Deserts and Canyons and Mountains, OH MY!

     We just returned from a 12-day tour, which included five American national parks---Grand Canyon, Bryce, Zion, Grand Teton, Yellowstone---and many attractions along the way.  All lodging, most meals, and  the driving were all provided.  It was great to let someone else worry about the details.

      At the end of May, we flew out to Phoenix, AZ, and were transported from the airport to our hotel in Scottsdale where we  met our tour manager, bus driver, and the other 43 people we would spend the next 12 days with.  We soon realized this was a very friendly and positive-thinking group that came from various areas in the U.S., Canada and the UK. 

     Each day we all put our bags outside our hotel doors by 7:00 (6:30 a couple of times) so they could be loaded on the bus. We departed for the destinations of the day by 7:30 or 8:00.  Even though as retirees we had grown accustomed to "sleeping in," we got into the groove very quickly, especially since somebody else cooked our breakfast and did the driving.  We saw and learned enough about so many places that each could be a blog on its own and may be in the future.  For now, these are just the highlights.


Saguaro Cacti, AZ

     Our journey started with 110 degrees in Scottsdale, AZ and desert scenes with saguaro cacti.  These cacti can grow to 40 feet and live between 100 to 200 years. The bloom is Arizona's state flower. 

Sedona, AZ

 








     As we traveled on to our next morning destination to see the unique rock formations of Sedona, our elevation gradually increased and we left the saguaro behind.  In the afternoon, we passed through the Navajo's reservations and saw some of their traditional circular and six-sided dwellings with dome-shaped roofs called hogans.

Ron & I on a Lake Powell Breakfast Cruise, AZ

     We spent the night at the Lake Powell Resort and were treated to an early morning breakfast cruise to get a closer look of this beautiful reservoir lake created by the Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River and its surrounding canyons.



Grand Canyon North Rim at Sunrise, AZ

      After the cruise we boarded the bus and continued to the Grand Canyon North Rim, AZ.  Words cannot express the beauty of this natural wonder.  The multiple layers of  the sandstone and rock that had formed over millions of years reflected the light of the


moment and changed as the day progressed.  We spent the night in rustic cabins at the Grand Canyon Lodge.  Quite a contrast to Scottsdale, it was so cool at night the cabins were not even air conditioned.  We relished the cooler temperatures, kept our windows open all night, and slept very comfortably.  A pre-breakfast hike with astounding views was invigorating!

Meatloaf Extraordinaire at Zion Park Inn, UT

Next destination was Zion National Park.  This time, instead of looking down into a canyon, our tour bus took us down to the bottom of the canyon.  We all applauded our driver as he expertly navigated all the switchbacks on the way down.  At the bottom, we boarded a tram driven by a local guide.  We were able to stretch our legs by taking a hike along the Virgin River to see a small waterfall, and rapids.  We spent the night at the Zion Park Inn where we had quite the dinner with some of our new friends.  Ron and I had meatloaf but it was such an artistic creation one of our fellow travelers just had to take a picture.

Bryce Canyon hoodoos, UT

     One of my favorite stops after leaving Zion was the Bryce Canyon with its amazing "hoodoo" formations.  They are formed by a process called frost-wedging as snow and ice melts, and refreezes due to the freezing nights and warm afternoons 180 days per year.  Each hoodoo looks like a sculpture of something or somebody, depending on your own individual interpretation.

Mormon Temple, UT

      Salt Lake City was a deviation from seeing the natural wonders.  The Mormon history of the area was quite interesting.  We had a local tour guide that took us through Temple Square and we were able to watch  the Mormon Tabernacle Choir rehearse in the evening.  Awesome!



A Selfie on the Chair Lift

       We moved on to Jackson Hole, WY  and cowboy country.  We were entertained over dinner by the Bar J Wranglers.  Hee-haw!   The next day we had a free day to do some optional add-on activities with the group or do whatever we wanted.  Ron and I chose the latter.   First, we decided to ignore our senior citizen status, rode a chair lift up the mountain behind our lodge, and then slid all the way back down on a giant slide. It was a blast!  After that burst of bravery, we just wandered around the town, had lunch at the famous Million Dollar Cowboy Bar, and played miniature golf. 

Grand Tetons,  WY

           The following morning we drove through the magnificent snow covered mountains of the Grand Tetons. No foothills  obstructed the view of the peaks and canyons that rise abruptly from the flat valley of Jackson Hole.  We were told the Tetons were formed over millions of years of earthquake movement which caused the mountains to rise while the valley floor actually dropped.

      Next on our agenda was the spectacular Yellowstone National Park.  It's everything you have ever imagined.  Unforgettable scenery and wildlife.  We arrived just in time to see Old Faithful erupt.  Funny, we all cheered it on as if it could hear us!.  Since it performs approximately every 90 minutes, we were able to catch another awe inspiring show shortly before sunset from the deck of the historic Old Faithful Lodge.  We enjoyed waking up to below freezing temperatures in Yellowstone and continuing our journey. 

Yellowstone River Falls



Old Faithful, Yellowstone



Bison



Big Horn Sheep

     Our sightseeing tour ended with visits to  the Crazy Horse Monument, the world's largest mountain carving, which is still in progress, and the patriotic Mount Rushmore Monument nestled in the Black Hills of South Dakota. 

       

Crazy Horse Monument,

    
Our last night was spent at the Bar S Lodge in Keystone, SD where we could see the lighted Mt. Rushmore monument from our window. 

Mount Rushmore, SD

   

    The farewell dinner with our new found friends and traveling companions was bittersweet. We vowed to keep in touch, and, who knows, maybe we'll connect again on future tours. 

      It is on my bucket list to see as many of the 58 National Parks as possible. With this trip, I have seen 10.  Guess I better kick it up a notch!!!.

 

   

Toilet Paper & Other Life Mysteries

     Sometimes life is perplexing.  For example, why is it the jumbo rolls of toilet paper you buy now claim to be equivalent to three regular rolls but look just like the regular rolls you used to buy?    And, why do they still run out at the most inconvenient time?

     That's not all...  Why is it when you call almost any business' or doctor's number, you receive a recording telling you to listen carefully because the menu options have changed?  Do you say to yourself, "Oh darn, I just  memorized all their options!"

     When did a pound of bacon or coffee become 11.5 or 12 ounces?

     Who counts the threads in sheets anyway and how do they do it?

     What makes a legal pad legal?


How did anyone figure out how the
heart runs the whole show in our bodies when I can barely grasp how the remote control operates the television?

How can a hacker find my password, when I can't even find it myself?
    
Who first said, "Just saying...?


Pondering some of your own life mysteries?  Please share.

Happy Easter!





    

    

    

      

    



    

To Err is Human but Did You Back Up First?

     Ah...computers, where would we be without them?  If you've ever had one crash, and I bet you have, you know the answer---out of touch and out of sync.  Most of us rely on them, even more than we like to admit, for work and pleasure.  This quote sums it up:  "I rigged my cellular to send a message to my PDA, which is online with my PC, to get it to activate the voicemail, which sends the message to the inbox of my email, which routes it to the PDA, which beams it back to the cellular. Then I realized my gadgets have a better social life than I do !"  — Tom Ostad.

     Our household computers occupied a lot of my time in March.  Our nine year old HP PC started acting squirrelly several weeks ago so it was not a surprise when we couldn't get on it one morning.  Depending on who you ask, the current lifespan expectancy of a PC or laptop is three to seven years. You have heard of Murphy's Law but did you know there is Moore's Law of a Obsolescence (Gordon E. Moore). Moore says the number of transistors on integrated circuits double approximately every two years.  I 'm not sure what that means (found it on the Internet) but I guess we got our money's worth out of our PC.  A friend told me her new Toshiba laptop wouldn't boot two weeks after she bought it so she had to get a replacement.  It just goes to show, humans still rule! Our life expectancy is in the upper 80s. 

    We lucked up. It was the monitor that went kaput, not the PC,  but it was definitely a warning. We had not backed up our files in a couple of months.  We were fortunate to have a friend with a spare monitor sitting in his closet.  I hooked his monitor up, backed up all our files, financial information, pictures, etc. on flash disks and, although our PC was still working, we started shopping for a new computer.   

    Enter a new all-in-one HP Touch Smart PC with Windows 8.1 into our family.  Our "old" PC had Windows Vista so this was quite a jump on operating systems.  It took a few days to set it up to fit into our comfort zone.  The old Start menu was in a different place, had to set up short cuts we accessed frequently on the desktop, and learn how to toggle back and forth.   Email access is also different.  Ron is still adjusting to the change but I really like it.  We are discovering new things daily.  When I can't figure out how to customize something, like eliminating the password sign on requirement, I go to the HP support chat and allow them to remotely access our new computer and fix it.  This is a free customer service. 

     Just when I thought I could get back to Spring gardening and leave computer issues behind, my two-year-old HP laptop started acting weird.  AARGH!  I am pretty sure it was my fault.  One morning I turned it on and the screen indicated a gazillion files were updating.  I panicked, guess I thought a poltergeist had taken over my computer overnight, so I pulled the plug.  Bad move!  It wouldn't boot up afterwards. To get it back up I followed the recovery instructions to get it operational. I was back in business, EXCEPT,  I got script error messages on multiple websites when I browsed.  Somehow in the process, I had upgraded to IE 11.1 so I figured that was the problem.   I did some research and followed through on many so called remedies.  After trying for a few days, I gave up and hired a techie.   Another bad move.  He couldn't fix it either.  His solution was for me to use Google Chrome instead of Internet Explorer.  You see, he just wasn't fond of IE 11.  I paid him, thanked for him for his advice, and after he left I returned to my DIY mode to find a solution. I "chatted" with Cherise at my Norton 360 Security to explore the possibility that I had inadvertently changed some settings during recovery which made it block certain websites.  As it turned out, it was not a Norton problem at all but a Microsoft issue. It seems earlier IE versions were messing up the new one.  Although it was not a Norton issue, Cherise fixed it anyway.  No extra charge!  All's well on the browsing home front!

    Even though technology and computers can be a pain,  don't you love the instant access to information they provide? I would be lost, and out of touch without them.  With patience, I guess we can all set up new systems and try to fix problems.  Happy browsing, emailing, You Tubing, Face Booking, documenting, photographing, etc,, BUT don't forget to back up!

 

    

Word of the Day

       I like new words.   Not to say that I am good at pronouncing or even remembering most of them but it is intriguing to get out of my simple word comfort zone.  Many decades ago, I got hooked on doing the "Word Power" quiz in Reader's Digest.  Ron and I still like to take it with us on road trips to pass the time away.  Several months ago I found a new toy.  I began subscribing to Merriam-Webster's free online "Word of the Day."   MW sends me a word via email every day to add to my repertoire, complete with the definition, usage example, and audio pronunciation.
  


      Now I have never heard, much less used, the majority of the words I get. For example, today the word is parvenu. Use that much in your daily conversations?  Well in case you want to, here's the scoop.  It is a noun and means "one who has recently or suddenly risen to an unaccustomed position of wealth or power and has not yet gained the prestige, dignity, or manner associated with it."  The political arena seems to be a good place to use this one.  Just saying...


     
      I find many of the words funny.  I retain those the best - go figure.  Here are some that cracked me up.

• Chowderhead - noun:  dolt, blockhead.  I had a boss once who fit this description.  Oops, that wasn't nice now was it.
• Mirandize - verb:  to recite the Miranda warnings 
• Sesquipedalian - adjective: having many syllables; long; using long words  :-)
• Xenophobia - noun: fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners or of anything that is strange or foreign.  There's a phobia for everything!
• Addlepated - adjective:  being mixed up; confused. 
• Booboisie - noun:  blend of boob(people who are not very smart) and bourgeoisie (middle class); the general public regarded as consisting of boobs.  Pronounced boob wah zee
• Jerkwater - noun:  remote and unimportant
• Orchidaceous - adjective:  of, relating to, or resembling the orchids;
  showy, ostentatious.

     The hardest part of learning new words is using them. Since I do not have xenophobia I accept the challenge.  BUT, I will end this blog before you mirandize me for being a chowderhead and jerkwater who is an addlepated member of the booboisie who speaks with an orchidaceous and sesquipedalian tongue.

It's More Than a Science

      I had a great experience this week.  It was fun and educational to boot!  I had the opportunity to join a group of fellow Master Gardeners for an early morning cold, but sunny, tour of local family-owned Turkey Hill Farm.  Okay, I acknowledge many of you will not find going to a farm much of an experience to write home about.   Actually, I think I heard some yawns and maybe even a few clicks on that little x on the upper right hand corner of your screen.  But, for those of you still with me, believe me it was quite cool.

      For example, did you know you could grow shitake mushrooms on a freshly cut oak log?  I didn't but it is one of the many things happening at Turkey Hill.   If you want to grow your own, there is a lot of information on the Internet on how to do it.  I learned you have to obtain some spawn initially, which is a fungus tissue used to propagate mushrooms.  You can order it online as well.
     

      As the tour continued, I realized the diverse ecosystem on this 89 acre piece of property was not set up to be a huge commercial corporate-type operation.  Instead, owners Herman Holley and Louis Divine dedicate their days to practicing tried and true, as well as modern, organic and scientific methods to produce vegetables, fruit, and honey. They sell to local restaurants, to the public at weekly farmer's markets, and on the Red Hills Online Market (www.rhomarket.com)
 

      Herman led us through his gardens, fruit orchards, and the pastel colored beehives with enthusiasm, sharing an amazing amount of information, from composting to planting, harvesting to grafting and honey production.  It was quite obvious he had done an incredible amount of research   He frequently referred to Sir Albert Howard's An Agricultural Testament as one of his resources.  It is available on Amazon.



      As I listened to Herman, I knew I would never acquire the amount of knowledge he had.  However, the most impressive and inspirational part went way beyond his "book learning."  His whole sixty-something body exuded the passion he felt about his this farm.  He laughed easily as he shared some of the trial and error methods he and his wife had attempted over the years.  One of those things we learned is that you can get a jump on growing and harvest-ing tomatoes by putting seedlings in the ground as early as February, in north Florida where it doesn't drop below freezing for long.  I have always waited until mid-March.  He contends it makes them stronger but you do have to cover them if you expect a freeze. 

 

      Near the end of the tour, Herman offered all of us a turmeric root to plant on our own.  Now, in case you didn't know, turmeric is a spice which has a plethora of medicinal and nutritional benefits, from being an anti-inflammatory to a cancer preventing agent.   He said, "You should put it in about everything you eat."

I checked it out on the Internet.  It's true!  Chinese medicine has known this forever and Western medicine is getting on the bandwagon now.  I've already put my root in a pot to grow.  Apparently, it does take a while to grow (8-10 months) to a harvest stage, so if you are not patient you can buy turmeric root ready to use in some stores or online.

 

      During the tour, one of my friends leaned over and said, "This makes me want to go home and get started on my Spring crop today!"  Me too!  As a matter of fact, I  potted a variety of tomato, pepper, green peas and lettuce seeds the next day.  I'll keep them indoors until they sprout and then put them under a grow light until they get strong enough to put in the ground. 

      What a great job Herman and Louise have!   Their customers enjoy and  appreciate what they produce. They always have fresh, healthy food to eat, and the hard work and exercise keeps them young.  It's a passion!