I followed something that someone posted on our Kingstone WeChat about an excursion tour going to Stone Forest Gorge. The pics looked amazing and transportation, lunch, and a guide were all included in the price. Our friends and sponsors, the Christensens, also wanted to go, and then I talked my new friend Amy B into coming with her three boys. She was afraid to come without her husband helping with the boys, but I told her that we would all help. So we enjoyed a bus ride about an hour+ out to the Gorge after we took the Subway to get to the pickup point. Luckily the Christensens know where to go so we just follow their lead!
On our way there, they told us that there were two ways to get to the top of the mountain to get to the UFO lookout that is suspended out from the mountain for an incredible view. The first way is to take cable cars and the other way is to hike it. I assumed when they said "Stone Forest Gorge and UFO tour" that that would include the means to get to the UFO. Unfortunately the cable car would have cost an additional $125 (on top of $250), so we opted for the hike. They said it was about an hour hike. So all three of our families decided to brave the hike and enjoy nature.
Little did we know that the "hike" was actually climbing staircases that were practically vertical with a little slope. Our thighs and calves started to burn almost instantly!
The kids were troopers though (as well as the adults I might add),
to endure two hours (not one as we were told ;) ) of hiking. Thomas
and Savannah even helped carry Gordon, our 18-month old buddy that lives
across the hall from us. He was adorable--he even fell asleep as
Thomas was carrying him in the last leg to the top. 
On top, they had statues representing all of the Chinese Zodiac animals. They squirt a little stream of water into a fish's mouth. 
I was born in the year of the rabbit.
The views from the UFO were amazing. They had us wear booties over our shoes to protect the glass and they played serene Chinese instrumental music. And funny enough, I thought that it was called a UFO because it looks like one suspended out above the ground, but they played it up by putting some aliens in the middle of the UFO as if they were driving it!
Amy's giving a hot and exhausted Savannah a hug after carrying Gordon. 
Thc cable cars we didn't take, lol.
It was hot and
humid and even sprinkled on us a little. None of us were prepared for
the intensity of the hike as far as clothing went, or physically after
being in quarantine for 2 weeks! But we did it and we enjoyed the
awesome views!
I was born in the year of the rabbit.
Luckily there was a drink machine at the top!
After the UFO, we followed another trail, mostly down, about a half and hour, that led us to some beautiful waterfalls, mostly manmade. We were pretty wet from rain at that point, but we still enjoyed these new sites.
After the waterfalls, we enjoyed (walking more stiffly with sore calves) the walk down with a more natural rock decline instead of manmade stairs. It was about another half hour down from there, but we got to see a few interesting things along the way.
We of course had worked up an appetite by now with three hours of hiking. It was 1:30pm when we pulled into a little outdoor restaurant area. Food, preordered by our tour guide I guess, was brought out to the tables. A number of dishes, most of which we tried, were "interesting" in flavor to say the least. I think the favorite dish was the plain white rice! Briant had to sit at at another table to fit everyone, and he showed us after that in the chicken dish at his table, there was a whole chicken head!
A guy at Bri's table trying to decide what to do with it. :)
The last part of our tour took us to an organic farm orchard with apples and peaches. Let's just say that these are not the juicy, sweet peaches of Utah, but we had fun picking the fruit. :) We were each allowed a kilo of fruit for free with our tour.
After I took the pic with this worker, I realized we looked like the famous painting by Grant Wood called American Gothic.
Exhausted, we got on the bus and did the long drive back home by 6pm. The kids were chatty and having fun while Savannah and I listened to Hamilton music on her Mp3 player. I had to close my eyes to avoid getting carsick.
The bus dropped everyone off one stop early because little Gordon was losing it and it was a little closer to home. Briant and I stayed on until the last stop and said goodbye to Helen, the founder of MCF, a foundation for migrant children, and William our guide.
The drop off location was closer to the restaurant where Briant and I were supposed to meet the Ewings and Tanners. The Tanners ended up having power outage issues at home and couldn't come, so we enjoyed a nice evening with Jana and Randy who are also the Relief Society and Elders Quorum presidents. We had to explain to them that we'd been hiking all day and had to go straight to the restaurant because of time, so we were still in our hiking clothes, looking bedraggled and worn out. They didn't care! 
They generously treated us to our first Peking Duck, along with wonderful green beans, fried rice, and dumplings at a place called Country Kitchen. We got to know a lot about them in the 2 hours of visiting with them. It was wonderful! We're so grateful for the community of good people here!
The drop off location was closer to the restaurant where Briant and I were supposed to meet the Ewings and Tanners. The Tanners ended up having power outage issues at home and couldn't come, so we enjoyed a nice evening with Jana and Randy who are also the Relief Society and Elders Quorum presidents. We had to explain to them that we'd been hiking all day and had to go straight to the restaurant because of time, so we were still in our hiking clothes, looking bedraggled and worn out. They didn't care! 
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