This is my last weekend before I leave SMA on Tuesday and begin what should be an epic journey…this is a map of the first part of the trip from here to Vancouver….I have no time table except I have to be in Vancouver for the 8th June as I have a ticket for the Women’s World cup of soccer….my stops including hiking in Sedona, Escalante and Capitol Reef national park…Provo and Twin Falls……..
So today I had a nice breakfast and then packed up a lunch and went off on my favorite hike…I have had the pleasure of hiking to many wonderful locations in and around SMA but this hike still remains on top of my list…I will admit it is much nicer in the rainy season when the waterfalls are present but still I love the solitude of this hike and it is only 30 minutes from the big Mega grocery store.
X is my first destination and there is usually a cross there will check it out…
This is how it was in March..
This swimming area is usually full and the kids have so much fun here….
Looking back over the lake..
Sure enough the cross is missing but I think that it was taken off and into the local church last week for celebrations and I am sure they will bring it back!!!
When I was climbing up here I thought about other times I have come and sometimes I was lucky enough to see a wild white horse that would allow me to pet him but I had not seen him for a while now…so imagine my delight, a serendipity moment, when I rounded a bend and there he was in the bushes….he would not allow me to get any closer but just to see him on this special occasion was enough!!!
The canyon here has this great bridge across…
The views from either side of the bridge…
again in March
Love this view!!!
In March
That is my sandwich on the left I love to sit here and just think and smile and be thankful for all the blessings in my life!!!
This is looking back from where the waterfall starts…the X is where I had lunch and the bridge in the back ground
New borns!!!
It was a great hike that I shall remember!!!
I had a tennis game scheduled for 4 o clock but around 3 o clock a huge storm passed through and of course the courts are too wet to play……..but they should be dry for tomorrow as long as it does not rain again.
I did some chores in town till almost 7pm and now home relaxing pretending to watch hockey on the non existent TV!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I know this article will be boring for most of you but this is about my Brother’s home town soccer team who are in danger of being sent down from the next division..the implications are huge in terms of revenue and TV rights we are talking millions of dollars so their next two matches are critical>>>
Premier League relegation: Hull will go down -
In his regular BBC Sport column, Robbie Savage looks at how Hull City manager Steve Bruce will cope with his side's situation at the bottom of the table and the Tigers' prospects of climbing out of the relegation zone with two games to go.
Things look pretty grim for Hull City right now and one of the few positives for them is that they cannot go down this weekend.
Even if they lose to Tottenham, the Tigers are safe for now because Sunderland and Leicester play each other on Saturday and at least one of those teams could also still be relegated regardless of that result.
Probably the worst thing for Hull is that survival is no longer in their hands but I know manager Steve Bruce well from playing under him at Birmingham for three years and, despite the seriousness of their situation, he will be doing his best to keep the mood buoyant in training this week.
Hull's fans have stayed behind Steve Bruce despite their struggles this season
I don't think he will let the pressure get to him, and even if he does, he will not show it.
His problem is that the same cannot be said for his players.
Hull are currently two points adrift of safety and I think they need four points from their last two games to have any chance of staying up, but it is hard to see them getting anywhere near that.
It will be difficult enough for them to get the results they need at Spurs on Saturday and at home to Manchester United on the final day even if they play well.
But if they play as badly as they did in the second half of their defeat by Burnley last weekend then they have no chance whatsoever.
Did nerves affect Hull's players?
Bruce hoping for 'one last twist'
I have never heard Bruce talk about one of his teams the way he did after that game. It certainly never happened when we were together at Birmingham.
Bruce said he was "totally shocked" by how poorly Hull had performed. He felt his players had been nervous and edgy and had not been able to handle the expectation that they would beat Burnley.
Nerves never affected me when I played - I found it difficult to watch games because I could not influence them but I was happy as long as I was on the pitch and could make a difference.
But then again I was never in such a make-or-break situation at this stage of a relegation battle.
Bruce signed Savage for Birmingham in 2002
At Leicester, Birmingham, Blackburn and Derby, even if we had been struggling all season we were either safe by the end of April or already down long before then.
It looks like the situation got to the Hull players, despite Bruce's best efforts. They would have known that Burnley was a must-win game with two such tough opponents to come.
You have to think now that they have missed their chance of staying up.
Bruce the manager
Clubs: Sheff Utd (1998-99), Huddersfield (1999-00), Wigan (2001), Crystal Palace (2001), Birmingham City (2001-07), Wigan (2007-09), Sunderland (2009-11), Hull City (2012-present)
Trophies: 0
Premier League promotions: 3 (2002, 2007, 2013) Relegations: 1 (2006)
Highest PL finish: 10th (Birmingham 2003-04 and Sunderland 2010-11)
Furthest reached in FA Cup/League Cup: Final (Hull in 2013-14 FA Cup)
Even if they nick a point at White Hart Lane, they end the season against United and Bruce's record against his old team is notoriously bad.
He is yet to beat them in 21 attempts as a manager and has lost 17 of those games.
Bruce does not mind being the underdog, and he will still believe he can win that game if he has to. The real question is whether his players will too.
What has gone wrong?
I did not see Hull's defeat to Burnley coming but then I did not expect them to be in any sort of relegation danger either.
Their league form was poor at the end of last season but they reached the FA Cup final and I expected them to kick on, especially with the amount of money they spent in the summer.
Bruce has splashed out £42.6m, including Dame N'Doye who arrived in February, but he does not have much in the way of any improvement to show for it.
Only five teams have an inferior points-per-game record since January 2014 and all of them have been relegated either this season or last.
Midfield seems to be their problem area, and Bruce was unlucky because two of the players he bought to strengthen that department - Robert Snodgrass and Mohamed Diame - have missed most of the season with injury.
Diame was signed from West Ham for £3.5m at the start of September but has struggled to shake off a knee injury
Diame has only made two substitute appearances totalling 46 minutes since 3 December, but he is still Hull's highest-scoring midfielder with four goals.
Tom Huddlestone was the team's driving force last season and people were talking about him getting an England call-up, but going forward he has not contributed anything like as much this time around.
Tom Huddlestone in the Premier League
Alongside him, Jake Livermore has also struggled to repeat the form he showed when he was on loan last season, and when you add it all up you can see why Hull struggle to create chances, let alone score goals.
The Tigers are at their best when they play with a high-tempo, working hard in midfield and putting teams under pressure like they did when they gave Chelsea such a good game at the end of March.
But that has not happened regularly enough, which is why they have been around the relegation zone for most of the season and fell back into it last weekend.
Sadly for Bruce, that is where I think they will end it too.
Yashi Kochi!!!
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