Working again...

About the 9th of this month while staying at Hurricane Utah we decided to visit Zion National Park here in Utah. While there we had to check out the campground. We stopped at the kiosk and found out that they were looking for a camp host as the second one had a medical emergency and could not make it here. We talked to the host and their boss. We negotiated with them that we would stay and host for 5 weeks; they wanted us for 2 months, but we said no.

Two days later we pulled into our site next to the other host, set up the rig, spent one day in training and then started a 3 day on 3 day off cycle.

This is just a shot of the front of our site, the back opens out to a huge sitting area with a nice fire pit and trees. Notice the view we have out our back window.

And the view we have looking out our side window and sitting area. We have about 6 deer that come by and check us out most nights. The hosts that we share the duties with are both great and fun people that have been working here for several years so know the ropes.

There are about 170 sites in this campground with power to about half of them and it's 100% reservable and we don't have to handle any of the reservation. The second campground is all first come first serve.

The third day here we hiked up a short trail and the water seeping out of the rocks was from rain that came down over 1000 years ago and took that long to get to this area of the rocks. All the vegetation was growing out the side of the rocks with no soil.

Another hike, another view of the park, red rocks and white rocks, typical southern Utah.

Looking down the Virgin river that has cut it's way through the park for thousands of years.

Another view at the upper end of the canyon with a couple sitting on the beach.

End of the trail for walking on the path, from here up it's hit the water and walk what they call the "narrows". It was closed at this time because of the amount of water still running in the river. It's open now but we hear on the radio about every day of people getting stuck trying to get back down, or injured because of the fast moving water.

We have not tried the hike yet but plan on it before we leave, have talked to people that have gone up a mile or two and made it back with their family.

Another hike on a day that it only got into the 80s, now it's up to 105 in the days and 70 at night. We spend the afternoons inside and can sit out in the evenings until 10:00, then it's bed time.

The east side of the park the geology changes drastically from loose rock to slickrocks. This is called checkerboard mesa. And you can see why with the line horizontal and vertical.

The white flower is growing from the small Yucca plant.

We took the Watchman trail one day and this was just the start. From here it went up and up above the tree line across the side of the hill.

A view from the top looking across Zion Canyon. What a view, the only problem was that we hiked up most of the trail in the shade but for some reason the sun moved and we had to come back down in full sun. It was another hot day.

And looking up the Canyon with some of the park housing below.

To be continued...

Time for a commercial spot...

In August last year after finding and tumbling rocks as we traveled around the country, Dick decided he wanted to learn to wire wrap them. We also purchased some rocks that caught his or Jackie's eye.


Here are some of the results of teaching himself to wire wrap various stones in no order of projects.


This is a stone that Jackie picked out at a show in Quartzsite Arizona this year.

A purchased fossil from Morocco.

And another purchased stone; wish you could really see the beauty of this stone this time with gold filled wire.

An unusual shape that is quite difficult to form the sterling silver wire around.

A little fun with silver wire and beads on a polished chalcedony that we found in Arizona.

Just for fun Dick used copper wire on this Mastodon shark tooth.

Playing with some arrowheads.

It's time to try something new so he took a class at Quartzsite Arizona and produced this gold and silver bracelet.

Then using a friend's (Ray Howard) bracelet he made this one for Jackie. He has orders for this set but not sure what to charge for them, any ideas?

Using the basic design of the bracelet he designed the earrings and then the necklace. Guess who ended up with all of the pieces? (and is very proud to wear them and accept the compliments!)

He then designed this bracelet using all sterling silver. It is based on a bracelet that he saw and then modified the design to his liking. Deanna really liked this one when we were together in Las Vegas, in fact wearing it. (But Jackie made sure to get it back before they left!)

With the bracelet made he had to design a pair of earrings and then a necklace.

Guess who ended up with most of the pieces?

We can't forget the first contract job he did. Thanks Judi for letting me make these sets for your family and I hope they enjoyed them as much as I enjoyed making them for you.

This is just a sampling of the jewelry Dick has made. Jackie really can't wear it all, so if any catches your fancy. let us know. Maybe you can buy that one, or he can made you one like it. He still has the 38 lbs of petrified wood we collected and are tumbling to wire wrap!

That's all for now so stay tuned for pictures of Zion National Park where we are thoroughly enjoying ourselves and trying to stay cool.

To be continued...

Grand Canyon South Rim

Another big check on the old bucket list of life; the Grand Canyon and well worth the trip. Following are only nine more pictures all looking down into the "big dig" from the south rim. The weather was great, except for the wind and the view spectacular to say the least. Three days at the South Rim, and a full three days -- so spectacular.



It's really hard to pick only nine more pictures to share but hope you enjoy what we have to offer. And while we are at it please excuse the long delay in posting. We had very slow connection until we moved to our present location; that's another story.



After departing the south rim we headed back into Utah for two weeks at the Western Horizon Resort called Saint George resort that was in Hurricane Utah. Never did figure that one out.



Did the Doctor and Dentist and truck maintenance things and did some sight seeing. Spent a day back at the Grand Canyon but on the north rim. Same hole in the ground but just looking at it from another view. We will spare you the pictures unless you really want to see them.



We spent another day at Zion National Park, did two of the hikes and took a tour of one of the campgrounds. While there we found out that they are looking for a campground host as the people who were to work cancelled at the last minute. Well to make a long story short we called and negotiated with the powers to be and here we are in a super site with full hook-ups for the next five weeks. The view out our back window is spectacular and we will work three days on and three days off so we will have time to see all the of the park and also visit Bryce Canyon National Park.



This will just delay our trip to Colorado and Wyoming for a little time and we are concerned about the heat in July but we will make it work for us.



So please enjoy the pictures of the Grand Canyon because most of what you will see for the next few weeks will be from Zion National Park.




Notice the person on the top of the ridge?

Just had to shoot this dead tree.

A late evening shot just before sunset.

For Michelle more pictures of the two of us standing on the "edge".

A shot with the river at the bottom looking at the east wall of the canyon.

We did a lot of walking on the rim, and the view from every curve was different. Dick actually took nearly 200 pictures, so you can see why it was hard to choose.

To be continued...