With busy work weeks and Saturdays now spent running errands and playing catch-up, Joe and I have declared our day of rest to be “Sunday Fun-Days.” We need a day together for general merriment and as little stress as possible. We tried it out last Sunday and had THE most perfect day I’ve had in a long time. I could get used to this new rule.

Those on Instagram already saw, but we stared out the day by sleeping in and then throwing on baseball hats to grab Starbucks, which I enjoyed with a good great fantastic book.

Honestly, it would be almost impossible to beat that for me, but Joe had a fabulous idea:

To celebrate the brave survival of our first Utah Winter, we went for a hike. <— A sentence I never dreamed I’d ever type. Who am I?

We didn’t have to go outside the canyon like we did with Sean and Wallis over the summer. This trail is right in Logan, just on the slopes of the Wasatch mountain range looking down on the city.

Welcome to the Bonneville Shoreline Trail!

A little history/geology lesson I pulled from here:

The trail follows the eastern shoreline of ancient Lake Bonneville. Lake Bonneville filled the Great Basin which covers much of the western United States. The lake existed in the late pleisteine period when Utah was a much wetter place and glaciers sat nestled in the peaks of the Wasatch Range. The Lake created a series of benches as it slowly receded into the desert over thousands of years. Many of Utah’s cities are built on the lower benches and the Bonneville Shoreline trail follows the upper benches. A route around a lake shore may sound like a gentle path, but the Bonneville shoreline is not. In the thousands of years since the lake evaporated and left its child the Great Salt Lake in the valley the rivers and streams running from the mountains have cut canyons and ravines across the once even shore. The trail continuously descends into and climbs out of these obstacles along its route. The Bonneville Shoreline Trail runs on top of the Wasatch fault for most of its route. The Wasatch fault is still active, pushing the peaks of the Wasatch Range higher.

We took a 3+-mile, telephone-pole-laden portion of its path slowly, soaking up the sun and the fact that we haven’t been outside much since November. It was the perfect way to unplug from phones, internet, March Madness, work…and plug into US.

We stopped to admire new grass, to check out weird trees, watch spiders and to talk. Lots of talking. Topics included: Trips we want to take – How to celebrate our upcoming anniversary – How much would it cost to clone Bella – House-hunting – House-building – Summer plans – New hobbies for Joe – New Etsy ideas for me – Ways to simplify our life…..and on and on and on. We’re a couple of dreamers, him and me. Dreamers and Doers.

My favorite part was how quiet it was. We heard a few trucks shifting gears now and then, but otherwise it was perfectly calm and (more importantly) perfectly silent. It was even too early for the bugs to be humming. It was just us and the scraping of gravel beneath our boots, which is soothing to me in itself.

Though most signs of winter are behind us, the trail did offer a lovely view of the still-snowy Wellsvilles.

Most of our surroundings showed the aftermath of our harsh freezes. Lots of dry and dead everywhere you look.

But there was also life in the form of little buds on trees and the occasional tuft of grass peeking through the rocks.

Here’s one of those weird trees I mentioned. Its bark looked like streamers from a party held long ago.

We also saw this bonsai-looking tree growing from a rock. Of course I made Joe do Karate Kid for me. #80skids #crazywife #funnyhubs

At one point the trail overlooked the Logan Country Club golf course so we had a hint of future greenery. Man, I’m ready for Spring.

The trail ended near the edge of the canyon, a lovely scenic spot we enjoyed before turning back the way we came.

Look! It’s us in bench-form. #charminggraffiti

Welcome back, animal friends. Oh, how we missed your songs these last four-five months.

Our perfect day continued with baking maybe the best cookie ever…that post is coming soon. You won’t want to miss it.

I’m found myself thinking of this walk and our perfect day together while I’m sitting at my desk. It gets me through tough afternoons when all I’d rather be doing is walking in the sunshine holding his hand. Until next week–here’s to Sunday-Fundays and to remembering why we work so hard every other day. Enjoy it!