Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Stop 3, Mesa Verde National Park

We left Grand Canyon Wednesday morning and drove through Arizona's Navajo Reservation to Colorado's Mesa Verde National Park (303 miles). It was at times very dismal looking but also at times very beautiful. We stopped at Four Corners - what a silly place. They charge $6 per person (kids free, or we wouldn't have stopped at all) and it's just a funny concrete monument with flags surrounded by a dirt road turnaround and outlined with shacks for the Navajo to sell their wares. We did have to try the Navajo fry bread. It's like a big flat churro without the sugar. Pretty tasty. This was a view out the front of the van looking toward our destination - yep, you guessed it, thunderstorms...
It rained on us as we were entering the park and it looked for a while like we were all sleeping in the van that night, but it stopped raining just long enough for Chris to throw up the tent. He slept well, albeit by himself that night. The next morning, after drying out a bit, we took a drive and then a walk to see the cliff dwellings. These flowers were abundant - not sure what they are, except stunning in the landscape.
Here we are at the cliff dwelling.
And on the way out of the park, I stopped to capture some of the evidence of a fairly recent burn. Next stop... Ouray, Colorado.

Friday, May 25, 2007

Stop 2, Grand Canyon National Park

We drove 321 miles from Mojave to Grand Canyon, through Needles (yuck). We arrived in the afternoon, got to our camp site, then hopped on a shuttle to go to the rim.

First Look - Wow! Really beautiful. It was a little hazy but still breathtaking. Maia was not impressed, Sofia was impressed for a couple minutes, then they were more interested in a beetle. I would have loved to sit there at the rim and just gaze at it for a while but it's just not possible with the little ones. There is next to nothing to keep them from running right up to the edge and beyond.
On our full day there, we decided to do the "Junior Ranger" program with Sofia, which involved doing some age-appropriate activities and going on a ranger tour - we did the fossil walk.
Here is Sofia with her certificate.
'Smores for everyone of course...

Saw some cool wildlife there - California condors fly right around the rim, lots of ravens, mule deer, Western bluebirds.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Journey to Colorado, Stop 1

We left for Colorado on Sunday May 13, Mother's Day. We drove about 260 miles to Mojave National Preserve and stayed the night at Mitchell Caverns campground. This area is beautiful in person, pictures don't do it justice. But you do have to look for it - we only saw a handful of birds, a couple lizards and some very large ants. Some cactus were in bloom. It was already pretty hot there - about 95 degrees F. We took a walk out to where the caverns are but couldn't wait around for the 1:30 tour the next day. On to the Grand Canyon!

Monday, May 07, 2007

Posting Extravaganza

What? Three posts in a day? I'm trying to figure out where to go with this blog. Our flickr site has largely taken over the photo posting function of this blog. We are using it pretty much as a backup for our best/favorites photos, since we have unlimited space there. Then there's my art blog and my personal flickr site, all with their own functions, sort of. There seems to be a little overlap. My apologies in advance for duplicates! I guess for now if I have something in particular to say, then I'll post it here... we'll see how it goes.

Now, read this: I am reading a book right now and I can't recommend it strongly enough! It's called "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan and everyone should read it, I mean everyone. There's not one of you reading this, that wouldn't get something out of this book. I haven't even finished and it's making me rethink everything I eat and it's also making me stronger in my resolve to be vigilant about what my family is eating. I also highly recommend his previous book, "The Botany of Desire". The subject matter in both books is truly interesting and he is a very good writer (contributes regularly to the New York Times Magazine). And if that's not enough, he's a professor of journalism at Cal. I'll be giving quizzes next time I see you :) haha. OK, enough said.

First Strawberry Picking

Last week, Maia's class went strawberry picking. This was a much better age for Maia than last year. She had a lot of fun and got to ride a pony, too.


Mother's Day Lunch


Sofia's school has a Mother's Day lunch every year the week before Mother's Day. They sing songs, then serve us lunch that has been prepared by them and their cooking teacher. This year it was lasagne, salad, and strawberry shortcake for dessert. Sofia sang very nicely and was a super server.