Happy Thanksgiving from our family!

Of Bridges, Red Rocks, and Blue Water

My Uncle Tim travels all over Arizona for his work.  One of the places he travels to pretty often is Page, Arizona.  Last Sunday, he took us, along with Aunt Kris and my cousin Mariah, with him to Page.

Page is a very interesting place, to say the least.  It is a very small town established to provide a place to stay for the workers who were building Glen Canyon Dam in the late 1950's.  It is however, a very beautiful place.

On our way there, we were caught in a snow storm, which (I am told) is very unusual for that part of Arizona.  We stopped to take some pictures before we headed up the mountain to Page.
 

On the morning of our first day there, we took a short trail to the edge of the canyon containing the Colorado River.

In this picture you can see Glen Canyon Dam.

Later, we drove to a scenic view of Lake Powell, the resevoir created by the dam.

Page is very close to the border of Utah, so we drove about 15 miles so we could say that we had been to Utah.  :)

After Uncle Timmy got off of work that day, we took a tour of the Glen Canyon Dam.  We learned a lot of interesting things about the dam, most of which (I'm sorry to say) I now cannot remember.  (Too much information all in one 45 minute tour!)  I do however, remember that Glen Canyon Dam is the fourth tallest dam in the world.  Or was it the US?  Bummer!  I can't remember.  Sorry!  :)

Here, we are standing on the top of the dam.

This is a view of Lake Powell from the top of the dam.

After we finished the tour, we drove down to the lake, looked around, and took pictures.

The next day it was time to head for home again, but we made some stops on the way.


First, we hiked a trail that led to Horseshoe Bend.  Horseshoe Bend, as you can see in this picture, is a spot where the Colorado River does a complete u-turn around a huge rock peninsula.  It really is quite majestic.

Later, still on our drive homeward, we took a little detour and stopped at Navajo Bridge. This bridge also stretches across the Colorado River. 

While there, we were blessed to see a California Condor.  This bird is the largest North American land bird, and is one of the world's rarest bird species.  Currently, there are only 192 of these birds known to be living in the wild, so we were very excited to see one.

Why is it, that no matter how wonderful a trip is, you are always glad to get home?  I don't know the answer to that question, but that is how it was for me.  I had a great time in Page, but it felt wonderful to be home again.

 

Driving Time!!

I got my learner's permit today!  I was really nervous about the test, but it was a lot easier than I had anticipated, and I passed!  I was very happy, and was praising God for getting me through it.  I know the rules of the road; now I just have to learn how to drive.  :)

It's finally fall here!

Fall sets in a little later here than in most places, but it is definitely underway now.  The maple trees are mostly yellow and red, the cottonwoods have lost all their leaves, and it's been growing colder day by day.  Where has this year gone?  It seems like it was just a couple of months ago that we that we were still living in  our old house waiting on God to move us.  Time is flying by so fast for me, and it's scary and thrilling at the same time because I'm realizing that I'm not going to be a young girl much longer.

Our fireplace is getting almost daily use.  We've never had one before, resulting in our making a fire as soon as the temperature drops below sixty degrees.  :)  Really though, we've been enjoying it tremendously.  I just love the warmth and the glow and the all around ambiance of it.

For the past couple of days I've been doing a lot of research.  Research, that is, on my family ancestry.  Daniel, from Daniel and Friends, wrote a post speaking of how he had been getting into genealogies, and he gave some links to some sites.  That was all it took for me.  I got started, and the whole thing has been rather consuming.  I just love this sort of thing!  When I find some important piece of information that helps me connect some piece of the puzzle, it feels like I've just opened a treasure chest full of jewels.  So far I've been able to trace as far back as 1709!  You may be thinking right now that I'm very strange, and you're probably right.  I really don't understand why, but I find so much enjoyment in tracking down my family's heritage.  (If you're interested in this sort of thing a good site to start on is www.rootsweb.ancestry.com.)

In Christ,

Giveaway at Feminine Farmgirl!

Jenna at Feminine Farmgirl is having a giveaway for Jasmine Baucham's book, Joyfully at Home!  You can go here to enter.