Old Friends

It has been 8 years (!) since I've seen my college friend, Suzanne (Kraus) Kitten, though she looks just the same. We thought back to the last time we saw each other, and it was just after her daughter, Emma, was born. Since then, along came Jacob and Annie, and Suzanne's son, Jeb. We had a great day with them and the kids got along wonderfully. Little Annie thought the elder Emma was the coolest, and followed her around. Jake & Jeb, who will be in the same class, picked up like they've always known each other. It was nice to catch up on her life....and all sounds very well with them.

Just some pictures

Maria shared some pictures from the past few months, and I thought I'd post a few. The first set are from an open house at the fire station, and I gather the boys enjoyed the helicopter visit the most. The second set are from a birthday party out at Wahweap park service housing (right on the lake) for a girl named Maddie St. Clair. She'll be in Annie's pre-school class and hopefully we can get them together some more this Fall. (Annie is need of her own friends, instead of following around Jake and his buddies.) Anyway, the heat has officially arrived here. The lake level has also dramatically risen in the past few weeks, so we'll have to get out to see what our favorite beach (lone rock) looks like.

Camping at Jacob Lake

Another fun camping experience! This one was close to home, at a place called Jacob Lake, about 1.5 hours from Page on the way to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We went with our friends & neighbors, Maria, Ben and Landon. Landon, Jacob's buddy, is off to Alaska here in a little bit, and he will sorely miss his buddy for the rest of the summer.

We spent our time just relaxing and playing at the camp-site. We did walk to a small historic (1912) ranger cabin, petted some horses, picked up sticks and pine cones for firewood, found a horn-toad, spotted some mule deer, played with frisbees and a football, and just enjoyed the day and weather. We all got a kick out of the "lake" for which the little outpost is named. It is more like Jacob puddle, but it is one of the few permanent water sources in the area. That has made it significant to both travellers and wildlife, past-present-and-future. If you look at the top picture of Annie running to Brian, the dark spot in the field behind him is Jacob Lake. I guess it used to be much larger, but has dwindled with the years of drought. Anyway, besides some very chilly night time temperatures, it was thoroughly enjoyable!

Aunt Sandy & Aunt Annie

We had a very fun time with the Aunties. We spent time at the desert botanical gardens (which are very impressive), climbed the hole in the rock, and took a day-trip to 3 National Parks plus a petroglyph ceremonial site, with a luncheon stop at the mountain mining town of Jerome. Brian and Sandy did a hike of Squaw peak, while Annie, the kids and I went to a kids park that had a carousel and small train. The weather was cool and perfect, despite the occaisonal rain shower. The kids especially liked the trip, and now they might be able to tell Aunt Annie from Aunt Sandy. Thanks for coming Aunt Sandy, and thanks for having us Aunt Annie!

Zion National Park & Bryce Canyon National Park

In a whirlwind weekend, we met up with our friends, the Wilsons, for spectacular scenery at two national parks. First was Zion, with dramatic sheer cliffs and rock outcrops. (bottom picture) We camped near the Virgin River, where the kids (Jacobs, Abi, Annie) spent their time with the little irrigation ditch. They were determined to damn the flow of the small trickle, but their efforts were futile. Brian and Allen did a larger hike and saw a rattlesnake in the midst of eating a lizard. Rachael & I did a small hike with the kids to 'weeping rock', which was quite literally that. The navajo sandstone on top of the cliffs absorbs the rain water, then the water filters slowly down until it hits a layer of shale. Then the water travels across the shale layer until it find its way to a cliff and "weeps". Someone tested the water and found that it averages 800 years of age, with the oldest ever test to be 4000 years old. Hard to imagine the world the rain drops first saw, compared with landing on a bunch of tourists' heads after such a momentous journey. Then we went to Bryce Canyon (top two pictures) and stayed in the lodge there. Annie, Jake & I stayed and played on the felled pine trees while the rest of the group did the hike to the bottom of the canyon. The orange-red spires are called Hoodoos, and the Native Americans believed they were people turned into stone by coyotes. We all had a great time and it was fun to see our friends and some more parts of the American Southwest.

In loving memory

James W. McVay

We love you and miss you. May you rest in peace.

Lava Tube

We met up with Aunt Annie & Matthew this past Sunday for a quick trip to Flagstaff. We took a little adventure to a lava tube, just outside of town. It is basically a cave made in the ground some hundreds of millions of years ago by flowing lava. We didn't hike very far into the cave, but enough to get the feel of the cold, damp space. The kids weren't scared at all, and Jacob even wanted to lead the way. At one point, past the light of the entrance, we all turned off the flashlights to see how dark it was. Pretty cool. We spent the rest of the day perusing the shops of Flagstaff and having lunch at an outside restaurant patio.