Why the 'Y'?

I'm still doing my monthly dates with the kids. Sometimes we squeeze a date in at the end of the month, or the beginning of the next month, but in general I've kept up with them.

In August, it was Ivory's month. She decided that she wanted to hike the Y. I think she wanted to get exercise points for P.E. but her teacher didn't count it because the points were supposed to start counting the following week. (Really?)

It has been a while since I have been to the Y. They have made so many improvements on it since I was in college. This gate at the bottom is pretty cool.

Hiking the Y reminded me that I am OUT of SHAPE! Truly. I could walk the entire thing without stopping, but I was out of breath half the time. I like all the motivational signs at each switchback. "You can do it." "Half way there." "Good job!" "Almost there." They also had info about wildlife and tips to keeping the trail nice. Here is sign number 13. We actually didn't see this one until we hiked back down.

We hiked to the bottom of the Y first. Whew. That was a good hike.

Back in the day, you could sit on the Y or walk on it, but they don't want people to do that anymore. You can walk all around it, but please don't walk on it. So I took a leaning picture off to the side. Fear not, her feet are planted firmly on grey...not white.

Then we hiked straight up the Y to get to the top. I recommend this trip. It is definitely steep, but it saves so much time on the last couple switchbacks. Hooray. We made it to the top!!

The view is pretty spectacular. You can see at least four temples from up there: Provo, City Center, Timpanogos, and Payson. (You have to really look for the Payson one.) In this picture, you can really only see the Provo one.

I read somewhere that they used to light the Y with mattress batting soaked in kerosene lit in buckets. That was not the safest method so eventually they built in these lights. Now they can keep the Y lit as long as they want.

There are plenty of benches at the top to rest your weary load. We took a selfie but it was so bright we couldn't really see.

Once again, the view was really pretty. And the sun going down was lovely. I love twilight and dusk.

We finished the date with the Cone of Wonder. We had seen these chimney cones from Sweet Cream on pictures and decided we needed to try them. They were just okay in my book. Too much sweetness. I like the fancy ice cream flavors from Rockwell more. But I'm happy I gave the Cone of Wonder a shot. (We made up that name. That is not what they are actually called.)

This picture makes me laugh. It is just part of the cone, covered in ice cream, but it looks like Ivory has a crazy long brown tongue and she is licking her nose. She is a mutant!

It was a fun date, and I'll try to forget that I saw grandpas and grandmas hiking up the trail going faster than me. I finished the hike and that is enough for me. :)