Our National Parks Tour 2

Wild Horses Couldn't Stop Me

But they did. On Mesa Verde. Kathy and I were returning from an evening walk after dinner. We noticed a pack of wild horses grazing just to the right of the walkway--the Indians who own them willingly allow them to roam so they can feed on the grassy mesas. The leader saw us, moved over to the walkway, all the time watching us, and then was joined by the others. Seemed territorial--and much bigger, stronger, and faster than we are.  We backed down the walkway, then walked on the roadway to the left passing them as they continued to graze.  We could then watch the setting sun as we made our way beyond the horses to our room.

Impressive Geological Sites
Spires in Monument Valley--some can be seen in old John Wayne movies. Those are full size cars--not toys--on the trail!

Geysers, hot springs, paint pots (mud pots), and fumaroles in Yellowstone. Bison (background) love the warmer region--surrounding the geyser basin was snowcover to a depth of about 4 feet.

Man-Made Wonders

The cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde NP were occupied from about 1200 to 1300 AD.  And visited by us in 2008!  

Kathy is coming out of one of their kivas.

Glen Canyon Dam generates 1500 megawatts of power for the region.

Majestic Beauty

The Grand Canyon

The Grand Tetons

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

Red butte at Monument Valley

Windows and hoodoos at Bryce Canyon

Wildlife

Bison at Yellowstone

California Condor at Grand Canyon

Mule deer off our balcony in Mesa Verde

Where next?

Our National Parks Tour 1

It's A Small World.
We landed in Albequerque and were greeted by our tour director, had lunch with Cordelia from San Francisco, and met up with the rest of the group later. Nancy came up to me and, seeing we were from Michigan, asked where in Michigan and I told her. She said her husband was from a small town in Michigan, EVART! And so Ron and Kathy got aquainted with each other and though they did not know each other, they had many intermediate connections.

When Rain Turns White
We walked parts to two rim trails. One was at the Grand Canyon and the other was at Bryce Canyon. Both walks were between 2.5 and 3 miles along paths wide enough for two people to pass with no guardrails and the cliffs beside us. Each step gave us new stunning views of the scenes below--the grandeur of the Grand canyon and the pink-colored hoodoos of Bryce. On both walks we encountered beautiful but brief snowstorms dusting our trails.

Rubbing Elbows
Santa Fe is now the number two city in art sales in the US, but we were more interested in standing at the end of the Santa Fe Trail marker in a corner of the Plaza.

Park City (Sundance Film Festival) might be the trendiest city in Utah. We liked the Utah Olympic Park outside town where training and competition take place in ski jumping, ski aerials, bobsled, luge, and skeleton.


Jackson, Wyoming has a Christie's real estate office--isn't that a "tell" for pricey real estate? At street corners without traffic signals, take the red flag to show you want to cross the road, walk with it to the other side, and place it in the rack for another pedestrian to use. To top it off, Dick Cheney's helicopter flew over our hotel to signal us he was on his way to Jackson Hole Airport to board Air Force Two.

Things Were Looking Up

We crossed this thousand-foot bridge built across Glen Canyon to supply the construction of the dam.  

Inside the dam an electric generator was being replaced.  A 10-foot step ladder can be seen before the uninstalled turbine.

From the floor of Zion Canyon, along the Virgin River, we found a geological formation named Alter and Pulpit--the river makes Zion NP a green oasis in the high desert of southwest Utah.

Unusual Dinner Location.



In Salt Lake City, after we toured Temple Square and saw the Tabernacle,




we went to Lion House, one of Brigham Young's homes, where the church has a cafeteria-style restaurant called the Pantry.  Good food, historic locale.

Wings-Pens

Why are team nicknames shortened? Pens and Avs come to mind. Must be a sports writer thing.

Wings have done well in the playoffs and the Penguins have some talented youth (not that Detroit does not)

Wings in six.

Pistons-Celtics

We are glad the Pistons beat the Celtics last night to even the series at 1-1. But from the way the announcers talked, they are not as happy--I think they are pulling for the well-publicized and often-stated Celtics-Lakers final. They don't even hide it well any more in their interviews and comments.

Now they return home where Pistons are doing well.

Pistons in six.

Salt Lake City

Had dinner at a restaurant in Lion House, which was one of Brigham Young's houses. I'm sure the cafeteria style service is different from when he had to feed his wives and children!!!

Walked the grounds of Temple Square, visited the Tabernacle with its great organ. Demonstration of the acoustics showed how ripping paper and dropping pins and a nail could be heard without amplification throughout the entire building.

Don't They Get It?

The Detroit Lions are offering half-season ticket packages for the first time I can remember. Five games in each of two packages. Lower, upper, and club levels. Must be they are not selling all their season tickets! Can't imagine why. They have a veteran quarterback, great draft choices, no one left from last year's losing season, and Matt Millen at the helm. Wink, wink.

The talking heads of sports radio around here have been encouraging fans to give up their seats if they are not satisfied--looks like that is happening. The Lions will spin the shrink in sales to the weak--OK, horrible--economic conditions in metro Detroit. IMHO that cannot be the whole reason since the 55,000 season ticket holders are, for the most part, financially able to afford them. Perhaps the outrageous jump in ticket prices (ours from $70 to $90) for such a weak product contributes as well.

Also heard on the radio yesterday that a season ticket holder emailed the Lions with a complaint about his club level seats. The email was sent up the line and a response sent back down with an inadvertent copy to the customer. In essence the corporate response was, "F*** him--we'll take care of it next year!" Believable? Yes.

And yet the fans here will still support them. Go figure.

How Suite It Was

Brenda took me to the Tiger baseball game Saturday versus the New York Yankees.

Her company hosted workers and their guests. Had a great time though the good guys lost. Bonderman got in trouble early again and could not last through the fifth. 5-2 loss goes in the books.

Met interesting people, many transplants to Michigan. We had a suite down the left field foul line past the foul pole. Great sunny weather but we were under the overhang in the shade. With a loud speaker overhead!

These were great seats to see how much ground Curtis Granderson covers in center field. Yankees hit a couple that he had to chase down on the fly and one that he caught on the bounce off the center field wall to hold the batter to a double--great view.

Too bad the Tigers have invested so much money and have so little to show for it at this time.


Thank you, Brenda.

The Last Lecture

Randy Pauch has made his mark. He is the computer science professor from Carnegie Mellon, a father and a husband, who has pancreatic cancer. His last lecture is watched frequently on the Internet and has sparked many interviews. This book gives his viewpoints on life and the end of life. I won't attempt to summarize here -- that would be a disservice to how good the book is written.

Much of what he says he does--which he attributes to his success as a student, teacher, husband, and father--most people I know do also and they are likewise successful. I found his reflections validate my thinking.

The book is a short and easy read. And I recommend you do read it.

He's That Good

A couple years ago Kathy, Brenda and I were in Evart for the Osceola County Fair and stopped to watch a gospel singing group called the Sears Trio. They have been together for a long time and Kathy remembers her dad speaking highly of them. We had heard them several times before and enjoy very much their singing. On this occasion there was also another group entertaining, the New Reformation Jazz Band. A young twenty-two year old clarinetist caught our attention playing what sounded to me like Benny Goodman. (My folks had many BG 45 rpm records, aka vinyls, which I played until the grooves were smooth and I knew every song.) We were so impressed we looked up Dave Bennett on the Internet and tried to find if he was performing locally. He has a website but performances were not convenient either in location nor date.

And then, last Saturday, Bennett, now just twenty-four, performed with the DSO. And what a performance. Classic Benny Goodman songs with his own twist in a few places. Especially Sing, Sing, Sing, perhaps my favorite, which has a couple drum solos. He had members of the orchestra tapping their feet and slapping their thighs in time with his beat. And the woman singer was a chip off the old block of Peggy Lee or Rosemary Clooney.

I will still try to see where he is performing locally--he's that good.