June 7-June 27, 2000
Our first adventure was to get all our stuff for two months into the back of the suburban.  Jim, being the master packer, achieved that first miracle of the trip, much to the amazement of the neighbors.  Off to Cathey’s Valley to a beautiful little lake house to relax with Jim’s cousin and her family for the eve.  For most folks, the trip down there would have been uneventful.  Not us.  During a “short” gas stop while making a sandwich for the kids I sliced a chunk out of my finger, which would preclude me from climbing for the next week in Yosemite.  Jim wanted to stitch it up but I just couldn’t go the way of emergency medicine!!!  Lots of steri-strips and butterflies later ... don’t tell him but I should have let him put about 5 stitches in it.  Oh well.  Barbara doctored me up with a few rum and cokes and by the next morning when we all headed to Yosemite the pain was gone.

Yosemite was uneventful in the injury division and high on adventure.  Barb, Jimmy and the kids spent the first 2 days with us and the Cory, Becky and their kids joined us for the rest of the week.  All told, Jim taught six children and Cory how to climb and Becky and I hiked god knows how many miles with the children and rode two very interesting mules up a very steep canyon.  My beauty was named Laverne.  Poor thing had digestive problems … and poor Becky on Buttercup was riding behind me!  Let’s just say that by the middle of the trip Becky was keeping a wide berth behind dear old Lavern!  Jim and I took many a photo of the classics.  We were also able to experience moon-bows, rainbows from the full moon on lower Yosemite falls (one of the most spectacular scenes I have ever experienced).  When the week was over and we said goodbye, our decision to leave our home for this adventure finally hit us.  But I’ll leave that thought for you to imagine.  Off to a peaceful night in Tuolumne by the river.  NOT!  By night’s end we had killed 5000 mosquitoes and chased a bear out of the neighbors site.  The beauty of the area made up for the inconveniences.

Photographing the tufa at Mono Lake was our next destination.  Lots of black flies with big teeth here!  We all came away with welts but I think our images will be well worth the dermal swelling.  Gimme a hotel room - this camping stuff is getting old!  You see, Jim’s thing is we have to tent camp all across the country.  My idea of camping is at the Hilton! Not really, I actually like camping but in our early years of marriage when we were paragliding all over the country he took me to some pretty dusty, dirty places, so that has always been the joke.  Death Valley was our next destination.

What a wild place Death Valley is!  I could spend days there photographing … but not in June!  It was 120 when we arrived at 6pm.  He wanted to camp here too!  We vetoed that right away!  We spent the eve documenting the sand dunes at sunset and the boys found the swimming pool.  Those images better be good!  That water was very inviting.  In the morning the heat hit us like a ton of bricks but we managed to sight-see all day.  By the way, Jim thanked us for talking him into the motel!  Incredible country despite the heat.  They say it is a major tourist destination for Europeans in the summertime but we didn’t see anyone.

Las Vegas here we come.  We scoped out Red Rocks and I vetoed both climbing and camping.  It was beautiful, hot, dusty and icky and my excuse was the kids wanted to explore Las Vegas!  Intuition won again.  A good nights sleep was a welcome thing after dragging two kids through the casinos and being thrown about on the roller coaster at New York, New York and tossed up and dropped multiple stories on the stratosphere.  We were ready to escape after just one night in sin city.

After a seemingly endless drive, Grand Canyon at sunset was our prize.  Spectacular!  The colors, the enormity, the power.  I was awe struck once again.  It was my turn to direct the itinerary.  We were all up at 4:45 to take the sunrise in!  The kids were troupers I must say, not a complaint out of them!  Nature has a way of even mellowing Nicholas!  We spent the whole morning driving around the south rim teaching the kids the intricacies of photography and hopefully capturing some fine images.

Navajo country begins outside the park.  It was the perfect chance for the kids and I to barter my fused glass earrings for silver and turquoise.  For those of you who don’t know me well I have spent the past year learning fused glass from my friend Michele.  We spent hours putting together jewelry for the boys to trade and sell on the trip for extra spending money.  The Navajos went nuts over the stuff.  Jim even got in on the frenzy.  Here I was showing this woman earrings and he already had two clay pots he was trading!  Now what the heck are we going to do with clay pots when we are on our way to live on a sailboat?  But he had to have them.  Two pairs of earrings for two pots was a small price to pay for his patience with me spending all that time in Michele’s studio!

We spent the next night at the Betatakin ruins, which date from 1250 A.D.  The ruins are located in a naturally occurring cave deep in a canyon.  Quite the site I must say.  Nice campsite too.  We awoke once again at the crack of dawn to do the tour. It was already hot and a dry I’ve never felt even in Redding.  A 5-mile walk down into the canyon, explore the ruins and back up the canyon.  Well worth it but when the ranger gave us her orientation speech, she told us that entering the ruins was not possible anymore due to rock-fall.  We could get fairly close to them but not close enough to get good pictures without a tripod and tripods weren’t allowed on the trail!  Nicholas summed it up for half the people there--  “no way”!  NEXT.

Monument Valley --  The most beautifully desolate god-forsaken place on the planet!  Jim had always wanted to explore it, so out came the tents — until the sand storm hit!  We did the 17 mile tour, bartered a few more pairs of earrings and Jim took pictures of the monuments and drooled at the climbing sites that are forbidden to the white man.  The kids and I were ready to move on!  On our way to Arches national monument we found a really nice campsite in a place named Devils Garden.  Named for the rock formations and craggy looking pine trees no doubt!  It was quite interesting and we were able to sleep in the next morning without freezing or smoldering to death!  A casual drive through some of the most incredible scenery in the southwest brought us up to Arches.  It was all we could do to hold Jim and Chris back from climbing.  We were in luck as it was 102 in the shade.  The formations would provide some quality routes if we had the time and the temperature was in our favor.  The cool climate of the Colorado Rockies was calling.  Ouray was our next destination.  There the boys spent the day in the natural hot springs and swimming pool and Jim and I had some peace and quiet while we explored the ice climbing sites he played on two winters ago.  I also peddled some of my jewelry to a local glass studio.  Ouray is a place we decided we could spend a lot of time.  Telluride was also beautiful, but was a bit too yuppie for us.  Great ski slopes however, so we’ll save it for the winter.  Time to try the ruin thing again -- off to Mesa Verde.

Mesa Verde was enlightening to say the least.  The ruins were in great shape and for once the rangers were well versed in their information.  Nicholas really got into it and was at the head of the crowd during each tour of the ruins.  Up and down the mesas through tunnels and up ladders we went exploring the ancient ones history.  All in all we visited five sites as well as viewing numerous more across canyons.  We spent two days there and actually were able to keep camp in one place for both nights!  Their architecture was precise as well their capability of withstanding the elements.  The ruins dated from 600AD to 1300AD.  Our imaginations were able to run wild with the past.  After leaving Mesa Verde we withstood a rain and hailstorm, which would provide us with some very wet luggage!

Durango looked like a good place to stop, have a beer, and eat lunch.  Besides, I wanted to look up a past roommate I hadn’t spoke to since Chiropractic College.  The beer was refreshing the food great but the roommate had moved to Cortez -- the town we were in previous to the rain storm.  So I called and reminisced for a bit and we decided the next stop would be Taos New Mexico.

Taos was bound to be interesting as my long time friend, Jennifer Merrill, lived somewhere around there.  It was a BIG somewhere but eventually we found she lived in a nearby pueblo.  We had an address but no phone contact.  One problem — they don’t have street signs on the reservation pueblos.  To complicate matters, the AAA had the highway number she lived off listed backwards on their map!  Finally after a police escort and two series of directions we pulled into her drive just as she did!  After 10 years and no notice was she surprised!  As all great friendships, it was as if we saw each other yesterday.  We had a kick talking till the wee hours and all the next day.  Just another adventure during road trip 2000!  Time to scoot as we had a very important date in Houston July 2^nd.  Off to the border at El Paso.  The plan was to take the boys into Mexico for the evening but after seeing a man in plain day breaking into a car and all on the street ignoring his action we were Houston bound.

Have you ever driven the west side of Texas?  Don’t!  In my twenties I had the experience, driving a U-haul with no air-conditioning through this country.  I wasn’t going to subject myself once again to the unending flat, desolate plains during the heat of the day even with air-conditioning, so I pulled one of those loud music all niters while everyone else slept.  After being in the car with two kids and my husband for three weeks I had forgotten how nice it was to be “alone”.  A bit stiff.  As we pulled into Austin, all was forgotten with a Mocha and a fresh college town cinnamon roll.  After touring around the city (most call it getting lost!), we were off to Houston for a family get-together.

It had been 2 years since I had seen the family.  It was great to have everyone from my 4 year old nice to my 94 year old grandmother there to enjoy.  Brian (my second to the oldest brother), his wife Linda and three children have a beautiful home.  We enjoyed swimming racing go-carts (a recent family tradition - talk about competitive!), the roller coasters at six flags, and DVD movies.  Brian created some incredible masterpieces with his brand-new, built-in grill.  We were calling him Emeril by the end of the week!  Between he and his wife, Linda, we all left at least a few pounds heavier!  Next, off to find some alligators!

We took the gulf coast from Galveston to our next destination - the Tabasco bottling plant at Avery Island.  (We thought of you Kurt!)  The plant and grounds were very interesting.  We saw alligators, egrets, a blue heron and many, many mosquitoes!  They don’t call them the Louisiana state bird for nothing!  Even our military issue repellant didn’t deter these things.  Needless to say, we didn’t last long and not even I could withstand them for the best of shots that presented themselves.  They bit through even our thickest pants! Our goal to experience the backcountry of southern Louisiana and Mississippi was well on its way to being reality but along the way we wanted to secure images of the local wildlife for our portfolio.  Hopeful that the pointy nose guys would not be in full force during our next opportunity, we were steered via a local propeller shop to a guide who took us deep into the bayous.  Prepared for the worst onslaught of mosquitoes we embarked on the tour of our life!  We saw alligators in every size imaginable from eight inches to sixteen feet.  These guys even posed for us with their mouths wide open two feet from the boat!  It was a great day on the water.  By the way - no mosquitoes, a few herons, several raccoon and even a mottled heron that looked like he must be a cross between a great blue and a white—very odd, the guide hadn’t ever seen one before.  Time for some begets café au lait and jazz--- New Orleans!

New Orleans has to be the most interesting blend of human beings in the United States.  I am in love with this city.  Naturally, we toured Bourbon street with all it’s color as well it’s fabulous blues and jazz, but we also took in the New Orleans art museum with it’s showing of Faberge eggs and photography depicting early black American culture.  Throw in a few Picasso’s and a few Degas and it was as diverse as New Orleans’s culture.  The kids were enthralled, but their favorite part about the city was the “chain man”.  Boys will be boys and what people won’t do to make a living!  Here was this guy in the town square, tied into a straightjacket and 30 ft of chain by two people in the audience!  The “show” was his escape -- and it’s 95 degrees outside!!  It took him over an hour and an obviously routine dislocated shoulder, but he did get free - all for about $30 in change and bills!  I thought the aquarium was quite good also!!

Along the beach we drove to Pensacola.  Here we toured the National Museum of Naval Aviation.  As it’s out of my league I’ll let Jim tell about that.  If you ever get to Pensacola, this museum is a must see.  This is the Naval collection of aircraft dating from the canvas winged biplane fighters of WW1 to those flown by the Blue Angles.  The Blue Angles are stationed at the Naval Air Station at Pensacola so every so often they are seen racing overhead practicing their air maneuvers.  The collection included many aircraft that had been recovered from such places as from 13000 foot depths on the ocean floor or the Japanese Zero found recently on a deserted airstrip on a South Pacific atoll.  Volunteers at the air base restore them.  Hellcats and Corsairs hung from the ceilings.  They even had a display of the wood plaques left by the various flight crews that visited Cubic Bay in the Philippines prior to our closing that air base.  The highlight of the visit for the boy’s (including myself) was the cockpit simulators for all the Naval aircraft for the past 25 years.  You could climb into these and transform yourself into an A-6 or F-111 pilot.  The only place that comes close to this display of aircraft is in Washington DC at the Smithsonian.  About four hours later, Kelcey dragged us out of there!

Fort Walton Beach, Florida, where Kelcey’s oldest brother Ed and his family live, is where we are now.  We will be here for at least ten days.  The beaches are pure white and they live on the bayou with incredible views, ski boat, a resident dolphin, fishing dock, and swimming pool.  Again being homeless, we have nothing to complain about!  The boy’s start their day with home school lessons and usually end it in Ed’s swimming pool or off water skiing on his boat.  Next week we head to Sarasota so I can fly out on August 2^nd.  The kids and Kelcey will join me Sept. 20^th.