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Friday, August 29, 2008

Broken

John Bradford said that when he was in prayer, he never liked to rise from his knees till he began to feel something of brokenness of heart.

Get up to your chamber, then, poor sinner, if you would have a broken and contrite spirit, and come not out until you have it. Remember, you will never feel so broken in heart as when you can see Jesus bearing all your sins; faith and repentance are born together, and aid the health of each other.

Law and terrors do but harden,

All the while they work alone;

But a sense of blood bought pardon,

Will dissolve a heart of stone.

Home again, home again

How blessed we are to get to help Patricia arrange and clean her classroom for the start of school. We are excited to think about the 22 little souls in her watch care for the year. We will pray for her strength and recovery. She has to be the most clutter free class room I have ever seen. Teachers are reknown for being packrats. She has escaped that teacher malady! I was burdened to learn that the classroom library inspectors will remove Jesus books and replace them with junk like "Arthur and His Underwear." A double slap for sure.

We are working hard to declutter our house. This is a teribble hang over from my teacher years. I actually still have some teaching items from my teaching days going on 6 years ago. "Never know when you will need some of them."

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Special Friends

Our dear friends from Poland, Alla and Ellie visited the Getty Center with us . We wish we had more time with them. They are dear fellow believers that we met last year on our STM trip.
Here is a "Walking Flower".
We also must thank the Levis Family for the roof over our head as we traveled. Great tent and sleeping mats. And the latern was a life saver at night. Steve is great at planning our way. He picks the trail and then I navigate or I might suggest miss-navigate. And that is with our nice GPS. Sometimes, when she tells you where to go, I think she just doesn't mean me.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Scanning Sacramento

We made it to Sacramento. Ronnie and Steve are sitting in a murel area with a young girl pondering life in the basement under the capital dome.

I am doing laundry like no tomorrow. Almost done. This is a huge blessing so I do not have to do it when I get back to LA.


Today we visited old Sacramento.

Saw an old steam boat, The Queen.Ever wonder what the American River looks like? This bridge rises to allow large boats to clear under it.Here is an old train model, We saw some old remodeled storefront type streets and our capital building,Here is a fancy stair case in the capital building. Ronnie is modeling how an important assemblyman might look descending.
No Gov Arnold was not in the capital building. We did enjoy strolling the halls and seeing the sites.
This is the historical site of the beginning of the Pacific Railroad.

Trip back to California, Crater Lake

Crater Lake is surreal. I mean it looks so perfect that it must be a painted backdrop. According to the Park brochure, the lake is so pure that fish cannot survive in the lake. "At its deepest, the lake's floor plunges 1,932 feet below the surface, making it the deepest lake in the US. Because no water flows through the lake, the lake remains pure and tranquil."
Trip back was gorgeous. We stopped to see a lovely falls in a National Forrest I can't spell or pronounce but I did get some pretty cool river rocks and pics. I collect river rocks, and I collected some nifty pumice, basalt, and scoria. Also saw Mt. Shasta from a distance - the highest point in the state of California. By the way, northern (I mean real north) California is beautiful.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Day 12 Leaving Glacier to Go Home

We never thought the temperature in Glacier National Park would be so warm. After experiencing 27 degrees at Yellowstone's camp site, we knew we were not prepared for the expected "chill" in Glacier. Prior to leaving Great Fall, we stopped to buy some warm clothes from a second hand store. To our surprise, it was more than 50 degrees at our camp site at night. Steve saw the most beautiful moon-rise through the trees at the camp.

As a "must-do", Steve and I canoed and swam in Lake McDonald - the largest glacier lake in the park. The water was so clear you could see more than 10 feet deep. But it was cold.

We left the Glacier National Park after lunch, just as a huge (in LA standard) down-pour began. We were turning south to go home. Driving thru the National Forest is wonderful. We passed a state Bison range, though we didn't see any bison. We stopped at an historical town named Wallace. It was so-so.

It looks like a Hollywood set for a mining town western. We did like a couple of road signs in the center of the town.

Today is the first day we have had rain--figures, it is Spokane, Washington. Next stop, Mount Rainier National Park in the state of Washington.

Day 11, 12 Glacier National Park

Just when you think a National Park cannot be any more beautiful, you are wrong. Glacier is lovely. A woman had told Steve that going to Glacier was spying a tiny view of heaven, though heaven surely is more lovely than that, we do now understand why she made this parallel. WOW!

The "Road to the Sun" is a staggering feat of engineering. You literally drive along the side of a mountain for hours. When I tried to take pictures, I was frustrated. It is so big and grand and majestic and any other huge word you can think of, a picture really is just insulting. The word I think of is WORSHIP. These rocks point to a fantastic Creature. This place sings with the grandeur of GOD.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Montana, Great Falls

We did not have a service to attend this morning, but we were so grateful to see a sign for a bluegrass gospel sing. The Blucher family was singing and sharing their testimony. They were traveling for 21 days and were on day 17 on an "off" day. They decided to see if they could sing in the town's community center. The total population for White Sulphur Springs is 900. We met several fellow believers. What a blessing and the sunset was lovely on the drive to Great Falls, MT.


We missed Dad as we listened to the concert. This would have totally been something he would do and love. We got a CD and are debating wether to send it to him or not =0).

We love Montana. It is so beautiful. On the drive we saw 4 or 5 deer and one was a super racked buck.

Day 9 and 10, Yellow Stone

Wow, I scarcely know where to start here.

Wildlife - we sited 2 Moose, 2 coyote, one gray wolf, deer, heron, multitudes of bison, almost a black bears ear.

Hot Stuff- geysers, hot springs, fumeroles, mud volcano, paint pot, mud pots, pools, falls

Sites -Mountains, passes, valleys, forrests, rivers, creeks, streams, cliffs, butte, holes

Activities- hiking, biking, walking, boating, ranger chats, camping, swimming, birding

Day 8 - Grand Teton

Great view, great campground. We enjoyed the inspairing mountains of Tetons. From far up, they jumped out of the horizon to a height as much as 14,000 feet snow covered. By the way, Jackson Hole seemed like a leisure town booming with tourists. Things (such as fire wood and food) are relatively inexpensive given it is considered as a tourist trap. We did not stop there since we were concerned that we would not have a camp ground.

Must use bear safety food box or lock up all items in your car. But we did not see even a trace of bear.

We went for a gorgeous hike, around a pond and swan lake. It gave you different views of the same mountain. You have to really climb the mountain to enjoy the full view. It was recommended that you have a special premit with the Park Rangers.
We were warned that we would not get a campsite due to all the people competing for sites. However, we serve a great God and we had a lovely site, and cooked dinner over our lovely fire. We are improving our firebuilding skills. We are getting faster at putting up and tearing down our tiny tent, and Steve is rolling those sleeping bags tighter and tighter.



Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Day 6, Still Salt Lake City

The Circle of Life or Travel.... We are still in Salt Lake City.

Today we zipped around Salt Lake City. First we completely enjoyed our HOTEL room at the Hampton Inn. Then off we set to see the Kennecott Copper Mine. This is the largest open pit mine in the world. Check out these tires.


One tire will run you $18,000-20,000 each. This is a tire from the trucks that haul the rock that will be processed to look for iron, silver, gold and other usable minerals and metal. If you have ever been to Universal Studios, and watched the Terminator Show you will appreciate the 16 minute, award winning movie that this company shows. At U.S., a very annoying woman keeps saying, "SUPER" in a very insincere way. This is the feeling the movie evokes as well. Instead of spending a majority of time helping us understand the mining process this company uses, we instead hear alot of propaganda about why this company is good for the World instead of ruining the environment =0). Actually the amount of copper they produce daily is a bit mind boggling.
Notice the tiny white pickup truck on the right. Above on the left you can see the hauling truck.

All of that being said, the place is huge, and the process is really amazing. I wish you could see the size of these hauling trucks and the huge pit able to be seen from outer space.
This is the small scale condenser, where they add water and air to the dirt and waste to separate it out. Eventually they come out with 99.5% pure copper plates.


How about that Great Salt Lake? That is one body of water that I hope not to need to attend again. The sulphur-ish smell was powerful. But we did get the picture and checked it off the list.


We also we able to visit with Adam, Maureen, and Alex--our cousins. They live in a spacious town house, with an awesome view. Sky divers float randomly just above their home, leaping off a high cliff. The sunset was gorgeous. Alex showed us his baseball card that his dad made of him from 2006. Here is the box art that Alex gave Steve. He really likes abstract art his mom told us.Alex and I played Star Wars lazer sword fighting. He said I was not too bad. (Thank you, Keni. Must be all that Christmas wrapping paper roll fighting we used to do). Adam showed us his lovely photos, and also showed us his amazing collection of coins that he is beginning for the birth dates of Nixon men going back to 1660. He has three started. What a great idea. We also loved his gorgeous black and white photo of a car out in the desert.

Salt Lake City Day, Day 5

Wow, the trip over made me want to burst into song, Home On the Range. I did not expect the variety of terrain in Utah. I pictured it as pretty much desert like. However, it was rolling plains, sheep, corn fields, mountains, the clearest stream I have ever seen, forrest, valley, startlingly clear hurt-your-eyes blue sky, lava flow formation, rocks, cliffs, fluffy cotton ball clouds, road without end, curious lakes....a lovely drive.

When we arrived in SL we went to see the Mormon Temple.The gardens and landscape are fabulous at the temple square. We saw the location the Mormon Tabernacle Chior sing. By far the best aspect is the gardens. My God is so creative, and His color pallet is extreme. In His Mercy He even gave us flowers, so rich in variety to enjoy. How blessed are we to know our Great God, JAWEH. My eldest sister would love to see this. The colors are vibrant, the lay-out is lush, and the grass is so thick and green. Also there are lots of fountains and statuary. My attempt with pictures to not begin to express the colors, textures, scents and abundance of flowers.

I am thankful I was able to see such a beautiful display of God's Hand.

Day 3 & 4 - Bryce Canyon NP


I have to say, of all the national parks, Bryce Canyon is up there for me. It is a hidden treasure in the middle of mountains.
We stayed for two nights. According to the Park pamplet, in the early 1900s, when a family moved to a spot 6 miles from the Canyon, they did not know it existed until some local fellow rancher showed them the place. Since then, the secret was out, and every year, millions of people come to visit. And this family, the Ruby's family, made a lot of money by building resorts (see below) and restaurants, and Campgrounds, and the General Store, and ATV Rentals and pretty much the whole town seems to have their name on it. Ok, this is not actually the resort, but we loved the image of this old shack with the sign. This year, most of the visitors are Europens, and I mean English is not heard much on the trails. We hardly saw any Amercians on this trip, even in the camp. BTW, We liked the Bryce's campground so much more than the one in Zion. The heat in Zion will do you in. We were able to take a $2 shower at Bryce. First one in two days. I know what Larry(DAD) will say about this. No, we cannot take shower together to save money. =0) It is not allowed. I can't tell you how much I have appreciated hot water for showers!
Above is Thors Hammer. Difficult to see in the photo, but this place is fab at night too.

We are learning good things, like up with the sun and sleep with the dark. I am loving that, Steve not so much.