April in Utah is a magical time. Weather this time of year is tricky. There is always an April snow storm that breaks many branches heavy with newly formed leaves. But the truly cold days are numbered, if not gone at least for the foreseeable future and a myriad of color explodes in an undeniable victory over Winter.
One of the things I have always loved doing in April is going to see the beautiful gardens at Temple Square and Thanksgiving Point. The latter hosts a Tulip Festival each April to celebrate the turn of season.
This year, however, the weather has been colder than I'd prefer and the flowers were mostly too scared to come out and play. My family figured they wouldn't dare (heavily) advertise a tulip festival if their guest of honor hadn't arrived. When we arrived, we were saddened to learn only 25% of the tulips were in bloom, but most of the daffodils and pansies were open. Not wanting to just get back in the car and cry on the way home, we went anyway and had fun with what flowers were brave enough to come out and say hello.
This bear gave me a fright. It is a little embarrassing, but as I bravely entered the cave, my mom suggested I use caution as there might be a bear inside. The cave was dark (before flash), but I rushed in largely without looking, confident I would not find a bear. I don't believe in fate and only somewhat believe in karma, but just then my niece Rebecca screamed that there was a bear and my confidence nearly had an accident right there on the cave floor. Luckily, the bear wasn't hungry because I don't like to share, especially when eating humble pie. 
After exiting the "cave of wonders," mom, Michelle and I waited by a bush for Rebecca to pose her dad by the bronze baby foxes. This took a while as she can be quite a perfectionist (and needs to work on her bossy issues). The picture didn't work out, but a short time later, we were passing the same bush we had been standing by and a snake came out and nearly killed us all. Ok, so we didn't didn't die. Although I see all snakes regardless of variety as ruthless venomous killers, this one seemed quite disinterested in our lot and kept moving in an orderly slither across the path, over the dirt and into the rocks by the pond. In the picture, it is the stick-like creature in the middle, though I assure you it was not a stick. Sticks don't cause the kind of panic attack generally reserved for unexpected bears and other elements of nature. I was actually more startled at the bear than the snake, which really surprised me. I lived, if any of you wondered.
10 years ago