Dad's Celebration

On December 4, 2012 my father died at home with us.  I want him remembered as the 91 year old who could still win at Nickel Me (a card game) and get around by sheer will instead of being waited on.  He prided himself as independent.  He had been with John and I since the end of July.  Hospice was a blessing to all of us.  My children, especially my youngest who is a nurse, helped me keep him at home the last weeks.  She stayed here for days leaving hubby and teens at home to help me and her grandfather.  So that journey is ended and others are waiting.  The day after my dad's death we were offered a volunteer position at Petrified Forest National Park March - May.  What timing and if you believe, there were plans at work for us we do not control.  So our journey will continue and in February we leave again for another adventure.  Bryce Canyon National Park will take us back in July 2013 and I think we will mark a "bucket list" park by visiting Yosemite and surrounding parks in middle California between the two volunteer positions.  You never know what is around the next corner of life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hospice Celebration

After 5 weeks of doctors, nurses, PT's, etc. and in and out of hospitals, rehab and nursing facilities, my dad is finally here set up on hospice.  He is quite happy to be here and John and I and family are working out all the kinks that come with closing someone's apartment, moving, setting up a handicapped living space and getting rid of stuff.  We are done.  Yesterday we were officially admitted to the hospice program and he talked about when he dies he hopes the family will have a BIG celebration, celebrating his time with us.  What a happy thought in a somber topic.  So we are starting afresh.  Life goes on.  I can see the motor home across the pond and dream of adventures awaiting.  Kimberly, our granddaughter is getting married at our pond September 15th and the preparations are ongoing.  Life is sure a roller coaster with steep ups and downs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As of July 20th--

We traveled safely home going through northern Arizona to Tennesee on I-40.  What a terrible road!  I would not recommend the 40.  It was teeth jarring and had construction everywhere.  We left the southwest and crossed Oklahoma and Arkansas and Tennesee traveling I-81 to I-84 to Wallingford, CT.  We stopped in Tennessee overnight with friends (needed a break) and arrived in the parking lot of Wallingford Masonicare June 22nd.  We stayed in the parking lot for 6 days so thank goodness for the motor home.  My dad cannot stay independent any longer and we moved him to a nursing facility near Woodstock after we cleared his apartment.  I am preparing our CT home to accommocate a sad gentleman who must accept the last stage of his life.  What a month!! and I do miss beautiful Bryce and it's magic.  We applied for the fall session at Bryce 2013 .  This year will be a blur!!

We went past the Vermillion Cliffs in northern AZ,

traveled over the Colorado,

passed the wind farms of the west headed to Connecticut.

We stopped at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon where we walked to Angel Point

and visited with friends we met at Organ Pipe.
  They now are working at the North Rim and the Grand Canyon is their backyard.  WOW!

Rorik and Sherry are showing us the Colorado River through the window in the rock.

What's down there, John and Sherry???

The Grand Canyon of course!

Back at our site at Jacob Lake a few miles north of the North Rim we packed up and headed on our way after visiting Jacob Lake, a small pond now, and a historic ranger cabin built in the early 1900's.

We stopped a the Petrefied Forest National Park and yes, this is rock!!!!

and this is the Painted Desert.

and the adobe houses of the historic southwest.  Goodbye for now.  I am sad.

Sad Goodbye to Bryce

The last few weeks have been a blur.  My 91 year old father was very ill and I flew back to Connecticut for 10 days in May.  He was up and down but transferred to a rehab unit and seems stable.  After flying back to beautiful Bryce, we gave our notice and we are headed back east on Tuesday, June 12th.

Rodeo and Travels

 On one of our days off we traveled to Kanab, almost in Arizona about 1 1/2 hours south, to scout out where we could stay when we travel to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  We volunteered this winter with people now working at the North Rim.  The accomodations are booked in the Grand Canyon North Rim Campground and we have Emma who is not welcomed in the North Rim Lodge. Kanab is famous for having the first all woman town council in 1897, well before women could vote.  Also in the 50's Kanab was a place Hollywood filmed westerns.  John Wesley Powell stayed in Kanab in the 1870's charting the Grand Canyon after his first trip down the Colorado and Green Rivers.  Also we saw Buffalo Bill's writing table at a local museum for he was in Kanab seeking animals for his wild west show. Around Kanab the scenery is what John and I grew up thinking the southwest looks like because of on-location movies and TV westerns.  On Saturday we visited a kids rodeo in the nearby town of Panguitch and we went to Cedar City food shopping.  Tomorrow we go back to work! 


In every grocery here I have found large dried food stuffs.  Is it used for winter when roads are closed or for ranches that only shop every few months???  I do not know but it is very different and not in our NE stores.

  

The kids rodeo in Panguitch was interesting.  The kids seemed like they were born in the saddle and they could rope, ride a bronco and catch a steer.



 

Rope 'im cowboy or cowgirl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



These are terrible pictures but it was dark inside and they were moving around quickly.  Outside there were lots of horse trailers and combo living and horse trailers.  It reminded me of the Soucy dirt racing weekends of NETRA. 

Annular Eclipse and Hummingbirds

The last night of the Astrology Festival there was an annular eclipse or ring of fire with the moon blocking most of the sun and creating a ring.  We were given glasses to look through and found a ridge above the campground to watch it from.  There were crowds at our major rim sites (over 1,000 people) but we just had a few neighbors.  John was soooo thrilled to hike with chairs to a high spot and sit for over an hour!!!  After dark we attended a ranger program and went to bed at almost midnight.  Volunteering this morning at 5:30AM I was out in the cold (34 degrees) setting up for hummingbird trapping and banding at 6AM.  And the Black Chin hummers did not disappoint us for 34 hummers were caught, one 5 times and one 3. Those two males just did not give up.  They wanted to feed and it must have been just inconvenient to be caught  They were hungry and wanted breakfast! I will volunteer again for it was great fun! 

John looks soooo happy looking at the eclipse



I dig the sunglasses we were given to wear!  We did not hurt our eyes and they have the date, Ring of Fire Annular Eclipse and Bryce Canyon printed on them on them and they were  free - what a steal!

Everyone looks the same with the glasses.  Note the rim of the canyon is just to the back of our viewing point.

First we captured the hummingbirds and



brought to the biologist who banded them,

checked their health and recorded their statistics.

Then they were released after a drink of sugar water



Mossy Cave Hike

Yesterday we hiked the Mossy Cave trail in the park.  It is an easy trail with a small waterfall and cave.  Water does not fit this landscape.  This water is on its way to Tropic where irrigation works wonders to make the valley green.  They irrigate pasture as well as crops around here.  After our hike we went to Red Rock Canyon and their visitor center and campground and talked to the people there.  It is busy for them this weekend also.  The Bryce Astronomy Festival is here and people are everywhere.  Since most happenings are after dark I cannot take pictures.  Maybe the eclipse can be shown on my camera tonight!  

This waterfall and stream are out of place in this dry country.

  

These arches are caused by freezing and thawing and rain/snow.



John looking down the trail we traveled.

Is this primrose in blossom?  It is tiny.  Look a the pine needles around it.

The moss is caused by the leaking of ground water into the rocks

Mossy Cave must be cool in the summer. 

Back on Duty

One third of our volunteer commitment is over and we do not know where the time has gone. We have had interesting things happen on duty this past week.  We have found contact lens and a cell phone so we made out a 3 copy report and turned them in.  Twice after dark we have had a knock on our door for medical emergencies.  Once a man wanted directions to a hospital for his wife was ill and two nights later a young man widdled his finger instead of the piece of wood.  The young man's finger really needed stitches but he wanted only to clean and wrap his wound.  We are not certified so all I could do was give what was asked for and not help.  Being a grandma and he the age of our some of our grandsons, it was hard not to help or insist on stitches.  His finger will remind him not to widdle a finger but to cut the stick!

The campground is getting busier and the busy time is yet to come.  This Thursday through Sunday there is a Astronomy Festival here and on Sunday there is an eclipse - the moon will make a ring of fire of the sun in the evening.  We are almost right under the path and Bryce is known for it's dark skies.  I hope to have pictures of the doings.  Lots of Ranger talks and big telescopes are being set up and the campground is filling up to 90% full every night, even on weekdays or this weekend will be very busy. 

Mother's Day to Capitol Reef

We took a day trip to the national park northeast of us, Capitol Reef NP.  It is about a 2 hour drive one way on the most scenic road in Utah, Route 12.  It goes through Escalante National Monument, Dixie National Forest and Boulder Mountain.  It is a wonderful breathtaking drive. 

Capitol Reef National Park at a picnic area with very old cottonwoods.
  The settlement was established by Mormons who planted fruit trees along the Freemont River. Green with orchards that are still bearing fruit today,the small farms of 8-10 families changed the landscape.  The name of the town is Fruita.  These Cottonwoods are huge.  John and Emma are a contrast in size.

This formation is known as the Castle.  What a contrast to irrigated lands along the Freemont River.

Emma is always interested in the view.  Where did the grass and trees go that was here a minute ago???

Capitol Reef is along a waterpocket fold in the earth's crust.

The farm backdrop is like Zion National Park but with lower cliffs.  Both are former Mormon settlements.

The dirt road went right next to and almost under this formation.

I love the rock's different colored layers. 



Back at Bryce we went on a rim walk with the ranger on Monday.  If he backed up he would have seen the bottom of the amphitheater.  Beyond the bush is nothing but air.




and then we went on a rim walk towards the Fairyland Trail.






This is a picture of Boulder, UT, one of the isolated towns on Scenic Route 12.  Boulder was the last town in the US to get it's mail by mule.  It's legends also include making sour cream or butter out of the milk that was shipped out of Boulder.  It is so remote and the road so twisting that I can easily see the legends as truths. 

 

Cedar Breaks National Monument & Red Canyon

On our day off we went to Cedar City by way of this monument. It was in ski country and still closed for the winter.  We traveled up 11,000 feet to Brian Head, a winter ski town near Cedar Breaks which still had snow but no skiing.  After food shopping, etc. we went back to beautiful Bryce traveling scenic Route 12 going through Red Canyon.  Everywhere the scenery is fantiatic!   

This is Cedar Breaks NM, about 58 miles away from Bryce.  The monument was still closed for winter and snow was still in the shady places.  It was very cold and windy.  We just had wind break jackets on and we froze.  Emma stayed in the car, smart dog!

This seems to be a smaller Bryce Canyon.  It was very beautiful.  The summer season at the monument is only mid June to mid September.  Everything was closed.

John is looking at the back of the log cabin which is the closed visitor center.  It is right on the edge of the amphitheater/canyon.  Maybe it was built by the CCC in the 30's????

This visitor center is a great photo for my paintings.

Red Canyon is on the way to Bryce.  All the hoodoos are this color.



This tunnel is one of two on the way to Bryce on this very scenic route 12.