Grandkids!

On a sunny but cool Saturday in March, we went to Hogle Zoo.  Everyone had their own map so we could make sure we saw it all.  In this first picture, there are two or three lions in the center background.  We didn't see the lion cub triplets that were born a few weeks ago. They are still in the nursery, I guess.

In this picture we are watching elephants.

The tail of one elephant is on the right of this real camera selfie, and the other elephant is in the background, top center.

The river otters were in a kind of a playful mood, but were too quick for me to catch a decent picture.  Danny found this much slower otter statue to make friends with.

 

There was more statuary to climb on.

And once again Danny made friends.

 

 We had a snack of ice cream and pretzels, but had to sit in the sun so we wouldn't get too cold.

The gorilla house was very interesting, with three silverbacks prowling and chasing around the swings in their indoor habitat.  It didn't seem like the outdoor venue was open.

The kids loved climbing on the rocks.

On Sunday, Addy and Lynne showed up at our house, and Addy wanted to help grandpa in his office.

"Look how pretty grandma is, grandpa!"

 Happy to have a few days to look forward to.

 There may be something in life more enjoyable than grandkids, but we're not sure what it could be.

"...we hardly knew ye..."

Part 1: On a clear day in January 2016, a lone Scot stood in the cold and piped Amazing Grace to honor the passing of Jim Campbell.

Jim married Grandma LuAnn in 1999 and joined a clan that adored him as much as he adored us.  So we came to Salem, a smallish hamlet of Utah County.  Terisa, Grace and Alice bundled up against the chill.

Paul and Bethany, newly installed in a cute little house in Bountiful were able to be with us. Charlie is the green bundle in the middle, and Danny is behind in the stroller.

Here is Lauren, who may have forgotten how to button a coat, since she was moving to Phoenix the next week, and Alan and Creighton.

Longtime friends Frank and Lucille came to be with LuAnn.

And Todd shows that you can always count on family.

Jim's daughter, Cathy, and her husband, Herb, came from Pleasanton, California,

as did Liz and her husband, Joe.

Terri, the oldest daughter and unable to travel because of ill health, joined us by Facetime (see Cathy holding the phone, bottom right). 

Because technology.

The American Legion of Spanish Fork outdid itself, with over a dozen members present to give Jim, formerly a Captain in the Air Force, full military honors. Folded flag, taps, rifle and empty boots.

LuAnn read a poem she wrote for Jim, and all paid their last respects to a good man, too early gone from a world that desperately needs good men.

Part 2.  At the end of the January, Jim's daughters hosted a memorial/wake for Jim in Pleasanton, and invited all of us to come.  We did!  Part family reunion, part whirlwind getaway. A few highlights:

Here is Miss Addy, heading out to go swimming at the pool.  The hotel's outdoor pool was closed for the season, but Kit found a nearby community pool.  It was also outdoors, and though heated to a good temp for swimming laps, was a little chilly for us all.

Then there was brunch at Papa Bubba's, or Big Papa's or something like that. Terisa and I had French toast in Jim's honor.  It wasn't quite as good as his, but the gang was all here, anyway.

After breakfast, we enjoyed a California winter's day, also know as a Chicago summer's day.

There were games,

...and an excursion to old town Pleasanton. There was a cool museum and art gallery, and a bookstore, and a ton of boutiques. After hiking around main street, the expedition stopped to consider the next snack...

Ice cream was the unanimous choice!  There may have been a pizza snack later...

Apropos of nothing, here is Addy ready for the memorial, posing with Grandpa's umbrella. It was kind of fun having the whole family in one room for the half an hour it took us to get ready and go.

The main event that evening did not disappoint. There was a nice program with a written life sketch, and a slide show that included a shot of us all wrestling with the eight-armed octopus gazebo from $%^& at a family reunion. The main thing is that we got to see Jim's life and hear from friends and family from before the time we got to know him in 1999. He is a remarkable man who lived a life of integrity to principle, and service born of love.  I came away with the impression that I would have to work a lot harder to be as good a man as he.

When Addy got bored, I let her take some pics with my camera.  Notice the low Addy-angle. Her mother is a stunning subject.

And then, as fast as it started, it was over.  We sent Kit and Lynne and Addy and Paul to stay nearer the airport for their EARLY morning flight, and we went back to the hotel.  The trip home was uneventful, pretty much like the trip out, and everyone now gets to ease back into the quotidian.

But we are just a little bit better for having gotten together to honor a man whose life was love-filled and praiseworthy.  We couldn't aspire to much more noble. And to filch a line from an Irish song: Farewell Jim, we hardly knew ye...

Snow Canyon: All Geological Phenomena Crammed Into a Few Square Miles

When it is a special occasion, like a round-number anniversary--what do you do to celebrate?  You go camping, of course! (For example, our honeymoon, 33 and a third years ago was a camping trip to red rock country...) We chose previously unvisited Snow Canyon, near St. George. This is the view we woke up to, after arriving after dark the night before.

Our hikes took us through twisting paths of red rock. 

 Red rock has special stress-absorbing powers to repair the soul. At least it always works for us.

Terisa got some red rock therapy: rest for the weary sole.

We saw all kinds of strange textures,

...and classic formations.

We ate lunch in this little cave.

 

 Terisa crawled around in a lava tube,

 ...and we hiked into a dead-end slot canyon.

Some of the visually interesting things about the park are the lava flows which recently (27,000 years ago) engulfed some of the red rock formations. The lava we saw was of two types: the ropy pa'hoehoe lava, and  the chunky, broken a'a lava.  (This is a perfectly acceptable two-letter word to use in Scrabble(TM).)

We climbed up this steep cinder cone that looked like nothing so much as a pile of ash.

At the top, we peered into this depression/crater...

 

...and then looked out to see many more cinder cones in the immediate area. 

Mostly we got clear skies, but for one brief moment we had dramatic skies.  We may have endured a dozen or so raindrops.

In addition to red sandstone, there was one outcropping of white sandstone with bowls like this hollowed out.

This is a larger bowl, where capricious wind gusts sandblasted us, and the wisps of flying sand swirled up the surfaces like so much smoke.

So. Many. Textures.

On the way home we noticed the Mountain Meadow massacre site was close at hand, so we stopped and explored, whetting our appetite for more information about the atrocity.

And so as not to end on a low note, here are some photos from Addy's recent visit to Utah that haven't been downloaded until now. Miss Addy was very clear about what couches and pillows were for.

And what grandchild has not ridden the elephant at Great Grace's house?

It was a visually stunning weekend.  The hikes were short and easy, and even though it is close to civilization, there are almost no indications that a large metro area is nearby.  All things weighed, we want to go back, preferably with some of you.