April 27 2008

I had indeed missed a turn but it really did turn out for the better. We got a great night of sleep and were able to get off first thing at 11 o'clock in the morning. Unfortunately lately that truly has been a first thing in the morning time for us. During the drive we were able to get a bit of school done with the kids. We normally don't do full days of driving however we want to be in Idaho Falls this Saturday so we needed to get a few miles under our belts. I was also excited to see my brother Robert and his family.

It truly was a crime against nature to drive through southern Utah at the rate we did in the season we did. It is beautiful down there, as it always is, but right now it is not frying or freezing as it always isn't. We did stop long enough for a quick leg stretch to hike up to Wilson Arch. We also stopped at Hole-In-The-Rock for a Tuesday Family home evening in as much as we had run out of time on Monday in Mesa Verde. We were happy to see the Hole-In-The-Rock tour open in as much as it almost always seems to be closed when we come through. After a quick lesson and an ice cream we were surprised to find that the tour was closed. It wasn't a big deal, but did serve as validation that if we really wanted to do that tour we would need to make a better effort at it.

We did a quick little hike up to Wilson Arch.

I don't usually get excited about metal art but the Hole-In-The-Rock gift shop area had some cooler than normal stuff.

This sculpture of a man is made almost entirely of golf club pieces.

We had a wonderful visit with my brother Robert and his family. He has about a half acre of land so there was plenty of space for us to make a great camp site in his back yard. When Robert was in college he built a small shed he converted to living quarters as a way to save some money while he was going to school. He still has the shed in a slightly more cut down form from his college days (It doesn't have a stove or a bed anymore). The shed made a wonderful office from which I could do my game development. Since buying the new Suburban I haven't re-tooled my desk so that it will fit the new dash. It was also nice to have enough room to use my graphics tablet. I haven't used the tablet much because it doesn't really fit well in the Suburban. I really like the tablet for Photoshop work. I can tell it will get even better as I pick up skill with the tablet. Even at my amateur level of skill with the thing, I do get great productivity enhancement with it.

Robert's back yard provided a great campsite and a great office.

Becca baby sits a little girl named Sidney. Natalyn was instant friends with her. The two ran around together like little twins. Our boys were thrilled to get to play with a more abundant toy supply than they were used to. The favorite of their cousins' toys were the light sabers. Another favorite of everybody was the trampoline. Becca let me experiment with her camera a little while were visiting. I am not sure if it was a good experience or not. Becca has one of those digital SLR cameras. The type that when someone points one at you, you are not sure if you should smile or put your hands up and not make any sudden movements. I was quickly spoiled on the great options it had for controlling the focal point of the picture, shudder speed, and all sorts of other things that someone who really knew how to operate the camera would take advantage of. I was also surprised how much difference a good flash made.

I enjoyed experimenting with Becca's camera.

Natalyn and Sidney were instant friends.

The trampoline was very popular.

It was a lot of fun to have the cousins together.

I was trying to remember why David wasn't in the above photo, then I did.

Becca, Lexie and Lisa tied a quilt together.

I was delighted David and his family came over from Vernal for a visit.

I was delighted Dave and his family came over from Vernal for a visit. I wasn't quite sure how I was going to get to see him with our tighter than normal schedule. I was very interested to hear about the work he is doing. He had been out all night looking for black footed ferrets. On that particular night his group didn't see any. At one point the black footed ferret was either extinct or extremely close to extinct in North America. He is working in a effort to keep the population viable. I have mixed feelings about how much effort should be expended to save a weasel. I think it is a real shame to have a species go extinct but I am not sure it makes sense to spend millions of dollars to create and artificial environment for them. One of the major causes of the black footed ferrets demise was the conversion of prairie land into farm land. This conversion wiped out huge prairie dog populations and hence the food supply for the ferrets. In the end I think my mixed feelings bias toward the feeling that people made the problem and it is good they are at least doing something to try and mend the problem.

My game development is at an interesting point now in that it is starting to look and play like a game. My progress is sort of double sided. Even though I am really pleased with what I am doing the closer things get to completion of the game the scarier they get in that progress on the game brings to the forefront the fact that my current financial plan depends on a successful implementation and distribution of my game. The more my game looks like a game the more I start comparing it to other games currently available on the market. I am not after the front tier game market, it is my intention to simply try to pick up crumbs beneath their table. With that said, a game is sort of like a poem or song in which a part of oneself is exposed. I have always been sensitive to criticism. People who know my son David know his reaction to the word "no". I do the same thing inside when I am criticized. I hope my desire to succeed can overcome my aversion to criticism. I imagine most people fight a similar battle on the inside themselves.

When I did the climb of the Grand Teton last fall when we got to the Upper Saddle there was a 40 - 50 mile an hour wind that caught us in the face by surprise. With the cold, the wind, the fatigue and the presented challenge of hanging our hind ends over several thousand feet of cliff to continue the assent, moving forward from that point was probably the most challenging part of the climb, not from a technical perspective but from a mental perspective. That was a time that required swallowing one's resolve and moving forward in the face of fear and uncertainty. I was able to make that move last fall and would like to think that inside of my soul is the resolve and strength to face a similar although different challenge this year.

I was able chat with Rob quite a bit the night before we left. He was getting some final things together for a presentation he would do in Salt Lake on Friday. I felt a bit guilty that he would need to be up at 5 AM the next morning to travel for the presentation but was at the same time, happy to visit with him and look at pictures. I don't think I even heard him leave in the morning. I had a great night's sleep after keeping him up chatting.

We left first thing in the morning on Friday which got us out by about 1 PM. With that said, I think I had the best run of the entire trip that morning. There is a dirt road which leads to a cemetery close to Rob's house. There is an interesting contrast in that run to the cemetery. Running through a mountain field next to running water embodies one of the deepest symbols of life, whereas a cemetery, of course, presents a vivid symbol of death. I was happy to be on the life side of the contrast. I tried the run Thursday but didn't quite make it all of the way. On Friday I loaded my iPod with the movie Nacho Libre so I could listen to the movie while I ran. The mental distraction did the trick and I was able to run through a couple of side stitches (some from running, some from laughing) and complete the entire run. If anyone feels they are suffering from excessive mental purity I would highly recommend the movie Nacho Libre as an antidote. The movie is hysterical. I, of course, resonate with the plot of a skilless hero driven by passion to success.

The kids enjoyed watching Nacho Libre on the iPod while we were driving.

Driving Friday was more of the traditional grow cramps in your backside type of driving we used to do before we changed lifestyles. Having been invited to dinner with cheesecake for dessert at my mom's house, we all felt motivated to put on miles quickly. Dallin has learned to tell time on a digital clock and through out the trip has been our time man. The interval changes depending on how tired, hungry, or restless he is, but our trips are salted with announcements from the back seat of the time and its relation in the day to meal times, snack times and bed times. Snack time is traditionally 3PM so after three we can pretty much count on announcements from the back such as "It's 3:12, that's 12 minutes past snack time", followed 5 minutes later by "It's 3:17 that's 17 minutes past snack time." Trying to make good time on the trip to Pocatello we broke our resolve and did let the kids eat in the new suburban even though we had intended on not ever letting them eat in the car. I am sure we are not the first people in the world to bend our standards around cheesecake. To our relief, the kids were very good with their eating and left minimal messes.

Dinner at my mom's left no disappointments. Well, none other than I have been making some good progress in reducing my waist line, and eating like I did at my mom's isn't the sort of thing that maintains that kind of progress. With that said, the meal was great. My sister Mary is staying with my Mom for a little bit. She is an excellent cook.

Lexie's Grandma Meikle's 80th birthday was on Friday and her party was at noon on Saturday. We were able to get ready and be at the church 15 minutes before the party started. I was very pleased with our timing. It was a lot of fun to see Lexie's aunt's, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews etc ... and especially great to see Grandma Meikle. She is a very wonderful lady. It is hard to think of Grandma Meikle without thinking of a smile that will just barely fit on her face because it is so big. She is a great example of love and happiness to me. The food at the party was of course yet another great chance to overeat which I fully indulged in. Something I noticed about myself during the party which I don't fully understand, is that at the beginning of the party as everyone was asking me how I was doing I would respond "GREAT", and truly meant it. After about an hour into the party when people asked me how I was doing I would respond "Good" and truly mean it. Even though I was having a great time and liked seeing everyone there and liked visiting, I was getting very drained. I haven't done any formal study about psychology or personalities, but from what I know, I believe that characteristic classifies me as some sort of introvert. Even though I like being around people I get my energy and charge when I am away from people.

Katie made a wonderful cake for Grandma's birthday.

David and Natalyn loved the frosting flowers.

The party filled the better part of the church gym with everyone that came.

We were happy to see Natalyn and Justin getting along well this visit.

Lexie doing her best to remind Camron he's still "little" brother.

After the party we went over to Nana and Papa's house. My brother in laws, Camron and Landon, have a wii with the games Star Wars Lego and Guitar Hero III. As an up and coming force in the gaming industry I thought it perfectly right and logical to blow the afternoon playing video games, sort of. I am impressed with the creativity of Nintendo. By using the lego figures not only did they get tapped into a separate licensing channel, and create a great theme but they also greatly simplified their requirements for generating graphics. Lego movements are much easier to realistically simulate than person movements. The songs on Guitar Hero aren't the type I would normally listen to but once again a great piece of creativity in the game. I had a lot of fun watching myself improve as I played the game.

We had dinner at Katie's house after the party.

Darlene, Eddie and the Kent Meikle group had dinner at my in-laws, Katie's and Mike's, house. We sang Happy Birthday to Lexie at Katie's house. During our play of Guitar Hero Camron ran to the store to buy a copy of the game American Idol which is the same theme as Guitar Hero except that instead of playing notes on a toy guitar the players sing into a microphone karaoke style. How well or poorly you do in the game is determined by how well your pitch and rhythm match the song to be sung. I was more impressed with this game than any of the others because it is a game from which I believe a person can walk away with a real skill. I didn't do very well at the game compared to the other people playing because of the game's requirement that one be able to carry a tune. The evening really did turn out to be quite embarrassing for me. Somewhere in my latest streak of overeating I had found something to eat that my body decided would be best processed and expulsed as gas. My niece Maria was playing with us and there are few things that will send a fifth grader into an hysterical fit of laughter like a good fart. So between being the smelliest on and off stage I was feeling a little low yesterday evening. The upside is that it really was a lot of fun to watch someone laugh so hard that they can barely breathe. I am also excited for my next chance to play that American Idol game in that I really did have a lot of fun with it and I know I can get a lot better (there wasn't much room to go the other direction).

The American Idol game was interrupted when Mike announced that his game was on. His game turned out to be the Utah/Houston game of the NBA playoffs. I thought that sounded like a great alternative to what we were doing. Instead of the regular church meetings on Sunday, the schedule was for a regional conference. The regional conference would have the same broadcast in Idaho Falls as it would in Pocatello, so it was quickly concluded that we would attend in Idaho Falls. Lexie graciously put the kids to bed so that I could watch the game with Mike. Other than the live game I went to last fall with Nana, Papa, and the family that may have been the only basketball game I have seen this season. The game was great. Utah was clearly playing as the better team but didn't quite seem to be able to put the game away. The game stayed in doubt right to the final seconds and then ended as Kirlinko made a great shot block.

We slept and got ready for church in the trailer simply parked on the road in front of Katie's house. It seemed to work out really well. I wish I had taken in a pencil and paper to take notes at conference. There were a lot of great things to think about which were spoken during the conference. Two questions Elder Uchtdorf presented were 1) What are you doing to strengthen you faith in Jesus Christ and 2) What are you doing to strengthen the bonds of your family. I am not going to give my answers in the blog because the answers cross the line of what I am willing to share personally right now. However, I really do like the questions because they push to the core of a persons existence. For all of the worries and concerns that we fill our lives with, very few things really matter. I believe that a successful person is one who can and will spend their greatest energies on the items of the greatest importance. Questions like those are questions which help us focus on what the things of greatest importance truly are.

After conference it was a treat to run into some friends from Idaho Falls. Both friends, the Johnsons and the Harrisons, were expecting babies within the week. Camilla Harrison was actually on her way from conference to the hospital she was that close.

April 22 2008

After putting in my quick thing about Big Foot last time I got to thinking I should explain my Big Foot thing for those who were not so fortunate as to hear my Big Foot babblings and for those who weren't paying attention when they did. My interest in Big Foot started when I learned about a Big Foot exhibit at the ISU museum of natural history "No Way!" I thought. It was incredible to me that a natural history museum would host such an idea. Reading and asking around I found that one of the country's premier Big Foot researchers (Jeff Meldrum, I think I don't remember his exact name or spelling) is tenured at ISU. Incidentally I believe his presence and persistence in his theories is a large friction point with others in the department and University because they are embarrassed by his theories. The trip to the exhibit was rather unremarkable and I found myself very under whelmed with the amount of evidence produced for the existence of Big Foot with a couple of exceptions. The first exception was the continuity in legends of the indigenous people the second was the spotting report chart. While living on the Navajo reservation as a child I grew up with legends of skin walkers. Not quite a Big Foot but interestingly close in some respects. The spotting chart was impressive in that it displayed a very high number of reported sightings which on its own is only worth so much. Between my experience as a tour guide and a land lord I have grown to have a pretty skeptical view of public intelligence. However, with that said, the numbers are not entirely to be ignored because people are seeing something. The second part of the spotting chart that was impressive was simply the locations. The most common sighting reporting were deep in beautiful forests. As we were leaving I decided to buy a copy of the professor's book in part to support a local author and in part to see if I could collect more detail than I had managed to as I was ushering kids through the displays.

The book, like the displays, left me a little under whelmed with its support however it had enough in it to plant some doubt in my "No Way!" position. I started to think "Maybe". Also as I read of searches in the woods that went on for weeks at a time sitting and listening to the forest I thought "Definitely" need to try that. We live in a world that we master by preconception but at the same time are bound by it. We work through our lives building a model of the way we believe the world works. The better our model the more in line we find our efforts and outcomes. The most exciting times are the times that we find breaks in the model and are able to jump forward with new understanding. I think the hunt for Big Foot represents a search for a break which I believe is highly worth while. On a more earthy level I also think that long periods of time in the woods and casting footprints sounds like a lot of fun.

There is way too much in the world to understand. I find it amazing that the latest held theory of the origin of the moon is younger than I am. How long have people been staring at the moon right in front of them to have its theory of origin be so new and drastically different from the others. All we can really do is continue to search. I believe the more open our mind is the more we will be able to discover. I believe the world holds an infinite number of secrets clues to the unlocking of which are right before us if we can simply learn to understand them.

Back to our happenings and doings ...

We left Flagstaff Wednesday after doing laundry, haircuts and a little school and work. We got to the east entrance Grand Canyon at about 9PM and were disappointed to find the camp ground closed. As we drove toward the Grand Canyon Village even though it was very dark I could tell by the pullouts and the breaks in the trees that we were next to the canyon but I could not see it at all. Once again one of the things of life that fascinates me, something right in front of you but undecernable. We finally arrived at the Mather Campground only to find that it didn't allow a total vehicle length over 30 feet. Fortunately the trailer village was close by which would allow longer vehicles, would that is if it wasn't full as at this time it in fact was. I was amazed to find it full this time of year, but along with the big mysteries of life I have some very simple ones to learn. So in case anyone else missed it, the Grand Canyon is an extremely popular place to go. Feeling a bit lost and quite tired we dug a bit deeper into our deck of cards going South toward Tusayan. I knew there were a couple of campgrounds in that area. I was hoping they would still be open. I also had read that at large camping was permitted in the National Forest as long as you were a quarter mile off highway 60. Just outside the park I was pleased to find a gravel road. I am nervous to take the trailer off of paved roads after learning at Bear Lake what it is like to have the thing stuck, but gravel seemed harmless enough. The other trick with the trailer of course is that it is not a thing one can simply turn around anywhere. Going on a skinny gravel road into the woods in the dark more than filled my night's need for adventure. I was pleased to find a pull off after about a mile or so. On the way over I had seen a couple of intersecting roads so I was convinced that I would eventually find another and be able to make a three point turn on one to get turned around. So in the spirit of alls well that ends well, all was well in that we got to camp for free in a wonderful forest.

Dirt roads make for excellent running in that there is very little traffic and the surface is more forgiving to the joints than hard pavement. I was excited in the morning to have such a wonderful place to jog as well as the opportunity to find a place to turn around. I was very pleased a short way into my jog to find a simply amazing camp site which would also serve as a turn around spot. A little farther in my jog I was delighted to see a couple of doe elk. It was a mistake to try and keep my San Diego jogging pace at the 7000 feet or so at which the Grand Canyon sits. I overdid my run a bit and had to walk the better part of the way back. With that said, I enjoy the challenge the extra eleveation offers in as much as one of my major goals in my running is to get into shape such that I won't be wheezing my way up the Grand Teton on my next trip the way I did on my last trip.

The Grand Canyon is the best organized National Park I have ever visited. They have many features either implemented or in progress which I would love to see in Yellowstone. The primary feature I would like to see is a bike path network which is separated from the road system. Another impressive organizational item was that they had a shuttle system which would take tourists from point to point on natural gas powered buses. At first I was a bit nervous about the loss of control and the loss of the lunch wagon implied by public transportation but I was quickly overwhelmed with how simple and convenient the buses were. With the number of kids we have I think it was faster to wait for a bus and get on and off it to get to our destinations than it would have been to get kids in and out of seat belts and find places to park. The kids also of course enjoyed the bus as an experience unto itself.

The busses were a great convenience.

The Grand Canyon itself was unexplainable, huge, awesome, beautiful, inspiring, ... it doesn't quite get there. It is a great place to use a lot of film but the canyon really doesn't fit into film. Standing by the canyon gave me a feeling a lot like looking into space and realizing the infinitesimal smallness of ones existence.

Our plans did not include an extended visit to the Grand Canyon and only having a day there we felt like we got a very good first look. I have several spare parts of my brain turning to create a plan to get back for an extended hike to the bottom and probably across but I don't think it will happen for a while. As it was the kids were able to do their Junior Ranger booklets and we were able to hike along the rim for a little way. Lexie and I didn't do a gray hair count before we left, but I am sure it is up after having the kids by the edge of the canyon for that long. We did do a kid count and are please to report we still have four. The kids really did remarkably well. I am sure they got tired of the "what do you think would happen if you slipped right there" and "if you get off the trail you'll die" lectures. I am sure we gave them a few more times than were really needed. Most creatures look over a half mile drop without a thought of "what a great place to fall!". The issue with the canyon of course is that it is tempting to go for that just a little bit better look. Also there are many places where a gentle but slippery slope quickly turns into a one time lesson in sky diving. At one time I was almost certain I was going to watch a girl about 20 years old make a permanent end to her vacation as she was working farther and farther out onto a ledge. The ledge itself wasn't hard to climb on, but the rock around the Grand Canyon is very soft, part of the reason it is so big, and the wind can be very strong. A bad foot placement or a large wind gust was all that was between her and tragedy. I think there have been around 600 recorded fatalities at the park. I didn't look into the details exactly, but over a 100 year period, that would work out to about 6 a year, or one a month during the peak season. Having seen the behavior of that girl and her friends I find one a month a very believable, if not low number.

The kids get sworn in as Junior Rangers.

We returned to the free camping we had found just south of the park after our day at the canyon. At the gift shop we had purchased a simple star chart. The moon was so bright it washed out half of the sky but we were able to identify a couple of things that we wouldn't have been able to identify without the star chart.

 

I was a bit dismayed to find out how thirsty our new horse is. At the first fill up the mileage came out at about 8 miles to the gallon. I am hoping the low mileage was a function of slow driving in hills and not what I should expect in general.

On our way to Kayenta we stopped at Navajo National Monument which is about 30 miles out of town. We were very pleased to find free camping and also to find that there was a free guided hike down to the Betatakin ruin in the morning. The only problem with the campground was that we were camped too near a grouch that thought the kids were making too much noise, but other than that we made the best of it. In the middle of the afternoon there is nothing wrong with the sound of happy children playing. We are finding a lot more friendly people than non friendly people however the non-friendly ones really are the pee in the punch bowl.

We enjoyed a small hike from the visitors center to view long canyon.

The kids enjoyed playing in the model hogan and model sweat house.

We had fun again as we worked to identify more objects in the sky. The boys were much faster with definitive finds of the constellations than I was. Meaning that after a glance at the star chart they were sure that what they were looking at must be what was on the chart because it was North and there were stars there. I am excited about the boys enthusiasm for astronomy. I have really enjoyed picking it up again myself.

There was a little confusion in the morning about the hike. We got to the visitor center an hour early to be sure to be ready on time and did junior ranger packets while we waited for the tour to start. As we watched a video about the Betatikin ruin I was amazed at how confident they were about what had happened to the Anasazi people. What I remembered as a kid was that it was a mystery that the people had vanished and no one knew where they went. The video said that they migrated south to become and mix into the Hopi, Zuni and Laguna tribes.

After gathering for the tour, the guide explained that we would all get in our vehicles to follow him down to the trail head. Somehow that part of the tour description had eluded me and others at the tour. We had left our vehicles in the campground. After a quick run back to campground and a little driving I picked up Lexie and the kids. The ranger and the people who knew they needed cars had already left but we made our best guess of where they had gone. Going on dirt roads with the trailer is still quite spooky for me in as much as I am not fond of backing, necessary or otherwise and this particular road looked like the kind that could necessitate a lot of backing if we weren't going the right direction. About half way to where we were supposed to be we and another car of lost tourists chickened out and went back to the ranger station for better directions. We found that we did indeed need to follow the same road had before just we needed to follow it a half mile farther.

Getting to the group late made me self -conscious in as much as I was expecting the kids to slow down the group as it was. It put me quite off balance to start the trip by slowing down the group.

The hike down to Betatikin is a buy now pay later sort of a hike. It is a five mile round trip that descends down into the canyon about 700 feet and then logically climbs out of it on the way back, that is the pay later part. I was pleased that the first part of the trip was very slow with several stops as the ranger explained things about geology and plant life. I held David, and the rest of the kids did a great job keeping up. Natalyn was very tired by the time we got to the ruin, but that was also a good time for her to rest in as much as the trip again slowed for an explanation of the ruin before us. I had taken the same hike as a child while I was living in Kayenta. It was very interesting for me to compare my thoughts on this trip to the thoughts I had as a kid. As a kid I was surprised and disappointed at how run down and broken it all was. As an adult I was amazed at how well preserved it was. I also paid a lot more attention to the layout of the dwellings. I was very interested to learn that the Ancestral Pueblo, as they are now called in favor of Anasazi, used as much room for food storage as they did for living space. I also found it interesting that they claimed that they had carved rodent proof doors out of the stone. The examples shown did not look rodent proof to me, but I can well imagine that it would have been a problem when storing that much grain.

We hiked down with a group of just over 30 people.

We stopped for a picture just outside of the ruin.

It was very gratifying to get back to the top.

There is a special spirit about a place like Betatikin. As we sat in the canyon alcove feeling the breeze and looking into the valley over the trees in the silence it was exhilarating to add in my mind the noise and activity that must have been happening in that place 700 years ago. The place now dead in silence was at one time the beginning and end of a world for a group of people long since passed. All of the worries and concerns of the ancient people now still and silent as a new group of people shuffle along looking in wonder as they take a small reprieve from their own modern and equally meaningless or meaningful worries and concerns.

After hiking a short way on the return trip, Natalyn decided that she just couldn't walk any farther. I was expecting this and was frankly a little relieved to have an excuse to go a little faster. The tour had people exit at their own pace so I didn't have the concern about slowing down the group any more, but it was still on my mind that the ranger would not be able to finish the hike until we did. Picking up Natalyn reminded me that she was a little bigger than she had been the last time I carried her on a regular basis. The first hundred yards or so left me wondering if I was in over my head. Fortunately, after some walking I got some blood in my legs and got my mind regeared to where I was making nice steady progress. I was looking forward to the climb in a masochistic sort of way. I really do enjoy a good challenge and getting both kids and the water up the canyon made a great challenge for me. About 3/4 of the way up the canyon I noticed that the horizon was wobbling a little more than my head was wobbling so I decided to stop and rest a bit. After the rest Natalyn decided that she could walk again. I had a mixed feeling of relief for the break and disappointment that I wouldn't be able to finish the climb out of the canyon with a full load. Even without carrying Natalyn all the way up the canyon I found reaching the canyon rim very satisfying. It seems that earned scenery is more beautiful than drive by scenery. The same view I had looked at on my way down the canyon seemed much richer and deeper now back at the top.

Having a Navajo Taco was a real treat.

I was very proud of how well all of the kids did on the hike. I was also very excited about breaking a mental barrier of taking a real hike with the family. The kids finished their junior ranger packets in the trailer and the visitor center and then were sworn in as junior rangers of Navajo National monument. To celebrate the great hike we decided to go to the Anasazi Inn cafe in Tsegi for dinner. Lexie had a Navajo burger which was simply a burger with fry bread instead of a bun. I had a Navajo taco and Dallin had Navajo ham. All dishes again being much like there contemporaries except with the substitution of fry bread into the meal. Natalyn, David and Tyrell were gracious enough to the budget to eat off the kids menu. I had never heard of a Navajo burger or Navajo ham, but eating a Navajo taco was extremely satisfying to me in as much as they were a staple of church potlucks and other gatherings in my youth.

I was delighted to find the Cly's house on my first try and to find Bill home. When I lived in Kayenta the Cly's were truly a second family to me. The Gordon's and Cly's had kids the same ages and were all friends. It was a lot of fun to reminisce. I felt a little unsettled seeing the Cly's as "empty nesters" but having my kids bouncing off the walls did make the Cly house seem a lot more like I remember it. Between being older to understand more and having Lexie around to ask more intelligent questions than I normally do while talking to Bill I was able to gain a lot more understanding of his life than I previously had. I will skip details here because I am not sure how many of his stories are to be public but I will summarize by saying he is a hero to me and an amazing man. It almost does not fit in my mind to think about the change he has seen in his life being born in a traditional Navajo home speaking Navajo to making a transition to a new language and a new culture.

Something I really missed in feeling as a kid was the peril of the Navajo culture and language. I definitely remember a lot of conversation about it as a kid especially from my fourth grade teacher Dean Sundberg. However there was a difference in my level of understanding as I looked at the problem through adult eyes. It really had passed me by that up until very recently with the onslaught of boarding school and placement programs the Navajo spoke Navajo. In two generations most Navajo do not speak Navajo fluently. Losing a language loses a part of a culture. There are ideas and emotions that will never be mapped into English with the same accuracy and beauty with which they can be expressed with in Navajo. Personally I would love to study the language but practically I cannot come up with enough reason to do it to justify the effort. With that said I have full intention of doing more reading about Navajo history. Another couple of things I caught this trip that had passed me as more than a cognitive understanding as a youth were not in Arizona much before than the Spanish were. The Navajo migration to Arizona happened in the early 1500's. The other thing that passed my understanding as a child was the ugliness of what had happened to the Navajo at the hands of the American government. In the late 1800's I am horrible with dates and history in general but I believe that would make it about the time the Mormon's were in the peak of their migration west. The Navajo nation was invaded by the US army killing men women and children then marching them 300 east to Fort Sumner in New Mexico. I can see how a lot of anger can remain in the nation over that event. Even though I am sure the current population doesn't have a full understanding of it either it was severe enough and tragic enough that I am sure the emotion has carried through the generations.

Going to the church at the Kayenta ward reminded me of the reason I loved living in Kayenta. The people are so warm and accepting there. Something that was a lot of fun happened in priesthood when they asked for visitors to introduce themselves. After introducing myself about half of the high priests brightened and asked "Ray Gordon's son!?, You have shoe's on!!!". They told me to tell him they missed his singing. He must have really been a legend to be remembered for 20 years. Even though my dad is very unlike a canary when it comes to his expressions in song I truly do believe they miss his singing there. I am also reasonably sure they were confusing me with Jerimiah, me without shoes, couldn't be ;-). I was also able to catch up with a couple of childhood friends, Rolla McCarty and Jacob Holiday. They both seemed to be doing really well.

After church the Cly's treated us to lunch. I was delighted to find that Navajo tacos were on the menu. I don't know of anyone that makes a better Navajo Taco than Maralyn. I was also very pleased that the Holiday's came over. It was great to visit with them.

It was great to have lunch with the Clys and Holidays

The sandstone formations around Kayenta are amazing. I would love to get back to hike around them again.

Monday we were slow getting started but eventually managed to get to Mesa Verde. Something that caught us off guard was that the Mesa Verde park does not allow trailers in the park. They have a parking lot at the entrance at which they ask you to drop the trailers (If the campground is open you can bring them that far but the campground does not open until mid May). I didn't really like leaving the trailer but I can appreciate why they would rather not have them in the park. The most unfortunate consequence of not having the trailer was when we stopped at the visitor's center about 15 miles into the park and I jumped out and ran behind the Suburban to get my camera. We have just been so accustomed to having our house with us that I totally forgot to get the camera out of the trailer. We didn't really have enough time to go back for the camera so we had to do without. It was 3PM when we got to the visitor's center. There was a tour of Cliff Palace starting at 3:30 PM so we immediately drove farther to join the tour. The Cliff Palace ruin is quite impressive. If I remember correctly it is the largest known Ancestral Pueblo cliff dwelling. I was surprised at the number and locations of the cliff dwellings in the Mesa Verde area. It seemed that any little alcove anywhere on a cliff had some sort of structure in it. Looking at the structures gave me the opinion that the dwellings had something to do with defense and not just climate control. The difficulty of getting the structures as high on the cliff as they were would not be justified by climate advantage, especially on northern exposures which would be hotter in summer and colder in winter. The guide at Betatikin was very adamant that the military advantage would have been slim because the canyons would be so easy to cut off in order to starve people out. However with half of their structures dedicated to food storage I think that the people would be able to wait out an army. Also being up hill is still a military advantage even in modern warfare.

Something the ranger explained at the beginning of the tour which I was glad to have clarified was that the theory about the Anasazi had indeed changed over the years. So I had remembered correctly that I was taught as a kid that they were a people who disappeared but the current theory is that they simply migrated. I asked the guide if there was new evidence which caused the change in theory. She said it was really simply a matter of collecting available information about building structures and religious rights of modern Pueblo and Hopi. DNA tests have been outlawed as a measure to respect the ancient remains. Something about Cliff Palace which seemed to cheapen things in a way is that it has been heavily reconstructed. In retrospect I imagine the same is true of Betatikin. When the first reconstruction effort at Cliff Palace happened they actually used portland cement to make the joints. They found that the cement did not hold up as well as a simple mud mixture and now use mud as the Ancestral Pueblo did in reconstruction efforts. So while the ruins do not allow one to see something truly hundreds of years old it does give a good model of what was there. With that said I am sure several of the stones are original. Another thing that I saw differently than I did as a kid was the way hand and toe hold trails up the cliffs would have worked. The rangers always make it a point of marvel that the people could use them. Looking at the bumps in cliffs it really does seem amazing that people could climb them because they are obtuse and not very deep. Looking at the trail on the way out of the canyon Lexie and I found several examples where protected toe holds were nice and deep with a sharp edge a couple of inches into the rock. It was the exposed parts of the trail that were obtuse and harder to understand how someone could climb. I am reasonably sure that at the time of construction all of the toe holds were nice and deep and it is weather which has made them so small. Even the deep toe holds aren't anything that would meet current safety standards but it is much easier to understand how people would have been able to get around comfortably on the cliffs.

We spent the remainder of our time in the park completing the Junior Ranger packets in the museum. The Spruce Tree ruin has a reconstructed kiva into which they let tourists descend. We were very dismayed to learn that even though the literature said the ruin was open until 6:30 at 6:00 when we tried to go they told us that we would not be able to see the ruin so we had to view it from a distance.

I will need to look at a map this morning I think I missed a turn in Cortez last night. We are at a Casino RV park just South of Cortez on the Ute reservation. I see it as my moral responsibility to plug up low cost high quality RV spots at Casinos as an effort to block other people who might be tempted to gamble. At this point in my life the sort of gambling that happens in a Casino holds as much temptation for me holding my hands under my feet and walking on rough pavement does. If that ever changes I will also need to change my position about using Casino RV parks.

April 15 2008

Flagstaff has become our official horse changing stop. The last time through we switched from the maroon mini van to a rental vehicle. This time we switched from our Suburbans to a newer Suburban. The trip from Phoenix to Flagstaff gains about 6000 feet in elevation. The old Suburban with its 5.7 liter engine didn’t have many nice things to say about pulling the trailer up those 6000 feet. The trailer weight is within the specifications of the older Suburban but it is right at the top of the specification. By trading in both of our Suburbans and getting a higher mile vehicle we were able to convert to an 2001 ¾ ton with an 8.1 liter engine without putting out a lot of cash.







Our new horse.


The auto dealer let us test drive with the trailer attached. I was amazed at how much difference the engine and suspension made. The difference was enough that it was pretty straight forward to seal the decision as a safety move. So far pulling with the new suburban seems almost as if the trailer isn’t behind us. I also really like the new roof rack. I don’t think we’ll get to do it this year but I have visions of how much fun it would be to load the rack up with gasoline and water and then disappear into the woods of British Columbia for a couple of weeks. For those of you who have heard about my Big Foot rantings, yes you have reason to worry about me.

We used today as a recovery day between the transfer of Suburbans and the heavy playing we did in Maricopa and Phoenix there was quite a bit of organizing to do. It is very nice to have both the Suburban and trailer clean at the same time.

April 13 2008

Dan wrote:

April 13 2008

I took this picture to cry over my stolen generator.

The night after we had the generator stolen I didn’t sleep very well at all in part because it was too hot and in part because every time there was a noise I found myself wondering if my propane tanks or spare tire were going to go missing.  The next night we found a wonderful little county park about 20 miles south of Maricopa that allowed free camping.  There were only a couple of other trailers in the area and it was totally quite.  We were able to open all of the windows and doors to get a nice breeze through.  The desert nights with the saguaro were simply amazing.  The sky was simply full of stars.  Places like that touch a special part of my soul.  I was also pleased to find the park road made a wonderful jogging trail.  I am sure the county park will be a standard stop for us on our future visits to Jen.

We really enjoyed camping in the desert.  The nights were simply amazing with all of the stars out.

The visit with Jennifer and Wade was a lot of fun.  They had an extra room in which I was able to setup an office and work on game development.  I was able to get enough of my game completed to be pretty excited about it.

During the week we were able to find an amazing sale on the same model of generator that was stolen.  The normal price of the generator is $350 but they were on sale with a $150 rebate to make the net cost $200.  Not as great a price as the pond scum that swiped my last one got but much better than the $550 price tag I saw on the same model at a Kragens on my way south.  It is very nice to have a remote source of electricity again.

We drove into town Thursday night to camp at an RV park in town.  We ran into a couple of issues with it.  First Microsoft Streets and trips was somehow wrong by about 15 miles on its location so we got to do a little extra in town driving with the trailer.  The second was sewer hookups at the park were for permanently parked trailers so they didn’t interface with my equipment.

Our reason for being in town was to go to the Arizona Science Center.  We missed a couple of turns on our way to the science center but were still able to find it in a reasonable manner.  We were a bit befuddled however when we tried to park at the garage we parked at the last time only to find that with the bike on the top of the Suburban we were too tall for the garage.  The attendant told us of another garage close by which we quickly found and noted a sign about the garage being closed during the 9th inning of the Diamond Backs game to get the fireworks ready.  It didn’t take a degree in logic to figure out from the information on the sign that there was a baseball game with fireworks taking place that night.  With the parking already paid for we decided to add the game to the day's agenda.

The museum was excellent.  There were lots of displays including an open heart surgery display which was a projection of the surgery onto a mannequin patient.  There were also different 15 minute lecture and demonstration sessions through out the day.  The ones we made it to were, extracting DNA from a strawberry, combustion (how and why things burn), dissection of a cow eyeball and finally a demonstration about the states of matter centered on liquid nitrogen.  The last demonstration was far and away my favorite.  They ended the demonstration by blowing up 2 liter bottles to launch a trash can.

We learned how to extract DNA from a strawberry.

Ty examines a very large model of skin.

The house building display was probably the kids' favorite. They were excited when I told them I might let them do some plumbing for me some day.

Natalyn and Dallin play a communication game.

We were pleased to find that there were $6 dollar tickets to the game.  We were extra pleased to find that we got free t-shirts at the game.  We were extra extra pleased to see the Diamond Backs score 8 runs which meant that we got free chulupas from Taco Bell.  Davey especially enjoyed the fireworks after home runs were hit.  Ty and I kept cheering for a “pool ball”.  Part of the spectator area in the right field section actually has a swimming pool from which fans can watch the game.  Ty and I thought it would be a really cool splash to see a ball go in the pool.  We were excited and then disappointed when the short stop doubled hitting the wall just 2 feet under the top of the wall.  For a while it looked like we really were going to get the “pool ball” we were yelling for.

We were happy to get free T-Shirts

It was fun to see my first major league game.

We enjoyed fireworks after each of the 3 homeruns hit and a big show after the game.

Friday was tied up with errands.  Our second Suburban failed its emission test so we decided to drive them both to Flagstaff.  We are hoping we can get the Suburban sold here in Flagstaff.  It feels a little strange to be back at the scene of last year’s accident but other than that we are really enjoying ourselves.  It is very nice to be near pine trees again.

We went to the 1:00 session of church with the Lake Mary Ward.  The people were very friendly and it was interesting to talk with them.