The Southwest

The first day out of Phoenix we headed north beyond Flagstaff to Lee's Ferry campground at Glen Canyon. Just before reaching the campground, we stopped at Navajo Bridge to enjoy the view of the Vermilion Cliffs area. The light was so bright and harsh out there, even in autumn during the late afternoon. . . but we still enjoyed the view and the shadows and reflections in the river below.




















We walked down to the river after setting up camp at Lee's Ferry. Beautiful and peaceful, the last light of the day.













ZION!
The next morning we headed westward towards Zion National Park. Surely this place must be one of the most magnificent, stunning examples of nature's beauty. I think that you have to go there to fully understand Zion. Pictures can only say so much. . .













Some photos from the Watchman Trail.































































































The Emerald Pools Trail. A cold front was coming in on this morning and the light had changed quite a bit since the clear and sunny day before.

































































Once the cold front had settled in, we found that we had to keep active and moving to stay warm. High temperatures were around 45 degrees this day, with a harsh, biting wind sweeping through the Zion canyons. We stopped at Weeping Rock, a short trail to a lovely and colorful rock face. On this morning it not only had dangling ferns and dripping water but also icicles!






































































































Next we headed up the trail to Hidden Canyon, which was very well named. We had no idea what we were in for until we had hiked up many switchbacks and rounded a couple of daunting corners. It was an (icicle) cold day and sand was blowing around just about every corner. But this slot canyon was so magical, tucked away behind the rock walls. With it's lovely, warming, swirling, orange-pink colored walls and falling autumn leaves, it was the highlight of our Zion visit.


































































































































































































KOLOB ARCH, Zion. On one of the coldest mornings, after the first snowfall of the year, we headed over to the Kolob section of Zion. It was about a 45 minute drive around the mountains and up a main interstate highway to reach Kolob. It was beautiful to see the orange rocks dusted in fresh white snow. Though we didn't get to hike due to the lack of snow-proof footwear, it was still fun to touch snow!
To be continued. . .

Harvesting and proccessing Amaranth

This summer Russell decided to grow some Amaranth in the garden. You can eat the leaves when the plants are young and it is similar to a spinach leaf. Once the plant flowers you can harvest the grain to cook like rice or pop like popcorn! But don't get too excited, it really just pops like a seed and doesn't expand much but it does get a nice roasted flavor. Here are some photos to document the process of removing the grains from the flower stalks, which mostly involves rubbing the flower stalks between your hands vigorously to loosen the tiny grains from the plant. Then you have to separate the tiny grains from the also tiny flower particles that also break off from the rubbing. Our harvest (though somewhat decreased by "sharing" some with the birds) was about 1/2 cup of grain from about 8 plants. Our harvesting method was admittedly a bit casual and a second harvest might prove a bit more prosperous.

County Fair!

Last month the fair came to town. . . which is actually a pretty big deal on a small island! Deep Fried Twinkies and Ferris wheels. . .











Inflatable "Camelot" (white) castle with all amenities included. . .



















Prize -winning tropical fruits and vegetables (check out those jack fruit on the top row). . .














And of course, the rides. . .






























Check this link to the local newspaper for an action photo of the Hawaiian Hoary Bat costume Katie made (with a bit of help from Russell) for the National Park to use as an educational costume for the parade and future events http://www.mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/524314.html Look at "Article Photos" for the bat costume.