"The Wave" / Coyote Buttes North

Today Brian and I took a hike to Coyote Buttes North ("The Wave"). I sent away for permits in December, and we were given March 30th as our time. The kids were in pre-school, so we headed off by ourselves. It wasn't a kid-friendly hike anyway, and it was nice to keep a faster pace. The destination of the hike: the rocks that look like a wave. I thought it looked like swirled taffy or candy. A very nice day.

Trip to Phoenix

We had a great, quick trip to see Aunt Annie! We went to the zoo and spent a long time looking at the animals and wandering around the setting. Jacob was excited and wanted to run as fast as he could to see a certain animal. Then he'd see that animal, focus on seeing a different one, and want to get there as fast as he could. We tried to curb his enthusiasm enough to see everything else along the way. It was, probably, their first exposure to a zoo that they'll remember. I did forget my camera in the car, and the crowds prohibited an easy run to the parking lot to get it. The next day we went to the climbing gym with Aunt Annie. Jacob loved it and Annie just liked to swing on the harness and rope. She's a bit young, still. We also rode the new light rail and hiked to the "hole in the rock". The kids are standing next to the skeleton of a saguaro cactus. I didn't know that cactus had a wooden frame. The drive home was fine, but the kids were very sad to leave Aunt Annie.

Start of the Season, Maybe

It's Springbreak here and we are enjoying ourselves. We've had BBQs in the nice evening weather, and even made it out to the beach. It was warm enough to wear bathing suits, but the water was still quite cold. Though that didn't stop the kids from playing in it. The beach was quiet, and we were just about the only beach goers there. The rest was filled with the resort trucks gearing up for the season. The water is way down, which is natural for this time of year, and we sat in between large concrete pillars. These pillars must be anchors for boating ramps, or floating houseboat parking lots. Anyway, Jacob liked climbing all of them. We're off to see Aunt Annie in Pheonix today. That should be fun and it'll bring more pictures at the end of the weekend.

Congratulations Brian!

Congratulations to Brian -- he has received a promotion! He now has a fancy title and a whole bunch of extra work to go along with it. Chief of Planning, Compliance & External Affairs for Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, National Park Service. We'll have to do something to celebrate, as we've just been busy with day-to-day stuff for a few weeks. The weather has also taken a turn to the exceptional (nearly 80 & sunny), which is even more reason to be happy.