Wupatki, Sunset Crater and Walnut Canyon National Monuments

October 27, 2009
Today we collected three smaller parks in the Flagstaff, AZ area. Wupatki (dates back to the 1100s) and Walnut Canyon (dates between 1125 to 1250) both are ruins of old communities. Sunset Crater is an old volcano "Sunset Crater Volcano was born in a series of eruptions sometime between 1040 and 1100. Lava flows and cinders still look as fresh and rugged as the day they formed." http://www.nps.gov/sucr/index.htm
It was very windy outside today. The truck was blowing around and sage brush was hitting the truck with quite a bit of force. I took a photo of some sage brush blowing across the road. Despite the wind the truck held up pretty well. I only got 2 errors that caused a re-run. The pavement cameras didn't initialize right one time but those were the only three issues we had today. We were done collecting around 2pm so we took a short 1 mile hike in Walnut Canyon to look at the ruins there. It was a nice hike but there was an 185 foot elevation drop at the beginning, which was fine on the way down but on the way back up asthma set in again...so much for living in denial. Looks like another DRs visit might be in my future to get an inhaler (which I haven't had since about 2001)...uhhhh.

Montazuma Castle and Tuzigoot National Monuments

October 26, 2009
I called for a cab to pick me up at 8:30am from my friend's house...the door bell rang at 8:10am! Luckily I was ready but not happy to cut my visit 20 minutes short...every minute counts you know. I grabbed my bags and was off to pick up the truck at a Ford dealer shop. The truck is really a money pit. I know that was a movie once (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091541/) but I just want to say that money pits really do exist...I drive one. I'm very, very glad we are getting a new truck! After getting the truck I headed to the airport to pick up Jeff and then we headed North to Montazuma Castle and Tuzigoot. Those parks are really small and the truck was cooperating so we finished the parks in no time. We were able to take a couple of short walks to see the old dwellings. I attached a couple of the photos. Oh, It was 85 degrees in Phoenix and then we get up to Flagstaff and it is only in the 50s!

To Phoenix

October 23 to 25, 2009
After work on Friday an airport shuttle picked me up at 3:30pm so I could catch a 6:30pm flight to Phoenix. I decided to head out a couple of days early to visit some friends (finally!). That is one of the small perks of this job. I can go to a place a couple of days early and not have to pay for the flight (if the cost is the same or less than it would be if I would fly on Monday). Anyway, the flight was great with little problems. Although when you fly so often you get to watch the same TV programs on the flights over and over. They only change their programs every 2 weeks or so. I got to watch a program on Las Vegas for the second time. Once the plane landed in Phoenix I realized we were pulling up to a gate that didn't have a jet bridge. The plane was pretty big and the stewardess said "I don' t know who we upset but we don't have a jet bridge so you will have to walk down several stairs". The problem was that the stairs were not tall enough for our plane so there was a big gap/step down to get off the plane...not very safe (in my opinion). Once I was inside the baggage area was super crazy. There were 4 carousels and a ton of people, most of us had no idea where we should stand to get our bags. I think every flight landed at the same time! I rank that one of the top 3 worst designed airports for heavy travel :( . I was not expecting it to be so crowded and crazy, but I did get my bag so it all turned out OK in the end.

On Saturday we went to a Mystery Castle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystery_Castle
It was interesting and reminded me a bit of House on the Rock in Wisconsin but on a much smaller scale. The daughter of the builder was there and that was pretty neat. She still lives in the house but has her own personal upstairs area (with air conditioning). She sat on the porch and talked to us for a few minutes. We then went to South Mountain Park up Summit Road. It was a windy, narrow road up a mountain south of Phoenix and it was a good lookout over the city. I was able to get some pretty good photos of the city up there.

Back in Denver (again)

October 19, 2009
I made it back to Denver this evening. The trip went really well. I had an upgrade to first class so I didn't have to worry about someone sitting "on top" of me and we also got cheese and fruit for a snack. It was nice to have more space. I had to take super shuttle home since my car is still at the shop (which I should get back tomorrow) and the shuttle usually takes forever but this time I was able to get in a van that was leaving in 15 minutes. I got outside to find the driver arguing with some lady on the sidewalk. The driver was just trying to do his job and the lady just wanted to get home. The argument continued on and off for most of the ride home....crazy.

Anyway, I should back track and tell you a bit about the weekend. So the twins finally saw my sister and I together and we got things straightened out...I'm really Aunt Jamie and not mommy. They finally started calling me "Aunt Jamie" when I walked in the door. One cute story is that Rori (who is two) and I were sitting on the couch and I saw her biting at her toes. I said "Rori, what are you doing" and she looked at me and said "I bite" (like why was I asking...can't I see that)! It was really funny. Rori and Lele also can't say their brother's name Nolan yet so they call him Noman, which is also really cute to hear them say.

My sister and I went to see Sylvia Browne (http://www.sylvia.org/home/index.cfm) on Sunday and it was really good. I left the place feeling like things were going to be OK. I haven't really felt like that for quite some time. Unfortunately neither my sister or I won the free reading with Sylvia nor did we win a chance to ask her a question :(. Seeing her was great though. The casino did give us a free $5.00 gambling card for going to a show there. I don't gamble but it was a free $5 so why not. I played the double diamond slot machine and ended up winning $43.75...I'll take it.

We took the kids to the pumpkin patch on Saturday and I posted a couple of photos. These might be the only "personal" photos I ever post to the blog...I feel weird doing it but I hope people enjoy them. The sun was not cooperating the best but squinting or not these are a couple of the photos we got....

Home in MN

October 16, 2009
I made it to MN today. I got up at 4:50am (gotta love the early flights) and returned my rental car at the airport around 6:30am. Oh, my car is finally getting the hail damage fixed and should be ready for me to pick up when I get back to Denver (I can't wait)!!! The flight went well and I slept most of way. Abbi (my sister's 8 year old daughter) and my mom met me at the airport and we headed over to the MN history center. We then decided to go up the road to tour the James J. Hill house. I have toured the house a couple of times before but this time they let us go on an upper floor, which was interesting to see. That floor had the "private" family bedrooms. I also learned that James J. Hill is about #37 on the list of America's most richest people in history! He built the northern railroad line from MN to Seattle and his line never went bankrupt like most others did. After the tour we headed back to Rochester and I wanted to stop by my sister's house to see her other 3 kids. Here is the funny part....I haven't seen the twins (who are now 2 years old) for quite some time. I learned that they really only know me from being in a family photo that my sister has hanging on the living room wall. Abbi walked in the house first and said to the kids something like "someone is here to surprise you" and the twins walked over so they could see the door and they both say "Abbi" then "Grandma" then they look at me and pause (like they wanted to say something but didn't know what) and then finally said "mommy"! Oh, my sister was at work at the time. We all just started cracking up. I said "No, I'm Aunt Jamie" and they looked at me and said "mommy". I guess they were convinced. I kept saying "Aunt Jamie" and Lele would point at the family photo on the wall. I said "No, I'm really Aunt Jamie". I think it was a lost battle from the beginning. Lele kept coming up to me with her arms up saying "mommy" and Anthony said "No Lele, that is a stranger" (thanks for adding that twist in there bro...I am in the family photo, remember!) Anyway, we'll see how tomorrow goes when the twins can see both my sister (the real mommy) and I together at the same time.

One of several James J. Hill web links...
http://www.mnhs.org/places/sites/jjhh/