Team Robison

Saturday, April 18, 2015

Salt Lake Marathon

Today was the Salt Lake Marathon. Mark's sister, Anna, signed up to run it and Mark decided to run it with her. About two days after signing up, Mark remembered that his Achilles tendon had been bothering him and he was supposed to lay off running. He stayed off it for a few weeks, but apparently that wasn't long enough. Oh well. We ended up giving Mark's place to Marie, a friend of ours. However, once we realized that the race passed right in front of Mark's cousin's house, we decided to go down and cheer on Anna and Marie. Their house was just past the 23 mile mark, so all the runners were very strung out by the time they passed us. But we had fun chatting with Matt and Kate and their neighbors, and the kids had fun playing with Olivia.

Matthew and Olivia

Matthew, Olivia and Hannah

Matt decided to run along with Anna

Anna and Matt

Anna

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Valley of Fire State Park

On our drive back on Sunday, we stopped at Valley of Fire State Park which is about an hour north of Las Vegas. Jess had been there on a photography trip in college, and had really wanted to go back. I'll say this, it would be a photographer's dream. Mostly it had overlooks and interesting features that were right off the road. It was really much of a hiking place. though. It only had four trails, the longest being a mile and a half. It worked out well for us. We first visit The Cabins, which were built around 1930. It had a picnic area, so we ate an early lunch and the kids had fun going in the cabins and scrambling around the rocks. Next we hike the White Domes trail. The trail wasn't that great, but it went through a slot canyon that was really cool. It also had some little caves in the rocks, which Matthew enjoyed. All in all, it wasn't as great as Red Rock Canyon, but it was a fun little stop. And the views were lovely.

Hannah

Hannah and Matthew

The cabins

Jess, Daniel and Hannah

Hannah and Mark

Mark and Hannah

Matthew throwing rocks

Jess, Daniel and Benjamin

Jess and Daniel

Matthew

Jess and Daniel

Mark, Hannah and I

Matthew

Slot canyon

Mark

Daniel, Jess and Daniel

Matthew and Mark

Matthew, Mark, Hannah and I

Benjamin, Jess and Daniel

Matthew

Hannah

Hoover Dam

After riding the train, we continued on to Hoover Dam. First we stopped and walked out to the middle of the new Hoover Dam bypass bridge. The view of the dam from the bridge was spectacular, as was the view of the bridge from the dam. It really is a gorgeous bridge. Hannah enjoyed the view, but Matthew was terrified. He's not the bravest of children, but we love him. Afterwards, we parked in the parking garage at the dam, and decided to eat lunch before going exploring. The kids wanted out of their car seats, but since the parking garage was busy, we decided to have them eat in the trunk. We decided to walk the bridge and see the view of Lake Mead and of the bridge. It's crazy to think that 30 years ago, the water was all the way to the top of the dam. We took a tour of the power plant, which was interesting, but it was getting a bit late in the day and everyone was getting tired. It was a nice side trip, and both the dam and the bridge are just such marvelous engineering feats.

The Hoover Dam

View from the bypass bridge

Hannah on the bridge

Mark and Hannah

Eating lunch in the trunk in the parking garage

Jess and Daniel

Benjamin, Hannah, Jess and Daniel

The bypass bridge

Our only group shot

Mark and I

Benjamin, Jess and Daniel

Hannah and I

Mark and Matthew

Jess and Daniel in the powerplant

Jess and I

Benjamin

Riding a train

On Saturday morning, we decided to visit Hoover Dam. On our way, we stopped at the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Boulder City. While it wasn't much of a museum, we did get to go for a half hour train ride. Matthew was so excited that we were riding a blue train, just like Thomas the Train. He had such a fun time. Hannah enjoyed the ride as well, and even Daniel woke up for a bit. A little boy's dream come true.