Sunday late afternoon we drove out of Yellowstone and into the Grand Teton national Forest.  The views were truly majestic!  We stopped at the Colter Bay Ranger station.  This was named after John Colter one of the members of the Lewis & Clark Corps of Discovery.  We got a coupon for the Jackson Lake lodge.  We checked into the most gorgeous hotel I have ever visited.  Their second floor lounge had 60 ft windows that looked out on the Teton mountains.  And the 2 fireplaces were at least 20 ft across and 12 ft deep; I can’t begin to say how relaxing the whole place was.

Monday we got up and hit the trails around Jenny Lake.  Took to boat shuttle across the lake and hiked to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point.  The climb was steep with switch backs and narrow, very rocky trails.  Towards the top the trail was 1 person wide with drop offs on the outer side.   But the views were spectacular! (I think I’ve run out of adjectives to describe the beauty and grandeur of the areas we’ve seen.) 

Monday night we were schedules to take a raft down the Snake River.  When we arrived at the river Sumner started throwing up.  I thought we were free from the stomach bug since it had been a week since Grace was sick, but no.  So I took Sumner back to the hotel and Rodger, Preston & Grace went on the raft trip.  They had a great time and saw lots of animals: beavers, moose and night kites.

Tuesday morning I woke up very sick and Sumner complained that it hurt to breathe.  So we quickly packed up and hit the road. Our goal was to 1. Get to a lower elevation  2. Get to a town with a hospital if he still had problems at lower elevation and  3. Get on the way to Arches.   After about an hour Sumner’s medicine kicked in and he was able to breathe more easily so we relaxed a little.  Sadly I was getting sicker.   Despite feeling bad I insisted that Rodger stop at the Butte Fossil National Monument in southwest Wyoming.  I knew the kids would love it and they did.  Actually what they really loved was Ulrich’s Fossil Fish Gallery & Preparatory.  A very nice young woman told the kids that they could go pick out any pieces of scrap shale and search for fossils; she showed them how to split the rock, gave them the tools and they were off.  Preston’s first attempt yielded a huge fish fossil!  Grace had to work a little harder but was rewarded with some wonderful specimens.  Sumner was disappointed that even with all his hard work he never got a great fossil. When he returned his tools and showed the woman his little fossil she explained that he had the head of a fish and if he gently picked at the back of the head area he would probably reveal the rest of a fish.  She then gave him that tool to keep.  BOY, was he a happy boy!  But it was Preston that was the most impressed with the fossil collection.  He asked if it was ok if he became an archeologist instead of a chef when he got older.  He also stated that of all the people he met he really thought the woman was nice and could we give her a tip.

Arrived in Salt Lake City about 8pm on Tuesday.  I could do nothing more than collapse into bed with a raging fever.  I guess Rodger fed the kids and maybe even took them swimming.

Woke up Wednesday feeling much improved, the fever was gone but the stomach was still weak.  But I got up and took off for Walmart to resupply.  Got out of the car and reached for where I kept my wallet only to discover it wasn’t there.  Searched for it but couldn’t find it.  Decided the car was too messy for a proper search so I went back to the hotel and cleaned out the car.  No wallet anywhere.  Plan K (I know we changed our original plans at least that many times if not more) was activated.  Called all the credit/debit card companies- 3- and cancelled the cards.  Major bummer, no more emergency funds available.  Went online to see what I could do about replacing the driver’s license.  (Remember that I was supposed to drop Rodger off in New Mexico and then drive across country)  Turns out you can’t really report a lost license and unless you carry extra proof of residency, etc. then you can’t get a renewal license from out of CT. 

So we changed plans yet again.  Drive to Arches and spend a day there.  Drive to Mesa Verde and spend day there.  Drive to New Mexico and spend the weekend there.  Drive to Colorado Springs for a day.  Drive to Fort Osage in Missouri and then to Nashville, TN.  Rodger would fly out of Nashville and I would drive to my mom’s house 2 hours southeast of Nashville.  I would wait at my mom’s for Rodger to get a new license for me and send it.  Vacation changed but not ruined.

Drove to Arches and arrived about 4PM.  Got a hotel and then drove into the park.  It was –ok I’m getting tired of the word “amazing” but don’t know what else to call it.  The way the light hit the rocks, the shadows, the scale- HUGE, the shapes/formations were all beyond description.  I know a picture beats a thousand words but even the pictures of this place don’t do it justice.  NO exaggeration!  This is just the kind of place you need to experience for yourself.  And I mean experience not see.  You have to get out of the car and walk/hike some of these sites just to see them.  But you need to invest your time and sweat and become part of something bigger than yourself.

We saw the movie at the visitor’s center.  Of course the narrator declared the millions of years it took to make the arches, the fact that there were ancient seas, and that Arches was formed over a salt bed.  Of course the exact same facts support the story of Noah and the flood in the Bible.  I guess people will take the facts and interpret them the way they want.  But as for the children and me, we choose to believe that God is the Creator of this world and that all we see is a direct result of His imagination and goodness.  (Of course this doesn’t mean to imply that Satan hasn’t had his way in destroying what God made.)

Mesa Verde was amazing.  To see all of the cliff dwellings was inspiring!  They were built in such a difficult location and you know they had to carry all of the stones to these cliff sites.  WOW!!  The children were very well behaved on the 4 hour bus tour. Ranger Kevin Lloyd was extremely knowledgeable but interesting in his delivery. 

All of us have been inspired in some way to take what we have seen, learned or experienced and learn more about it.  Surprising to me is my desire to learn more of my maternal grandmother’s Indian (Native American) roots.

Actually it has occurred to me that this vacation has been more about a lot of things than just getting away from the routine.  I have been afraid of doing a lot of things: afraid of heights, speed, my own weaknesses.  But this vacation I have done a lot of things that I would NEVER have taken the chance with before: riding horses, hiking & camping in bear country and white water rafting (more about this later).  But I find myself being surprised by myself and liking what I find.  Of course I haven’t done any of these activities without a lot of prayer and perspiration!

Back at home, Preston’s cat, Purr, performed one of her amazing escapes.  Except this time she didn’t come back when the house sitter was there.  So after 1 week of praying that she would come back I finally had to break down and tell Preston that his beloved Purr was missing.  Preston is the most sensitive, tender hearted, little boys that you could ever know.  His little heart just broke at the news that Purr was gone.  And later that day he sobbed that he could just see Sumner coming home to Timi and Grace coming home to Kelly, but him coming home to nothing.  Purr was truly a wonderful cat and she will be missed by the entire family. 

Despite the time constraints we couldn’t cancel the white water rafting that Preston had asked for as his “must do.”  Especially since he just found out that he lost Purr.  Los Rios River Rafts was a great company and our guide, Scott, was excellent.  Scott was very personable with the kids and got us through all of the rapids and tight spots without incidence.  We did take a few rapids backwards due to a lack of strength from the middle of the raft (think those under 12).  But Scott handled it all in good spirit and was very encouraging to us.  He never made us feel that he got the short end of the stick by getting the family with the little kids.  Just the opposite, he was very enthusiastic about “team Beal”  He even recommended a local restaurant, Orlando’s, that was fabulous!  New Mexican food at it’s best- flavorful for me, spicy for Rodger. 

If Preston fell in love with archeology, then Sumner fell in love with astronomy.  At Santa Fe we did an evening with Peter and his Astronomy Adventures.  It started at 8:30 and went for 2 hours.  I was enthralled, Rodger impressed, Preston & Grace sleepy, and Sumner mesmerized.  He asked good questions and found out that he could even build his own reflecting telescope.  Maybe you’ll see some studying in this area in the future.  But if not then at least he has a new appreciation for God’s creation of things beyond this world.  And as Rodger & I told him on the way back to the hotel, “Not staying with an interest is not failing.  Being lazy and saying it’s not worth the time to learn new things is failure.”