Scotty and Deb's Excellent Adventure

What's another trillion... that is not that much, is it?

2012-02-11T03:24:00.000-08:00

Today, Debra and I went to OMSI to view the Body Worlds exhibit (well worth your time if you have not seen it yet). We then spent some time in a science exhibit, where I stumbled across this exhibit that was designed to demonstrate nanoscale. I have been searching for some way to demonstrate the magnitude of our national debt, and ironically, this exhibit that was designed to impress us with the smallness of something will also work quite nicely to demonstrate the extreme hugeness of our national debt.

Deb is standing next to three tubes that contain very small beads (smaller than grains of sand). In fact, each bead is only 300 micrometers across.

The tube on the left has 1-thousand beads, barely covering the bottom of the tube. The tube in the middle has 1-million beads.

The large tube on the right has 1-billion beads! This is a close-up of the top couple inches of the large tube to show the size and number of beads that we are talking about (Deb is 70 inches tall).

The difference between the volume of the 1-million bead tube and the 1-billion bead tube is very impressive and significantly greater.

Now consider this... if they were going to display 1-trillion beads in this exhibit, they would have to install 1000 of the large 1-billion bead tubes!

Finally, (and this should make every tax-payer in America sick to their stomachs), if they tried to demonstrate the number of beads it would take to represent our national debt ceiling as of 09 Feb 2011, they would have to install 15,400 of the large 1-billion bead tubes! I seriously doubt if the huge exhibit room that we were standing in could even hold that many tubes.

Six-thousand of those large tubes have been filled in just the last three years (how is this even possible?) Sadly, every one of the dollars represented by each of those little beads in those 15,400 tubes must be paid back by our children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren,.. you get the picture.

Another display gave me yet another way to explain the unthinkably huge number that 15.4 trillion represents: Light travels at the speed of 187,000 miles per second... that is 5.89-million million miles or 5.89 trillion miles a year. At the speed of light, it would take 2.6 years to travel 15.4 trillion miles!

So when you hear the media throwing around numbers like $1-trillion like it is pocket change... it would take you about two years to spend that amount at the rate of $187,000 ever single second!

And when congress says they are going to cut the budget by 1-billion dollars, that is only one tube of beads... there are still 15,399 left to pay back! Even if they cut $1 trillion, (1000 tubes, which would be great), there are still 14,400 more to go!

It is so past the time to fix the problem! Choose wisely.

Like hitting a concrete wall at 80 mph!

2011-10-20T01:58:00.000-07:00

Before I begin, I want to say happy "12th" birthday to our son Brandyn... it was on this day in 1999 that he had the terrible crash that almost claimed his life... we are so glad you are here Brandyn and we are proud of you and what you have accomplished since that tragic day!

Wednesday, 19 October

Wow. Coming back to reality is tough... The pile of mail was incredible (thanks Cindy), and getting used to our own house was kind of weird. I went to Chang's with Tyler and dad today... then I spent some time visiting with mom and dad... Jack and Ty came too. Jack still is warming back up... when he came over to our house for a few minutes today, it seemed to stimulate his memories... I think grandma is OK now. I had to spend some time on the phone today straightening out some insurance issues... really Safeco... you think it would take $515K to rebuild my house on the same piece of ground!!! Tonight I spent a couple hours looking through a large box of old photos that my dad had... it is awesome now that I know who these folks are!

Well, speaking of people and names, we promised you a fun blog tonight... during our road trip, we started taking photos of signs, buildings, and structures that had names that matched, (or were close enough to a match), to family members and our special friends... we could not find everyone, so if your name is not here, it is not because we don't love you! We will try it again on the next trip. This turned out to be quite fun.

Good Luck...

Something ironic about this...

My sister's name...

Close enough...

A little gratuitous...

Watch out Jessi... he has been watching you...

There you have it... see how much fun you can have on a road trip if you really try! We love all of you and we can't wait to hit the road again as the Excellent Adventure continues to unfold!

Scotty and Deb

Day 57 - The journey is over... for now.

2011-10-19T02:38:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, 18 October

We slept in this morning because we knew we only had five hours to travel today. We had a great lunch in the Swan Dining Room of the Grand Geiser Hotel before starting the final leg of our journey. The hotel is amazing and we highly recommend it to anyone who wants a romantic turn-of-the-century experience... and they treat you like royalty the whole time you are there... and it is inexpensive!

As we drove up the Columbia River Gorge, we began to marvel again at how beautiful Oregon is and it started to feel good to be coming home...

We took the scenic loop of Highway 30 to the Rowena Overlook...

This is an HDR composite comprised of nine separate exposures, looking north to Washington.

Debra took this photo of the beautiful fall colors in the gorge.

Before we finished the last mile to our home, we stopped to see if Jack still remembers his grandparents... he would not come to us at first, but he warmed up to grandma pretty quick... grandpa will need more time. However, seeing him meant that we saw everyone of our nine grandkids while on this road trip! Jessica and Tyler invited us for dinner and we ate a wonderful Italian dish before heading home.

As we pulled into our driveway tonight, our neighbor Katelyn was waiting in her window to greet us as we got out of the car. She was so excited to see us, so we went and visited with her and her mom for a few minutes before going inside.

Deb and I both said that this was probably the best road trip we have had so far... we had so much fun visiting family, and researching our family history. We have many stories to tell and look forward to sharing them with our kids.

It is hard to believe it is over, but it is great to be home in our own bed and able to take our things out of a drawer, instead of a suitcase! Tomorrow we have a special blog treat... keep watching.

Day 56 - Destination - Grand Geiser Hotel

2011-10-19T02:18:00.000-07:00

Monday, 17 October

We left Lehi this morning about 11:30 Utah time and headed towards Idaho. We decided to take the usual route home because the alternate route would have taken too long.

Along the way, we decided to take a side trip through Rupert, Idaho. They have a great museum and an historic town square. The theater on the left is an Art-Deco style buildiing and was just completely restored.

Keeping a road trip tradition alive, we decided to stop in Baker City, Oregon for the night. We stayed at the awesome Grand Geiser Hotel. We had a wonderful Prime Rib dinner in the dining room (under the largest stained glass window in the Pacific Northwest. Then we stayed in one of the Grand King Suites... #314.

Day 55 - Last full day in Utah.. Going home tomorrow...

2011-10-16T22:33:00.000-07:00

Sunday, 16 October

Deb went to church with the kids this morning, while Haylee and I stayed home because we were feeling a little under the weather. We listened to one of the Saturday sessions of General conference that I needed to catch up on.

After church, Grandma Deb and Haylee went for a walk so Haylee could take some photos of flowers for a project she is working on for school...

I think she did very well for a first grader!

While they were gone, I got some one-on-one with my grandson Oliver. He is an awesome little guy (OK not so little), and it is going to be tough leaving him and our other grandkids that we have had so much fun with!

Brandyn called again today from the US National Cemetery in Normandy, France. We talked for quite awhile about the experience he was having. We decided that we were going to go back over there together next year. I will look forward to that very much.

Deb and I are leaving for home in the morning. We are not sure yet which route we are going to take or whether we will take one or two days to make the trip. We will decide in the morning after reviewing the weather conditions for all the options... I should not have washed the car yesterday... someday I will learn!

We are really looking forward to seeing our Oregon family and friends again, but will miss everyone here and in Tennessee so much... it has been a fantastic journey.

Day 54 - A Bomber, A Voice From Normandy Beach, and What About Those Cougars?!

2011-10-15T22:31:00.000-07:00

Saturday, 15 October

Today I got to spend some great one-on-one time with my granddaughter Haylee and Deb got to spend time with our grandson Oliver and our daughter Katy. while Ryan and Teresa took some time to celebrate their anniversary coming up on Monday.

While Haylee was waiting for me to get ready to go to on our grandpa/granddaughter lunch date, we heard this B-17 bomber flying over the house... So I grabbed the cameras...

It flew by multiple times over the span of about an hour...

Something else really cool (and a little bit creepy) happened at the exact same time this plane flew over... Our son Brandyn is in France for two weeks for his job... He had a free day today and decided to take a twelve hour field trip... He called me from Normandy Beach just as this photo was being taken! Now what would be the odds of that?

This is an amazing plane and it has the most distinguishable sound signature! They always give me goosebumps when I hear them.

Haylee jumped on her trampoline the whole time... I think she did at least 200 "butt drops" in a row...

As soon as I was ready, She and I went to Shakey's for lunch! They used to have a Shakey's in Oak Grove when I was growing up... it was cool to go there today... lots of memories. We ate salad and pizza and watched BYU beat up on Oregon State on the big screen... Does it get any better than a Cougar win and desert pizza with your granddaughter?

Meanwhile, grandma was having a good time with Oliver...

He is quite the handsome guy...

And he adores his grandma... especially when she reads to him...

Katy came over for the afternoon and later Joy... Oliver loves his Aunt Katy too!

After the game, Haylee helped me to wash about 7500 miles worth of dirt and bugs off of the Mini. She loves to wash cars, but I think she loves to squirt grandpa even more. It took a long time because we did not have very good water pressure, but we had fun working together and LIL BMW looks great again.

Joy and I went over to Maverik and got gas for the Mini... we were going to go over to Costco because gas is $3.439 there, but on the way we saw that Maverik had gas for $3.459... so i figured for only two cents a gallon more that i would be money ahead by not having to drive clear to Costco and back. After filling the car, Joy and I went into Maverik to get a treat... (Love the fat free New York Cheesecake frozen yogurt.) When we came out to leave a few minutes later, the attendant was changing the price of the gas out on the big Maverik sign... you guessed it... $3.439! My dad always said that if it were not for bad luck, I would have no luck at all...

Everyone is settled in for the night now... we will get up and go hear Ryan sing in Stake Conference tomorrow and spend our last day here in Utah for this road trip... Monday, we start for home.

Day 53 - Firearms, Pirates, and Jack-O-Lanterns

2011-10-14T23:03:00.000-07:00

Friday, 14 October

Today was a great day with our oldest son Ryan and his family. Ryan had the day off today and they had a fun day planned for us... we could tell that they put a lot of thought into the day's activities and we really enjoyed ourselves.

Ryan and I went shotgun shooting over in the hills west of Utah Lake. We successfully powdered about 75 clays and then put about 100 rounds through my new Taurus PT609 Pro Titanium. I was not very happy with the latter... the firing pin is light and the magazines spontaneously dislodged from the well when the gun was fired. This really surprised me because I have had excellent luck with Taurus firearms in the past. I called Taurus and they had me overnight the gun to them and they saiid they would fix or replace the gun immediately... we can only hope.

Meanwhile...

Before we went shooting, I got to play with our grandson Oliver... I was teasing him about his "jailbird" jumper...

Deb took these cute photos of Oliver with some great diffused light from the large window upstairs...

I like this one... we really have some cute grandkids!

Oliver got to try on his Halloween costume... It is supposed to fit an 18 month old... Oli is about a year ahead of his time!

While Ryan and I were shooting, the girls went to Costco... all of the shopping wore Oliver out and he decided to take a nap in the cart...

After a fantastic dinner of grilled New York Steaks and Spicy Honey Chicken, the kids treated us to a Halloween "cruise" on a flatboat on some private river in Provo... This was Oliver's first ride in a boat...

He looked pretty tough in his life vest!

Grandpa and Oli had a great time together as we floated the river...

... in the flatboat that our pirate captain pulled through the water by way of a rope that was suspended over the center of the river... while he pulled, he told us the story of "The Cremation of Sam Magee"...

Oliver really enjoyed watching the lights and Jack-O-Lanterns that were suspended over the river and along the banks...

Hey Haylee, get in the picture!

This is so fun grandma...

After the cruise, the kids posed for a picture with the "Captain".

All in all, it was a great day... and now it is time for bed... I wonder how the first day at Disneyland went for Jayson, Heidi, and the kids... Oh, I didn't mention that Jayson surprised them yesterday and loaded up the minivan and headed to California for the weekend... I couldn't ruin the surprise!

Day 52 - Moving to Lehi... (Just Until Monday)

2011-10-14T22:28:00.000-07:00

Thursday, 13 October

Today we spent most of the day packing and cleaning Joy's home... well, Deb did most of the cleaning while I loaded the Mini... again. I also installed a parking sensor in Joy's garage so she can pull into her garage without hitting the wall and still leave enough room to walk behind her car when the door is down... it works pretty cool. Tonight we moved over to Ryan and Teresa's home so we can spend time with them and two more of our grandkids before we leave for home on Monday...

Day 51 - CHARGE it at Penny's!

2011-10-12T23:01:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, 12 October

J Dawg had to fly to denver this morning to negotiate some business and Heidi had a hair appointment so Deb went over to the grandkids house and enjoyed some time with them. I drove to Orem to pick up a critical part that I needed to repair the generator on the '53 Chev...

After picking up the part, I took the generator to Jayson's and proceeded to put the part into the generator, which proved to be harder than I anticipated... If it had not been for Mae helping me by holding the flashlight, I could not have ever got it done! (Move over Tyler... she is a great flashlight holder).

Later deb helped me to get the generator back in the truck and polarize it. When I started the truck, the voltage meter pegged the charging zone... Success! Now all that needs to be done is the radiator repair and the gas tank swap and J Dawg has a sweet ride.

Jayson flew home tonight and we all watched as Mae opened her birthday present from us (we are not going to be here). We also watched Penny try on her Halloween costume... she is going to be Captain Hook and she was adorable.

We all watched the season premier of Psych and then we said our goodbyes because we will not see them again before we leave on Monday. We are moving to Lehi tomorrow night to spend some time with our other grandkids, Haylee and Oliver before we leave on Monday to return home and complete our 2011 road trip.

Today's highlights:

Day 50 - Miss Edwards' Goes To School

2011-10-12T10:07:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, 11 October

Today, Debra got up early and went to school with Miss Edwards. She was greeted by a beautiful sunrise on the way. She spent most of the day helping Miss Edwards in her amazing classroom.

While Deb was at achool. I worked on the generator of the old '53 pickup. I found a broken spring on the brush pressure arm. I have the parts on order and they should be in tomorrow.

After school, Lisa asked if I would take some photos of her new baby boy... It was a challenging session because I only had one light and no baby props, but they turned out ok... I hope she likes them.

Day 49 - Famous Athletes and CornBelly's

2011-10-10T23:55:00.000-07:00

Monday, 10 October

Today I helped Jayson cater the BYU Days Golf Tournament at Riverside Golf Club. I enjoyed being able to talk with Johnny Miller, Lavell Edwards, Mark Weir, Billy Casper, Elder Zwick, and other famous BYU athletes, but most of all, I enjoyed working with my son. Tonight we took the grandkids to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point. The kids had a great time and so did Deb and I. (Note to family: All of the photos are on the family website... not just these selected ones.)

Day 48 - Day of rest...

2011-10-10T23:42:00.000-07:00

Sunday, 09 October

We went to church with Heidi and Jayson this morning and then we went home for a much needed day of rest. One of Joy's old highschool friends, who is also one of Deb's former seminary students, cane over for a nice visit. the girls watched old home videos and had a good laugh together. I worked on my family history until I stopped to make grilled teriyaki chicken for dinner... it was a great day.

Day 47 - J Dawgs and BYU Homecoming Parade

2011-10-10T23:36:00.000-07:00

Saturday, 08 October

Today, after a few setbacks with the pickup, we decided to try to drive it in the BYU Homecoming Parade... we loaded up the grandkids and some of J Dawgs employees along with 1000 gummy hotdogs, even more tootsie rolls, and 40 J dawgs t-shirts and took up the rear of the parade as entry #66... The crowd went wild every step of the parade route! We had a great time and the pickup ran fine the whole route... afterwards we began to have troubles with the truck and wound up having to have it towed home... the issues are minor and will be tweaked this week... just one of the joys of driving a 60 year old classic!

After the parade, we all went to J Dawgs for some lunch and then we went home, where our other grandkids joined us for the evening... (Note to family: all of the photos can be found on the family website... yes Jayson, we have one!)

Day 46 - The Beast rides again after 25 years!

2011-10-07T21:48:00.000-07:00

Friday, 07 October

Today we celebrated the completion of the restoration of my old 1953 Chevy Pickup, which I gave to Jayson a little over 7 years ago... It had been in restoration mode since 1986 when I gave it to a friend of mine to do the body work and paint, which never got done due to my friend losing his shop space... consequently, it sat in storage until Jayson showed an interest in restoring the truck... I let him take the truck back to school with him during his sophomore year at BYU... unfortunately, it had a major engine breakdown on the way (looong story)... due to money and time, it went back into storage in multiple pieces.

This year, I told Jayson about a guy that I met at a hotrod cruise-in about 5 months ago. He looked him up and the restoration completion commenced... today we picked it up and drove it to the muffler shop for the final step of adding glasspacs and pipes to the new headers... they turned out nice and they sound great.

On the way home, it became apparent that something was wrong with the way the engine was running... the truck died a few blocks from home and we discovered that the fuel filter was obstructed because of rust in the fuel tank that was flushing out into the fuel line... after clearing the line, the truck would not start due to a dead battery (typical 6 volt problem), so we compression started the truck to get it home, where after a few frustrating hours of trying to locate a 6 volt charger (nobody seems to have one anymore and the one found at NAPA was $160.00), and performing some diagnostics, we determined that the generator was burned out! This was very disappointing because Jayson wanted to drive the truck in the BYU Homecoming Parade tomorrow... We may be able to run off of the battery for the duration of the parade, but it will take about three days to get the generator repaired.

Despite the setbacks, the truck looks amazing and sounds fantastic! It was awesome to drive it again after all of these years... I hope I get to take Deb on a date in it just like the good old days before we go home!

Day 45 - Take us back to "Home On The Range"

2011-10-06T22:34:00.000-07:00

Thursday, 06 October

We are back where we started 41 days and 7500 miles ago... Springville, Utah. We just pulled into Joy's about 30 minutes ago and I am still recovering from the drive down I-15... The worst section of road we have driven in our entire journey was in the last 45 minutes between Lehi and Springville... ARE THEY EVER GOING TO BE DONE REBUILDING THE FREEWAYS HERE? I was forced off onto exits twice, almost ran over by speeding drivers countless times, and forced to switch sides of the freeway three times in that distance!

We left Montana this morning, which was very hard to do... we loved it there (I want to go back)...

This is what we had to leave... It is so majestic...

We stopped in Bozeman for lunch... we saw a place called Sloppy Dawg and thought we would check it out... J Dawg has nothing to worry about! This place was so expensive and did not hold a candle to our favorite Dawg place!

Bozeman is an artsy fartsy college town...

When we reached the border, the temperature dropped to 31 degrees and the snow was coming down hard...

It snowed all the way to the Utah border, where it changed to intermittent rain... We will miss the slow pace of life that we have enjoyed for the last month, but it is so good to be back with our kids and grandkids. Tomorrow I am going to help Jayson tune the engine on the 53 Chev, something I used to love to do and I am looking forward to it. For now, I am going to relax and try to go to sleep!

Day 44 - This Explains Everything!

2011-10-05T22:12:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, 05 October

In our quest to discover information on my Fergus County, Montana ancestors, we kept running into grave markers and newspaper articles on members of the ABEL family... we have wondered if there is any connection to Deb's ABEL ancestors... that was until I found this photo in the history archives today...

This is a party thrown by Miss. Abel (the one in the dark dress in front of the fireplace mantle), that was in the local newspaper!

The only other photo that I found that struck me funnier, is this photo of the police shooting class... Rule #1 ALWAYS KEEP YOUR MUZZLE POINTED IN A SAFE DIRECTION, Rule #2 KEEP YOUR FINGER OFF OF THE TRIGGER UNTIL YOU ARE READY TO SHOOT, Rule #3 NEVER POINT YOUR GUN AT ANYTHING YOU DO NOT INTEND TO DESTROY... It makes you wonder what the officer on the right did to piss everyone off!

Seriously, we finished our research today... We have been so blessed by the incredibly wonderful people here in Fergus County who have helped us. I seriously thought the south was friendly (and they are), but the folks of Lewistown do not have to play second fiddle to anyone! We are enjoying a fantastic lighting storm tonight... our car is getting a much needed bath and Montana is getting some much needed rain! Tomorrow we are heading to Virginia City and then we return to Utah to see our family again before we head home.

Day 43 - Holy Family History Mother Lode!

2011-10-05T00:07:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, 04 October

Today we hit paydirt in the Lewistown Public Library... They have the most amazing records on file and they are organized so well... I cannot believe the many records that we found today pertaining to my family history, Deb's family history, and Jennifer's family history. I will not detail it here because it is probably only exciting to me, but we will be staying another day so we can continue our quest!

I do have to tell one story... It turns out that my great uncle Don married a girl by the name of June Hummer. Deb's great aunt had a son named Al Nierstheimer. Al's wife is the sister of Ruth Hummer, so Don and Al are brother-in-laws!

And if that is not crazy enough, Jennifer's ancestor's built the stone hospital that my ancestors died in and my father was born in... They also built the Carnegie Library that all these documents are now housed in (where we worked all day!)

Now if this place was a huge city I would not be so amazed, but this place is an out-of-the-way postage stamp of real estate... it it blows me away how they all wound up here and how we are related... my world feels really small today!

On the way out to visit a third cemetery that we found out about today, which is about 10 miles north of Lewistown, we were blessed with another beautiful Montana sunset...

Day 42 - Is there anyone who didn't live in Lewistown?

2011-10-03T21:52:00.000-07:00

Monday, 03 October

Wow, what a day... my head is spinning as I try to figure out all of the connections we discovered today...

We started the morning in the Fergus County Courthouse... this county doesn't let you search the books yourself, so we had to give the clerk a very long list of names that we wanted to have birth and/or death certificates for... She said we could leave the list and come back later in the day for the results...

So we left the courthouse and went to the Calvary Cemetery to look for gravesites of our daughter-in-law Jennifer's ancestors... and we found quite a few! (The world is starting to feel really, really small!) After we left the cemetery, Deb went to the local Catholic church and found documents that went with the people in the cemetery.

Then we went to the history museum... I was disappointed to find that it was closed for the season! But, true to the Montana cordiality, the woman in the Chamber office called the curator and she willingly came right down and opened the museum for us (another family history angel?) Inside I found many books that had articles on my ancestors and the history of the area... I bought the books to share with my father. In addition, there was a whole section of the museum dedicated to Jennifer's Croation ancestors... pictures, ducuments, etc. Deb took photos like crazy while I picked the brain of the curator, who knew some of my family. Jen's family came to Lewistown as stonemasons and built many of the early stone structures of the city...

Tonight we drove around the city to explore... this is the old high school where my grandmother and other members of my family went to school... It is now a condominium... kind of wierd.

These are examples of the structures that Jen's ancestors built... this was the medical center...

and the man that designed and managed the build of the medical building lived in this house that he built next door...

The Carnegie Library was also built by the Croation stonemasons.

When we went back to the library, we found that the researcher needed more time to research the records. We decided to stay in Lewistown one more day so deb can go to the library to look for obituaries in old newspapers (and they were not open on Monday), and I am going to see if I can talk to the people that lived down the road from my great uncle... I may also look up a guy in Moore that I think may be a shirt-tail relative. I have to admit that this family history research is fun when you can actually see the places and things in real life!

Day 41 - Family History Angels...

2011-10-02T23:09:00.000-07:00

Sunday, 02 October

We decided we would listen to conference on the way to the Lewistown Cemetery and by the miracle of satellite radio, we were able to do so. It was a quiet, serene morning and as we approached the cemetery, we were greeted by some local wildlife. We took some photos then began the slow and tedious walk up and down every aisle in the cemetery looking for markers of my family ancestors and Deb's family ancestors (yes, Deb's). Her grandpa Rudolph had sisters who came from Illinois to Lewistown and married Neirstiemer boys and they are buried here! Now, for the really weird twist... Jennifer (our daughter-in-law) has ancestors buried here also and her mom was born in Lewistown just like my dad! Now that is a small world... tomorrow we are going to look for her ancestors.

Now my angel story (I am starting to believe)... We had walked for a couple of hours and had not even covered half of the cemetery, looking for ancestors. My hips were killing me because the ground is so uneven and it was extremely difficult at times to walk the rows. As I was finishing a section, an older gentleman drove by and asked if he could help... he explained that his wife was buried in the cemetery and he had a book that she compiled of all the markers and where they were located. He left for about 10 minutes and then returned with a three ring binder full of page after page of alphabetised names and the location of the graves according to a system that she devised before her death. I was able to locate all of my ancestors and Deb's in very short order with his information! Debra just grinned and said she was not surprised he showed up to help us... an answer to her prayers... It was pretty awesome.

After we left the cemetery, we got some lunch, took some photos of downtown Lewistown, then headed back to Moore Cemetery to look for another set of markers for another ancestor that I just learned about last night while doing some research on the web... Tonight Jennifer called and gave us some information to look for and the names of her ancestors that are supposed to be buried here... we will go look for them tomorrow. We are also going to spend time in the county courthouse researching documents tomorrow... I kind of like this detective stuff... don't tell my wife!

Do you think Deb likes deer?

The city installed hitching posts up and down Main street to accommodate the many Amish buggies that come into town from the outlying farmlands... all of the farms around Moore are also now Amish farms.

Looking east on Main Street.

This is the school that my grandmother attended when she was a girl in Lewistown.

Tomorrow, the courthouse and the Catholic Cemetery...

Day 40 - Who Do Think You Are - Part 3

2011-10-02T22:23:00.000-07:00

Saturday - 01 October

Today was a very special day... We traveled about 14 miles east to the town of Moore, MT, the childhood home of my father, grandfather, and grandmother. My great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents also lived here. My goal was to find the 360 acre Edwards homestead where they all lived (and my great-aunt Marian lived until she died this May). The original house burned down and my great-uncle Harry had his wife's home (he did not get married until he was over 60 years old), brought to the property and placed on a foundation. However, the building I was most anxious to find was the old miners shack that uncle Harry towed to the property for a little guest home... This shack was located at Rock Creek Coal Mine, my grandfather's mine and it is where my father lived until he was 3 years old! I stopped at a local business in Moore and found two oldtime residents that were able to draw me a map that took me right to the homestead, where I found the miners shack!

After visiting the homestead, we went to the Moore Cemetery and found many gravesites of my family members... Most notably my great-great grandparents, great-grandparents, and some of my grandfather's siblings...

As we searched the cemetery, the weather changed dramatically and blessed us with a beautiful skyscape!

This is the sign at the head of the road leading up the canyon to the Edwards homestead...

This is the house that uncle Harry moved to the site after the original home burned...

The old gate and boardwalk leading up to the home...

HE (Harry Edwards) and ME (Marian Edwards)...

Uncle Harry had a sawmill and sawed green lumber for income...

This is the miners shack that my dad lived in until he was three years old...

Uncle Harry moved it from the mine and remodeled it into a guest cottage...

Warning!

Great Grandma Minnie never had inside facilities... she went out to use this privy located behind her house in front of the chicken coops and started feeling ill, so she sat down on the back porch and that is where she passed away in 1967 at the age of 81 years...

Behind the house is this entrance to the side of the hill... the inside door was sealed so I don't know how far into the mountain it went...

It must have been a big explosion!

Montana homestead "fine art"...

Looking up the hill at part of the 360 acres...

The view from the main road...

This is the road leading up to the coal mine that my granddad owned and where my dad lived until he was three years old...

The view looking SW from Moore Cemetery towards the town of Moore...

I am standing next to the graves of my great-great and great-grandparents... Uncle Don's veteran marker is in front of me...

Awesome skies...

This herd had about 30 head of antelope... they are beautiful animals...

This was a great day!

Day 39 - You Might Be In Montana When...

2011-10-01T23:24:00.000-07:00

Friday, 30 September

They sell ammo at the gas station minute mart...

There are stuffed pheasant on top of the Coke machine...

And you feel right at home!

Today was a long driving day... over 13 hours start to finish... We left Minnesota...

And entered North Dakota at Fargo...

A little ways down Highway 94, we passed through Jamestown, which is where my "brother" Bob is from...

Is this how you became "Uncle Bob"?

Probably the most interesting thing that we saw in ND (sad isn't it), is this gianormous Holstein up on this hill... this is not an optical illusion... it was huge!

Somewhere on I-94 we turned over 100,000 miles on "Lil" (over 40k on road trips)...

The painted canyons in Teddy Roosevelt Park were beautiful...

Now you know where it is...

We entered Montana a little while before dark... and we had a long way to go to get to Lewistown for the night... From the time we left Circle, MT until we drove into Lewistown 200 miles later, we passed over 30 deer, two mice, and a badger on the side of the highway... Deb was terrified the whole trip after dark... I never drove faster than 50 MPH even though the speed limit was 70 MPH... but every pickup truck that passed me was doing at least 80 MPH... I guess they don't worry about hitting a deer!

I can't remember when I was so happy to see a road sign...

What thing in this photo doesn't belong? I think ours was the only rig that wasn't a mondo truck... I was wishing I had a big belt buckle and a cowboy shirt right about now...

Day 38 - "Who Do You Think You Are?" Part 2

2011-09-30T00:12:00.000-07:00

Thursday, 29 September

This morning we awoke to clear skies and sunshine... by the time we reached our car to leave our hotel, it had clouded over and the wind was blowing fiercely. Trees were blowing over and limbs falling everywhere. Last night, I did some research online and found that many of the ancestors that I have on my mother's side of the family were buried in cemeteries within a few miles of where we slept last night in South St Paul. So, we charted a route that took us to Hillside Cemetery in Minneapolis, then SE to Ft Snelling National Cemetery, and finally back about 60 miles SE to Potsdam, MN to Emmanuel Lutheran Cemetery, which we passed last night. After visiting the cemeteries, we circled back to St Paul via the Great River Road on the eastern bank of the Mississippi River just inside the border of Wisconsin (two states to go). When we crossed the river at Wabasha, MN, the oldest city in MN. Then we came back into MN at St Paul. Then we turned north and then east as we headed towards Fargo, ND to eventually reach Lewistown, MT. Along the way, we passed through Red Wing, MN and visited Red Wings Shoes Museum, where we saw the worlds biggest leather boot!

Fall is here in MN...

I found the grave sites of my Great Grandparents Tradup... and many of his brothers and sisters...

A beautiful view of the city from the cemetery...

This is the grave site of my grandfather's brother, August Tradup, in the National Cemetery...

Back in corn country, we found Emmanuel Lutheran Cemetery...

Next to the old church (still in use today)...

This is the grave site of my great-great-grandfather Ludwig Tradup...

... and this is the grave site of the man who started it all in the US, my great-great-great-grandfather Ludwig Tradup. Ludwig is the only Tradup that ever migrated from Germany to the United States and every Tradup in the USA is one of my ancestors or relatives!

This is a view from across the highway of the church and cemetery...

These are some big pumpkins!

A very nice monument and tribute in Wabasha...

Ask Deb?

No explanation needed...

Tonight we stopped in Fergus Falls, MN and will head through ND tomorrow and hopefully make it to Lewistown, MT... the birthplace of my father.

Day 37 - Who Do You Think You Are?

2011-09-28T21:42:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, 28 September

Today we spent most of the day searching for clues to Deb's ancestors in Colfax Cemetery in Colfax Township, IA. When we entered, it quickly became apparent that almost every headstone was connected to her in some way... I photographed over 450 headstones today! Here are just a few of the 522 photos taken today:

Deb is standing next to the headstone for her great-great-grandfather Abel... he is the one who came over from Germany in 1867 starting the entire (USA) Abel generations...

Later, we went to the courthouse in Clarion, IA, the county seat for Wright County, to get a copy of Deb's fathers birth certificate... the certificate showed his middle name spelled differently than her father spelled it all of his life... hmmm.

Across the street there was this restaurant... I have to say it was some of the best Chinese food I have had in a long time... why they are here in this very small town in middle America is a mystery?

As we were taking a back road to our destination for the night (South St Paul, MN), we came across a place called Forest City, IA, where there was a place called Heritage Park. Here there was a small community of preserved buildings that were originally built by Scandinavian immigrants...

This is an art structure built from many, many old iron things...

This weather vane was made from railroad ties by an immigrant man...

I liked the home made furniture in many of the buildings...

This the old school house with the Lutheran Church in the background...

We thought the note on the board was interesting...

Our daughter Joy, who is a second grade teacher would have liked this school... especially this old heat stove... (just kidding)

Cool two-story house with a balcony and fire escape...

This old service station was cool...

Looking west up "Main Street USA"

Beaver Lutheran Church is still used today...

We entered Minnesota through Emmons...

We watched a beautiful sunset over one of the lakes we passed.

Tonight we are in South Saint Paul (my mother was born here)... tomorrow we are going to hop over a few miles into Wisconsin, then we will turn west and head to Lewistown, Montana where my dad was born and many of my ancestors are buried.

Day 36 - "Until Death Do Us Part"

2011-09-27T21:26:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, 27 September

We planned this leg of the trip to be able to go to the Webster County Historical Library, which is only open on Tuesdays. When we get there, they did not have the newspaper files that Deb needed (they were in the regular library, which is open every day), so she sent me in to research some old files on the Fort Dodge Post Office where here grandfather was assistant postmaster. I was in there five minutes and the curator wanted to close up and go home! I told him that we came all the way from Oregon and he said, "you are lucky you found anyone here... there is hardly ever anyone here!" Then he agreed to stay a little longer so i could get some copies of an article about the history of the Post Office.

Fortunately, we had a lot more success in the main library going through many, many, microfiche rolls of old newspapers. Unfortunately, the person she wanted to find information the most for, it seemed that the file or page or newspaper was always missing.

After lunch we decided to check the county court house for some birth and death records that we need...

You guessed it... we needed records from 1878 and the record books started at 1880!

Back at the public library we continued to search newspaper films... it was fun to read the descriptions of the wedding parties and other community events from around the turn of the 20th Century...

After eight hours of this stuff, you feel like your head is going to explode!

So we left the library and drove past the home where Deb's mom was raised (built by Deb's grandfather)... actually both of these homes were owned by the family (Deb's great-grandfather lived in the one on the left)...

This home, a few blocks away, was the first home that Deb's mom and dad owned after they were married. Deb's dad had to go overseas with the Air Force and her mom lived here with her older brother and sister until he returned.

Tomorrow we are going to go to Colfax Cemetery outside of Vincent to search for headstones for some of Deb's ancestors.

Day 35 - German Colonies and Wedding Proposal in Days Gone By

2011-09-27T09:45:00.000-07:00

Monday, 26 September

Today was a travel day as we drove to Fort Dodge, IA, so Deb can do some family history research. Family History was on our minds today because this is the day that her father passed away in 1997 and we really miss him. Along our route we travelled through a german community called The Amana Colonies (very interesting history). When we left Amana, we travelled through Ames, IA, home of Iowa State University. This is where Debra's mother went to school. One of our favorite stories is how she received a ring in the mail from her boy friend Donald, asking her to marry him. She opened the box on the steps of Barlow Hall in about 1944, which we photographed today... Tonight we arrived in Fort Dodge... when we drove to her mother's childhood home, we found that the block across the street had been leveled and a large Fareway store had been built... no more Dairy Freeze ice cream store. Tomorrow, we will spend the day at the library doing research.

This is in front of the Ox Yoke Restaurant where I had some home style fried chicken (just like my german grandmother made), and some fantastic hot sauerkraut!

Deb is talking to her mom on the cell phone while standing in front of "the" spot.

This tree is across from the steps of Barlow Hall... We wonder if it was there when the ring was opened?

Day 34 - Aunt Ruby and Four States in 3:35

2011-09-27T09:23:00.000-07:00

Sunday, 25 September

Today I got the opportunity to visit with my Great Aunt Ruby and her husband Darrel in Portage, IN for the first time ever. She is my grandmother's younger sister and is the only sibling that is still living. She is 91 and he is almost 96. They are the sweetest people and it was a real thrill to be able to hear her tell me stories about my grandmother who died in 1996. I was amazed at the number of dates and events she remembered (and she was spot on). We only visited for about 3:30 because she is very feeble, due to her fight with cancer. Though quite a bit smaller, she reminded me a lot of my grandma Edwards.

After leaving their home, we snuck into Michigan (one mile) just to say we had been there and then turned west to travel to Iowa, which we entered 3:35 later (MI, IN, IL, IA in a little over three hours!)

When we got to our hotel in Iowa, it was about 2200, and the sidewalks were rolled up. The only place to eat was a restaurant called Ross'... Apparently this dish is famous, so I tried one... I could not eat it all (should have taken a photo) but it was tasty... the "snow cap" made for a rough night though!

Day 33 - Combines and Sunsets

2011-09-24T21:16:00.000-07:00

Saturday, 24 September

We left Kathy and Frank's this morning and started towards Valparaiso, Indiana to see my 91-year-old Great Aunt and Uncle Ruby and Darrel. Ruby is my grandmother Edwards only sister and she is the only one that is still living from my grandmother's family. I have never met her and I am anxious to talk to her tomorrow.

As we travelled through Illinois and into Indiana, using only backroads (NO FREEWAYS - BORING), we finally got to see farmers combining their corn and soybean fields... Deb was so excited. We also saw some awesome barns and then this evening a beautiful sunset. As we left Gays, IL, we found the site of a two story outhouse built in 1872... hmmm...

Photographic evidence:

Day 32 - Airplanes, Combines, Kindergarten, and BBQ

2011-09-23T22:53:00.000-07:00

Friday, 23 September

This morning, Frank took us over to Scott AFB, which is just a couple miles from his home, to see the C-141 that he actually flew in 1971...

When the plane was put on static display here at Scott, Frank recognized the tail numbers of the plane and went to his flight logs to confirm his memory... Sure enough, it was there... he had flown this plane out of McChord AFB in 1971.

In 1973, the plane took part in the famous mission "Operation Homecoming" to evacuate POW's out of Hanoi... it was dubbed the "Hanoi Taxi".

Frank is dwarfed by the large jets on this plane...

Frank explained how the tail could open up and the ramp lowered down to load cargo...

I love listening to Frank talk about these planes...

A proud USAF Pilot - Col. Franklin Rudolph, Retired, and the bird he flew.

Later, Frank took us to his friends farm to show us the corn and soybean operation there...

Deb gets a lesson from her brother on how to operate the combine...

This cutter head will do eight rows of corn at a time...

Frank explains this seed planter...

We had lunch in Mascoutah, and then drove to Lebanon for a dish of Ice Cream and Mr. Jazz's Ice Cream Parlor. They had one of two 12 foot soda bars still operating in the US... it is like the five footer that we have at home. The owner gave me a lot of information about the soda bars and I am anxious to go home and check some things out on my antique soda bar...

After our treat, we drove over to the school where our great nephews and nieces attend and their grandma Kathy is the school secretary... this is her new office.

We also drove over to our nieces new home, which they actually closed on today... Deb and Kathy helped Wendy unpack a few boxes and Frank and I went home and watched a little bit of the news... (Actually, we both fell asleep waiting for the girls to come home).

Frank and Kathy took us to the 17th Street Barbecue Grill tonight for dinner. I had the best brisket I have ever had tonight. They have earned the title of Grand National Champions three times in "Memphis in May"... it was delicious.

Tonight we said goodbye to our grand-nephew Logan because we are leaving in the morning as we head to Valparaiso, IN to see my great Aunt and Uncle (my grandmother's sister), if she will have us.

Day 31 - To Belleville, IL

2011-09-23T22:10:00.000-07:00

Thursday, 22 September

Today...

We left Nashville...

Drove through Kentucky...

Into Illinois where we stopped at Kathy and Frank's home in Belleville. After a great dinner of Irish Stew and homemade beer bread (made with coke), we watched a slide show of the photos that they took on their recent trip to Ireland. It was a great night.

Day 30 - Tearful Farewell, Civil War, and Country Music

2011-09-23T22:02:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, 21 September

Today we pulled out from Dunlap on our way to Nashville. It was a very difficult thing to do because we had an amazing time at the kids place...

Before we left, I took the butt plate off of Ammon's Henry Rifle and I placed a message there to remind him how and when he got it from Grandpa (I forgot to do it last year)...

Then I did the same for the Henry Rifle that I gave Kaleb this year...

Everyone sat on "Picture Rock" as we drove past them on the way down the driveway (Brandyn was at work). The boys and Deb were trying to be brave...

On the way to Nashville, we stopped in Franklin, TN to view some of the Civil War historical sites...

This is a pyramid of cannon balls.

This is one of the key sights in the Battle of Franklin, which occurred here on the evening of 30 November in 1864...

It is the sight of the cotton gin across the road from Carter House...

This is a house on the Carter House property that was a key site during the Battle of Franklin. This house has over 1000 bullet holes in it and are still visible today...

This is Carter House...

A short distance down the road is the Carnton Plantation, which became the makeshift hospital for the rebel troops that were cut down as they tried to break through the federal line near Carter House the night of the battle. Over 700 men were treated here and there were over 1000 casualties during the five hour battle, including four Generals...

The front of the Carnton Home...

After leaving Franklin, we drove to Nashville for the evening. We went to see the Grand Ole Opry House, but it was closed to tours because there was a sold-out concert that evening. This is the backside of the Gaylord Grand Ole Opry Hotel. We went inside the hotel to look around and it was pretty amazing... waterfalls, and rivers meander through the hotel and the atrium is like a tropical rainforest...

Next door is the Opry House...

Because it is Wednesday, there usually is no show. However, there was a special show tonight, but it was sold out...

So, we went across the street to Cooters... It is a Dukes of Hazzard museum... I got my photo taken with Daisy Duke in front of the General Lee...

This is Daisy's pink Jeep, Dixie...

Sheriff Bos Hogg's patrol car...

For the life of me, I cannot remember what it was that compelled us to watch this silly show... my memory is getting "kinda short"...

Next door was the Nashville Palace... Many Opry stats got noticed here while playing on this stage before they became Opry stars...

We had a good dinner here...

On the way out, we noticed that thousands of patrons had signed the walls. We decided to do the same and I placed our name and date on the upper left corner of the ticket window frame...

As I was doing so, it dawned on me that this was the anniversary of the night I proposed to Deb in 1973!

Tomorrow we will head to Frank and Kathy's.

Day 29 - Pulled Pork, Narnia, and Paradise!

2011-09-20T23:41:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, 20 September

Today the boys tried out for a community theater play called The Witch and the Wardrobe... Ammon got the part of Aslan (sp) and because the costume is going to take two people and Hyrum did not want a speaking part, he was casted as the back-end of Aslan... or as they quickly dubbed it... Asslan! Kaleb got the part of Edmund, which he is thrilled about.

After the auditions we went to lunch at a small BBQ place on Signal Mountain called Schumers... it was great. This is the door handle to the dining room...

After lunch we headed to Walmart to get halloween costumes for the boys... they are really into Super Mario Brothers right now and were thrilled to find these costumes...

This evening, we were invited over to Tim and Norma's home (Brandyn and Jen's neighbor) to tour their property and their home... it was incredible. Deb and I fell in love with it immediately...

They have a natural amphitheater area createe by a few huge boulders, similar to Brandyn's boulders, where they have built this gazebo...

This is part of the boulder that creates the back wall of the amphitheater...

Norma and Tim in front of the rock...

A stroll eastward through the trees...

Looking south toward the house...

More natural landscaping...

This tree was growing right out of the top of the rock...

The path down to a new pasture that Tim is building...

The boys sitting on a rock overlooking the existing barn and pastures...

Their barn was featured in a coffee table book about barns of Tennessee... This has to be one of the most picturesque spots in Tennessee!

And finally, Grandma reads a book to the boys and puts them to bed for the last time this trip... We leave in the morning and will be stopping in Nashville to visit the Grand Ole' Opry and then it is on to Frank and Kathy's in Bellville.

This has been an incredible trip to visit our grandsons! We will not ever forget the good times that we had with them... they were amazing while their folks were gone and we would do it again in a heartbeat. We are so lucky to be able to spend time with them... hopefully, we will live closer someday so we can spend more time with them more often!

We love you guys... remember the things you learned from grandma and papa and be good for mom and dad.

Day 28 - Brandyn and Jen are Home!

2011-09-19T21:33:00.000-07:00

Monday, 19 September

Today I slept in a little and awoke to the boys playing some kind of a "tag/hide and seek/capture the flag" hybrid game with Debra. They were running all over the back yard laughing and playing... it was fun to watch them. When I was up and dressed, I took Ammon and Kaleb to McD's for some lunch... Hyrum stayed with Grandma...

After lunch, the boys played more hide and seek... Brandyn and Jen were supposed to be home at 1400 and right about 1355 they decided to chase each other through the pond soaking themselves head to toe...

Deb was thrilled...

Sometime along the way, Deb finished the acorn wreath that she and the boys made for the house...

At 1400, and after a change into dry clothes, the boys climbed "Picture Rock" to wait for mom and dad to come up the long driveway...

They waited...

And listened...

And waited some more...

Until finally, they were home!

Kaleb's buddy was home...

They boys all got small gifts from mom and dad... one of the gifts was a book that illustrated how to make animals by folding towels... just like on the cruise ship...

Together, they made this Stingray... they were quite proud of themselves.

This evening, we all went to dinner at a local Italian place and then came home to watch a slide show of Brandyn and Jen's cruise. Everyone is now in bed and I am going there too... I think Deb and I will sleep well tonight!

Day 27 - Day of Rest... Sort of...

2011-09-18T22:15:00.000-07:00

Sunday, 18 September

We got up at 0615 and left the house by 0715 to get to church by 0900 (we lose an hour on the way). After church, Deb worked with the boys to open some geodes that she got for them... two of the geodes had crystal pockets and one was a thunderegg. During the process, Kaleb got the camera and had a little fun... I don't think he has ever met a camera that he didn't like.

After the geodes, Deb helped them build their "Raingutter Regata" boats for Cub Scouts... What was I doing, you ask? I took a trip by myself back to the Coke Oven Museum, which was open today. I spent three hours listening to the curator, Carson Camp, tell me the local history... I found out what the name of the mine is that is on the property here... well, actually the incline railroad ran through the property on the way up the face of the bluff to the Whitco Coal Mine. I found the mine located on an old TOPO map as well as Brandyn's property... I am anxious to tell him what I found tomorrow when they get home.

Deb is in bed... she will sleep well knowing that this was the last night to "entertain" the grandsons... they have been great, but it is time to move on again... we have much to do yet before we get home.

Photographic proof:

Day 26 - Lions and Tigers and Bears... Would You Believe Owls and Snakes and Wolves?

2011-09-17T17:28:00.000-07:00

Saturday, 17 September

Today was the last "adventure" day before Brandyn and Jennifer return on Monday. Tomorrow is church and a day of rest... We see the wisdom.

Today we spent the day at the Chattanooga Arboretum and Nature Center. The highlight of the day for me had to be helping Hyrum overcome his fear of floating the creek in a canoe. Two hours later, when we had to get out, he said he wished he could go clear to the end again!

Here is the proof as Deb recorded it:

Grandma... They are doing it again...

Actually, for the float trip, Ammon was in a canoe with Deb... I just put them all in my canoe for a photo... The only wildlife we saw while on the creek was a Great Blue Heron.

Deb and Ammon narrowly escaped a disaster when a large tree fell in the water just inches in front of their canoe... we heard the splash, but thought they were just slapping the water with their paddles... it was crazy!

These are the boys peeking out of the window of a sweet tree house near the canoe dock...

This is a Red Wolf... when he and the rest of the pack that is there heard a siren in the distance, they went nuts mimicking the sound with their incredibly loud howls... it was really awesome to hear!

OK... This was not at the Nature Center but it is in the front yard of a local residence as you are entering Dunlap (actually there were a lot more signs, but I do not want to be put on a terrorist watchlist!)... Gotta, love the South!

Day 25 - Photographer's Dreamland... Dunlap Coke Ovens Park

2011-09-16T22:56:00.000-07:00

Friday, 16 September

With three days until Brandyn and Jennifer return from the cruise, we decided we would check out some local history today. After working on a couple projects with the boys, I googled "Dunlap Coke Ovens" and gave the boys a history lesson about their town here in Tennessee... It was a booming coal town once and the remnants of the coke ovens were rescued from destruction and abuse in the 1980's and have since become a beautiful park... On the way, we saw a very unusual sight - an A4-M Skyhawk was sitting disassembled on a flatbed truck across the street from the local McDonald's... It came from Fort Worth and was hauled up here by Walmart to eventually be placed in the new Veteran's Memorial Park currently being built in front of the high school.

Back to Coke Ovens Park... The lighting today was incredible... I mean, Sacred Grove incredible! The quality and direction of the filtered light was to die for... It was so good in fact, that i decided to take my camera out of the bag today... (My goal was to have Deb shoot the entire road trip with her Canon point-and-shoot, which is mostly what has been done... I am totally impressed with her abilities and her "big" camera in the small case)... Deb and I had so much fun shooting the boys and the industrial equipment all throughout the park... This would be an incredible place to shoot seniors or brides... unfortunately, it is a little far for us to travel, unless the price is right!

Here are some of Deb's images: (Click on the first image for a slide show format browser)

The "infant-tree" is coming, the "infant-tree is coming!"

This is a new 2-story home in downtown Dunlap... I am curious to see the inside floor plan...

Here are some of my images: (Remember, all images are copyrighted).

These and the rest of the photos will be available on our website soon in the full-size printable format.

Scott

Day 24 - Children's Creativity Museum

2011-09-15T22:46:00.000-07:00

Thursday, 15 September

We took the grandsons to Chattanooga to visit the Children's Creativity Museum today... On the way, we passed the Kubota factory and I had to get a photo of the inventory... this is only part of the machines there...

When we got to the museum, we had a little picnic lunch in front of AT&T Field, which is directly behind the museum...

In front of the museum there is a giant bubble wand that allows you to be inside the bubble as it forms... the wind made it a little difficult, but deb got a shot of each of the boys inside a bubble...

One of the most popular exhibits has to do with water and activities that are done on the water... Kaleb enjoyed pretending he was a Harbor Pilot...

Deb took this shot of me from up on an observation deck that overlooks the "Splash" exhibit...

The boys really enjoyed pulling the levers and turning the wheels to move water through the exhibits... one of my favorites was the scale model of the river locks...

The exhibit is called "Splash" for a good reason... Hyrum was caught putting the dryers to good use...

Ammon stayed behind the Plexiglas to stay dry...

During the visit, there was a program called "ExtraordinAIR"... the boys were the only ones in the lab so they got to participate in all the experiments... some of them did not go as planned because the equipment did not function as anticipated... This gave the boys an opportunity to come up with alternative solutions to the problems, which actually worked... I think the presenter was quite surprised and impressed with the ingenuity that Ammon and Kaleb displayed... they actually saved the show!

They also had a genealogy exhibit... (That was a joke!)

Another one of the boy's favorite exhibits was the Paleontology exhibit... Kaleb worked feverishly to unearth a fossil while a "Prentendasaurus" romped around behind him...

We also studied sound and music (we made a recording while singing "On Top Of Old Rocky Top"), and kinetics.

Another thing the boys and Deb really enjoyed was the Trading Post... here you can bring in rocks, bones, leaves, fossils, etc., from other places in the country and trade them in for points that can be used to "purchase" other specimens in the Trading Post. Deb had some rocks in her bag that she brought to give to the boys... they came in handy for this display... the boys all got at least 250 points each in their accounts. The woman running the exhibit told the boys that she would give them points equal to the number of miles from the specimen source to the museum... They have asked us to send them some Oregon Beach sand for trading... I knew there was a reason I have saved the jar of Mt.Saint Helens ash all of these years!

When it was time to close, which came too soon, this little guy was not very happy... yes that is genuine...

When we got home, I stopped at the barn and fed the horses... something I really enjoy!

After dinner, a couple of episodes of "Top Shot", and a movie, the kids and Deb are now in bed... I will join them after finishing the latest episode of GBTV...

Day 23 - Projects, Sound Waves, and Cubs

2011-09-15T21:48:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, 14 September

Today we spent most of the day at home with the boys... Grandma worked with the boys on an acorn wreath, Ammon and I performed experiments with sound by constructing a quitar box, a pan pipe, and some wind chimes. This evening, we took Kaleb and Ammon to Cub Scouts at the church building. Kaleb and Ammon performed the flag ceremony. After Cubs we went to a chinese restaurant for dinner... it was not very good though. After the boys were in bed, Deb and I sat out on the pavilion deck again tonight... we are really going to miss the night sounds here!

Day 22 - A dip in the pond and looking for Hobbstown...

2011-09-13T22:20:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, 13 September

Today, we all slept in a little... the kids were very tired last night after the aquarium and went right to sleep as Deb and I stood out on the pavilion deck and enjoyed another full moon! Deb needed a few things from the store, so I took Ammon and we went to Walmart and then to Micky D's for some lunch... While we were gone, Deb went swimming in the pond with Kaleb and Hyrum (It was back in the low 90's today)...

I have always been curious about how well Brandyn and Jen's house can be seen from the valley floor in Dunlap, so I took Kaleb (it was his turn to go for a ride), and we drove down to a spot that can be seen from the pavilion deck and took photos back in the direction of the house... I hung a yellow flagger's vest from the corner of the back porch to make it easier to spot the house... actually, it is the only house visible on the bluff... and it is not too hard to see where the gianormous boulders in there front "yard" came from...

These are progressively closer shots from down on the highway... the pavilion is clearly seen just above and slightly to the left of the power pole in the foreground. Part of the back of the house is seen to the right of the pavilion (notice the yellow vest... NOTE: click on any photo to see it enlarged).

I have always been curious to know what is on the top of the mountain, above the bluff which is the back wall of their property. I saw an old topo map with some old coal mines on the top edge of the bluff and wondered if they were still accessible. So, with my GPS and Kaleb in tow (a decision he later regretted because I explored quite awhile), I set out to see if I could find a road that would take me to the spot above their property...

I knew from the old map that Fredonia Road, which starts about 6 miles away in downtown Dunlap, goes up the ridge far to the north of the property. When i got to the top of the ridge, I found a road called John Lewis Road (right across from the Volunteer fire Dept.). For some reason, this road also sounded familiar from when i studied the map over a year ago, so I started south down the road.

I came to a fork called Hobbstown Road and decided to take it because it continued in a generally southward direction... I immediately entered a very exclusive resort area of consisting of huge homes behind gates and a very long white fence lining the road on both sides for miles. Though, it felt like someplace I should not be, I decided to continue down the road.

As I passed the last gate on the left, the road soon ended at a dead end, where there were two homes... one home had an incredible small gauge railroad filling the entire property... I soon found out the property is over 100 acres...

The exciting thing was seeing the waypoint that I had set for Brandyn's home directly southwest of my location at about 0.3 miles distance... the only catch was the 700 foot cliff between the two spots!

As I sat entering the waypoint for the end of Hobbstown Road, a woman who was the owner of the house at the end of the road, and a relative of the owner of the house that had the miniature steam railroad. I told her why I was there and asked her if the old coal mines still existed... she said they had been collapsed years ago, but remnants of the operations still existed if you were rugged enough to make the hike down the heavily rutted road to get to them. She said the mines were about a third of a mile hike past her home down a very steep incline, and she recommended that it only be attempted in the morning when it is cool.

I thanked her for the information and told her we may attempt the hike at some point. Kaleb and I then started home... but when I found a road called Bluff Drive that cut right through the resort, I decided to explore it. It took me in a very large loop that dumped me right back a few hundred yards above the spot that I was talking to the woman at the end of Hobbstown Road... It actually brought me to a gate that was closed as I passed it before... fortunately, it let me out when I approached it, so I did not have to go clear back around the way I came... there are some incredibly huge log homes (lodges) in this resort area and they look very expensive... but there are a lot of lots that are vacant... I am curious what they sell for...

I took a photo of the plat map of the resort that is on a board as you enter Hobbstown Road... The resort covers the entire top of Fredonia Mountain (the name of the mountain that Brandyn's home sits on the southern side of... on a bluff at 1200 feet... the top is 1900 feet at the south end of the road above there house). The enlarged view shows the relationship between Brandyn's property (30 acres below and to the south of the bluff... His house is slightly to the left (about 7 o'clock) of the compass rose between the distance scale and the creek that feeds their water fall...

The woman's 100 acres is the cove shaped property surrounded by the "Picnic Rock Future Development"... The end of Hobbstown Road is barely visible just to the right (2 o'clock) of the compass rose... It was kind of strange to know that when Igot back to Brandyn's house, I was only 0.3 miles SW of the point where I sat and talked to the lady, but I had to travel over 18 miles one way to get there! I should have honked the car horn to see if Deb could have heard me.

One interesting thing that the woman told me is that she thinks the mines have slowly opened back up a little and have become the residences of some new wildlife that they have recently spotted... she says they have had many coyotes, and deer (we saw some nice deer driving through the resort) on the property, but the most exciting thing they have seen is a very large mountain lion walking the bluff... she said it stands easily three to four feet tall at the shoulders... awesome.

I would really like to take the hike down to the mines if I get a chance.

After Kaleb and I got back home, I grilled some steaks and deb made some Kraft Mac & Cheese (does it get any better? After dinner we had a Wii bowling tournament, wherein the Wii Bowling Queen Debra was dethroned by six-year-old Hyrum the Great! The kid would spin around, release, and fall to the floor, and get a strike every time! Then he would dance around in a circle in celebration... it was awesome... a little annoying to his older brothers... but awesome!

We got a call from Brandyn and Jen today... they were in St. Thomas UVI and were wondering if we had tried to email them with any questions... phffff... really?? This is old hat... she forgets that we raised Brandyn! (Actually, we had six kids when we were their age)... have fun Jen and don't worry about us... we are doing just fine.

Kind of curious what tomorrow will bring... Goodnight.

Day 21 - Tennessee Aquarium

2011-09-13T20:49:00.000-07:00

Monday, 12 September

We spent the day at the amazing Tennessee Aquarium... This aquarium is rated #1 in the United States and I agree. Afterwards, we let the boys play in the fountain that is on the outside of the building and flows towards the Tennessee River... The fountain was off but, the bottom pool was full. Here are some photo highlights:

Day 20 - Continued...

2011-09-11T21:45:00.000-07:00

Sunday, 11 September

We started this Sabbath Day by attending services with the Signal Mountain, TN Branch. Kaleb had scripture sharing in Primary and did very well. After the 40 minute trip home, we had some lunch and then grandpa took a short nap while grandma spent some time with the boys watching some videos. After my nap, each boy chose a quiet activity for the afternoon...

Ammon chose to spend the afternoon with grandpa and his new Erector set... actually, he got it for his birthday a year ago, but just today decided to tackle it. Of course, he chose the hardest project in the book... a rescue helicopter. There was no talking him out of it so we dove right in after I gave him a short lesson on organizing his parts and construction workflow... I was an expert builder when I was a kid... I loved my Erector Set and I collected thousands of pieces (by the way mom, where did that set go?)

After most of the afternoon, we managed to assemble the base and the rotor motor... Ammon decided he had had enough for one day... I can't tell you how much I want to be sitting in the kitchen right now finishing that helicopter! The pieces in the sets of today are awesome... Allen bolts instead of the impossible little slotted screws I had to deal with.

While we worked, grandma and the other two boys made some delicious cookies... they were great with a glass of cold milk!

Kaleb and Hyrum colored posters...

... and read books with grandma out on the pavilion...

...overlooking the beautiful valley below.

Later, as I prepared to grill hamburgers, it started to rain...

...and we were blessed with this beautiful rainbow. For me, it was a gentle reminder on this day that we remembered the tragic events of 10 years ago, that God lives and He is watching over us.

Shortly after this, right after dark, the entire valley was plunged into total darkness for about two hours during a power failure...

After getting the boys settled in bed (not an easy task when the power fails), Deb and I sat rocking on the porch and marveled at how lucky we are to be alive and to be taking care of our grandsons for the next week.

Tomorrow, we are going to the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga,,, rated #1 in the USA...

Goodnight.

Day 20 - Remembering...

2011-09-10T23:00:00.000-07:00

Not many things bring tears to my eyes... a firefighter has to be strong you know... but, part of me died ten years ago while I stood in the kitchen at the firehouse and watched the towers fall... we all knew that our "brothers" would be rushing in and giving their all... and realizing, but for the Grace of God, it could have been us. God be with our brothers and sisters and all who were touched by this tragedy.

I will never forget!

Scott
Deputy Fire Chief, Retired

Day 19 - Vibrant Tongues and Top Shot

2011-09-10T22:24:00.000-07:00

Saturday, 10 September

Another great day today (even though I thought it was 9-11 and I did not figure out it wasn't until late this afternoon when I was talking on the phone with my son... It is really weird being out of touch with the world because there is no TV to watch here... But I am getting kind of used to it.)

This morning, Hyrum was a little wound up during breakfast so Deb asked him to go play in the toy room for awhile. When I was getting my breakfast, I turned around and saw this image... I told Deb to grab her camera, which fortunately was on the counter next to her, and she was able to catch the "Red Blue Blur" decompressing! This has to be my new favorite photo.

Later, Deb had each of the boys pose with "the cape"... this is the same one that their dad wore for similar photos when he was a boy their age...

Grandma Deb had to go to Walmart for something, and I just needed to take a drive (getting a little cabin feverish)... So I took the boys to Sonic for lunch and they each had "slush" with their "Wacky Packs".

The highlight of the day was watching Kaleb shoot, for the first time, the new Henry Repeating Rifle that I gave to him for his 8th birthday. It is a modified version of the one that Ammon is shooting (I gave that one to him last year on his 8th).

Both boys sat for my NRA Basic Rifle Course before shooting the rifles. They both are very good shots and very responsible gun owners... Kaleb wants to be on "Top Shot" someday.

Grandpa and Kaleb had a little friendly competition...

When we were done shooting, he turned to me and said, "Grandpa, how did you get to be so good?"

I guess, that means I won?

Actually, he was a tough competitor.

He and Ammon had fun dreaming up different target scenarios... this one was fun... they tried to pick them off from the top down... they did well too.

While we were shooting, Hyrum colored with his grandma.

After dinner, we all watched a movie together and then the boys went to bed after getting their clothes ready for church tomorrow. Deb and I went out and sat on the swing on the pavilion and watched the full moon light up the valley below, as we listened to the amazing night sounds that are here... a very wonderful way to finish a great day!

As I go to sleep tonight, I am thinking about the 343 firefighter brothers and sisters that lost their lives 10 years ago on that tragic day when our country was attacked by radical Islamic terrorists... May God continue to help their families and friends heal and may they find some peace tomorrow as the tragedy is commemorated... and the same wish goes out to all the countless others who lost their lives or were affected by 9-11-01. I will never forget!

Day 18 - Boyhood Paradise - A Perfect day

2011-09-09T22:51:00.000-07:00

Friday, 09 September

Today was an incredible day! Brandyn and Jen left for their cruise at 0330 (yes that is correct). When the boys awoke, Deb hiked up into the rocks in front of the house and began to explore. When I got up a short while later, I joined them. We had so much fun exploring the rocks and caves. Then the boys went swimming in the pond. They watched some TV with Deb while I finished a book I was reading, then they played a game. Tonight Ammon made his signature spaghetti sauce (it was awesome), and then we watched a movie together. After the movie, they read books before bed and then went right to sleep. It doesn't get any better than this (and they were never more than 50 yards from their front door!) I am going to post most of the photos that deb and I took today... they are self-explanatory! Enjoy.

Day 17 - Wrangling horses and kids... last minute prep for cruise...

2011-09-08T22:50:00.000-07:00

Thursday, 08 September

Today, I slept in while jen took the boys to town to buy a round of hay for the horses. Deb worked on doing some more organizing in the house... hanging more pictures, etc.

When Jen got home, we went down to help her remove the hay bale from the back of the truck. Then we built a cage around the hay to keep it in one place while the horses feed on it. This should reduce the amount of time we need to work with the horses while Jen and Brandyn are gone on the cruise, leavng more time for us to do fun things with the grandsons.

Tonight, we spent a great deal of time on last minute details... releases, money, museum memberships, phone numbers, alarm codes, safe combinations, and on and on...

I think Brandyn and Jen are finally packing (it is 0200 and they leave to drive to the airport at 0330).

Please pray for us as we spend the next 11 days with our grandsons... we need it to be great!

I don't like to blog without a photo, so here is the only one taken today by Deb of a little noisy friend in the falls right outside our window.

Scott

Day 16 - Another walk in the woods...

2011-09-08T22:38:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, 07 September

This morning me and the boys decided to take another hike down to the falls thinking maybe another night of rain may have started them back up... I think they are broken... no waterfall today, but it was a great day to take a walk around the property!

Kaleb and Hyrum had to go to town with their mom and grandma for their well-child checkups... they were not happy about it. In the meantime, Ammon stayed with me and helped me put a new serpntine belt on the engine and clean a van that Jen and Brandyn are giving to a family at church. Ammon was a great worker and we had fun together.

After we were done working, we sat on the front porch and enjoyed the splender that is their amazing front yard! click on this panorama, then enlarge it to fill the screen top-to-bottom, and then pan left-to-right to enjoy the full effect. Notice the large pile of boulders balanced on a few smaller boulders in the center of the yard... worrysome but beautiful... pray that we have no earthquakes!

Everyone went to bed early tonight.