Monday, September 21, 2009
Rainy season
We have now entered the rainy, "monsoon" season for this area. It has rained several inches (estimating) in the last week. Given that this area receives 4-5 inches of rain per YEAR, this is huge! We have seen several rainbows in the last several days - even a double rainbow yesterday. Unfortunately, they were too faint to catch on photo or video. Yesterday, we had a large sandstorm that literally covered Shiprock as it approached in the distance. The clouds even turn brown to let you know that a sandstorm is approaching. It is quite an erie phenomenon. Because of the frequent sandstorms, car washes, especially the self-serve spray-off kind make a good business out here. My favorite car wash is in Farmington where you can use a vacuum for free as long as you want before you wash your car and then 3-4 guys even wipe it dry (like Mike's used to do) for as little as $8.00. Sweet deal! There is even a chill in the air today. I love it because it reminds me of the Midwestern fall season - chill in the air and somewhat damp feel as the winter cold approaches.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Kids' funny sayings
Kids say the funniest things sometimes. Some of Lily's favorite sayings are "That's de-e-e-lious!" when she tastes something she REALLY likes. When an activity is really fun, she says, "That was great fun!" (She last said this when we went swimming in the pool at the Lake Powell Resort.) James is starting to talk up a storm so we are hearing some funny things from him as well. There are some pet lizards in one of his preschool classrooms. When I picked up the kids this week on day, he was very excited to show me the "puppies" in the back of the room! This morning he woke up very early and heard the alarm clock in mommy and daddy's room go off. He ran to daddy and said, "Clock is done!" as if it were the oven timer were going off. When we went to school/work yesterday morning, it was still dark and Lily told me she couldn't Shiprock. She quickly reassured me all on her own that we can see it in the afternoon. How right she was!!
Lake Powell
On Labor Day weekend, we decided to take a trip to Lake Powell in Page, Arizona. It was about a 3-4 hour trip west through the desert of New Mexico and Arizona. We stopped in Kayenta which Ryan went to frequently when he did his environment health specialist internship in the summer of 1995. How life has changed since then. (Krista reminded Ryan that this was the year she graduated from high school - haha!) The kids and Buster did very well on the trip. We arrived on Friday evening and stayed at the Lake Powell resort which was very nice. We didn't realize when we bought an annual National Parks pass last weekend at Mesa Verde that we would be able to use it again for admission to the Glen Canyon National Park which is where Lake Powell is located. These annual passes are a good deal in this part of the country since there are some many cool national parks within driving distance to Shiprock.
On Saturday, we went to see Glen Canyon Dam along with Colorado River. What a spectacular site. They poured concrete for 3 years around the clock during the dam's construction! Then we went on a short boat cruise to Antelope Canyon on Lake Powell. The tall red rock formations that make up the canyon were stunning. You can see how the bottom half of the rocks are white and the tops are red. The top of the white half was the water line several years ago (I believe they said in 2003) when it was very, very high. I just talked with a person this week who mentioned they saw the lake when it was this high and said it was very strange and eery to see it this way. The boat ride was just long enough - a little over an hour - for the kids and they really enjoyed it. James' favorite part was the beginning when he heard the roar of the engines (he said "vroom-vroom") and at the end when he cheered very loudly saying "all done" so that all the other passengers knew the end had come as well. Lily loved walking out to the marina and seeing all the boats and fish that came up to see us. (The reason that they do this is because many people dump out their left over food in the water.) One of the fish even had a large hook in his mouth (and they say that only cats have nine lives!). Buster was a hit with the locals as many come up to say, "Aw, look at the cute puppy." The hotel allowed pets so we took along his kennel and he stayed in it at night and during our cruise.
On Sunday, we drove a little past Lake Powell to see Navajo Bridge - what an impressive engineering feat over the Colorado River. Just past this bridge was Lee's Ferry which was the only site along the Colorado River where early settlers once took a ferry across the river. Now it is a popular camping and fishing site in Glen Canyon National Park. We then started the long trip back home. At Lee's Ferry, we were about 1-2 hours from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We thought about seeing it but decided we didn't want to make the long, 6+ hours drive back home. We can see the Grand Canyon another time. Overall, it was a fun and relaxing family trip!
On Saturday, we went to see Glen Canyon Dam along with Colorado River. What a spectacular site. They poured concrete for 3 years around the clock during the dam's construction! Then we went on a short boat cruise to Antelope Canyon on Lake Powell. The tall red rock formations that make up the canyon were stunning. You can see how the bottom half of the rocks are white and the tops are red. The top of the white half was the water line several years ago (I believe they said in 2003) when it was very, very high. I just talked with a person this week who mentioned they saw the lake when it was this high and said it was very strange and eery to see it this way. The boat ride was just long enough - a little over an hour - for the kids and they really enjoyed it. James' favorite part was the beginning when he heard the roar of the engines (he said "vroom-vroom") and at the end when he cheered very loudly saying "all done" so that all the other passengers knew the end had come as well. Lily loved walking out to the marina and seeing all the boats and fish that came up to see us. (The reason that they do this is because many people dump out their left over food in the water.) One of the fish even had a large hook in his mouth (and they say that only cats have nine lives!). Buster was a hit with the locals as many come up to say, "Aw, look at the cute puppy." The hotel allowed pets so we took along his kennel and he stayed in it at night and during our cruise.
On Sunday, we drove a little past Lake Powell to see Navajo Bridge - what an impressive engineering feat over the Colorado River. Just past this bridge was Lee's Ferry which was the only site along the Colorado River where early settlers once took a ferry across the river. Now it is a popular camping and fishing site in Glen Canyon National Park. We then started the long trip back home. At Lee's Ferry, we were about 1-2 hours from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We thought about seeing it but decided we didn't want to make the long, 6+ hours drive back home. We can see the Grand Canyon another time. Overall, it was a fun and relaxing family trip!
Mountains of Durango
We had a wonderful opportunity to visit a mountain resort in Durango, Colorado the same weekend that we visited Mesa Verde. It was a beautiful mountain setting and was quite a climb up the mountain highways to reach our destination but the Prius did well. I have included some photos on the website from this visit.
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