From Smoke-Filled Skies To Death By Chocolate

Smoke filled the air around our campground recently, as just over 8,000 acres of the Dixie National Forest burned. Ashes dropped all over the campground, and the air was hard to breathe. The fire was called the Shingle Fire, and was about 28 miles south of where we are camped. Only one building was burned, and one fireman was slightly injured, so it could have been a lot worse.  It gave us a reason to watch the local news every morning, and Terry figured that if our area was evacuated we could be on the road in less than 10 minutes.  True to form, Glen wasn't worried at all.  Ignorance really is bliss.

 It is just one of many fires in the west this summer as everything is incredibly dry. The local fireworks for the 4th were cancelled. The fire fighters are working hard, and if we are lucky we may get a bit of rain this week. At the moment, the fire is 90% contained. We didn't take this photo, but it is the fire and a plane dropping fire retardant on it.

Our work and off days were a bit different this week, so we didn't go far afield. We took several day trips. First, we went to revisit Capital Reef National Park  We were hoping to hike a narrow trail that was a wagon trail in the days of the wild west, with a "Pioneer Register". As the wagons came through, many pioneers carved their names on the cliff walls.This trail also has some of the petroglyphs that are found in the park. We had done the trail once before, but wanted to get some photos to share with you. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans. The looming thunderclouds had us rethink the hike as the raindrops started splattering us as we hit the trailhead. Since it is a narrow canyon, and prone to flash flooding, we did the "safe" thing, and just drove out.  This is the "responsible hiker" version of why we bailed on the hike, but the main reason is that Glen was afraid the camera wouldn't handle rain very well.  The drive out of the canyon is videotaped and posted to Terry's Facebook page. It is rough...taken on the phone camera, and with no narration. Below are some photos from the park.

 

The brilliant colors of the rock were muted on this cloudy day, but it was still fun.

We visited the little town of Torrey, just outside the park for lunch. The cafe was attached to a motel and gift shop. We loved the little garden entrance, and we actually had the whole restaurant to ourselves.  While that COULD mean the food was iffy....it didn't.  The food was wonderful, and we felt like we had our own private chef. We explored the gift shop, and found a treasure for the library.....

 When we put this guy on the library counter with a magnifying glass, he will be a big hit.












To travel to Capital Reef from Panguitch, we took one of Utah's scenic highways--Highway 12. There are many twists and turns on this road as it winds over mountains and plateaus. Glen decided that while the drive was manageable, it wasn't one that he wanted to drive on a frequent basis.





We traveled through many small towns, national forest lands, and parts of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Glen even found a new friend at the visitor center in Escalante.







The next day we went for a bike ride in Red Canyon. We'll fill you in more on that local park another time, when we get some photos. It is really pretty and has a great bike trail.

We have made a bit of a Saturday night tradition with the Dutch Oven get-togethers.  This past Saturday, we tackled a bit of a project that the campground owner, Kathy, requested.  She had a cookbook in her store with a recipe called "Aunt Nellie's Death By Chocolate".   It just begged to be tried. So....we agreed to cook it and Glen's famous stew. (This was the first time this summer that he was allowed to use one of his "usual" recipes.) We invited the regulars and another family, the Sondermeyers,  staying at the campground longer than they expected due to vehicle trouble.

Some of you have asked about the Dutch ovens, so we took photos this time.

 

The photo above shows Glen's Dutch Oven table with two ovens in the process of making chocolate cake layers. There are charcoal briquettes both below the ovens and on top in order to make the cake bake. For something like a stew, you don't put the charcoal on the top.

 

The cakes are out and cooling. They had parchment paper liners placed in the ovens so they would not stick, and to make clean up a bit easier.

Transferring to our makeshift cake board, and ready to put the chocolate mousse filling between the layers.

With the chocolate mousse....










And with the frosting. 

We kept it in the cooler until after dinner. Then, we added homemade whipped cream and chocolate chips on individual plates as it was served.  It was a really big hit. Thanks, Aunt Nellie!
We had lots of sugary energy to play a few rounds of Uno Spin with the kids from the Sondermeyer family. It was lots of fun.

One of the local attractions in town is a restored movie theater.  It also has a local ice cream shop with homemade ice cream, waffle cones, etc. We visited it yesterday and sampled the goods.  We WILL be back!  We took some photos because it was just a cute, vintage place. And the popcorn smell was heavenly!

 

 

Tomorrow, we are on our way to Moab. We hope to hook up with two couples that we worked with in Montana, get a ride on the Colorado River in a boat, see some arches, and eat (or drink) in some local microbreweries. We may even find one of the local vineyards and see if we can find a wine we like. We will check in again after our Moab adventures. 

Glen and Terry