Category: NORTH AMERICA

“To be our not to be”. After our six months of travel we have never been shutout of a campground, but we never faced a more formidable foe than the campgrounds of Yosemite Valley. “Full” “Full” “Full” “Full”. – on a Thursday night in October after a thunderstorm. Oh well, better than being stuck in traffic. We drove on down the road after briefly seeing this great majestic valley.

King’s canyon is aptly named. Big rock faces on either side with a river running between and a road leading to nowhere … nowhere but our campground. We spent to nights here in King’s Canyon, because the nights were so royal. We laid out a tarp in a clearing and just stared out into space discovering spaceships and shooting stars, and imagining whatever else the heavens might hold. Then we would wake up and go on a bike ride or a walk to ground our feet and spokes. We must have seen a dozen shooting stars and a dozen spaceships, one even had blinking green lights.

What a day! We started the morning early waking up on Texas Time a

We had plenty of campgrounds to choose from here at lodgepole campground in Sequoia National Park. The weather was a little colder here than in Zion. We slept well in our tent.

We biked the Parus Trail in the afternoon and found this little guy waiting for us at the end near the river. We all dunked into the nearby swimming hole before biking back to the Visitor Center.

What can I say? Go here now! Go here while you still can!
Walk the narrows before the clock turns twelve. We awoke in the darkness so as to stay on step ahead of the throng of people that visit this site daily. We walked the paved shadowy trail along a river enclosed by massive rock walls. We walked until the paved trail ended in a gaggle of seemingly discarded tennis shoes and a storage of walking sticks. Then we kept on walking with our footprint erased in the sandy ground of the canyon under cold flowing river water. We walked until Dwana “I’m done!” And so then I took Viena and Ezra on individual adventures to see what was around the next bend and the next. My feet became numb, but the addictive scenes upriver were worth the pain. We thawed out on the return when sunshine was finally found. Our adventure complete as others were just beginning theirs.

Congratulations Brother Logan and Sister Su on bringing a new Weems into the world on this day. My advice – find as many rope swings as possible, except that rope swing in Cousin Richard’s back yard. We found this rope swing just down from our campsite along the river in Zion National Park. I do not know the name of the river. No one really talked too much about the river, because the size is more like a creek right now. The water is clear and cold and shallow and slow moving and just perfect for Erza and Viena to jump into. I love finding little jewels like this for the children in our travels. Actually, Ezra found this one. He has a “Good/bad” habit of wandering off down coastlines. This time I followed him and we ended up here. When Viena spotted us having such a good time she bouldered on down the rocky sandy riverbank. Today, was our rest day since a new cousin and an older and younger brother celebrated birth.

We had to wake up early, but again the reward was worth the early morning shakeup. The sunrise was beautiful during the Rim Trail walk at Bryce Canyon National Park. We thought we would be alone, but just as we were beginning our hike a big bus of tourists stopped and about 50 or so well dressed – warmly dressed Asian tourist with Nikons and Canons tumbled out of the bus and headed down the trail. And shortly after that bus unloaded, another bus showed up. The good news is that they only walked 200 meters down the trail to a lookout – Bryce Lookout, whereas, we continued the 3 miles down the Rim trail to Sunrise Point.

Our best visit to the Grand Canyon so far. I kept asking Ezra and Viena, “Do you think you will remember the Grand Canyon THIS time?”. Viena said “yes!”, Ezra said, “I don’t know!”. We had a great sunrise walk along the Watch Tower of the Grand Canyon.

We tried to stop many places on the way to the Grand Canyon. A couple of the stops had Navajo Native American markets set up. Dwana and Viena enjoyed looking at all the jewelry and handmaid crafts. Ezra enjoyed playing with his new toy truck transfer big rig.

Ezra has been on a Texas time-schedule ever since we left Texas, which means he is waking up at 5:00AM Phoenix time. Luckily we had to help out at the Scottsdale Airport that morning. Ezra loved watching the planes and Jets take off from an up close perspective. “I want to ride on one of those.” is a typical Ezra comment. Soon, young Jedi-Ezra Knight, soon – once you master time zone changes.

Ezra leading the pelaton.

The only time to be outside is early in the morning or late at night. We went to watch a friend playing softball. The game started at 8:00, when the night begins to cool. Ezra did not care too much for softball, but he loves riding his scoot bike still.

Viena has really been improving on her art work. I believe she is the top star in the family.

Look Mexico is over there. “I see some cars!” – Ezra. I was trying to teach the concept of different countries, and how we have different states in the USA, but Mexico is another country. Ezra just wanted to know if we were going to cross the border into Mexico, and if there were any toys in Mexico. Viena prepared this photo of two of her dolls sleeping in a dorm room. After driving through Texas, we all had a good night’s rest.

We drove West with the Moon guiding us across the great BIG state of Texas. Our last day in Texas was spent lounging around Logan and Su’s place near where they were married. I was able to go on a run and saw 6-year-olds practicing hitting a golf ball. Quite comical, but quite real. I went home and jumped in the pool with my 6-year-old.

We found some long long cousins on the Ford-Selanoff side of the family up in North Austin. We had a great time playing on the back yard trampoline in the evening heat. Mattie is two weeks older than Ezra and Mary is two months older than Viena. Marshall is 12 and Matthew is 1. We enjoyed singing songs on the trampoline and playing duck-duck-goose or caterpillar-caterpillar-buttterfly. That is what I was doing while Dwana and Tina were catching up on almost 35 years of what has been happening since they last saw each other as toddlers.

Here is a photo of Uncle Logan’ and Aunt Su’s before the baby. Ezra and Viena have been playing in the swimming pool in the back. Right now Ezra is eating a big Chocolate Chip cookie. Logan and Su were married right up the fairway.

After visiting the Austin Children’s museum on free museum day with cousin Sara and mini-cousins Deklon, Milo and Izzy Pearl, we went on a more dangerous investigative cousin adventure. We tried and succeeded in finding Young Cousin Anthony’s dorm room on the campus of the University of Texas.  We are happy to report that Anthony looks great, his room is bigger than I had on campus, and he even has a view of the UT tower. Hook ’em Horns!

Once again, Ezra was able to captivate an adult audience with his 101 things to do with a slug. In this picture he appears to be feeding him a skittle. We had a great baby shower for Aunt Su and Uncle Logan, hoping that they don’t name their forthcoming pride and joy boy – Sluggo!

On the road again.

Well our last full day on the Gulf Coast was a busy one. We started out by visiting the Symphony – but really the outing was for people wanting to join the symphony. The outing was next to a museum with lots of bones and shells and gems and rocks and carvings – all for free. Afterwards we went to eat at a restaurant that was built on the location of a Mammoth tusks being uncovered 10 years ago. Who knew? Quintana beach was next and jumping into the Gulf of Mexico waters – warm and salty with waves that would not scare Ezra. The water felt good and cooled you down from the heat which was still around 90. The evening was spent cleaning off in the Angelton rec center pool where Ezra played in the flowing River and Viena tested out the water slide. Dad-dad was with us and escorted us from place to place with his stories of the region. We all slept well on this night.

So far so good. Just needed to post this photo. Ezra and Viena have been so cute playing with each other. They learned the love for these small electric vehicles while visiting Jack and Henry’s farm in Wisconsin. Both Ezra and Viena have been having a blast rising around the golf course and dodging oak tree branches and fire ant hills.

We went on a field trip with Dad-Dad and he showed us around all the houses that he had lived in here in West Columbia. This is the upstairs in Great-grandmothers house. Quite a place. Rents by the night. Halloween is Free.

The old tree is in the backyard of the house where I grew up and me and my brothers would play for hours on the rope swing. This oak tree is one of the few things that actually looks bigger, alot bigger than when I was a little boy.

Can anyone ID this alpaca-Moose-caribou-deer-elk looking creature that we saw on the drive into Granma and Dad-Dad’s place?

23:33 FOR THE 5K. Not bad for a 33 year old. I mean 44 year old. I was number 2 but I came in 4th place. I won’t tell you the age or gender of the high school girl that won the race in sub20, but one day I hope to run that fast …. again.

Viena has been enjoying all the time spent at homes where there are places to just lounge arounge. We have been going to the local library which is another great place to hide from the mid-day heat. I have been trying to go running during the day. My running times show that I have yet to acclimate to my age, I mean the heat.

Granma took us around town to see the free aqaurium, and boy was this place every worth the money. We were extra lucky since today was fish feeding day, so the fish were extra excited. Lots of big fish. They even had a touch tank that had crabs with half of their pincher cut off. Even with this deformation I almost jumped through the roof when I touch one of the crabs and the crab lurched at me with his half claw. Ezra really enjoyed seeing me jump.

We arrived in West Columbia Texas. This photo is of the driving range on the golf course. The sunset was amazing. In the morning and in the evening is the best time to move about outside. Ezra and Viena are biking around a helicopter landing pad that was built when Columbia Lakes golf course was renowned. Now, the place is just known by us. OK.

Ezra was captivated for about 60 seconds before he and the boy next to him started using their puppet dinosaurs as attack dinosaurs. We love the Austin Children’s Museum, especially on hot Austin days. We could ride our bikes or walk from the RV park near Zilker Park.

Ezra Viena Dad-Dad and I were at the local swimming hole – Barton Springs – a great place to go in this heat. Viena was going to climb out of the water near the rocky shore when I hear – “The Shriek” – At first I thought it was just another one of the tired sounds of the afternoon, but then I saw her running through the water.

“Water Snake – Water Snake” she finally was able to tell us. Now, unlike Ezra, Viena is scared of lots of creatures, so even after the shriek, the running through the water and the claims of WaterSnake, I still thought it was probably a small little earthworm. But lo and behold – we saw this snake right where Viena was about to step. I am not sure what type of snake, but Ezra said a “Zebra Snake!”

You guys are always on my mind. We were able to walk a little in fowntown Austin which is right by the river. Dad-Dad Ezra and I rode bikes back to the RV PArk while Viena Gramma and Dwana walked home in the heat along the river unshaded with sunshine shining down.

“You are my sunshine my only sunshine you make me happy when skies are grey
You’ll never know dear how much I love you please don’t take my sunshine away”

Uncle Cayce surprised Ezra and Viena at the Austin Children’s Museum. A great place to spend the afternoon, especially when the temperature is 101 outside.

I was not going to use a photo, but this one seemed appropriate. Viena kept saying, “OK, I’m just going to have one more bite.” And then she would have another and another scoop of the fresh guacamole that I created. She was definately addicted – we all were. Moments before she was crying because of my violent act in the swimming pool. We are tested so many times as parents and people. Viena kicked me hard in the gut from her flotation device, so I violently flipped her over. She did not realize that she could hurt me and I lost it. I have flipped her many other times in the pool, but I flipped her this time with anger.

I would like everyone to take a moment to think about violence – all types, physical, mental, verbal, positional. And now take a longer moment to think about Non-violence.

Are you still thinking? Good.

As soon as we arrived in Texas, Dad-dad outfitted Ezra with some riding boots. He loved them!

A great place to hold a reception.

Here we are all cleaned up and about to watch the union of my friend Jerome and Keisha at their wedding in San Antonio. The wedding was great. I was able to see some old friends from college. Ezra and Viena enjoyed the procession of the Bridesmaids and groomsmen for the wedding and reception. They had some good music and some moves. Ezra is definitely going to add some of the moves that he saw to his repertoire of growing dance moves.

No fire ants. But Ezra did pick up a large red ant, which quickly bit him. Ezra woke up from one of his Van-naps singing “I’m bringing home a baby bumble bee”. So, we felt the need to change the song to “I’m bringing home an big ole red ole ant – Ouch it stung my pants” We might need to add additional lyrics to include “”I’m bringing home a big ole huge red wasp”, which Ezra picked up at Aunt Jeans and Uncle Pat’s house. I quickly slapped it out of his hands – which made him cry, but luckily the red wasps did not sting him. While we were swimming in the backyard pool a bull-frog jumped into the deep end. I swam down to try and catch the frog but he was too fast, or I was too scared to grab him. I chased him over to the shallow area where Ezra was able to catch him. He was so excited. He walked with Uncle Pat over to the trees, but when he left the protected gated swimming pool – Rocky, the big house dog wanted to see what Ezra had and the excited started all over again. Everyone survived. Enjoying Texas.

Happy Birthday Mylon. For your birthday, I Snuka-flied the Blue Hole 17 times. The water was great – cold but great.

“Don’t look down ‘ was the advice the Ranger gave us. He also said the ruins were created by Aliens and some of the sections were used for prisons. This bear was on the road at 2AM. We watched him for about 15 minutes before he ran into the woods.

The ladders. Someone needs to bring in a bunch of spider monkeys and see how much fun they have.

Glad they finally had some supporting structures to ease my mind when following a speedy 3 year old.

Did I mention the attention span of Ezra. At this point he was being entertained by a young student from France who was making faces and Ezra was imitating. Obviously, the French have a small attention span as well.

The rest after the Balcony House.

The 32 foot laddder. Not recommend for young children. Viena did spectacular. Dwana did great. Ezra was wonderful. I was a wreck, especially up 25 feet following behind Ezra and Ezra moving fast – just like the monkeybars. My heartrate was about 120 bpm after climbing the ladder.

Waiting for the Balcony House Ruins in the shade.

The tour last about an hour. Ezra’s attention span was about a minute.

Ezra wondering where the ladder is going.

Viena was the second youngest on the tour – you can guess the first.

Ezra was enjoying playing in the ancient Indian playground.

Which one of these are not like the others?

Ranger led tour. We were the first tour of the morning. Cool dwellings

Ezra had a great day. Ezra really grew up today. All that playground monkeybar experience came in handy today.

Ruins on the mesa. We saw a fox and a coyote.

Drove through the night. Saw a bear as we entered the park.

Sandy Arch. Lots of sand. Lots of shade. Perfect for a sunset walk. Might even be able to set up a sand volleyball net.

Rosy Cheeks and Big Hair. Near the end of the day, both Ezra and Viena were exhausted and Dwana and I were not far behind.

Beautiful day. Beautiful place. Beautiful girl.

Delicate Arch. Hot day. Beautiful park.

Ezra and Lucas on the scoot bike. James and Foley on the Tall Bike. Viena on two feet.

As we visited James, he was having withdrawal symptoms from not participating in the Burning Man festival. So we tried to find time to do crazy stuff like ride around town on some tall bikes. In the background is one of his creations that he took to Burning man last year. Easy to ride. Difficult to Mount and dismount.

A man-made drop into a hole of the Boise River. I tried about 4 times before the River accepted me and for an eternity I laid on a boogie board in front gallons of rushing water going nowhere. You had to jump at the “waterfall” at an angle and the current would either place you in front of the rushing water and hold you or the current would spit you out and send you down the river. After finishing my heart rate was about 120 bpm. I wish I would have had a life vest, helmet and boogie strap. People just hang out here all day long. Where would you hang out in 100 degree heat?

James with Lucas on the Extracycle with car-seat. We were able to bike through the city and along the Boise River.

We parked the van in Boise and unloaded the bikes. The drive through Eastern Oregon was through the night. The waxing moon led the way.

Ezra and Viena wrestling on the trampoline in Bend Oregon. What would the world be like without Trampolines ans swimming pools? … and someone to wrestle with.

I took this picture moments before I entered the pacific ocean for the first time in 4 moons. A chilling re-entry to the West. I was going to catch 44 waves with the boogie board, but they were so nice I decided to count each wave with a magnitude 10 factor.

A perfect place to rest our heads after a full day. The big dipper resting right above our heads.

Uncle Joe’s front yard. Ezra and Viena had fun playing with the cousin Derrick who is a month younger, a foot taller, and a stride faster than Viena’s.

You can guess that all three had a wonderful time playing together. We played hide and go seek, tag and looked out onto the waters of West Sequim bay watching a seal in the harbor.

Uncle Joe and Aunt Nancy’s yard had many play areas including a tree with a wasp nest.

Blessed is the day, TODAY!

We finally made the escape from Montana. We found an old abandoned sewage tunnel that was only half full. Ezra and Viena had no problem navigating the waters. We are in Idaho now breathing fresh Idahoian Air. Feels nice. Our van is breathing much easier now as well. So far the air conditioning has worked climbing all the mountain passes. Pacific Ocean here we come.

Ezra loves this photo. Ezra also loves running around late at night after he has had a nap and the rest of us are ready for bed. Ezra was trying to climb down from a high chair and slipped and hit his bottom chin on the hard chair seat sending his tooth through his tongue. All while Dwana and I were feet away trying to decide the next place to rest our head. Maybe we need to go back to safe isolated Montana and have Ezra suck on a Glacier. “I’m OK Mom!” Ezra says. And he is OK.

Early morning on the high line trail.

We had a great start to the month of August. We woke up in our campground at sunrise and the good thing – no bears around. We drove a half mile to the Free Bus shuttle parking lot that takes us up to the 6,646 foot Logan Pass. I was going to park in the area that would be in shade in the afternoon near the trees, but decided not to when I looked closer and saw that a black bear was rolling around in the forest greener right 10 feet from where I was going to park. We decided to unload Ezra, Viena, Dad-Dad and Granma and the food right next shuttle. The parking lot attendant said we had a good excuse. We were first in line for the 7:00AM shuttle up to Logan Pass. The ride up “Going to the Sun” road is crazy amazing – like flying in a small plane low through the mountains. The road is partly under new construction, and has been for years, which is why the Park started using the shuttle system – which works great, but some say is scheduled to end once the construction ends in 5 years. Hopefully, the shuttles will be around next time we are in Glacier. We arrived at the pass just as the sun was rising over the tall mountain peaks. We quickly started climbing the large wooded steps up to the snow. We came this time to Logan Pass with a purpose. I brought along two inflatables to sled down the remaining snow. After performing a test run by myself, I convinced Dwana, Ezra and Viena to join in on the reindeer fun. The snow was great and fast and produced many smiles and the laughter. Afterwards we celebrated with huckleberry snowcones that we created right on the spot. The curious Mountain Goat (Sepak) on the nearby ridge almost came down to join us. Large Marmots and Large Ravens also kept close quarters as we churned and churned our refreshing drinks on the snow underneath the majestic mountains and August morning sunshine.

We love this campground.

What is the fun of sledding if you are not going to flip?

We quenched our thirst with huckleberry snowcones on the Hidden Lake Trail. The trail ironically was closed a half mile ahead due to a Bear who was eating huckleberries near the trail?

Patrick Cote’s photo in the Daily Inter Lake thursday identified the handcyclist as U.S. Air Force veteran Steve Taylor. Today’s adventure started early as a race to be first in line at the Apgar Transit Center since the first shuttle bus was scheduled to depart at 7am and we missed the one the day before by about 5 minutes. As we pulled into the closest parking spot …wait wait …wait a minute! There’s a big black bear right there! Let Dad Dad get out and go get us first in line for the shuttle and I’ll drive our group up to where the bus stops. Shortly, the shuttle bus arrives; the bus fills to capacity; the bus waits for the bear to cross the road; and the bus departs as express-non stop to the top. Destination: LOGAN PASS. Time: 6:58 am. Off to a good start. Hooray! As the early morning sun began to make shadows there appeared to

sECONDS aNYONE?

We walked the bike path in the evening sun from the campground to the campground village for Huckleberry Milkshakes. Ezra was asleep, but Viena was still full of energy. Viena and I even went on a 5 mile bike ride after the walk.

Viena and Ezra carefully looking at the Black bear behind our tent.

Good Morning! This black bear was wandering around behind our tent went we woke up on Saturday morning. He was enjoying eating some of the plants and trees that grew in a 50 yard area of trees and growth in between campground loops. The rangers finally had to come and “scare” him off.

we caught the early morning free shuttle that took us to Logan Pass. If you do not go early, expect traffic. We found a patch of snow to play in. The views were amazing.

We finally received views of Glacier National Park. Worth the drive and the 4 days spent in Billings. The weather has been wonderful. This photo is from Lake McDonald in the West side of the park. The water is cold, but not too cold. Ezra and Viena have both loved playing in the water. And the good news … no bugs. The campground is packed full, but we were able to find a spot and then we upgraded when the neighbors left. We picked up my Mom and Dad our first night in the park and then drove the “Going to the Sun” run during the night when the sun was going away. A pretty amazing drive to take during the night. At Logans Pass were saw two Big Horn sheep feeding in the turnout. The were not scared off by our car and we just sat and watched them for a while.

Early Morning.

Early Morning. But Later. Great culture center here. Ezra wondered where the Indians were at Mount Rushmore, so we had to show him.

Viena loved riding as well.

We visited the Reader farm in upstate Wisconsin. Chickens, dog, cat, coyote, big 4-wheelers, little 4-wheelers, slip and slide, fun, smiles, and catching up with friends.

We took a short cut to Wisconsin by taking a four hour ferry ride across Lake Michigan. The accommodations were much like the slow ferry of Cordova – lawn chairs on the bow of the boat. The only difference was the air temperature was about 20 degrees warmer and the skies were clear. We were able to soak up the sunset and then gaze at the constellations during the night. The ferry arrived at midnight in Wisconsin and then we drove through the night. I much preferred the lawn chairs to the chair in our van.

Viena came up with the great idea to jump into the Saint Claire river during the live concert of Lady Gaga. Baby, she was Born this way. With the music in the background and brother Ezra asleep in the stroller and Dwana feasting on some fresh Pizza, Viena and I combated the searing temperatures by throwing ourselves into the Saint Clair River. We just had to climb over, under the railing and jump in. The river flowed us down a bit until we found a ladder to climb out. Viena has a love for jumping into fresh cold rivers and lakes. On our way to the Windy city of Chicago.