New Mexico - Day 2 Jemez Springs and Bandelier

The next day we left for Santa Fe, but we didn't take the direct route we took the scenic route through Jemez Springs. (Nate and I were very into scenic routes on this trip.) Along the way we stopped at several really interesting sites.

Our first stop was at the Jemez State Monument where we saw the ruins of both the San José de los Jemez church and the surrounding Indian village of Giusewa. Below are a couple of pictures of the old church which was built in 1610, 10 years before the Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts. The extremely thick stone walls are pretty impressive.

We drove by Soda Dam, Battleship Rock, and Valle Grande, which was formed by the collapse of volcanic domes after two massive eruptions about 1.6 and 1.2 million years ago.


Our next stop was Bandelier National Monument. We took a walk through Frijoles Canyon where we saw the ruins of the 13th century Tyuonyi pueblo. Below you can see the dwellings built on the canyon floor. The cliffs surrounding the pueblo have a lot of natural voids, called tuffs, that the people who lived here enlarged. The really cool thing about Bandelier is that they let you climb up and get a closer view of these cliff dwellings.



I'm sure that Nate would want to me post a picture of the bat cave. As we were walking through the monument I commented about the cliff walls and how they seemed to be the perfect home for huge colonies of bats. Right after I made this comment we ran into this sign and the picture below is of the bats' home, Long House Cave.


Nate and I then took a side trail to the see the Alcove House, a cliff dwelling in a very high cave that visitors can reach by ladder. Actually, several ladders.

I'm starting the long climb to the top, and below Nate is crouched in one of the many natural crevices in the cliff face. I think it's pretty cool that they let visitors climb all the way up there. Don't worry we were careful. And everything was so close together that the whole round trip was only about 2 miles.


From Bandelier Nate and I drove to Santa Fe where we ate dinner and checked into our hotel. We had a full day.

New Mexico - Day 1 Albuquerque

For Spring Break Nate and I took a trip to New Mexico. If you are like my friend Brian you might be wondering why we would chose New Mexico. I have wanted to go to New Mexico for years. It was a class I took in graduate school at BYU that really sparked my interest. New Mexico was a major tourist destination for artists and authors during the modernist period, and it still has a thriving artistic community. Seeing what fascinated all these artists was my primary motivation, but New Mexico seemed like a good pre-baby trip as well because it involved lots of scenic drives and strolls around Taos and Santa Fe.

We started our trip in Albuquerque hanging out with my friends from high school and college Susan and Brian and their daughter Grace. Susan and Grace met us at the aquarium where we ate in front of the shark tank.

Then we went to see the adjacent botanical gardens. Below Nate and I are in the dessert pavilion. I also got a picture there with Susan and Grace. And Jill, I want you to know that our time at the dessert garden in Phoenix served me well. I could identify some of the cacti and dessert trees.

We also went with Grace to the really cute children's garden. Everything is oversized in the children's garden. Here's Grace trying to climb onto a giant ant. And below, Nate, Grace and I pose in front of an enormous watering can.

As you can see Grace had a great time. She ran everywhere.

Nate and I relaxed during the afternoon and went to Brian and Susan's house for pizza that evening. We had a great time hanging out, hearing about Brian's residency, and just getting a chance to catch up. Thanks again Susan and Brian. We hope to meet up with you in Colorado sometime soon.

Zephyr is so Weird

Forget cat treats, it's waffles that Zephyr really likes. Whenever we eat waffles Zephyr is all over us. She will do anything for a waffle. I even got Zephyr to jump up onto my dresser by offering her waffle pieces. In the pictures below you can see how much Zephyr loves a good waffle, but unfortunately, you can't hear her begging with little meows or sniffing all over my hands for more waffle bits. I keep telling her that "cats don't eat waffles," but she doesn't understand English.

Zephyr also has a long-lasting fascination with the air-intake vent in our apartment. She spends hours trying to unravel its mysteries. Why does it turn on spontaneously? What lies behind that metal grate? She almost never passes the vent without looking at it for a few moments. Sometimes she'll be sleeping when the vent turns on, and she will blot up to check it out. I'm glad she's entertained.

New Nephew

Paige and Peter, sister and her husband, had their baby, Andrew Scott Funk, on January 30th. He came a little earlier than everyone would have liked, but he seems to be doing well.

The Sorry State of Our Blog

Nate and I have turned into major blog slackers. This is not because we don't have anything to blog about. We went to Minnesota for Thanksgiving and hung out with the Jensen's. We went to Colorado for Christmas and hung out with the Gillespie's. We had a great time on both of those trips, but one thing was sorely missing. We didn't take any pictures. OK. We took one. It's a picture of Zephyr at my parent's house scarfing down the liver my mom fed her. Seriously. The only picture we took isn't of Charlotte or Sarah or Paige or Taggart. No, it's our own cat. So the lack of recent posts on this blog really comes down to one thing and that is that Nate and I have turned into major camera slackers. And because our blog is really all about photos ... well, you get the picture (or lack thereof.)




However, I do have one picture to share. This is our baby boy. He is due to arrive around July 1st.


The baby seems to be doing really well. He was happily moving all over the place during the ultrasound. In fact, he was a little camera shy and kept flipping over before we could get a good, long look at his face. I'm doing well too. I'm over all the first trimester ickiness, which was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. My sister is having a baby boy in March so we are looking forward to getting the cousins together.

1-70

Driving to Colorado Springs from Kansas City can be a real drag. The drive is long and straight. It's a challenge to even find somewhere good to eat because the biggest town between Topeka and Colorado Springs is Hays (think small). However, Nate and I have found some spots that are worth sharing.

We were enchanted by these windmills and hay bales. The second picture is really a clash between the old Midwest and the new Midwest.


We stopped in Russell, the home of Bob Dole so that Nate could get another photo with this awesome oil drill. The first picture was taken back in January of 2002 when Nate drove cross-country with his mom from Washington D.C. to Provo. You can see that in 2008 the drill is still going strong.



And let's not forget the lovely city of Colby, the self-proclaimed Oasis of the Plains complete with fiberglass palm trees. How very odd.

Anyone up for a road trip?

Go Green

I bought some reusable bags from our local grocery store, The Price Chopper. (Pretty awesome name for a store, eh?) Anyway, I wanted the bags so that I could be a more environmentally friendly shopper. What I wasn't prepared for is that these little bags have actually greatly increased my shopping satisfaction. And here is why. The bags are bigger and more durable than your standard plastic sack. Thus, more can food can be packed into them, and that means that I have to make less trips carrying bags from my car to my appartment. I know this doesn't sound like much, but seriously, it's made a big difference to me.

Also, the bags are perfect for carrying books to and from the library. I've shown up more than once at the library with an empty bag and loaded it up. As you can see, I have a lot of library books at my house.

I never thought I would see this happen again

I snapped this photo at a gas station near my office on Friday.

All about Taggart

October 18th is my brother's birthday. Nate and I got to celebrate with him this year.

The night before his birthday we went to see Taggart's band, "Tom's Got Shingles," perform. Here's Taggart rocking out on his bass guitar with his fellow band mates.

Check out the lead singer. I told my parent that the lead singer reminded me of Gil, the lead guitarist in Lane Kim's band on Gilmore Girls. Later, I talked to my brother about the lead singer and I was so right. He is just like Gil. He is way older than the rest of the band members; he has at least two kids; he has crazy long hair. He is Gil in real life.

After the set, Nate and I wanted a picture with The Bass Player (T. B. Player). He kindly obliged. Sort of.

The next day we went to have a birthday picnic (complete with present) at this great new open area park in Colorado Springs.


The whole experience reminded me of this time that we went to have a birthday picnic for my dad with my cousins, Aunt Patti, Uncle Todd, and Gramma.

The park where we were eating for Taggart's birthday definitely shared some similarities with the park where we had dad's picnic. But I think the deja-vu actually had just as much to do with the fact that these two occasions are the ONLY times we have had birthday picnics. Anyway, it made me really wish that we had made Taggart a really awesome birthday crown like my aunt did for my dad.

To truly experience the humor of this picture you have to understand that my dad really, Really, REALLY hates birthdays.

After the picnic we went on a 3-mile hike admiring the great red rock formations and the Fall colors.


On the top of one of the rises we had this spectacular view of Garden of the Gods.

Taggart and Nate climbed up these rocks to admire the view. Behind them you can see the results of the quarrying that was done in this area.

Here's my dad getting that perfect shot while the rest of us admire the view.

The View:

Starring our Car

This article: Pickup Driver Damages Cars In OP Parking Lot stars our car as well as five of our neighbors. Above is the picture the article uses with our car front and center. What a drag.

Historic Houses

Nate and I went on another day trip last weekend. First we went to Old Jefferson Town, which is a place near Oskaloosa, Kansas. Old Jefferson Town has a collection of 6 or 7 old buildings which at one point were scattered across Jefferson County, Kansas but have now been gathered together for the sake of preservation and tourism. The big draw for us was a chance to see John Steuart Curry's boyhood home. John Steuart Curry was a big name in the art world in the 1930s. He, along with fellow artists Thomas Hart Benton and Grant Wood, made up the Regionalists (with a capital R). All three of these artists were from the midwest (Benton from Missouri, Wood from Iowa, and Curry from Kansas), and they were known for painting midwestern subjects. Nate and I had already been to see Thomas Hart Benton's Kansas City home so I guess now we just need to go see where Grant Wood once lived.

Below is John Steuart Curry's boyhood home. It's now a museum of sorts displaying some of his prints and sketches.

Old Jefferson Town also has an old jail, bank, church, store and schoolhouse (featured above). Here's the old teller window from the bank.

The other really amazing thing that we saw at Old Jefferson Town was this collection of barbed wire. It had been collected for years by a resident of Jefferson County who carefully labeled all the different types of barbed wire. He did a great service by donating his collection to Old Jefferson Town. They display it in the historic jail.


The docent at Old Jefferson Town was a little overenthusiastic so we were really ready to leave and continue on our journey to Atchison, Kansas. Atchison is a beautiful, little town on the banks of the Missouri River about an hour and a half northwest of Kansas City. Atchison was founded in 1854, played a role in the Civil War, and became a really important railway depot in 1859. I was particularly excited about going to Atchison because of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. I took a class at BYU in graduate school where we talked a lot about tourism in Santa Fe and all the artists who visited New Mexico. Almost all the big names in American art from the turn-of-the century through the 1930s went to New Mexico at least once (and it's still a thriving artist community). I haven't quite made it to New Mexico, but I did make it to the first leg of the journey.


Atchison was also the birthplace of Amelia Earhart. Here is her home. And below is the view from her front yard -- the Missouri River and the Amelia Earhart bridge.

Atchison is also known as the most haunted town in Kansas. Every year the folks of Atchison put on a Haunted Atchison trolley ride where you can see all the haunted houses (and great Victorian architecture) and hear about the mysteries happenings inside those homes. In the McInteer Mansion below lights are said to turn on and off in the tower which does not have electricity.


The Waggoneer (or Gargoyle) House has a strange architectural addition -- the two gargoyles perched on the ridge of the roof. They are said to protect the house, but they also protect themselves. Supposedly one owner, who was trying to remove the gargoyles, fell down the stairs to his death. Other tales of Haunted Atchison can be found here.



I can't say for certain that Nate and I met any ghosts, but I did mysteriously lose my hat on this trip...

Greater Kansas City Temple

I know that most of the excitement regarding President Monson's announcement of temples centered around the one to be built in Rome, but for those of us living in Kansas all we heard was that a temple would, at long last, be built in the greater Kansas City area. We were so elated at the news that we had to rewind the broadcast to hear the announcement about Rome. Our city has 10+ stakes in the area, yet is still 3+ hours from the nearest temple. I have no idea where the temple will be built, but with the unique description that it would be in the greater Kansas City area, I'm hoping that it will be built on our side of the state line.