Monday, June 29, 2009

My Summer Vacation - Part 5

























































































































Well, I left my laptop at work, and it has most of my photo's on it. Soooooo, you get to see the end of the Utah portion of the trip now (i.e., Part 5) and Parts 2 (Family Gathering), Part 3 (Navajo Lake), Part 4 (Bryce Canyon), and Part 6 (Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood) later on. I just got the pictures from the Zions portion back from the photo-shop today. I forgot the camera charger and the camera ran out of juice just before we got to Zion's; so I had to buy a disposal camera to capture pictures from Zions.

We spent two days and one night at Zions National Park. We stayed in one of the Lodge's Cabins and did meals in the Lodge restaurant. Leora drug me around all but one of the trails. The only one we didn't do was the "Angel's Landing", we just didn't have time to fit that one in. We hiked to the Grotto, the Emerald Ponds, and the Narrows; then rode the shuttle to all of the other locations (i.e., Prophets Seat (??), the Big Bend, Museum, and Visitors Center). We got to see several varieties of critters up close; deer so close you could touch them, chip monks and ground squirrels that were begging for food, blue jays and wild turkeys that simply ignored your presence, and a whole bunch of lizards. We attended a lecture by a Park Ranger titled "Our Furry Friends" and learned that the furriest beast in the park is the ranger. We attended a 25 minute film at the museum that explained how the park was formed. Unfortunately this was right after all of our hiking and I snored through the back half of the film; what can I say, it was cool, the seat was soft, and I was tired.

We met people from all over the world. A group of Auzzies trying to hike up to the Emerald Ponds. A group of Harley Davidson riding Frenchmen& Frenchwomen that we had met earlier at the Cameron Trading Post. We ran into folks from China and Japan; met some castilian speaking folks from Spain. There was a guy from eastern Europe and several Russians. All of them were truly impressed with the "West"; we heard descriptions like "magnificent" and "glorious".

I got to sit out on the cabin porch and impress all passers-by with my fantastic guitar playing. Well, at least no one ran away screaming.

And our bed was actually much, much, much better than the bed at Navajo Lake (part 3).

All in all, we had a grand time communing with nature. But its all good when your with your Lady.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

My Summer Vacation - Part 1






I just got back from taking about ten days off. We loaded a lot into these ten days. I've decided to spread this out a little instead of trying to tell you about it all in one swoop. So let's start out with the best. My contemplation of bubbles!



Did you ever contemplate the “Bubble”? Think about it! There exists a thing that is lighter than air; that possesses a skin so thin and fragile that the slightest touch will penetrate it; malleable enough to be stretched and pulled into oblong irregular shapes during its creation, yet when left to its own devises will form a perfect sphere. When fully formed is crystal clear, yet capable of shimmering with all the colors of a rainbow. It can be found under unique conditions to form naturally; and is capable of being manufactured by the dozens for just a penny, one red-cent. Bubbles used in the right circumstances can be quite erotic; but are found most frequently as sources of shear joy by the young of heart!
I’ve often wondered how the world be changed if the most serious of us were subjected to “bubble therapy” as part of our lofty existence. Think about it, presidential debates wherein you had to create a perfect bubble prior to being allowed to express each campaign promise. Or soldiers that were required to qualify with a bubble making machine, then run through the bubbles without popping any prior to graduation from basic training. What if engineers were required to take “bubble breaks” once every morning and once every afternoon just to bring them back down to earth? How about requiring managers in any field of endeavor to play with bubbles at lunch every day as a means of ensuring they retain a sense of humanity and humility?
Think of the educational challenge if you had to measure the viscosity of a bubble prior to completing high school chemistry; or to be able to calculate internal and external pressures of bubbles made from different substance at different temperatures in high school physics? What if in your art class your entire grade was dependent on your ability to paint the rainbow sheen seen on your standard soap bubble?
Ahhh, but that’s way too deep! I think the best use of bubbles is to give the means of making bubbles to a bunch of kids, and then re-learning what pure joy is made of by watching them. The only thing better might be to join them in their merry making.