Vanishing Month

Well - somehow I have let an entire month elapse without updating this blog - SHAME! But we did indeed finish our journey to Chapel Hill. After Yellowstone we headed across Wyoming to Cheyenne. Very pretty country.

The entire next day was spent driving across Nebraska. I never imagined the sheer volume of corn fields - amazing - just miles and miles and miles of corn fields. Guess that's where all our high fructose corn syrup comes from.

Then we stayed a night in Lincoln, Nebraska and I must say that really seemed like a hip town! I'm sure winters are fierce but we really enjoyed the downtown area.

Then we headed to Dave's folks home in Millstadt, Illinois. We got to see a large percentage of the Clemens clan there: Jim and Jo Ann; Karen, Isaiah and Peter were up from Mississippi; Mary and Bill (and Doodle) and even Bill's mother from Modoc; Diane and Jan and MaryJane (Grandma Siebe); Dan and Julie, Jordan and Nicky.

Spade (the giant black dog) made quite an impression on Linden - she now refers to almost any large dog as 'Spade'. She and Isaiah had a grand time playing on the wagons (you can see in the photos).

We took the 64 down to Nashville - and then across Tennessee to Knoxville. Dave would not let us stop in Dollywood but we spent a bit of time in the Great Smokey Mountains. My grandparents took us to the Smokey Mountains when we were kids - and I distinctly remember meeting 'Chief Fish'. I believe he was still there.

We stayed in Asheville, NC and the next day headed for Chapel Hill. We picked up the keys to our new house and arrived very thankful that the electricity was on. Fortunately the AC is electric as it was over 100 degrees everyday for over two weeks.

I'll put up the next post soon about our arrival and orientation to Chapel Hill.

-Rachael

Yellowstone

Nothing terribly exciting on Saturday except for the sandstorm outside of Salt Lake City. We made it to Ogden, Utah for the night and on Sunday morning we went to church at Calvary Baptist Church. This was my father's first church after seminary - and he was pastor 1974-1976. We had a GREAT time there - Pastor Willie Martin and his wife Louise made us feel right at home. Walking around the church - much of it looks the same - although they've really done a nice renovation of the downstairs fellowship hall and nursery. Everything looks smaller than I remember - but I guess I'm a lot bigger now! They treated us to lunch at the 'Chuck-A-Rama' which was terrific.

We didn't hit the road until after 4:00 p.m. as we stopped by our old house on Ben Lomond Drive in Ogden. I didn't spot it the first drive down the block but there it was - a little brick house with a nice backyard. We made it to Jackson on Sunday night and finally found a room at the Wagon Wheel Inn.

On Monday we drove through the Teton National Park and then into Yellowstone. That's four National Parks - so we've already paid for our annual pass! We spent that night camping at Lake Lewis which is just a few miles into the park.

One side note: in case you didn't know, the 67th Annual Sturgis Rally is taking place this week in South Dakota. This is a HUGE gathering of motorcycle folks who flock here from all over the country (like tens of thousands). So Yellowstone was packed with Harley's. I mention this only because the sound of the un-muffled motorcycle is everywhere.

Early on Tuesday (well around 11:00) we lucked into a fabulous campsite on Yellowstone Lake - literally overlooking the water. We built a fire at night to roast marshmallows - YUM! We took in Old Faithful which erupts with some consistency - the rangers predict the next blast based upon the previous pattern.

[Myths: Old Faithful erupts every hour on the hour; the Rangers can turn it on / off; you can set your clock by it]

During our trek through Yellowstone we saw bison/buffalo, elk, squirrels, chipmunks, and ravens. They have both black bear and grizzly bear in the park - but we didn't see any which was okay with me.

We spent Wednesday driving across the big sky country of Wyoming and spent the night in Cheyenne. Lots of cowboys out here - real ones that wear spurs. Thursday we hit Nebraska - CORN CORN CORN - literally miles of corn growing in fields. We arrived in Lincoln last night and it really looks like a neat city. We're staying right downtown and plan to check out the beautiful capitol building.

More later

Friday in Glen Canyon and Zion

We spent Thursday night in Tuba City, AZ - on the Navajo Trail in the Painted Desert. We even got to hear a little of the Navajo language.

Then we headed up to Glen Canyon which is on the border with Utah along the Colorado river. The scenery is very dramatic - with jagged sandstone mountains and breathtaking views across the valleys. We took a tour of the Glen Canyon dam which was completed in 1964 by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The tour included a walk on the top of the dam (600+ feet above the river) from which you can see both sides and then a trip down the elevator into the depths of the dam (500+ feet below) - where you can see the giant turbines generating power for use across the southwest. More details at the Bureau's website.

Well Zion National Park in Utah is my favorite so far on the trip - spectacular and yet amazingly uncrowded and quiet. Visitors drive down through the park through all the twisty switchbacks and tunnels through the mountains until you reach the bottom and the Visitor's Center. Then you take a one of the shuttle buses and get off at various spots. They run until 11:00 p.m. which we thought quite cool. Many of the rock formations have names and the "Patriarchs" (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) are particularly beautiful.

Zion would be a fabulous place to camp - at the bottom of the canyon - so we will definitely have to come back some day.

We made it to Hurricane, UT for the night.

We're Off

On Saturday, Sunday and Monday evenings evenings we said some of our last goodbyes - to Rob and Joy Sage, to Ken & Fureya Walicki and Jason & Maria Teven (and Julian and Magdalena of course) and then to Pete & Kathy LeNoache and John Dunne. Even Dave shed a couple of tears at leaving such dear friends. Dave hurt his back on Saturday (not actually moving furniture but swinging Linden around) so that has put a damper on some of our activities.

So we finally hit the road on Wednesday afternoon about 5:15 p.m. (it took a little bit longer than I thought to clean out my office!) But we made it to Needles, CA on Wednesday night.


On Thursday afternoon we arrived at the South rim of the Grand Canyon. Quite spectacular - just like the photos;-> We spent some time looking over the edges and at the visitor's center. Linden was seemingly more impressed with the rock edges on the pathways - great for balancing and jumping.

One of the photos here shows an unusual flying creature - it seemed like a cross between a moth and a hummingbird - as it hovered like a hummingbird to suck nectar out of the butterfly bush - but it was clearly not a bird. So hopefully one of the wildlife biologists in the group can provide an answer here.

Friday is Zion National Park.


[Remember to click on the link to the right to access our latest photos through Flickr]

Last trip to Sequoia

My sister and her husband are now working in Sequoia National Forest near Shaver Lake so we went up to see them before we start our journey East. She is doing another fisher project (Martes pennanti- small weasel-like mammal) similar to the Hoopa Valley Pacific Fisher project.

We enjoyed staying at their cabin although Mr. Cat felt a little imposed upon I believe. Linden just adores "Baracca". Hopefully Jim and Bec and teach her how to use the binoculars on more birding expeditions. We also saw the Mckinley Grove - our last touch of a Sequoia for a while.

House!

After an intensive team effort, I believe we have a place to live in Chapel Hill! Woo hoo!! Dave flew out to NC to meet my folks on Friday and look at quite a few homes in just 2 days. We've been working with a great realtor Julia Teasley. Dave put in the offer this morning - and he got the call that it was accepted while he was at the airport on the way home.

A hearty thanks to Mom and Dad for making the trips down to NC to help us find just the right place. There are still lots of details to work out but this will be a great relief to have an address (in the near future).

We are gearing up for a new adventure for our family - a big move to Chapel Hill, North Carolina. So I thought a blog might be a good way for our family and friends to track our move and new surroundings.

22 days until the movers arrive and we have a LOT to do. We are still looking for a home but hope to find something in the next two weeks. Fortunately the moving company will store our stuff for two months just in case. Orientation for my school is August 16 and we plan to take a leisurely drive across the country August 1 - 15 seeing some sights, family and friends. This will be one of those trips that later we can say to Linden, "You don't remember it but you've been to the Grand Canyon."

More later...