Equador Climbing part 2

Cotopaxi was the third climb of the trip.

Everyone out of the vehicle. Time to start walking.

No much to see on the barren rock landscape, but there was a cute red fox.

What does he find to eat up here?

Cotopaxi was (in Tracy's own words from his text message to me after the decent) "the most harrowing climb of my life." He was buddy roped with a guy who got altitude sickness. The wind was blowing very hard and knocked the guy down several times. He was disappointed they only could spend seconds on the summit because it was a beautiful view.

 

 I am just so thankful he made it off safely.

The next few days they relaxed in a little town and did a some sight seeing.

This is the local delicacy of grilled guinea pigs!

The last mountain to climb was Chimborazo. Unfortunately this is as close as they got.
They spent the night in this hut, and woke up the next morning and could not even see the mountain.

Well that is the end of my story. If you want to hear more about it you will have to ask Tracy.

Random fun in Hawaii

I decided since I will never "catch up" on my blog and all the things we have enjoyed since moving in November, I will just post a bunch of random things in no special order.

SNORKELING

Morish Idol, my personal favorite.

wrasse

threadfin butterflyfish

whitemouth moray eel

All these pictures were taken by Megan's new camera she recieved for Christmas.

We love Sea Turtles

Biking on th Old Mamamaloha Highway

Mauna Kea

 boogi boarding:)

My mom is hear visiting this month and Todd and Steph are coming next week, who else wants to come join the fun?



Tracy goes to South America!

Tracy had the amazing opportunity to go to Ecuador on a mountaineering expedition for 2 weeks in December. The amazing bonus of the trip was visiting with his parents who are serving a mission in Quito. It was very strange to get to Skype Tracy in Ecuador and see him with Grandpa and Grandma Yost.

Sight seeing and buying souvenirs. Tracy bought this red bag for Megan. The picture is with the man who made it.

The first volcano to tackle was essentially a day hike up Pichincha (15,706 feet)

Summit sign. One down 3 to go.

The local 3 star hotel :)

The second climb was a scramble up Illiniza Norte 16,818 feet

                                                  So far the knees are holding together well.

 

a hut half-way up where they stopped to rest briefly.

A daunting look at what is still ahead.

 The "Corner of Death"!

Summit of Illiniza Norte 16,818 feet.

2 down 2 to go!

But getting to the top is only half the fun.

After a few days rest it was time to tackle Cotopaxi.

But you just have to wait to see what happens next.



Yost's in Hawaii

FYI we have moved to Hawaii. I need to work backwards to get a lot of blogging done. I have decided to just blog about events and not worry about the timeline.  Hawaii has been wonderful. Everyone has been asking for pictures, so here are a few of us enjoying ourselves in the sun.

Erica snorkeling. Megan got an awesome waterproof camera for Christmas and we have had a lot of fun with it.

Yellow tang (I think that's what they are called)

Tracy and his new truck.

Beach 69 on New Years Day!

We have celebrated every winter holiday at the beach. Erica was talking about going back to school and mistakenly said "when is summer break over?" I had to smile and tell her we were on winter break.

Summer Highlights

School starts in 2 days,which means summer fun is over :(

Here are some of the things we did this summer.

In June we took a weekend to visit Sandpoint, Idaho. All Erica wanted to do was go horseback riding. I was reluctant, because trail rides can be boring, but we had the best ride ever!

It was the first warm weekend of the spring. The sun was shining and the horses we happy to be out exploring just as much as we were.

The view was amazing, and brought back floods of memories of riding with my dad in the Uintah Mountains when I was younger. The alpine forests have such a unique smell of fresh pine. It was a great day to relive happy memories for me. 

Erica was so happy. She is a natural with all animals. The most exiting part of the ride happened as I was waiting to dismount. My horse decided he did not want to wait for the rider and saddle to come off before rolling in the nice soft dirt of the arena. As he fell down to his knees I realized what was happening and went into auto-pilot, remembering my dad telling me "get your foot out of the stirrup." As the horse went down on his side I simply stepped off and it was actually the easiest dismount of my life.  



Joshua had robotics competition for school where they also learned about building underwater ROV's(remote operated vehicles).

His team did a great job in the few minutes they had to create a robot.

It was a fun way to get out of a day of school.

Tracy and Josh also went backpacking with the Boy Scouts to Cape Alava on the Washington coast. Tracy has an iconic story about the boy scouts taking the wrong trail (and of coarse they didn't feel it important to wait for the leaders at the fork in the trail) and the leaders hiking 9 miles in the dark and rain to finally them at 1am. A very good learning experience for all involved.

Here's Tracy and Josh at the petroglyphes on the beach.

The first weekend of July brought the STP(Seattle to Portland Bike ride).

We built a team of friends from our ward and had a great adventure together.

left to right is Dave Lee(our honored friend from Utah), Maria Smart, Cale Smart, and Chad Smart.  

(the guy in the very back looks like his jersey matches us, but he was not with our group)

Here is my self portrait.

Here we are lounging at the 100 mile mark in Centraila. Most of the riders stay here for the night, but we still had 50 miles to go. Dave's wife, Leslie(far right) met us with fresh KFC sandwiches and root beer floats! Thanks again Les!

On our way to Kelso in a great pace line.
(front to back) Chad, Jeron Walker, Tracy and Bruce Green.

This was my view for almost the entire ride, just trying to stay on the wheel of the guys in front of me.

This is Tracy as we crossed the St. John's bridge in to Portland at about 200 miles. What a perfect weekend for a bike ride!

We made it! Seattle to Portland on a bike.

(left to right) Heather, Maria, Bruce, Chad, Cale, Jeron, Dave, and Tracy.

Hawaii Vacation Part 3- (condensed version)

Since I am  such a procrastinator and it has been 4 months since we went to Hawaii, I've decided to just finish the story quick and get on with my life.

All I can say is Hawaii was the best of everything. If you want adventure, warm weather, cool weather, relaxation, sunshine, or clouds, you should definitely visit the Big Island.

Our final 5 days were spent exploring the area of Kona.

Visiting "The Place of Refuge"

learning to weave palm frons into fish, by a nice old Hawaiian guy, who likes to watch basketball.

Enjoying a whole day at the beach....boogie boarding and relaxing. Erica and Josh are going out to catch their first wave.

The color of the water was dazzling, and the sand was as soft as powdered sugar. 

Getting a sunburn.

being warm and happy !!!!

That night we had the greatest adventure ever...Manta Ray Night Diving (snorkeling in our case).

This is the boat we went on, but none of my pictures turned out. Follow this link to

Manta Ray night diving
with Neptune Charley. There is video of the Manta Rays. It is definitely a "Bucket List " item that everyone should experience.

The next day we spent the morning on a Snorkeling trip and learned a little more about Hawaiian history.

Heading out on a beautiful morning in the Zodiac to explore the coast and see some whales.

A pod of Pilot whales that we stumbled upon. Very cool!!!!!

Snorkeling at Captain Cook's Monument. Also known as the most pristine water in Hawaii. This is also the place if inspiration for Finding Nemo:)

           When we got back to the boat dock there was a sea turtle just hanging out on the boat ramp.

After snorkeling, Tracy and the girls relaxed at the condo, while Josh and I went shopping at the farmer's market. After shopping we had the best Hawaiian Ice treat invented. The secret is the scoop of vanilla ice cream in the bottom. Yum Yum!!!

On our final full day of play we started out with a visit to the Kona Temple.

We then drove to the Southern tip of the island to explore the Green Sand beach. On the way we drove over multiple different lava fields. Very harsh, dry, and windy. Reminded me of parts of Idaho.

This was our first view of Green Sand beach. It is a two mile hike, or 4-wheel drive across lava and sand dune/prairie grass. We chose to adventure here so we could go 4-wheeling again:.

Josh loved playing in the surf.

I didn't think the sand looked very green at first, but up close you can see the green colors sparkle a little better.

Thanks honey for taking me to Hawaii!!!

Driving back to the paved road. Very bumpy and dusty.

We finished of the day watching the sunset from the beach a enjoying one more chance to play in the surf.

What a beautiful way to end a perfect vacation.

Our last night out on the town. Actually only the second restaurant we visited the whole week. We went for the local scene.

As we boarded the plane I refused to say goodbye. I loved Hawaii and vow to return again. In fact I think it would be a perfect place to live someday