blog, but I am happy to share about it in an e-mail or in person.
I will say that I was fortunate to meet President Uchtdorf in the hallway there!
That afternoon I had the opportunity to re-take the H4 (Advanced Hang Glider Pilot Rating) exam. My first attempt was over a year ago, when I missed one too many to pass the test (Dohhhh!). This time I spent an hour or so reviewing subjects like airspace, angle of attack, VFR, IFR, airspeed, pre-flights, radios, etc. etc. with the examiner, John. Then, I passed the test, missing only 5 questions! (you are allowed to miss up to 10). Some of the questions are downright stupid, because even if you know the material, they are worded in such a way that you can still miss it! Anyway, I'm glad to have achieved that rating (it only took me 25 years!) which will allow me more free-flight opportunities at even more flying sites!
That night we stayed at the Little America Hotel - talk about memories! That is where Keri & I spent the first night of our honeymoon many (many) years ago. I won't bore you with any more Hotel details - past or present! 
The next day, after sleeping in (well, after all, it was a vacation!) we went to the Hogle Zoo!
Everyone had fun seeing their favorite goofy looking animals. It reminded me of going to the Seattle Zoo with my family when I was a boy! We also recalled when we went to the zoo as a family when the boys were much younger, and Josh thought he had been stung by a "Wild Herb!"
One of our favorite parts of our visit to the zoo was the "birds of prey" show, a 25 minute program.We had the opportunity to see large raptors up close and personal as they took flight right over our heads!
After the zoo we allowed time for dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory! Mmmmmm - can you say, "Mizithra?" (...And warm sourdough bread!) Now that brought back some memories as a kid, eating at the Seattle Spaghetti Factory. Keri & I also counted how many other locations we had enjoyed - including Hawaii!
That evening we went to a Salt Lake Bees professional Minor League baseball game.
It just doesn't get much better than a warm summer night at the ballpark with an exciting game and 10 lbs of kettle corn!
It came down to the bottom of the 9th inning, with the score tied 3 to 3. The Bees loaded up the bases with one out, and then sent one off of the right field wall to win the game! I also have many fond memories of going to watch the Seattle Mariners with my Dad as a boy.
Afterwards there was an awesome fireworks display over the stadium,
reminding us of the time we came to a Bees game on the Fourth of July in 2003!We wrapped up our vacation by spending some time with Darin & Kim & family, and then returned to find our home sweet home still standing. Although it was a short, local vacation, we had a great time seeing the sights, making new memories, and recalling events from vacations-past!
as I approached the headwall to the east. Instead of drifting in the sure lift, I pointed south to try to get to the foothills east of launch and climb the mountain range that way. In hindsight it was a tactical error, but one based on increasing my glide to LZ safety cushion. As a result I was just too low against the foothills, and ended up top-landing in a nice, wide open alfalfa field. So I walked my glider down to launch from there, and relaunched again, into obviously lighter conditions, resulting in a nice late-day sled ride. Although I went home very tired from more leg-work than usual, and didn't get as high as I wanted, it was still a great-fun (and safe) day of flying with Cody, a couple of red-tails, and four turkey vultures!
Flights: 3 
I briefed Landon on the launch sequence of "walk, jog, run" and reviewed his hand positioning and how to prone out once airborne. We did not linger on launch, and at 3:40 pm we made a seamless transition from earth to sky. We were greeted by the 900 fpm jolt of the resident elevator just south of launch as we rocketed skyward. We soon discovered that the bar-ripping thermals were fragmented and difficult to work for more than one or two turns. Cody soon launched and the three of us spent the next 45 minutes scratching and arm wrestling some nasty thermals surrounded by sharp-edged sink just to stay at or below launch level. Twice Landon and I were within about 75 feet of the bailout landing zone getting ready to go upright when a bubble came through and took us back up. Finally we found a cohesive thermal by following a red-tailed hawk in some tight 360's allowing us to drift back to the upper mountain, where the thermals began to widen and mellow, allowing me to relax my grip just a bit. It was nice to allow my stomach to settle after all of the ups, downs, and 360's - although Landon did not complain at all and was right at home in the air.
Soon we topped out about 1,000' over the upper mountain, where Cody joined us in some magical airplay'n in the afternoon glass-off! The noticeably cooler air was a relief from the valley heat. We played 3-D follow the leader with Cody, lined up in some close flying formations, and then watched Cody go beyond vertical in some sweet climbovers. As the air continued to smooth out, I let Landon "drive" for a while, getting some practice with airspeed recognition and gentle turns. Here's some video footage from our flight - if you click on this YouTube link you can then click 
Airtime: 2 Hours & 10 minutes x 2!
It was a hot, high pressure day in the mid 90's, with just enough of a sw breeze to funnel the thermals right up launch in some nice cycles. We launched around 3:30 and found just enough ridge lift to allow us to "hang in there" until we could core a thermal for the ride over the upper mountains within about 15 minutes. Like any other hot, high pressure day, the thermals were strong and sharp-edged, with some pronounced sink inbetween - especially closer to the mountain. My GPS registered some basetube-grabbing "jolts" at near 1,400 fpm, which then settled in at up to 1,000 fpm - although most were between 400-600 fpm. As we climbed away from the mountain and closer to cloudbase, the lift seemed to smooth out and strengthen. 
I carried my glider across the field next to the highway, and as I yawed it around across the wind, I saw a family of kids all standing in a big front window in the house across the road, trying to figure out how I had come to land in this field! After talking with the friendly homeowner, I learned that I had landed just north of Dayton, Idaho, 
- right next to "Winward Avenue". I broke down my glider and continued talking with Cody on the radio. He had taken a different, more westerly route across the valley. I encouraged him to continue going for miles, but he decided that the XC potential wasn't that great, and opted to land near Preston, Idaho for a quicker retrieval, at about 20 miles out.
