July 27, 2010 we left Orange County for Las Vegas. Zack’s team had his 10U tournament, and the 5onFive President quickly put a 9U together team to take to Vegas that I was going to coach and Trent would be on the team. This was going to be fun. 
Trent got some good AAU experience in Vegas. Trent’s team only had 3 practices and we didn’t have one when we were all together. We had a few kids cancel at the last minute so we only had 4 confirmed players going into the last practice. We needed a miracle. Luckily, we were aloud to bring some 10 year old to bring us up to 7 total players. We could go and play, but we could not win a championship because of the 10 year olds. Well, when we got there, we found that most of teams in our division were 10 year olds with only a couple of 9U’s. So with only 3 practices under our belt, our 9U’s played their hearts out. The lost every game, but to me they won because they did their very best. They all gained a great deal of higher level experience.
Zack’s team had been playing very well near the end of the season. They won Championships from 3 of the final 4 tournaments they played in. But this was Vegas. This is a whole different ball of wax. All the teams they played against were much more athletic than our team. But what the opponents didn’t know was the high octane, never give up attitude of 5onFive. They beat very good team the first game. Then they battled another great team. This other team (who had two 12 year old on the team) had to make a desperation, fall away, 3-pointer, with two defenders right in his face to win. I guess they need those 12 year olds to beat us. The next game we battled a tough team from Colorado. Zack had his best game of the season. He scored 16 points in 10 point win over a much more athletic Colorado team. The bummer is, the very next day we had to play the same team in the semi-final. The other team made some adjustments and we couldn’t counter them, but once again they played hard all the way and had a great tournament.
Now that we were done with basketball, it was time to decompress and get ready for our journey. We were off to Brian Head, UT. We stayed in our time share in Cedar Breaks/ Brian Head for 3 days. It was nice to relax away from the hustle and bustle of basketball and Vegas. On our first full day we drove up to Brian Head peak to see everything. 
The elevation on the peak was a little over 11,000 feet. The altitude was really getting to us here. Zack and I hiked down 10 or 15 feet to a little abandoned well. 
When we hiked out, it took me a minute or two to actually catch my breath. We looked around the peak for a while watching the thunder clouds build and seeing the native flowers and rock formations. Then we were off to Cedar Breaks National Monument. 
This monument was formed over millions of years of erosion. Boy it is a site to see. It’s shaped like a half bowl. We went out to the point where you can really see its beauty. A ranger came out to tell us he was closing the point due to the approaching thunder storm. Earlier in the week a lightning bolt hit the point very near to the visitor’s center. As we walked back off the point he told me to be sure and look out at the bowl after the rain. He told us the rain really brings out the red color of the monument.
On day two we decided to drive out towards Cedar Breaks and hike Alpine Pond.
This hike was a 3 mile educational power house. We all learned so much about nature and all the little animals that live in it. We paid $1 for a guide pamphlet that really made the hike special. After our hike we had a great pizza in Brain Head.
The next day we were on the road to Moab, UT to see the Arches National Park. Luckily, thunderstorms were following us everywhere we went. The big benefit to the storms, (besides me loving the storms) was keeping the temperatures nice comfortable. I think it barely got into the mid 80 while we were there. We got into Moab and stayed in a nice place. The next day we got an early start out to Arches.
This place was beautiful. Our goal was to hike Delicate Arch and maybe some other arches and view bunch more. We did all that. Delicate Arch was another 3 mile hike. 
The boys loved climbing the big rock up to the arch. Even Matt loved it as he sang his “energy song.” Delicate Arch was awesome and huge. We took turns taking pictures under the arch. It’s much taller and bigger than I anticipated. When you look up, you really get dizzy…the arch is tall and if you fell, you would get banged up pretty good. (Not as scary as Half Dome cables though.) After our hike we continued on to a short hike of the “Windows” and the “Turret.” Matt and Stef sat these two out, but they were pretty cool to see. We then continued to several viewing points for the 
“Gossip Sisters, 
Balanced Rock, 
Windows, and 
Park Avenue.” This was defiantly one of our highlights of the trip.
The next day we’re going to drive through 4-Corners on our way to Monument Valley. 4-Corners was a bit of drive out of the way, but well worth the stop for a photo opp.
They’ve re-done monument and it looks great. There was short line for a picture for us to all be in CO, UT, NM, and AZ at the same time. Some of the others in line cautioned us about the Navajo police. They said to drive the speed limit exactly. I guess they will write tickets even if you are 1 mph over the speed limit. I was very careful from that point on while driving on the reservation. The monument is run by the Navajo Nation so we had to try the Navajo bread. Basically it was fried bread with cinnamon, or honey, or powdered sugar on top. We tried them all. Ummmm they were good.
Now we were on our way to Mexican Hat, UT. We were only staying one night in Mexican Hat, so once again we left early to see Monument Valley.
Monument Valley was the set for many of John Ford’s Westerns. You can see a great deal of the beautiful monuments from the road. But an even better view can be seen by going into the park. The best view was from the visitor’s center. I think my favorite buttes were the Mittens. 
We decided to get a better look by taking the 17 dirt road around the majority of the site. After the bumpy ride, we felt that the view from the visitor’s center was the best. We got back on the road and it was off to Zion, UT
We arrived at the park and it was beautiful. The formations of the rock were so different than I’d ever seen before. Red and white striations or layers that were created over millions of years. We drove through the two man-made tunnels that got us to the other side of the park where we were staying in Springdale, UT. The weather was nice and cool due to the earlier thunderstorms. Springdale is awesome. It’s a town right next to the park with the best shuttle service ever. We got some dinner and got ready for our hike. Zack I decided to take pre-hike so we knew where were going and what we needed to get. We were ready. We took the first shuttle to the park and then took another shuttle to the trail head.
We had decided to hike the Emerald Pools. We did get a picture of us all at the first stop. Matt made it about 3 quarters of the way up and then the energy that his energy song gave him ran out. So, Stef and Matt headed back. And it was a good thing he did. The trail got a bit more technical (rocky) and some storm clouds were closing in. Zack, Trent, and I made it to Upper Emerald Pool. 
It was beautiful and SO tall. The canyon walls probably were 100-150 feet up from where we stood. 
Then we started to hear some thunder. It was getting closer, so we decided to head back. People were still coming up, while we were headed down. By the time we found some adequate shelter, the lighting had pretty much stopped, but we were already soaked. 
The boys wanted to plow down so we decided to keep hiking in the rain. By the time we got to the bottom, we were WET and a little cold. We got some hot chocolate and I got 2 new shirts. (Package deal) Once we got warmed up, the sun came out and it was time to go see more of the park. Stef wanted to see a movie at one of the stops in the park. It was an educational movie about the park. Zack, Trent, Matt, and I wanted to see more of the park. So we got back on the shuttle that went around the park. 
We got off the shuttle at Temple of Sinswava. The tour bus guide told us that this water fall usually only flows in the spring…but it was flowing now…so we got a picture. We got back on the first shuttle and then the second shuttle right back to our motel. We had some pool fun and then got ready for our last leg back to Vegas.
We got into Vegas at around 10:30. Not only did we leave around 9 or so, we gained an hour with the time change. Since we were so early, our timeshare room was not ready. We decided to visit one of our new favorite restaurants, The Aloha Kitchen, to burn some time. (The other was Thai…Lotus of Siam…yum!) After lunch, the room was still not ready.
They gave us a pool key and we went out to the big pool for some fun. On one side the pool has a neat water fall that falls from a pyramid type temple. On the other side are the four slides. 
Two for younger kids and two for the bigger ones. The boys had a blast on slides. When the room was ready at 4p…they were ready to go. When we got to the room, it was a site to see. We actually had two bedrooms and a pull out couch. We had been living out of our suitcases for about two weeks, so I was glad we were staying two nights here. We had more pool fun the next day and then we got ready for home. We were really looking forward to getting home into our own beds.
As our summer adventure was nearing its end, we really noticed, how beautiful Utah is in many ways. And we were really only in the Southern part of Utah. We saw the upper elevations of Brian Head, to the desert regions of Moab, 4-Corners, and Monument Valley, to the canyons of Zion. This was a great adventure!
Trent got some good AAU experience in Vegas. Trent’s team only had 3 practices and we didn’t have one when we were all together. We had a few kids cancel at the last minute so we only had 4 confirmed players going into the last practice. We needed a miracle. Luckily, we were aloud to bring some 10 year old to bring us up to 7 total players. We could go and play, but we could not win a championship because of the 10 year olds. Well, when we got there, we found that most of teams in our division were 10 year olds with only a couple of 9U’s. So with only 3 practices under our belt, our 9U’s played their hearts out. The lost every game, but to me they won because they did their very best. They all gained a great deal of higher level experience.
Zack’s team had been playing very well near the end of the season. They won Championships from 3 of the final 4 tournaments they played in. But this was Vegas. This is a whole different ball of wax. All the teams they played against were much more athletic than our team. But what the opponents didn’t know was the high octane, never give up attitude of 5onFive. They beat very good team the first game. Then they battled another great team. This other team (who had two 12 year old on the team) had to make a desperation, fall away, 3-pointer, with two defenders right in his face to win. I guess they need those 12 year olds to beat us. The next game we battled a tough team from Colorado. Zack had his best game of the season. He scored 16 points in 10 point win over a much more athletic Colorado team. The bummer is, the very next day we had to play the same team in the semi-final. The other team made some adjustments and we couldn’t counter them, but once again they played hard all the way and had a great tournament.
Now that we were done with basketball, it was time to decompress and get ready for our journey. We were off to Brian Head, UT. We stayed in our time share in Cedar Breaks/ Brian Head for 3 days. It was nice to relax away from the hustle and bustle of basketball and Vegas. On our first full day we drove up to Brian Head peak to see everything. 
The elevation on the peak was a little over 11,000 feet. The altitude was really getting to us here. Zack and I hiked down 10 or 15 feet to a little abandoned well. 
When we hiked out, it took me a minute or two to actually catch my breath. We looked around the peak for a while watching the thunder clouds build and seeing the native flowers and rock formations. Then we were off to Cedar Breaks National Monument. 
This monument was formed over millions of years of erosion. Boy it is a site to see. It’s shaped like a half bowl. We went out to the point where you can really see its beauty. A ranger came out to tell us he was closing the point due to the approaching thunder storm. Earlier in the week a lightning bolt hit the point very near to the visitor’s center. As we walked back off the point he told me to be sure and look out at the bowl after the rain. He told us the rain really brings out the red color of the monument.On day two we decided to drive out towards Cedar Breaks and hike Alpine Pond.
This hike was a 3 mile educational power house. We all learned so much about nature and all the little animals that live in it. We paid $1 for a guide pamphlet that really made the hike special. After our hike we had a great pizza in Brain Head.The next day we were on the road to Moab, UT to see the Arches National Park. Luckily, thunderstorms were following us everywhere we went. The big benefit to the storms, (besides me loving the storms) was keeping the temperatures nice comfortable. I think it barely got into the mid 80 while we were there. We got into Moab and stayed in a nice place. The next day we got an early start out to Arches.
This place was beautiful. Our goal was to hike Delicate Arch and maybe some other arches and view bunch more. We did all that. Delicate Arch was another 3 mile hike. 
The boys loved climbing the big rock up to the arch. Even Matt loved it as he sang his “energy song.” Delicate Arch was awesome and huge. We took turns taking pictures under the arch. It’s much taller and bigger than I anticipated. When you look up, you really get dizzy…the arch is tall and if you fell, you would get banged up pretty good. (Not as scary as Half Dome cables though.) After our hike we continued on to a short hike of the “Windows” and the “Turret.” Matt and Stef sat these two out, but they were pretty cool to see. We then continued to several viewing points for the 
“Gossip Sisters, 
Balanced Rock, 
Windows, and 
Park Avenue.” This was defiantly one of our highlights of the trip.The next day we’re going to drive through 4-Corners on our way to Monument Valley. 4-Corners was a bit of drive out of the way, but well worth the stop for a photo opp.
They’ve re-done monument and it looks great. There was short line for a picture for us to all be in CO, UT, NM, and AZ at the same time. Some of the others in line cautioned us about the Navajo police. They said to drive the speed limit exactly. I guess they will write tickets even if you are 1 mph over the speed limit. I was very careful from that point on while driving on the reservation. The monument is run by the Navajo Nation so we had to try the Navajo bread. Basically it was fried bread with cinnamon, or honey, or powdered sugar on top. We tried them all. Ummmm they were good.Now we were on our way to Mexican Hat, UT. We were only staying one night in Mexican Hat, so once again we left early to see Monument Valley.
Monument Valley was the set for many of John Ford’s Westerns. You can see a great deal of the beautiful monuments from the road. But an even better view can be seen by going into the park. The best view was from the visitor’s center. I think my favorite buttes were the Mittens. 
We decided to get a better look by taking the 17 dirt road around the majority of the site. After the bumpy ride, we felt that the view from the visitor’s center was the best. We got back on the road and it was off to Zion, UTWe arrived at the park and it was beautiful. The formations of the rock were so different than I’d ever seen before. Red and white striations or layers that were created over millions of years. We drove through the two man-made tunnels that got us to the other side of the park where we were staying in Springdale, UT. The weather was nice and cool due to the earlier thunderstorms. Springdale is awesome. It’s a town right next to the park with the best shuttle service ever. We got some dinner and got ready for our hike. Zack I decided to take pre-hike so we knew where were going and what we needed to get. We were ready. We took the first shuttle to the park and then took another shuttle to the trail head.
We had decided to hike the Emerald Pools. We did get a picture of us all at the first stop. Matt made it about 3 quarters of the way up and then the energy that his energy song gave him ran out. So, Stef and Matt headed back. And it was a good thing he did. The trail got a bit more technical (rocky) and some storm clouds were closing in. Zack, Trent, and I made it to Upper Emerald Pool. 
It was beautiful and SO tall. The canyon walls probably were 100-150 feet up from where we stood. 
Then we started to hear some thunder. It was getting closer, so we decided to head back. People were still coming up, while we were headed down. By the time we found some adequate shelter, the lighting had pretty much stopped, but we were already soaked. 
The boys wanted to plow down so we decided to keep hiking in the rain. By the time we got to the bottom, we were WET and a little cold. We got some hot chocolate and I got 2 new shirts. (Package deal) Once we got warmed up, the sun came out and it was time to go see more of the park. Stef wanted to see a movie at one of the stops in the park. It was an educational movie about the park. Zack, Trent, Matt, and I wanted to see more of the park. So we got back on the shuttle that went around the park. 
We got off the shuttle at Temple of Sinswava. The tour bus guide told us that this water fall usually only flows in the spring…but it was flowing now…so we got a picture. We got back on the first shuttle and then the second shuttle right back to our motel. We had some pool fun and then got ready for our last leg back to Vegas.We got into Vegas at around 10:30. Not only did we leave around 9 or so, we gained an hour with the time change. Since we were so early, our timeshare room was not ready. We decided to visit one of our new favorite restaurants, The Aloha Kitchen, to burn some time. (The other was Thai…Lotus of Siam…yum!) After lunch, the room was still not ready.
They gave us a pool key and we went out to the big pool for some fun. On one side the pool has a neat water fall that falls from a pyramid type temple. On the other side are the four slides. 
Two for younger kids and two for the bigger ones. The boys had a blast on slides. When the room was ready at 4p…they were ready to go. When we got to the room, it was a site to see. We actually had two bedrooms and a pull out couch. We had been living out of our suitcases for about two weeks, so I was glad we were staying two nights here. We had more pool fun the next day and then we got ready for home. We were really looking forward to getting home into our own beds.As our summer adventure was nearing its end, we really noticed, how beautiful Utah is in many ways. And we were really only in the Southern part of Utah. We saw the upper elevations of Brian Head, to the desert regions of Moab, 4-Corners, and Monument Valley, to the canyons of Zion. This was a great adventure!
Immediately we started to climb. It was steeper than I thought it would be. More rocky too. Zack (age 9) was a trooper the whole trip. I constantly had to slow him down. (For him so he wouldn't burn out and for me...because he was moving fast.) We passed one water fall, then walked behind another, then crossed over the big Nevada Falls. This was a site to see. 
We could clearly see one side of Half Dome, but it was still far away. In my mind I'm thinking, what have I gotten us into, how are we going to make it there up the cables, down cables, and back to the car alive? Zack then sees the face of Half Dome and says, "We are going to make it to the summit...I just know it." That was exactly what I needed to hear. There was no way this 44 year old was going to let his son down. We just had to keep going. For the next hour or so we were in a huge meadow, with tallest trees you've ever seen. After the meadow we were climbing switch backs again. Zack was getting tired...then I realized he passed on a food break the last time and now he's dragging...hmmm. "I'm not hungry." he said...I don't care...If you don't eat, we are going back. As soon as he ate some food he was back to cranking up the mountain. About 5 or so hours into our assault we got a pretty good view of our goal. If you looked really closely you could see tiny people climbing the cables. A few minutes later we were at the base of Sub Dome. 
This is where it gets tricky. It's a very steep a climb on what looks like rock stairs. After about 30 minutes or so of the steep ascent we come to the base of the cables. The dreaded cables that I had read so much about. The cables are put up by the park service only between May and October. Many hundreds or thousands of people climb the cables every year. 
It can be very dangerous especially in rain or thunder storms. No such bad weather on this day. The only bad thing I can say about this day was that the park service was manging a fire, so smoke filled the valley partially occluding our view below. Once again Zack was eager to get going up the cables. When we first got there, the line up the face was not bad. Zack said, "let's go!" I told him we needed to eat first to get our strength up. Then we were ready to make our final assault. But now more people had arrived. Remember this was the July 4th holiday weekend. There were tons of people now arriving at the base of the cables. The cables are about 3 feet apart width wise and there are poles drilled into the rock about every four feet or so. At each pole there is a 2 x 4 going length wise between the poles. This give you a good place to rest. As we started our climb, somebody way farther going up and somebody coming down got really scared. They couldn't move and neither could anyone else until they did move. I was between the 2 x 4's for about 15 minutes until somebody helped the scared people through the rough spots. Later, Zack told me that was the only time he was scared because his hands were getting tired of holding on. After that we learned to stop on the 2 x 4's until the next one was open. That made it much easier. I was behind Zack the whole time telling him to hold on a focus on every step. I tried to look around every once in a while, but I'm not the best with heights, and I was worried for Zack. After about 45 minutes we made it to the top! 
I think it would have taken 15 or 20 minutes to make it with out a line. The summit was beautiful. We snapped a few pictures including one of me out on the Visor. The Visor scared me. When you looked down, you could see straight down over 4000 feet. If you fell, you would not hit anything until you reached valley floor. That's me looking scared near the end of the Visor. 
We ate some more and we were ready to head down. This part wasn't particularly hard, but there was still a line to get down, and I was really worried Zack was getting tired and would slip and roll off the mountain. Of course, I didn't need to worry...he did awesome all the way down the cables. 
I am glad we got those new hiking shoes...they really gripped the rock well. We rested at the base of the cables, ate some more and then headed down Sub Dome. I knew once we got down Sub Dome, we were home free. Once we passed the base of Sub Dome, I felt much better, but we still had to get down. We had plenty of water and food left...we were looking and feeling good. We just needed to get down. The last two hours down, my downhill legs were getting tired. We were not out of breath as much, and we were moving faster, but my legs were taking a beating. The last half hour I ran out of water. I was fully hydrated and not worried...plus Zack had about 1.5 liters of water left in his pack. Plus in another half hour of walking there would be a potable drinking fountain. We were down to the last 15 minutes or so. There were way more people down here. We kept walking waiting to get back to the car. Finally at about 5:55 pm we made it back to the car. The hike took us 12 hours and 45 minutes. (approx. 1 hour at the top) Total elevation of Half Dome is 8,842…4,800 feet of elevation gain…17 miles round trip. It was the most unreal thing I ever done. I can now scratch Half Dome off my bucket list. During the whole hike, I would occasional do a video journal entry. The video links below will give you a feeling for what we were seeing and how we were feeling. Please click the links to see the video journal of our summit trip of Half Dome on July 3rd, 2009.
