Arizona Christmas 2010 & New Years

It actually snowed today (it was somewhat like little flakes coming down - or maybe soft gentle sleet).  I thought the high winds would blow in the window last night, but all was well in the morning.  When the clouds parted this afternoon, snow was visible on the nearby Huachuca Mountains but nothing sticking here in Sierra Vista, Arizona, where I am spending the holidays with my daughter and family.  It's nice that someone living in Hawaii (me) can see a little snow around Christmas.  I really do feel sorry that so much of the country has had to endure floods and super snow.  I was so glad that I wasn't stuck at an airport like so Christmas travelers.

     The house here held 12 people for the days around Christmas  We had a good time talking, eating and even managed to go geocaching and find three caches in town.  Now that most of the family has returned to homes in Phoenix, New Mexico, and North Dakota, I've spent lots of time - finally - reading over 400 blogs that were in my Google Reader.  My December was too busy to get to them, or to write on my own.  At last I've read them all and have made lists of things to do in the genealogy realm and also in preparation for my trip to India in 25 days - for Operation Smile.  I marvel that so many others have been able to find the time to write their own interesting blogs.  I did manage to log in to the final 8 minutes of Miriam's Ancestories1 Scanfest for the December date,

   I am determined to have my daughter and granddaughter listen to a CD I made of tape recordings my father, Vincent Hague, made in the 1950s.  First was a recording of my brother, Dick, and I, singing and "playing" various toys, like a piano and winding a Jack-in-the-box crank to make "music."  We called it the "Dickie and Donna Show"  Later in 5th or 6th grade he recorded more of my piano "playing".  Finally, when I was in the 7th grade, he came to my school, Horace Mann Jr. High School, Los Angeles, Calif, and recorded our school chorus from a microphone he suspended from the rafters in the large auditorium stage (I was a 2nd Soprano). In 1983, two years after the death of my mother, Dad found the old tapes and put them together as one, with a dedication and introduction to my daughter, Alisa (she was 11 years old).  Now Alisa has long forgotten that wonderful gift my father made, so I've transferred it to CD and am determined to round up daughter and granddaughter long enough to listed to this 45 minute CD.   Such a treasure to have.  Not sure they appreciate it now.

   I'll also try to get the family to settle down long enough to see the photos I took of granddaughter, Emily (16), and grandson, Braden (13) last summer when they spent a month with me in Hawaii.  I put the photos on a CD for them, so the days together will not be forgotten .

   Before Christmas we took their two dogs and two cats to the Sierra Vista Mall for the "Pets Meet Santa" photo night.  It was a little dicey at first, but the animals settled down and we decided to all get in on the photo with Santa.  I'm going to add that photo here when I'm able to get the image into my laptop (really an Acer Netbook).

     I have so many goals for 2011 that I haven't tried to list them.  As far as genealogy and family history, I am chomping at the bit to correspond with a couple people I have connected with through my Hague and Rees family trees on www.ancestry.com.  In addition I've recently connected with other distant cousins on other family lines and I want to share information with them.
     I wish everyone a very Happy New Year and I hope to meet other bloggers at the June genealogy conference at the Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree in Burbank next year (2011).
  

Mon Jan 21, 2008

I've been slacking in this blog lately, as I working diligently on creating a movie about my trip to Mongolia in 2006. But much has happened in the last month, namely spending three weeks in Arizona for Christmas and New Year's with my daughter, Alisa, and her family. I had a wonderful time and we had very good weather in Sierra Vista and Phoenix. The Huachuca Mountain tops, outside the kitchen window had snow the whole time. We even managed to get an afternoon trip to Nogales, Mexico to see the sights and eat a real Mexican lunch. One note for travelers: at the end of the January an American must have either 1) a passport or 2) a birth certificate with government picture ID to cross the Mexican land border back to the USA.

My Southwest Airlines flight was weather delayed getting to Tucson to turnaround and go to Phoenix, so I was an hour late getting a connecting Phoenix to Honolulu flight on ATA. I made the connection, but I didn't see my luggage for three days. The story of the rude and terrible ATA Baggage "Service" at the Honolulu Airport was appalling and frustrating. I can understand about my luggage being "lost," but I don't appreciate the Baggage "Service" attitude and lack of ability to communicate to the poor person who is without his baggage, and doesn't know if he will ever see it again. I drove back to the airport to look for my bags myself. I wrote two e-mails to ATA at their customer service address, and the shock was that a week later a very nice woman called me and we must have talked 20 minutes. She said she'd already started an investigation into the baggage "service" at the Honolulu Airport. She said she'd send me a coupon for $150 on ATA, which I thanked her for, but I explained that talking to a real person and getting some feedback about the luggage situation was all I had wanted.

I have signed up for a new tour this year - "The Route of the Maya" with Overseas Adventure Travel. In June I'll be visiting El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras and Belize. I am looking forward to being somewhat able to speak the Spanish language with them. It's so important to be able to speak the language of the country you visit, and I keep going places all over the world where every other language is spoken. Lately it's been Cambodian, Chinese, Tibetan, Japanese, Russian and the Baltic languages. Not many Spanish conversations there!

August 8, 2007

Sierra Vista, Arizona - Bisbee

August 4th we were back at my daughter, Alisa's, house and with access to a computer and the internet, I was able to read all my e-mail and happily jump back in doing some genealogy. My Blanding cousin, Howard, in Florida asked me to look up his wife's family, and although the names of Thurn and Bettcher are not the easiest because of the possibilities in misspelling, I think I came up with a lot of new information for him after those families immigrated from Germany about 1884. Also I was jolted into reality of passing time with an e-mail from my Pearce cousin, Jeanie, in LeMars, Iowa... we are going to meet in Boone, Iowa and I finally came up with a decision on a date to meet her in Boone and get a motel. As of now we'll meet Aug 27th and 28th. I want to look up land and tax records on our gg-grandfather, John Pearce, of Wales, in Angus, Iowa from 1881 to 1900. While doing a Google search of Boone, I found out that is the birthplace of Mamie Eisenhower, and that there is a scenic tourist train ride that I'd like to take. So much to do, so little time.

To the right is a "Diaper Cake" Alisa made from disposable diapers for a baby shower she attended recently.

The monsoon rains continue in Arizona - every day the sky turns black. On Monday was the first time we have actually seen the "fabled" waterfall on the Huachuca Mountains to the west. I am amazed it is so tall - reminds me of Bridlevail Falls in Yosemite (only shorter). It's quite the sight in this high desert. A road not far from here was totally washed out at a bridge, and now the people can't get out of their country neighborhoods. There have been plenty of flooded streets/washes in Tucson and Phoenix lately.

August 6th Emily and I took a drive to famous old western mining town, Bisbee, where Alisa works at the Copper Queen Hospital. We drove the southern route Hwy 92 paralleling the Mexican border. Six miles from Bisbee we passed Naco, a U.S. port of entry that sees lots of Border Patrol activity from Mexico. It was also a battle site of the Mexican Revolution in 1911.

Since it was my birthday Aug 7th we went out to lunch at the Lawman & Outlaw Cafe. Quite the rustic, old artifact decorated place. We all ate the "Road runner Sandwich." Bisbee was founded in 1880 as a center of copper, gold and silver mining. It became the Cochise County seat in 1929 when it was relocated from Tombstone to Bisbee. The huge "Lavender Copper Pit" (see pic on right), an open pit mine, is in the center of Bisbee and ceased operations in 1975. Bisbee claims the oldest Baseball Park still in operation (since 1909) and is used by the the professional and semiprofessional teams called the Bisbee Kings. The TV series I remember, called "Sheriff of Cochise" a 1957 contemporary/western police drama, was filmed in and around Bisbee.

On the return trip we traveled the north Route 90 back to Sierra Vista - and past the road to Tombstone. It was raining in Bisbee but after going through the Mule Mountain tunnel it cleared up. In the distances above Sierra Vista a very big storm front and monsoon rain was directly over Sierra Vista and heading into the Huachuca Mountains. I had to take a photo of it (at left) as it still amazes me to see such a sight. By the time we arrived home there was no more rain, but we really could see the mountain waterfall again. We ate out again to celebrate - this time to La Casita Mexican Restaurant. Such good food, and so much of it! Ole!

School started for the kids here in Sierra Vista on Aug 8th and things are quiet. The monsoon rains may subside, and the waterfall in the Huachuca Mountains from the kitchen window is getting smaller.

August 3, 2007

Pinetop Arizona to Sierra Vista Arizona

The big thing happening on Wednesday, August 1st for us was 5 skinny minutes of riding in Go Carts at Pinetop. It was only five minutes and cost $6 each, but it was actually fun for everybody. We drove our carts around a nice little track at break-neck speed and the kids hair was streaming out behind them. I took the conservative approach on the outside and Emily boasted that she passed me twice! After a lunch at Denny's we drove up to Fool's Hollow Lake at Show Low and saw the sights in the area. There were some very big ranch homes around the lake...you know, white fences and horses.

On Thursday, August 2nd we set out to visit the Arizona Game & Fish Dept. No, not the "Fish and Game"... but "Game and Fish"... don't ask me why. Anyway they were very nice and gave us wildlife posters and even a videotape about "Urban Wildlife." This includes the pesky and destructive piggy "javelina," the rattlesnake, and assorted deer and bear that may browse around the Arizona homes.

Finally we took off to the Williams Creek National Fish Hatchery. This time they were open and the 8 gravel miles of road was worth the effort. This is on the Apache Reservation and they hatch four types of trout for area streams and lakes (Rainbow, Apache, Brown and one other kind of trout). They have indoor tanks for the fingerling fish up to 4 inches, then they are moved outside into long runs. We walked all over looking into the runs, and at one point I heard a horn honk, and it was a man warning me that I was very close to stepping into a raccoon trap next to the fenced fish runs. We saw raccoon tracks in the mud and could understand that any raccoon would love to have an easy catch of trout.

We got into the truck to return to Pinetop just as the sky opened up with a heavy downpour. This monsoon season sure gets old. Anyway after returning to the condo for a round of jig saw puzzles we went out to see the movie "Harry Potter - the Order of the Phoenix." Emily is quite the Harry Potter fan, and they all liked the movie. I thought it was a little scary.

Friday, August 3rd was our last day at the Pinetop Resort, so we cleaned up and checked out before 10 am. We drove back to the town of Globe where we rendezvous with a friend of Heather's who drove out from Phoenix to meet her at Globe. We met at the Globe McDonalds and said farewell to Heather until she returns to Sierra Vista in three days. We returned to home via some early mining and settler areas, Tucson and finally I-10. We got back before being drenched with another downpour.

July 31, 2007

Pinetop Arizona -- Petrified Forest National Park & Painted Desert

The Petrified Forest was not too far north of where we stay and it is the main trip we had planned to take from Pinetop. We prepared for the trip with water bottles and maps and took off about 10am. We traveled up Highway 180, 30 minutes from Show Low to pass through the little town of Concho. It is a little town named for the shells the first found in the nearby stream. It was founded in the 1880s by New Mexican sheep herders of Basque descent and later Mormon settlers. We passed a Zuni Indian Reservation then came to the Petrified Forest National Park road which stretches north 28 miles. We stopped at the visitors' center and got our passports stamped, then saw a film and some very large petrified trees laying around broken. The trees had fallen and sunk in the bottom of a marshy land and are with fossils in the colorful Chinle Formation earth from the Late Triassic period. The logs still had very visible tree growth rings and it was amazing to see how the minerals had formed in each wood cell to petrify it. Some of the minerals in the trees are quartz, jasper, crystal, and even amethyst. It can only be cut with a diamond tipped saw. In fact people used to dynamite the petrified trees to get the amethyst. And the area has one of the best geological and fossil examples of the period in the world. These 225 million year old fossils were of the smaller dinosaurs and other things.

Driving along the road we stopped at each trail and observation point. My favorites were the Giant Logs trail, Newspaper Rock with hundreds of petroglyphs on the boulders from early Indians, and Puerco Pueblo, a large dwelling village from 1250 to 1400 AD. The petroglyphs are from 650 to 2000 years old and were etched into the patina or desert varnish formed on the stone surface by oxides and microorganisms. They were very interesting to see and included the Hopi Indian kachina doll symbol and a big bird with a person in his long beek (picture on left). There are even solar calendar petroglyphs marking the solstices and equinox.

Uniquely the the Petrified Forest joins the Painted Desert National Monument at a place called "Route 66" on the north side of present I-40. This is part of the famous road connecting Chicago with Los Angeles from 1926 to the mid 1980s when the Interstates took over. Bobby Troup immortalized it in song: "It winds from Chicago to L.A., More than two thousand miles away, Get your kicks on Route 66!" There is a memorial plaque and this old shell of a car to commemorate the Highway.

As we drove around the Painted Desert rim loop we marveled at all the colorings of the cliffs and desert badlands in the panoramas below. There is one historic building called the Painted Desert Inn National Historic Landmark (left) from the 1920s which once served as a rest stop for Route 66 travelers. It is made of petrified wood, but the CCC restored it and plastered over most of the petrified wood...I don't know why... I think because of structural problems of the "Stone Tree House." Anyway it was hot and we were wishing that it still served sodas at the gone-but-not-forgotten lunch counter.

We left the Painted Desert via I-40 and traveled South west 28 miles to Holbrook, Arizona on old Rt 66. If only I had known to look for the Wigwam Motel built there in 1950. But I think that I've seen it before when traveling the Route in the 1950s. I think it would be fun to stay there one night. Getting slightly lost in Holbrook, we finally found Hwy 77 and continued south to Show Low, passing through Mormon settled towns of Snowflake (named for pioneers Snow and Flake) and Taylor.

Back at Pinetop the kids rounded out the day at the Recreation Center and swimming pool at the Roundhouse Resort.

July 30, 2007

Pinetop, Arizona July 29-30

We drove out Sunday morning, July 29th, to visit the Williams Creek National Fish Hatchery, but it was closed on the weekends, so we continued on along the gravel/dirt road to find Hawley Lake at 8,500 ft elevation on the White Mountain Apache Reservation. It was quite a drive, but we saw lots of pretty country including loose cattle in the meadows and trees. We drove half way around the Lake and stopped for a snack at the camp store. This, and the Outer Logs Campground, by the river, looked like very nice places to camp. Who would think that this mountainous area full of pine trees and streams would be in Arizona. We got back to Pinetop by 12:30 pm because Scott and Alisa had to drive back to Sierra Vista to work this week. Braden kept busy with racket ball, pool and mini-golf, while Emily and Heather watched movies in the room. We would spend the upcoming days discovering the area.

On Monday, July 30th we were off for our horse back riding adventure. We had already scouted out the Porter Mountain Stables so got there way early to be able to pet the horses. Emily got to put the bridle on her appaloosa horse, Buckshot, because her wrangler had one arm in a sling. Heather was a bit hesitant on top her horse, since it was only her second time, and Braden seemed to be ready to go. I was to follow Buckshot in line, on "Yellow" and was warned that Yellow, a palomino, might get kicked if following Buckshot too closely. Also Yellow didn't like crossing water and would get spooked at flapping clothing. No problem. We started out by crossing the road and continued on a leisurely promenade through the pines, then we started down the rocky and muddy trail down to the stream. Yellow did just fine crossing the stream, although he jumped the little ditch just after we had crossed the road. As we climbed back out and up the rocky trail we reached a meadow and it started to rain. The guide said everyone could put on the "slickers" tied to the saddle if they wanted. Of course we all thought positively and declined the opportunity. As soon as we started out again and were among the pines and rocks, it started pouring rain. The thunder was crashing all around us and we became very wet. I decided to brave the spooky horse and try to get on a poncho. Unfortunately I had a wide brimmed hat on (although good to keep the rain out of the eyes) and the hood got all twisted. The guide came back and held Yellow while I wrestled with the poncho. Yellow jumped all around, but then settled down to be a good trail horse. The kids refused to put on their rain jackets and they were covered in wet goose bumps. The rain never let up until we were about done with the hour ride. I would have been fine if the ride had only lasted a half hour, but the kids didn't make one complaint. I guess they enjoyed the whole drenching adventure. (The first time Heather rode, was last year when I took them on a moonlight ride at Ft. Huachuca... unfortunately the moon was completely covered by dark clouds and we were all blind in the dark night. I wonder what she will think when ever she goes on a good weather and good light trail ride!)

July 28, 2007

Pinetop, Arizona

Our first activity of the day was a resort orientation breakfast to hear about the activities in the area, and to chow down on provided fruit and pastries. I made a list of all the things we might be able to do in the week ahead. Scott and Alisa arrived from their motel and we started off to find the Williams Fish Hatchery. It was 8 miles off the highway in the Apache Indian Reservation. Finding it closed we drove about 20 more miles south, into the Reservation to Ft. Apache. I could hardly believe I was at the fabled Ft. Apache, of the television show, Rin Tin Tin fame. I used to watch "Rinty" and the little boy private in their weekly adventures on television. Of course it wasn't filmed in Arizona, but at least I'd heard of Ft. Apache before. The U.S. Army built Ft Apache to keep the Apache in line and on the reservation. I'm sure today's Apache don't think much of that part of American history. But the Fort later became a boarding school, the Theodore Roosevelt School, for the Apache children, and is still in use as such. We toured the grounds of the fort, and read the description of the various buildings, including officer's quarters and enlisted barracks. One quarters had an interesting window in the middle of the chimney (see photo left). Then as a downpour threatened to catch us we visited the Apache Culture Center on the grounds. Included is very nice and recently expanded museum. Outside the museum were Apache wikiups or the temporary dwellings of the Apache.

The rain had passed the area and we drove a few miles to the Hopi / Zuni Indian Kinishba Ruins dating from as early as 800 AD. They were excavated in the 1930's and worked on by the Indian Div. of the CCC during the Depression era. The 5 miles of dirt/mud road getting there was quite an adventure! I would have turned back long before we saw the instant river in the washes, but Scott and Alisa's Aspen has a 4-wheel drive, so we forged ahead. A very interesting place, yet we couldn't really do it justice with all the mud and rain to dodge. So we drove back in the muddy Aspen and stopped at an Apache lunch wagon in White River. We got fry bread tacos and they were absolutely delicious. Fry bread is wheat flour, baking soda and salt, deep fried.

Back in Pinetop we took the Mogollon Rim Walk (pic on left). Because of the daily afternoon and evening storms we kept to the half mile paved walk. We could oversee the Mogollon Rim and the land to the west. Then we found the mile long Woodland Lake Park perimeter walk. Along the way we way plenty of hungry ravens, which are birds that seem to be all over in Arizona. There were fish and ducks and a bunch of people enjoying the day walking around the lake.
To top it off we went to the "Munich Haus" for dinner, situated on Fred's Lake in Pinetop.

July 27, 2007

Sierra Vista to Pinetop, Arizona

I left Sierra Vista, Arizona with three grandchildren, Emily, Braden and Heather for a 300 mile drive north to Pinetop, in the White Mountains of eastern Arizona. I had made a time-share exchange for a condo at the Roundhouse Resort there, a time-share exchange. I'm hoping there will be many activities for the kids to do in this area.

We left Sierra Vista at a leisurely 10 am and drove along the planned route of AZ-90 up to Interstate I-10 east to the exit toward Safford. We covered about 100 miles to get to Safford, a town established in 1874 by hardy pioneers. This small town boosts a 100,000 gallon elevated water tank and 26 mile collection system built in 1939. Water is definitely the life blood of this country. The town is in some flat desert land that is between high buttes, Mt Graham, and river washes. We dodged active thunder storms that seemed to be heading our way, but just as we got to them, the road turned and we basically avoided all downpours. See the black downpour in the picture:

After another 73 miles of desert land on US-70 that included the San Carlos Indian Reservation and the Ft. Apache Indian Reservation we arrived at the town of Globe, organized in 1876. It was carved out of the Indian Reservation in the Pinal Mountain region because of the mineral wealth in the area, especially silver and copper. This town has a long history of what one thinks of as the "wild west." There were Apache Indian attacks, western outlaws, silver prospectors, U.S Cavalry, and the last hanging in Arizona (1936). Names like Geronimo, Apache Kid, the Clantons, Butch Cassidy, and stagecoach robber, Pearl Hart are connected to Globe. There was a McDonalds in town so we stopped for a "tail gate" lunch. We ate at the truck because we didn't want anyone to steal our suitcases while we were inside. See photo with Emily, Braden on right and Heather on right.

After Globe we headed up scenic US-60 through the Apache Mountains and into 10 miles of kind-of scary 10 miles into the Salt River Canyon. It was a beautiful route, but winding down to a bridge over the river. We stopped often to take photographs and to replenish our nerves. But as we gained elevation we came out of the deep canyons and into pine forests and onto the high Mogollon Rim country. After 75 miles we arrived at Show Low, elevation 6,400 ft, a town with an interesting name based on the loss of a ranch in a poker game. It was just about 10 more miles south on Hwy 260 to Pinetop where our condo was at the Roundhouse Resort. We arrived about 4 pm. Our suite was in the main lodge (at right) - very nice.

After a movie in the resort theater we figured out our sleeping arrangements and called it a day -- a big day!

July 23, 2007

Sierra Vista, Arizona
The past week at Sierra Vista, AZ has been filled with recuperating from the trip and helping organize some of the boxes still in the garage since Scott and Alisa moved into their house last year. The high temperatures kind of slowed down the activity, but progress was made. One evening we went to Target for some shopping and got into the store just as a thunder storm arrived. Luckily we were in the store long enough for the storm to have moved on, but the good news is that there was finally some rain for Sierra Vista. It rains nearly every evening in the Huachuca Mountains to the west, on Ft. Huachuca, but little down in Sierra Vista. Scott returned from Army training in San Antonio, Texas, and Heather returned from her mother's in El Paso, Texas.

The nearby town of Willcox, Arizona is having their Peach Mania at Apple Annie's Orchard. We traveled about an hour and a half to the Orchard where we went on a tractor pulled wagon to find the rows of peach trees that were ready for people to pick their own peaches. I haven't eaten such good peaches since I was a teenager near my grandparents farm in Los Molinos, Calif. I picked some off the ground that had a little blemish from birds, etc. They were sweet and juicy and delicious. We all sampled the peaches and ended up picking about 18 pounds of them. Then we went to the apple orchard and picked another bucket of early Jonathan apples that were tart, but also delicious. After all that hot work in the orchards we bought hamburger lunches and topped it out with delicious homemade fresh peach pie ice cream. It was made with an ice cream maker in a wooden bucket with ice all around it. Ah, memories of the good ol' days! After that, we traveled a few miles to Apple Annie's produce farm and picked tomatoes, peppers, green beans, and cucumbers. Also bought higher priced corn and watermelon because the "pick your own" was already all picked. We drove back to Sierra Vista through Benson and Tombstone. Emily and Heather are in picture with the peaches/apples in kitchen, and Braden joins them for peeling.

July 16, 2007

Flagstaff AZ - Sierra Vista AZ
The Super 8 Motel has a continental breakfast of sorts and the mouse to their internet computer was broken, but we managed, and rolled out of the motel to begin another day of travel and discovery. First was a drive of about 10 miles north, to Copeland Lane. It is here that my great-Aunt Fern (Blanding) Ferrell with the help of her mother, Edith (Akin) Blanding, bought some land with her husband Carl Ferrell and tried to make a go of it in the early 1920's. According to deed/mortgage records I found at the court house in Flagstaff in 2002, they raised hay and potatoes. My grandfather, Leonard Pearce, was also an investor in the farm. It is here that my mother, Nadine Pearce was sent on the train by herself as a child (about age 6) to stay with Aunt Fern. She tells the story of her little girl friend, Daisy Copeland, who lived across the road. And she told of another family about a mile down the road whose little girl had a pony (her father (maybe Doyle) was said to have been a guide for western author, Zane Grey). One day Nadine had ridden down to that house with the little girl on her pony when some of the neighbor's cows came wandering back to their property. The family was wondering how the little "pock" marks had gotten on the rear of some of their cattle. That is when little Nadine said "Oh, my Aunt Fern did that" -- Aunt Fern had taken her BB gun out in frustration with the cattle damaging her garden and shot at the cattle to get them out of the garden. This upset the neighbors so they developed a plan to get get even. When Aunt Fern and Uncle Carl came in their big Studebaker car to pick up Nadine later in the day, they wouldn't let Nadine out of the basement where she was playing, until they got some sort of satisfaction for the BB gun episode. Heated words were exchanged and when the man looked like he was going to slap Aunt Fern, Uncle Carl pulled out his big pistol and demanded they produce Nadine. Nadine was summoned up from the basement, and that was the end of Nadine's rides on her friend's pony to her house where the swings were. My mom says she figures that was the time she was kidnapped. Well, about 80 years later, Aunt Fern's great-great-great grandchildren were driving along Copeland Lane taking photographs, and imagining the pony walking down that lane, and trying to figure where Aunt Fern's house might have been. This lane is just east of the largest San Francisco Peaks.

Next we continued up Hwy 89, north about 5 miles to the Sunset Volcano Crater National Monument. This cinder cone that rose quickly and blew it's top 900 years ago. The eruption killed all plants within a 5 mile radius. Sunset Volcano is the youngest of the 600 volcanoes that make up the San Francisco Peaks (see picture at right) area of Flagstaff. At a top peak of 12,633 ft, there is skiing offered in the snowy winter here. We got a National Parks passport stamp and enjoyed the visitor's center activities, then drove a little more to a overview lookout site to see steam coming up from a volcanic vent. The surrounding lava fields surround the road and the two types of sharp and smooth lava are called the same as in Hawaii - a'a and pahoehoe. We didn't have time to drive around the loop and visit the Wupatki National Monument and see the pueblo ruins of 800 years ago of the various cultures of the Wupatki people.

I noticed what looked like an archaeological dig going on as we drove south on Hwy 89 (one mile north of Flagstaff Mall). It is an ongoing excavation and restoration of the Elden Pueblo Archaeological Project and an interesting place for a short walk. It is a 65 room pueblo of the prehistoric Sinagua culture from about 1200 AD and Hopi ancestral pueblo site. Excavation began here in 1926, so I guess Aunt Fern had left the area by that time and returned to Los Angeles.

Ever since Braden found a brochure for "Meteor Crater," he'd been wanting to see it. So we headed east on Interstate 40, to the road leading to the crater, 35 miles east of Flagstaff. We could see storm clouds off in the distance. We arrived at the privately owned National Landmark where 50,000 years ago a piece of asteroid, 150 ft across, crashed into the earth. The site was originally 700 ft deep and over 4000 ft across, it has eroded little here because of the arid climate. It was an amazing site. We listened to a guide talk about the crater's history, we saw a movie, and visited the impressive museum. A raven, called " Charlie" glided around us outside in the winds, which got to be very, very strong. The winds were the front of an approaching thunder storm. There was a Subway sandwich shop in the gift shop area, and we ate before leaving, still hoping to visit Walnut Canyon pueblo ruins back towards Flagstaff. But Scott telephoned about that time and calculated we wouldn't be home in Sierra Vista until 9:30 pm if we left Meteor Crater and drove directly home. So I decided to make a bee-line home rather than ending up sleepily driving in the middle of the night home.

As it turned out the drive south was long, as we left Meteor Crater a hail storm hit us with a temperature of 60 degrees. We left Flagstaff on I-17 at 4:30pm, and Phoenix at 6:30 pm, As we drove through Phoenix the temperature rose to 116 degrees!!! Continuing on I-10 as we drove south of Tucson, a large series of dust storms blanketed the landscape and caused decreased visibility, but a great sunset. We stopped at exit 208, a favorite Pilot Gasoline stop, and also filled up with Dairy Queen blizzards. Turning off onto Arizona-90 we finally arrived at Sierra Vista, and home sweet home at 10:20 pm. We traveled over 800 miles from St. George, Utah.

July 15, 2007

Sunday July 15th - St. George, Utah to Flagstaff, Arizona

The last morning for Elderhostel. I was in the lobby after breakfast and the big group from the Colorado River float arrived. The coordinator asked me to take their group photo, so I did, and also photos from about 12 other cameras. It was interesting using all the different cameras! After that the people thought I was part of the staff and thanked me for taking the photos, some came to me with questions and problems :-)

We had a big day of travel planned so we left about 9:30 a.m. -- we don't seem to get a move on any earlier, and traveled back through Hurricane and along 89Alt. I decided to drive through Colorado City, Arizona, to see more of the town. Many of the three-story homes looked very nice, but there was not a sole on the streets, except one teenage boy. But he smiled and waved to us. It being Sunday and already a sizzling temperature contributed to the lack of people outside, I imagine.

We had passed a place called Pipe Spring National Monument yesterday, so I thought it would be a good place to stop and visit today. And it was a very interesting place. It has quite a wild west fort history, protecting the settlers from the Navaho who would raid the Paiutes and settlers in the Arizona Strip. A fort built with thick stone walls and an interior safe area, and called the Windsor Castle, after the builder. It became a Mormon tithing cattle ranch outpost of the region in 1870, gathering cattle from the area Mormons, making tons of cheese at the Castle, and taking them all to St. George twice a month. We got our National Park passport book stamped here, and at every place we could think of. The old fort is nicely maintained and they have a big garden and guided tours through the "castle." A fresh water spring runs into the house and provides a cool place to make and store cheese. The spring then flows into two large ponds. A vital and much appreciated innovation at Windsor Castle was a telegraph system that was constantly monitored for word of any approaching Indian raiders. Although there were gunports in the castle, the inhabitants never had to fire from them as in 1872 peace was made with the Navaho.

Our goal was to visit the North Rim of the Grand Canyon National Park, so we pushed on into the Kaibab National Forest to Jacob Lake and turned south on Hwy 67 towards the North Rim Lodge. It looked like hundreds of acres of pine were destroyed in the lightening set fire from last year. The tall ponderosa pine trees were burned black for miles as we drove along the plateau. There was a beautiful long strip of meadow land as we got into the park, and we saw a hungry looking coyote loping across the meadow into the aspen and pine trees. There were also limestone sinkholes turned into round ponds here and there. But at last we arrived at the Lodge on the North Rim and got our first look at the Grand Canyon. How awesome and immense it is.

We got our passport stamps then entered the lodge and it's observation sites. It was windy but not hot, as it is about 7000 feet in elevation. Not wanting to be without food we went to the deli and got some pizza slices to fill us up - oh yes, and soft serve ice cream. We walked down Bright Angel trail a ways, the trail that is connected with "Brighty" of the Grand Canyon, a smart little burro that was a true character of the canyon. The thunder and lightening was off in the distance and was creeping towards us with warning sprinkles. We took the hint and sadly moved on in the truck away from the Canyon. We stopped at a Ranger Station around Jacob Lake and got another passport stamp, then stopped by the place next door for more ice cream.

The route back on 89 Alt was stunning! I didn't know that the drive was going to be so magnificent! The highway is called the "Vermillion Cliffs Highway" as it descends down the plateau and skirts the Vermillion Cliffs over to the Colorado River on the south side of the Glenn Canyon. Much to my surprise there was a walking bridge over the River so after crossing on the vehicle bridge, we stopped and walked back, taking photos and peering way way down at the River.

We were in Navajo Tribal lands now and barren land it was. There was not much but desert scrub land and some cattle for many miles. At last we connected with the Highway that took us to Flagstaff and checked into the Super 8 Motel. Unfortunately - or fortunately - we were right next door to a "Cracker Barrel" restaurant, so Braden reminded me that he hadn't had dinner yet... it was 8pm. So we went to dinner.

July 14, 2007

It was time to leave Ruby's and fabulous Bryce Canyon. After breakfast at Ruby's we headed back to St George. We retraced our path until we got to Mt. Carmel Jct. then took US 89 south to Kanab, along the Kanab River. We didn't actually go into the "Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument" which was a disappointment, but we did stop at it's visitor's center in Kanab to browse the museum and listed to two interns talk about paleontology and it's relation to the Grand Staircase. The staircase refers to the layers of the various stone formations throughout millions of years that can be views in stunning colors of the various layers. The best part of the Kanab stop was going to the Fossil Laboratory to see the recent finds in S.W. Utah. One man was quite happy to have found a half of the largest crocodile type animal's skull. He is just preparing it for research. Of course the temperature was too hot to think about, but the bus trip back to St George was very comfortable. We went on Hwy 89-Alt through the Kaibab Tribal Lands in the "Arizona Strip" north of the Colorado River. We went from Fredonia, Arizona looping down near Moccasin and going back NW to pass infamous Colorado City, Arizona.

Colorado City, founded in 1913, is home to over four thousand people that practices polygamy against the law. It's said that over 400 young men were expelled to create a gender imbalance to benefit polygamy and leader Warren Jeffs was arrested last year after being on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list. According to Wikipedia, at least half of the Colorado City and adjoining Hilsdale's 8,000 inhabitants are descendants of one or both founders of the towns. Many carry a extremely rare genetic defect leading to mental retardation due to cousins marrying cousins. Many of the homes in this dry high desert town are three story, to accommodate all the wife and children. In the past I hear that no one would talk to outsiders. It's just over the border from Utah.

Back at College Inn at St. George, Utah, we unloaded our stuff then went to another great dinner at "Chuck-A-Rama" There is something for everyone there. Then back to the Inn for a late swim and packing for departure tomorrow.

July 9, 2007

July 9th, 2007 - Monday - St. George, Utah
Even though we didn't have a door-lock, I wasn't concerned with the pick-up truck being stolen in the nice lot behind the College Inn here in beautiful St. George. But bright and early on Monday morning I called the GMC dealer, and got a 10 am appointment for repair of the door lock. But first things first - we walked a couple blocks to the "Bear Paw" cafe and had a great breakfast. The historic downtown St George is quite nice and interesting. There was a lot of water flowing down the gutters, and later I learned that people watered their yards with irrigation water that is turned over to the individuals at a specific time and day... just like the farms. The GMC dealer was easily found by 10 am. $195 and two hours later we were happily back in the pick-up with a new door handle/lock and a secure vehicle. After that we drove over to the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers Museum and historic house for a tour. I've never seen so many old "crayon" portraits of people assembled in one place. These are the portraits that were made before enlarging of photographs became practical. Evidently the negative image is put on heavy paper or a card stock and enlarged, but the details of the portrait had to be drawn in with a type of "crayon" to look sharp and clear. Anyway, there were a lot of old pioneer items to discover.

Next door is the historic Washington County Court House which is now the Chamber of Commerce offices. But upstairs the old court room is waiting for a jury, the same as in yesteryear. After we had a bite to eat at the Inn, we took a lady and her grandson with us, to the Rosensbruch World Wildlife Museum. It is a really large scale exhibit of 300 species of animals from all over the world that have been "stuffed." Not that seeing these animals alive isn't a better idea, but there is a connection with the World Wildlife Fund and efforts to preserve the various species. Interestingly there were huge mountain sheep or Algari (?) from Mongolia that were amazing. I didn't see any of those when I was in Mongolia - of course I was mostly in the Gobi area, where it's the camels that roam around. We returned to the Elderhostel group for dinner at the Gardner Center at Dixie State College followed by orientation to our week - Everyone introduced themselves - It looks like a great group. Then the paleontologist gave an introduction also, but Braden figured he already knew everything the paleontologist said. At this time the final count was taken to see who wasn't going to go horse riding at Bryce Canyon next Friday. For some reason Braden decided he hated horse riding, but after much persuasion he agreed to it, and then they rushed out to get in 20 minutes of swimming in before the pool closed at 10 pm.
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July 8th, 2007 Sunday - Las Vegas, Nevada to St. George, Utah
I let the kids sleep late after getting to bed just before 2am. After a continental breakfast at Super 8 Motel we loaded up the pick-up truck (which thankfully was still parked where I left it, and was in good condition, minus the missing door lock). The first thing on the agenda was to drive downtown to the Las Vegas City Hall to file a police report about the "tampering and injuring of a vehicle." It was already very hot, and poor Emily was elected to remain in the truck to guard our suitcases in the back, and lock the doors from the inside. We parked in the covered city parking structure, but it was still hot. Braden and I went inside and waited an hour to begin the police interview to file the report. I must say, they were thorough. The interviewer said that he had heard of the death of my brother last October. My brother, Dick Hague, was retired from the Las Vegas Metro Police Department and was a CSI type. He was a Crime Scene Analyst.

Finally we arrived at Chris' house and then took two cars to visit Dick's grave at Palm Cemetery. Little two-year old Michael knew his way to the grave site and ran ahead to find it. The headstone Chris had selected looked very nice. We returned to Chris' house and all the nephews were there: Jim, Joe, Rich, and Ryan.

At last we had to leave and make our way up to Utah. We left Las Vegas at about 4:30 pm and the temperature was 117 degrees!! We drove up a very uninhabited highway I-15 towards Salt Lake City. Out of boredom we stopped at Gardener, NV for some ice cream and learned that I-15 was closed due to brush fires. Luckily we didn't have to go as far as where the fires were. 682 miles after we left Sierra Vista, AZ, we arrived at St. George, Utah. Utah in summer is sizzling, or from the news, it's burning. Brush fires abound. We could see smoke rise to the south. St George is laid out like many Mormon Utah cities, in the grid pattern. So we found 123 South 100 East St. - the College Inn of Dixie State College - where our Elderhostel Intergenerational program is based. We found our college dormitory-type rooms with keys left in an envelope at the reception desk. Each room had a private bathroom. There are 33 in our group and about 44 in a group that is going to the Colorado River. The kids immediately jumped into the swimming pool and we met two other grandmothers/grandkids at the pool who were going on the trips. [see above for July 9th]
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Saturday night - July 7th, 2007 - Sierra Vista, AZ to Las Vegas, NV
The great road adventure from Sierra Vista to Las Vegas started at 9:30 am Saturday with my two grandchildren, Emily (13) and Braden (10). The departure was not a problem, and Scott, luckily, decided that we should have a blue tarp with bungee cords to cover our suitcases in the back of the GMC pick-up truck that I would be driving, so he rushed out and got that. With a fond farewell to Alisa and Scott we got gasoline at $2.97 / gallon and headed to the Interstate to Tucson. It seemed that every mile we traveled north it became hotter and hotter. We left in 83 degrees and it was 111 by the time we got to Tucson, then 116 in Phoenix. Just before Kingman, AZ we made a rest stop and fixed the tarp a little. Too bad we didn't get gas there - at $2.79 / gal as this would be the cheapest we would find gas on the whole trip.

It was quite a treat for the kids and I to see Hoover Dam. I'd seen it before, but it was a first time for the kids and they were properly impressed. We took photos at every observation place, then slowly crossed over the top of the dam and the Colorado River into Nevada. From then it was an easy drive to Las Vegas. Braden saw the "Stratosphere" tower and hotel and restaurant and figured it was the airport control tower. The view from the hills was beautiful.

We found Super 8 motel, checked in and found we had time to see the "Vegas Strip." We stopped by Dick's house and picked up nephew Richie and his wife, Lucy, for a very slow and dramatic drive up and down the famous strip so Emily and Braden could see all the whoop-la. Braden liked the Pirate show as we drove by "Treasure Island" - they both liked to see the roller coaster at "New York, New York." Then we picked up my sister-in-law, Chris, and little great-nephew, Michael, and went to Sam's Town for dinner. By this time the buffet was closed (10 pm) so we had a huge meal at the Mexican restaurant. After dinner we walked around the waterfall area inside Sam's Town, said our goodbyes and went to our respective cars.

Unfortunately the key didn't seem to work in the pick-up door lock, and the door lock cylinder thing eventually fell into the door! Someone had "punched in" the door lock with some tool in an effort to enter the truck. But they failed to enter. (This is the second time my vehicle lock was punched in within the last couple months - first time with my Saturn in Hawaii.) With only one door lock on the vehicle we were unable to get into the truck I called Chris to drive by on their way home, and then called AAA. We were dying of thirst waiting, and finally security told us of a water fountain next to us at the Sam's Town RV Park. That helped the wait. Two hours later the locksmith had arrived, jimmied open the passenger door and we were on our tired way - the one block to Super 8 Motel. I was worried about having to leave the truck unlocked all night, but we couldn't lock it or we'd have to get the locksmith again to open the door. So I parked the truck 20 feet in front of the entrance to the door of the casino that adjoins Super 8 Motel. Braden chose to sleep on the floor, and I was peeking out the window all night to be sure the truck hadn't been stolen. Of course these things happen on the week-end. Quite a start for the first day of our big vacation! [see above for July 8th and 9th]

July 7, 2007

I'm on the "mainland" now. The weather in Arizona is sizzling, and it was 114 degrees in Las Vegas yesterday. I'm heading for Las Vegas today with grandkids, Emily and Braden. We will arrive there after crossing the Arizona desert, in the evening. Then Sunday we'll stop by to see sister-in-law Chris Hague, and nephews. Also get a chance to see nephew Rich's wife, Lucy, and son, Michael, again. Michael is two now and almost talking. We plan to go see my brother's grave. Richard Hague died last November and I haven't seen his grave marker yet. Then we'll have to high-tail it on to St. George, Utah, where we'll begin our Elderhostel Intergenerational Program.

This Elderhostel program is about dinosaurs in S.W. Utah. It promises to be a terrific program for the grandkids and their grandparents. We'll stay 4 nights in St. George at the College Inn, part of Dixie State College. We're going to Grand Escalante National Monument and to the Dinosaur Discovery Site. We watched a Discovery Channel program on a new type of dinosaur found there (or somewhere close) that is a mass grave of a dinosaur than is transitioning between a meat eater to a grass eater. Should be interesting.

Then we go on to Bryce Canyon and stay at Ruby's Inn for two nights, including taking in the Bryce Rodeo. Hopefully we'll be able to meet up with more relations on the trip - Jeff and Leslie and their five children. Then back to St. George for another night and the end of the program. I plan to drive back to Sierra Vista via Flagstaff and show the kids where my mother stayed with Aunt Fern Blanding Ferrell in about 1920 on a potato farm on the northwest side of Flagstaff.

In my disorganization to plan/pack for two trip this summer (Arizona, etc. and China) I forgot to put my cell phone charger into my suitcase. Hmmmm. No other way around it, I had to go and buy a new charger. Well, now I've got an extra I can keep in my suitcase - ready for any trip. I helped Emily cleaned out some of her closet yesterday so she could pack for the Utah trip. What a chore! Luckily Braden is better organized even though he's only 10.

Genealogy news: I've found the 1870 Agriculture Census online at Ancestry.com. I don't know why they added this Ag Census for Goodhue County, MN - but I'm glad they did. It's very interesting to see that my David Akins had two horses, two milk cows, one swine, spring wheat, indian corn and oats. He, my great-great grandfather, had homesteaded near his cousin, Marshall Akins, his wife's father, James Warren Ells, and his son, Edwin Ells, and another cousin, John Orcutt. These early pioneer families stayed together when they got land in Minnesota from where they were in Wisconsin. Edwin Ells had some of his land surveyed and established the village of Skyberg, Goodhue Co., Minnesota. Today is is a ghosttown. Click to enlarge census.

I've sent photos back and forth with Terry Akin and Howard Blanding about relations in Chautauqua Co. NY. We still can't seem to find photographer George Morris Akin in the business directories, etc. for Fredonia, NY. We know he was a very good photographer from looking at some of his work - probably at the turn of the century. Also Terry and I are sending "Mystery Photos" to each other from our pile of old, old photographs, in the hopes of identifying the ones without names. I love a good mystery!

Is this Welton Akin? --------------A Ship in Newport RI -----An Akin of RI -maybe his ship?