First Time at 4-H Camp

 This is the first year for our kids in 4-H. My husband participated for many years as a kid, showing animals. I also participated, even though I was a townie and never showed animals. I have fun memories of doing tree leaf collections and baking cookies.

4-H is so much cooler now, with a whole variety of projects. Desert Boy is signed up for a lamb, shooting, legos, and computer coding. Desert Girl is a cloverbud (younger, non-competitive 4-H) and signed up for entomology and flowers.

Other possible 4-H categories include baking, sewing, crafts, model rocketry, outdoor cooking, photography, robotics, welding, woodworking, and more.

There are lots of 4-H meetings, but we've missed them all because we live so far away and currently don't have a local club. But we heard about 4-H camp, which was over the course of three days. We already had other activities planned for the first and third days, but we could attend Saturday, which was Family Day. We drove out to White River Valley and to the unmarked camp, which is on private property. 4-H camp has been held at the same spot for a long time, next to a hot spring. My husband used to go there. A metal building is a new addition and allows for a variety of activities out of the hot sun.

The first activity of the day: an obstacle course. First, get through the spider web.

After making a simulated campfire, run to the pond.

Two swimmers had to swim across and get some rubber duckies. Desert Boy volunteered to be one of the swimmers and did okay. He could really use a swim team, but we'll just have to improvise!

Then they tied themselves together and hobbled through the door. The team that Desert Boy and Desert Girl were on won, and later they got a free icee for their efforts.

Not long after it was lunch time, with some delicious hamburgers.

It was getting hot after lunch, so it was time for a water game. PVC pipes had holes in them, and the kids had to cover the holes with a goal of filling the pipe to the top.

Water kept spilling out of the pan, making it a cold task.

When that was done, it was time to swim! My husband and I looked at the hot spring, which was off limits. The water was quite hot.

First, a group photo.

Then into the pond! The water comes from the hot spring, so is quite pleasant.

The bathtub used to be a soaking place, but it needs a good cleaning.

We enjoyed our day a lot, and the kids begged to stay longer. We could have, as there was a fatal accident on the highway by a construction zone and we were delayed a couple hours. Drive safely!

The kids are already asking about 4-H camp for next summer, and it's tentatively planned for the second weekend in July. Hopefully they can make it and make even more great memories. And maybe next year, more local kids will participate, which will make it even more fun. :)

Topaz Museum, Delta, Utah

 The Topaz Museum in Delta, Utah had its grand opening on July 8, 2017. The groundbreaking for the museum was in 2012, and then it opened with temporary exhibits, artwork done by internees. Planning and funding followed to develop new exhibits for the museum.

If you want the quick synopsis, it's: Wow! You have got to see this museum!

The Topaz Museum is amazing. Topaz was one of several internment camps during World War II. Americans of Japanese descent living within 100 miles of the West Coast were sent to internment camps because they were seen as a threat to American security. Even if they were elderly or infants. Even if they had thriving businesses or farmed crops needed by wartime America. They weren't reimbursed. They could only take one suitcase. They didn't know where they were going or how long they were going for.


One of the things that I think worked so well in this exhibit is that it not only tells you about the Topaz story, but makes you reflect on your own. In the panel below, the question at the bottom asks, "How many years ago did your family immigrate to the United States? What problems did they face?"

Californians sent to the West Desert were in for a real shock. Topaz was out in the middle of nowhere, with little precipitation and little vegetation. One thing there was plenty of was dust. And tough living conditions.

This painting illustrates some of the dust storms they faced.

Families were assigned to spartan barracks without insulation.

The museum has exhibits about what life was like. Schools were created plus some social opportunities to help keep people busy.


There were some quotes in the exhibit that really resonated.

Some of the previous artwork is still on display. I was glad to see that.


One of the panels towards the end of the exhibit questions, "Could an injustice like Topaz happen again in our country?"

 It took the country a long time to recognize the injustice that had been done. In 1988, Congress passed the Civil Liberties Act, signed by President Ronald Reagan. This act acknowledged "fundamental violations of the basic civil liberties and constitutional rights" of people of Japanese ancestry. The act also authorized payment for the 82,000 people who had been interned. Unfortunately, 40,000 of them had already died.

Hopefully this museum will help us remember what our great nation is for and help to prevent such atrocities in the future.

In the small gift shop, you can also get directions to where the actual Topaz site was located. No buildings still remain, but you can get a sense of what it would have been like to live out there for years in inadequate buildings and few freedoms.

Exploring Devil's Gate Slot Canyon

We headed out to Gandy Warm Springs one Saturday with friends. We had lots of fun swimming in the "deep" section. After we were good and wet, we decided it was time to head to nearby Devil's Gate slot canyon (click the link for a map on how to get there). 

The hike starts in the wash, and it's a little hot. We kept an eye out for rattlesnakes. (none seen)

Before long, we rounded a turn and saw big obstacles ahead. The kids were so excited. They love anything that is adventurous and seems difficult.

The floor dropped out, and it was time to find a way down.

The limestone rock was very slippery, so we had to proceed slowly.

More kids going down. We let them lead.

Lots of smiles!

One dog made it down, but our dog stayed up, watching nervously.

More smiles!

The boys had found a spot to scamper up.

Desert Girl found another.

And Willow found a cool opening.

The canyon was over way too fast! The kids wandered around, and the adults lingered more, enjoying this respite from the desert heat. Plus the rock is so beautiful. This is well worth a detour if you're headed to warm springs. And that's where we headed afterwards for a second swim, as you can never have too much swimming in one day!

A Fiery Fourth of July

 Fourth of July started as a calm, hot day. My husband and I both had the day off and were thinking of sailing in the afternoon. But then the pager went off, stating that smoke had been seen near the highway and the Snake Creek turnoff. We both knew that wasn't a good thing, so we ran out the door towards the fire station.

We put on our Nomex, grabbed our gear, and headed out in fire trucks. When we arrived, the fire was still small, about five acres, but the wind was causing it to spread quickly. None of our fire trucks are four-wheel drive, so that presented some difficulties. Fortunately, we had already called for assistance, and other fire engines and a helitack crew came.

Nevertheless, the wind was blowing the fire faster than we could move. It burned especially fast when it went through areas of cheatgrass. The wind shifted direction and speed, making it hard to judge where we could go safely.

In about three hours it had spread from five acres to more than a thousand acres.

It was threatening structures at the south end of town.

Fortunately we had single engine air tankers (SEATs) with fire retardant and helicopters doing bucket work to help out. Plus more fire resources had arrived.

These fast-moving fires are hard to fight, but we gave it our all, doing what we could with our equipment and training. Thanks so much to all who responded. And a special thanks to all the volunteers--volunteer fire departments are so important for a quick response.

I went home, took a shower, and then went out to meet the kids, au pair, and friends for fireworks, a preferable fiery part of the day than wildland fire. I had missed the dinner and had to pass on doing a trumpet solo I had planned at the music program because I was still so rattled from responding to the fire. But I could handle taking a few photos of the fireworks.

The fireworks looked great.

Wow!

Hopefully we won't have that much excitement again anytime soon!

To the Top of Eastern Nevada: Up Wheeler Peak with Kids

The day arrived: time to head up Wheeler Peak. We had two seven year olds and a ten year old. We had spent the night before at Wheeler Peak campground at 10,000 feet to acclimate and make the hike easier. We took a before hike photo when we were still all smiling (we forgot to take the after hike photo, but I can assure you some of the faces would have been showing different expressions!)

The start is easy, not too steep, fairly flat ground, and gorgeous views. We could see where we would soon be--on the ridge that leads up to Wheeler Peak (the mountain on the right in the photo above).

As we got higher, the trail got rockier. The kids wanted lots of breaks, so we had to use our best parenting techniques to keep them going.

I found the flowers distracting. I especially loved this pink one, moss campion (Silene acualis), that grows in a mound.

At one point, Desert Boy went ahead, found a wind shelter, and then laid down and pretended he was dead. Here are the kids trying to revive him. Fortunately they were successful!

Higher up, we found some snow!

We decided to take this snowy route for awhile.

Desert Boy's expression shows how enthusiastic he was. But then he and Isaac started talking about video games, and they got a second wind.

Jenny is such a trooper, up to any challenge! And with a smile.

Almost to the top!

One of the benefits of climbing the peak in July is seeing the bright pink Palmer's primrose (Primula parryi) in bloom. It's usually a riparian plant, but for some reason it also likes the higher slopes of Wheeler Peak. The purple plant is sky pilot or sticky Jacob's ladder (Polemonium viscosum), and it smells like skunk. Fortunately it wasn't too odiferous on this particular day. In the middle of the photo below, you can see Bald Mountain, with Buck Mountain to the right. The dry playa in the background is Yelland dry lake bed in Spring Valley.

Finally we got to the top! It was so nice to be there. We shared the summit ridge with about 20 other people, who were scattered along it.

Some of us went to the eastern edge of the ridge to see the Wheeler Cirque Rock Glacier and Jeff Davis peak. This year there aren't any thermokarst ponds (pools of water) on the rock glacier.

Jenny got a family photo of us.

And I wanted to get a photo with Jenny!

We spent about an hour at the top on the rare, almost windless day. You might notice we're not even wearing jackets. This is not common at all! Desert Girl wasn't feeling so good, and we hoped heading down would relive her altitude sickness.

The Ross's aven (Geum rossii) with its mats of yellow flowers and cushion phlox (Phlox pulvinata) with its white flowers decorated the scene, along with more sky pilot.

I thought going down might end the whining, but the kids were tired and let us know it.

With snow down the gully to Stella Lake, we thought that would be a fun alternative to the trail. There were a few fun moments...

 ...but it was really long and probably didn't really save us any time. But now we know.

We were all exhausted when we got back to the vehicles and forgot to take the after photo. The kids said they would never hike the peak again. But once they told other people and saw their reactions, they changed to saying that they wouldn't hike the peak in the next few years. After that, who knows?

Anyway, we were really proud of them for accomplishing such a big feat. and it was great to spend the day outdoors in such beautiful settings. For anyone wanting to take kids to the top, plan on an all-day adventure (it was about 9 hours total for us, including an hour at the top), lots of food and water and patience. And it sure helps to have good weather!