Monday, June 30, 2008

Island Park, Yellowstone & Teton National Park


It was so fun going back to our adopted Grandpa Dan's cabin in Island Park. I remember as a child feeding the chipmunks and the yellow-bellied marmots that lived behind the wood pile. The marmot doesn't hang around any more, but we did see beavers and otters in the Buffalo river (no fish) and a moose among the trees.

We enjoyed kayaking down the Snake River and mountain biking along the side. Brette brought her paints, and we rediscovered the relaxing joys of painting nature. One evening the guys fished on Henry's Lake while Mom took Brette, Kelsey and I to see Oklahoma in West Yellowstone. We had a blast and laughed all the way back to the cabin.

Saturday, Pedro and I saw Yellowstone and the Tetons, at least as much as you can see in a day. It was a great day for seeing animals. I think Pedro brings luck. We saw a bear, a wolf, a mama & baby moose, deer (about 15 feet away, no joke), elk, bison and about 2.3 billion mosquitos. And to add to our luck, just after we saw Old Faithful, a much bigger and less frequent geyser, the Beehive geyser, started to spout. Pretty cool!

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Worlds Apart




Pedro had a great time in Uganda, except, of course, that he missed me unbearably and swore to never leave me again. Fine by me; we can go together to see the world. I was so happy to have him home again, especially after two canceled flights.

He was using his computer science skills to set up computers and internet in a rural orphanage among other engineering projects. He taught the nuns who run the orphanage how to use email and how to make salsa. While he was gone, I spent some time in Mendon. Devan showed me how he gets the hummingbirds to sit on his hands. Brycen showed off his cloud-eating and tree-climbing skills. I'll never forget the gorgeous rainbows in that peaceful, quaint Cache Valley of mine.