Well, we survived last week. I had about all I could take by Saturday, so we grabbed Willie and headed north. We went to Kolob Reservoir in southern Utah. It was fun to share one of our favorite places with Will. He was pretty funny. First, we picked him up early and took him to breakfast. He ate a pretty big breakfast--cereal, cinnamon roll, bacon. Then we hit the road north. We stopped going into St. George and bought Will some new shoes at Walmart. He'd outgrown his running shoes and Jason had thrown them away. Unfortunately, you have to be concerned about cold little feet in flip flops at the reservoir--no matter how hot it is down below, it's frequently chilly at the top. He thought his new shoes were great and he talked Grandpa into buying him a toy. We made it to Hurricane, UT about 12:30. Will was looking at the clock and announced it was time for lunch. Joe was shocked that he was hungry when we'd finished breakfast only about 3 hours before. Will managed to spot a Burger King in the distance that I sure didn't see (and I've got great distance vision), and of course, that meant we were having Burger King for lunch. At first, Joe was confused about which direction we needed to go, but we took the proper turn and headed out of Hurricane. The drive up to the reservoir is 25 miles and top speed on the climb, per the speed limit is 35mph. There are two real hairpin turns and any number of spots where there is a steep drop off along the side of the road going up. The road is considered so dangerous by the locals that many people won't go up there unless they are sure they can get back before dark. We stopped along the way and took some pictures in a winter wheat field. I also got some great photos at the reservoir. Will and Joe had some ball practice up there alongside the reservoir. Coming down was exciting--Joe didn't bother to check the gas gauge before we went up so by the time we made the first gas station in Hurricane, I think the tank must have been darn near dry. Who says prayer doesn't make a difference? I had planned on taking some photos at various places on the way down, but that went out the window with the empty gas tank.......
One of the things that always amazes me is how cool it is up there. The van has a temperature gauge on it. It showed a temp of 101 at the bottom. By the time we made the top of the climb the temperature was 75degrees. A few degrees cooler and we would have been digging in the back of the van for jackets, long pants, etc, particularly with the breeze that was blowing. It is quiet, the air is clean and fresh. It is such a peaceful place.
We stopped on the way back in St. George and had dinner at Chuck-a-rama. When I first heard of the place, years ago, it sounded to me like a place that would feed you cowboy beans and fried potatoes. In reality it is a buffet and the food is excellent. Though they get quite a crowd in and out of there at meal times, the food does not have that "mass produced" taste. You really get the feeling they cooked it to order, just for you. Will had "steak" (roast beef), some green Jello, some red Jello, and some chocolate cake. I thought about the fact that he wasn't eating any veggies but decided to ignore it. I know his mother cooks lots of veggies for him all the time so one meal without them won't kill him. Fun fact: you pay for children based on their age. The cost is $.75 per year. So, for Will, it cost us 7 x $.75. Sure a great deal, particularly for the typically large families in that area. And, it's not unusual to see parties of a dozen or more at the restaurant.
Well, that's about it for now. I've got work to do. Here are some pages and then I've got to get busy.
Johnstown, PA is my parents' home town. While the city has fallen on economic hard times, it has a rich history, including one of the nation's worst natural disasters. I have found an internet site (www.robertpence.com) which features points of interest, some of which I remember, in a phototour of the area. Can you imagine a flood that wiped out 90% of area buildings and killed 2200 people with no DNA to identify the bodies and no modern equipment to clear the debris? These are photos of the flood site as it appears today and a short explanation of the reasons behind the flood. I used Traci Reed's Ruffled Skirt kit for this and a 2-page template from Melanie Colosimo at Elemental Scraps called Button Up.
Another great photo from www.robertpence.com. Love this road sign found outside Johnstown, PA. The road sign actually says "Aggressive Driver High Crash Area". Now, tell me, isn't that a funky weird road sign? Wouldn't any other state post a state trooper there, not a road sign? This kit is not currently for sale, but you can buy lots of great Deb Fisher stuff at Pickleberry Pop. The road sign is by Ange Barton, and the sun element is by Amanda Rockwell.
Right across from the dentist's office in Los Algodones is this cute little restaurant. We were hungry this trip so we decided to try it out. The food was great and they even had entertainment....kind of fun to hear Patsy Kline's country hits with a Mexican flair. I used Amanda Rockwell's Sprinkles kit for this layout. The colors were perfect. Amanda's products are available at amandarockwell.com. I also used clusters (altered) by Nancy Comelab.
We only had two days in San Diego, but our last stop was the USS Midway Museum. There was A LOT of walking involved, but it was worth it. This isn't the greatest photo, but with the cars below, it does give some idea of the size of the ship. It was commissioned in 1945 and served for 42 years. It has only opened as a museum in the last few years so new areas of the ship are being opened to visitors all the time. Everything on the page is from Lawanna Desjardin's American Pride kit, available at O Scraps.
The dogs are SO curious when the baby is around. But, they are not used to babies, so we can only let them near him under close supervision. Here Punkin gets a very closely supervised "first sniff" of Atticus. I used Nina's "Friends" kit for this page. The heart is by Traci Reed (recolored) and the creator of the cardboard by someone unknown. Nina's designs are available at O Scraps and at NDISB.
I would have loved to scrap these photos in color, but Atticus looked SO red in the color photos. I don't remember him being THAT color! So b&w seemed better to me. I used a new kit by Amanda Heimann called Just Ducky, available at Plain Digital Wrapper. The swirls are by Kristin CB and the tear is by Traci Sims.
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