Mountain Home Range-Part Two

Every good adventure needs some good food, so as it was approaching lunch time we found a good picnic spot and unloaded the coolers so everyone could browse and fix what they wanted for lunch.

The spot we stopped at was a little cabin fairly high up in the mountains. There was no sign at it, but I think it's on private land. Like most isolated cabins, it was unlocked so people wouldn't break in. The inside was relatively clean and simple, although like all cabins, had a fair number of mouse droppings. With hanta virus, I don't know if I would be willing to take the chance of sleeping inside, but probably a good cleaning would help. This area gets used a lot in the fall by hunters. Whoever owns this, thanks for the use of your picnic table!
Desert Girl shows more and more interest in food, and her uncle was willing to oblige her. At first she looks a little concerned about mouthing some chocolate cookie.
But then I think she decided she really wanted more!
We continued up higher, finally leaving the pinyon and juniper and getting into some higher sagebrush. The views kept improving as we could see more and more of the Great Basin and distant snow-covered ranges.
We took a spur road and ended up on a ridge. It was time to stop to not only enjoy the views and stretch our legs, but also to go insect hunting.
Everyone enjoyed the beautiful rest stop, even the three dogs with us.
One vista.
Lola was particularly good at catching grasshoppers. She was really fast and could track them down and capture them quickly.
Once a grasshopper had been captured, it was transferred to the bug cage.

Then it was time to show it off. Ed takes a look and does the appropriate oohi
ng and ahhing.
Then it was Grandma Sylvia's turn.

The bigger kids entertained themselves for awhile with the Matthew game, which consisted of swinging him in the air. You can see that he is really enjoying this game. He didn't want them to stop.

But eventually it was time for the Matthew tossing game! He liked that a lot, too! And I was thankful that his cousins had so much energy.

To be continued...

Mountain Home Range-Part One

So the day after Fourth of July we decided to go on a big adventure up into the mountains. Instead of going to one of the more popular alpine areas, we decided to go exploring in a mountain range that's basically in the middle of nowhere. That would be more adventurous, right?
Our first stop was this big water tank. Water is obviously important in the desert, so we often stop to take a peek at water! Even if it involves climbing up a ladder.
Here's the view at the top. My brother Ed took this photo (and all the other photos that don't have the Desert Survivor watermark), which makes it look like a wonderful swimming pool. It's quite deep, and it's algae giving such a green color to the water. It was chilly, fed by a spring further up a canyon.

We could see corrals off in the distance, so off we went for our first hike.

They were sheep corrals, and the kids soon got into the swing of things, pretending to be sheep. Baaa. I like how Megan convinced Caleb to give her a ride.

Then it was time to go up to higher country. The map showed a couple routes up there, and we decided to take the road less traveled, the one that was more direct. The road got rougher and rougher...the canyon got narrower and narrower....

...and finally we reached a spot that was too rough for the second of our caravan of vehicles to make it.
The old Suburban I was driving made it! Ha, ha. Actually the joke was on us, because the air conditioning wasn't working and it was a rather warm day. (Ed actually took a few of these photos with my camera. I haven't figured out how to drive and photograph myself doing that at the same time!)

This neat little arch was hiding up in the rocks. We went back down the canyon and found a much better road to go up higher.

All the older kids wanted to have air conditioning, so the younger kids were with Ed and me. Or maybe they just liked our fun-loving attitude? Actually, I think Desert Boy and Desert Girl were the main attraction. They both love to have their cousins' attention.

To keep the ride interesting as we went through miles and miles of rolling road surrounded by rather monotonous pinyon and juniper, we played that we were on a roller coaster. Desert Boy quickly caught on to the game and decided that he was going to be the loudest screamer. You can see (and hear) for yourself:


To be continued...

Fourth of July

I'm only a couple weeks behind on posting for the Fourth of July! Our day started bright and early with a 5k run. It's been years since I ran a 5k, and although back in March and April I was getting in some regular one and two mile runs, recently I had done virtually no running. Too many early morning bird surveys and knee and hip problems (I know, I sound like an old lady!). So I set a very generous time for myself to beat, one that I would have to keep jogging most of the time to make, but not too fast so that I would be in pain for the next few days.

Fortunately I was able to jog the whole way, and the route was one I had taken Emma on a couple times while Desert Boy was in preschool, so I was distracted by looking at flowers I had previously photographed (or what was left of them). At the end, Desert Boy was eager to join me.

He'll be a good racer someday!
Here's the finish line.
Desert Boy ate some of the snacks with his cousins Ruby and Grace. I tried to catch up to them the entire race, but they stayed ahead of me, making the run look so easy. Fortunately I beat my time, and even though I was ten minutes slower than when I ran in college, I was still happy. Maybe some day I will attempt those faster times again--or maybe not!
After some rest and recuperation and lunch, it was time to relax in one of our favorite activities--playing in water! Desert Boy and Lola carried innertubes over to the nearby swimming hole.

This is a settling pond for irrigation and was dug out to about eight feet deep early in the summer. High water brought lots of rock, sand, and silt down, and now one-third of the pond is less than a foot deep and the rest is only about three to four feet deep.

The water is from the mountains, so it's a bit chilly, but a good way to cool off on a hot summer afternoon! Thanks to my brother Ed for taking these photos. After all the excitement of our Grand Canyon trip, I hardly took any photos on the fourth.

I slipped away from the pond for awhile to go to a baby shower.

Cynthia should be having her baby any day! And in the background is Chayo, with her new baby. Little Emma is going to have lots of playmates.
And then it was time to go for the Fourth of July fun. We ate yummy food and then settled on the grass for the musical program. Emma had fun playing in the grass.
She even liked the fireworks, although I kept my hands over her ears to muffle the loudness. We got to watch from just across the field from where they were setting them off.
A lovely end to a relaxing day, just what we needed before our big adventure the next day.

Magic Candles

My sister-in-law had her birthday while she was visiting, so we made some special cakes for her. She's a naturalist, so we had to make something nature-related. First we made a butterfly cake, and Desert Boy enjoyed decorating. Does he look at all guilty about eating the decorations? Nah, I didn't think so either.

And we also made a ladybug cake. Okay, these aren't exactly masterpieces, but they do look slightly better than my attempt at Elmo cupcakes!

The finished butterfly cake.

Then it was time for blowing out the candles--both Desert Boy and his cousin Maria were happy to help.

But these weren't just any ol' candles, these were magic candles that apparently shoot fire. To see the action, check out the video below.

Ready for me to make your cake? Ha, ha.

Into the Cave

While our visitors were here, we decided to take a trip into Lehman Cave. This is always a great destination for kids, with so much to see. I gave Desert Boy a flashlight so he'd have something to hang onto and then his hands wouldn't be free to touch the cave formations. Plus he thinks he's pretty cool having his own light.

The first room in the cave is the Gothic Palace, and my brother got the awesome shot above. The parents had lots of fun taking photos as we went on the leisurely tour.

Some of the passages are narrow. This one in particular has a very interesting ceiling.

There it is! Covered with draperies, the ceiling and narrow passage is really awesome. Thanks again, Pete for the photo!

Desert Boy had fun looking down dark holes and wondering if the passage went anywhere. Desert Girl was awake for most of the cave trip and didn't even make a squeak. I guess that means she liked it!

We had some typical kid moments in the cave, too. I mean, kids have to squirm and pick their noses somewhere, right?

Here's Peter, the photographer. He had to duck a lot.

Lehman Cave is known for its multitude of formations. Although the cave isn't long, only about 1.5 miles, it has a very high concentration of speleothems along the tour route, making one feel very much a part of the cave.

I like how the light silhouettes these three stalagmites.

Peter had more ducking as he went further into the cave.

We found a nice place for the cousins to pose for a photo. Except they don't seem to keen on the idea.

Once we let them do their own thing, they were a lot happier.

In the Grand Palace are some beautiful cave shields, including the parachute shield.

We peaked into the Sunken Garden, where some cave restoration is in progress, with the old trail being removed and hauled out five gallon bucket by five gallon bucket. Over 38 tons of material have been moved out of the cave this way so far.

Back in the Grand Palace, these funny bulbous stalactites hang from the ceiling. It's almost like we're getting an under-the-soil view of turnips growing.

Desert Boy looks like he's ready to be a cave guide. He's even got the hand movements down!

You can see that the two little ones are a perfect height for navigating the cave. A small build is definitely an advantage for cave explorers.

Near the end of the tour, the route crosses some natural cave floor with tiny rimstone dams. The calcite was deposited as water slowly spilled over from one dam to the next.

The exit tunnel was made in the 1970s, and they had to dig down through the cave floor to make a human-sized passageway out. That left some layers of calcite with beautiful banding. Some researchers have been doing work dating cave formations to get a better estimate of cave age and should have their results public within the next year.

The tunnel is a place where the kids can finally run! Desert Boy took off with excitement.

Right by the exit door we saw some cave life: a daddy-long legs spider and a cave cricket. What a great trip!