TravelStream™ news feed for member explorerjones on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/explorerjones en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:35:49 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/explorerjones/1/1246411446/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/explorerjones/1/1246411446/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/explorerjones/1/1246411446/tpod.html Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:35:49 -0400 Exploring America Jones Family Sabbatical

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Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska, United States

Monday June 29th 2009

Sunrise 3:53 a.m. Sunset 12:25 a.m.

Blogging from a a train leaving Denali National Park. Being here in June with 20 hrs of daylight a day, it is very hard to imagine the long dark winters that take up most of the year. Denali was a great end to our Alaska cruise and our 3 month sabbatical. We've had great weather and amazingly clear days to see stunning views of Mt. Denali (aka Mt McKinley) and the surrounding ranges. 

We had a great time cruising with family--my parents & sister Audie and Ross' brother Andrew and our sister-in-law Christine and their 3 kids. 13 of us in total. The kids had a blast on the boat together and enjoyed the kids progams... as did the adults!  

We enjoyed the all-you-can-eat buffets, some of us a little too much, and lots of relaxed dinners together. We did get in some activity other than eating, some of us may have logged in a marathon walking around the promenade deck and we also did some good hiking at a few stops. 
 
Highlights from Cruise: 
 
Ketchikhan: salmon hatchery and lots of cool totem poles;

Juneau: whalewatching was incredible! tracked a mother and cub, stumbled on some dalls porpoises, childlike moment for all of us;

Skagway: great hike, walking around town and learning about the Gold Rush;

2 indescribably beautiful & peaceful sea days cruising through Glacier Bay & College Fjords;

2 clear days of Denali views, kayaking, family hike up Mt. Healy, visit with cousin Sarah and family, fine-dining on train out of Denali Park;


seeing caribou, moose, loon, bear, dall sheep, whales, porpoises, lots of bald eagles, and talking about animals on and off;

lots of interesting rangers and tour guides who love the wildness of Alaska


"Everything is hitched to everything else in the universe."
 
"The clearest way to the universe is through a forest wilderness."
Explorer/Naturalist John Muir whose presence was all over the Northwest--very inspiring person, named the glaciers in Glacier Bay

"I would rather climb that mountain than discover the richest gold mine in Alaska."
Episcopalian Archdeacon Hudson Stuck, the first European American to climb Denali, quoted before his ascent in 1913.  Interesting contrast to why people came up here for the gold rush.  Luke & I mused on this quote before our last hike:  "Luke why would he say something like this? "Because he valued experiences more than money and stuff."

Can't believe our 3 month journey is coming to an end.  The journey would not have been complete without visiting Alaska.  As they say here "You haven't seen America, if you haven't seen Alaska."  One of the rangers said something that stuck with me, something like "I hope the wilderness of this place has in some way touched the wilderness inside of you." 


"Those who contemplate 
the beauty of the earth 
find reserves of strength 
that will endure as long 
as life lasts." 
Rachel Carson


For the past 3 months, we have immersed ourselves in the wildness and beauty of our great country.  I read the quote above at the Visitor's Center in Denali on our last day b4 traveling home & it sort of captured for me what I hope to bring home from our trip.  I love how the parks weave in a little "contemplative" spin & help people to see & appreciate the Unseen gift of being in nature & how we too are part of the mysterious interconnectedness of our amazing world.

As we head home, the kids have all sort of random factoids in their heads about things like salmon migration patterns, bear hibernation, loon mating wars, geological forces, and I think they have some sense for the spirit of exploration (both Native & European Americans) that has written the American Story.  

On a deeper level, our hearts are filled to overflowing with beautiful memories & a deeper sense of connectedness with each other, with the kids who we have very selfishly had all to ourselves for 3 months, with friends we visited along the way, blogging friends, FB friends, family, the places we have visited, & with the Creator who encompasses all these things.

As we head back to "reality," we have great reserves stored up for the inevitable rainy days and storms that will come.  

Thanks for blogging with us & 
for helping us feel like we didn't drop off the face of the earth!


blessings on 
your journey,
Emily & Ross



 

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Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Greetings from Canada!  

   From Seattle, we crossed the border into Canada and drove up to Whistler.  I tell you, ski areas are the most fun places any season of the year.  We had hoped to be able to sneak in some spring skiing, but no trails were open.  Luke the Viking was disappointed.  We rented mountain bikes and explored the area together by bike.  Lexi was a trooper cruising through the woods trying to keep up with her brothers.  It was fun seeing where the winter olympics are going to be held.

     Now we are in Vancouver where we launch tomorrow for our cruise to Alaska. Explorer Jones has become Explorer Nielsen-Jones.  My parents joined us for a few days here in Vancouver.  We are staying right on the water and have incredible views of the water, the mountains and Stanley Park. Vancouver is an amazing city.  

We are feeling nostalgic as our trip winds down but we are glad to be reunited with family (Emily's sister Audie and Ross' brother Andrew and family are coming today) for our last leg in Alaska.

Home is beaconing!

Lots of love,
Emily & Ross  
   

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Seattle, Washington, United States

Hi friends. Blogging from a ferry from Orcas Island, WA back to the mainland where we will be heading up to Whistler. For those who know how often we push our luck getting to the airport in just the nick of time (one time we left our house at 6:19 for a 7 a.m. flight & we got on), we finally got our just desserts. We cut it a little too close trying to get on the 10:20 ferry & had to wait over 3 hours to get on the next one. Alas, we are really in no rush for anything, so we easily recalibrated our day & took a drive up Mt. Constitution which has amazing views out over the San Juan Islands. 

    We've been touring around the Seattle area for about a week & a half. We began our stay in the city at Mercer Island visiting Ross' friend LeeAnn who used to work at Berkshire & is on the Bare Escentuals board with him. She & her family wined & dined us, shared Friday Shabbat prayers & showed us the Seattle views by boat. We did not exactly want to leave LeeAnn's waterfront home, but we crossed the bridge & headed into Rainier Beach, a multiethnic urban neighborhood, to stay with our friends' Chris & Chrissie Drape (Ross has been friends with Chris since high school--they remember books they read in 9th grade English class...) who have 2 boys & 7 chickens in their yard!! 
    

 Our kids now want to raise chickens when we get home & sell us their parents the eggs. 

 Chris & Chrissie are these rare salt-of-the-earth sort of people who unlike most of us (ourselves included) have resisted the pull of white flight & American materialism & have planted themselves very intentionally in a multiracial neighborhood in Seattle where they live & work & go to church & minister to others just by being themselves & opening their home & their lives to people around them. In a very short window of time, our kids have gotten to see quite a wide socio-economic range on this trip (no judgement here...) which has prompted some very interesting ongoing family conversations.     


 While in Seattle, we also got to visit our friends Shataia & Troy Whitney, friends from Park Street Church in Boston who knew our boys when they were babies and Matt & Carol McIlwain, friends from Dartmouth/NYC.  Each place we have visited, we have felt so welcomed & left feeling so grateful for the rich conversations & connections.
 
    
While in Seattle, we took two excursions to two beautiful places not too far away: Mt Rainier which happened to be totally clear the day we arrived & Orcas Island (in the San Juan Islands) where we stayed right on the water in an adorable little cottage. We had fabulous weather which after spending so much time in the desert did feel like home. The NW does feel like a kindred spirit to the NE. We have said a few times that we could picture living here. The smell of the woods & the feel of the air made us a little nostalgic for the Adirondacks in upstate NY & New England in general. Mt Rainier was breathtaking--the snow-covered volcano peak looms over the whole area with an enticing sort of ominous presence. Erik did a school project on Mt Rainier, so it was fun to be there. Definitely, one of the most beautiful places we have been. Luke was mad that we did not bring skis. Orcas Island ended our time in WA with a very peaceful stay right in this very calm harbor.  It felt like summer vacation was here; the kids spent alot of time biking around while we lounged by the water, we went on a fishing trip, did some biking, long runs, went horsebackriding & made a few campfires. Oh, and did some homeschooling...
                   


Strange family conversations: 
 
"Mom, would you pay me $20 to eat a cricket?" 
 
"Dad, how ow much would you pay me to eat a hot chili pepper?"
 
"Mom, if there was a $100 bill sitting right there on that cliff, 
would you let me get it?"
 

Erik is doing a little writing project on John Muir, a naturalist/explorer who spent alot of time in this area & helped to establish the national parks. Couldn't resist sending along some inspiration:
 

The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.
 

In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.
 

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.

John Muir

 
Can't believe we are at the bottom of our itinerary:  
 off to Whistler, then Vancouver, then Alaska, then home!


life 
is 
a 
journey 

Emily & Ross


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San Francisco, California, United States

We had a great two weeks or so visiting friends in the Bay Area.  We lived here right after we got married 17 years ago when Ross was at Stanford Business School so we enjoyed going down memory lane.  Little would we have known that we would be back 17 years later with these 3 little pilgrims.  Where did the time go?

We began with a camping trip with the Leafstrands and the Walkers (11 kids in total) in Half Moon Bay which ended up being swallowed up by a soupy cloud the whole time we were there.  Nonetheless, we still had a great time.  Other stops along the way:  San Francisco, Stanford area, Gold Rush, & Monterey.  It was great to catch up with so many friends & be showered with such amazing hospitality and friendship.  Thank you Hurleys, Ellises, Blodgetts, Leafstrands, Hsieh's, Walkers, June Park & Kristin Alexander for opening your homes and your hearts to us. We feel so touched by all the generosity we received.  

cheers!



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Los Angeles, California, United States

After ditching the Roadbear, we were happy to settle back into comfort and Americana chez Disney.  Needless to say, not much homeschooling took place.  Disney you could say is part of the "American Story"... and we did get lots of "experiential education" in.  The kids mastered the Fast Pass and probably went on California Screamer at least 15 times.  You can't beat Space Mountain.   There is something magical about Disney.  

What would the Native Americans think of all these livesize mice and critters running around?    
We also had two nice visits in the LA area, one with our good friend Victoria and her family, and another with Ross' Aunt Betty and Uncle Don.  After being just the 5 of us for almost a month, we relished the social interaction.

  As they say in Disneyland, 
Celebrate Today
Emily & Ross & kids
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Los Angeles, California, United States

Hi everyone.  Sorry the last email didn't work.  I am having a great time on our 3 month sabbatical. We just finished our RV part of the trip. The Grand Canyon was the last and the 10th park/monument we went to in the RV.  The RV was a lot of fun.  Here are some pictures of where I've been including Plymouth Plantation, the Dominican Republic, Jamestown Settlement/Williamsburg, VA and the RV trip around the national parks in the Southwest.  Make sure you click on "show all thumbnails."  
We are now in California.  We just went to Disneyland.  We are visiting friends in California then going to Seattle, then to Vancouver, then to Alaska, then home.
How are you doing?  How's school?  Write back.  

from Erik
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Los Angeles, California, United States

Hi there!  How are you doing?  What are you doing?  I am having fun.  We are done with our RV trip.  Now we are in California visiting friends and we are going camping.  We just went to Disneyland!  Here are pictures of me and Flat Stanley from our RV trip.  I earned 10 Junior Ranger Badges at the National Parks we visited so far. Look and see them on my purple backpack. The RV was alot of fun.  We saw lots of great parks.  We did lots of hikes.  I got tired of hiking.  At night, we made dinner on the campfire and roasted marshmallows and made s'mores.  Do you see me standing on that really high rock?  I jumped off that rock into freezing cold water.  It was the Colorado River.  We were on a kayaking trip.  The rock was 32 feet high and it might not look really high but it was really, really high.  I was sort of scared but it was fun and I am glad I did it.  Flat Stanley and I are going from here up to Northern California, then to Seattle, then to Vancouver, then to Alaska.  
Write back to me and tell me what is new.  Did Mrs. Garsh have her baby?  What are you doing at school?

Goodbye everyone.
love, Lexi
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Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, United States

Good morning from a Lake Mead, a man-made lake in the Grand Canyon created by a dam in the Colorado River.  As I write, the kids are happily playing Frisbee & Ross is unhooking/emptying the RV....   I am happy to say that I have not yet had the privilege of participating in this ritual.  Good division of labor, I blog, Ross puts on the rubber gloves...

The Grand Canyon was the perfect place to end our trip.  It is grande both in size & in its impact.  So many different outlooks, each with a different perspective on the canyon.  I am glad we came here last, the smaller canyons may have seemed anti-climactic after being here. Regardless of the size, there is something so powerful & almost mystical about canyons... which formed beneath the surface of the earth over hundreds of millions of years.  At every park we went to we heard something like "______ Canyon was formed by unseen forces deep within the earth" & the "____ Canyon is still changing each year."  Looking down on the canyon is beautiful, but being inside it you feel sheltered & surrounded by a majesty beyond words. Each one leaves a slightly different imprint on the soul.  Are not our souls like a canyon with hidden depths & beauty?  As we wind down our National Park tour, we feel a twinge of soul nostalgia for the Presence & Beauty of each place. 
 
Beauty is not to be captured or controlled for there is something intrinsically elusive in its nature.  More like a visitation than a solid fact, beauty invests the aura of a person or infuses a landscape with an unexpected intimacy that satisfies our longing.  True beauty cannot be invented or manufactured.  We "cannot bear very much reality." Neither, it seems can we bear very much beauty.  The glimpse, the touch of beauty is enough to quicken our hearts with the longing for the divine.  Beauty never finally satisfies though she intensifies our longing & refines it.  Where the human person simply soul, beauty would be an absolute embrace.  We are, however threshold creatures of deep ambivalence & when beauty touches the matrix of human selfhood, it can only be just that: a touch. 
 
    Not sure 100% what has really resonated with the kids.  At times they seemed totally oblivious to the amazingness of all these amazing places.  The Junior Ranger program has been a great way to help them engage with & experience the park.  Sometimes they have been a bit too focused on earning the badge, but in their own way they have each connected with something at each place, sometimes it was the smaller things like the yucca plant or a chipmunk stealing Lexi's ice cream cone or a Ranger lecture on bats at Zion & the condor here at the Grand Canyon.  The boys seemed the most engaged with the landscape when they were doing a hard, challenging hike.  They both wished that they could have hiked all the way down to the Colorado River... maybe when they are older they will come back & do the whole canyon together.   
 
I promise to discover all I can about Grand Canyon National Park & to share my discoveries with others.  I pledge to enjoy & protect Grand Canyon & all national parks, & to be a friend to my planet Earth.
Grand Canyon Junior Ranger Pledge (they took these oaths very seriously)
 
Highlights from Grand Canyon:                       
Lexi meeting up with her French friend Angelique for the 3rd time, the kids earning their 10th Junior Ranger badge, Ross & the boys hiking the Kaibob Trail while Lexi & mom spent the day together wandering around souvenir stores, a jr ranger assignment which had us spend 10 minutes in silence "listening" to the canyon with all our senses, a native American dance which we unexpectantly became part of when a flying hoola hoop hit Luke in the chest & then Lexi in the nose (Lexi still has a mark on her nose, good thing it hit Luke first absorbing some speed), Emily doing a late afternoon solo hike down Bright Angel Trail & last but not least Luke tragically falling rear-end into a cactus bush while goofing around with his brother  (he is LOL now about it, but it was not a pretty scene while Dr. Dad was tweezing), kayaking in the Colorado River & exploring hot caves & natural saunas & all of the kids jumping off of a 32 ft high rock. Lexi was unbelievably brave & would not be shown up by her brothers.  They were actually very impressed by her!  Oh, one more...watching Ross do the economics project with the kids.  They all kept track of certain expenses throughout our RV trip, saved receipts & actually worked pretty harmoniously together!  Ross was in his element.
 

Signing off from the RV...
It hasn't all been a picnic
(my blogs screen out a lot of family reality...)
but its been a good ride
each day an unfolding adventure
fun, cozy & pleasantly grundgy
but the Jones Tribe is ready to turn in this Roadbear.
 
What are you not going to miss about the RV?
Lexi "the smelly bathroom" 
Luke "the huge avalanches every time I open cabinet doors
Erik "sleeping diagonal in a bed next to Lexi with my feet hanging off the bed"  
Ross "the gray & black water" (I think he is actually going to miss this lovely little ritual) & the stinky shoes
Emily "getting less than 8 miles to the gallon," looking forward to having blonde hair again... I see why people wear bandanas. (I suppose it really isn't fair to blame our hygiene issues on the Roadbear...)

 
From here, we head to LA (Disneyland!), then the Bay Area, Seattle, Vancouver, & then our grand finale in Alaska.  Both of us are sneaking some solo time in... Ross in LA & Emily in Albuquerque... you can imagine why after all of this family togetherness.
 



Thanks for staying connected with us on this little adventure.   
Half way through our trip.
Missing you & missing home.
 
Cheers
 
  p.s. If there are any eyes still reading, here are some Indian blessings which speak to me of the intimacy & kinship Native Americans had & still have with the earth & which the National Parks bless us with. "Every prayer carries a quality of engagement with it.  It is a means of acting upon ourselves, of bringing ourselves into alignment with the rest of creation... at the heart of earth, prayer is a sense of belonging.  Belonging is the basic truth of our existence." from Earth Prayers from around the World
 
We give-away our thanks to the earth which gives us our home.
We give-away our thanks to the rivers & lakes which give-away their water.
We give-away our thanks to the trees which give-away fruit & nuts.
We give-away our thanks to the wind which brings rain to water the plants.
We give-away our thanks to the sun who gives-away warmth & light.
All beings on earth: the trees, the animals, the wind & the rivers give-away to one another so all is in balance.
We give-away our promise to begin to learn how to stay in balance with all the earth.
Dolores la Chapelle
 
O Great Spirit
Whose voice I hear in the winds,
And whose breath gives life to all the world,
Hear me!  I am small & weak, I need your strength & wisdom.
Let me walk in beauty, & make my eyes ever behold the red & purple sunset.
Make my hands respect the things you have made & my ears sharp to hear your voice.
Make me wise so that I may understand the things you have taught my people.
Let me learn the lessons you have hidden in every leaf & rock.
I seek strength, not to be greater than my brother, but to fight my greatest enemy-myself.
Make me always ready to come to you with clean hands & straight eyes.
So when life fades, as the fading sunset, my spirit may come to you without shame.
Traditional Native American Prayer
 
May all I say & think be in harmony with thee,
God within me, God beyond me, maker of the trees.
Chinook Psalter

blessings for a beautiful day!


 
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Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, United States

Hi. I am writing from the Grand Canyon.  We've had basically no internet coverage in the last two campgrounds, so explorerjones is a bit backlogged.  We've also had no showers for the past week, so we are a bit grungy & the consensus is we are all ready to turn in the RV.  3 more days to go.  All good things must come to end...

It was very hard to leave Arches but Mesa Verde greeted us with its sort of odd ominous presence that looks like a huge table top looking over the landscape.

 
This view from our campsite made up for the parking lot that was our home for a few days. The kids were happy to have a pool and minigolf & easy access showers & laundry were a plus too. 

Indigenous people groups have migrated to this place for thousands of years.  Of all the parks we have been to, Mesa Verde has the most well-preserved ruins that you can actually walk into & it gives you a window in time to imagine what life was like around 500 - 1200 A.D. throughout the dessert Southwest.  The park is really worth visiting if you are ever in this neck of the woods.  The guides really bring alive the lifestyle and the spiritual connection between the land and the people who have lived here.  One of our guides at one point used the word "we" making the connection that as human beings and as Americans we all can feel a kinship with the people who lived here and made a home here.  It is interesting to think about the human saga and how "we" have migrated around the globe and splintered off into different people groups which eventually re-encountered oone another.  Of course that re-encountering shows the down side of the human condition...  after a while the story seems the same whether between different Indian peoples competing for the same land and resources or between the native peoples & the Spanish explorers, Morman missionaries, or the US government.  The endurance & resiliency of the human spirit & our collective will to survive & discover is what stands out most though when you visit these places. 

Take a look at these ruins which were Anasazi cliff dwellings built around 1200 AD & then mysteriously deserted around 1300. I have to admit that these cliffs were looking very appealing compared to our dirty, hot RV parked in the RV parking lot.  Did you know that most native peoples lived in matrilineal clans?  Not sure if Tony, my brother-in-law, & Ross could hack it, but living as a Nielsen clan in a cliff dwelling has some appeal.  Throughout our time in both Mesa Verde & Canyon de Chelley, I did find myself noting the downside of the modern individualistic way of life we now lead.  There is something very appealing about belonging to a people group & working together to make a place in the world.        

Highlights from Mesa Verde:  driving the RV up the Mesa, visiting Cliff Palace-it is magical!, playing mini-golf, swimming in the pool, Emily sneaking in a run along the cliffs to some amazing rock art (the square spiral turning into the circular spiral was there...), & the kids sitting drawing cool artifacts in a museum.
 
Canyon de Chelly, where we went next, felt like a continuation of what we learned and experienced in Mesa Verde, but Canyon de Chelly is part of the Navajo Nation so you really get the feel of the continuity with the past.  The overseer of the campground we stayed at was Navajo gave us some good local color of what it was like to grow up on this land. 
 
                   
Highlights from Canyon de Chelly: on the way here, stopping & standing in 4 states, the kids bonding with a dog named "Boy" who roamed around the campground (he made us miss Sparky... it was a very sweet connection that made us feel happy & feel at home at the campground), a guided hike/jeep tour through the canyon seeing a bunch of cliff dwellings & rock art & getting stuck a few times in the jeep crossing streams, watching the full moon rise sitting on top of our RV, & lastly attending a Navajo church on Sunday led by a husband & wife minister team.  
 
On the way to church, Luke says "Why would any Native Americans want to go to a Christian church?"  I have to admit that the same ? was on my mind... and I was sort of glad to see that Luke is thinking about things that he has been seeing.  The service was a cultural experience & really touched all of us.  The people approach God through their deepest needs & there is an intensity & also a deep joy in their worship.  Both ministers exuded that joy of spirit that comes through having met Christ when you get to the end of your rope.   Luke's ? is still very valid.  We debriefed together on the service.  For me, I had a sense of how poorly the church has done at various points over the course of two millennium in safeguarding the essence of Christian spirituality (understatement of the year), & on a more personal level what touched me during the service was the preciousness & tender lovingkindness of Christ who continues to connect with the human spirit, beyond culture & time, in the same "ground floor" of the soul where we are all very needy & human.
 
There was not a trace of bitterness in any native American person we have encountered.  What we have all in varying degrees received & learned from them & their spirituality is the deep inter-connectedness they lived out with the natural world-they & we are "people of the earth."  The Creator has been so good to us in creating these beautiful sacred places for us to enjoy & find healing & refreshment for our souls.  (quoting from a Hopi man at a native dance performance)  The land was & is alive with Spirit.  

Canyon de Chelly & Mesa Verde were not as stunningly beautiful as the other parks we visited, but they did leave their imprint. We don't have to survive off the land like the native peoples did, but the very intimate life-giving connection they shared with the earth has something to teach us about being human & living in harmony with creation.  
 
           
Signing off with a Navajo blessing said when saying good bye to someone:
 
Ho xhonigo-nashi
  which means
 
Go in Beauty


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/explorerjones/1/1241152800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/explorerjones/1/1241152800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/explorerjones/1/1241152800/tpod.html Wed, 06 May 2009 10:41:09 -0400 Exploring America Jones Family Sabbatical

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Moab, Utah, United States

         




The scenery out my window as I write this is a screen panel on a neighboring RV (about 6 feet away) of a pond with large geese flying over head.  As we pulled into the "A&A RV Resort" last night... the kids all chiming in that "this is the best campground we've been in so far"... I have to admit I was already nostalgic for our last two campgrounds in Canyonlands & Arches, both had beautiful panoramic views & great hiking trails right from the RV.  


       

As much as the kids like honkey tonk, they had a blast in the more primitive sites as well.  The moment we got to our camp spot in Arches, Luke ran and climbed up this big rock formation & looked like he was doing an Indian dance of some sort.  They all love spotting birds, thanks to Ross' naturalist streak, & animal tracks, walking to the outhouses, & they are totally into earning Junior Ranger Badges at the parks.  So far they have 7 and are banking on at least 3 more.





Highlights from the Canyonlands: peaceful morning runs, a morning walk with the kids watching them make their own rock cairns, getting stuck in a hail storm & being locked out of our RV (while Ross sat dry in the visitor center with the keys after telling us all to make a run for it...not his usual protective character), & hiking a mesa and seeing some cool native American ruins.   
                    





Highlights from Arches: seeing 12 arches, the boys doing a challenging 7.2 mile hike (thanks to their Deerfoot training we are not raising wimpy boys!), Luke joining me for a morning run & discovering two more arches, and just hanging out in our site with our red-checkered table clothe which reminds me of camping with my family growing up.





Half way through our RV tour, both Ross & I commented yesterday that what we are enjoying most is just being able to get up & let the day unfold & just do one thing at a time.  




Being 
more 
fully 
present 
to 
Life.  




I do not miss my usual multi-tasking mode or the Spring sports schedule we are foregoing.  


We have not missed TV or keeping up with the news... ok, I do admit I have missed Desperate Housewives. I also miss our green Spring yard. We miss Sparky lots n lots. We miss friends, but we are pouring all that friend energy into each other.  Life in the RV continues to provide ongoing odd yet entertaining material for all of us.  Lexi seems to meet friends at our campsites, as does Ross.



Being in beautiful places does leave an impression, one I hope we can take back home with us.  



  

We feel miles away 
but our hearts are close
with you our friends.


Chocolate Chip Pancakes are calling my name... signing off.  Hope you are well & that you are enjoying the Spring.


Love from us all  
  


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